Quick Thoughts: Krusty's Super Funhouse (Sega Genesis)

Hello dear readers and welcome back to the game room once again. What's that you say? Nobody has been reading this blog actively for three years, and the only reason you found it was because of a random Google search of video games and now you're just continuing to read out of sheer morbid curiosity because it's probably a Friday night and you're sitting in a dark room with a computer and nothing else to do? Well, then this blog is just right for you! No judgment. I'm actually sitting in a dark room on a Friday evening typing at this very moment. Just bear in mind, I only update it in short spurts over the course of months because I have no time to do anything fun anymore.

Anyway, today I wanted to talk about another one of those games from my childhood. You know the type; it's the kind of game that your cousin owned and the two of you played it nonstop, despite the fact that it probably wasn't a very good game. Or maybe you rented it from the local video game rental store for the weekend just to see what it was like, and that one weekend back in June of 1993 was the entire extent of your time playing it. It's not a game like Super Mario Bros. or the Legend of Zelda or Sonic the Hedgehog, which were classics that are still talked about and played endlessly to this day. No, this was the kind of game that not very many people had, but you developed a special connection with it over time, simply because it reminds you of your youth. And one such game, for me, is Krusty's Super Fun House for Sega Genesis. But before we discuss that, let's talk about The Simpsons.

So, what could possibly be said about The Simpsons that hasn't already been said at some point over the last 30 years? It's one of the longest running television shows of all time and its cultural footprint is massive. Whether you love it or hate it, you can't deny the sheer gravity of its presence; everyone knows the Simpsons, everyone has seen at least one episode at some point in their lifetimes, and everyone has seen the Simpsons somewhere other than on television- in film, in merchandise, and yes, in video games. There's a huge amount of Simpsons games, almost as many as some of the most popular video game franchises. Perhaps the timing was just right- what many would consider the "golden age" of the Simpsons, that being the early to mid-90s, was also a period of time when the video game market was exploding.

Anyway, Simpsons games were all over the place. If you're a gamer and you haven't played any of the home console ones, you most likely have at least played or seen the 1991 arcade game, a beat 'em up made by Konami. I personally had two growing up- The Simpsons: Bart Vs. The World for the NES, and Krusty's Super Fun House. Bart Vs. The World was a pretty bad game, as AVGN will tell you. Krusty's Super Fun House, however, has always had a certain special appeal to me. It was a game I played very often as a kid, and even though it might not be the best game in the world, I'd probably consider it one of my nostalgic favorites- as in, it takes me back to the good old days every time I play it. So, let's step into the fun house for a bit and check it out.

I'm going to focus on the Sega Genesis version since it was the one I had as a kid, but as far as I know the SNES version (and every OTHER version of this game that came out for just about every console at the time) is nearly identical. While the game is set in the Simpsons universe, it was actually the first video game in the franchise that did not focus on the Simpsons themselves, but rather the lovably cynical Krusty the Clown, a frequently reoccurring character on the show. The Simpsons themselves do appear as minor characters in the game, but I'll get to that in a moment. The game is centered around Krusty, who must rid his "fun house" of an infestation of rats by leading them into machines in which they can be squashed, vaporized or sliced to pieces in a true display of good old-fashioned cartoon violence. The rats simply walk back and forth and as Krusty, you must place blocks and create pathways for them to walk into the aforementioned death contraptions. Clear a level of all the rats, and you're finished and it's on to the next one. The pathways you must create get much more complicated as the game goes on, often requiring you to build multiple pathways and run back and forth all over the level to do so.

So, it's basically a platformer-puzzle game, pretty much in the literal sense in that you must solve puzzles by literally building platforms, very similar in idea to a game like Lemmings.

The game has 5 different overworld levels, each of which has a number of sub-levels within it ranging from 8 to 14. The objective within each of these levels, as I mentioned before, is to exterminate all of the rats by getting them to walk into one of the extermination machines. Simple as that. And who is controlling these machines? Why, none other than one of the Simpsons themselves! So they are technically part of the game, but really are more or less just relegated to being background objects. Anyway, the rats won't simply walk into the extermination machines- no, they wander around just out of reach of one, usually below a raised up platform. So how do you get them into the machine? Scattered around the levels are numerous blocks, which you can pick up and transport. By pressing down when you are standing on top of one, you can carry it to another part of the stage and drop it there, as long as there is nothing above you that would block it. Rats will climb up on top of blocks, so you can effectively create "stairs" using two or more blocks that the rats will walk up to their doom. You can also use them to block off certain areas, create bridges, or just give yourself some added jump height.

The puzzles get more complicated as you progress, but a majority of them simply boil down to "build some stairs."

At first, things start off simple- rats walk around on the floor, the extermination machine is somewhere a step above them, and you create a step stool for them using the block. They walk up, you wait for all of them to get smushed, and it's on to the next level. However, things start getting much more complicated as you progress. Later on, there will be tubes everywhere that the rats can fall into which transport them to other parts of the level, fans which blow them all over the place, jars to put them in and carry around, and combinations of the three that get very intricate. Levels are usually forgiving, in that you'll be able to attempt a puzzle again when you screw up- however, in later levels, more often than not, if you mess up on a puzzle and rats fall into somewhere that you can't get them out of, you'll need to start over again from the beginning. It can get frustrating, but after a little bit of problem solving through trial and error, that feeling of getting everything right and then watching the rats get exterminated is pretty satisfying.

The graphics are decent for the Genesis. Everything is very colorful and cartoonish, much like the show the game is based on. The Simpsons themselves don't move much when you find them; they'll pretty much just push a button and smile while the rats are obliterated in front of them. However, they're represented well enough. Krusty himself also looks pretty good and faithful to the show, but he is very...small looking. Kind of like a tiny architecture of himself. Also, the music is okay. It's nothing spectacular, but it's goofy sounding and appropriate enough given the source material. One annoying thing about the music though is that each overarching world has its own music theme that plays through every single sub-level within it, so it starts to get quite old after a while when you've heard the same tune over and over again.

Some of the familiar Simpsons characters show up, but they don't do much besides providing some silly means of annihilating the rats in the background.

It's definitely a fun game with enough puzzle solving elements to keep you interested, but there are a lot of small, tedious details which begin to build up after a while that detract from the overall experience. For one thing, the rats walk around very slooooooowly. Sometimes you'll be sitting there for quite a while just waiting for all of the rats to walk to where you need them to be. Then, once they do, you have to sit and wait while every single individual rat gets squashed before you move on. Then there's the issue of transporting objects. So, as I mentioned, you'll need to move a lot of blocks, fans, jars, and pipe pieces around, especially in the later levels. However, there's a major hitch- you can only transport one object at a time. So, if 4 block are all the way on one end of the level and you need to bring all of them to the other end, you'll need to go back and forth 4 times just to get all of them to the right place. It would've been way simpler if you could carry at least more than one of them at a time.

Only being able to carry one item at a time (as seen in the upper left corner) can get really frustrating. In this situation, only one item is needed, but later on a majority of the time you'll spend in each level is just relegated to moving items back and forth. One. At. A. Time.

The combat system is also a little counter-intuitive and frustrating at times. Enemies don't pose that much of a threat to you, as most of them just wander back and forth in simple patterns and don't actively attack unless you get close to them. You can destroy them by throwing tiny pies at them, which serve as your only attack. However, you can only hold 10 pies at any given time. You can often find more of them inside of little purple blocks that are scattered about levels, but these are finite, and if you've found them all and used up all 10 of your pies, you're basically screwed as far as defending yourself. The pies fly out in an arc in front of you and sometimes it can be a bit hard to hit your mark, so you'll likely end up wasting a few, and because you're limited to just 10 pies at a time, that leaves very little room for error. It would've been nice if the game was a bit more generous on ammo, or just made it unlimited.

And that leads me to another issue. You can get a secondary weapon, which is basically a cannonball you can shoot that ricochets off of ceilings and walls. It can be used on enemies and is stronger than the pies, but unlike them, it also has a secondary function that's absolutely necessary to progress. In certain levels there are breakable tiles that you'll encounter that you'll need to blast through in order to move forward through the level, and the cannonball is the only thing that can break through them. However, you get even less cannonballs than pies- only 5 as opposed to 10. And because the cannonballs ricochet in a zig-zag pattern, you'll usually need at least 2 to clear a path. Often times, you'll fire one off and it will follow the exact same pattern as the first, leaving you unable to move forward unless you launch another one from a different angle. Just like the pies, if you run out of cannonballs, you aren't getting any more and you'll have to restart the entire level if you want to try again. This whole aspect just seems really unnecessary and annoying, and it would've been a lot easier if there were some other way to break open the tiles, you were given more cannonballs than just five, or they just did away with these breakable tiles to begin with.

Whichever jackass decided to program the cannonballs to only move in a zig-zag pattern can eat an actual cannonball.

There's also no indication of how much health you have left. Krusty can be damaged in two ways- taking hits from enemies, or dropping from too great a height. The former makes sense, but the latter doesn't really, given that this is a platforming game where jumping and falling are pretty much fundamental mechanics of the game. It doesn't happen too often, since you do need to fall from a really big height in order to be hurt by it, but why even include that at all? It kind of feeds into this game being very tediously slow at times as I've already mentioned, since you'll sometimes need to wait quite a while for rising platforms to reach you at a great height instead of just jumping down and hurting yourself. Anyway, back to the health issue, the only indication you get that you're running low on health is that when you're standing still, Krusty will start heavily panting. But even then, it's impossible to tell how many more hits you can take before you die. You can replenish your health by finding various fast food items inside the purple boxes I mentioned before, but again, you'll have no idea how much you'll be replenishing your health, if at all. A simple health bar would've really made that a lot more clear.

Finally, a lot of things are just plain strange. Sometimes, for example, you'll manipulate a puzzle in such a way that you won't be able to recover from a mistake, and as such you'll need to reset the entire level and start over. Fair enough, but how do you do that? Pressing the start button and having a menu that would allow you to do so would be the simplest option, but instead, you have to go back to the entrance door to the level, AND THEN press start (which pauses the game) and the C button to exit a level. Oh, and think that's explained in the manual? Nope, not at all.

Also, there's a simple password system to pick up where you left off, but it's so poorly implemented that it might as well not even be there. As I mentioned earlier, there are five "worlds" in the game, each with a different number of sub-levels within them. It would be nice if you were given a password between each sub-level, but instead, you're only given a password once you complete all the sub-levels in a world. And by "complete," I mean you have to kill all the rats in the level AND find all the secret areas, AND THEN make sure to collect ALL of the bonus items in the secret area. Yeah, there's plenty of those in the game. Once you do all of those things, the level will be locked for good and you can move on. After dealing with all these issues over time, it wears on you and kind of makes you not want to play anymore. But since passwords are only given to you between worlds, you have to soldier through every single level in each world if you want to make any progress.

The password system works, but it still requires you to devote massive amounts of time to the game in one sitting.

So, picking up this game without ever having played it before and having to deal with all these issues, yeah, I could understand that you might have more fun chucking the cartridge into a bonfire instead of playing it. However, as I mentioned, it's more the nostalgic appeal than anything that makes me enjoy playing this game. It's always interesting to me how games like this one, or Blasto for PS1, or Ghostbusters II on NES, which are not very good games at all still manage to get enjoyment out me simply because I liked playing them as a kid (and are not-so-coincidentally games I've already reviewed here). If you can manage to get past all of tedious issues that it has, you might enjoy the puzzle solving element a lot. But if you're a Simpsons fan and you're looking for a better gaming experience, try the arcade version instead. You can never go wrong with that. Thanks for reading.

Collection Additions Volume 15: 600!

Hello dear readers and welcome back to the game room. Once again I'm back to give an update on my ever-growing collection, which I've been working on for nearly 6 years now and have not showed any signs of slowing down just yet. In fact, I recently reached a milestone: 600 individual video games in my collection, spread out across over 20 different consoles and handhelds. That being said, let's look at the games that got me to that point.

Though I usually focus on retro games on this blog, here's two brand new ones: The Evil Within 2 and Doom, both for the Playstation 4. The Evil Within was a game I enjoyed a lot when it came out in 2014, so I was looking forward to a sequel for a while now. Having played through it and just finished it yesterday, I have a lot of thoughts on it that just may fill a review at some point in the near future. However, for now, suffice it to say that it was pretty cool. Both the story and characters were all kinds of cliché and lackluster compared to the first, but the gameplay really made up for it. Again, I'll save the commentary for a longer review. As for Doom, I haven't played it yet but will definitely start it soon. I was a bit skeptical about it when I first saw trailers, since I'm very wary of "reboots" and thought it looked a little dumb. However, I've heard nothing but positive things about it since it's been released, so I'm willing to give it a try and judge for myself.

Back to retro, we have two Sonic The Hedgehog games for the Sega Saturn: Sonic Jam and Sonic R. Having already owned Sonic 3D Blast on the Saturn for a long time now, these two games complete the "trilogy" of Sonic games released for the Saturn in the mid-90s. Sonic Jam is probably the best of the three, but only because it's a compilation of games from back when Sonic games were actually still good (-Author's note: Sonic Mania is probably good, I haven't played it yet. Soon.). It contains the classic four of the Genesis era: Sonic 1, 2, 3, and Sonic & Knuckles. It even simulates the "lock on" ability of Sonic & Knuckles with 2 and 3, which is pretty cool.

Sonic R, however, is not a good game. I have a certain nostalgic sentimentality toward it since I played it a lot when I was kid, but having played it for about an hour as an adult...yeah, no, it's really bad. I think it wouldn't nearly be as bad if it weren't for the god-awful controls. Oh. My. They're terrible. Your character will just fly all over the place, repeatedly slam into walls, fall into water and other hazards, and constantly careen out of control as you struggle to just finish a race, let alone win it. This came out the same year as Mario Kart 64 (in fact, 10 months after it), so there's absolutely no excuse for being as bad as it is. But you want to know the worst thing about Sonic R? It's the only original Sonic The Hedgehog game that came out on the Saturn! As I just mentioned, Sonic Jam is just a compilation game and Sonic 3D Blast is a lame port of an even lamer Sega Genesis game. For Sega's next-generation console at the time, that was pathetic. It's really no wonder the Saturn did so poorly in the U.S. After the debacle that was the Sega 32X, one would think that Sega of America would do a better job with its next console, and while the Saturn does have some quality games of its own, the lack of a definitive game for its primary mascot was pretty sad. Looking back, it's pretty easy to see why Sega eventually pulled out of the home console market for good.

HOWEVER...just a few years prior, Sega did have a golden age of sorts with the Genesis. Here's two games to help prove that point: Fatal Labyrinth and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Hyperstone Heist. First off, Fatal Labyrinth is a really fun and original dungeon explorer/RPG that is still really fun to play. I first tried it on a compilation of Genesis games on the Xbox 360 called "Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection", and always wanted to play it some more. Again, I think I might have a longer review of it coming soon, but it's a really great original game for the Genesis, I think. Hyperstone Heist is an interesting specimen- it's the Genesis version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (which I also own), which was released one year prior, which in itself is the home console version of an arcade game of the same title. Still with me? I've never played it, but from what I understand it's a watered down version of the SNES game, though it's still a fantastic beat 'em up. I'd love to compare the two side by side one day and judge the merits of both simultaneously.

Last but not least, we end on an accessory, if not only for the ridiculous story I have about buying it. So, in short, I am a moron. I had been on the lookout for a Nintendo Gamecube Broadband Adapter, a very rare accessory that regularly sells for $80 or more on eBay. I'm mainly interested in this little piece of hardware for its ability to connect two Gamecube consoles to one another, which one could theoretically use to play a massive 8-man game of Mario Kart: Double Dash or Kirby's Air Ride (assuming you'll also be able to acquire not only a second adapter but two Gamecubes, two copies of the game, eight controllers, two TVs, and seven other people willing to play it with you). Anyway, when this popped up on my eBay feed one day for $40, I thought I had a steal on my hands and jumped on it as fast as I could. However...I didn't look very closely at the label. Yeah, that's not the Broadband Adapter, it's the Modem Adapter, which looks nearly identical to the Broadband Adapter, if not for a shinier label and text which distinguishes it from its counterpart.

What was it used for? Apparently, for connecting your Gamecube to a dial-up modem (remember those?) to play a very few select games online. In fact, the only game I know of that this could be used for is the RPG Phantasy Star Online. Anyway, I had no idea there was even such a thing and didn't read the description very carefully- I just saw a picture of it, assumed it was the Broadband Adapter and purchased it immediately, thinking I'd just gotten a pretty good deal. Well that, boys and girls, is a perfect example of why you should always read the descriptions carefully, lest you end up with a small piece of plastic that's worth no more than interesting an historical footnote in the graveyard of obsolete online-connectivity technology. Thanks for reading.

Collection Additions Volume 14: Catching up again

Hello dear readers and welcome back to the game room. Once again, I've taken quite a bit of time off from the 'ol blog. I'd like to say it's because I've been busy, but in the interest of full disclosure, I've just been pretty damn lazy. However, I haven't forgotten about it, and since forming opinions on video games constitutes roughly 40% of my daily thoughts, it's unlikely I'll stop posting any time soon. As long as I can get myself to keep writing, that is.

Anyway, seeing as I'm always buying new things, here's another edition of collection additions to tide you over until I get around to writing another review (which, by the way, I have several drafts of things sitting around on my computer waiting to be finished, so one of these days I will probably get around to finishing and posting them).

So first up, I've completed the Super Mario Bros. trilogy on the NES. I've had all the games for a while of course, but I wanted boxes for all of them because they're just such iconic games for the NES. I bought Mario 3 complete a long time ago, and it just looked lonely on my shelf without Mario 1 and 2 next to it. So, being the completionist that I am, I hunted down boxes for 1 and 2 and was able to get them both in decent condition and for good prices. The box for 2 is very good, but 1 is a little bit rougher around the edges. That's alright with me though, since I don't put too much stock in condition. It's got some creases here and there, but for a 30+ year old game, I'm happy to have a decent box for it at all.

Speaking of boxes, I also picked one up for another iconic game, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Once again, this was a game I had purchased a while ago that had just been sitting around on my shelf. Then, a few months back, I purchased a wholesale lot of manuals and boxes and such for SNES games on eBay, which came with the both the manual and the map from Link to the Past. With those two items in tow, I really wanted to get my hands on a box so I could complete the whole thing. I searched high and low for a while, sometimes finding decent ones, but never at a good enough price tag to justify purchasing it. Then, a few weeks ago I found a good one and jumped on it. Like the Super Mario Bros. box, it's got some creases here and there, but I'm happy enough with it.

Moving on to Sega Genesis, we have a game I've been meaning to pick up for a quite a while now: Ghostbusters. As you all should be aware of by now, Ghostbusters is one of my favorite things in existence (and if that statement doesn't convince you, read this review of Ghostbusters: The Video Game for Xbox 360 I did last year). I had never actually known about this game until seeing a review of it by the Angry Video Game Nerd a few years back, which is a real shame because I absolutely would have loved this game as a kid. I only had Ghostbusters II on NES, which is a fairly mediocre game but was still loved to death by me nonetheless, so I likely would've bought the Genesis one and played it nonstop, had I known of it back then. Anyway, Ghostbusters for Sega Genesis is actually on the more uncommon spectrum of Genesis games, so getting a nice complete copy is no easy task. I finally found a good one for a reasonable price recently, and now it's probably the second rarest Genesis game I own, behind Castlevania: Bloodlines.

Next up, we have MediEvil II for PS1. MediEvil was a game I played a long, long time ago on one of those random demo discs for the PS1 that you'd get from gaming magazines or video game stores. I liked it a lot, but never got around to buying the actual game until I was much older. I thought that it was possibly just nostalgia clouding my memory, but to my surprise, the game is actually really great. It sort of reminds me a little bit of Devil May Cry, before that was even a thing. I also had no idea that it had a sequel, so when I spotted it at my local retro gaming store, I had to pick it up. I haven't played it yet, but if it's anything at all like the first one, I'm sure it will make a solid addition to my PS1 library.

Next, a smattering of random games...NFL Football and Operation Wolf for the NES, and Super Punch Out!! for SNES. Very common NES games, two I'm not all that interested in, but when you can get a boxed NES game for under $8, it's pretty much always worth it. And now I can say I own an LJN game...perhaps the worst offender for bad games on the NES. As for Super Punch Out!!, I loved the original Punch Out!! on NES, so this one is a no brainer. I've never played it before but I've seen videos, and it looks just as fun as the original. I'll definitely check it out soon.

And lastly, we end on not an actual game, but an accessory. So, long before people built mods for their games in order to hack the game and do whatever they wanted with it, there was a little thing called Game Genie which seemingly allowed ultimate control over your video games. Want unlimited lives? Invulnerability? The ability to skip levels on command? Game Genie let you do it. It's interesting to think that we were actually using this thing to reprogram the game by rewriting it's coding right before our eyes. But we didn't know how the hell it worked, nor did we care- we just wanted to bend games to our will. I specifically remember using the Game Genie for Game Boy in order to hack myself a Mew in the original Pokémon. Anyway, this Game Genie for the NES is pretty beat up (as evidenced by the crack in the top covered up by an ancient blob of dried glue) and corroded-looking on the contacts, and though I haven't tested it, it likely doesn't work. However, what I find most interesting is the little code book that came with it. Back in the 80s and 90s the internet wasn't really a thing, so we had no way of looking up the codes. As such, this book was an absolute necessity in order to make the Game Genie work. I think some versions had pre-loaded codes on them, but it seems this one didn't.

Anyway, thumbing through the book is kind of interesting because it doesn't just list out the codes for a game, it actually has a little synopsis of each game and other little blurbs. I was also surprised at just how many games it has codes for: over 150, including some of the most popular titles for the NES.

It does get a little weird, however, when it starts talking about some strange and unintended effects that code alterations can have on your games. For example, look at this blurb in the Super Mario Bros. 3 section:

That's actually pretty funny, and not just because they spelled "Bowser" wrong.

Anyway, that's all for now. Thanks for reading and as always, game on.

The Importance of the Sonic The Hedgehog Comics

Hello dear readers and welcome back to the game room. I’ve once again been thrust into the mystical land of studying, so I haven’t had a whole lot of time for video games lately, let alone writing about them. However, I recently heard some news that sparked a long-dormant interest of mine that I’ve had since the year 1995. It isn’t really a video game itself, yet is inextricably tied to video games that I loved as a kid, and it’s something I generally have a lot of thoughts about.

Even if you’re just casually into video games, I’m sure you are aware of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. It’s something I’ve already talked about at length on this blog, seeing as it was one of the first video games I ever played in the early 90s and one of my cherished childhood franchises, right alongside Ghostbusters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. 

The video games are only half of what made me love Sonic so much though- the other half was the comic books. As a kid, I had a monthly subscription to the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series by Archie Comics which I was absolutely obsessed with. There was nothing in the world more exciting than seeing a new issue in my mailbox at the turn of the month. Every time I got one, I’d instantly snatch it up and run to my room to read it. The stories were like an extension of the video games; when you were done playing one of them, the comics would continue right where they left off. And in addition to being its own standalone series, it also produced tie-ins to each new Sonic game that came out- Sonic Spinball, Sonic CD, Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic Triple Trouble, Sonic 3D Blast and more all saw their own comic book adaptations.

The reason this all has been brought to my attention is because word has recently spread across the internet that after a 24-year run and nearly 300 issues of the main series, the comic is finally being cancelled. There hasn’t been any formal announcement as of yet, but it’s been placed on an indefinite “hiatus” and the general speculation is that this is the end for the blue blur in the comic book medium.

Although I haven’t actively been reading the comic for probably 16 or 17 years now, it’s still kind of sad to think about, considering that I grew up with the series by my side. The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has basically been the butt of every joke in the video game community for a long time now, but the comics, to me, represent Sonic is his prime. Looking back on it, it just makes me realize that a majority of the affection I feel for the franchise was not so much because of the games, but rather because of the comics. Anyway, with that in mind, I thought I’d do a little reflection on my personal experience with the series.

I arrived a tad late to the party, as the very first issue I had was #24, bought for me by my mom in May of 1995. The instant I read it though, I was hooked. In the beginning, the series didn’t have much of a narrative and each of the issues were lighthearted, goofy little stories about the evil but bumbling Dr. Robotnik causing trouble and Sonic and his gang of pals squaring off against him in a variety of different scenarios. The story went that Robotnik was constantly seeking to rule the world by turning animals into robots, all while polluting the landscape and converting everything into some kind of mechanized factory. So, basically the same story as the early video games. Sonic and his friends (dubbed the “freedom fighters”) had been driven into hiding in a secret forest hideaway called “Knothole Village,” where they would meet and strategize on how to take on Robotnik next in their ongoing underground revolution against him. 

The comics introduced some new characters to compliment Sonic in his adventures. There was Princess Sally, often the brains of the operation and Sonic’s semi-love interest, Antione D’Coolette, a snooty rival-type character to Sonic who was friendly but often resented him, Boomer (later called Rotor), the technical expert who often cooked up new gadgets for the team, and lastly Bunny Rabbot, who was half robotic thanks to nearly becoming “roboticized” by Robotnik before being rescued by Sonic and the team. And of course there was also Tails, who made his first appearance in the game Sonic 2. Tails was often portrayed as a young child, looked down upon a bit by Sonic and the others. This added to his characterization, and as time goes on he begins to resent this fact, which leads to him having his own 3-issue mini-series in which he proves that he can go on his own adventures and be a hero too.

Which leads me to another point- aside from the main series, there were often  individual “specials” that were released in between issues, some of which were the aforementioned game tie-ins, while others were mini-series’ that focused on side characters like Tails, Sally, and later, Knuckles. At first, the specials were just side stories that had nothing to do with the main series. However, later down the line these specials became very closely linked to the main series. The specials had to be ordered separately, since they were not delivered in the mail with your regular yearly subscription, so getting your hands on one felt like a real treat (and mind you, this was in the pre-internet age where we had to get our parents to actually send out for things in the mail).

Anyway, as the series went on, it gradually started to get more and more serious. It developed more of a solid narrative, with a lot of backstory devoted to Sonic’s and Sally’s pasts, Robotnik’s origins, the beginning of the revolution, and more of a focus on Knuckles, who didn’t appear until issue #13 but gradually became a mainstay of the series. In fact, Knuckles became so popular that he eventually got his own spin-off series that lasted for 32 issues, as well as various specials of his own (a fact that I spoke about in my review of the game Knuckles’Chaotix a while back). Knuckles develops much more as his own character, as Sonic’s nemesis who is not quite on his side yet not quite an enemy either.

 As Knuckles became more popular, he gradually earned his own set of comics.

It all culminates into a thrilling four-part story leading up to issue #50, where Sonic is framed for Sally’s murder and Robotnik develops a massive weapon with the power to annihilate everything. Wow. That took a turn, didn’t it?

Also, I should mention that the artwork for the early era was absolutely awesome. The panels are very well drawn, representing Sonic perfectly in still image format. I also totally loved the cover art, especially for some of the specials like the Knuckles mini-series (issue #1 pictured above) and the Super Sonic vs. Hyper Knuckles special (I'll get to that in a bit).

Anyway, even though the series would continue all the way to issue #290, issue #50 was pretty much the climax for me. After that issue my interest gradually began to wane, as I was getting older at that point and my interests were shifting to less cartoony things (after all, this was roughly around the time that I first played Resident Evil, which became my next obsession). I still continued to receive it in the mail all the way up to around issue #80, but by then it had changed so much since the old days that I completely lost interest. My mom had also gotten sick of buying it for me and finally stopped renewing my subscription.

Looking back now, I still feel a great deal of affection for issues 24-50, as well as a few other early ones that I managed to get my hands on. The story arc leading up #50 was amazing, including both the main series and the various specials and mini-series’ that complimented it. Rather than talk about it on a whole, I’ll just discuss a few personal highlights that I remember best from these issues.

As I mentioned before, issue #24 holds a special place in my heart as the very first issue I ever read. The plot involves an alternate universe in which Robotnik is the good guy, pursued by an evil version of Sonic and his gang of counterparts. This gang somehow crosses over into the regular Sonics’ universe and begins framing Sonic and his friends for a number of misdeeds. Sonic catches wind of this, which sparks a battle between good and evil duplicates- a classic story.

The next issue, #25, is a tie-in to the game Sonic CD in which Robotnik develops a robotic version of Sonic called “Mecha-Sonic,” which challenges him to a race across the massive “Stardust Speedway” zone, just like in the climax of the game. Sonic also has to deal with the fact that Robotnik has kidnapped a cute little fan-girl of Sonic named Amy, which was also a part of the game.

There’s issue #33, which is one of the very last of the “sillier” issues before things got more serious later on. In this issue, Robotnik has infected all of the freedom fighters with a deadly virus, except for Sonic, who is then shrunk down to microscopic size in order to combat the virus from inside of each of his pals.

Then there’s issue #35, which is probably one of the craziest and most bizarrely creative issues of the entire series (at least out of the issues I remember, anyway). Upon collecting his billionth magic ring, Sonic is transported to a strange alternate universe, where he’s tested by the mythical “ancient walkers” who give him all kinds of mysterious and cryptic riddles. It’s so out there and weird, I remember loving it as a kid.

There’s also the “Mecha Madness” arc, which was a three-part story that included its own special. In issue #39, Sonic concocts a plan to let himself become roboticized by Robotnik, while using some kind of special microchip that would allow him to retain his own free will as a robot so he could then infilitrate Robotnik’s defenses. However, the rest of the gang denies his request by Sally’s royal decree, on the grounds that Sally herself attempted something similar in issue #29 to no avail. Sonic is pissed and leaves in a huff, only to ambushed and captured by Knack the Weasel, a character from the Game Gear game “Sonic Triple Trouble,” which had its own special as I mentioned before. 

Anyway, Knack delivers Sonic to Robotnik, who promptly turns him into a robot and sends him off to destroy Knothole village. One by one, Mechanized-Sonic kicks all of his friend’s asses, including Knuckles, who has joined in on the fight. All seems lost, which leads into the “Mecha Madness” special issue, which I remember begging my mom to order for me after issue #39 came out. In this issue, Knuckles is roboticized by Sally and the gang with the experimental microchip, which works well enough for him to fight back against Sonic in robotic form. The two kick the shit out of each other with Knuckles barely winning out. They are then transformed back to normal and everything is well and good…right? Nope. Once turned back to normal, Sonic is promptly arrested for treason, since Sally believes he defied her royal decree. Issue #40 starts with Sonic in prison, awaiting trial for a crime he didn't commit. He is eventually granted a chance to prove his innocence, and heads out to track down Knack and show that he was captured against his own will.

As I already mentioned, issue #50 ends on a thrilling note, with Sonic finally defeating Robotnik once and for all (seriously, he is actually DEAD after this and never comes back!). I thought the comic would actually end here (it was called the "Endgame" saga, after all), but it turns out that this was just the beginning; afterward Sonic finds many other foes to fight, but once again, I sort of stopped reading the comics after #50.

 Sonic actually fights Robotnik TO THE DEATH in issue #50. Think about that.

By far though, my favorite issue of the entire series was not even an issue from the main series, but a 48-page special released between issues 33 and 34 titled “Super Sonic vs. Hyper Knuckles.” In this issue, Sonic and Knuckles find a special zone where they each collect 50 rings and 7 chaos emeralds (just like in the games!) and transform into super-powered versions of themselves, then beat the total crap out of each other in an knock-down drag-out brawl. This was just amazing on so many levels. You didn’t even need to read the comics to know that the two were bitter rivals- at the climax of the video game Sonic & Knuckles, they square off with each other in a battle, only to put aside their differences when Knuckles realizes that they both have a common enemy in Dr. Robotnik. However, this moment is the only time the two ever actually fight in the games, and afterward they become friends.

In the comics, however, Sonic and Knuckles frequently clashed with each other, with neither ever admitting that the other was an ally. Actually, when Knuckles got his first mini-series set of side comics, the title described their relationship perfectly- “Sonic’s friendly nemesis.” So in “Super Sonic vs. Hyper Knuckles,” seeing the two in super-powered form pounding each other’s faces in was just incredible. I loved this issue so much that I still have my original one, which is almost completely falling apart, if not for the ancient pieces of scotch tape that are holding the spine together.

 My original copy of "Super Sonic vs. Hyper Knuckles," barely still in one piece.

Anyway, all this nostalgia filled me with a desire to read the first 50 issues again, even the ones I never had when I was kid. As such, I’ve started collecting issues, starting with the very first one. I’ve never been much of a comic book collector, and I definitely did not keep my originals in very good condition AT ALL; nearly all of them I owned have pretty much deteriorated into a pile of shredded paper. Thankfully, most issues are still readily available online for very cheap (with the comic’s imminent cancellation, this might change soon as more people like me suddenly want to relive their childhood!). It might take a while, but I think it will be worth it, as I can appreciate it on a different level as an adult.

This small stack is all I have left of my original comics that are still intact enough to 

read- the rest have been completely shredded beyond legibility. Hopefully I'll have more soon.

If you have an interest in the Sonic the Hedgehog series and you’ve never read any of them, I highly recommend checking them out. Whether you’re an old or a new Sonic fan, there’s enough there to satisfy your interests and then some.

So thanks for reading and remember, fun is infinite. Stay cool my fellow Mobians.