1994 was Sonic’s peak time on the Mega Drive, and he appeared on a few killer games that made you glad you were livin’ in the 90’s. Baby. Ahem. This year was the great introduction of Knuckles, everyone’s favourite echidna. He made his first appearance in Sonic 3, the big one for the Mega Drive, then went onto Sonic & Knuckles, then Game Gear. Here’s the lowdown of the games..
1994: The Year of the Echidna
February 2nd: Sonic 3 (USA)
Released with a free copy of the Sonic Boom LP. Sonic makes his big comeback on the Mega Drive, and Sonic Team have improved the graphics greatly for this game. Knuckles first appears here, but is not playable – more a nuisance. This game was supposed to be bigger, hence Sonic & Knuckles was released as the second part to Sonic 3.
March 24th: Sonic Drift (Japan)
A change from the norm, this was a racing game starring Sonic and a small party of his buddies. You raced in cars along famous levels such as Emerald Hill Zone, and used weapons and dirty tactics in order to get ahead of the pack and win that trophy!
August: Sonic’s Gameworld (Japan)
The SEGA Pico was released as a console edutainment system to help teach youngsters using their TV. Sonic’s Gameworld was released, and it included several games and activities to help kiddies to learn and enjoy learning at the same time, without being extremely elitist about it. 😛
September: Tails and the Music Maker (USA)
Released for the SEGA Pico, Tails and the Music Maker was a creative outlet for children to master the art of music. Using Tails as some kinda foxy slave, you dragged notes onto a scoresheet into any pattern you like, and the results could be heard when you were finished. Noice.
October 18th: Sonic & Knuckles (USA, Europe, Japan)
Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3 were actually meant to be one whole game, but due to cartridge space S&K was released on a special lock-on cart, which works with Sonic 3 to give you that very big game that Sonic Team were supposed to give you in the first place. You can play as Knuckles now, and the game is backwards compatible with Sonic 2 and Sonic 1.
November 11th: Sonic & Tails 2 (Japan)
Sonic is back on the Game Gear, again with new and improved graphics and with the intro to Knuckles on the handheld, although you can’t play as him. You can play as Sonic or Tails, and this is basically a sequel to Sonic Chaos, but much much better, which explains why this game is called Sonic & Tails 2 in Japan.
International / Other Releases
- January: Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine (Game Gear – Europe)
- February 4th: Sonic 3 (UK / Europe)
- February 27th: Sonic 3 (Japan)
- August: Sonic Spinball (Game Gear – Europe)
- September: Sonic Spinball (Game Gear – USA)
- November: Sonic Triple Trouble (aka Sonic & Tails 2 – USA, Europe)
- December 7th: Sonic the Hedgehog: REMIX CD release (Japan)