Heres my first page on a video game! it's on Sonic 1 for the Sega Genesis.
This was Sonic's first adventure and one of my first video games!
Dr. Ivo Robotnik, the mad scientist, is snatching innocent animals and turning them into evil robots! Only one tough dude can put an end to the demented scientist's fiendish scheme. It's Sonic, the real cool hedgehog with the spiked haircut and power sneakers that give him super speed. Sonic travels the diverse areas of South Island to find Robotniks hideout, save his animal friends and claim the six Chaos Emeralds before the dastardly doctor can use them to take over the world!
Controls in Sonic 1 are simple. You use the D-Pad to move around, left and right to run in those directions, and up and down let Sonic look up and down when standig still. (This pans the game camera up or down after a few seconds of holding the button, use this to look above and below for hazards.) The action buttons, A, B and C, make Sonic jump. He curls into a ball when doing so to attack enemies and smash obstacles ot item boxes. You can control your jump height by how long you press jump. When in motion, pressing down will let Sonic curl into a ball and roll on the ground. This can let you smash through breakable walls, hurt enemies on the ground (great for spiked enemies you can't jump on), and fit through tighter spaces. Pressing Start will pause the game when in a stage, and will begin the game on the Title Screen.
Rings act sort of like health. Sonic will die instantly if he collides with hazards, enemies, projectiles, or anything that hurts him. But when you have at least one Ring, instead of dying Sonic will get knocked back, becoming invincible for a few seconds, alloeing you to continue playing. When you're hit, all your held rings scatter, and they disappear after a few seconds if you don't try to collect them again.
In Sonic 1, there are six different areas (known as Zones), split up into three levels (known as Acts), for a total of 18 stages total. There's also the secret Special Zone, which is kind of like a bonus level, but has its own goal and completing them all is needed to get the good ending of the game. As you go through the Zones, they introduce new elements and obstacles, and get more challenging as you make your way to Robotnik's base of operations to stop him.
At the end of acts 1 and 2 of a Zone, you'll find a signpost with Robotnik's face on it. You run by it to complete the stage, doing so makes the sign spin and show Sonic's face on it to show you've completed the act. At the end of the third act in a Zone, you'll face off against Dr. Robotnik in his flying pod, the Eggmobile. In most Zones he has a cintraption attached to it, besides Laybrinth Zone, and Scrap Brain Zone, where you don't face off against him. (The boss of Scrap Brain is actually located in Final Zone.) Once you defeat the doctor, you find an Animal Capsule, and pressing the button on top finishes the level, and frees all the animal friends trapped inside. The only Zones that don't have a Animal Capsule are Scrap Brain and Final, as in Scrap Brain 3 you escape the stage to go to Final Zone to confront Robotnik for the final time, and in Final Zone there isnt a capsule as you take care of the doctor for good.
Green Hill Zone is the first zone in this game. Set in the rolling, sunny hills of South Island, it's a good starting area with nice visuals and music. Green Hill does a good job of letting you get used to the mechanics of Sonic before the later zones.
In Green Hill, you'll run into some of the staple level mechanics of the Sonic games, including Loop-De-Loops, which you have to have enough speed to go through, Speed Tunnels, where Sonic curls into a ball and zooms through the tunnel's path at speed (but only in one direction), obstacles like Springs, which bounce you to higher areas, forwards at speed, or into obstacles, Collapsing Ground, which crumbles and dissapears after you run across it, and hazzards like Spikes, which hurt you when you touch them.
Acts in Sonic tend to have multiple paths you can take to get the the end of the level. Quicker paths are usually towards the top of the stage and are harder to stay on. Paths lower in the level are usually slower and more dangerous. Green Hill demonstrates this well while not making the lower paths too leathl.
The boss of Green Hill is against the Wrecking Ball Mobile. Robotnik drops a giant wrecking ball down from the bottom of the Eggmobile and swings it back and forth while moving left and right, trying to crush Sonic with it. There are floating platforms on the left amd right of the battle area, meaning you can jump on them, then jump off to hit Robotnik. Hit him eight times and he'll be defeated.
Marble Zone is the second zone in this game. It is set in some ancient ruins and caverns overflowing with lava, it has good visuals, but i find the music a little repetitive.
In Marble Zone, you'll encounter the CatterKiller badnik, which can only be destroyed by smashing its head as it's body will hurt you, and the Batbrain, a bat-like badnik that flies around at the height you were last at when it swooped downwards. Marble is full of lava, which will hurt you when touched. There are fireballs that jump out of the lava and lava gysers that either fall out of spots in the ceiling or burst out of a spot of lava.
Marble doesn't have a lot of different paths to take and is more focused on patience and platforming. I'm indifferent to this approach, it's good to have the slower more focused moments, but I think the slowness of the stage hurts it a little..
The boss of Marble is against the Fireball Mobile. Robotnik drops out fireballs from the bottom of the Eggmobile, and the fireballs spread across the platforms before disappearing. There is a pit of lava in the middle of the arena with fireballs jumping out of it. Robotnik goes back and forth from the sides of the arena, dipping closer to the lava pit when he crosses sides. Hit him eight times and he'll be defeated.
Spring Yard is the third zone in this game. It is set in the middle of a city at sundown, with the mountain range in the background. The graphics are a little bland (other than the bright neon signs), but the music is one of my favorites from the Genesis games. it's got a swing feel to it.