Sonic the Hedgehog (arcade game)

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Sonic the Hedgehog

Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sonic Team
System(s): Mega-Tech and Mega Play
Genre: Action, Racing
Number of players: 1

Sonic the Hedgehog was one of the games adapted for release in arcades for both the Mega-Tech and Mega Play hardware.

Gameplay

Mega-Tech version

The Mega-Tech version is essentially the same as the Sega Mega Drive game. The first two revisions of Sonic the Hedgehog have been used in various machines and cheat codes still work. Also, like all Mega-Tech games there is a time limit on how long the game can be played and a high score table is displayed on the top screen. The time limit can be increased by inserting credits.

Mega Play version

The Mega Play version has a large number of differences from the Mega Drive game. First of all the second revision is used so the scrolling clouds in Green Hill Zone are present. However, cheat codes cannot be used. The player only has three lives to complete the game, and extra lives cannot be earned; breaking a 1-Up monitor will award 5,000 points instead. Continues are increased by inserting credits after a Game Over.

There are also only four Zones: Green Hill Zone, Spring Yard Zone, Star Light Zone, and Scrap Brain Zone (which is missing its third Act). Special Stages are also missing and jumping into the Giant Rings only cause Sonic to disappear, therefore the player cannot collect any Chaos Emeralds. The credit roll is not used. The player can also enter their initials on a High Score screen displayed after the game ends, either by running out of lives or finishing the game. There is also a strictly enforced time limit unique to each level. If the level isn't completed by that time, the player will lose a life and the timer will be reset.

The Mega Play version was later ported to the Nintendo Switch as part of Sega Ages Sonic the Hedgehog.

Time limits

Level		Time
Green Hill Zone	Act 1	0:50
	Act 2	1:00
	Act 3	1:50
Spring Yard Zone	Act 1	2:10
	Act 2	1:50
	Act 3	3:00
Star Light Zone	Act 1	2:00
	Act 2	2:30
	Act 3	4:00
Scrap Brain Zone	Act 1	3:00
	Act 2	3:30
Final Zone		4:00

Magazine articles

File	Date	Source	Title and comments
	Template:MagazineNameAR Template:MagazineNameNL Template:MagazineNamePT Template:MagazineNameGR Template:MagazineNameDK Template:MagazineNameSE Template:MagazineNamePL Template:MagazineNameAT Template:MagazineNameFI Template:MagazineNameCZ Template:MagazineNameNZ Template:MagazineNameKR Template:MagazineNameTW Template:MagazineNameTH Template:TVName Template:OnlineRatingTest	Template:MagazineNameAR Template:MagazineNameNL Template:MagazineNamePT Template:MagazineNameGR Template:MagazineNameDK Template:MagazineNameSE Template:MagazineNamePL Template:MagazineNameAT Template:MagazineNameFI Template:MagazineNameCZ Template:MagazineNameNZ Template:MagazineNameKR Template:MagazineNameTW Template:MagazineNameTH Template:TVName Template:OnlineRatingTest	"Sega City" Short article in Raze #8, mentioning a conversion of the Mega Drive game to arcades. Presumably this refers to Sonic the Hedgehog on Mega-Tech or Mega Play.

Physical scans

MegaPlay, EU
Cover

MegaTech, US

Cart

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments

References

Sonic games for the following systems

1991 Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car 1993 Sonic the Hedgehog | SegaSonic Cosmo Fighter Galaxy Patrol | Sonic the Hedgehog 2 | SegaSonic the Hedgehog 1996 Sonic the Fighters 2011 Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing 2020 Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - Arcade Edition

Prototypes SegaSonic the Hedgehog (revision A)

Unreleased SegaSonic Bros. | Sonic Ride | Pre-May 1993 Sonic arcade games

	1992 UFO Mini: SegaSonic 1993 Sonic the Hedgehog \| SegaSonic Popcorn Shop 1994 Sonic's Space Tours 1997 Sonic the Hedgehog AWP 2002 Sonic & Tails Spinner 2003 CR Sonic 2007 Sonic Spinner 2008 Sonic Live!