Treasure Chest #08: Super Hedgehog

Hello again gamers! Welcome to another “Treasure Chest”. Always remembering, this series is based on an ongoing series from Destructoid, “The Memory Card” by Chad Concelmo.

Again I want to thank: João Marcelo Beraldo, Rafael Martins, Gilliard Lopes, Luise Braunsperger and Heloísa Pintarelli!! Thank you all!!

In this episode we will come back to my childhood and talk about one of the most famous mascots of videogames (or infamous nowadays) and his greatest moment. Join me for a fast ride alongside the blue Hedgehog we love (or hate), Sonic!

The Set-Up

Sonic The Hedgehog was developed by Sega to be the mascot of its new console, the Mega Drive (or Genesis). He was designed to be a cooler looking and faster version of Mario, showing that the new console was superior to its rival, the NES (later the SNES). The first game is very good, but the series reached its top on the sequel, Sonic The Hedgehod 2. The sequel kept the fast pace and precision of the first game and added co-op and better graphics into the mix.



The plot of the game is simplistic, Dr. Robotnik is transforming cute little animals into robots and Sonic needs to bust his plans. The main focus of Sonic games is speed. Sonic has to run through various stages jumping from platform to platform, collecting rings of power and destroying robots to catch up with Dr. Robotnik.



The power rings have two functions into the game, they are your health and your score. If Sonic is hit and he has no rings he is dead, but if he has at least one, the hit makes him lose all the rings but you don’t die. And although there is a score counter on the game, what really mattered (as bragging rights or ever records) was how many rings you could get. Oh! and collecting 100 ring also gives 1 life up. So, collect your rings!



Sonic has a companion with him in this adventure: Tails, a fox with two tails. He can be controlled by the computer or by another player, and even if this is a 1992 game, the transition between the two is dynamic. Anyone can drop into the game at any time. You just need to pick the second controller. (Perfect for little brothers or girlfriends who don’t game much)



There’s also a side quest in this game (not an usual feature back in the days) where you have to collect 7 emeralds of chaos. To collect one, Sonic needed to pass through a checkpoint pole with 30 rings or more. By doing it, a star portal appears sending Sonic into a bonus dimension.



In this dimension Sonic and Tails have to run through a half-pipe collecting rings and avoiding bombs. If the pair manage to collect enough rings at the end of the bonus stage, they are rewarded with a chaos emerald.



The moment of this Treasure Chest happens when Sonic has managed to collect all seven Chaos Emeralds.

The Moment

After collecting all the Emeralds, whenever Sonic collects 50 rings and jump, he transform into Super Sonic! His spikes gets bigger and pointier and his color changes from blue to bright gold. (Sonic is a Sayan!!)



Super Sonic is invulnerable and even faster than normal Sonic. You cross the stages like a yellow lightning, bursting every robot in you path. But this power have a cost: it drains rings at a rate of one per second. You need to keep collecting rings or else when the rings run out you’ll be transformed into normal sonic again and left in a possibly vulnerable position.



Playing as Super Sonic is loads of fun and you really feel super powerful doing it! He even have his own music! Watch the transformation and a stage play through on the video bellow.



The Impact

You may think the game will lose all its difficulty once you can transform into Super Sonic. But remember two things: You have to collect 50 rings before turning into Super every single stage; and the increased speed and higher jumps make sonic a bit more difficult to control and he is not invulnerable to bottomless pits.

This is a great example of an awesome reward for a side-quest, it slightly changed the way the game is played and also let’s the player feel overpowered for sometime.

I should note that the last bosses are not affected by this transformation (you have seen in the video, unfortunately Super Sonic is too much for the bosses and that takes a bit of the fun from boss fights) since there are not enough rings into the stage to transform. And the bosses are tough! (10 years old me sweat blood to defeat them)

Overall, the Super Sonic does hinder the game challenge but the sensation is so awesome (and you probably ended the game a few times before managing to get all Emeralds anyway) that we can live with the fact. :D

There’s no way I can talk about Sonic without remembering DESPAIR! You who played know what I’m talking about.... that damn music warning you that your oxygen is about to end! Sonic does not breath under water. In every water-based stage you had a limited time to be under water. When the time is running low the most unsettling music ever made warns you about it and you have that limited time to catch a bubble of air or to leave the water.



When this tune starts, gamers all over the world desperately search for bubble fountains. And usually when you find it the countdown is already so low it is too late... the search was in vain. And, as soon as sonic drowns, the big airy bubble appears only to mock you...

Hear the despair song here: