Email: Sonice the Hedgehog and Switch games

Hello Malstrom,

This week I completed Sonic the Hedgehog 1 on the Genesis for the first time. As soon as I completed it I felt a hunger inside me was immediately satiated, a hunger that I didn’t even know I had until the moment I beat the game. Upon reflecting I realized that the last time that I beat a game that felt like this was when I first beat Super Mario 3 about 29 years ago. Everything about Sonic 1 just feels right! The levels, the music, the gameplay, everything.

One big thing is that the challenge felt just right. There are secrets in Sonic and discovering them helps me get lives and continues to help in the later parts of the game. Mario 3 was the last Mario game to get the challenge just right. In Mario World and Mario Wii it is just too easy to get as many lives as you want. Also, Sonic 1 and Mario 3 have a level of polish that most 2D platformers just don’t have. These were meant to be flagship games for the console makers. Other developers just don’t put this level of effort into their platformers.

So, I’m going to try the other Sonic games on the Genesis, because it’s kind of like finding buried treasure for me, but I’m not sure if I will ever find platfomers of this quality after that. Kind of sad really.

As far as Switch games go, here are some games that I’ve really enjoyed (other than Zelda):

Puyo Puyo Tetris – I didn’t used to be a big Tetris player, but this game made me a believer. It’s both the best Tetris game ever made and the best 4 player game on the Switch. We have friends who never play video games, but they love playing this game when they come over.

Dragon Quest Builders – I’ve played through the first couple of chapters, and it’s really great. I prefer it to Minecraft, because I’ve always preferred a sandbox with goals to a pure sandbox game. Like I’ve always preferred Civilization over Sim City. This game is a sandbox with goals.

Mario + Rabbids – This is a great game is you like any sort of tactics game. The gameplay is good and it has a lot of great charm and humor to it.

I’ll probably be getting Builders soon enough.

If you are just exploring the Genesis, you really, really should check out the Turbografx 16. I think it is my 2nd favorite console with NES being the first.