Knuckles has been deceived by Dr. Robotnik into thinking that Sonic is the bad guy, but when he finds out, he rushes to crumble Robotnik's empire and regain the Master Emerald!

Play as Sonic, Tails, or Knuckles and defeat Dr. Ivo Robotnik before he can relaunch the Death Egg!

Sonic 3-D Blast is a lot of fun once you get used to playing a 3-D Sonic game. The graphics were pretty good for the Genesis. I think they got the idea for this game from the 3-D looking bonus levels from Sonic 2 and 3. Sonic 3-D blast is a lot fun to play and pleasing to the eyes, so give it a try!

Sonic The Hedgehog

Sonic The Hedgehog 2

Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine

Check out these games from Sega's most popular character and biggest game series. Dr. Robotnik is always up to no good, and it's up to you and Sonic to stop him!

How did Sonic's "speed-down" shoes come into existence? Eggman made these shoes with the power of the Chaos Emeralds, and nothing else! Nothing is more powerful than the Chaos Emeralds. Eggman puts Sonic in his large labyrinth, but he can't run or jump, since the shoes disable him from doing that. You can also hear a deafening roar on South Island - the sound of construction of Eggman's fortress on the land of the large labyrinth! Sonic, don't give up, no matter what happens! Even though you're not able to run or jump, you can still do your rolling attack! Dr. Eggman isn't going to take over the world that easily. In order for Sonic to regain the Chaos Emeralds, he must get through the huge labyrinth.
--From the Sega GameGear Sonic Labyrinth instruction manual.

We've all played a Sonic game we didn't like. Whether it was the graphics, the music, or the game play, there was just something about it we couldn't warm up to. For the GameGear, this title would be Sonic Labyrinth.

The first problem lies in the game play; Sonic moves at a snail's pace. The story isn't too bad, but for a Sonic game, it's unacceptable. Speed-down shoes is a joke. Try to think of Mario with a downgraded jump and you'll understand the frustration of it all.

The music is poor as well, pretty bland and not all that memorable. However, the graphics are decent enough and Sonic looks like he should. But graphics never push a game through and Sonic Labyrinth is no exception. On the whole, Sonic Labyrinth is a poor addition to the series of games featuring our favorite blue dude with an attitude, and I would not recommend it.

Yo, Robotnik! You're in for a mountain of trouble now. Sonic is spinning into action!
--from the Genesis Sonic Spinball instruction booklet

Sonic Spinball is a lot of fun to play! It mixes two things people love: Sonic the Hedgehog, and Pinball. The graphics and sounds were pretty good. I used to play this game a lot. It's cool because you can try to beat the game, or you can just see who can get the highest score. If you like Sonic or Pinball, Sonic Spinball is right up your alley!

Spin through space, loop 'til you're dizzy, save the animals and become the super hero. Be Sonic! Be atomic!
--From the Sega Genesis Sonic The Hedgehog instruction manual.

Sonic the Hedgehog is Sega's number one claim to fame. As one of the biggest games ever, it carried Sega through some rough times. While the Sega Genesis sold like hotcakes, its younger brothers (Saturn and Dreamcast) flopped. Sega is now out of the console business, and Sonic The Hedgehog is still alive. That's almost all Sega does today. They have released a Sonic game on almost every system out right now.

Sonic the Hedgehog is a lot of fun to play. I always thought of it as Mario on crack. It was a platformer that was just super fast. There were plenty of levels and a lot of baddies to get through. The bosses were always Dr. Robotnik in a new machine. Sonic the Hedgehog is a cornerstone of classic gaming, and if you've never played it, I suggest you get going!

Robotnik Returns!
All was peaceful and quiet on South Island after Sonic The Hedgehog crushed the plans of the diabolical Dr. Ivo Robotnik for the first time. Far too quiet, in fact, for a hyper young hedgehog who craves action. So Sonic left South Island in search of other adventures.

When he returned, Sonic found no sign of his friends anywhere. Confused, he went back to his digs to think and found a note waiting for him. It was from Miles (or "Tails" as he is called), a two tailed fox who is one of Sonic's closest friends.

"Dear Sonic,
Robotnik is back and he's captured all the animals on the islands! He is holding me in a place called the crystal egg. In order to free me you have to find and bring the six chaos emeralds.
Robotnik made me write this. He says he's waiting for you and he's created six really nasty robots in order to 'get rid of you once and for all.' I don't know what he has planned, but Sonic, please be careful!
Sincerely, Tails"

There was no time to waste! The letter fluttered to the floor as Sonic dashed off to find the Chaos Emeralds and save his friends.

Once again, help Sonic to save his woodland friends from the evil Dr. Robotnik. This game went on to sell just as well as, or better than, its predecessor. Many Sega Genesis consoles came with it. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a great game. If you like Sonic games, you'll love this one.

Don't get me wrong, as a stand-alone game this Sonic is great. But with other ports faring a little better, such as Streets of Rage, this game is a let down to whoever wants the same action as on the Genesis. They did manage to sneak a little bit of true Sonic into this game, but not nearly enough.

Let's start with this wildly varying story. Right from the get-go, the opening cinematic is a spoiler. No, you will not be playing as tails, or seeing him, in any way shape or form, other than the title screen and level buffers. That's right, for any of you who played co-op on the Genesis or generally enjoy Tails, you can leave this review now. Sonic chases after Robotnik who we can see is kidnapping tails and along with him, enslaving the entire island's animals to do his bidding once again. Sonic must forfeit the 6 chaos emeralds to stop Dr. Robotnik and his 6 robots from keeping Tails and the others captive. Now that isn't like Sonic at all, and of course Sonic decides to take matters into his own hands and remove Robotnik's bots one by one. The title screen spoils me into thinking that maybe the opening is just a ploy, but unfortunately it isn't. I know that the Sonic games have never been too creative with their story line, but this was just ridiculous, they put no thought into this process at all, especially into level design. I am pretty sure they had to remove Tails, because of less space on the cart, but in that case they shouldn't have written him into the game at all.

Speaking of the level design, this is some of the worst in a Sonic game ever. The original Sonic on GG/MS was much better. Hazards, in all levels, are either too far between or too close together to make it sane. There is no middle ground. Much of the level design is uninspiring as well. Essentially every level has some sort of "vehicle" and by that I mean, mine cart, hang glider, bubble. They toss those in to add some sort of playability to the level. Instead of keeping with the usual fast paced, one way, action they seemed to add levels and some backtracking. That was one of my biggest frustrations, if they were going to limit so many enemies and get rid of tails, why not keep the game as fast as possible? It felt like every 5 seconds I was slowing down to get a pick up or hit a spring. The water levels are the worst culprit of this. I was pulling my hair anxiously waiting to get out of the level.

The graphics in this game, however, are really good compared to other 8-Bit games of the era, but could have still used some more polishing and a little more work. The graphics just seem to shine a bit more and appear smoother than on the GG even. I think they attempted to re-use as much of Sonic 1 on the MS as possible for this game and it shows. They won't have you Oohing and Aahing, but it certainly won't have you going blind. Sound is decent too, but suffers from what many other 8-Bit Sega games did, high pitches and whines. By the time you lose your rings the 5th time, and trust me it will happen by stage 2, you'll be putting the volume on mute. The music is very good, though, and Sega always has a nice approach to add a mood or a feeling to every level.

I would have loved to have seen much more come out of this game, but because they ported in from an insanely popular Genesis title to not one, but two systems, I'll cut them a small break. Some nice improvements from the Original include Spin Dashing through walls (though you can't hold down and press jump to dash) and the ability to regain your rings after losing them. At the ends of levels when hitting the Spinning Panel, you can now receive rewards as well! Differences you'll find in the MS version include, a much larger resolution that makes it much easier to play and the graphics are much smoother, some missing item boxes, and a bit of a music change for the entry and theme.

In spite of a good bit of setbacks, the game remains fun, although not too loyal to its Genesis counterpart. If you've played and enjoyed Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on Genesis, chances are you're going to be greatly let down.

I don't want to have to do this, but I have to give Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for SMS 4 Rings out of 10!

Don't get me wrong, as a stand-alone game this Sonic is great. But with other ports faring a little better, such as Streets of Rage, this game is a let down to whoever wants the same action as on the Genesis. They did manage to sneak a little bit of true Sonic into this game, but not nearly enough.

Let's start with this wildly varying story. Right from the get-go the opening cinematic is a spoiler. No, you will not be playing as Tails, or seeing him in any way shape or form, other than the title screen and level buffers. That's right, for any of you who played co-op on the Genesis or generally enjoy Tails, you can leave this review now. Sonic chases after Robotnik, who we can see is kidnapping Tails and along with him, enslaving the entire island's animals to do his bidding once again. Sonic must forfeit the 6 chaos emeralds to stop Dr. Robotnik and his 6 robots from keeping Tails and the others captive. Now that isn't like Sonic at all, and of course Sonic decides to take matters into his own hands and remove Robotnik's bots one by one. The title screen spoils me into thinking that maybe the opening is just a ploy, but unfortunately it isn't. I know that the Sonic games have never been too creative with their story line, but this was just ridiculous. They put no thought into this process at all, especially into level design. I am pretty sure they had to remove Tails, because of less space on the cart, but in that case they shouldn't have written him into the game at all.

Speaking of the level design, this is some of the worst in a Sonic game ever. The original Sonic on GG/MS was much better. Hazards, in all levels, are either too far between or too close together to make it sane. There is no middle ground. Much of the level design is uninspiring as well. Essentially every level has some sort of "vehicle" and by that I mean, mine cart, hang glider, bubble. They toss those in to add some sort of playability to the level. Instead of keeping with the usual fast paced, one way, action they seemed to add levels and some backtracking. That was one of my biggest frustrations, if they were going to limit so many enemies and rid of tails, why not keep the game as fast as possible? It felt like every 5 seconds I was slowing down to get a pick-up or hit a spring. The water levels are the worst culprit of this. I was pulling my hair anxiously waiting to get out of the level.

The graphics in this game, however, are really good compared to other 8-Bit games of the era, but could have still used some more polishing and a little more work. The graphics just seem to shine a bit more and appear smoother than on the GG even. I think they attempted to re-use as much of Sonic 1 on the MS as possible for this game and it shows. They won't have you Oohing and Aahing, but it certainly won't have you going blind. Sound is decent too, but suffers from what many other 8-Bit Sega games did, high pitches and whines. By the time you lose your rings the 5th time, and trust me it will happen by stage 2, you'll be putting the volume on mute. The music is very good though and Sega always has a nice approach to add a mood or a feeling to every level.

I would have loved to have seen much more come out of this game, but because they ported in from an insanely popular Genesis title to not one, but two systems, I'll cut them a small break. Some nice improvements from the Original include Spin Dashing through walls (though you can't hold down and press jump to dash) and the ability to regain your rings after losing them. At the ends of levels when hitting the Spinning Panel you can now receive rewards as well! Differences you'll find in the MS version include, a much larger resolution that makes it much easier to play, and the much smoother graphics, some missing item boxes, and a bit of a music change for the entry and theme.

In spite of a good bit of setbacks, the game remains fun, although not too loyal to its Genesis counterpart. If you've played and enjoyed Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on Genesis, chances are you're going to be greatly let down.

I don't want to have to do this, but I have to give Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for MS 4 Rings out of 10!

Between battling the new types of Badniks and trying to outsmart Knuckles, Sonic and Tails have their work cut out for them once they arrive on the Floating Island and search for Dr. Robotnik.
--From the Sega Genesis Sonic The Hedgehog 3 instruction manual.

The third in the "original trilogy" of Sonic The Hedgehog games, this one certainly delivers, and it remains a favorite to this very day. The graphics have been improved from the previous game in a few ways, Sonic sporting a brand new look as well as many other new enemies that just look great. Every stage is designed well. The music is just as great, fitting to the series, and enhances the gaming experience. From the original Power Shoe speedup music to the new stage tunes, it just rocks in general. Most important to any Sonic game, the speed is still there, even heightened a few notches. Bottom line, if you love Sonic and haven't even played this title, it's a must!

While Tails Adventure takes a different route from the previous Sonic titles, the style this game has present works in a way that is enjoyable. A more slow-paced feel, this game deals more so with exploration and collecting items rather than zipping to the end of the level. The graphics are very lush and colorful, the Game Gear's graphical capability pushed another step further. The music you hear in each area is fitting to the surroundings, whether or not the specific track is pleasing to the ears. All in all, Tails Adventure is a fun little game and I say give this one a play.