Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)

Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)
Sonic the Hedgehog's US box art.

Sonic the Hedgehog is a platform video game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Sega Mega Drive (Sega Genesis in North America). Featuring the new mascot of Sega, the titular Sonic the Hedgehog, this game served as the launch title for the famous video game franchise known as the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

The game was originally released for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive in North America and Europe on June 23, 1991, with a Japanese Mega Drive release on July 26, 1991. Advertising its fast gameplay based on Sonic's extraordinary speed, the concept of a high-speed platform game was unique for its time and solidified the style of gameplay the series would be best known for. Due to the Genesis/Mega Drive's Motorola 68000 processor, the power of the console would allow for faster gameplay, dubbed by some as "blast processing".

Being rereleased through compilations, it has also been ported and released individually by multiple developers, being a part of Backbone Entertainment's PlayStation 3 releases, and M2's Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch remasters. It has also been extensively remade on the Retro Engine by Christian Whitehead and Simon Thomley for mobile devices, with widescreen support and a plethora of new content.

Regional Differences

The Japanese version's cheat codes are different from the International releases of the game.

International Cheat Codes

All of the codes provided relate to the original Mega Drive and Genesis releases of Sonic. Later re-releases or remakes may not have these cheat codes, or the codes may have changed.

Zone Select	On the title screen, press Up, Down, Left, Right, A+Start (After pressing Right, a ring noise will sound, indicating that you've inputted the code correctly).
Debug Mode	On the title screen, press C, Up, C, Down, C, Left, C, Right, Start, A + Start. Keep holding A until Sonic appears on screen.	Debug Mode in action.
Zone Select + Debug Mode	On the title screen, press Up, Down, Left, Right, Up, Up, C, Down, C, Left, C, Right, C, A+Start, select a zone, and keep holding A until Sonic appears on screen.
Messed Up Demo Mode	While the in-game demo is playing, press and hold A+B+C. Sonic will get confused, lose his place, and, in some cases, die.

Japanese Cheat Codes

All of the codes provided relate to the original Mega Drive releases of Sonic. Later re-releases or remakes may not have these cheat codes, or the codes may have changed.

Zone Select	On the title screen, press Up, Down, Down, Down, Left, Right, A+Start (After pressing Right, a ring noise will sound, indicating you've inputted the code. Then hold A and press Start to access Zone Select).
Debug Mode	On the title screen, press C, C, C, C, Up, Down, Down, Down, Left, Right, A+Start. Keep holding A until Sonic appears on screen.	Debug Mode in action.
Zone Select + Debug Mode	On the title screen, press Up, Down, Down, Down, Left, Right, Up, C, C, C, C, Up, Down, Down, Down, Left, Right, A+Start, select a zone, and keep holding A until Sonic appears on screen.
Staff Roll and Ending Sequence from Zone Select	Go to Zone Select, then press Up, Down, Down, Down, Left, Right, Up, C, C, C, C, C, C, Up, Down, Down, Down, Left, Right, A+Start.
- Alternate Staff Roll Method	Press C, C, C, C, C, C, Up, Down, Down, Down, Left, Right, wait until the demo starts, press Start to stop the demo, enter the Zone Select cheat, go to 9E in Sound Select and press A, B, or C to go to the Staff Roll.
- Alternate Ending Sequence Method	Press C, C, C, C, C, C, Up, Down, Down, Down, Left, Right, wait until the demo starts, press Start to stop the demo, enter the Zone Select cheat, go to 9F in Sound Select and press A, B, or C to go to the Ending Sequence, which will also lead into the Staff Roll.
Hidden Japanese Credits Screen	On the title screen, press C, C, C, C, C, C, Up, Down, Down, Down, Left, Right, then hold Down+A+B+C while the demo starts up. The credits will appear instead of the "Sonic Team Presents" screen.	The hidden credits.

Trivia

• Due to Sega not wanting to fully credit Sonic Team's developers in the Staff Roll, instead choosing to use nicknames for each developer, Sonic Team decided to include a hidden Japanese credit screen in the "Sonic Team Presents" screen.
  • The credits screen, in English, translates to "Program - Naka Yuuji, Plan - Yasuhara Hirokazu, Design - Ooshima Naoto, Ishiwatari (Jina) and Kataoka, Sound Produce - Nakamaru Masato, Sound Program - Kubota Hiroshi and Makino Yukifumi".
• On all cheat codes containing C, the total amount of C's can be input at almost any point in the code.

​Gallery

Zone Select.

Debug Mode in action.

The hidden Japanese credits.