Super Mario Bros [NES] v. Sonic the Hedgehog [‘91]

[Leynos]

firebush03 said:

Leynos said:

The 16-Bit Sonics are not "fast"; that's the modern series ever since Dreamcast, where it just became a straight line and holy shit speeeed!

The original 3 games have branching paths in most levels. The goal was to maintain momentum. Avoid obstacles and stomp enemies in stride, and do it long enough rewarded with speed.

I feel like Sega really missed the mark when they chose to advertise the game as (literally) “Gotta go fast!” The game is so much more than speed: the amount of ways you can interact with such a small handful of levels is kinda unbelievable. Sonic 1 less so than Sonic 2, which I find to legitimately be overwhelming in how much is left to explore.

It was effective in the early 90s tho. The whole blast processing thing.  SEGA's entire strategy was to advertise to older gamers and make Nintendo seem like just for kids. It looks silly today but it was cool back then.