Sonic the Hedgehog was originally released for the Sega Genesis in 1991. It was a game I never got to play as my own growing up. I played it at a friend's house, but even then it was rarely ever played. They mainly played Sonic 2 and other games such as: Mortal Kombat. I felt like the first Sonic game didn't offer as much as what the other games in the series offered (mainly Sonic 2 and how that one really kick started the franchise). Later on in the '90s and 2000s, Sonic would lose a lot of its popularity. Games such as: Sonic Boom, Shadow, and Sonic '06 all had reputations for being bad.

But somehow, the first Sonic game was re-released on the Gameboy Advance of all consoles? A Sega game ported to handheld Nintendo game console in November 2006 around the same time Sonic '06 came out which was panned by critics. How bad was this game going to be? It turned out to be pretty bad!

Graphics 3/10: The original Sonic game on the Sega Genesis was a beautiful game. It pushed the 16-bit home console to the limit, and this was only just the beginning. Still, the first game had a lot of detail and color to it. Sonic Genesis (the version ported to the GBA) has plenty of detail and color to it as well. However, the camera is zoomed in so far, you can't even see what's going on! This makes a great looking game look pretty awful! Even though, this is a nice looking game, Sonic takes up the whole screen, and there is no emphasis put on any of the other backgrounds or sprites. So, you get a game that looks like crap!! Thumbs down!

Music 0/10: Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Genesis sounded fantastic, and it was only just the beginning. The later games would sound even better, but the first one was still pretty amazing. When this game was ported over to the GBA, the soundtrack really went to hell!! WHAT HAPPENED!!??? THIS GAME SOUNDS LIKE SOMEONE IS ON THE TOILET TAKING A DUMP!! I CAN'T FIND ONE GOOD SONG IN THE WHOLE GAME!! Another thumbs down!!

Gameplay 0/10: The object of this game is the same as before. Sonic races through the levels to get to the end before time runs out and collects rings along the way. Although, none of that even matters in this version because of all the damn slowdown!! THE FACT THAT THIS GAME WAS EVEN RELEASED AT ALL AMAZES ME!! THERE IS NO WAY TO IMPROVE OR GET FASTER BECAUSE SONIC KEEPS SLOWING DOWN AND SPEEDING UP SO RANDOMLY THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE GAME!! This also makes the stages drag out way longer than they should. What was a 3 or 4 minute stage in the original version, is now a 15 to 20 minute stage in the GBA version!! NNNOOOOOO!!!!!

Why even bother with the special stages? There is no way to even play them!! The controls are terrible to the point where you'll always fall into the Goal!! Reaching the end of the level with 50 rings is impossible to do because you'll keep taking damage from enemies due to: bad controls, poor visibility, and God-awful slowdown. Basically, everything you knew and loved about the original Sonic the Hedgehog has been flushed down the toilet in this version! The object of the game may be the same, but there is no way to improve or get faster in the GBA port of Sonic 1. There is too much: screen crunch, slowdown and speed up, bad controls, etc. Don't play this version! It sucks!

Story 6/10: The storyline for the GBA version of Sonic the Hedgehog is the same as in the Genesis version. Dr. Robotnik has kidnapped Sonic's animal friends and plans on turning them into robots. The game takes place on South Island, and Sonic races through the island to confront Robotnik in his Scrap Brain Zone. The plot is the same as in the Genesis version and is one of the more positive aspects of this remake. Although, it was only the start of the Sonic series and wasn't as developed as the storylines for the later Sonic games. Sega was still experimenting with the characters in 1991.

Content 7/10: This remake has the same amount of content that the original game had. Nothing new has been added to this version other than Anniversary Mode which is no different from the Original Mode. What was the point of this? I don't know! Anyway it only includes 6 zones: Green Hill, Marble Zone, Spring Yard Zone, Labyrinth Zone, Star Light Zone, and Scrap Brain Zone. There isn't much to the first game, and it can be finished in little under an hour.

Difficulty 10/10: I don't even know where to begin with this part! I think that this is a game that can't be beat! I can't get any further than Star Light Zone! The see-saws don't work and neither do the fans. I can't get through this part! Not only that, there is so much slowdown and inconsistency in Sonic's movement that makes it impossible to even play the game!! This is especially true in Labyrinth Zone which is another area that feels impossible. Mainly, the boss stage where Sonic has to climb the wall of doom with the water rising! I have made it through that section but only once. Then, I got to Star Light Zone and RAGE QUIT!!

I KEEP FALLING DOWN AND HAVE TO GET BACK TO THE TOP PATH WHICH TAKES SO MUCH TIME!! IT MAKES A SLOW GAME EVEN SLOWER!! I JUST GAVE UP ON THIS VERSION!! IT TAKES TOO LONG AND THERE IS NO WAY TO IMPROVE YOUR GAME!!! Stay away from this version of Sonic.

Overall 3.2/10: I wanted to play this game more times before writing a review for it, but I couldn't do it. Sonic the Hedgehog for the Gameboy Advance is one of those games (aside from some Super Mario Bros. hacks) that I just can't play. There is almost no movement in this version. All the characters move so slow! By the time I got to Labyrinth Zone, it was unplayable! I wanted to play this version, but there is no way to do it! The way it is so slow, the depressing music, poor controls, etc. make this game too much to stomach! I GIVE IT A BIG THUMBS DOWN!!!