Genre: 2d Platformer
Developer: SNK
Publisher: SNK

Sonic Pocket Adventure's graphics, like most of the game, are all taken from the other Sonic games. The various themes of the zones, such as Green Hill Zone and Aquatic Ruin Zone, are straight out of the other games. The graphics in fact are extremely close to the original, except for slightly different Sonic/Tails animation and the absence of parallax scrolling. For an NGPC game, Sonic Pocket Adventure is very colorful and fairly detailed too, but not quite as well done as games like Metal Slug and Samurai Shodown II.

Like the graphics, the music is also all out of the Genesis Sonic titles. It was fun hearing 6-tone PSG versions of those songs, and listening to see how they changed them to accomodate the limitations of the NGPC's sound chip. I'm glad they chose to keep the music from the 16-bit titles for us hardcore hedgehog lovers, but it would have been nice for them to include some original tunes as well and show some creativity. The sound effects are ho-hum, although that could be said for all of the 2d Sonic titles.

The gameplay engine is well done when you compare it to the Game Gear Sonic titles, which really played nothing like the Genesis games. However, compared to the Genesis titles, I have to make a few key nit-pics. First, the behavior when hitting enemies is different. When hitting them from below, instead of sweeping right through them, you bounce up above them as if you hit them from above. When hitting a monitor or enemy, the height at which you rebound is not proportional to the height from which you fell from, which it should be. When going up a steep slope, you can't run very well. However, when you're running up a vertical surface, you can go quite far. Also, when you jump for a ledge, you can make jumps you should not be able to make, Sonic just seems to snap up onto the platform. Again, these are all nitpicking, but they were pretty much glaring faults to me right from the start. Then again, I'm probably just being anal, to a normal human being, Sonic Pocket Adventure plays just fine.

Aside from the gameplay engine inadequecies, the other problem I have with the game is in the level design. The levels are very difficult compared to the other Sonic titles; the maps are focused way too much on making tricky jumps and navigating sections of goofy platforms. From such irrational things as platforms that mash you into the ceiling above when stepped on, to pits of bumpers that are next to impossible to escape from, the game is really only enjoyable to those well versed in the art of Sonic. After beating the game a few times, I had it memorized enough to play through it rather quickly, and then the levels are actually pretty fun. But a novice to platformers, or even a casual Sonic fan, will simply get frustrated in parts of the levels. Clearly, given the difficult levels and the fact that all of the content was borrowed from the other Sonic games, the target audience for this title is hardcore Sonic fans. Unfortunately, to this same hardcore audience, the faulty gameplay engine may or may not be a distraction. On the whole, this is a pretty good Sonic outing despite its flaws, and I think it a pretty good game all around.