Sonic Blast was a platformer game originally released for the Sega Game Gear in the year 1996 in North America, Europe, and Japan (in Japan under the name G Sonic) It wasn’t until a full year later when Brazil saw the game’s release in 1997 by Tec Toy, Sega’s Brazilian distributer. Interestingly enough, the game wasn’t released on Game Gear, but instead ported to the Sega Master System, which saw its biggest success in the South American country, the only market outside Europe in which the Sega Master System was more popular than the Nintendo Entertainment System. This Master System port isn’t much different to its original Game Gear release. The Master System version does have worse graphics due to its limited capabilities compared to the Game Gear, which had a larger colour palette. This was the final Sonic game released for the 8-bit console as well as one of the last games released for it over all.

As far as gameplay goes, it’s not up to par with the other titles in the franchise for the same platform. The game suffers from slowdown at times, but it isn’t very fast to begin with when compared to previous games. The controls are rather clunky and slow and the momentum of Sonic feels incredibly large, as it takes much longer than it should to change velocity. Despite all this, the game remains relatively easy, offering very little challenge.

The music of the game is questionable as well. While there are a couple nice tunes (personal opinion), most of them are unmemorable, bland, and even obnoxious. Of all the soundtracks of the six Sonic Master System games, this one must amongst the worst.

Graphically, the game is quite impressive for it being only 8-bits. It features pre-rendered graphics made popular by Nintendo’s Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, a 16-bit console. Fortunately on the Master System port, the character models don’t take up most of the screen handicapping the player’s vision, which was an issue in the Game Gear version. Whilst you do encounter some graphical flicker here and there, the looks of the graphics are really nice, unique, and innovative.

All in all, Sonic Blast for the Sega Master System is a rather mediocre platformer in which only a select few will find charm. The controls aren’t the greatest and the physics can be off. The game is lacking in real difficulty and “good” music. Whilst graphically impressive for its platform, the pre-rendered “3D” models perhaps weren’t the best way to go because it takes away from the gameplay which is the most important part of any game. I personally do still find some enjoyment from it even though the game isn’t that great. I find it a nice novelty/rarity to have in your collection but I would only recommend hunting down a copy if you are a dedicated fan of Sonic and/or the Sega Master System.