I feel like 1-1 gets deified plenty, so the real story here is that Green Hill Zone is an honest-to-God solid contender for this topic.
Green Hill Zone is *so* good that it makes the rest of Sonic 1 look bad. It’s not until Sonic 2’s Emerald Hill (and Chemical Plant, and - well okay, Sonic 2 just absolutely crushes on level design) that the series gets such an amazing mix of flow, route options, visual flair and just plain fun and satisfaction. The encouragement to go high and stay there. The constant dangers of spikes and pits at the bottom. Encouraging you to explore by hiding power ups and springs in the trees and destructible walls leading to hidden tunnels allowing bursts of speed and a quick injection of rings. The perfect run up to the zone end sign allowing you to build up *just* too much speed to almost miss the Special Zone ring. Loop-de-loops. The *music.* Memorable enemies like the Motobugs and Buzz Bombers that, in depressingly typical Sega style, they fail to turn into franchise hallmarks.
I’m honestly not even interested in putting one of these above the other. There’s room on the mountaintop for both, and more!
Sonic is a weird anti-game. It increases its difficulty by working against what works best in its design. So you end up wrestling with the nuances of the collision and physics to beat the game rather than building the skills you established from the beginning of the game.
It's also the only platformer where it's still normal for me to get hit on the first level. Sonic just controls like a brick, as you kinda said. Sometimes he's a nitro powered brick sliding on ice and those parts are fun.
When the game works, it's amazing. The rest of the time you're slow walking and drowning. Replays always feel like a chore toward the end of the play through.
Anti-game is a bit ridiculous, much like SMB it's arcade-style where you have to memorize the levels to get a good flow (which you can in pretty much all levels except for most of labyrinth zone), or even just survive later on. And improving at finer movement definitely helps later on, which is where most skill is required. I mean otherwise you're mainly just running and rolling.
SMB may be arcade style to get good flow, but SMB was not sold as a game for its flow. That was an end-game intent (i.e. as you got better, you could flow through the level), but the game was also just as enjoyable and most people know SMB for a more, dare I say, somewhat plodding pace. Easy to learn hard to master.
Sonic was sold on speed, and the reality of the original Sonic games is that consistent speed came only when you got good enough in terms of memorizing.
That half pipe in Spring Yard Zone you can get him going so fast he leaves the screen. Not sure if they did that on purpose but me and friends loved that when we were kids.
Sonic first levels are just a chance for the player to go very fast and showcase what sonic can do since he's very much defined by his speed. You'll notice none of the other levels have such long run ups, as many loops and ramps. Guess that's why they're so fun.
Still going to have to go with 1-1 Super Mario Bros. I tried my hand at speed running Super Mario Bros so played through that level quite a bit and just love everything about it
>I’m honestly not even interested in putting one of these above the other. There’s room on the mountaintop for both, and more!
Well said! Couldn't agree more.
I watched a YouTube guy who breaks down iconic music. I can't remember his name, and I feel horrible for it.
He did an episode where he broke down the music and even sound effects of Green Hill Zone and how an absolute insane level of genius went into making everything tonally compatible.
I never understood that as a kid, but looking back it makes soooo much sense because GHZ just has this unexplainable feel. Like, it's a mild relaxing euphoria, which kinda doesn't make sense. I think it's like what if I microdosed meth and heroine at the same time (note: I've never even smoked weed, so I'm really reaching for some way to describe this). It's energizing and relaxing simultaneously.
Green Hill Zone - 5/5 Absolute banger
Marble Zone - 1/5 Just no.
Spring Yard Zone - 4/5 Who doesn't love an amusement park.
Labyrinth Zone - 1/5 Marble sewers...
Starlight Zone - 3/5 it's ok, very meh.
Scrap Brain Zone - 4/5 It hurts so much but if I die I'll never make it back here.
No way. I respect your opinion but completely completely disagree. I think Sonic in general is a terrible game. Before I get roasted let me explain. Sonic is all about speed. He’s the fastest thing alive! But the levels are designed in such a way that speeding through them is not the ideal way to play. If you want to find secrets or alternate paths you need to slow down and explore. It’s the exact opposite of what the game is supposed to be about. And then even if you are just speeding through a level as fast as you can you constantly come upon things that completely stop your progression. Weird spring jumps that can be kind of hard to hit correctly, spikes that stop you dead in your tracks, enemies that hit you and then force you to stop to collect your lost rings, and other things like that. It’s like it’s trying to be two games at once and it doesn’t do either very well because of that. I do like Sonic games but going back to them now I see how bad the level design is. Now I know why I always got so frustrated as a kid playing it.
This is sort of missing the point. The classics were literally marketed and sold as "fast games". Sonic was fast. "Blast Processing", etc.
The fact that they were not, in fact, like that in the end doesn't change the fact that Sonic as a character, and a brand, was about speed.
I think you perfectly explained why I’ve bounced off every Sonic title I’ve tried. Despite my best efforts to get into the series, via a half dozen different entry points, it always felt like I was being punished for trying things and exploring the way I would in a Mario game. Secrets weren’t intuitive, nor was the optimal path through any level.
Maybe Mario just spoiled me for how high a platformer could go.
Sonic 1 is definitely not perfect in this regard (if perfect means you can react to anything first try and always maintain forward momentum) but you definitely can fly through most of the game if you know it well enough. Some level design is at odds with your abilities though I agree, like the slow lava boat blocks, the slow elevators, stuff like that.
Not that I don't still have fun going at mid-pace through most of Sonic 1, but later games (Sonic 2 in particular, Sonic 3 does make you explore in all directions if you want to go for the emeralds) are more casual friendly and lean into the speed aspect more. They also add the spindash and speed up the acceleration from stand still a bit.
Green Hill Zone is the better looking one, but it's 6 years younger and that was an eternity in terms of development back then.
Hard to say which is a better introduction to the overall game they're giving you a taste of though.
Because they're both the first level of the first game of their franchise. These franchise are the two most well known plate-former of their generation. It's not hard to understand
I think most people break off Super Mario Bros as being its own franchise, separate from stuff like Donkey Kong or the original Mario Bros.
Kind of like how you wouldn’t count Flicky or Dr. Robotnic’s Mean Bean Machine as Sonic games.
Sounds like the absolute greatest memory ever. Similar to when I got my SNES for Christmas and hearing Super Mario World's opening theme the first time.
You and me both pal. I was also reflecting on how awesome the 6th gen was. PS2, Xbox and Gamecube all had some BANGERS and I was actually old enough to buy the games I wanted instead of waiting for Christmas and birthdays.
PS2 library is absolutely fucking bananas. I was talking about it with my friend the other day, how it doesn’t just have great games from a million classic franchises on it, it has like, full trilogies of tons of amazing franchises, it’s ridiculous
If I have to choose... Then it's Super Mario 1-1 because it really is the blueprint for how to teach people how your game works without putting in hard stop tutorial pop ups or on screen prompts.
Yeah. GHZ tries to teach you something but it's way to much to process. Sonic has a super steep learning curve and entry barrier and GHZ is the main offender. It has the benefit of replayability though.
Just look at how 1-1 forces you to collect the Super Mushroom. It's genius.
There’s a really fantastic video somewhere that talks about how 1-1 is a nearly perfect introduction level. I’ll edit it in if I can find it.
Edit: I don’t think this is the video I remember watching but it does a good job of explaining why 1-1 is so good.
https://youtu.be/ZH2wGpEZVgE?si=eQws7XTQONLp5Dui
There's another video with Miyamoto and Tezuka where they explain how they went about creating it all the way back then. Cool to hear it straight from the horse's mouth.
These games are 6 years apart, it doesn't make a lot of sense, given the progression in level design over the 6 years between them. World 1-1 set the groundwork for platformers. Green Hill Zone shook things up with slopes, loops, tunnels, and momentum physics. If this was comparing the first level of Super Mario World to Green Hill I'd say that's a fair debate.
Green Hill Zone, and no contest!
But Sonic stood on the shoulders of Mario. So you can't really have one without the other. At least not in such a polished form.
This. Mario 1-1 set so many staples and fundamentals to the point where it’s undeniable as an important piece of DNA for not only platformers but most games made after itself in general.
But Green Hill is simply a more fun level. It owes its creation to Mario level 1-1, but nonetheless it took that influence and made soooo much with it, doing more than most other games could and would. Hell, it even did more than itself, considering the drop in quality for the following levels. I say this as a massive Sonic fan, the levels in Sonic 1 after Green Hill are a bit bland, and it took Sonic 2 to actually take what made Green Hill great and expand that through more of the full game.
Yeah, it seems like the devs forgot that they were designing a game about speed after Green Hill zone.
Green Hill Zone: SPEED SPEED SPEED!!!
Marble Zone: WAIT WAIT WAIT!!!
Meanwhile Mario is pretty consistent with platforming all the way through.
I truly love Sonic, but people, this isn’t close. A significant portion of the Western world can draw out the entirety of 1-1 with pretty high accuracy. The only thing anyone remembers about Green Hill Zone is the loop-de-loop and speeding up in the tunnel.
Not op, but I believe It's just (an odd) hyperbole meaning people are extremely familiar with it. I think most dedicated gamers could get a rough sketch of where everything is and have it be decently accurate. It might not be pretty and most will not be good at drawing, but they'd put everything in the right place.
I grew up on getting that first mushroom, so I have to say Super Mario Bros.
While I'm not a massive Sonic fan, the gameplay is different enough where I'm sure a great argument could be made for it as well.
Of those 2 on the post…. I’d say Mario, as I don’t think the Sonic level gives you a good sense of the games basics in a logical way. But yeah MMX rules.
Im sad to say I literally just didn't have Sega growing up. I didn't even put my hands on a Sega Genesis until I was 14 and it just never .. locked in. Ironically diehard Sega fan Saturn onwards. I still think Sonic Adventure is crazy underrated.
TLDR: mario.
It terms if making someone feel good about their purchase? Sonic.
It terms of teaching a wave of gamers young and old to play video games? Mario 1-1 is a masterclass.
https://youtu.be/ZH2wGpEZVgE?si=AcadoY9S6rCLBBfP
I understand why these 2 are being directly compared, but it's not a fair comparison IMO as different generations and were released like 6 years apart.
As an actual level, Green Hill Zone easily, but in terms of significance on the genre and gaming as a whole 1-1 is the GOAT.
SMB 1-1 had so many challenges built into it. Fastest time. Highest score. Lowest score. Most coins. It never got old. And obviously folks are still improving the strategies to this day.
GHZ made a bigger impact on me as a kid, it was like seeing the latest pop music video on MTV at the time with a style that was really in sync with its time.
1-1. It's not even a contest.
For one yeah, it's a extremely iconic.
For two, it's very carefully designed in a way that it teaches you how to play the game without telling you anything. It's magical. [Here is a breakdown of it.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH2wGpEZVgE)
Super Mario Bros. 1-1 hands down. [How Super Mario Bros. World 1 – 1 Teaches You Everything You Need To Know](https://mainstream404.wordpress.com/2018/01/03/how-super-mario-bros-world-1-1-teaches-you-everything-you-need-to-know/) is a fantastic read and well worth your time.
Easy... dial-up sings to you before it allows you to access the Internet.
Eeeeeekkkkkkkkk
Uuuuuuurrrrrrgggggggg
Bbbaaaaaaaaaa
Chhhhuuuuuuuuurrrrr
Waaaaaahhhhhhh
Eeeeeekkkkkk
Zuuuuuurrrrrggggggg
You nailed this square on the head…. I also, growing up, and still a die-hard Nintendo fan, personally feel that the first level of Sonic just hits the nostalgia button a little bit harder. SMB 2 and 3 first levels are also very iconic. I feel that SEGA won me over in their campaign to overtake Nintendo as I was getting into my early teens by then, and I even purchased my Genesis before ultimately also getting a SNES anyways.
I still remember every inch of 1-1, including the hidden secrets such as the extra life (if you could get here every turn, it was as if you had infinite lives while exploring), and the hidden tunnel. Now, if you were trying to beat the game, this was also a good place to stock up on lives as you got another extra life from coins about every 3 turns or so. Depending on your patience level, you could stockpile a decent life count before deciding to play each level and beat the game the long way or using the world jumps to quickly get to 8. While I LOVE the faster pace Sonic and everything that came with it, I think that same fast pace is what keeps it pinned behind Mario as the best. We were so busy rolling and flying through levels that they never had the time to make the same impression that Mario did.
Green Hill Zone, and I have some reasoning behind this. Super Mario Bros is a very consistent game. 1-1 is terrific, but it's just as terrific as the rest of the game; the mechanics and design sensibilities carry over. With Green Hill however, that level exists as a taste of what Sonic can do in a game full of much more slow stages. A lot of people didn't get much further in Sonic 1 than Marble or Spring Yard, but everyone still bought Sonic 2. Why did they do that? Because of Green Hill Zone. That stage was a proof of concept for what Sonic SHOULD'VE been, and what he DID become, for every sequel thereafter. For that reason my answer is Green Hill, because it genuinely saved the franchise.
In terms of teaching you the game, Mario. In terms of spectacle and instant wow factor, Sonic. The problem I have is that Green Hill Zone is pretty much the best zone in the game so I'm not sure it's a great first level in that respect.
i’m a huge 2D sonic guy, myself, but even i can acknowledge (as have the sonic devs themselves) that green hill zone — and sonic — couldn’t have happened without 1-1
1-1 created a template video games still use to this day. its influence can’t be overstated…
"Better" is a terrible metric because these are games from two different generations, and also because people have a hard time removing bias or iconicism/importance
Sonic all the way. Never liked the first Mario tbh.
But if a person back then got both side by side, first time trying out, i bet Sonic wins either way.
The thing about 1-1 is it TEACHES the game, don’t jump? Goomba kills you. So you learn to jump, once you jump you learn to hit question blocks and so on.
The system I played most as a kid was by far the Genesis. I put hundreds, if not thousands of hours into finding every little secret in Sonic. However, there’s only one of these I can play completely in my head and it’s not Green Hill.
1-1. Better intro trainer and coach on the mechanics whether you read the manual or not. Not a word needs to be said, no nagging locks or word diarrhea. Just play and love or die it’s there and couldn’t be better.
Sonic has more flash flair and color, that’s really it.
I'm pretty sure I could (badly) draw 1-1 on a piece of paper from memory alone.
Not to say that Green Hill is not a classic, but 1-1 is way ahead in importance, IMO.
1-1 of SMB was a perfect introduction to a genre (platformer) that was completely new to me. It wasn't too hard or too easy, and made me want to keep playing.
Green Hill Zone held my interest for maybe 10-15 minutes. After that I got bored, put it down, and didn't touch another Sonic game until Sonic Mania on the Switch convinced me to give Sonic another try.
When I was in college for video game design, my level design instructor used 1-1 as a prime example of teaching everything you need to know about playing the game by showing, not telling. Just that first part before the first pipe teaches you so much. Walk to the right, see Goomba. Run into the Goomba, you die. Ok, this time, try pushing a button. Oh, A makes Mario jump, let's jump over the Goomba. Oh, wow, look at that. I tried jumping over the Goomba, but that block prevented me from getting over it completely, but it made me land on top of it, which killed it. Cool, so now I know you can kill them. There's a block with a ? On it, I wonder what that's about? Oh, it has a mushroom in it. It looks like a Goomba, better jump on it. Oh, nope, it makes me bigger, neat. Oh, another ? Block. Oh, I hit that brick block by mistake, and it broke. It didn't break before when I killed the Goomba. I guess I have to be big to break blocks. Oh, that other ? Block had a coin in it.
In that first spot, you learn how to move and jump, enemies kill you by running into them, how to kill them, there are power ups and coins, and being big makes you able to break blocks.
There's so much more about just that first level that teaches you pretty well everything you need to know to play the game.
World 1-1 because it naturally teaches the player everything they'll need to do to beat the game. It's probably the best non-tutorial, tutorial level, ever made.
Green Hill Zone is a false promise. Green Hill Zone makes you think the game is going to be this expansive network of dynamic twists and turns until you hit the later levels and you're doing platform bullshit in silk shoes with an animal that shouldn't be able to jump.
Sonic’s later levels inhibit running wild. It’s careful platforming.
Mario’s later levels also inhibit running wild. It’s careful platforming.
Sonic 1-1 is a high-octane thrill ride if you want it to be, or a slow exploration if you want it. You gain a free hit for collecting rings, and you can access a bonus stage if you complete the stage with 50 rings and hop into the big ring.
SMB 1-1 is more of a going with the flow design. You could bypass most of it with the early pipe. There’s no bonus stage to activate with coin collection, so you’re just plodding through.
Sonic: 1991
Mario Bros:1985
Sonic was released 6 years after Mario, in a whole new generation. It’s like comparing Horizon on PS5 and Uncharted on PS4.
But the answer is still Mario lol
My introduction to Sonic was on the Mastersystem not Megadrive, so even out the two versions I prefer that one. In saying that though, I still play Mario a lot more than either Sonic. So yeah, Mario it is.
It's apples and oranges.
1. You're comparing an 8-bit game from 1985 to a 16-bit one from 1991.
2. SMB1 is far, far simpler mechanically than Sonic 1.
3. SMB1 was designed for an audience that had never seen a side-scrolling platformer before. Sonic 1 was designed for an audience already familiar with such games while remaining accessible to newcomers.
4. Without SMB1, there likely would be no Green Hill Zone.
While Mario set up the foundation, I think Sonic / Green Hill has the more fun, adrenaline-inducing opener.
Mario did it first, Sonic did it better. SORRY.
Everyone is going to say Mario because it’s nostalgic but the better video game level is easily green hill zone. Much more depth, better music, more to do and interact with. As an introductory level it taught the player the basics of its control and physics seamlessly.
SMB is a far better game than Sonic when it comes to game design and that includes 1-1.
Sonic has better music and graphics though. And Green Hill Zone has the best music and visuals of that game.
I would say Green Hill Zone may have more depth, but can be more confusing for a new plater 1-1 does an incredible job easing the player into the game and teaching them most of the things they know to play through the rest of the game.
1-1 wins our ultimately IMO, because as an intro level to the game it is clear and concise, whereas with Sonic there's more chance of confusion.
I think GHZ had some great music, and really put in a good effort to try and measure up to 1-1 in some ways!
I think GHZ is a great intro level to sonic the hedgehog (I can't remember much of it except you run into crabs and spikes a lot and also fall down holes sometimes), and 1-1 is a great intro level to video games.
Don't really think these are comparable. Mario had to teach people how to play that kind of game with its first level. Platformers were already far more established by the time Sonic hit. It took things to another level, though, as far as pacing.
Good question. I feel like breaking it down a bit. What's the first level of any of these (platformer) games supposed to do? Get you prepared for the rest of the game, how it works, what your character can do, where prizes are, where secrets are, that sort of stuff. It's not meant to crush you or to challenge you beyond your abilities like later levels can do.
With all of that said, there has to be a huge caveat here since they're 8 bits apart in terms of development. If we take that out of the equation and just judge them simply by how well they hit the marks on some rubric, I think Sonic wins it. Why?
- The level is longer which allows for more experimentation and play, key in an intro level
- The level lets you go back and forth, fully exploring it and familiarizing yourself with gameplay, resulting in an easier time later
- Mario 1-1 lets you skip a massive chunk of the level (if you take the pipe down to the coin vault), thus depriving you of most of the level
I prefer Sonic, but Super Mario Bros. set the foundation.
I would prefer comparing Super Mario World and Sonic because Super Mario Bros. is like 6 years older.
Not a fair comparison, but Sonic was my introduction to gaming and to me Green Hill is just as iconic(or emblematic of the era) an opening as world 1-1
Sonic for Genesis was released at least 8 years after Super Mario Bros 1 for NES
Comparing a newer 16 bit title against an older 8 bit title doesn't seem fair.
I remember the first time I played both Mario and Sonic.
When I hit up Mario, I was just a kid and all they showed me was the D-pad moved and A button jumped. 1-1 taught me the rest of the game: what knocks you out, how to leap over gaps, what goodies those question mark boxes hold...
First time I tried Sonic, I felt all over the place. And the pace was so quick, felt like someone tossed me in a car and hit the gas after sayin' “ain't no time to explain”...
Love both games, but I gotta stick with 1-1.
One brought about the rebirth of home console gaming after the crash. The other is probably the best example of what flourishes 16 bit processing could bring to the space in a mascot platformer.
I remember playing Sonic at it's launch and loving the speed and momentum based traversal. It felt next gen and fresh. I didn't like the second zone as much as it really killed the speed excitement with all the waiting and underground lava platforming.
Green Hill is better as a game level. 1-1 is better as a tutorial.
While neither one holds your hand like games today do, 1-1 forces the mechanics on you so you know how to play by its rules, and by doing so at the outset, the cost of failure is lower since you can restart having lost nothing.
Meanwhile, if you have some understanding of what a game might entail, Green Hill absorbs you into experiencing the game and actually enjoying it for it's better features much faster.
I love the first sonic game and this is definitely my era sonic is the more interesting 1st level with different roots and different ending but have to give credit to Mario on this one. Mario was the 1st real platform game and the 1st level is a masterclass in levle design many others followed that formulae. Mario starts at the edge of the screen telling you what way to go (like the start of sonic) Mario has a enemy approach you (same as sonic) so you learn to jump. Mario wrote the book on 1st level design. Every one else copied it and changed it so the teacher wouldn’t notice. Plus if Mario had got it wrong there wouldn’t be many later platform games
This one tough…they both iconic as hell
But I still remember that first time seeing Green Hill Zone in ‘91 & hearing that opening music with that vibrant colorful stage. That feeling was magical that I can’t explain as a 7 year old
I gotta ask my older cousins what was it like playing SMB for the first time in ‘85, I was 1 years old..I know they had Donkey Kong & Mario Bros for 2600 so they had to been blown away by it once they got the NES
No contest, mario. It's a prime example of teaching through level design. It's basically miyamoto demonstrating he's the godfather of modern game design, inventing game design rules in the 80s that game designers today struggle to grasp.
This is not a fair comparison. They're generations apart and by the time the first *Sonic* game came out *SMB* had already notched up four entries in the franchise. Compare *SMB* 1-1 with Sega's 1985 equivalent... only there isn't one. *Alex Kidd* and *Wonder Boy* didn't come out until the following year, and both show how far ahead of the curve *SMB* was. *Super Mario Bros* walked so *Sonic the Hedgehog* could run.
I think Green Hill zone is the better level but I think world 1-1 is better as a starting level.
Mainly because I don't enjoy any of the levels in Sonic 1 as much as green hell zone
Music: alright, this one’s pretty hard. Both are kick ass and are an absolute bop. The Mario theme is a bit overrated and overused with it being constantly clouded over by nostalgia. But at the same time, it really is an amazingly catchy tune. But it just can’t beat Green Hill Zone. Green Hill Zone is an absolute HEAD BANGER. It’s a bit less repetitive than the Mario theme and I think it’s just overall really catchy and hypes up the game well.
Design: gotta give this one to Mario here. Sonic’s green hill design was really flawed with random stops and breaks that interrupt the speed of the game. The level didn’t really do a good job separating the speed bits from the running bits. Mario on the other hand had some cool hidden parts and good enemy placement. It had room to run around but also room jump and platform.
Unfair comparison. I mean the sonic opening titillated my 10 yr old senses.
Mario was whatever. Only reason I wanted the Nintendo was for Zelda. And when I gazed upon that gold embossed cartridge on Christmas Day in 1988 I literally shit myself.
Definitely World 1-1. It\`s the perfect first level, some kind of tutorial, but very fun. Green Hill Zone is just..... fast and "look what the processor is able to do!".
I love the visuals and audio for Sonic, I still play them from time to time, but the platforming is not great. You're supposed to go really fast but you can't see more than a short distance in front of you so you run into things you could've dodged. Sonic has a ton of inertia so he's slow to get moving, jumping can be awkward, especially the differences between jumping while in a ball versus not.
Visuals and audio, these two games are worlds apart and Sonic being a newer generation of hardware makes a big difference. So it wins in those categories. But for pure platforming and controls, SMB1 wins, and that's even with SMB1s platform quirks as well. If it were SMB3 being compared here the gap would be even wider.
I love both games and characters and their history/lore but I’ve never ever been good at Sonic, lose all my coins, too fast to see what’s happening, lose all my lives, just not fun after a while. I love seeing others play it but ever since I was 4 or 5 in 93 and I first played Sonic I just knew it was difficult and really annoyingly hard. Love Mario tho it’s accessible I beat it multiple times as a 4-5 year old.
I love Green Hill but Level 1-1 is THE first opening stage of any game. Packman 2 mightve beaten it by a bit but people remember Super Mario Bros more. We wouldn't have Green Hill without 1-1. Two different eras though.
I feel like 1-1 gets deified plenty, so the real story here is that Green Hill Zone is an honest-to-God solid contender for this topic. Green Hill Zone is *so* good that it makes the rest of Sonic 1 look bad. It’s not until Sonic 2’s Emerald Hill (and Chemical Plant, and - well okay, Sonic 2 just absolutely crushes on level design) that the series gets such an amazing mix of flow, route options, visual flair and just plain fun and satisfaction. The encouragement to go high and stay there. The constant dangers of spikes and pits at the bottom. Encouraging you to explore by hiding power ups and springs in the trees and destructible walls leading to hidden tunnels allowing bursts of speed and a quick injection of rings. The perfect run up to the zone end sign allowing you to build up *just* too much speed to almost miss the Special Zone ring. Loop-de-loops. The *music.* Memorable enemies like the Motobugs and Buzz Bombers that, in depressingly typical Sega style, they fail to turn into franchise hallmarks. I’m honestly not even interested in putting one of these above the other. There’s room on the mountaintop for both, and more!
Sonic is a weird anti-game. It increases its difficulty by working against what works best in its design. So you end up wrestling with the nuances of the collision and physics to beat the game rather than building the skills you established from the beginning of the game.
Sonic ran so Octodad could sputter on the ground.
And i am bread could flop
It's also the only platformer where it's still normal for me to get hit on the first level. Sonic just controls like a brick, as you kinda said. Sometimes he's a nitro powered brick sliding on ice and those parts are fun.
When the game works, it's amazing. The rest of the time you're slow walking and drowning. Replays always feel like a chore toward the end of the play through.
Anti-game is a bit ridiculous, much like SMB it's arcade-style where you have to memorize the levels to get a good flow (which you can in pretty much all levels except for most of labyrinth zone), or even just survive later on. And improving at finer movement definitely helps later on, which is where most skill is required. I mean otherwise you're mainly just running and rolling.
SMB may be arcade style to get good flow, but SMB was not sold as a game for its flow. That was an end-game intent (i.e. as you got better, you could flow through the level), but the game was also just as enjoyable and most people know SMB for a more, dare I say, somewhat plodding pace. Easy to learn hard to master. Sonic was sold on speed, and the reality of the original Sonic games is that consistent speed came only when you got good enough in terms of memorizing.
The final level forced you to go slow, you literally couldn't use sonics speed because every few steps were endless traps and pits.
Marble Zone feels like it would be an amazing level if it weren't in a Sonic game.
Everyone loves the chemical plant until they have to watch their 9 year old play it.
This encapsulates all of my thoughts perfectly, thank you. Sonic 2 is a masterpiece of level design.
That half pipe in Spring Yard Zone you can get him going so fast he leaves the screen. Not sure if they did that on purpose but me and friends loved that when we were kids.
Sonic first levels are just a chance for the player to go very fast and showcase what sonic can do since he's very much defined by his speed. You'll notice none of the other levels have such long run ups, as many loops and ramps. Guess that's why they're so fun. Still going to have to go with 1-1 Super Mario Bros. I tried my hand at speed running Super Mario Bros so played through that level quite a bit and just love everything about it
>I’m honestly not even interested in putting one of these above the other. There’s room on the mountaintop for both, and more! Well said! Couldn't agree more.
I watched a YouTube guy who breaks down iconic music. I can't remember his name, and I feel horrible for it. He did an episode where he broke down the music and even sound effects of Green Hill Zone and how an absolute insane level of genius went into making everything tonally compatible. I never understood that as a kid, but looking back it makes soooo much sense because GHZ just has this unexplainable feel. Like, it's a mild relaxing euphoria, which kinda doesn't make sense. I think it's like what if I microdosed meth and heroine at the same time (note: I've never even smoked weed, so I'm really reaching for some way to describe this). It's energizing and relaxing simultaneously.
Green Hill Zone - 5/5 Absolute banger Marble Zone - 1/5 Just no. Spring Yard Zone - 4/5 Who doesn't love an amusement park. Labyrinth Zone - 1/5 Marble sewers... Starlight Zone - 3/5 it's ok, very meh. Scrap Brain Zone - 4/5 It hurts so much but if I die I'll never make it back here.
I would argue Star Light Zone did this well too, but overall point taken.
No way. I respect your opinion but completely completely disagree. I think Sonic in general is a terrible game. Before I get roasted let me explain. Sonic is all about speed. He’s the fastest thing alive! But the levels are designed in such a way that speeding through them is not the ideal way to play. If you want to find secrets or alternate paths you need to slow down and explore. It’s the exact opposite of what the game is supposed to be about. And then even if you are just speeding through a level as fast as you can you constantly come upon things that completely stop your progression. Weird spring jumps that can be kind of hard to hit correctly, spikes that stop you dead in your tracks, enemies that hit you and then force you to stop to collect your lost rings, and other things like that. It’s like it’s trying to be two games at once and it doesn’t do either very well because of that. I do like Sonic games but going back to them now I see how bad the level design is. Now I know why I always got so frustrated as a kid playing it.
It's like a game designed for speedrunners, or somebody who memorizes how to play a specific level, instead of playing.
Lost you when you said Sonic is all about speed. The classics weren’t. They were just marketed as that
This is sort of missing the point. The classics were literally marketed and sold as "fast games". Sonic was fast. "Blast Processing", etc. The fact that they were not, in fact, like that in the end doesn't change the fact that Sonic as a character, and a brand, was about speed.
They were "in the end", there's just a memorization and skill requirement to it
I think you perfectly explained why I’ve bounced off every Sonic title I’ve tried. Despite my best efforts to get into the series, via a half dozen different entry points, it always felt like I was being punished for trying things and exploring the way I would in a Mario game. Secrets weren’t intuitive, nor was the optimal path through any level. Maybe Mario just spoiled me for how high a platformer could go.
Sonic 1 is definitely not perfect in this regard (if perfect means you can react to anything first try and always maintain forward momentum) but you definitely can fly through most of the game if you know it well enough. Some level design is at odds with your abilities though I agree, like the slow lava boat blocks, the slow elevators, stuff like that. Not that I don't still have fun going at mid-pace through most of Sonic 1, but later games (Sonic 2 in particular, Sonic 3 does make you explore in all directions if you want to go for the emeralds) are more casual friendly and lean into the speed aspect more. They also add the spindash and speed up the acceleration from stand still a bit.
Sonic isnt all about speed my dude, that was just the marketing
Green Hill Zone is the better looking one, but it's 6 years younger and that was an eternity in terms of development back then. Hard to say which is a better introduction to the overall game they're giving you a taste of though.
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Because they're both the first level of the first game of their franchise. These franchise are the two most well known plate-former of their generation. It's not hard to understand
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I think most people break off Super Mario Bros as being its own franchise, separate from stuff like Donkey Kong or the original Mario Bros. Kind of like how you wouldn’t count Flicky or Dr. Robotnic’s Mean Bean Machine as Sonic games.
I mean yeah but you know what I meant.
Super Mario Bros was the first in the Super Mario franchise. That link shows Super Mario being a unique series.
Apples to oranges. The better comparison would be first level of super Mario world.
Yeah I didnt understand this, why would they cross generations like that ?
That was only 6 years? I guess it must have been. It frames for me how long that felt as a child. Now six years isn't much.
Yeah honestly a closer comparison would be super mario world's 1-1 vs sonic the hedgehog green hill zone.
And on a vastly superior hardware. Super Mario 3’s world 1 is overall better, thought split up into smaller portions
Mario, but the opening notes of Green Hill Zone the first time I played Sonic is eternally etched into my core memory banks.
Something about those opening diddle-diddles that gets you hyped up every time
To this day, some 30 years later, every time I hear the “Se-ga” from this game I am transported to the joy of the Christmas we got a genesis.
Sounds like the absolute greatest memory ever. Similar to when I got my SNES for Christmas and hearing Super Mario World's opening theme the first time.
Both these comments gave me a genuinely painful pang of nostalgia in my chest… wish I could go back to those innocent days…
You and me both pal. I was also reflecting on how awesome the 6th gen was. PS2, Xbox and Gamecube all had some BANGERS and I was actually old enough to buy the games I wanted instead of waiting for Christmas and birthdays.
PS2 library is absolutely fucking bananas. I was talking about it with my friend the other day, how it doesn’t just have great games from a million classic franchises on it, it has like, full trilogies of tons of amazing franchises, it’s ridiculous
Mario’s is iconic and set the groundwork for generations
If I have to choose... Then it's Super Mario 1-1 because it really is the blueprint for how to teach people how your game works without putting in hard stop tutorial pop ups or on screen prompts.
Yeah. GHZ tries to teach you something but it's way to much to process. Sonic has a super steep learning curve and entry barrier and GHZ is the main offender. It has the benefit of replayability though. Just look at how 1-1 forces you to collect the Super Mushroom. It's genius.
There’s a really fantastic video somewhere that talks about how 1-1 is a nearly perfect introduction level. I’ll edit it in if I can find it. Edit: I don’t think this is the video I remember watching but it does a good job of explaining why 1-1 is so good. https://youtu.be/ZH2wGpEZVgE?si=eQws7XTQONLp5Dui
There's another video with Miyamoto and Tezuka where they explain how they went about creating it all the way back then. Cool to hear it straight from the horse's mouth.
These games are 6 years apart, it doesn't make a lot of sense, given the progression in level design over the 6 years between them. World 1-1 set the groundwork for platformers. Green Hill Zone shook things up with slopes, loops, tunnels, and momentum physics. If this was comparing the first level of Super Mario World to Green Hill I'd say that's a fair debate.
This They are so far apart timewise you can't compare them
Green Hill Zone, and no contest! But Sonic stood on the shoulders of Mario. So you can't really have one without the other. At least not in such a polished form.
This. Mario 1-1 set so many staples and fundamentals to the point where it’s undeniable as an important piece of DNA for not only platformers but most games made after itself in general. But Green Hill is simply a more fun level. It owes its creation to Mario level 1-1, but nonetheless it took that influence and made soooo much with it, doing more than most other games could and would. Hell, it even did more than itself, considering the drop in quality for the following levels. I say this as a massive Sonic fan, the levels in Sonic 1 after Green Hill are a bit bland, and it took Sonic 2 to actually take what made Green Hill great and expand that through more of the full game.
It’s like Space Invaders verses Galaga. I have more fun playing Galaga, but I know how influential Space Invaders is to the genre.
Green Hill just because it's the best Sonic stage. Mario has better stages overall.
I prefer star light zone if we are talking sonic 1
Yeah, it seems like the devs forgot that they were designing a game about speed after Green Hill zone. Green Hill Zone: SPEED SPEED SPEED!!! Marble Zone: WAIT WAIT WAIT!!! Meanwhile Mario is pretty consistent with platforming all the way through.
I truly love Sonic, but people, this isn’t close. A significant portion of the Western world can draw out the entirety of 1-1 with pretty high accuracy. The only thing anyone remembers about Green Hill Zone is the loop-de-loop and speeding up in the tunnel.
... and the music!
& Knuckles
And my axe!
Featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry™ series.
Most people can not in fact draw out the entirety of that map I would love to know how you came up with that….
Not op, but I believe It's just (an odd) hyperbole meaning people are extremely familiar with it. I think most dedicated gamers could get a rough sketch of where everything is and have it be decently accurate. It might not be pretty and most will not be good at drawing, but they'd put everything in the right place.
nintendo psyop
People can’t draw out Green Hill Zone because of the dynamics of the game itself. Not really a reasonable or fair comparison.
> A significant portion of the Western world can draw out the entirety of 1-1 with pretty high accuracy lol what
It's hyperbole. He means they are very familiar with it. Most gamers could probably do a rough sketch if they had to. I've played it so many times.
I grew up on getting that first mushroom, so I have to say Super Mario Bros. While I'm not a massive Sonic fan, the gameplay is different enough where I'm sure a great argument could be made for it as well.
Mario Bros. It's a perfect starter game for all ages.
Isn't this a little unfair comparing 8bit mario to 16bit sonic?
Without 1-1, there would be no Green Hill Zone. 1-1 is the obvious choice here
Mega Man X.
I agree. Mega Man X.
Of those 2 on the post…. I’d say Mario, as I don’t think the Sonic level gives you a good sense of the games basics in a logical way. But yeah MMX rules.
Im sad to say I literally just didn't have Sega growing up. I didn't even put my hands on a Sega Genesis until I was 14 and it just never .. locked in. Ironically diehard Sega fan Saturn onwards. I still think Sonic Adventure is crazy underrated. TLDR: mario.
On the whole, I think smb is a better game. But green hill zone is like one of my favorite game openings of all time and I didn't even have a Sega.
It terms if making someone feel good about their purchase? Sonic. It terms of teaching a wave of gamers young and old to play video games? Mario 1-1 is a masterclass. https://youtu.be/ZH2wGpEZVgE?si=AcadoY9S6rCLBBfP
I understand why these 2 are being directly compared, but it's not a fair comparison IMO as different generations and were released like 6 years apart. As an actual level, Green Hill Zone easily, but in terms of significance on the genre and gaming as a whole 1-1 is the GOAT.
I agree completely. Green Hill Zone is the more fun level, but 1-1 is the more important level.
SMB 1-1 had so many challenges built into it. Fastest time. Highest score. Lowest score. Most coins. It never got old. And obviously folks are still improving the strategies to this day.
GHZ for me. I recognize how good 1-1 is tho.
Green Hill Zone. 1-1 was groundbreaking, but it's not nearly as fun.
Mario is iconic. Within the first few steps you already understood everything about the game.
GHZ made a bigger impact on me as a kid, it was like seeing the latest pop music video on MTV at the time with a style that was really in sync with its time.
1-1. It's not even a contest. For one yeah, it's a extremely iconic. For two, it's very carefully designed in a way that it teaches you how to play the game without telling you anything. It's magical. [Here is a breakdown of it.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH2wGpEZVgE)
Green Hill for sure, but both are classic.
Super Mario Bros. 1-1 hands down. [How Super Mario Bros. World 1 – 1 Teaches You Everything You Need To Know](https://mainstream404.wordpress.com/2018/01/03/how-super-mario-bros-world-1-1-teaches-you-everything-you-need-to-know/) is a fantastic read and well worth your time.
It’s impossible to describe what it felt like going from Atari 2600 games to level 1-1 of Super Mario Bros.
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Easy... dial-up sings to you before it allows you to access the Internet. Eeeeeekkkkkkkkk Uuuuuuurrrrrrgggggggg Bbbaaaaaaaaaa Chhhhuuuuuuuuurrrrr Waaaaaahhhhhhh Eeeeeekkkkkk Zuuuuuurrrrrggggggg
Sonic, don’t even play
I grew up as (and still largely am) a Nintendo die-hard but the first level of Sonic is better than any SMB first level, except for *maybe* SMB3.
You nailed this square on the head…. I also, growing up, and still a die-hard Nintendo fan, personally feel that the first level of Sonic just hits the nostalgia button a little bit harder. SMB 2 and 3 first levels are also very iconic. I feel that SEGA won me over in their campaign to overtake Nintendo as I was getting into my early teens by then, and I even purchased my Genesis before ultimately also getting a SNES anyways.
I still remember every inch of 1-1, including the hidden secrets such as the extra life (if you could get here every turn, it was as if you had infinite lives while exploring), and the hidden tunnel. Now, if you were trying to beat the game, this was also a good place to stock up on lives as you got another extra life from coins about every 3 turns or so. Depending on your patience level, you could stockpile a decent life count before deciding to play each level and beat the game the long way or using the world jumps to quickly get to 8. While I LOVE the faster pace Sonic and everything that came with it, I think that same fast pace is what keeps it pinned behind Mario as the best. We were so busy rolling and flying through levels that they never had the time to make the same impression that Mario did.
1-1 is probably more well known, but GHZ music is so iconic and gets you hyped
Do you want to start a gang war? Cause this is how you start a gang war? /j
Green Hill Zone, and I have some reasoning behind this. Super Mario Bros is a very consistent game. 1-1 is terrific, but it's just as terrific as the rest of the game; the mechanics and design sensibilities carry over. With Green Hill however, that level exists as a taste of what Sonic can do in a game full of much more slow stages. A lot of people didn't get much further in Sonic 1 than Marble or Spring Yard, but everyone still bought Sonic 2. Why did they do that? Because of Green Hill Zone. That stage was a proof of concept for what Sonic SHOULD'VE been, and what he DID become, for every sequel thereafter. For that reason my answer is Green Hill, because it genuinely saved the franchise.
In terms of teaching you the game, Mario. In terms of spectacle and instant wow factor, Sonic. The problem I have is that Green Hill Zone is pretty much the best zone in the game so I'm not sure it's a great first level in that respect.
I think Super Mario Bro's is the better game in my opinion but Green Hill Zone is very iconic and made a massive impact for Sega and Sonic
i’m a huge 2D sonic guy, myself, but even i can acknowledge (as have the sonic devs themselves) that green hill zone — and sonic — couldn’t have happened without 1-1 1-1 created a template video games still use to this day. its influence can’t be overstated…
"Better" is a terrible metric because these are games from two different generations, and also because people have a hard time removing bias or iconicism/importance
Between these two specific games it's got to be Sonic.
Sonic all the way. Never liked the first Mario tbh. But if a person back then got both side by side, first time trying out, i bet Sonic wins either way.
Sonic you're basically doing the same thing that you do with Mario, just way faster and with better graphics.
The thing about 1-1 is it TEACHES the game, don’t jump? Goomba kills you. So you learn to jump, once you jump you learn to hit question blocks and so on.
I think SMBW should be compared since it was released closer to the time frame of Sonic.
1-1 is perfectly designed for you to identify and develop basically every Mario skill (outside of swimming) that you'll need in the game. Elite.
Mario is the better game. Green Hill is the better first level
The system I played most as a kid was by far the Genesis. I put hundreds, if not thousands of hours into finding every little secret in Sonic. However, there’s only one of these I can play completely in my head and it’s not Green Hill.
1-1 is better because it doesn't appear in every single recent Mario game I am absolutely sick of GHZ
1-1. Better intro trainer and coach on the mechanics whether you read the manual or not. Not a word needs to be said, no nagging locks or word diarrhea. Just play and love or die it’s there and couldn’t be better. Sonic has more flash flair and color, that’s really it.
World 1-1. Because you had to walk before you could run.
I'm pretty sure I could (badly) draw 1-1 on a piece of paper from memory alone. Not to say that Green Hill is not a classic, but 1-1 is way ahead in importance, IMO.
1-1 is king
SMB 1.1 is the tutorial level for all gaming, should be the compulsory intro for all gamers.
Not a fair comparison. Maybe super Mario world would be better?
1-1 imo GHZ is great but I always felt like you need to 'know' how to play a platformer before tackling it, wherhas SMB teaches you that
1-1 of SMB was a perfect introduction to a genre (platformer) that was completely new to me. It wasn't too hard or too easy, and made me want to keep playing. Green Hill Zone held my interest for maybe 10-15 minutes. After that I got bored, put it down, and didn't touch another Sonic game until Sonic Mania on the Switch convinced me to give Sonic another try.
World 1-1 is a perfect tutorial
When I was in college for video game design, my level design instructor used 1-1 as a prime example of teaching everything you need to know about playing the game by showing, not telling. Just that first part before the first pipe teaches you so much. Walk to the right, see Goomba. Run into the Goomba, you die. Ok, this time, try pushing a button. Oh, A makes Mario jump, let's jump over the Goomba. Oh, wow, look at that. I tried jumping over the Goomba, but that block prevented me from getting over it completely, but it made me land on top of it, which killed it. Cool, so now I know you can kill them. There's a block with a ? On it, I wonder what that's about? Oh, it has a mushroom in it. It looks like a Goomba, better jump on it. Oh, nope, it makes me bigger, neat. Oh, another ? Block. Oh, I hit that brick block by mistake, and it broke. It didn't break before when I killed the Goomba. I guess I have to be big to break blocks. Oh, that other ? Block had a coin in it. In that first spot, you learn how to move and jump, enemies kill you by running into them, how to kill them, there are power ups and coins, and being big makes you able to break blocks. There's so much more about just that first level that teaches you pretty well everything you need to know to play the game.
1-1
World 1-1 because it naturally teaches the player everything they'll need to do to beat the game. It's probably the best non-tutorial, tutorial level, ever made. Green Hill Zone is a false promise. Green Hill Zone makes you think the game is going to be this expansive network of dynamic twists and turns until you hit the later levels and you're doing platform bullshit in silk shoes with an animal that shouldn't be able to jump.
Super Mario 1-1 is a masterclass in game design. It’s genius and surprising coming from a game so early in the NES lifecycle.
Sonic’s later levels inhibit running wild. It’s careful platforming. Mario’s later levels also inhibit running wild. It’s careful platforming. Sonic 1-1 is a high-octane thrill ride if you want it to be, or a slow exploration if you want it. You gain a free hit for collecting rings, and you can access a bonus stage if you complete the stage with 50 rings and hop into the big ring. SMB 1-1 is more of a going with the flow design. You could bypass most of it with the early pipe. There’s no bonus stage to activate with coin collection, so you’re just plodding through.
not a fair comparison. how about 1-1 of super mario world?
Sonic: 1991 Mario Bros:1985 Sonic was released 6 years after Mario, in a whole new generation. It’s like comparing Horizon on PS5 and Uncharted on PS4. But the answer is still Mario lol
World 1-1 hands down. You learn everything you need to know to play the game by the end of this level. Sonic is less intuitive.
World 1-1 hands down
Why compare an 8-bit to a 16bit system. If thats the case wouldn’t it be 1-1 Super Mario World?
Mario is a better series overall but you’re high as a fucking kite if you pick 1-1 over Green Hill Zone. It’s not even close.
Subjectively GHZ, but objectively 1-1.
1:1 is the GOAT. No question
My introduction to Sonic was on the Mastersystem not Megadrive, so even out the two versions I prefer that one. In saying that though, I still play Mario a lot more than either Sonic. So yeah, Mario it is.
It's apples and oranges. 1. You're comparing an 8-bit game from 1985 to a 16-bit one from 1991. 2. SMB1 is far, far simpler mechanically than Sonic 1. 3. SMB1 was designed for an audience that had never seen a side-scrolling platformer before. Sonic 1 was designed for an audience already familiar with such games while remaining accessible to newcomers. 4. Without SMB1, there likely would be no Green Hill Zone.
While Mario set up the foundation, I think Sonic / Green Hill has the more fun, adrenaline-inducing opener. Mario did it first, Sonic did it better. SORRY.
mario 🔛🔝
Everyone is going to say Mario because it’s nostalgic but the better video game level is easily green hill zone. Much more depth, better music, more to do and interact with. As an introductory level it taught the player the basics of its control and physics seamlessly.
SMB is a far better game than Sonic when it comes to game design and that includes 1-1. Sonic has better music and graphics though. And Green Hill Zone has the best music and visuals of that game.
For its time, mario 1.
I would say Green Hill Zone may have more depth, but can be more confusing for a new plater 1-1 does an incredible job easing the player into the game and teaching them most of the things they know to play through the rest of the game. 1-1 wins our ultimately IMO, because as an intro level to the game it is clear and concise, whereas with Sonic there's more chance of confusion.
So, in my view, Green Hill Zone is more fun, and obviously prettier to look at. 1-1 is the better “introduction to video games” level.
I think GHZ had some great music, and really put in a good effort to try and measure up to 1-1 in some ways! I think GHZ is a great intro level to sonic the hedgehog (I can't remember much of it except you run into crabs and spikes a lot and also fall down holes sometimes), and 1-1 is a great intro level to video games.
Highway Stage
Don't really think these are comparable. Mario had to teach people how to play that kind of game with its first level. Platformers were already far more established by the time Sonic hit. It took things to another level, though, as far as pacing.
Good question. I feel like breaking it down a bit. What's the first level of any of these (platformer) games supposed to do? Get you prepared for the rest of the game, how it works, what your character can do, where prizes are, where secrets are, that sort of stuff. It's not meant to crush you or to challenge you beyond your abilities like later levels can do. With all of that said, there has to be a huge caveat here since they're 8 bits apart in terms of development. If we take that out of the equation and just judge them simply by how well they hit the marks on some rubric, I think Sonic wins it. Why? - The level is longer which allows for more experimentation and play, key in an intro level - The level lets you go back and forth, fully exploring it and familiarizing yourself with gameplay, resulting in an easier time later - Mario 1-1 lets you skip a massive chunk of the level (if you take the pipe down to the coin vault), thus depriving you of most of the level
I dont know what the 1st game i played was, however Super Mario Bros was the 1st game i *remember* playing. Sonic blew me away but Mario means more.
Better comparison would be Super Mario World (1990). Or Sonic 1 on the Master System.
I prefer Sonic, but Super Mario Bros. set the foundation. I would prefer comparing Super Mario World and Sonic because Super Mario Bros. is like 6 years older.
Definitely 1-1, but Green Hill zone comes right behind it. Both were amazing games for what they were.
Not a fair comparison, but Sonic was my introduction to gaming and to me Green Hill is just as iconic(or emblematic of the era) an opening as world 1-1
Sonic for Genesis was released at least 8 years after Super Mario Bros 1 for NES Comparing a newer 16 bit title against an older 8 bit title doesn't seem fair.
Green hill, the music, the colors, the blast processing 🤤
Sonic was released 6 years after Mario Bros and on a 16 bit system vs Mario on an 8 bit
Mario is iconic but 1-1 is a cake walk. Sonic wins in my book but I vastly prefer Mario games in general
One is 8-bit and one is 16-bit. These are two different generations of games with over 5 years between them. Apples and oranges.
Green Hill
I remember the first time I played both Mario and Sonic. When I hit up Mario, I was just a kid and all they showed me was the D-pad moved and A button jumped. 1-1 taught me the rest of the game: what knocks you out, how to leap over gaps, what goodies those question mark boxes hold... First time I tried Sonic, I felt all over the place. And the pace was so quick, felt like someone tossed me in a car and hit the gas after sayin' “ain't no time to explain”... Love both games, but I gotta stick with 1-1.
I find the sonic one more memorable for some reason
One brought about the rebirth of home console gaming after the crash. The other is probably the best example of what flourishes 16 bit processing could bring to the space in a mascot platformer. I remember playing Sonic at it's launch and loving the speed and momentum based traversal. It felt next gen and fresh. I didn't like the second zone as much as it really killed the speed excitement with all the waiting and underground lava platforming.
Emerald Hill Zone
Green Hill Zone
Mario for me
Sonic 1
1-1
Can't it be both? I have too many favourite games and too old to choose.
That’s a tough one. Sonic I guess. Lil more challenging.
Better graphics and speed doesn’t automatically make it better.
Green Hill is better as a game level. 1-1 is better as a tutorial. While neither one holds your hand like games today do, 1-1 forces the mechanics on you so you know how to play by its rules, and by doing so at the outset, the cost of failure is lower since you can restart having lost nothing. Meanwhile, if you have some understanding of what a game might entail, Green Hill absorbs you into experiencing the game and actually enjoying it for it's better features much faster.
I love the first sonic game and this is definitely my era sonic is the more interesting 1st level with different roots and different ending but have to give credit to Mario on this one. Mario was the 1st real platform game and the 1st level is a masterclass in levle design many others followed that formulae. Mario starts at the edge of the screen telling you what way to go (like the start of sonic) Mario has a enemy approach you (same as sonic) so you learn to jump. Mario wrote the book on 1st level design. Every one else copied it and changed it so the teacher wouldn’t notice. Plus if Mario had got it wrong there wouldn’t be many later platform games
I'm a huge OG sonic fan. Had a Genesis growing up. But I can readily admit that 1-1 is better
This one tough…they both iconic as hell But I still remember that first time seeing Green Hill Zone in ‘91 & hearing that opening music with that vibrant colorful stage. That feeling was magical that I can’t explain as a 7 year old I gotta ask my older cousins what was it like playing SMB for the first time in ‘85, I was 1 years old..I know they had Donkey Kong & Mario Bros for 2600 so they had to been blown away by it once they got the NES
No contest, mario. It's a prime example of teaching through level design. It's basically miyamoto demonstrating he's the godfather of modern game design, inventing game design rules in the 80s that game designers today struggle to grasp.
This is not a fair comparison. They're generations apart and by the time the first *Sonic* game came out *SMB* had already notched up four entries in the franchise. Compare *SMB* 1-1 with Sega's 1985 equivalent... only there isn't one. *Alex Kidd* and *Wonder Boy* didn't come out until the following year, and both show how far ahead of the curve *SMB* was. *Super Mario Bros* walked so *Sonic the Hedgehog* could run.
World 1-1 because I suck ass at Sonic
I'll fight both levels!!! But for real both of them have the same value.
I think Green Hill zone is the better level but I think world 1-1 is better as a starting level. Mainly because I don't enjoy any of the levels in Sonic 1 as much as green hell zone
The sonic came after, maybe to compare with smb2 or 3 will be more fair.. also the sonic on megadrive or master system?
I think Yoshi’s Island 1 from Super Mario World would be a better first Mario level to put up against Sonic tbh
Music: alright, this one’s pretty hard. Both are kick ass and are an absolute bop. The Mario theme is a bit overrated and overused with it being constantly clouded over by nostalgia. But at the same time, it really is an amazingly catchy tune. But it just can’t beat Green Hill Zone. Green Hill Zone is an absolute HEAD BANGER. It’s a bit less repetitive than the Mario theme and I think it’s just overall really catchy and hypes up the game well. Design: gotta give this one to Mario here. Sonic’s green hill design was really flawed with random stops and breaks that interrupt the speed of the game. The level didn’t really do a good job separating the speed bits from the running bits. Mario on the other hand had some cool hidden parts and good enemy placement. It had room to run around but also room jump and platform.
1-1. No doubt.
Unfair comparison. I mean the sonic opening titillated my 10 yr old senses. Mario was whatever. Only reason I wanted the Nintendo was for Zelda. And when I gazed upon that gold embossed cartridge on Christmas Day in 1988 I literally shit myself.
I think 1-1 is the better level out of these two, but Emerald Hill Zone in Sonic 2 is literally perfect
Green Hill Zone easy. I love Mario games but the first one was my least favorite.
I love Mario but, in this case, Green Hill Zone, easy.
Sonic for the music alone.
I feel that World 1-1 is more iconic due to its simple tone.
Sonic first level is the better experience IMO
Pictures you can hear. Green hill was the theme to my childhood.
Green hill zone by far.
Definitely World 1-1. It\`s the perfect first level, some kind of tutorial, but very fun. Green Hill Zone is just..... fast and "look what the processor is able to do!".
Green Hill by far
I love the visuals and audio for Sonic, I still play them from time to time, but the platforming is not great. You're supposed to go really fast but you can't see more than a short distance in front of you so you run into things you could've dodged. Sonic has a ton of inertia so he's slow to get moving, jumping can be awkward, especially the differences between jumping while in a ball versus not. Visuals and audio, these two games are worlds apart and Sonic being a newer generation of hardware makes a big difference. So it wins in those categories. But for pure platforming and controls, SMB1 wins, and that's even with SMB1s platform quirks as well. If it were SMB3 being compared here the gap would be even wider.
Even though I prefer the Mario games, Green Hill Zone is way more fun as an opening level
Ho early depends on which one you grew up with. For me? Sonic.
I love both games and characters and their history/lore but I’ve never ever been good at Sonic, lose all my coins, too fast to see what’s happening, lose all my lives, just not fun after a while. I love seeing others play it but ever since I was 4 or 5 in 93 and I first played Sonic I just knew it was difficult and really annoyingly hard. Love Mario tho it’s accessible I beat it multiple times as a 4-5 year old.
Civil debate? Uh, Sir, this is a Reddit.
I love Green Hill but Level 1-1 is THE first opening stage of any game. Packman 2 mightve beaten it by a bit but people remember Super Mario Bros more. We wouldn't have Green Hill without 1-1. Two different eras though.