10 Best Opening Levels In Video Game History

Speed and exploration.

Those are the two words that best encapsulate the classic Sonic games, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the first level, Green Hill Zone.

The bright, colourful aesthetic and chirpy music instantly welcomes players, with the multitude of loops, slopes and corkscrews emphasising the series’ trademark sense of speed. Almost all of the features that help and hinder Sonic throughout the rest of the game (and indeed, the trilogy of Mega Drive originals) are introduced here, with monitors, badniks, springs and spikes in abundance.

The setting is so iconic, it has been referenced or featured in almost every Sonic game made since, even as the hedgehog himself has never quite been able to recapture the magic of those early days.

Still, with Sonic Mania on the horizon, there’s always hope.