The first Sonic the Hedgehog game is a momentum based platformer where the player has to maintain speed for collecting rings to get into special stages and getting the best times on each level for continues and lives. Sonic the Hedgehog came out during an era of gaming where most platforming games felt a little similar. Mega Man, Mario, and Kirby all have the player take their time to complete the level. In these games the player doesn't have to interact with the environment that much, besides hitting a question mark block for a power up, breaking a wall, or climbing a ladder to get to a higher platform. Sonic, on the other hand, encourages the player to use the environment to their advantage. Whether it's to roll down an incline for speed downhill, or using inclines uphill to reach a higher ledge unavailable otherwise, the player must make use of these abilities for platforming. As a platformer, this is how Sonic stands out in terms of gameplay.
The faster Sonic is, the likely he'll collect more rings. The rings act as health. The more the player collects, the health Sonic gets. Getting hit by an enemy allows for Sonic to get some of his rings back. This was done so players won't die in one or two hits. But hang on to those rings! For 100% completion, the player has to hold onto 50 rings causing a giant ring to appear. This grants the player the access to special stages so they can collect the chaos emeralds. In the sequel (Sonic 2, 1992) as well as future entries this allows the player to become Super Sonic. However, in the first game, collecting the chaos emeralds only grants players the good ending. Rings play a very important role and Sonic wouldn't be the same without them.
Another reason as to what made Sonic distinct was the character himself. Sonic's too cool for school attitude was very revolutionary for gaming back in the 90s because video game characters didn't express that much emotion during gameplay. Look at Mario for example. Based on his appearances in his first three games for the NES. This includes, Super Mario Bros (1985) , Super Mario Bros 2 (1988), & Super Mario Bros 3 (1990). We do not speak of Super Mario The Lost Levels (1986). Based on how he looks in these games, how does he show what he feels? In fact, what is he feeling at all? In the games his face and body language feel static and don't convey how he's feeling.
Sonic is the exact opposite of this. The best example of this is when there is no player input. If the player doesn't move Sonic for a bit Sonic would tap his foot with his hands at his hips, occasionally pointing to his invisible watch. This shows that Sonic is annoyed, telling the player to move it. Another good example is how he looks on the title screen. The title screen displays the background of Green Hill Zone, a ring with wings, and a ribbon in front displaying his name. Then from inside the ring Sonic the Hedgehog pops out waggling his finger with a smirk on his face. This shows Sonic's cocky attitude to the player as if he's too cool for these levels. Again, compare this to Mario. What feelings does Mario show? Determination while running and jumping I guess? So what? Sonic shows that too. In fact so do many other video game mascots. Doom Guy even shows this while he's gunning down demons, sending them back to Hell. Even that's not much to go off of when describing Mario's expressions. Sonic expresses his character in a way that no other platformer protagonist has.
The innovative, never before scene, momentum platforming gameplay and how Sonic expresses his character is what made the first Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) a monumental hit. This one game for the 16 bit Sega Genesis is what put Sega's name on the map and the characteristics of that game is what made Sonic distinct.
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