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The Legacy of Green Hill Zone

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It's an ongoing joke amongst fans of the series that Green Hill Zone is Sonic Team's (read: Iizuka's) favorite zone in the Sonic franchise. It seems to have appeared countless times since the release of Sonic 1. But, how often has it really appeared? Let's take a look! NOTE:  Remakes/Re-releases and direct ports don't count. I also will not be counting similar levels such as "Emerald Hill", because many Sonic levels tend to start with a relatively simple, tropical level to ease players into the game. This is counting how many unique games actually use a level with that name and likeness. 1. Sonic the Hedgehog (8-bit)  - "I thought you said direct ports don't count!" Well, they don't. But the lesser known 8-bit Sonic 1 is not really a direct port. Sure, it certainly shares many elements, including 3 zones. But with two of those 3 zones having unique music, 3 original zones, and every level having unique layouts and obstacles, on t...
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Beta Elements: Level Order

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An interesting aspect of any video game, at least in the eyes of avid fans, collectors, and developers, is the development process, and the elements that get changed or scrapped along the way. Sonic the Hedgehog has these as well, and if you are familiar with the Level Select Code, you can see evidence of such changes right away. Entering the following code: US/EU Version:   Up,  Down,  Left,  Right . A ring sound will play - holding  A +START  will bring up the menu. Japanese Version:   Up,  Down, Down, Down,  Left,  Right . A ring sound will play - holding  A +START  will bring up the menu. The Level Select screen allows you to choose from any level in the game, including the Final Zone. It also lets you start at the Special Stage, or use the Sound Test to listen to the audio. One thing to note here is the level order shown. It lists Green Hill first, which is perfectly normal. It then lists Labyrinth Zone bef...
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Bugfix: What button do we press?

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For the very first post in this blog, I decided that we should take a look at the very first bug that can be seen in Sonic 1, which is a little ironic because it's a bug that, in fact, can't be seen! Look at the Title Screen and ask yourself if anything seems amiss: It all looks good, right? Sonic looks normal, as does the title and the background, right? Ok. Now look at the title screen a second time: Wait, where did this come from? "PRESS START BUTTON"... A keen eye that's seen Sonic Mania, or the Mobile release of Sonic 1 will recognize the font style of these letters, so what's the deal? Did I just photoshop, or hack, this prompt into existence? Well, not exactly. I mean, I did some minor hacking to make it appear, but the fact is that they've always been there the entire time, but were never seen due to a minor glitch. How do we fix it? Fixing this is quite easy. Assuming you are using the updated Sonic Retro GitHub disassembly (), go to TitL...
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Welcome to Sonic 1: Disassembled

Hi everyone! If you are here, then chances are you are either interested in the nuances of the game that launched the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, or you stumbled to this blog on accident and decided to stick around, because video games. Either way, I hope you enjoy the content that I share with you. Said content is going to include various tidbits of info about 1991's Sonic the Hedgehog such as bugs, glitches, oversights, opinions, and even hacking guides! If you have seen Neo's Sonic 3 Unlocked blog, this is much in the same vein as his format, and I encourage you to take a look at his blog ( https://s3unlocked.blogspot.com/ ) as it can give you a glimpse as to how the series evolved in the early 90's, though I'll be doing that in certain instances as well. If there is anything you'd like to see covered, if I miss anything out, or if you have questions, leave a comment below. Despite being only the first entry in the series, and being the most basic game as a...
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