Green Hill Zone
The grassy first level of Sonic the Hedgehog.
The screenshot can or could be obtained from Sega. · via Wikipedia: Green Hill Zone · Fair use
Green Hill Zone is the opening stage of *Sonic the Hedgehog*, a platformer that came out for the Sega Genesis in 1991. Set on South Island, this level is green and thick with plant life, featuring waterfalls, drooping palm trees, steep cliffs, and loops. It is normally filled with forest animals, but before the game starts, Doctor Eggman has trapped them inside robot Badniks, so the player must smash these enemies to free the creatures. The zone is split into three acts; at the end of the third, Sonic faces off against Eggman before advancing to the next stage, the lava-themed Marble Zone. Level designer Hirokazu Yasuhara built the stage, and Masato Nakamura, bassist of the J-pop band Dreams Come True, composed its music. Yasuhara took inspiration from California, and the game’s overall color palette was influenced by pop artist Eizin Suzuki. Programmer Yuji Naka said it took him nearly a year to create Green Hill Zone, and that it was built and scrapped multiple times before the final version.
The level has been recreated in full 3D as a secret stage in *Sonic Adventure 2*, unlocked after collecting all 180 emblems. It appears in *Sonic Generations* in both 2D and 3D forms, and gets a new take in *Sonic Mania*. In *Sonic Forces*, the zone has partly turned into desert because of Eggman’s resource use. Digital versions of Green Hill Zone show up in *Sonic Frontiers* as part of its Cyber Space levels. Beyond mainline games, it appears as a stage in *Sonic Battle*, *Sega Superstars Tennis*, *Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games*, *Sonic Dash*, *Lego Dimensions*, *Fortnite Battle Royale*, and the crossover fighters *Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax* and the *Super Smash Bros.* series. In the 2020 live-action *Sonic the Hedgehog* film, Green Hill Zone is shown as Sonic’s original home, and the movies later place Sonic and his friends in a small Montana town called Green Hills.
A Lego Ideas set based on the level came out on January 1, 2022. Kotaku’s Alice Clarke gave it mixed feedback, calling it “not the most thrilling build” and noting its high price, but said Sonic fans would enjoy it.
Critics have long called Green Hill Zone a classic video game level. Polygon’s Samit Sarkar, Destructoid’s James Stephanie Sterling and Chris Carter, and others have used that word to describe it. Official Nintendo Magazine’s Joe Skrebels called it “nostalgic,”
Quick Facts
- Series
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Creator
- Naoto Ohshima, Jina Ishiwatari, Hirokazu Yasuhara
- Genre
- Platform
- People
- Sonic the Hedgehog, Doctor Eggman
- First
- Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Green Hill Zone is located on South Island and is a lush, grassy stage with unique features like droopy palm trees and crumbling cliffs. It includes ramps, vertical loops, tunnels, spring-boards, spikes, and checkpoints. The level is normally populated by woodland creatures, but antagonist Doctor Eggman imprisons them inside robots known as Badniks prior to the game's events, so the player must destroy them to free the animals. Green Hill Zone consists of three acts, and the end of Act 3 features a boss battle with Robotnik. After beating Robotnik, Sonic moves on to the second level, the lava-themed Marble Zone.
Sonic the Hedgehog was created by the newly formed Sonic Team, a 15-member Sega subsidiary formed to create a character that could compete with Nintendo's Mario. The game's level design was handled by Hirokazu Yasuhara, and the musical theme was composed by Masato Nakamura, bassist from the J-pop band Dreams Come True. In designing Green Hill Zone, Yasuhara was inspired by the U.S. state of California, while the game's color scheme in general was influenced by the work of pop artist Eizin Suzuki. The game's programmer, Yuji Naka, stated that it took him almost a year to create Green Hill Zone and that it was created and destroyed multiple times before arriving at the final version.
Reader's Guide
Green Hill Zone has been recognized by critics as a classic, well-known video game level. It has been described as 'classic' by multiple critics, and its background music was particularly noted as memorable. The level has appeared in numerous other games, including Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Generations, Sonic Mania, Sonic Forces, and Sonic Frontiers. It also appears in crossover titles such as the Super Smash Bros. series, Lego Dimensions, and Fortnite Battle Royale. Later Sonic games often included callbacks to Green Hill Zone; critics noted that Emerald Hill Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Mushroom Hill Zone from Sonic & Knuckles, and Seaside Hill Zone from Sonic Heroes all fit the same general mold. The decision to include Green Hill Zone in other games has been a source of debate among some fans, who believe that Sega has overused the stage since its debut. The version of Green Hill Zone featured in Sonic Mania became one of that game's most 'hotly contested' speedrun courses due to its added complexity. To mark Sonic's fifteenth anniversary in 2006, Sega released a papercraft version of Green Hill Zone as a PDF on its website. During the 30th anniversary of Sonic, Nakamura and Dreams Come True released a single of the Green Hill Zone theme which introduced lyrics to the theme for the first time.
Did You Know?
- A Lego Ideas set based on Green Hill Zone was released on January 1, 2022.
- In the 2020 live-action film Sonic the Hedgehog, Green Hill Zone is depicted as Sonic's original home.
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