It doesn’t feel like it to me, but Sonic The Hedgehog is over two decades old. And in the early 90’s, it would have been inconceivable for me to imagine such an incredible – and portable – port. The 2013 iOS version of Sonic The Hedgehog is better than the original. It’s been a while since I’ve played an iOS game until the “Low Battery” warning appeared. The difference here is that I fully recharged the phone and played until the warning appeared again.
Sonic The Hedgehog’s reemergence on iOS reminded me of the Sega Nomad. I remember seeing it in Toys R Us, but I was scared away by the huge price tag. Apparently, good things do come to those that wait. For a mere $2.99 (plus NYC sales tax), I could enjoy pixel perfect goodness. Yet, there were additions that were not found in the original. Tails and Knuckles are now playable characters. That’s revisionist history! It’s like going back to medieval times with a machine gun. Tails can fly. Knuckles can glide and climb walls. These techniques can make short work of some tricky spots.
What’s even more unusual is the addition of Game Center Leaderboards and Achievements. With so much for me to do in real life, I haven’t been obsessing over virtual status symbols. But with Sonic, I actually found myself going back and replaying levels. The saved game files and “Time Attack” mode makes it easy to jump around the levels. There’s even a sick cheat mode. By pressing each of the letters when the “SEGA” splash screen appears, and then two-finger touching the title screen, even more Sonic amazement can be found. In addition to a level select and sound test option, shield power ups from different Sonic games can be added. The magnetic lightning shield draws in golden rings. It was so sweet to see that power-up added to the original game.
There was another option that I didn’t get to play with yet – Max Emeralds. I can set it from six to seven. I think that means Super Sonic is an option. The replay value of this game is incredible. I now have yet another reason to play it again. That’s a far cry from the Wii version. I remember playing Sonic the Hedgehog on the Wii and thinking that the game had aged poorly. No, it wasn’t the game. It was an inferior port. This is how classic games should be handled.
Sonic is a fast, but my mind was moving even faster. This isn’t the 1990’s anymore. Now I have the tools to build my own games. I was watching the parallax scrolling, animation and physics. I was imagining how I could build my own platformer with Stencyl. The experience was incredibly motivating.
But truthfully, I feel more like playing right now. 
I only found one complaint with the game. I didn’t like seeing the Japanese box art when the game first launched. A quick trip to the settings menu resolved that. Three options for “Box Art” were found – JP, US and EU. This version of Sonic The Hedgehog is incredibly polished. It stays faithful to the original, while adding new features to keep the game fun. I almost skipped this game. Fortunately, I was able to look past previous disappointment. I found version 2.0 of Sonic The Hedgehog to be highly entertaining.