November 2024 Game Challenge: Sonic the Hedgehog

Prof. Will Lestrange · November 2, 2024

The only request from this past month came from Janne Halla, who requested a platformer. Doing my research I found a classic platformer from my (OUT OF CHARACTER) childhood that we had skipped over in the past because in those days we were looking at games designed for video arcades... and this one was designed purely to be played on home consoles. And it's only fitting that we follow a game featuring Mario with one featuring an iconic 'rival' of sorts... Sonic the Hedgehog!

Sonic the Hedgehog was developed in 1991 by Sega for use in its best known console, the Sega Genesis. To this day, the blue hedgehog Sonic is considered a mascot for Sega, as a counterpart to Nintendo's own Mario. In the game, your job is to control Sonic in his attempt to stop the evil Dr. Robotnik, who has created tonnes of robots with animals trapped inside; if you destroy the robot, you free the animals within. The main goal is to guide Sonic to the end of each 'act', collecting rings as you do so, while maneuvering your way around the course, jumping on platforms, and navigating your way around obstacles!

Rings serve as a form of insurance; if you're hit by an enemy and you still have rings, you survive but the rings fly all over the place so you have to try to grab them all over again. Hit without rings and you lose a 'Chance' (another word for a life). If you fall into a pit, though, or a deadly bed of spikes, one hit will end your Chance even with rings or other powerups!

Each area (except for the final zone) is divided into three Acts; the first two pretty much require you to make it to the end of the stage... while the third one requires you to beat a tricky miniboss.

For this month's challenge, you want to go to THIS LINK to play Sonic the Hedgehog; click on "OK, Let's Play", then the X on the right hand side of the black square taking up the emulator space (you know you're doing it right when you hear "SEGA"), and the Enter key to start. Screencap your best performance (and post it in this thread) by November 30 at 11:59 PM HOL! (And in your post, also include what type of game you want to play in November: are you thinking of 'action'? 'adventure'? 'puzzle'? 'web game'? 'Golden Era of gaming'? 'In the past five years'? If you win the month, I will try to make it happen!)

PS: Left and right arrows move left and right, the down arrow while moving does a 'Sonic Spin', and Z and X jump. Spinning or jumping into an enemy can defeat it (depending on enemy type, of course)... good luck!

-Participation at all will earn you 5 scales.

-If you clear the first level (Green Hills Act 1) or score 2024 points or higher, your screencap will earn you 10 scales instead of 5.

-The top three scores of the month will get extra scales (25, 20, and 15 respectively for the month instead of 5 or 10) as well as special awards!