Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis/Comparisons/Special Stage

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Like the main game, Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis's implementation of the Special Stages are exposed to a less accurate gameplay engine, so play differently than their Mega Drive counterparts. These are also the only levels in the game where pausing doesn't bring up a menu (or indeed stop the music from playing), it just literally pauses the game.

The solid, colour-changing square blocks that make up the stage behave slightly different in Genesis. While it's not always obvious to see, on the Mega Drive, there are a variety of block types, all of which switch between two colours at various intervals. In Genesis all of the blocks switch between four colours.

Game Boy Advance

Mega Drive

The first Special Stage opens with Sonic dropping onto this corner. Unlike the Mega Drive game, you can hit the "R" block as many times as you want in succession, and this constant swapping of rotation direction means the Special Stage essentially stops spinning. In the Mega Drive game, you will almost certainly be led to goal blocks if you take your hands off the controls.

Sonic is more wedged into the R block because because the collision boxes of solid objects are smaller in Genesis. This gives him slightly more room to manouvure.

Game Boy Advance

Mega Drive

On the Mega Drive, hitting "UP" blocks increases the speed of the spin, and results in the block becoming a "DOWN" block instead. This feature isn't implemented in Genesis, despite the manual saying otherwiseMedia:SonicGenesis GBA US manual.pdf.