Ecco 2: The Tides of Time

In the vast ocean of otherwise mediocre Sega Genesis games, only about one or two really spoke to me that didn't have anything to do with a blue hedgehog or Jurassic Park. One of them was the insanely classic and insanely hard Ecco the Dolphin 2: The Tides of Time. I never played the first one, so I have no idea about it, but this one had mystical crystals and teleportation rings and time traveling dolphins with super telekinetic powers. It was as New Agey as it gets, and even the soundtrack often sounded lifted from one of those Pure Moods samplers... but man was it awesome. After Free Willy, all the girls were into marine biology suddenly, and somehow so was I. But sue me because dolphins are F'kin Awesome! Mystical, magical, and SUPER-intelligent...  like girls!

I loved dolphins. They were my favorite animal and it might've been because of this game, I'm not sure, but this game had sharks and squids and turtles and orcas and just everything cool about the ocean. Every level had some kind of shipwreck in it too, and how the ships got down there was no mystery seeing as giant jagged rocks were basically everywhere. Even Ecco could barely move around underwater without slamming into something and making that painful "squeaking" sound that used to drive me crazy! Play this game for two minutes and all you hear is *squeak* *squeak* *squeak*...etc. I mean, ouch already!

The other thing that used to drive me crazy about this game is just how LONG it is, and how HARD some of these levels ended up being. Take "Tube of the Medusa" for instance. Thanks to the fact that you have no lives, I spent hours sometimes trying to get around that giant squid monster and only ended up getting chucked back time and time again. And when you get chucked out of the sky tube, you fall back TWO LEVELS EACH TIME and have to work your way all the way back up every time you screw up EVEN ONCE... it's nearly impossible! Also, as soon as you lose your powers and have to start surfacing for air and looking for bubbles, the game becomes a constant challenge. My brother and I never beat it. We didn't even come close.

But is it a great game? Of course! This game inspired me to invent all kinds of stories around those super-intelligent dolphins, and many a backyard make-believe focused on playing Ecco like we were making a movie version of it or some kind of weird role play. The game was so movie-like already. It did what it was supposed to do and made the ocean mystical and magical, and though it was hard as hell and involved a LOT of "back and forth a hundred times between two points collecting stuff", it was at least imaginative along the way. Any time I got in a swimming pool, I was playing Ecco.

Of course I used to pronounce it "EE-co" for some reason. It took me years to figure it out: "oh... echo... I get it." I can't say I was super-intelligent of course. I was not a dolphin. Or a girl. 

Sonic on the Genesis

I can't overstate how much of my life I spent playing the classic Sonic games. I was never all that good at them, but I worked my way through them all. The graphics were state of the art for the time, pushing the Genesis to its limits. The music was universally fantastic. The level designs only got bigger and better, and they were damn near cinematic at times too. The bosses were either pitifully easy or crazy hard, but always fun. The original 4 (or 3, depending on how you look at it) Sonic games for the Genesis were some of the best platform games ever made. Let's take a look at them.

Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)  B

This is where it all began. To be honest, I never actually played this one as a kid, so my fondness for it isn't as pure because I know where the series went after this. By comparison though, it's slower (for a Sonic game), the levels are pretty hard and have a lot less variation (3 acts in each level!?) and Sonic is pretty much all you get to see. But the series had to start somewhere! There really isn't much of a story going on, so it's just a faster, above-average platformer at heart. To make Sonic go fast, you have to use physics (rolling into a ball on an incline...etc.), which is fun enough because it works amazingly well.

It's still an impressive game on its own terms, and set the standards for so many things that became staples later on, like loops, rings, monitors, bouncers, baddies, and Dr. Robotnik's insane gadgets... all of which spell great creativity and a lot of good ideas on the part of the designers. It set a new standard for all platform games and gave Mario a run for his money for the first time (literally!).

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992)  A+

Now THIS is where Sonic first hit his stride for me. Sonic 2 is where Sonic got FAST, because this was the introduction of the "speed dash." Now you could get him practically outrunning the screen!  We also get to see Miles Prower, or "Tails," for the first time... Sonic's ever-present sidekick and one of the funniest characters to kill off repeatedly. This game also has a "two-player" feature, which is great if you want to start a fight with your brother. It introduced the "Death Egg" device and Sonic's first time destroying it (a story arc that will connect the next couple games). Sonic 2 has a lot more levels with a lot more color, length, and variation (only 2 acts per level this time), and their replay-ability is extremely high.

I love the Sky Chase Zone (the first time you get to fly the Tails airplane), and the music is some of the best in the series (Chemical Plant Zone is a jam). Heck, I play this game to this day, and it's still as fun as ever. It never gets old. It's a lot easier than the first game, but certainly more fun in my opinion. The final boss is just incredibly fun to die a dozen times on, and the ending is among the best in the whole series. This may have been the first video game I ever played, and it may still be the best. 

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994)  A-

This game is even more incredible in some ways, but it also has its minor drawbacks. It was the first game to have the "temporary shield" trick, which is cool, a whole new slew of shield types, and a Tails that can actually fly on command! This is also where my favorite character Knuckles the Echidna makes his first appearance (and in this one, he's a badass!). You can also save your game for the first time, so you don't have to play the whole thing in one sitting! This second sequel follows the reconstruction of Robotnik's "Death Egg" device that Sonic destroyed in the last game (pretty much picking right up after the other one left off).

The levels are even more colorful, more complex, larger, have the best music of the series, and feature all kinds of new ways to play them besides just "running and jumping." Each act has its own boss too, rather than just one per level. All that said, there are only 6 levels in the whole game, making it the shortest classic Sonic game. The final level really isn't all that hard, and the final boss is very underwhelming (and pretty easy). Overall, there's a feeling of "that was it?" at the end, but only because it's so good you want more of it...

Sonic & Knuckles (1994) A

And this game was more of it! S&K was a direct continuation of Sonic 3 (more like a "Sonic 3: Part 2"), and follows what happens after Sonic rides the repaired Death Egg in Sonic 3. Actually, this game and Sonic 3 were supposed to be the same game, but the developers were forced to cut it in half, which is why Sonic 3 felt kind of incomplete at the end. The levels in this game are about as detailed and complex as it gets, although the game play itself doesn't differ much from Sonic 3 (but no complaints here!). Here you can play Knuckles for the first time and soon discover that he can climb walls and glide! There are more levels in this game, way more music, the bosses are harder, and the final boss is about as big and bad as you're ever going to find in a Sonic game.

To add, the really unique thing about this game was that its cartridge allowed you to lock Sonic 3 into it so you could play Sonic 3 and it back to back, which is awesome because it's an entirely different game... suddenly all those inaccessible pathways in the previous game make sense! You could also lock Sonic 2 into it and play Knuckles in the Sonic 2 levels. The only downside is there's no game save feature or even two player when playing it on its own, but play "Sonic 3 & Knuckles" back to back, and it's the best Sonic game ever made. Period.

---

Ouch! Right in my beans!

And yes, before you say anything, I know about Sonic CD, Sonic Spinball, Sonic 3D Blast, and even the dang Mean Bean Machine on the Genesis... okay? I just didn't play them back in the day because they're not the main series of games and I wasn't a total weeb. (But I do hear good things.) (...Actually, I always did want a crack at the Mean Bean Machine...) 

After Sonic & Knuckles though, sadly, the franchise got lost in the land of spin-offs, experimental flops, and cash-grabs for a while and didn't make another game until the "Adventure" series for the Sega Dreamcast... which I never played. The games they made after that have been a mixed bag, and there was a "Sonic 4" made recently, which I said earlier was okay, but didn't live up to the originals. The Genesis games are considered to be the golden age, the world of Sonic at it's best, and they certainly were. I can play them a hundred times over... no, a thousand times... and they never get old.

Skitchin'

In the 90s Kid Dictionary I will (probably) never write, between "Razor Scooter" and "Talkboy" comes Skitchin', the most rad game ever, for the Sega Genesis. Let's get an 8-year-old(ish) play by play:

10 seconds: Come on come on... enough WORDS!
21 sec: Spray paint! YEAH!
55 sec: Whoa! This is like a movie! Dun-na-na-na...
1:11 : Take that sucka!
1:16 : This bumper ain't big enough for the two of us!
1:41 : Ow! Someone's gonna eat a crowbar sandwich for that... OH DRATS!
1:59 : EAT CROWBAR!
2:50 : Damn, it's the law! Ain't skitchin' on that.
3:10 : Woohoo! Ride the ramp!
3:34 : Woohoo! First place! Movie zoom, losers!

What a long, long one way road. How does anyone get to those buildings? Are we ever going to get to that city back there? You think if I ride a ramp and end up SPLAT!! against one of these billboards, I'll be transported to another dimension? 90s kids know...

Lost Sonic 2 Levels

"Dust Hill Zone" concept art.

Many have searched for the legendary "lost Sonic 2 levels", spurred on by dreams of what could've been, what they could've looked like, and why they were cut from the final game. In our minds they are mythic, complete, and full of new surprises, enemies, and everything we came to expect from the original Sega Genesis Sonic games, but what is the truth? You have to admit that Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was an explosion of creativity with all its levels and enemies. I remember my cousin even joking once that it had "like, a hundred levels." The only disappointment for me was that it didn't, but what if it did?

"More Sonic" is always a good thing, and certainly something I would've wanted as a kid, so let's take a look at some of the real "lost levels" (not the fan-made false ones). We're all familiar with Emerald Hill Zone, Chemical Plant Zone, Casino Night, Hill Top, Oil Ocean...etc... but what about Wood Zone? Dust Hill Zone? Hidden Palace Zone? Neo-Green Hill Zone? ... Genocide City Zone??

It turns out that all of them were actual lost levels in one way or another, but the truth isn't all that awesome. There are two genuine lost zones... Wood Zone and Hidden Palace, but they are incomplete. Wood Zone takes place in the treetops, has few enemies, is missing some floors, has conveyor belts that don't present any obstacle, and doesn't particularly lead you anywhere, but it is interesting nonetheless. Hidden Palace has a more polished Act 1 featuring caves and crystals (vaguely similar to Lava Reef Zone from Sonic & Knuckles), but it's also only half done--the Act 2 for it just has Sonic standing around behind a pile of rocks until he dies.

So here's Hidden Palace Zone... with it's own music and everything.

And here's Wood Zone... Wood Zone actually had a slower version of what became the Chemical Plant music, this was just placeholder music from Emerald Hill two-player mode.

That's the cool part. The truth about the other three "lost levels" is more disappointing. It turns out the equally-legendary "Dust Hill Zone" was just an early working title for what became Mystic Cave Zone (pictures of Sonic in a desert level were sent out to magazines to advertise the game, under the name "Dust Hill Zone," but no such zone was ever made). The same is true for Neo-Green Hill Zone (the original was the first level of Sonic 1). It's nothing but an early working title for Aquatic Ruin Zone. Then there's the legendary Genocide City Zone, which is just Sonic falling into a blue/green abyss and dying (and thus the name?). It's not just unfinished, it's not even started. Supposedly, the Act 3 of Metropolis Zone was going to be the one-act "Genocide City", but they designed it with the Metropolis setup instead and made it the oddball "Act 3" that is is. I always did think it was strange that Sonic would go straight from the machine-world of Metropolis to the airplane in Sky Chase Zone.

Having said that, there are a lot of cool fan-made imaginings of what the lost Sonic 2 levels "might" have looked like, including interesting and detailed Genocide City ones, but that's all they are, fan-made imaginings. They also made Dust Hill into an awesome desert level, as well as a level that looks like a precursor to the (f-ing awesome!!) Ice Cap Zone from Sonic 3. But don't be fooled by imitations. These are the authentic ones (as far as we know).

Console Wars 2

I don't know, they both had parlor Jeopardy games...

BLAST PROCESSING!!!

Lion King on the Sega

2:30 seconds? Yeah... after you die on level two, three, four...etc.... the first three dozen times, trust me, you'll be doing this level in a minute or less. You'll be doing it in your sleep.

Ah, back when games based on movies were good, and challenging, and weren't just scene-for-scene re-shoots of the movie: exploding bugs, prickly porcupines, and hyenas that jump TWICE after you jump on them (do NOT forget), it's all good.

My brother and I went to our cousin's birthday party sometime in 1994, saw this was on, and plunked ourselves down. From there on out we had the living room commandeered... all day, afternoon, evening... we were probably the last to leave. Screw pool party. Screw presents. Screw birthday cake... this was all we were interested in. Okay, perhaps we breaked for cake.

This game is just damn tough. We never defeated Scar.

Artifacts from the Console Wars

Here I have an original booklet that accompanied the masterpiece Sonic the Hedgehog 2. This was not your typical "how to play" kind of manual (although all that was included of course), this booklet also gave a cute rundown of the zones along with awesome drawings of their respective enemies. And to think, each of the types of robots actually has a name too. If anything, all this is a testament to the Sonic Team's boundless creativity in the early years (something we can only pray for a return to).

I say this because I checked out the recent "spiritual sequel" to Sonic and Knuckles (strangely titled Sonic 4), and while it's not bad and certainly a step in the right direction for the series, one thing that struck me was how similar many of the enemies and levels are to the first three games. I think the one thing the game needed was a bit more originality (that, and perhaps a few more levels--you could beat it in a day).

These were all the pests you loved to hate as you were zipping through the levels. Spiker, Slicer, Shellcraker, and oh my word, Asteron, these guys were almost guaranteed to make Sonic lose his pimp rings!

Sonic 2 sure is a classic. Long live the Console Wars!

Sonic the Hedgehog

I had no clue what a hedgehog was, and I didn't care. It could've just as well been Sonic the Asskicker for all I knew, and it wouldn't have changed a thing. He was an ultra-rad blue animal who could cook the screen meaner than any stale Mario platform crawler ever could (up until then). A few speed dash attacks and a few go-boxes, and you could have Sonic flipping loops, bouncing over enemies, flying over pits, and easily outrunning the screen itself! You see, we boys like games requiring a few basic commands and using them a lot, which is why when it comes right down to "run," "shoot," "run some more," and "shoot some more," (Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition) such games usually register pretty well with our primitive psyches. And Sonic was a prime example... just remember to jump now and then, and you've won.

Of course it wasn't that easy! I'm joking, but that's what you think when you think of Sonic (at least, when you're not thinking about the sheer amount of porn the franchise inspired, ahem!). The Sega marketing team really had us convinced this guy was the "fastest thing aliiiiive!" And speaking of the granddaddy of all Furry dreams, almost as good as getting to play Sonic was getting to play Tails on the one player mode of Sonic 2. What's better than playing a character just like Sonic who has infinite lives and whose only purpose is to make things miserable for the titular character and whoever's playing him? The "one player" (secret two-player) mode on Sonic 2 was a stroke of genius designed to help little brothers forced to play Tails screw over big brothers who were hogging the hog. (It wasn't me!)

All I'm saying is that my brother and I spent about a combined year of our lives playing each successive Sonic incarnation for the Genesis... Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, and Sonic and Knuckles (which allowed you to go back into the other Sonic games and play as Knuckles). After S&K, don't even get me started, because suddenly the Sonic Team decided it was okay to let us meet ALL of Sonic's fellow woodland creatures, spiraling out of control the moment they had him smooching a human! (Furries rejoice!) But in the beginning they had a winning formula in the mutant idiot fox who could fly, the speedy blue guy in the Mickey Mouse gloves, and the fat robotics maniac with waaaay too much time on his hands, and that's all my brother and I needed. When they added Knuckles, we were more excited about the prospect of a hogo-a-hogo blue and red death match than extended character back story, and boy did S&K deliver!

 

But I'm getting sidetracked once again by my relentless dork fandom. Back in the land of reality, Sonic (and espcially the two-player mode) was the pretext to many acts of violence and property destruction between my brother and I whenever one brother was just too damn good at the game, and for me to say which brother that was would be an insult to my existence as the older brother... (it wasn't me). The Sega actually had to be moved to a neutral location (the downstairs den, which was my dad's office) to keep the destruction to a minimum. But all in all, we still got through each game a hundred times over, and Sonic and Knuckles in under a week's time.

I kid thee not that the one thing I remember about the day my sister was born was being carted over to my grandmother's house at 3am (I was about seven at the time), and getting to watch the now infamous Sonic cartoon that morning. Even with all the hubbub that day, all was right because Sonic was on TV. I'm no furry, but I love Sonic.