You know the line, right? That the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, SEGA’s cash cow, had a rough transition into 3D? Well, I’m not gonna beat that horse today. Instead, let’s discuss how the 16-bit juggernaut had a rough transition…into the 8-bit realm! Series steward Sonic Team, back when that name carried unanimous prestige, was uninvolved in their namesake’s SEGA Master System and Game Gear romps. Most were outsourced to external studios, and the first of the bunch—Sonic the Hedgehog, which shares its name and premise with the Sonic 1—is a surprisingly laudable effort. Helmed by Ancient, it’s a fascinating footnote within the hedgehog’s history we’ll explore down the road.
Image: Source Gaming. Dubbed “G Sonic” in Japan, 1996’s Sonic Blast is the series’ last installment on the Game Gear and Master System (it received a Brazil-exclusive port for the latter the following year).
Alas, not today. Another external studio, Aspect, developed Sonic 2 for SEGA’s 8-bit machines. It shares virtually nothing with its Genesis namesake, and it’s…well, clumsy. Very clumsy. Still, it was a foundation upon which they’d improve. Sequels Sonic Chaos, Triple Trouble, and even the weird Metroidvania-esque Tails Adventure show continual growth on Aspect’s end. Which makes it all the more deflating that their tenure on Sonic’s secondary side-scrollers closed with the dishonestly named Sonic Blast. More notorious disasters rightfully draw the ire of fans, though this obscure outing still ranks among Sonic’s worst platformers. Of those released during SEGA’s hardware manufacturing heyday, I’d argue it’s the worst.
Most 8-bit Sonic side-scrollers repeat beats from the Genesis games. Where Triple Trouble pits the star against Knuckles the Echidna, a “mysterious figure” the evil Dr. Eggman tricked à la Sonic 3, the reformed redhead teams up with Sonic and is even playable in Blast; think Sonic & Knuckles. Naturally, both rodents can jump, roll, and Spin Dash. When standing still, you can duck and then rev up said Spin Dash; the spiky stars quickly roll forward after you release them, making ‘em harder to control but able to safely crash through most enemies. Normal rolling—pressing down on the D-pad while running curls your mascot—and jumping also lets you bop most bots.
Image: Source Gaming. In Sonic & Knuckles, the echidna’s campaign is an epilogue where he purges his home of Eggman’s lingering mechs. Conversely, his journey here happens concurrently with Sonic’s.
Each hero has their own strengths. Knuckles’ abilities from Sonic & Knuckles carry over: he can glide after jumping, cling onto a wall, and then climb up or down; exploring Blast’s fifteen levels is a breeze for him. But the muscular anteater ironically struggles against bosses, the area where Sonic shines. Lifted from Sonic 3’s Lightning Shield, he boasts a handy double jump that helps him strike Eggman. It’s usually helpful in the stages, too; the hedgehog’s hardly handicapped.
Regardless, few of the 16-bit games’ finer qualities endure. Running down a slope still makes Sonic or Knuckles go faster, but rolling is iffier; it’d often make me awkwardly stop partway through a loop-de-loop, an issue endemic to 2010’s lousy Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I. Another quirk from the decade-later Sonic 3 sequel rears its head here, too: Sonic…uncurls when rolling off a ledge, undermining his core mechanic. Knowing what’s ahead is valuable in Sonic side-scrollers, especially those that suffer from the Game Gear’s small screen; hazards will blindside you. And where levels in Sonic 1 through Knuckles sport alternate pathways, increasing their replayability, each stage here basically only has one. As such, they never take advantage of Sonic’s or Knuckles’ talents; you won’t, say, discover an exclusive route when climbing. While there is reason to explore (which we’ll explore later), there’s little incentive to revisit Sonic Blast after beating it once.
Image: Source Gaming. The Genesis games’ stages usually boast upper, middle, and lower routes, something Blast’s take on Green Hill Zone gestures at. But its alternate paths only last mere seconds before reconverging; they’re glorified diversions.
Unsurprisingly, the series’ iconic Rings let you survive a hit as long as you’re holding at least one. Several scatter to the wind afterwards, but you can reclaim a few if you’re quick. In an effort to accommodate the Game Gear screen, you won’t lose your whole collection when struck; only increments of ten (notably, Shadow the Hedgehog later employed this luxury). Should you accrue 100 Rings, the counter resets in exchange for an extra life. Rings are found in the open or inside item boxes, the latter of which may instead contain a shield, Speed Boots, invincibility, a checkpoint, or a Sonic or Knuckles icon; the latter two give their respective model a 1-Up. Even the bonus plates at the end of a level can distribute rewards, including Rings, lives, and continues. Spawning the Super Sonic panel, in the transformation’s lone appearance on the handheld, yields 30 Rings and an extra life. In my experience, Sonic accumulates lives more readily, another boon to the glory hog.
Anyway, Sonic Blast upholds the structure of Sonic 1 and its direct predecessors, containing five Zones that consist of three Acts apiece. Where the first two are fully featured levels, the third Acts are simply a quick sprint to nab Rings before facing a boss. You’re always given ten minutes to clear a level, an extremely generous amount (on average, Acts span a minute or so). Set across recurring series’ locale South Island, each visually diverse Zone adheres to an unsubtle naming convention: Green Hill, Yellow Desert, Red Volcano, Blue Marine, and Silver Castle. Aesthetically, they all retread familiar ideas, which is fine.
Image: Source Gaming. Occasionally, Aspect strategically places Rings—and, in this case, a black gap in the background—to guide players. Jumping here leads to a Special Ring (more on those later)!
What brings them down is Aspect’s uninspired level design. Naturally, the uncharacteristically plasticine Green Hill Zone eases players into the action; enemies are sparse and unthreatening, Act 1 is mostly devoid of gimmicks, and Act 2’s tubes simply move Sonic or Knuckles deeper into the grove. Green Hill’s biggest danger is its rotating bridges, the undersides of which are spiky—though either hero can easily leap over ‘em. Completing the warmup is the game’s most pathetic boss, a barely guarded Dr. Eggman. Floating in his mech, the guy simply throws a boomerang and occasionally moves between the right and left side of the screen. Jumping atop his windshield six times wrecks him. While Green Hill is too simplistic to be fun, its simplicity at least gives it a breeziness the next four Zones lack.
Yellow Desert is split between the desert and inside of a pyramid, again channeling Sonic & Knuckles. The latter is where Sonic Blast’s ill-placed hazards start becoming an unpardonable nuisance; Act 2’s ceiling is lined with spikes, irritations you’ll double jump into without warning. It also features a bizarre “maze” consisting of craters that propel the mammals forwards or backwards; completionists are gonna groan looking for the specific few that lead to a secret area. While Red Volcano’s gimmicks—deadly lava and platforms you need to Spin Dash atop to move—are fine, if nothing novel, Blue Marine then awkwardly builds on Desert’s labyrinthian aspirations. Traversing it requires dashing through tubes, but you’ll, again, need to experiment to discover which ones whisk you further into the abyss. Some even emit harsh currents that push you backwards! And Silver Castle iterates on Marine’s pipes through transporters that, of course, require trial and error. Nearly half of Blast feels atypical for what’s nominally a traditional Sonic side-scroller, and not for clever or engaging reasons.
Image: Source Gaming. Easily the game’s worst Zone, Blue Marine’s monotonous palette and lethargic underwater areas quickly grow exhausting. Mercifully, the Blue Blur at least stands out amongst the cyans and navies.
Likewise, Sonic Blast’s bosses are half-baked. Eggman’s admittedly nifty looking Journey to the West-inspired suit simply flies back and forth; jump to dodge its Power Pole and hit the cockpit. His Red Volcano follow-up is similar; Eggman’ll dash across the screen, bounce around, and flail his well-telegraphed wrecking ball. Honestly, I forgot what Blue Marine’s boss entailed between replaying Blast and writing this article. The short answer is that Eggman mostly dashes around. He’s fought underwater and fires harpoons, which release air bubbles upon hitting the ground, though neither spice things up much. Silver Castle’s closer, however, is the major break from protocol: by running left or right on a treadmill, you move a platform that hovers above you. Eggman’s laser bounces off it, and when that happens, it’ll invariably strike him; sprint accordingly. Eventually, the good Doc’ll try misleading you—he’ll, say, gesture towards the left before performing an about face—but a misstep’s hardly fatal; simply hop over his beam. To be blunt, Eggman barely puts up a fight.
Still, I appreciate these mechs more in retrospect. With a little practice, you can tear through most of them in seconds. Recent Sonics—Superstars, Frontiers, even my dear Mania—boast longer, more elaborate bosses that ask you to wait around until they become vulnerable. That isn’t part of the appeal in a series whose headliner is basically a living, cocky buzzsaw, y’know? Just let me obliterate Dr. Eggman and be on my way.
Image: Source Gaming. Where the two versions of Sonic 1 merely tweak their endings if you collect every Chaos Emerald, Aspect’s Sonic 2 supplied a bigger prize: access to the final Zone. Sonic Blast does something similar…
Cracking Dr. Eggman for good requires obtaining all five Chaos Emeralds. Somewhere within the first and second Acts of each Zone lies a hidden Special Ring. Entering one brings you to a Special Stage, which yields extra lives if you’re playing an Act 1 or a gemstone if an Act 2. While they’re set along areas that resemble Sonic 3 & Knuckles’ Blue Spheres planetoids, they’re functionally closer to Sonic 2’s famous halfpipes; you move forward automatically and gotta grab fifty Rings. Objects litter the runway: bumpers knock you back, springs thrust you into the air, and boosters provide a burst of speed. Naturally, the courses escalate in difficulty; little leeway’s given when pursuing that last Emerald! For what it’s worth, these diversions are probably what I like most about Blast. They aren’t entertaining, but they are kosher Sonic…and, look, I’m a sucker for Blue Spheres. Anything borrowing their iconography earns easy brownie points with me.
Tearing through Silver Castle’s treadmill with the gems in hand leads into the finale. Get this: Eggman’s ultimate monstrosity is shaped like an egg! It cracks open, and the top half will begin moving back and forth. Whacking the wacko six times causes the bottom to start doing the same. Here’s how this duel works: first, you press the yellow button on the bottom unit, and then you strike the scientist. When he’s vulnerable, an arrow replaces his mug on the mech’s monitor. There’s only a brief window to retaliate, however, and spikes spin across the top that are difficult to avoid, especially as Knuckles. Thankfully, you start with 99 Rings, and—as my next screenshot shows—you’ll need ‘em! Surviving this ordeal yields the true ending, where Sonic or Knux gaze at the Death Egg-esque Silver Castle sinking into the ocean during a gorgeous sunset. It evokes Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest, an all-time favorite.
Image: Source Gaming. Regrettably, Kojiro Mikusa’s audio work does nothing to elevate Sonic Blast. If I had to name a positive, I guess it’s neat that Green Hill scored a new melody? That was a novelty at the time.
Gorgeous for Sonic Blast standards, I mean. Okay, I’ve mostly been ignoring the elephant in the room. Looking at the images throughout this article has undoubtedly been painful, because, yes, Sonic Blast is hideous. Two years before its release, Nintendo published Rare’s resplendent Donkey Kong Country, the Super NES classic that revitalized Nintendo’s console and dormant brand. SEGA undoubtedly envied its success and figured their hedgehog would be a fine guinea pig to attempt something similar.
Sonic and Donkey Kong actually share a deep love of nature; they even treat factories as grimy dumps incongruent with their stars’ scenic islands. Difference is, Donkey Kong was largely a blank canvas before 1994. Rare took the opportunity to lovingly define it through worlds as lush and realistic as the Super NES could realize. While Sonic’s settings are equally lush, they’re instead fantastical wonderlands, a style that meshes poorly with gritty pre-rendered sprites—to say nothing of how the handheld can barely handle them; Blast suffers from slowdown. For what shortcomings the older 8-bit titles had, they unmistakably tried to preserve Sonic’s visual sensibilities. Plus, Blast aping Donkey Kong Country so nakedly was an early sign that SEGA’s confidence in their mascot was waning. Several Sonic games in the following decades would sport questionable gameplay styles and plots in misguided attempts to broaden its appeal.
Image: Source Gaming. A luxury of old games I miss is cheat codes. Kindly, Sonic Blast has a level select code like Sonic 1 and other games from their era.
Are there any other positives to Sonic Blast? Well, getting to play as Knuckles in an 8-bit platformer is kinda cool. I first experienced Blast through Sonic Adventure DX, whose sequels usually portrayed the redhead as a hotheaded dope; it’s nice when he isn’t reduced to that. On a technical level, it is impressive to see pre-rendered sprites running on the Game Gear. Unlike Rare’s first crack at doing so on the Game Boy, they’re readable. And…that’s basically it.
Sonic Blast garners no fanfare. A few Sonic comics drew from it, and it’s reliably re-released whenever SEGA revisits their 8-bit backlog (I replayed it through the Sonic Origins Plus compilation on my Switch). We’re not gonna see some glorious tribute to it through Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds DLC or Sonic Team’s next production, though. When I mentioned I was reviewing Blast on Bluesky a while ago, two Sonic fans responded by bashing it; hedgehog devotees are painfully aware that Blast isn’t, well, a blast. And yet I still managed to haggle some quaint fun out of it! Going through it and the superior Super Mario Land and Mega Man V in quick succession make me wistful for the days when platforming mascots starred in weirder, smaller-scale adventures on handhelds. Weak though Sonic Blast may be, it’s an easily ignorable misfire that embodies that long-gone era.
Image: Source Gaming. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Sonic 3D Blast, the isometric Genesis game from which this side-scroller draws its name. I’ll replay it…eventually.
Thanks to Hamada for helping with edits.
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