I don’t know, what kind of a world is it that would allow an evil doctor to kidnap cute little animals and turn them into robots? Actually, it sounds pretty cool. Imagine walking down your local high street, not having to worry about stepping in excretory products from cats and dogs. Just think, you could sunbathe in your back garden without having to look around for sheep droppings before you laid down your towel. Yes we’ve got the measure of the animals now, their days of just being cute pets are numbered. The head of this animal-bashing organisation is the great Dr Ivo Robotnik, international mad scientist and all-round nasty piece of work. We love him. Good on him for capturing those pesky animals and turning them into something useful, like slave robots.

But the animals are fighting back. And who do they choose to rescue the stranded animals? A hedgehog! Wow, how scary. Prepare for hedgehog sandwich.

Bugger off, Kick Off, get outta here, Out Run, Sonic is here! To say Master System owners have been eagerly awaiting Sonic would be like saying Mega Drive owners are looking forward to the Mega-CD - one of the gross understatements of the year.

But Mega Drive owners have been mocking their 8-bit friends, sure that Sonic would never be properly translated on the Master System - how wrong they were. Sonic the Hedgehog is, quite simply, the greatest game to ever appear on the Master System.

Right from the title screen, you get the feeling that you are playing something really special - and you are. As soon as that cute little blue hog starts waving his finger at you, you can do nothing but watch in awe as the Master System performs feats unheard of on an 8-bit console.

Sonic on the MD was never one to hold you up with loads of options, and neither does this, all you get is an informative little map at the beginning of each level showing your trail and the level name. A nice addition, reminiscent of Mario on the NES.

The levels are huge compared to what you normally get in a Master System game. They may have lost the parallax scrolling of the Mega Drive version but, personally, I think this is an improvement. Now the backgrounds give a subtle feeling of actually being in another world - the mountains scroll smoothly by on the first level - because they don’t detract from the action in the foreground.

The environment through which Sonic ventures is practically identical to the Mega Drive game. It has everything from the original - and then some. The first two levels, although different in playing style to MD Sonic, are graphically the same. It is only when you encounter the waterfalls and then the jungle that you feel you’re in a completely different game. The MS Sonic designers seem to have taken the best bits from the original game, and then added tons more excellent graphical effects and playability.

Now there’s an interesting word, playability. The original Sonic sure had it, but admittedly the game did get a tad boring after a month or so. Once you’d completed it a couple of times, you never really wanted to go back to it. In my opinion, the Master System version is as close as you are going to get to the perfect game. The levels are much larger, the bonus stage is inventive, and above all the game is constantly challenging and enjoyable. And if you’re wondering about the speed of the thing, fear not for it’s still mind-numbingly fast. In fact, if you stick it on the Game Gear through the Master Gear, it’s too fast! The LCD can’t update quick enough, which is why I would recommend GG owners wait for the real thing, which will hopefully be slowed down and made ^more vivid for the smaller screen.

Lastly, bright and bubbly music plays all the time and matches the Mega version note for note - it even speeds up when you collect the turbo boots. The sound effects are also identical, even the whoops as Sonic jumps and collects rings.

All through playing Sonic I had but one thought on my mind; how the hell did they get the Master System to perform this. It smashes everything else on both graphics and sound, and the gameplay is unrivalled. Finally, I know many readers may not believe it, but the Master System version of Sonic is actually better than the Mega Drive version. Just watch those Power Base convertor sales rise and rise as word of the MS version spreads. The likes of Out Run and Super Kick Off can forget it. Sonic will be number one for Christmas without a doubt, and is sure to be running rings around the competition way into 1992!

Les Ellis

GRAPHICS

97
▲ Superb detail on all levels and sprites.
▲ Astonishing speed that will blow your mind!

SOUND

93
▲ Faithful renditions of the Mega Drive music.
▲ Decent effects are a MS first!

GAMEPLAY

96
▲ Very responsive and accurate collision
▲ Damned addictive jumping action

CHALLENGE

93
▲ Still a bit too easy.
▲ Long, mind-teasing levels.

PROSCORE:96
It is quite possible that Sonic will never be bettered on the Master System.

Rating

96

Reviewer

Sega Pro magazine

Region

UK

Scans

SegaPro-Magazine-Issue02?gallerypage=56

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