Since you’ve conquered South Island and collected all six Chaos Emeralds, you should reward yourself with some extra bacon on that Sonic breakfast platter.

Green Hill Zone

Sonic begins his journey sprinting through the grassy fields of Green Hill Zone. Dispersed with beautifully textured trees, checkered platforms, large sunflowers, and loop-the-loops (all in front of majestic blue skies and shimmering waters), Green Hill Zone is the perfect way to kick off a franchise. Sonic’s little blue body finds its way through the platform-laden world before advancing to the next zone where he’ll continue his journey.

The difficulty level in Green Hill Zone is almost non-existent. This is the first zone of the game, so Sonic Team was kind enough to keep the challenges low so that you could master Sonic’s controls and figure out how to, well, how to play Sonic the Hedgehog! The boss in this zone is by far the easiest in the game, and maybe in the whole Genesis series, if I’m being honest. For a novice, however, the ease of difficulty in Green Hill Zone will provide the much needed preparation for the steep incline ahead.

Marble Zone

Following the Green Hill Zone is Marble Zone. Marble zone still features the traditional platforming present in zone 1, but it takes more of a Super Mario Bros.-esque approach by taking Sonic underground. In this underground world, Sonic must avoid being crushed by moving blocks and spikes, caterpillar and bat badniks, and even avoid flowing hot magma! Above ground, Marble Zone features some neat backgrounds with rundown rustic Romanesque architecture.

Marble Zone can feel pretty long, at times, and will almost always feel like it will never end. Due to the inability to save the game in Sonic the Hedgehog, Marble Zone can begin to feel more like a chore when replaying the game. They have taken all of the speed you used in Green Hill Zone and have forced you to slow it down to avoid magma pits and ride stone blocks floating across lava. Not a terrible level, but personally one of my least favorites.

Spring Yard Zone

Spring Yard Zone is the third zone, and it features some neat futuristic layouts, plenty of springboards, and lots of traps. This level, in particular, is very TALL! The casual gamer might start to get a little fed up with some of the traps here. This is when most people begin to notice the extreme difficulty in Sonic the Hedgehog as precision jumping and patience become a requirement instead of a preference.

The acts in Spring Yard Zone are very similar and hard to differentiate from each other, but the purple mountain/city background – with sprinkles of green shrubbery – and the brown/red/burgundy (whatever color you want to call it) foreground stages provides some wonderful eye-candy.

Labyrinth Zone

Labyrinth Zone is the fourth zone, and it is set entirely underground in caves with plenty of dangerous waters and underwater badniks, to boot! Sonic, unlike Mario, does not have the ability to survive underwater for unlimited amounts of time. The only way for Sonic to stay alive is for him to either find his way to the surface or to find a large air bubble. Labyrinth Zone features one of the most difficult boss-battles in the entire game, as you are not only trying to reach Dr. Robotnik to attack him, but you are trying to avoid drowning and hitting spikes in the process.

Starlight Zone

Starlight Zone is the fifth zone and it showcases some beautiful contrasting colors of light foreground landscapes in front of a dark lit city sky. For the platformer-challenged folks out there, this might be the final level for you as it features some of the most challenging precision jumps in all three of the original Sonic the Hedgehog games. Starlight Zone is where most people will lose their lives through trial and error. This zone separates the patient players from the impatient ones as you will often find yourself tiptoeing from start to finish in an effort to hold onto as many lives as possible!

Scrap Brain Zone

Scrap Brain Zone is the sixth and last zone before the final fight! Sonic has now penetrated Dr. Robotnik’s fortress and is on his way to stopping Dr. Robotnik’s evil plans of destruction. Featuring some awesome interactivity with the stages via conveyor belts, spinning sprockets, and more, Scrap Brain Zone is definitely a challenge and not to be taken lightly. It is also quite easy to get “lost” in Scrap Brain Zone and sort of forget which way you’re going. The left to right tradition gets flipped on its ear, here, as you will often find yourself going right to left. Hopefully by now you have all six chaos emeralds as you will no longer be able to access the Special Stages once you get to Scrap Brain Zone.

Final Fight!

Following the Scrap Brain Zone is the final fight. By far the most challenging of all zones, you will be forced to fight Dr. Robotnik sans rings, which means you cannot take a single hit or you will die. Hopefully you’ve accumulated enough lives to survive this test. I do not want to give this one away! I don’t like spoilers and unlike my esteemed colleague The Cubist, I don’t use the Game Genie too often! Cheap shot? No… He’s a great gamer. He just loves his game enhancements! And you can’t argue with him for that.