Retrospective reception has been positive, with an 86% rating at the review aggregator GameRankings based on nine reviews published online in the 2000s. "Sonic the Hedgehog" has maintained its popularity, and has since been considered one of the greatest video games of all time. Frank Provo of GameSpot described the game as "one of the best platformers of all time", finding that despite technical issues in the Game Boy Advance port "after all these years, the underlying graphics, audio, and gameplay still hold up". Lucas M. Thomas of IGN agreed that it stood the test of time. Writing in "The Guardian", Keith Stuart observed that "Sonic the Hedgehog"s emphasis on speed and pinball mechanics dramatically departs from generally accepted precepts of game design, requiring that players "learn through repetition rather than observation" as "the levels aren't designed to be seen or even understood in one playthrough." However, Stuart concluded that "sometimes in "Sonic", when you get better, or through sheer luck, things take off, every jump is right, every loop-the-loop is perfect, and you're in the flow, sailing above the game's strange structure ... "Sonic" is incorrect game design and yet ... it's a masterpiece." "Mega" ranked "Sonic" as its third-favorite Genesis game, and in 2001 "Game Informer" called it the 24th-greatest game of all time. Bob Strauss of "Entertainment Weekly" gave the game an A+ and wrote that it was a very fast game, yet never felt chaotic or impossible, and they later named it the best game available in 1991.