How to play Sonic the Hedgehog on Mac

PlatformsPortable console

Game summary

This is a completely different game than its 16-bit counterpart on the Genesis/Mega Drive, and was originally released on the Sega Game Gear and Master System. To stop the evil Dr. Robotnik, Sonic must traverse six zones consisting of three levels each. Most of the zones are based on those in the original game, but some are entirely new, including a jungle environment and a huge airship. Other unique differences are one level that scrolls automatically and one that is aligned vertically instead of horizontally. Most of the enemies (mechanized animals, defeated by Sonic's spikes when jumping or rolling) and power-ups (speed-ups, shields, extra lives) are the same as in the Genesis version as well. Sonic can pick up golden rings for protection (when hit, he simply loses all of his rings instead of a life) and bonuses: 100 rings gain Sonic an extra life, and 50 remaining rings at the end of a level allow access to pinball-themed special stages full of bumpers and springs. The final level of a zone is always a boss fight against Robotnik. Some of the boss fights differ in the Master System and Game Gear versions of the game, with special designs for the handheld version due to the smaller visible screen area. Sonic should also collect the six Chaos Emeralds to keep them from falling into Robotnik's hands. In a departure from the original game, these are not hidden in the special stages but somewhere in the regular levels.
First released: Dec 1991

Play Sonic the Hedgehog on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)

The easiest way to play Sonic the Hedgehog on a Mac is through Parallels, which allows you to virtualize a Windows machine on Macs. The setup is very easy and it works for Apple Silicon Macs as well as for older Intel-based Macs.

Parallels supports the latest version of DirectX and OpenGL, allowing you to play the latest PC games on any Mac. The latest version of DirectX is up to 20% faster.

Our favorite feature of Parallels Desktop is that when you turn off your virtual machine, all the unused disk space gets returned to your main OS, thus minimizing resource waste (which used to be a problem with virtualization).

Sonic the Hedgehog installation steps for Mac

Step 1
Go to Parallels.com and download the latest version of the software.
Step 2
Follow the installation process and make sure you allow Parallels in your Mac’s security preferences (it will prompt you to do so).
Step 3
When prompted, download and install Windows 10. The download is around 5.7GB. Make sure you give it all the permissions that it asks for.
Step 4
Once Windows is done installing, you are ready to go. All that’s left to do is install Sonic the Hedgehog like you would on any PC.
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