Sonic the Hedgehog is perhaps one of the most memorable and exciting games in console gaming history. As we’ve looked at the  best Megaman Hacks before, I thought why not take a look at some of the amazing Sonic the Hedgehog hacks that are out there. These are just a few of the many great hacks out there for Genesis and other classic consoles. There’s even a 8-bit NES Sonic in the list!

You can grab a Sega emulator and get any of these games up and running without messing with patches or anything like that. I won’t go into Emulators too much here, but I do recommend Gens/GS if you don’t know where to start.

In the 2000’s there were a number of Sonic hacking/remake contests. Most of these games are winners or runners up from that awesome contest. You can find lots of info on these and other hacks over at sonicretro.org.

The S Factor : Sonia and Silver
System: Genesis
Overview: A Gorgeous Version of Sonic with New Characters and Levels

S Factor is a very polished well-designed remake of the original Sonic the Hedgehog. You can play as Sonia, Silver or Scourge, each with different abilities that effect gameplay. This game has all new original music and level design. The backgrounds are gorgeous and the gameplay is fast and furious. The levels are designed with the new character’s special powers in mind, making this a totally new and fun experience.

Sonic 2 Retro Remix 
System: Genesis
Overview: Classic Sonic 2 gameplay with totally original levels.
 
Based on Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic 2 Retro Remix brings six gorgeous new worlds, each with their own original music, sounds, enemies and more. This game is tough. It takes a lot more calculating than other Sonic games, but there’s still plenty of “go really fast through the whole area” parts that we all love so much about Sonic.

Sonic Boom
System: Genesis
Overview: Ultra-tough version of Sonic 1 with hard rocking soundtrack.

 
This bad boy has won contests for having the hardest levels. This remix features some jamming synth rock tracks and really kicks up the intensity a notch from the other Sonic games. Even the first stage feels like you’re approaching the end of Sonic 1. And it only gets crazier from there. This game has lots of hidden passages and going full speed for too long, usually has dire consequences!

Sonic 5 3d Blast
System: NES
Overview: A strange 8-bit version of Sonic 1 that is just a trip to play.
 
This is an odd one for sure. Google “sonic nes rom” to find it. I can’t really find much concrete info about this game on the net except that it seems to be a hack of a original game called Somari which was sold, unlicensed in Japan and Europe in the 90s. Somari is a Mario Brothers game built to play like Sonic. Someone took Somari and put Sonic back into it and recreated the music and graphics of the original 16-bit Sonic for an 8-bit machine. It’s a strange, surreal experience to play Sonic on the Nintendo. This game is hard and doesn’t really measure up to the speed of the Genesis games. However, it is fun and you can’t beat the novelty of playing Sonic on the “wrong” system from the days of 8/16-bit console wars.

Beatscribe is a full time indie composer, musician and writer. By day he creates soundtracks and sfx for various mobile gaming companies, by night creates megaman-inspired chiptunes, in the afternoons he drinks tea. Check out his latest releases, tutorials and retro ruminations at www.beatscribe.com.