Format: Cartridge
Genre: 2d platformer
Developer: Sonic Team
Publisher: Sega

Even a cursory glance at Green Hill Zone's bright rolling emerald grass, crisp blue sky, and plethora of simultaneous animated and parallax effects reveals a world that is fantastically vibrant compared to the much more muted presentation of the competing but also excellent Super Mario World. From Green Hill Zone, the game's art goes from strength to strength throughout, with the Oshima's character animations rivaling the superb stage graphics.

Sonic's designers wanted a pop-like feel for the title, and Masato Nakamura turned out to be just the person for job, delivering catchy and surreal tunes that regularly make the rounds on game music remix sites, eighteen years after the game's release. Sound effects, such as the effect that plays when Sonic collects a ring, have gone on to be iconic in the video game industry.

Outside of Sonic's one-of-a-kind physics engine and gameplay characteristics, the title's levels feature some of the best level design of all time; individual levels are limited in scope, taking only two or three minutes to complete, and because of this small size, the designers were able to devote the time to make absolute maximum use of every tiny segment of map space, as well as delicately pace each level to perfection.

Sonic the Hedgehog's short length and deep dynamics grant it almost sandbox-like replayability. Between this depth, the sublime artwork and awing presentation, the outstanding soundtrack, and some of the best level design ever seen in a video game, Sonic the Hedgehog stands as not only the Sega Genesis' best game, also as one of the best overall video games ever produced.