Day 51 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Sonic & Knuckles

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was apparently such a big game it had to be split into two, the latter half was Sonic & Knuckles.

Owning S&K not only allowed you to play a brand new adventure as either Sonic or Knuckles, it also expanded the adventure in Sonic 3 and allowed you to play as Knuckles in Sonic 2. This was achieved by plugging either Sonic 2 or 3 into the top of the Sonic & Knuckles cartridge.

This is the only Mega Drive/Genesis game that I know of that doesn't come in the standard plastic box, it comes in a horrible cardboard box, meaning this is possibly the most difficult Mega Drive game to find in good condition.

Sonic & Knuckles was still brilliant; the additional content was certainly worth the additional cost and playing as Knuckles was a refreshing change to playing as Sonic. He was able to reach areas Sonic couldn't get to thanks to his ability to climb walls and glide through the air.

Special thanks to my sister for getting me Sonic and Knuckles for my birthday. ^_^

Day 44 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Import Games

Thanks to the internet and international shopping websites like eBay and Amazon, it's never been easier to pick up games you may have missed out on in the past. You might not have heard of certain games at the time they were released, if they were even released in your home country at all, and sometimes it's fun to discover variations on games you already own. And it's those variations that I want to look at in this post.

The PAL version (or European version) of Sonic the Hedgehog for example came with a bland pink and white cover and the booklet was printed in greyscale, which could be considered criminal in comparison to what I'm going to show you in a moment.

Sonic the Hedgehog (PAL Version)

Now here's the NTSC-J version (or Japanese version) and look at the difference!

Sonic the Hedgehog (NTSC-J Version)

The cover is so much more vibrant than the PAL release and the booklet is even crammed with hand drawn images of Sonic, Robotnik and other characters from the game. Sega of Europe possibly changed the design because they didn't think the NTSC-J design would appeal to European gamers, a real shame as the Japanese offering is fantastic.

I also discovered that NTSC-J Mega Drive/Genesis cartridges are shaped differently to PAL cartridges so they won't play on European systems. The curved plastic bumpers on either side of the cartridge prevent it from fitting in the cartridge slot.

PAL Cartridge (left) and NTSC-J Cartridge (Right)

I could make this post go on for a lot longer but I think I'll save more import related gaming for a future post or perhaps even a YouTube video. (^_-) If you know of any more fun import gaming related quirks drop me a comment as I'd be happy to hear about it. ^_^

Day 26 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Sonic the Hedgehog

Today marks Sonic's 23rd anniversary, so let's celebrate with a 100 Happy Gaming Days post.

Sonic the Hedgehog was released in 1991 for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, providing Sega with a much needed mascot that could rival Nintendo and Mario.

The story-line for Sonic was pretty simple; the mad scientist Dr Robotnik has turned a bunch of cute animal critters into horrible robots and it's up to Sonic to save them. The game is very well paced with the Green Hill Zone allowing you to get to grips with Sonic's controls and super speed, with later levels introducing new enemies and hazards for you to overcome. 

Sonic the Hedgehog also featured a flawless soundtrack, the Starlight Zone theme being my favourite, setting the standard for all future soundtracks in the Sonic series.      

I remember getting a Mega Drive bundled with Sonic the Hedgehog for my birthday. It took me ages to defeat Dr Robotnik at the end of the Green Hill Zone, it didn't help that I discovered the now-notorious level select cheat, but at least I can now say I can beat Sonic the Hedgehog honestly...sort of.

Some might say the years haven't been kind to gaming's favourite hedgehog, but I think that we can all agree that the first game is a timeless classic that's chock full of memorable moments. Everyone remembers the first time they raced through a loop at breakneck speed, destroyed their first badnik or when they discovered their first Chaos Emerald. Let me know your favourite Sonic memories in the comments section below and I'll be back tomorrow with another Happy Gaming Day.

Happy Birthday Sonic.

Day 19 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Sunset Riders

Sunset Riders is my favourite western game, after Red Dead Redemption of course.

This western-style arcade game from Konami was ported over to the SNES and Mega Drive/Genesis. It was a side-scrolling run-and-gun shooter where players would have to blast their way through wild west themed levels and defeat a boss to collect a bounty. The console version has two playable characters; a young gunslinger named Billy and a shotgun wielding Mexican named Cormano, other than the weapons there wasn't really any difference depending on who you played as. The game also featured a two player co-op mode so you could tackle the game together with a friend.

The SNES version of the game has some slight differences due to Nintendo's family friendly policies. The Mega Drive version featured female enemies that threw dynamite at you, but these have been replaced with male bandits in the SNES version, probably Nintendo not wanting to glorify violence towards women. Also the Native American themed boss in the Mega Drive version, known as Chief Scalpem, was renamed Chief Wigam in the SNES version.

Sunset Riders is perfect if you want something simple to just pick up and play, so grab a buddy a wreak some havoc through the west. Yee-hah! 

Day 18 out of 100 Happy Gaming Days: World of Illusion

I'm a bit late with this one. I was extremely busy yesterday and to be honest writing a blog a day was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be, but that just means there's going to be a double post today!

World of Illusion was one of the greatest Disney platformer's of the 16 bit era. It featured some beautiful graphics for the time based on Disney's animation style, with levels taking inspiration from classic Disney movies and cartoons such as The Little Mermaid, Mickey and the Beanstalk and Alice in Wonderland.

The story begins with Mickey and Donald rehearsing their act for a big magic show, and while they're rehearsing they discover an unusual wooden box carved to look like a face with a velvet curtain across its mouth. All of a sudden they both fall into the box and are transported to the World of Magic, where an evil Sorceror explains he will show them the way home, as long as they can find him and defeat him in a magic duel.


The game is pretty easy to complete, however there is a lot of replay value as you can play as Mickey or Donald, and in co-op mode with a friend. Depending on which character you've chosen you'll encounter different routes and levels, for instance with Donald having a bigger backside than Mickey he can't squeeze the through smaller spaces like Mickey can, so he needs to find an alternative route to proceed.

The co-op mode was also very inventive with players being encouraged to help one another, otherwise they stood no chance of completing the game. Some sections involved giving each other a boost to higher ledges and then throwing a rope down for the person left behind, or jumping in sequence to move a rail cart across a level.

There's a lot of great Disney games for the Mega Drive but World of Illusion stands out for it's great design and multiplayer, and with Castle of Illusion recently getting an HD remake some are expecting World of Illusion to get the same treatment. If they keep the same design values that encourage true cooperative gameplay, I'll be happy... and maybe some bonus content too! :P