Sonic the Hedgehog No-Death Playthrough (3DS Virtual Console)

This is a capture of me playing through Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Game Gear. This is not an emulator. This is being played on the 3DS Virtual Console and recorded directly from my New 3DS XL using the aftermarket capture kit manufactured by Katsukity and installed/sold by Merki. I'm collecting all of the Chaos Emeralds in this playthrough.Show more

Following up on my playthrough of Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis, here’s Sonic the Hedgehog for the Game Gear. This title was released on 3DS Virtual Console back in 2013, and I bought it on its release date from the eShop after previously purchasing and beating Sonic Triple Trouble for the Virtual Console.

I actually have no childhood experience with this game, though I was aware of it as a kid. My cousin (who is my age) was the only person I knew who owned a Game Gear, but he only had Sonic 2, which I managed to play back around 1995 when we both flew from California to Hawaii to visit out grandparents. Aside from that, I didn’t get to play the Game Gear Sonic games as a kid. However, I would have loved the chance to do so since I liked Sega as a kid and was always interested in what the company was releasing to compete with Nintendo.

This handheld title is actually a completely separate game from the Sega Genesis version. Although the Game Gear version is loosely based on the Sega Genesis version, the level design, physics and graphics are completely different, and there are even some entirely different zones. This game was actually developed by Ancient Corp instead of Sega, and it was made for both the Master System and the Game Gear, with specific tweaks for each system. The Game Gear version features a smaller viewing area due to the lower resolution, causing more vertical camera movement. However, the Game Gear version uses a brighter/better color palette and fixes some annoying gameplay issues.

Although this game is a bit stripped down compared to its big brother on the Sega Genesis (it’s slower and there are no loop-de-loops, for instance), there is still a decent sense of speed and some excellent platforming design. I think it’s a great handheld title that is comparable to Super Mario Land in terms of quality. The music is also excellent.

The Chaos Emeralds appear in this game as well, but they are no longer contained in separate bonus stages. Instead, are hidden within the main stages themselves. I actually prefer this design because the bonus stages from the Genesis games irritate me with their lopsided difficulty. There are still bonus stages in this game, however, where you can pick up additional lives and continues.

This playthrough wasn’t nearly as difficult to record as the Genesis version even though I again achieved a no-death run while collecting all of the Chaos Emeralds. Although the 3DS Virtual Console features save states, I did not use them for this recording and instead beat the entire game in a single session with no cheats. Enjoy.

Recorded with OBS Studio at 60 frames per second. I'm using a New 3DS XL.