The Easiest To Hardest Sonic The Hedgehog Games

Today I’m counting down the hardest side-scrolling Sonic games from the Mega Drive era - games released between 1991 and 1994 - and we’re obviously discounting Sonic Spinball, Mean Bean Machine and Sonic 3D Blast. We’re going from the easiest to the hardest, let’s begin the countdown!

5 - Sonic The Hedgehog 3

Considering that Sonic The Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles were meant to played together, using the lock-on cartridge - it seems obvious that Sonic 3 is piss easy  - it's designed to be the first half of a bigger overall game, thus, easier levels. Sonic 3 introduced a whole array of new items, including the elemental shields - the fire one making you impervious to fire-based enemies, especially the fiery rockets on most bosses, the electric shield, that attracts rings, and the bubble shield - which allows underwater breathing. These shields also deflect projectiles and are as common as muck in the grand scheme of things, some of them being placed on the most direct route through the level - you can also easily acquire them from the checkpoint bonus levels quite easily. Although all of the levels end with a boss - a sub-boss in Act 1 and Dr Robotnik in Act 2, the majority of the sub-bosses are pathetically weak and Dr Robotnik proves more annoying than actually difficult. The Blue Sphere special stage is also the 2nd easiest Chaos Emerald stage in my opinion, the only thing being frustrating about them is the fact you actually have to FIND the giant rings, rather than the 50-rings method. Oh, and the final thing that cements my opinion that Sonic 3 is the easiest game? YOU HAVE RINGS WHEN YOU FIGHT THE FINAL BOSS!

 

4 - Sonic CD

Now Sonic CD is a strange one here at number 4. But you need to bear in mind, we’re comparing Sonic CD to the other Sonic side-scrolling platformers on the Mega Drive, and it’s the odd one out as it uses an entirely different engine and is full of unique mechanics that aren’t present in any other Sonic game, before or since. Sonic CD’s difficulty curve is all over the place - and it’s all down to the ability to warp between different time periods. As a general rule, the past is easier and the future is harder - the past tends to have less enemies and obstacles, while the future is full of badniks and traps. The first few levels are quite easy - a lot of them I breezed through by practically just holding right and the odd jump. The bosses however are all a pain in the arse - every single one has some weird puzzle you need to solve before you even work out how you’re supposed to start causing damage - the strangest of all being the treadmill boss.. The last two levels are a combination of bouncy floor that rockets you to the top of the level, electrocuting mechanisms in the background and having to traverse a factory-style maze as a mini, baby Sonic.

3 - Sonic The Hedgehog 2

Now Sonic 2 is actually both mine and Shelly's favourite Sonic game - I played it to death as a kid, and continue to do so as an adult on a regular basis. To me, in between the jump from Sonic 1 to Sonic 2, the introduction of the spin-dash move and using checkpoints to access the special stages rather than at the end of the level made the game appear easier straightaway. Sonic 2 is very easy up until around Hill Top Zone, where it finally gains a few teeth and they continue sprouting right up until the very end of the game. While Sonic 1's stages all had 3 acts as standard, only one stage in Sonic 2 does, while two only have the one - potentially allowing for more variety in stages. Sonic 2's special stages are easy, if you play as Tails or Sonic alone - letting the CPU control Tails is frustrating as hell, as he just loves crashing into the damn bombs. Alternatively, having a 2nd player control Tails makes these special stages insultingly easy, providing they're a skilled player. Speaking of Tails, both the CPU and a 2nd player makes boss stages easier - allowing for Tails to kick the shit out of Robotnik while Sonic sits back and watches. The combination of Metropolis Zone and Wing Fortress Zone makes the end of the game pretty difficult - and couple that with a double boss on the final stage that kicked my arse over and over as a kid due to the lack of rings - Sonic 2 is a decent contender here.

2 - Sonic The Hedgehog

Like many first installments, and retro games in general; the original Sonic The Hedgehog has a somewhat unforgiving difficulty once it gets going. Green Hill Zone is a little warm-up, which is hastily followed by Marble Zone; a level filled with spikes and lava, Spring Yard Zone, a level filled with enemies who chase you and tons of instant death drops, Labyrinth Zone, which is a fucking UNDERWATER MAZE, Star Light Zone,, actually an easy level, but it's filled with unkillable enemies and Scrap Brain Zone, a level that contains NO checkpoints and also has an act that is a Labyrinth Zone clone, ANOTHER UNDERWATER MAZE. I'm surprised that the final boss is actually pretty easy. You have no rings, of course, but as final bosses go, the only easier one is Sonic The Hedgehog 3's. The special stage is also unforgiving as fuck, constantly spinning around with trippy coloured backgrounds to give you motion sickness as you repeatedly fall into pit after pit after pit.

 

1 - Sonic & Knuckles

And finally we have Sonic & Knuckles - the overall hardest Sonic game released on the Mega Drive. As I previously explained, Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles were designed to be one game - so it's not surprising that Sonic & Knuckles started half-way up the difficulty curve, where Sonic 3 left off after Launch Base Zone. Right from the beginning, Sonic & Knuckles' first stage, Mushroom Hill Zone is about as difficult as the likes of Casino Night Zone and Spring Yard Zone and it continues building a steep difficulty curve right up until the insanely difficult final boss. The final stage, Death Egg Zone even forces you to traverse the level UPSIDE-DOWN, effectively reversing your controls! While Sonic & Knuckles is lacking in underwater levels, it certainly makes up for it with tons of timed sections, tough platforming, levels that are built like damn mazes and bosses which to find their weak spot is a bloody puzzle.

Subway's Festive Feast - Mini Review

Now, I don't normally go for Christmas specials or festive menus at fast food restaurants, but after seeing the advert for Subway’s Festive Feast, I knew I had to try it.

Firstly, I love Subway - I'm a big fan of sandwiches in general, and everyone knows sandwiches taste better if someone else makes them for you. My usual order from Subway is an Italian BMT on hearty Italian bread, cheese, cucumber, lettuce and mayonnaise. Cold - never toasted. So, today I ordered my Festive Feast with the same additions - and I omitted the rancid cranberry sauce.

The Festive Feast comes with turkey slices, streaky bacon and sausages. The turkey was lovely and juicy, the bacon was super crispy - but the sausages were a bit naff. Sausages should ALWAYS be warm in sandwiches - when they're cold, they just taste like congealed lard.

Obviously turkey is the key component of a Christmas dinner - and the sausage and bacon makes up the pigs in blankets. But what's missing? Something turkey should never be without? STUFFING! If this sandwich came with a touch of stuffing and less lardy sausages, it would be a million times nicer.

If I order another this December, I should try it toasted - see how that changes the taste of the meat, omit the cheese, because that just didn't work whatsoever and sneak in some stuffing in a tupperware.

Unboxing: Arcade Block October 2016

It's time for my twelfth monthly Arcade Block!

As I've previously explained; for a fee of $20 CANADIAN per month, Arcade Block will send you a lovely box of gaming merchandise, including a T-shirt. Shipping costs vary, depending on where you live, and larger T-shirt sizes cost a few $ extra - overall, my boxes including shipping, work out at about £24.

This one was shipped on the 25th of October and arrived on the 8th of November.




And let's take a closer look at the contents:

Five Nights At Freddy's 8-Bit Balloon Boy model

Dropzone beta code

Starfox socks

Nightwing action figure

NES Zapper pin

Gears Of War 4 T-shirt

Super Mario Kart poster

Mog Anarchy's 1st Gunge Tank Experience!

I'm sure we all have a bucket list - things we'd like to do in our lives before we die - whether it's physically written down or just in your head, we all have a long list of things we'd like to accomplish, experience or achieve.

My bucket list includes such highlights as graduating from university, getting married, getting my own house, visiting Germany and of course - getting publicly gunged in a real gunge tank.

And on October 29th 2016, thanks to my friend Leigh, we made it happen.




I went along with him to help out with the gunge tank in general - you may not realise, but they're actually a massive pain in the arse - being made of glass, they're quite fragile - they also require a lot of set-up and of course, clean-up afterwards. The tank had been booked by a shopping centre in Stoke to raise money for a breast cancer charity - all good - and while I was there, I took a gunging to help with their fundraising and to be used as promo material for the gunge tank next year.

The tank itself can hold 90 litres, or 9 buckets - and thanks to the collection tank underneath, the gunge can be recycled and used again - my gunging consisted of around 5 buckets worth of recycled gunge...

When I was gunged, there were around 50 people gathered around to watch, in addition to all of the shoppers mooching around and people sitting in the nearby cafe - so quite a big audience for the first time I was publicly gunged...

The event organiser even had a microphone and speaker set up - he asked me before I stepped inside: "How are you feeling Dixie?"

"...A little nervous." I stammered in reply - a feeling of excitement and nervousness, to be honest.

So with a countdown from 10 - and his son pulling the release chain - I stood trembling with a mixture of dread and anticipation. After they all shouted ONE - the chain was pulled, and I was doused in thick, gloopy, green gunge - which was so thick and falling from such a height, knocked off my glasses quite spectacularly. I couldn't stop a stupid smile forming on my face, or the giggles.

Unsure what to do with my hands, I thought "go big or go home" and raised my fists with dual devil horns - which garnered a massive crowd reaction - I got a lot of cheers and applause. Afterwards, a group of old ladies expressed I was brave - to which I replied, "no, I'm just daft," - I was still giggling like a fool.

I was sent off to the underground staff area, leaving a gloopy trail behind me - where I cleaned up in their little toilet room - I'd taken along spare clothes and a towel, but the only water source I had was a tiny hand basin - which I just dunked my head into and washed my hair as best as I could until I got to have a proper shower later that evening. But, having been gunged so much before - you only get better at getting cleaned up.

So, that is the story of my first ever time in a proper gunge tank - and also my first public gunging. I doubt it'll be the last, either. :)

Ash's Birthday Cards: The Binding Of Isaac

My prediction was right, so it seems. :)

Shelly made me a cake, I got some books, T-shirts and a shitton of underpants, because I made the mistake of telling everyone I needed pants. I also got some money and some gift cards that I blew on Amazon. :)

Anyway, this is this 2015's card designed by Ash - a Binding of Isaac card:

Complete with the menagerie of monsters attending my birthday party as I cut the cake with Mom's Knife. :)

Unboxing: Arcade Block September 2016

It's time for my eleventh monthly Arcade Block!

As I've previously explained; for a fee of $20 CANADIAN per month, Arcade Block will send you a lovely box of gaming merchandise, including a T-shirt. Shipping costs vary, depending on where you live, and larger T-shirt sizes cost a few $ extra - overall, my boxes including shipping, work out at about £24.

This one was shipped on the 25th of September and arrived on the 7th of October.



And let's take a closer look at the contents:

Sega Mega Drive USB hub

Super Chip Clips

Retro video gaming magazine

Controllers T-Shirt

Assassin's Creed Mega Bloks

Gungey Gaming Gameshow - Episode #1

Welcome everybody, to the first episode of Mog Anarchy's GUNGEY GAMING GAMESHOW - where gamers compete in gaming-related quizzes and challenges in a hope of avoiding getting gunged!

Today's contestant is... me. D'oh!

The rules are simple - the Gungey Gameshow consists of three rounds and a final GUNGE ROUND - in order to avoid facing the gunge, you must complete TWO out of the three rounds satisfactorily. Simple, right? Ha, just you wait.



(The blog below is full of photos! To fit them all in, I had to make them smaller - to see a full-size version, simply click on 'em!)

Round #1

In our first round, you have ONE MINUTE to draw a picture of the icon of Nintendo gaming: Mario. The catch? You have to splat your face into a plateful of paint and use your NOSE as a paintbrush! This is going to get messy...

Personally, I think I did pretty well - at first glance, it may not look that much like Mario - but if you take in account the face I drew it with my FACE in a MINUTE - it's not bad at all! I also didn't get as much paint on my face as I expected - I just got a black nose like my cat Jet.

Round #2

In our second round, we have a general knowledge question for you about The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time. In front of you are three tubs filled to the brim with lovely, sloppy gunge. You will notice their lids are marked with pictures of the three Spiritual Stones. You must gunge yourself in the order of which you receive these items!

This was a first for me, I've never gunged myself before. I've always had somebody standing over me with a bucket - I've never been in charge of doing it myself. My word, it's nerve-racking. You know what's going to happen, but at the same time, you're apprehensive about doing it! Each of these tubs could hold 2 litres - and each was filled right to the brim with gunge! Anyway, I knew the order, the Kokiri's Emerald, the Goron's Ruby and the Zora's Sapphire - or GREEN, RED, BLUE - so I doused myself with six litres of gunge... gooey green, runny red and bubbly blue... Yuck!

Round #3

In our third and final round, you have ONE MINUTE to sing the entire "Still Alive" song from Portal. Once you are finished, you must slam your face into the lovely foam pie on the table in front of you.

Now as you know, Still Alive is a song that haunts me - thanks to a previous gunging I had... but - we all have to face our demons one day. I ACED this round - I rambled through the lyrics with time to spare! Before I face-planted in the pie, I made sure to take off my glasses... it's a good thing too - I hit the table so hard, I bumped my nose! I also held my face in the pie for a while... I was a little embarrassed about raising my head, because I knew I'd look super silly. I'm surprised at how long I could hold my breath!

Gunge Round

It's not fair! Even though I DID pass 2/3 of the rounds - I still got gunged anyway!

Yup, I was made to get on my knees in the already messy paddling pool, raise up my head and get absolutely covered in 12 litres of thick, gloopy, sticky bright yellow gunge...

All of the gunge used in this video, I got from an awesome UK retailer GungeSupplies.com - it's HEC gunge, made to a thick consistency. HEC is slightly different to natrosol, as it feels a lot thicker, gloopier and stickier. It's also a lot less slippery underfoot and cleans up a lot easier!