Sonic the Hedgehog for the MegaDrive is the first of many games with the blue hedgehog Sonic as the main character. It was released in mid-1991 for Sega's 16-bit console and achieved enormous popularity, partly because the game was bundled with the MegaDrive. The title was particularly successful in the USA and established Sonic as a Sega mascot and Mario competitor. This led to a series that continues to produce games to this day. Fabian Käufer and Gunnar Lott tell the story of the first game and discuss the gameplay and design. 00:00:00 Introduction 00:00:48 Our connection with Sonic 00:03:17 The game and its protagonist 00:06:16 The opponent: Dr. Ivo Robotnik 00:08:22 What is special about Sonic the Hedgehog? 00:13:39 The origin story: Sega's start in the home console market 00:17:41 First important Sega games: Alex Kidd and Phantasy Star 00:18:46 Yuji Naka 00:19:38 1988: The Mega Drive arrives 00:21:27 Ghouls 'n Ghosts for the Mega Drive 00:25:34 Nintendo's flagship title: Super Mario Bros 3 00:25:53 Sega puts together a team 00:27:43 Search for a mascot 00:30:38 Blue like the Sega logo 00:31:32 The decision is made for Sonic 00:34:26 Jina Ishiwatari designs the levels 00:37:50 Development time and decisions 00:41:26 Music from Dreams Come True 00:42:12 Completion 00:44:37 Presentation at the CES 1991 00:46:34 Moustaches are evil, or at least European 00:47:31 1991: Sonic the Hedgehog is released 00:50:23 Tom Kalinske and the marketing of Sonic 00:52:42 The game's controls 00:54:20 Sonic's attack: Spin attack 00:55:46 An example level: Green Hill Zone 1 00:58:59 Golden rings 01:00:39 Down and up 01:01:31 Spring and fork in the road 01:02:15 Crumbling rocks 01:02:57 Checkpoint 01:03:10 Moving platforms 01:03:29 Collecting aids 01:03:47 The loop 01:04:42 In the ball tunnel 01:05:19 Using the gold ring to get to the Special Zone 01:05:51 The ring game mechanics 01:08:50 Regulatory rings in the boss fights 01:09:57 Short-term special abilities 01:11:32 Green Hill compared to other levels 01:12:27 Speed ​​and camera work 01:16:32 Slow down in the later worlds 01:20:52 Blocks on switches 01:21:35 Spring Yard, the pinball world 01:21:50 Water in the Labyrinth Zone 01:23:57 The Star Light Zone 01:24:23 The Scrap Brain Zone 01:24:54 The boss fights against Dr. Robotnik 01:26:59 The mazes of the special stages 01:32:39 The quality of the technology 01:34:16 Clear look, harmonious style 01:35:20 The music of the game 01:37:50 Sales success 01:39:37 Sonic in the trade press 01:41:07 Sega pushes Sonic into the mainstream 01:43:26 Sonic in other media 01:45:51 The Sonic films 01:46:55 The Japanese version of Sonic 01:49:19 Ports for Master System and Game Gear 01:50:12 Sonic 2 with Tails (1992) 01:50:54 Sonic 3 (1994) 01:51:15 Sonic & Knuckles (1994) 01:52:25 Sonic Adventure (1998) 01:52:59 Sonic on the Game Boy Advance 01:53:24 Sonic 4 (2010) 01:54:04 Sonic Mania (2017) 01:54:25 Sonic Superstars (2023) 01:55:39 Recommended: Sonic Origins (2022) Topic: Sonic the Hedgehog, released June 23, 1991 Platform: Sega MegaDrive, then Master System and Arcade - later ports to Game Boy Advance, Windows PC, Nintendo 3DS, iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Nintendo Switch Developer: Sonic Team (Sega) Publisher: Sega Genre: Jump&Run Designer: Hirokazu Yasuhara, Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, Rieko Kodama and others Music: Masato Nakamura Podcast credits: Speakers: Fabian Käufer, Gunnar Lott Audio production: Sascha Blach, Christian Schmidt Title graphics: Paul Schmidt Intro, outro: Nino Kerl (Announcement); Trash80.com (Music) The SF merch shop: https://retroshirty.com/stayforever SF on Twitter: / stayforeverde SF on Facebook: / stayforeverpodcast SF on Instagram: / stay_forever_podcast SF on Discord: / discord