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Sonic ERaZor

From Sonic Retro

S1erz.png
Sonic ERaZor
Version: Sonic ERaZor 8
Last release: January 17, 2025
System: Sega Genesis/Mega Drive
ROM size: 1,012 KB (1,015 KB widescreen)
Original game: Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit)
Credits: Selbi, vladikcomper
Thanks: ajcox, CarrascoZX0, Chaotic SoFa, cloudiar, Craze, DalekSam, DeoxysKyogre, DeltaW, EduardoKnuckles, FraGag, fuzzy, Giovanni, Give, Irixion, iojnekns, Javesike, Jorge, MainMemory, MarkeyJester, neonsynth, Peanut Noceda, redhotsonic, Spanner, Tongara, VAdaPEGA, zakku

Sonic ERaZor is a completed ROM hack of Sonic the Hedgehog created by Selbi, with extensive technical assistance by vladikcomper. This hack is unlike many others, featuring a (bizarre) in-game story line and ridiculous challenges/mechanics, as well a ton of cutscenes, story screens, and easter eggs. Furthermore, while not originally intended as such, the hack is often summarized as "What if Michael Bay directed Sonic 1?" due to its rampant use of explosions and focus on action.

The name ERaZor, with its upper- and lowercase letters, is a mix of the word eraser and the German word Scherz (meaning "joke" in English). Despite the naming similarities, it has nothing to do with Erazor Djinn or Sonic Eraser.

When first released back in early 2010, Selbi stated that this hack had no goal whatsoever, and any ideas he came up with just went in. Today's releases have a lot more structure and thought-out gameplay elements. The difficulty has been steadily balanced with each new release, mostly due to negative feedback regarding the frustrating game design of the earlier ones. However, it deliberately remains tough and has never abandoned its roots as a difficult game.

In 2024, the hack received its first update in over eight years with the release of the Seventh Public Release, which introduced Casual/Frantic Mode (a unique difficulty selection specifically built around ERaZor's identity). Four months later, in early 2025, a huge patch in the form of the eighth public release followed, introducing 16:9 widescreen support (for RetroArch with the Genesis Plus GX Wide core).

Levels

Sonic ERaZor's levels are based on those of its source game. The level order, however, deviates a lot.

Pre-Game

Intro Sequence

A short cutscene showcasing Sonic running at high speed through a Green Hill Zone-based level with a hot palette, while being chased by a Buzz Bomber which shoots exploding bullets at him. At the end of the sequence, Sonic launches himself into a giant ring trap, which teleports him to Überhub Place, kicking off the events of the game.

Überhub Place

This is the overworld of the hack (which is actually based on Spring Yard Zone of all things). From here, the player can enter the tutorial and the options menu, or select the level they want to play by jumping into the respective tubes. Each beaten level unlocks a new door and awards a trophy. By default, the player returns to this stage automatically, though this behavior can be disabled in the options.

Tutorial Place

The optional but recommended first level of this game. It was designed to teach players the various unique aspects of this game. Information monitors are spread around the level, which will display useful tips in a small text box by pressing A. The level contains guidelines to the controls, the Inhuman Mode, the Hard Part Skippers, Trial-and-Error sections, and Gravity Control. This entire stage can be skipped by jumping into the Giant Ring to the left of the player as they enter the stage.

Main Game

Night Hill Place / Green Hill Place

The true first level of the ERaZor. It's a darkened version of the source game's Green Hill Zone. Sonic can't defeat the altered Badniks in the waterfall section. The patient player can try to destroy them with the hidden invincibility power-up, or the impatient can simply try to avoid colliding with them. At the end of this level is a boss fight with a Crabmeat, which shoots a lot of exploding balls.

After defeating the Crabmeat, Sonic is launched into the second half of the stage: all three acts of the original Green Hill Zone in one big level. However, the differences are immediately apparent, as all enemies in this section are covered in explosions or related to explosions otherwise. At the end of this level is a boss fight with a hypercharged version of the GHZ boss battle with 3 wrecking balls.

Special Place

This mini-stage is based off the Special Stages, with the major difference that this one doesn't rotate. Instead, the player is required to carefully move Sonic through the stage and avoid the many, many GOAL blocks. If Sonic touches one of these, the stage won't end though, but he will be teleported to the last checkpoint he collected.

Ruined Place

Half-way through this level, which is based on Marble Zone, Sonic is forced to activate an S-monitor. This enables Inhuman Mode, which allows Sonic to propel himself into the air by firing exploding bullets when pressing A. From there, the player must navigate through a maze with spiked walls, ceilings and floors, which will teleport Sonic back on contact. Furthermore (in Frantic Mode only), standing on the ground also causes rings to be drained incredibly fast. Think of the movie Speed, but with a hedgehog, because the player dies upon reaching zero.

At the end of the stage, Eggman sets up a lava trap for Sonic, which doesn't do anything though, as Sonic is completely immune to everything except spikes while in Inhuman Mode. This is followed by a "boss" fight where Eggman desperately tries to run away from the unbeatable menace. The stage ends with a foreshadowing cutscene for Unterhub Place.

Labyrinthy Place

This level takes the claustrophobic atmosphere of Labyrinth Zone to the extreme. Thematically, the stage is about the camera crew taking revenge of the player after the previous level. The camera behaves like Jungle Zone Act 2 from the Sega Master System version of Sonic 1: as soon as Sonic lands on higher ground, the screen will rise and lock; if he then hits the new bottom of the screen, he will die. At a few points in the stage, this behavior is disabled to allow the player to drop down. The stage ends with a helpless Jaws badnik.

Unreal Place

The second Special Stage also follows the same idea as the first one, being a non-rotating labyrinth the player must navigate through. This one stage has a different direction though: upon touching a certain block, Sonic will automatically float, restricting the player to only the Left and Right buttons. The movement can be reversed by touching an UP or DOWN block, and checkpoints are scattered around the level. At the end of the stage, the remaining 2 Chaos Emeralds need to be collected.

Scar Night Place / Star Agony Place

In Frantic Mode only, before the actual level starts, a cutscene plays. It shows Dr. Eggman activating a machine to mass-produce Bigboms, which will then appear all over both acts.

The actual level is based on Star Light Zone, and it mirrors the hybrid design of Night Hill Place / Green Hill Place. It starts off with a short section where rings can be collected. After that comes a unique boss fight against the Walking Bomb, which cannot be attacked and requires the player to carefully wait for it to destroy itself. Each explosion exposes increasingly more shrapnel flying in random directions.

The second section begins right after the bomb boss has been defeated. Pressing a switch will cause the walls to start blinking red, as they are now harmful and must be avoided. Sonic is granted the ability he has been taught in the Tutorial Place: controlling his gravity by pressing A or C. In a similar manner as the stages before, the player must carefully navigate Sonic through this huge maze and do some mini-challenges from time to time. This essentially turns Star Agony Place into a giant Buzz-Wire Game featuring Sonic.

Unterhub Place

This stage was added as part of Sonic ERaZor 8. It takes place directly underneath Überhub Place, after a sneaky Roller badnik stole the spike trophy acquired after beating Ruined Place. It utilizes the same Spring Yard Zone tileset as the hub world.

The early part of the level is a laid-back chase sequence after the Roller, through an otherwise pretty tame platforming section. This is then abruptly juxtaposed by the revelation of what the spike trophy was stolen for: Eggman shows up with it in a hypercharged version of the Egg Stinger boss fight.

At the end of the stage, you can either destroy or spare the Roller badnik, which will affect the story text after the stage.

Finalor Place

This is the final boss. It's a significantly harder and faster version of the original boss fight, as the crushers are moving at the same time the energy balls are falling down, which will explode once they hit the ground. To make up for this, it's possible to score multiple hits in a single cycle. After defeating the boss, the player is faced with the final challenge of escaping the facility, leading through the tutorial. Just be quick enough before this whole place blows the hell up.

End-Game

Ending Sequence

A direct parody of the original Ending Sequence of Sonic 1, the scene starts off with Sonic running to the left as usual. Shortly at the end he forgets to stop in time, though, and falls right into a bottomless pit. The player is rightfully mad at this point, bro.

In Sonic ERaZor 8 only, a slightly different ending can be unlocked if beating the game without any deaths.

Blackout Challenge

The final challenge of the game, a very dark spin (both figuratively and literally) on Unreal Place. In a near pitch-black environment along with oppressive music and the unused skull blocks from the Sonic 1 prototype, the player must navigate through the stage by rotating it in a similar fashion as the Sonic 4 special stages.

Beating the stage will reward the player with a personal message from the creator and unlock the final bonus option (True-BS Mode, essentially a super dumb hardcore mode).

Music

ID Usage in Sonic ERaZor Song Name Original Game Ported by
$81 Night Hill Place Hockenheim-Ring F1: Pole Position (SNES) DalekSam
$82 Labyrinthy Place Dr. Cossack Stage 2 Mega Man 4 DalekSam
$83 Ruined Place Blade's Theme Eternal Champions Spanner
$84 Scar Night Place Title Screen Mega Man IV (GB) DalekSam
$85 Überhub Place Freeze Man Stage Mega Man 7 DalekSam
$86 Green Hill Place Spark Mandrill Mega Man X DalekSam
$87 Tutorial Place Stage 4-2 Ninja Gaiden Spanner
$88 Special Stage clear Special Stage clear Sonic the Hedgehog -
$89 Special Place Hidden Track Tecmo Wrestling Spanner
$8A Title Screen Opening Sequence Super Street Fighter II Turbo DalekSam
$8B =P Monitor in Labyrinthy Place Ending (Troll Remix) Sonic the Hedgehog Selbi
$8C Green Hill Place boss Chaos Angel - Act 1 Sonic Advance 3 DalekSam
$8D Finalor Place Shutdown Pulseman DalekSam
$8E Unterhub Place Freeze Man Stage - Laid-Back Remix Mega Man 7 Selbi
$8F Not reading the tutorial Game Over Sonic the Hedgehog -
$90 The Great Escape Opening Stage Mega Man X3 DalekSam
$91 Options Menu and Invincibility Ending Theme Dangerous Seed Spanner
$92 Drowning Drowning Sonic the Hedgehog -
$93 Unterhub Place boss Military on the Max Power Gunstar Heroes DalekSam
$94 Green Hill Place Green Hill Zone Sonic the Hedgehog -
$95 Intro Cutscene Ken's Theme Street Fighter II DalekSam
$96 Star Agony Place Stage 7: Orn Base Thunder Force III Spanner
$97 Credits Opening / Rhythm Emotion Gundam Wing: Endless Duel DalekSam
$98 Crabmeat boss Boss (Pinch) Sonic Advance 3 Eduardo Knuckles
$99 Game Introduction Dark Man/Proto Man Stages Mega Man 5 Eduardo Knuckles
$9A Unreal Place Whirlwind Shinobi III DalekSam
$9B Walking Bomb boss Boss (Pinch) - Alternate Sonic Advance 3 Eduardo Knuckles
$9C Blackout Challenge Shutdown - Dark Remix Pulseman Selbi
$9D Ruined Place boss and Ending Sequence Push! Zillion Push Eduardo Knuckles
$9E Final Boss Final Boss Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Spanner
$9F Inhuman Mode Straight Ahead Mega Man Zero 4 DalekSam

Downloads

Download.svg Download Sonic ERaZor
File: s1erz_Release8.zip (1.27 MB) (info)
Current version: Eighth Public Release (2025) - including Widescreen Edition as separate ROM

Prior versions

External links

References

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