John Coulter
Art & Games University
Sonic the Hedgehog 1
January 2026
Sonic the Hedgehog: South Island Ruins
Video games are a form of art. Like books, they tell stories, and like movies, sculptures, and paintings, they depict stylized subjects and worlds. Every game element—from a simple tree branch to a complex character—is thoughtfully crafted by artists and designers. Art and Games University catalogs and analyzes these in-game art pieces, studying their in-game roles, cultural significance, and connections to real-world art history.
Data was collected from a diverse pool of games with many systems sampled and decades of content researched. To complete this analysis, over three hundred games have been documented through one hundred percent exploration and completion, and then the data was carefully compiled for fifty of these; with the list of documented and dissected games growing regularly. Art and Games University’s research found that the data and evaluation of art objects in games are under-studied. This research is important to document.
One of the games studied for this research was Sonic the Hedgehog 1 (1991) for Sega Genesis. In Sonic’s first game, a high-speed 2D side-scrolling action platformer, the evil Dr. Robotnik has invaded the South Island in search of the chaos emeralds. Robotnik has captured Sonic’s animal pals and placed them inside enemy robots, known as Badniks. Sonic must use his super speed to save South Island.
This fast-paced game was developed by Sonic Team and published by SEGA in 1991. The early 90’s saw Sonic rolling onto the scene with fast sales and popularity. Large stages, detailed graphics boasting parallax layered backgrounds and smooth high-speed frame rates, helped Sonic leap into an early lead. In the nineties Mario (Super Mario World, 1990) had stomped the competition and SEGA was ultimately losing the console wars. The aesthetic reflects Sonic’s 1990’s development. Sonic is fast, has edgy blue spikes, and a thematic 1990’s environmental spin. The visuals are colorfully detailed 16-bit pixel sprites, and as 3D games were gaining popularity, utilize geometric patterns to simulate depth, in a manner similar to the pre-rendered 3D/2D hybrid graphics of Donkey Kong Country (1994) on the SNES. In contrast to Dr. Robotnik’s futuristic mechanical designs, Green Hill Zone’s totems, Marble Hill Zone’s stone ruins, and Labyrinth Zone’s aqueducts all give a sense of a mysterious lost culture on South Island. So, with Super Sonic speed, let’s roll!
Sonic 1 (1991) was created by an incredibly small and resolute development team under the direction of Hirokazu Yasuhara. Naoto Oshima is the creator of the character Sonic, as well as coding Sonic’s unique speedy roll. Additional character designs were created by the talented Jina Ishiwatari. Of note is the work of background and zone artist Rieko Kodama. Kodama was a pioneer in the early home console gaming field as a female designer with prominent rolls on iconic SEGA projects. They designed the look and feel of the worlds on prominent Sonic and Phantasy Star (1987) games. Kodama studied both archaeology and graphic design before working for SEGA. Kodama’s background assured that the cultural objects and ancient ruins found in Sonic 1 (1991) have acute real-world art historical references.
A statistical breakdown of the art found throughout South Island in Sonic 1 (1991) has a total of two hundred and ten art items documented. Sonic 1 has the thirteenth most art from our season one data, coming in behind Real Myst (2000), and ahead of Konami Krazy Racers (2001) for the GBA, and slightly above the average amount of art in a game, of 188.8. The average art objects per stage in Sonic 1’s twenty stages are 10.5. Greco-Roman inspired architectural ruins and stone sculptures make up the majority of the one hundred and eighty-seven art and media objects found in the settings and backgrounds of Sonic 1 with Robotnik’s designs also contributing to the total.
The first stage in Sonic 1 (1991) is Green Hill Zone. While not the stage with most art, the tropical landscape has a unique subject not found in other Zones. The Green Hill Zone of South Island has wooden totem poles throughout. These have green paint, wings extending from the pole on some, and simple face motifs.
Northwest Native American tribes such as the Haida, Nuxalt, Kwakwaka’wakw, Tlingit, Tsimshian, and Coast Salish all practice totem building. A totem serves several functions including welcoming visitors, memorializing those that have passed on or family stories, recording myths and tales, and shaming people. The colors and animals represented on the pole have symbolic meanings.
The type, faces chosen, and colors for the Green Hill Zone totems are all likely created just for the Sonic (1991) game and do not have a specific cultural meaning or interpretation. As totems are made of wood, they often last a maximum of five hundred years, while the other ruins and archeological sites on South Island appear to be at least two thousand years old. The Green Hill Zone totem is certainly a unique subject within Sonic, and a distinct cultural artifact. There are no clues to whether the animals of South Island or past human inhabitants left these totems, as well as the stone ruins included in Sonic 1 (1991). Removed from the final edition of the game, gray stone sculptures appear in the Green Hill Zone. However, these stone faces are only accessible via cheats.
Marble Zone is named for the many hilltop and subterranean marble ruins found throughout the game. With twenty-one art examples, Marble Zone: Act 3 has the most art of any single stage or zone in Sonic 1 (1991). The hilltops in the Marble Zone have three types of columns. First, a freestanding smooth gray marble column with a simple cylinder shaft, stair-step base, and layered capital, or top; this pillar has similarities to Tuscan, Dorian, and Ionic pillars. The second style is a freestanding blue stone column with a square shaft and a decorated base and capital. Though not exclusively used as such, Greco-Roman square columns were usually placed at the corners of buildings and were known as anta, or antae. They were frequently used in conjunction with round columns. A non-load bearing, decorative antae such as this, is known as a pilaster. The third style of column found in Sonic 1 (1991) are square shafted, ornate gray marble columns that support a gray marble building. These have a geometric diamond motif pattern in bas-relief, and the antae support a ruined marble structure.
The ruined marble structures in Sonic 1 (1991) exhibit many Classical Greek traits, including the decorative Ionic antae supporting adorning entablature and pediment on top. A pediment is traditionally a triangular element atop an entablature, atop a row of columns; however, the Marble Zone ruins are a uniquely trapezoidal form not found in many ancient ruins. These trapezoid forms are known as “Á pans pediment.” In addition to decorative relief, the pediment has red stained glass, or possibly red stone tiles.
The horizontal, rectangular strip of marble bas-relief carving atop the antae and below the pediment is called an entablature. The carved patterns are known as “Frieze,” and the vertical striped motif is known as “Triglyph.” These are one hundred percent in alignment with the Classical Greek style. The ruins most closely resemble the iconic Parthenon, from 400BC ancient Greece. Like the Marble Zone ruins, The Parthenon also has Triglyphs and decorated Frieze on the entablature. The ruins, shrouded in trees in the distant background, are consistent with those found in the foreground. There are round, Tuscan, or Doric free-standing pillars, as well as marble buildings with entablatures and pediments. Notably, there is one building with no pediment in the background.
Digging deeper, the next art subjects are the subterranean stone reliefs found below the Marble Zone. The lava-filled, purple stone, and white metal dungeon maze beneath the hills of the Marble Zone, has four different framed stone patterns. Displayed in four sizes of green frames, the floral pattern’s color is the same as the dark purple stones throughout the subterranean dungeon, and could be stone relief, painting, or textile; however, the lava would likely destroy anything not stone or metal faster than a Sonic speed runner. Mythological beings such as centaurs, flora, and fauna imagery are common motifs on ancient Greek reliefs. The floral patterns framed in the dungeons are in stylistic alignment with the rest of the ruins in the Marble Zone.
Additional ruins can be found in both the Labyrinth Zone as well as Scrap Brain Zone 3, and contain more examples of art inspired by history. The subterranean stone aqueducts are also inspired by ancient Greek culture; however, the columns and relief sculptures are all different than the ruins found in the Marble Zone. The monstrous polluting machines of Robotnik’s factory in Scrap Brain Zone appear to be built directly on top of South Island’s ruins, as demonstrated when Sonic falls below the Scrap Brain Zone at the end of Act 2.
The columns found in the Labyrinth Zone are freestanding pillars that are thin and fluted with simple bases and capitals, similar to Classical Greek Doric columns. While round, stone-brick columns supporting a crumbling stone-brick bridge are found in Scrap Brain Zone 3. These columns feature no reliefs, decorations, or details. This suggests they were built at an earlier time than the other ruins. These are cut from large stones instead of a solid piece of marble like those previously examined. They are also crumbling and sliding down a cliff. Most of the background sprites are a palette swap from Labyrinth Zone’s yellow stonework, to a light gray. There is however an additional unique colonnade in this Zone.
The Labyrinth Zone features four animal motif stone relief blocks, as well as several abstract floral patterns resembling those in the Marble Zone found on doors, small bricks, and movable cylindrical stones. Imagery of a stylized fish and a hog, with the hog only in the Game Gear Version (1991) appear as large stone reliefs in the background as well as smaller stone reliefs in the foreground. As representational images of animals, the artistry is more detailed than those in the Marble Zone, but they could easily have been constructed before, congruently, or after the ancient Greek inspired ruins elsewhere on South Island. Pigs such as Picky Pig, (Porker in the English translation) are native to South Island, though no living fish are shown in Sonic 1 (1991). As with all of the art on South Island; their creators, whether animal or human, are unknown.
The next subject has a unique style for Sonic 1 (1991). While the ancient Greeks did carve stone gryphons, centaurs, and other monsters, the stone sculptures of a horned creature from Sonic 1 appear most like a Gothic gargoyle. Some are fountains, whereas others shoot fireballs. The sculpture could be inspired by ancient Greek art but is likely Medieval or Gothic in inspiration.
Many of the gargoyle fountains pour water into the tunnels below. The entire Zone functions as canals and aqueducts, with changing water levels. While the Roman Aqueducts are the most famous, aqueducts have been traced back to Crete and the Minoans around 2000 BC. The Tunnel of Eupalinos is an ancient Greek underground aqueduct from 400 BC.
Shifting gears from ancient ruins to the maniacal mechanical designs of everyone’s favorite “Eggman,” Dr. Robotnik’s mechanical designs are in stark contrast to the natural world and ancient ruins found on South Island. As an invading force they are the stylistic antithesis to the rest of the setting. His Badnik’s, or robot creations have fierce metal forms meant for destruction. The futuristic industrial architecture in Scrap Brain Zone looks like a smog filled landscape from Blade Runner (1982).
Some elements of design allude time travel throughout the Zones of South Island. Sonic 1’s (1991) stages are set in distinctly past and future settings. The Spring Yard Zone, an urban pinball themed amusement park, was originally the fifth stage, which would have placed the stages in chronological order by technological era. Director Hirokazu Yasuhara revealed that time travel was originally a planned gameplay element of Sonic 2 (1992). Extra evidence supporting the theory includes a four episode time traveling story arc in the 1993 animated series (Sonic the Hedgehog Cartoon, 1993), a prehistoric romp in the Sonic 2 Manga (Terada, 1992), and the Badniks, Redz and Rexon, from Sonic 2 (Sega Genesis, 1992).
The artwork of South Island in Sonic 1 (1991) is heavily inspired by ancient Greek marble ruins as well as Northwestern Native American totems. As an NPC Dr. Robotnik is an avid creator of artistic mechanical menaces, and his list of creations only grows with each game he makes an appearance. Saving the local animals, collecting the chaos emeralds and stopping the menacing Doctor in Sonic 1 (1991) for Sega Genesis provides ample views of multiple cultural sites that are historically significant and iconic to gaming.
Works Cited
Blade Runner. Directed by Ridley Scott. Performances by Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young and Edward James Olmos. Written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, Warner Bros., 1982. Film.
Donkey Kong Country. Directed by Tim Stamper, Rare/Nintendo, 1994. Super Nintendo game.
Konami Krazy Racers. Directed by Toyokazu Nonaka, Konami Computer Entertainment, 2001. Game Boy Advance game.
Phantasy Star. Directed by Kotaro Hayashida, Sega R&D 2, Sega, 1987. Sega Master System game.
Real Myst, Directed by Rand Miller and Robyn Charles Miller, Cyan Worlds, Inc, 2000. iOS game.
Sonic the Hedgehog Television Series Cartoon. Directed by Dick Sebath, Ron Myrick and/or John Grusd. Produced by DIC Productions, L.P. and Sega of America. 1993.
Sonic the Hedgehog 1. Produced by Yuji Naka, Sonic Team, 1991. SEGA Genesis game.
Sonic the Hedgehog 1(8-bit video game). Directed by Ayano Koshiro, Ancient/Sega, 1991. Game Gear Master System game.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Directed Masaharu Yoshii, Sega Technical Institute, 1992. SEGA Genesis game.
Terada, Kenji. Sonic the Hedgehog Manga series. Japan: Shogakukan. 1992. Print.
Super Mario World. Directed by Takashi Tezuka, Nintendo EAD and Nintendo, 1990. Super Nintendo Entertainment System game.