When Sega released the original Sonic the Hedgehog, they were in a unique position. Their console, the Sega Genesis, was experiencing a decent wave of success. Something that eluded Sega, at least in the United States, with their previous console, the Sega Master System (teaming with Tonka for distribution probably was not smart). Sonic the Hedgehog was known for speed. It was a new revelation in gaming as Mario and his MUCH slower pace was still holding gaming by the throat with an iron grip. Now, apparently there is a hack to play the original Sonic game in ultra-wide screen format. Like, stupidly wide screen.
Sega unleashed Sonic onto the world in June 1991 and took the gaming world by storm. Another bit of success that was new to Sega. Prior to Sonic, Sega attempted character-based mascot style games before. Alex Kidd being the most popular of their attempts (and he is not exactly as well known as any “secondary” franchise from Nintendo).
The success of Sonic certainly helped make Sega want to make sequels, and sequels they made. Unfortunately, this fervor for the blue speed demon would not last into the launch of the Sega Saturn console. Sonic Jam does not count, sorry.Sonic the Hedgehog was originally released on 16-bit hardware. While powerful for the time, and developers were still eking out more performance over the years, it was still limited.
Sonic was zoomed in close when taking into consideration the speed involved. This added to the difficulty gamers experienced and was welcome.
With this hack, gamers can play Sonic with A LOT more of the surrounding level available to them. A lot may be an understatement. Look at the video above and tell me, would you play Sonic the Hedgehog like this?
Also, anyone know if someone is working on a similar mod for Super Mario World or Super Mario 3? Imagine being able to see the secret rooms and how to get up there. Wait, that would probably ruin a lot of the mystery those games had, and the sense of accomplishment when finding those secrets. Okay, let’s stick to Sonic on this one.
Source: YouTube
