Sonic 1 is,in my opinion,the second best Sonic game ever. The best is Sonic 3. Others would say Sonic 2. Anyway,Sonic 1 was the start of a series that,in it's 90s era,was not only one of the biggest and best series of the platformer genre but of games as a whole. What made the Sonic series great was simple yet utterly imaginative. It was all about attitude but more importantly about speed. Far behind was Mario left in the dust as Sonic zoomed through exhilarating level after level of solid and creative design. Sonic was a needed entry into the gaming market as it ignited memorable competition between the major companies of the industry that could only benefit the consumer. SEGA started great new series after great new series while Nintendo greatly improved,if not perfected,some of their most popular franchises. With the immediate popularity of Sonic 1,SEGA got the necessary level of public recognition to altogether change the landscape of the video game industry with their more mature and more mainstream games. Sony took this mainstream too far,though. Regardless,if it weren't for SEGA it's hard to see Sony or even Microsoft entering the industry as soon as they did,if at all.