Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure

Sonic a Hedgehog Pocket Adventure also asked as Sonic Pocket Adventure is the platform game developed by SNK together with released for the Neo Geo Pocket Color in 1999. The game is based on Sonic the Hedgehog 2 1992 for the Sega Genesis, borrowing much of the stage themes as well as gameplay elements, but featuring unique stage layouts, elements from other Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog games, and additional game modes. Sega's Yuji Naka and the rest of Sonic Team supervised over production.

The game was released in December 1999 to positive reviews. Critics felt Sonic Pocket Adventure was a faithful adaptation of the traditional Sonic game formula, nearly importantly not creating any sacrifices to the game's speed. Reviewers praised the game as one of the best among the Neo Geo Pocket Color's library and commended the nature of SNK's hardware. Several members of the SNK development team later formed Dimps which went on to instituting several more Sonic games for handheld devices.

Reception

Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure received critical acclaim. Critics generally believed that despite being on a handheld system, the game successfully captured the same high speed thrills and sharp graphics as in the original Genesis games. The most common complaints were occasional frame rate slowdown and the lack of parallax scrolling, but most agreed these problems were not intrusive enough to detract from the otherwise great kind of the game.

Some critics highlighted how alive the system's hardware performed in their reviews. Official Dreamcast Magazine praised the joystick on the handheld as controlling better than the Genesis controllers. Daily Radar thanked SNK for developing a expediency enough screen to prevent all unwanted raison d'être for the Neo Geo Pocket Color. AllGame disagreed that it was a killer app, but felt it showcased the system's processing prowess well.

In retrospect, IGN called Sonic Pocket Adventure a system seller and a proving ground for the development team, as numerous members of the staff would go on to imposing several more Sonic games for handheld systems as Dimps. IGN identified Sonic Pocket Adventure on their wishlist of games for the Virtual Console on the Nintendo DSi. Although the Neo Geo Pocket Color was not commercially successful, Retro Gamer still called it a "fantastically playable" machine with Sonic Pocket Adventure being one of the best games in the system's the treasure of knowledge and the Sonic catalog. GamesRadar covered the game at number six among their list of top 25 Sonic games of any time.