It's Dr. Eggman's 20th Birthday.

[Crowbar]

As far as I'm aware the only changes are due to the smaller screen and couldn't be helped (1st boss is much harder, GHZ boss arena is smaller). What changes are you thinking of?

[Blount]

I listed most of the changes once (look towards the end of that page; quoting myself would be annoying because of the post length).

Overall, the GG version is more polished than the SMS one, but it's also much more frustrating.

[P.P.A.]

The same can be said about most of the 8-bit games; especially Sonic Chaos, which is richer in colour on the GG but most importantly has a much superior background music in Gigalopolis Zone than the SMS version. And yet all of these advantages are completely outweighed by the higher resolution of the Master System actually enabling you to see what's two metres ahead of you.

To answer your question regarding Sonic 1's difficulty: Besides aforementioned excruciatingly slow and lagging Labyrinth Zone physics and the life-devouring boss of Jungle Zone, I just fired the game up again and realised that the reason was probably the lot of bottomless pits and how unforgiving the game is. Sonic 2 just kills you a lot even if somehow you can always get through, but in Sonic 1 you can just too easily kill yourself by not being patient or careful enough and, for example, skidding off a platform into your doom.

[Crowbar]

Oh yeah, I remember that post now.

Regarding PPA's post, I must point out that Aqua Planet Zone also has different music (though only slightly), which nobody ever seems to remember.

[P.P.A.]

Oh yeah, I remember that post now.

Regarding PPA's post, I must point out that Aqua Planet Zone also has different music (though only slightly), which nobody ever seems to remember.

Oh, I did. I just thought it wasn't noteworthy, especially since I actually prefer the less complex but as a result a little more atmospheric Master System version.

[Neo]

a much superior background music in Gigalopolis Zone than the SMS version.

Wow you're like the king of bad taste.

[Crowbar]

a much superior background music in Gigalopolis Zone than the SMS version.

Wow you're like the king of bad taste.

I have to agree with PPA here. The GG version of Gigapolis Zone is way better. Even though it's still fast-paced it's much more atmospheric and fitting for the night-time city theme. The Master System version is too straightforwardly upbeat. It's not a bad tune, just not for that level in my eyes.

[Wombatwarlord777]

I dunno. For the longest time I only liked Sonic: Triple Trouble, mostly because it was the Sonic Game Gear title that looked and played most like the Genesis games. But I have come to like the 8-bit Sonic 1 as well (even if it is much harder than its 16-bit counterpart, especially if you're going for all the Emeralds). Sonic 2 8-bit kind of feels cheap by comparison, but it's not that bad, with the exception of the latter bits of Green Hills Zone.

I've just never liked Sonic Chaos. The art just seems totally bland and unmemorable, the level design wasn't great, and the final boss is the epitome of anticlimax.

[FlashTHD]

I've just never liked Sonic Chaos. The art just seems totally bland and unmemorable, the level design wasn't great, and the final boss is the epitome of anticlimax.

Not entirely, he does try to throw you off with lasers when you're bouncing on him, and his UFO mode can kill you instantly. The rest of the game does suck, though.

[Wombatwarlord777]

That's just it: It's hard (I lost 20 lives the first time battling the thing) without being impressive or fun.

Although I suppose it's hard for your final weapon to be awe-inspiring when it's dubbed the "Killer Turkey-gou".

[P.P.A.]

The art just seems totally bland and unmemorable

Aqua Planet Zone and Mecha Green Hill Zone would like to have a word with you!

[(No Imagination)]

Sonic Triple Trouble is goddamn ugly (it gets better after the third level though), Sonic Chaos is laughably short (after drilling through nothing but 2 for two straight years, playing through it felt like an insult in a Sonic Heroes kind of way), so I guess I like 1 or 2 the most.

S1GG is definitely a strange, slow and deliberate sort of platformer which just happens to look like a Sonic game while employing certain familiar elements, but I like it nonetheless, it's pretty charming. Two gets intimidating and claustrophobic - especially on Game Gear - but Sonic handles like a charm as controls feel really tight, and just about the only places sudden deaths might happen (boss arenas) give you a fair warning to slow the fuck down before you happen to get one-shotted by running straight into that boss or something. Green Hills Zone 3 might be some nasty trial and error, but who is to complain - acts 1 and 2 gave away 1ups like candy. The game's got some sort of reputation for being cheap and difficult it doesn't really deserve - even that first boss wall of careful timing or Green Hills 3's spike meadow navigation lectures are sure as hell significantly less cheap than Triple Trouble's fifth special stage of floaty bottomless drops or Chaos' whoops-this-boss-can-OHKO-you-on-touch final machine. Or leaps of faith (which there are gonna be plenty of, this being Game Gear and all) that might land you in bottomless pits as opposed to pits of lava/spikes/springs S2GG has to offer, along with signature gigantic ring clouds of plenty to even the odds.

But what really turns me off with Chaos and TT are those first level graphics. I guess tropical plants just turn plastic, messy and boring when grown on turquoise...