Coming up with an idea for this one was hard!

I wanted to show a more cocky Sonic this time. Star Light Zone is carefree and speedy, especially right after Labyrinth Zone, which is slow and terrifying. I tried a few ideas--I wanted to include those rising platforms in the lower areas of the stage--but none of them were working out for me, so I finally settled on a basic "running" image. My other images have not been about running, because I wanted to de-emphasize the speed. It's really not what Sonic was about. Sonic 1 is just a really great platformer, and the speed feels to me as if it came along because it just felt right in the framework they made. The designers didn't try to make every level a high-speed loop-fest, they made a platformer with distinctive environments and obstacles and gave the character the speed and physics to get himself through it. As it happens, Star Light is characterized largely by loops and runways and not so many dangers, so fine, I let Sonic run in this one. I kinda feel like I cheated though.