Out of all the games I grew up playing, Sonic the Hedgehog might be the one I associate most with my childhood. I came to this realization having spent last weekend at my mother’s house, the house I grew up in. Everything from the “SEGA!” startup logo and sound effect, followed by the menu theme and quickly going into the Green Hill Zone theme…So good! I can still picture myself sitting on the floor, looking up at our small CRT television playing that first level over, and over again.
Aside from my adolescence, Green Hill Zone also represents the golden age of Sonic to me, before, ya know, the franchise was continuously run into the ground year after year with crappy sequels. But Sonic 1, 2 and 3, man those were the games.
Green Hill Zone is a happy tune, and features that quintessential Sega Genesis sound. Sonic games always had really uneven soundtracks though – some tracks were these amazing, catchy tunes that would stick in your head for days, while others were instantly forgettable. Luckily, after more than 2o years, Green Hill Zone still holds up as one of the best Sonic tunes ever.
