If there's ever any video-game I remember fondly from my childhood, it's this one, since it was the first game I can remember ever playing. Many people may argue that Sonic's gotten a bit stale over the years, but when it comes to his first ever title, 'stale' is certainly not the word I would use when describing this classic.
Let's get into the plot first. Dr. Ivo Robotnik, a mad scientist, is kidnapping innocent animals and turning them into evil robots in an attempt to conquer the world. He also wants to get his hands on the mystical Chaos Emeralds that can be found on South Island, which is the game's setting. The Chaos Emeralds are really powerful energy-filled gems that could potentially help Robotnik succeed in his quest for world domination. So it's up to Sonic, a blue hedgehog with a way past cool attitude and super speed to put a stop to Robotnik's evil plans. It's a simple plot, but given that this was back in the days when story barely mattered and solid gameplay mattered a lot, I'm not going to complain.
On the surface, the game is your run of the mill 2D platformer. Your goal is to get to the end of each level. The game's levels are split up into zones, of which there are three acts in each. There are six zones in total with three acts per zone, meaning that there are around 18 levels in total. At the end of every third act in every zone, you'll fight a boss. What sets this game apart from other platformers of the time is the sense of speed included in this game. The fact that you can go really fast was one of the biggest selling points of this game, and it is really quite satisfying and rewarding to build up your speed by either running really fast or by utilizing the momentum-based physics.
The levels you travel through are plagued by robots that all want Sonic dead. You can destroy these robots by either jumping on them or by using the Super Sonic Spin Attack (a roll). There are also other hazards to look out for as well, namely spikes, but also the occasional bottomless pit and the timer, which only grants you a rather lenient ten minutes to beat the stage.
Throughout your journey you'll also encounter television monitors which contain items that serve to make your journey a little bit more relaxed. You can get an invincibility item, speed shoes which make Sonic run even faster, a shield that enables Sonic to take an extra hit with no real consequence other than losing the shield, extra lives and ten Rings.
Wait, what are Rings I hear you ask? The purpose of the Rings is to keep you alive. If you hold at least one Ring, getting damaged won't do anything other than cause you to lose the Rings you were holding. However, if you take damage while holding no Rings and wearing no shield, you will die. Rings can also serve other purposes too - collecting a hundred grants you an extra life, and if you beat the first or second acts of a zone while holding fifty of them, you can access a special stage via a giant ring.
Remember those all powerful Chaos Emeralds I mentioned? Well, the special stages, or the Secret Zone as it's referred to in the manual, are optional stages that give you a shot at collecting a Chaos Emerald. The special stages consists of rotating levels with unusual backgrounds. In here, you have to jump around, occasionally making your way through what looks like a rotating maze, until you find a group of gems that you need to break through to collect the Chaos Emerald in the centre. You can find various spheres in these stages which can either help or hinder you, such as the R sphere which changes the direction the stage rotates in, or the bumpers which can send you flying. But be mindful of the GOAL spheres; touch them and it's back to the regular levels with you, with no Chaos Emerald to show for it. I honestly find the special stages to be the most tedious part of the game, and they are rather inconsistent in terms of difficulty (I find the third special stage to be the hardest and the last one to be the easiest). Thankfully, they are optional, but not collecting the emeralds will automatically get you the least desirable of the game's two endings.
The main levels in this game, however, are really good and, for the most part, feature a consistent rise in challenge throughout the game. I do like the variety in the level designs as well. I know that some people feel that some of the levels seem a little inconsistent in terms of how fast you can go; for example, in the first zone, Green Hill, you get to go really fast while still being able to platform comfortably. The following zone, Marble Zone, however, is much more platform heavy and it's difficult to utilize Sonic's speed here. While it's not a huge issue in my opinion and it doesn't detract from my experience at all, I've heard of people say they were put off upon reaching Marble Zone and realizing that the speedy platforming was not as fast. Still, this was the first game in the series, so things like this can be forgiven.
The boss fights that occur at the end of each zone are a lot of fun to fight. The strategies are reasonably simple, and I like the fact that you're always fighting Robotnik and not one of his lackeys.
The controls are incredibly simple: you use the d-pad to head left or right, and look up or duck. While moving, you can also press down to do a Super Sonic Spin Attack (roll). Either A, B or C can be used to jump. These simple controls along with the fact that Sonic responds well to input means that this is a game that anyone can pick up and play. The only thing worth mentioning is that as this is the first game, Sonic doesn't have the spin dash move that was present in near every game after this, which may be a bit disorientating for those that have played Sonic 2 or later games before this one.
There's no save feature in this game, which isn't all that surprising given the time this game was released as save features were uncommon. However, the game is not incredibly long and the lack of a save feature honestly doesn't matter.
Graphically, this is an attractive Mega Drive game. With colourful graphics, detailed environments and appealing level designs, this is certainly far from ugly and the fluid, consistent frame rate makes the graphics as well as the gameplay appear smooth.
The music - with the exception of the special stage music which I personally find tedious - is fantastic and extremely memorable. Let's put it this way, I played this game as a small child of approximately five years. I remembered the music for years afterwards, even without playing the game again until I was a teenager. The music is so good in fact that remixes continue to be made even to this day.
It kind of goes without saying at this point but I think this game is brilliant. Great gameplay, attractive graphics, amazing music, this game has it all, and well over twenty years after it's release, I still think it holds up extremely well. Although Sonic would continue to get better in releases like Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic 1 is still a great game and I highly recommend you try it, either on the original Mega Drive console or by playing one of the very many ports available on today's modern consoles.