Instead of only encountering a smattering of enemies and moving platforms, Sonic travels through giant loops and small, claustrophobic tunnels, spinning and whirling around like an out-of-control roller coaster. The real highlight of playing is to run as fast as you can to get to the end of the stage.Īs Sonic races through the now-legendary Green Hill Zone, much more than the normal platformer obstacles are there to meet him. Of course, the option of taking things slow is there - jumping on platforms and hopping on the heads of enemies to kill them - but that isn’t the draw of the game. Nothing much out of the ordinary.īut then players press and hold right on the directional pad and everything changes.īy running on a continuous path, Sonic speeds up to absurd speeds, trumping anything that could be done by holding down the “run” button in the Super Mario games.

Sonic can jump he can run back and forth. It is right after the classic “SEEEEEEGGGGAAAAA!” intro and high-energy opening title screen when players are immediately dropped into Sonic the Hedgehog’s first stage: Green Hill Zone.Īt first glance, the colorful, quirky little game looks to be nothing more than a Mario clone starring a sassy blue hedgehog. The marketing behind the game certainly helped, but what made the game an instant classic was the feeling gamers had the minute the first level started. When people finally played Sonic the Hedgehog, all thoughts about the validity of Blast Processing were forgotten (at least, for the time being). Regardless of the truth behind this notorious advertising, “Blast Processing” became a serious buzz word.Ĭoupled with Sega’s other infamous ads (“ Genesis does what Nintendon’t!”), the gaming industry couldn’t stop talking about the Genesis and the games that utilized Blast Processing, including the much-hyped Sonic the Hedgehog. In addition to the game, Sega also ran one of its most famous marketing campaigns of all time - a campaign focusing on something called Blast Processing!Īccording to their ads and commercials, Blast Processing was something only the Sega Genesis could do, allowing their games to run much faster and smoother than anything on the Super Nintendo. A few months before Nintendo would release its Super Nintendo in North America, Sega started promoting a brand new 2D platformer called Sonic the Hedgehog. This tactic paid off, as the Genesis slowly began to pick up steam.īut then 1991 came along and everything changed.

The arcade industry was booming, and Sega promised gamers that most of the popular games you could play in the arcade could also be played on the Genesis (and look almost as good!). While the graphics on the revolutionary-for-the-time 16-bit system were absolutely groundbreaking, the original NES was so popular that the Genesis did not make the initial dent that Sega was hoping for.īut as the first year past, and Nintendo still had not released its follow-up to the NES, the Genesis started to gain ground. When the Sega Genesis was released in 1989, it had some surprising competition. For many gamers that fell in love with the original Nintendo, this would have been a ridiculously easy choice … but with the 1991 release of Sonic the Hedgehog on the Genesis and a marketing campaign that can only be described as magnificently ludicrous, Nintendo’s loyal followers (including me!) began to question their preferred system of choice. For everyone that is old enough to remember, the decision to buy either a Super Nintendo or a Sega Genesis was a major one.ĭid you make the choice to buy the Super Nintendo - a solid, classic console with some incredible games made by a reliable company? Or did you make the hip purchase of the Sega Genesis - the arguably “cooler” of the two consoles, with games that were much more “extreme” and “hardcore” than anything offered on Nintendo’s little gray and purple machine?īoth systems were great, but it was rare to find a kid in the neighborhood that owned both - a far cry from the multiple-console homes of today.

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