My Sega Master System broke back in the day, very sadly, and I never had a Genesis, so the whole Sonic the Hedgehog thing passed me by. Well, there was a brief experimentation with Jazz Jackrabbit, but it was very brief.
So when I tried Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, I came to it with fresh eyes. I had no preconceptions of the series and I gave it a good, honest try, taking some time to get familiar with the way the game is supposed to be played. And so, my total dissatisfaction with the game I believe I came to fairly.
I like Sega. I’ve probably spent as many hours in my life playing Space Harrier as I have reading the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. I’m a big fan of Fantasy Zone as well, and would have pumped many-a-quarter into After Burner as a kid if I had many-a-quarter as a kid. I was disappointed when it became clear that the NES was beating the Master System.
But I don’t like Sonic the Hedgehog. Once I figured out how the controls are really meant to be operated, it became clear to me: Each level, er, Act is all about learning when not to push the button and when to push the button. If you have it memorized you’ll fly through the level and it’ll look very fancy. If you don’t, you’ll get stuck, over and over again, having to make slow, awkward jumps, climbs, and backtracks.
I’ll pass.