Sonic the Hedgehog (2008)

I'm sure you can help them sort it out, Dunban. ― Fiora, Xenoblade Chronicles

This article is about the 2008 Didj game. You may be looking for the 1991 Sega Genesis game or the 2006 reboot.

Sonic the Hedgehog
The game that killed LeapFrog's interest in Sonic the Hedgehog.
Genre(s): Platform Educational Platform(s): LeapFrog Didj Release Date: August 22, 2008 Developer(s): Realtime Associates Publisher(s): Sega LeapFrog Series: Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog (also known as Sonic Didj, or Sonic '08) is a 2008 educational game and a launch title of the Didj in the series of the same name. It is one of two Sonic games released for a LeapFrog system, the other being Sonic X for the Leapster.

Why It Sucks

1. The logos between the title card and menus are inconsistent. The opening screen uses the Sonic '06 logo, the title screen logo is the same as in Sonic 1 with the '06 go, and the main menu just has "Sonic the Hedgehog" written in the game's font.
2. Poor level design with enemies and Giant Rings hastily pasted in unfitting locations.
3. Terrible physics with issues not present in the Genesis games.
   • The momentum is only consistent when running. You will lose all of it if you stop or jump.
   • You cannot spin into the sides of monitors most of the time. Instead, you have to land on top of it.
   • It's possible to get stuck inside the walls of Scrap Brain and Chemical Plant.
4. The graphics, while good since they're reused from the Genesis games, are sometimes incorrect.
   • Green Hill (Sonic 1) uses the same tileset as Emerald Hill (Sonic 2), despite Scrap Brain (also Sonic 1) keeping its sprites.
   • The Super Shield sprite when in effect uses the Bubble Shield sprite from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, even though that shield also allows you to bounce like a rubberball.
5. Even though the act number appears in between levels, the game doesn't have a proper act system. Rather, the number tells you the current number of the zone you're on. (Green Hill is Zone 1, Emerald Hill is Zone 2, etc.)
   • The title card for each level isn't modified enough to fix this, still reading "Green Hill Zone 1", "Emerald Hill Zone 2", and so on.
6. There are multiple issues with the games soundtrack:
   • Most of the songs don't match with the stages they originally came from. All the music is remixed from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles with the credits theme from the Genesis version of Sonic 3D Blast, but some of the stages are from other Sonic games.
     • Zones 1 and 2, Green Hill (Sonic 1) and Emerald Hill (Sonic 2), both use the Mushroom Hill music.
     • Zones 3 and 4, Sandopolis (Sonic & Knuckles) and Hydrocity (Sonic 3), both use the Sandopolis music.
     • Zones 5 and 6, Scrap Brain (Sonic 1) and Chemical Plant (Sonic 2), both use the Flying Battery music.
       • The official reason for this is each of the above zones are categorised into three levels similar to an act system: 1 and 2 are Grass Hill, 3 and 4 are Hydropolis, and 5 and 6 are Scrap Plant. Not only are those names uncreative but this choice is unexplained in the game itself.
     • Zone 7, Egg Base (based on the Sonic 2 version of Death Egg), just uses the boss music.
     • The game doesn't have its own original music for the title card, instead using the Mushroom Hill music.
     • While the Super Sneakers are in effect, only a sped-up version of Mushroom Hill music plays no matter the stage.
   • The act clear music can be heard in an echo when clearing the first act of a zone.
   • Some sound effects are omitted, such as the 1-Up tune and the explosion sound for when a boss is defeated.
7. When you run into a Teleport Ring from Sonic 3 & Knuckles) in order to start an Curriculum Gadget minigame, the game freezes while trying to load the loading screen if played on a real Didj.
   • The loading screen for the minigames is bland. It's only a white background with a Teleport Ring and "Loading..." underneath it.
   • One of the minigames can crash the game itself when generating rings for the player to collect.
8. Due to the bad physics of the game, you can defeat the bosses in only a few seconds just by bumping into them while spinning.
   • The same can be said for Death Egg/Egg Base Zone if you time it just right so that Sonic jumps on top of the boss, similar to Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis.
9. Beating each boss awards the player with one of the Chaos Emeralds, but when the final boss is beaten and Sonic obtains the Red Emerald, the game erroneously calls it the Master Emerald.
   • Only the Green, Purple, Yellow and Master Emeralds appear. The Cyan, Blue, White and technically Red Emeralds are all absent.
10. Strangely, Sega's logo is featured nowhere on the packaging or in the game. However, there is a copyright for them and special thanks are given to them at the end of the credits.

Redeeming Qualities

1. The educational value is helpful when it comes to learning new words for elementary school.
   • The fact the mini-games reward the player with rings to collect is also helpful as well.
2. The music selection still sounds great, which is something that can't be said about any other educational game at that period.
3. Certain stages do reuse some of their gimmicks. These include Sandopolis's sand slides and climbable sandfalls, Hydrocity's hand launchers, Scrap Brain's spinning platforms, and Chemical Plant's transport tubes.
4. Unlike the Sonic X Leapster game, Sonic can lose rings and die, meaning there is a way to lose in this game.
5. The graphics are not bad for a Didj game, despite most of them being reused.

Trivia

• The problem mentioned in WIS#2 happens because the Mushroom Hill Zone theme was (presumably) the default title theme for some copies, the game is actually customizable, with a comment on this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsI1_Ufek44, which has all the songs from the game) stating that you can change the music.
  • The video also has the Sonic and Knuckles title theme at the beginning, possibly meant for the title screen.

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