Blue Sphere

A practically endless game, where you just collect them blue balls. I mean it when I say this, I can play this game for hours on end, and never get tired of it. Super addicting, and fun as hell. The coolest part is when you start to recognize the patterns of the game.

From what I understand, each level is divided into 4 quarters, and each quarter has a specific layout of blue/red/yellow/bumper spheres. Create a couple hundred patterns, randomize it for each quarter, then you easily got over one hundred million stages. It's genius honestly.

In conclusion, while it's not for everyone, it's definitely for me. Being able to execute the right moves under high speeds is thrilling as hell, and as I mentioned, it's an endless game, so it never gets repetitive in a layout sense.

For those unaware, Blue Sphere was originally a game which only appeared to those who combined a "Sonic & Knuckles" cartridge with a "Sonic The Hedgehog (1991)" cartridge on the Sega Genesis/Megadrive. However it has since been ported as a bonus game to many Sonic or Sega themed compilations. It is also easily accessible on the internet via roms or mods or anything of that sort. So this game, while not as easy to find as Sonic 1 or 2 or 3. Should still be pretty easy to find if you've a few dollars to spare, or don't have qualms with emulation.

Anyway, this relatively obscure Sonic title, to the extent that it can be called that, is often regarded as unremarkable or shallow, or having little value. Yet I beg to differ. I think this game, whether you enjoy the game or not, is an example of conceptual perfection. It is extremely simple, yet extremely vast. Aimless, yet eternal. Challenging and addictive, yet not too much. Frustrating, yet fair.

As I said, the game is really quite simple. Upon start, you're greeted with a screen that say "No way! No way! No way! No way?" as an anti-piracy slogan. But pressing A, B, and C at the same time will take you to a simple level select menu. There are apparently 100 000 levels, and each level has a code that becomes visible once you reach that level, and entering the code allows you to play the level on any device, even if you haven't unlocked it yet. The fact that this game has 100 000 levels, means that you're never going to finish all the levels, which I find a little romantic. How simple and stress free to just be playing random levels with no stress. No need to develop a strategy for beating the game. No need to need to deal with complicated campaigns or level trees. No sad feeling of finishing the game and needing to find another game to play. Just the simple purity of the perfect time waster.

The gameplay itself is, in my opinion, perfect too. Every level is a different grid globe. But the objective remains the same, collect blue spheres and avoid red ones. Collect every blue sphere and you win the level and advance to the next. Collect a single red sphere and you lose, and must start the level over. There are also white spheres which are bumpers that knock you backwards, and yellow spheres which cause you to leap a certain distance in the stage. It's really quite simple yet effective, almost in the same way that Tetris is. You have the ability between levels to switch between Sonic, Tails and Knuckles. While the difference between the characters is purely cosmetic and doesn't effect gameplay, it is still a nice feature because it allows you to play as whichever character suits your fancy.

I firmly believe that Blue Sphere is as perfectly simple, yet intricate, as Tetris is. As cliché as this may sound, there is no DLC, no microtransactions, no aimbot infestation, no gamebreaking glitches, no bad controls. This game is technically perfect in every way. Add to that the enjoyable game mechanics, and the 0% likelihood of you running out of game to play here, and you have yourself an unintentional masterpiece. Found in the most peculiar of packages and overlooked by almost all.

Afterword: If you're going to play this game. Play the "Sonic 3 AIR Version." The widescreen and the far smoother movement make it a lot better. In fact, the original version's only true flaw is that its framerate feels choppy. Sonic 3 AIR's Blue Spheres does not have this issue. Also, Sonic 3 AIR is simply the best way to play one of the best video games ever released (Sonic 3 & Knuckles).