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Nope. The good platformers of the time were doing all sorts of new things. Sonic's "new" thing was running fast. And it was shit.
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No, actually, Sonic’s thing wasn’t simply “running fast”. The original games were built around the concept of momentum-based movement and platforming. Compare how Sonic moves and jumps from a standstill to how he runs and jumps after building up speed, they’re quite different.
So levels were built around this concept of momentum and inertia. You don’t just jump from platform to platform, you need to build up the momentum to cross a gap that you couldn’t get past from a standstill. To reach higher areas in the level, you need to get the momentum to take off from ramps and gain enough altitude. Hitting an enemy or item box bounces you around, and several elements and obstacles (bumpers, spikes, enemies in your path, pits, fans...) exist to thwart your attempts at building up momentum.
The idea is you use this momentum to reach better paths, get more points and complete levels faster. The problem here is that you do NOT get momentum by just holding right through levels, and speed is not always a good thing. What the classic Sonic games did was create a platformer based around moving through the level environment carefully and fluidly, and that is what gives them a lasting appeal.
e: Here, watch this for a quick demonstration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6PF2VRy878