Eggman sets himself on a quest to locate the emeralds for his own use, wanting to harness their power for his many mechanical creations. Learning of the existence of the Chaos Emeralds, the mad genius Dr. All they do know is of the incredible power they are said to contain, and how they can give energy to all living beings. Though legend says they exist on the island, no one knows exactly where they are or how to get a hold of them. While the reason for this behavior is unknown, it is rumored that it may have something to do with the legendary gemstones known as the Chaos Emeralds. The reason for it being absent is a simple, yet mysterious one: it does not have a fixed position, instead traveling through the seas on its own course. Somewhere in the ocean lies a mysterious island not found on any map, known by its inhabitants as South Island. It not only became the definitive title for the system and replaced Altered Beast as the pack-in title for the West, but would go on to be ported to no less than twenty platforms after its initial release. The franchise took off, with a version of the game being released on the Sega Master System and a series of sequels across Sega's various consoles over the years. The game propelled the creators into the realm of video game superstardom, programmer Yuji Naka for a time becoming the face of Sega much as Shigeru Miyamoto became the face of Nintendo after the success of Super Mario Bros.

Though Nintendo still reigned supreme in Japan, the highly-contested 16-bit war in the West was a marvel to behold, the big two being neck and neck through almost the entirety of the third generation of console gaming. Though the game only received marginal success in its home country, almost overnight Sonic became a sensation in the West, solidifying Sega's place in Europe and turning the company into a household name in the United States.įor the first time, a company was able to directly compete with console and gamemaker Nintendo, which had dominated the second half of the 1980s. First released in the United States on June 11, 1991, it was the premier outing for the character of Sonic the Hedgehog and the group behind his creation, Sonic Team. Sonic the Hedgehog ( Japanese: ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ) is the first game in the long-running series by video game publisher and former console maker Sega.

Full sonic 1 title sprite