Sonic Eraser
Developer: Sega CS1
Platforms: Mega Drive
First Release Date: 1991
The Sega Mega Modem was a Mega Drive peripheral released in late 1990, that, when paired with the Sega Game Toshokan cartridge, allowed users to download exclusive games. Sonic Eraser is one of those downloadable titles, a simple puzzle game lightly decorated with Sega's new mascot. You only have to match two blocks of the same type together to clear them- it doesn't get much simpler than that. The blocks drop in sets of four, adding a little bit of complexity, but it still feels a bit limited. Single player and versus modes add a bit more to the experience, and I'm charmed by just how odd and obscure it is. Eraser is likely best known negatively for its music- the harsh versus theme is one of those songs you'll see in any Top 10 Worst Songs in Gaming lists. I don't mind it other than how short and repetitive it is, and I like the weird creepy atmosphere of the single player mode track. This is actually the first known credit for composer Masaru Setsumaru, who did sound design for several Sonic and Sega games after this.
There are four single player modes: Round, Normal, Doubt, and Block. "Round" has you clearing each of a specific block across several levels. Some levels feel impossible to clear without having one piece leftover, but maybe I'm just not good at it. I wish the reset button combination didn't take you back to the mode select. "Normal" is standard endless mode, and the last two are weird variants of that. "Doubt" is a hilarious concept, honestly; one of the blocks you're placing can randomly turn into a white block instead. Three of them will be fine, and sometimes none of them will change. It's complete luck, but it's a gimmick I could see making a fun, goofy challenge in other puzzle games. "Block" makes the pieces stick together, ignoring gravity, until a match is made and everything collapses.
If you've been looking for Sonic, the versus mode will do you one better and give you two of him. Chains will stop everything to show a cut-in of your Sonic running up and attacking the other, either with a punch to the gut, a spin, or rarely a sparkling spin, depending on the chain. The attacked Sonic will be dizzy, and won't be able to control incoming pieces at all for a bit. It's annoying to deal with, and makes building too high very risky. Whoever wins will be taken away to the book on the title screen. The lack of any other Sonic iconography other than himself is odd, isn't it?
Unrelated, but you'll see this specific artwork for Sonic Eraser looking it up on many websites. Presumably it's a boxart mockup someone made that ended up widespread, but I haven't had any luck finding the orignal source of it. Why did they pick this really angry anachronistic Sonic? I don't know. I guess this is a bit of a malicious game. He keeps intimidating me while I work on this page.
Sega was clearly very invested in puzzle games, and this wasn't even the first one with Sonic- even before the original Sonic the Hedgehog released, Puzzle Construction featured Sonic sprites in a legally distinct Dr. Mario template. (This is a game I'd love to play, but that would be very difficult due to the system it was on, the Sega Teradrive.) Between SegaSonic Bros. never releasing, and Mean Bean Machine being the weird cartoon pilot specific reskin it is, Sonic has a strange track record with the genre. I don't think that this game is secretly one of the greats, but I think it's kind of cute. Let's close the odd contrasting title screen book on this one for now.
Thank you for reading!
