Siding with Sega during the 16-bit wars wasn’t a conscious choice. My dad brought us home a Genesis one day out of the blue and my loyalties were decided for me. I was always an NES kid, and when the N64 came around, I was right back on the Nintendo wagon. That is not to say I did not enjoy my Genesis at the time. I loved the Streets of Rage games, Vectorman, Earthworm Jim, Ghengis Kahn II (probably the game I have poured the most time into ever) and, of course, the Sonic series. Spiderman: Separation Anxiety was the first game I ever bought with “my own money”. I am ashamed to say I even had a copy of Shaq Fu.
A collection of the Genesis Sonic games came out a week ago on the DS. I popped that bad boy into my DS ready for a race down memory lane. I thoroughly enjoyed Sonic 1, 2, 3 and Sonic & Knuckles on the Genesis. My younger brother and I had getting the Chaos Emeralds down to a science in Sonic 2. By the end of the first stage, Super Sonic was available to us.
I have to admit, either Sonic has not aged as gracefully as his tubby Italian rival, or this is a sloppy port. The controls lag and Tails (in the games here is present) is always in the way. In a game that I was looking forward to speeding through loops and spirals, there were always enemies and spikes in the way to slow me down. A well-timed jump or down-press on the D-pad can avoid such obstacles, but the aforementioned lag hinders quick-reflex responses. Sonic seems to float through the air with sub-par control over his momentum. Perhaps I have been spoiled by Mario’s ability to change directions mid-air incredibly smoothly. But these are not the games I remembered. Since my Genesis no longer functions, I guess I’ll never really know if Sonic is not what I remember him being or if his translation onto a DS screen is poorly executed.
It’s not as if a Sonic game cannot function on a DS. The Sonic Rush games were very enjoyable.
Even if my Genesis functioned, I’m not sure I would want to know. I like liking Sonic. He deserves better than he gets.
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