Sonic Blast is a 1996 platform game developed by Aspect and published by Sega for the Game Gear. The player controls Sonic the Hedgehog and Knuckles the Echidna, who venture through 15 levels to stop Doctor Robotnik from using Chaos Emerald shards to fortify his base. As a Sonic the Hedgehog series platformer, the characters run and jump to reach the end of a level while defeating enemy robots and collecting rings. In separate special stages, the player must run forward and collect rings to earn one of the Chaos Emerald shards.
The game was the final Sonic the Hedgehog game for the system, utilizing pre-rendered visuals to maximize the graphical potential of the decreasingly popular handheld console. It was rereleased on the Master System exclusively in Brazil in 1997, various compilations in the series, and the Nintendo 3DS's Virtual Console (2012). Despite their similar titles and coinciding releases, Sonic Blast and Sonic 3D Blast have little in common. Retrospective reviewers generally had little praise for Sonic Blast and have deemed it one of the series' worst games. Although some considered its graphics impressive when considering the technological restrictions of the Game Gear, most found its animations and colors mediocre. The level designs and slow gameplay were also criticized.
Gameplay
thumb|left|alt=Sonic, a cartoonish blue hedgehog, stands in a desert environment. Spikes can be seen in front of him, and a counter displaying rings is in the upper left-hand corner.|[[Sonic the Hedgehog (character)|Sonic in the game's second level]]
Sonic Blast is a 2D side-scrolling platform game. Its story begins when Doctor Robotnik shatters a Chaos Emerald into five shards with a laser. One of the shards hits Sonic the Hedgehog, who, with the help of Knuckles the Echidna, sets out to prevent Robotnik from collecting the other shards and fortifying his island base. Like the previous Game Gear titles, Sonic Blast was developed by Aspect and published by Sega. Key staff from Aspect's prior Sonic games did not work on Sonic Blast. A prominent feature of the game is its pre-rendered visuals, which had been popularized by Donkey Kong Country. Several gameplay elements were reused from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles, such as Sonic's double-jump and the playable characters.
Sonic Blast was released in North America and Europe in November 1996, and in Japan as part of the Kid's Gear brand on December 13, 1996, retitled G Sonic. Worldwide, it was the last Sega-published Game Gear game; it was the system's final game outright in Japan. Though they have similar titles and were released around the same time, Sonic Blast and Sonic 3D Blast have little in common. The game is fairly common in North America, but G Sonic is extremely rare, costing almost 350. A port of the game was released for the Master System exclusively in Brazil in December 1997, distributed by Tec Toy. The game had to be simplified to run on the Master System because of its lower graphical quality. Like G Sonic, the Master System version of Sonic Blast is rare. The game is also available in the compilation Sonic Mega Collection Plus for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Sonic Blast received a wide release in 2012 on the Nintendo 3DS's Virtual Console service. The release came as part of a campaign by Nintendo to release 8-bit games on the 3DS eShop following a drought of releases on the distribution service. It was released along with the other 11 Game Gear Sonic games on Sonic Origins Plus in 2023.