How did you get into Sonic the Hedgehog?

[Tani Coyote]

writing my own terrible, terrible fanfics... uh, the less I say about those the better, I've forgotten pretty much all of them anyway.

 

We all go down that road at some point, Ms. Mambo.

 

At least you never created a Shadow the Hedgehog recolor who was his brother and also super duper awesome and-

 

AGH WAR FLASHBACK

[Tara]

One of my very earliest memories of being alive is watching SatAM before school.  Because of the odd sensation it gives me, I'm fairly positive the episode that I watched was episode 24, but there's obviously no way of telling.  Anyway, needless to say, the lyrics to the song were burned into my head at an early age.

 

Sonic - He can really move

Sonic - He's got an attitude

Sonic - He's the fastest thing alive!

 

Then my first Sonic game was Sonic 3D Blast, which I loved because I had already grown attached to Sonic from SatAM.  However, I was raised in a mostly Nintendo-centric family.  I only played 3D Blast at a friend's house.  It wasn't until Sonic Adventure that I had the privilege of being able to follow the series more closely since my brother bought a Dreamcast.  I played that Emerald Coast demo what must have been a million times before we finally got the game.  Such great memories.

 

From there, I pretty much grabbed whatever Sonic game I could get my hands on and that was that.

Edited January 21, 2013 by Akito

[Fatman3000]

First exposure to Sonic was Sonic X. Then my dad, as a fan of the classics and saw I was watching it went out and got Sonic Mega Collection. However, ASDA (store in England) actually put Sonic Adventure 2 battle in it, so I played that. The next day my mother took that back and got mega collection, so I played Sonic 1, 2 and 3 all day that day.

[Tani Coyote]

First exposure to Sonic was Sonic X. Then my dad, as a fan of the classics and saw I was watching it went out and got Sonic Mega Collection. However, ASDA (store in England) actually put Sonic Adventure 2 battle in it, so I played that. The next day my mother took that back and got mega collection, so I played Sonic 1, 2 and 3 all day that day.

 

Oh, the previous generations loving the early games. That's always fun. My grandmother's apparently a Sonic 1 addict and treats it like a drug if you bring it around her. I showed her Sonic 4 and she basically got a "OH MY GOD 8D" face.

 

On the other side of the coin I always like when adults watch me play modern games. "How can you keep up with everything that's going on?! D:"

 

I think the next generation of Sonic fans will be born into it. I saw some parents with small kids at Sonic Boom, which leads me to think the Sonic fanbase is going to start self-replicating!

[Old dead account]

I first played sonic in youth at my cousin's house since she had a genesis, Sonic Spinball and Sonic 1 and they were fun and memorable. Fastforward a few years to like 2005 and I bought Sonic Heroes, it was fun if not frustrating at the time, then I bought Adventure 1&2 which I was pretty indifferent to at first but then started to like Adventure 1 quite a bit. Then in 2006 Shadow... Which I shamefully liked at the time, then in 2008 UnWiished which I was indifferent. Around this time I got into the online communities... Which were shamefully the sega forums. I bought a 360 specifically for Sonic 06 in 2009, and in the end, it was pretty bad. I didn't outright hate the game, Somecallmejohnny's review pretty much sums up my experince and opinion on it pretty well, and I also didn't cry like a manchild at that kiss and scream BESTIALITY EWWW!!!!!! Then I got Unleashed 360, it frustrated me so bad at one point that I actually smashed the disc to pieces... :\ then came Colors, loved it. Joined SSMB around the time of Generations hype and I loved that game too. That's sonic for me.

[MamboCat]

I think the next generation of Sonic fans will be born into it. I saw some parents with small kids at Sonic Boom, which leads me to think the Sonic fanbase is going to start self-replicating!

 

Hmm... are you suggesting the Sonic fandom will become some kind of... Assassins' Order?!

[Tani Coyote]

Hmm... are you suggesting the Sonic fandom will become some kind of... Assassins' Order?!

 

You know it would be awesome. We would finally incorporate the next element of DBZ into the series - the torch getting passed to the next generation.

 

Together we shall be a horde, and together we shall dominate!

[azoo]

Let us begin..

 

Back in 1999, when I was about 6 years old, I used to watch my cousins play Sonic 2's multiplayer racing modes. Thrilled by the colors and the characters and all that, I was absolutely amazed at how fast it was. It was my first video game experience too. Whenever they weren't around I'd sneak onto the Genesis and play 1-player mode of Sonic 2 and look around making sure no one caught me. I at first thought Tails was a girl, but then again so did many others, LOL

 

After that I didn't think too hard about the game although I was really fond of it. Then suddenly I found out that there was a Sonic TV show that came on (Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog). I was absolutely thrilled to watch it when it came on at late nights on Toon Disney, and with that I started to really really like Sonic. 

 

For Christmas that year I was offered to get either a Nintendo 64 or a Sega Dreamcast for Christmas. The DC would've come with Sonic Adventure and the N64 would've come with Pokemon Snap.. I decided Pokemon Snap and the N64 over the DC and Sonic, due to my once massive obsession with Pokemon, but I'm kind of glad I made that decision. I learned quick that the N64 was probably one of the greatest consoles ever made and Ninty's IPs are fantastic so that was all good in the end.

 

Since I went without the latest (3D!!!) Sonic game, I decided to go and get a lot of Sonic games I could for the PC. During 2000 my dad went around and got me all the PC games: Sonic & Knuckles Collection (S3K), Sonic CD, Sega Smash Pack (with Sonic 2), Sonic 3D Blast and Sonic R. The first three are still some of my favorite Sonic games to this day and the latter two I still have deep fond memories of even though the last one wasn't too good. My dad even got me the Sonic OVA on VHS.. ahh, the white case. Was so beautiful. 

 

Then in 2002, I got a Gamecube. With that, some really good games (including Melee and Luigi's Mansion), but most importantly: Sonic Adventure 2 Battle and Sonic Mega Collection.

 

After that, I became obsessed. 

 

I wanted to read the comics, see the other TV shows, learn about this! I went to old-school fansites like The Sonic Fan Games Headquarters, Sonic HQ, Team-Artail, Sonic Foundation, The Sonic the Hedgehog Info Page, and all sorts of other places where I read up on Sonic info, fanworks, and speculation of the time. Oh my gosh, the nostalgia looking back at this.. I remember playing so many (admittedly cruddy) fangames, listening to MIDI files like there was no tomorrow, and watching for new builds of Sonic Robo Blast 2. And there were so many things undiscovered, something new to learn about the easter eggs in games, obscure titles noone knew much about, oddities and the slight uncanny-valleyness of bootleg and prototype games.. I'm getting chills from the nostalgia, woah man.

 

A year passes. I finally got a Dreamcast after all and played Sonic Adventure (<3), blindly loved Sonic Heroes before realizing it wasn't that good, got a GBA just for Sonic Advances 1 & 2 and Battle, and ate UP Sonic Gems Collection. I kinda had a fancharacter for a while but threw him in the dump a lot later (kept the name though.. LOL Azukara). 

 

During that same year I also finally took my first step into Sonic Stadium and thus the SSMB. I've been here since 2004, buckos. >v>

 

Around 2005 I went through a punk phase and was all into skateboarding, being edgy and cool because Tony Hawk and Jackass were big things. For some reason due to the musical influence and dark edge to it all, I took massive liking to the games 'Shadow the Hedgehog' and 'Sonic Riders'.. after a year or so though I realized those obsessions were silly and the games were pretty awful.

 

And then in 2006, with nothing but some PC and Gamecube versions of the Sonic games, I saw news about the upcoming Sonic 06. Was so excited. Everyone was. I remember it clearly. Everyone was so hyped. And then... yeah. I didn't get to play the game then, considering the lack of a 360 or PS3, but I just watched in sadness as Sonic suddenly became the laughing stock. And no one really wanted to admit they were a Sonic fan since he became subject of endless ridicule. Pretty overdramatic way to put it, but I was 13-14 so what do you expect from that really. =p

 

2007 I got into other fandoms. I fell in love with the NiGHTs games and indulged on Mario and Rayman games like I hadn't before, as well as Zelda and Kirby. I played Sonic casually and tried to hide how much I liked it but considering how much I drew him and stuff in my art books it wasn't very easy to hide. Besides, I was still really loving Sonic Rush and Rush Adventure regardless of what people thought of the series then. And I thought Secret Rings was great for the time too.

 

And then in 2008 I saw.. I saw about Sonic Unleashed. And I was mesmerized. My family has a massive background of world culture and traveling, so seeing a game about visiting different parts of the world was absolutely incredible to me. The game looked so good and the music sounded great, it looked fun to play and the entire idea was wonderful. I was hyped beyond comprehension. Unleashed's countdown til release date was a THRILL RIDE for me. So I bought a 360 from a friend and decided to play 06 in the meantime.. and then I learned why it was treated so awfully. lololol

 

But when I got Unleashed.. I was all about Sonic again. That game sucked me in and made me realize what I love about the series and it brought all together. From then on my fandom for this series was stronger than anything I could've ever dreamed of. 

 

Sometime around 2009-2010 for some reason although I loved Unleashed so much I went on a classic fanboy purist streak (I think it was due to the hype of "Project Needlemouse" / Sonic 4), which went away over time due to realizing why I appreciated so many things about the series by the time Colors came out.. and realizing S4 was complete trash. Also during this time I started working on the roots for a fangame project which I'm still working on sorting out to this very day.. welp, patience makes perfection!

 

From 2011-now I've grown up a lot and experienced things, watched the fanbase grow up and worry to myself for realizing that now I am one of the fandom veterans that's been around so long and I can't even believe its been that long. It's been.. what, 14 years of being a Sonic fan and not ever really losing interest? I guess its here to stay. I got a lot to say about this franchise and I hold just about every aspect of it dearly and shall continue to. 

 

And that's my story! 

Edited January 21, 2013 by Azookara

[Cola]

(OKAY I PUT THIS IN THE RIGHT THREAD THIS TIME HERE GOES)

I'm... actually not too sure about what got me into Sonic.

I think it went something like this:

-saw sonci x teaser

-loved it

-got adventure 2 battle and mega collection some time around each other

-loved them

-boom, sonic fan

Edited January 21, 2013 by Cola

[Covskin]

I'm pretty sure its been a few years since I told my story, but I'm not 100% sure on details.

 

See, there were a few things that all seemed to happen at roughly the same time, and being only 5 or 6 makes my memory worse. So, in no particular order:

 

• My cousin had a Mega Drive and Sonic 1. When I visited one year, we plaed it a fair bit.
• Family friends had a Mega Drive and Sonic 2 - Chemical Plant Zone, and its boss, in particular amazed me.
• The Channel 4 T.V show, The Big Breakfast, started showing Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog.

The only thing I know for definite, is that me and my brother received a Mega Drive Mk II. and Sonic 2 for Christmas 1993 (and this was after the family friends anecdote). Each new Zone was a revelation. Aquatic Ruin? Wow! Casino Night? Dude, how far into the game must we be now!

 

Shortly after, AoStH was being broadcast in its own slot, and then in rotation with SatAM, and Fleetway's Sonic the Comic wound its way into my life. That was all the beginning.

[DarkLight]

-First exposure was watching AoStH on Toon Disney with my cousins back in maybe 1996 and started buying any VHS's I found at Best Buy since our house didn't have that channel. 

 

-My mom would eventually get me Sonic OVA which I still have.

 

-Bought the stragedy manual to SA1 for the original Dreamcast.

 

-Would watch Sonic X before dropping for whatever reason (I think it was after Super Sonic's first appearance) only to come back when the Shadow Saga was starting.

 

Not entirely sure how I got into the games nor do I recall my first game though. 

[Brad]

I consider myself lucky for my first game being Sonic 1 on an actual Mega Drive, even though this was in the early 2000's. I used to visit an after school club which had Sonic on Mega Drive and I played almost every day for the amount of time I was permitted. Eventually I got Sonic Advance as my first real Sonic game which I owned which overall makes me certainly more fond of the 2D based physics Sonic's. I think some time after, my parents surprised me with Sonic Heroes when it was released. Been dedicated since, getting Sonic Adventures on Gamecube and bought my own Mega Drive with Sonic 1 & 2. Not bad I'd say.

[ThisMachine]

Well being a child of the 90s I was well aware of Sonic's presence but I was just shy of old enough to enjoy the games and cartoons as they were released. All I had to do with Sonic until Sega's fall was a couple of trinkets I had had acquired, those being the Knuckles McDonald's toy and what I learned to be a Sonic Christmas light thanks to this site. 

 

My parents decided I could finally play games and I got a GBA and Gamecube. I remember looking for my first GC game hoping to find anything with Sonic's face on it and out of the blue SADX caught my eye, and I spent the next few days progressing as far as I could at a time until I got a memory card. I remember the goosebumps I felt watching the opening video that started my affair with the rocking music of Sonic games and would be a deciding factor in my picking up a guitar. I remember the wonder I felt running through this realistic world filled with fantastic elements and realizing that that was what Sonic was about.

 

I enjoyed getting into the various stories of each of the characters and being particularly touched by those of Gamma and Tails. I liked trying to figure out how it all went together and tried replaying the game in order as closely as possible. Then Sonic Heroes came out and I remember going to McDonald's every week to get one those handhelds as I had with the first wave. But I didn't know where half the characters came from and one story from my friend about being chased by a truck later I got SA2B and played through it before beating Heroes. 

 

I got my cousin into Sonic at this time as well as she would come over and play Heroes, and consequently she got me playing the handheld Sonics.  During this time I also came across the Archie comics during a class trip to a book store as well as a VHS of the OVA at the mall and just revelling in being surrounded by aspect's of Sonic's universe no matter how little they flushed. The fact that this character fit so well in each of these settings gave him more dimensions for me.

 

Unfortunately my GC would crap out on me shortly after acing Heroes and I would receive a PS2 but all was not lost as I would play Mega Collection Plus and experience the origins that only a short frame of time had robbed from me a lifetime ago. I remember the joy I felt knowing that Sonic music had always been awesome. Then I remember being excited about Shadow getting a game and trying to get my GC running just to listen to Throw It All Away. I would originally forgive the game of it's many flaws because of how it reminded me of SA2 which I could now only play on occasion. 

 

I then dicked around with the Riders series not caring much for runblebee's music in contrast to what I was familiar with until 06 came out for which I had specically requested a 360. Then I got a Wii and Secret Rings but spent more time finally being able to play the Adventure games again. I believe this was around the time Shout! began releasing the DiC cartoons and I was belated to finally see whole series of which I'd only seen a couple episodes before. I remember at this point preferring them to Sonic X as I had only seen the dub. Then I followed Unleashed until release and fell out of games in general until Generations save for a rental of Black Knight. 

 

I was that kid everyone knew loved SpongeBob, then I was that kid that loved Sonic. Now I'm that guy who happens to enjoy both largely for nostalgia. All in all I think I always had an affinity for Sonic, and my love grows where that blue hedgehog goes.

[Kiah]

I got into Sonic at the very beginning with Sonic back in June 1991 when I was 7 years old. It was when I got a Sega Genesis with Sonic 1 as a reward from my father as I was the only one between me and my sisters that had made the Honor Roll for the whole school year.

 

I'd figure I would buy a toy of some sort so I would look at the sales ads from the newspaper to see if I saw something that I wanted in them. I remember seeing an ad from Toys R Us advertising Sonic and the Sega Genesis, and I showed it to my dad, telling him that's what I wanted after being undecided for about 2 weeks. I didn't know anything about either Sonic or the Sega Genesis, but I wanted it because Sonic looked so cool.  Yes, it was an ad that gave me my first exposure to Sonic the Hedgehog and it sure did work! Of course, this was back in the day when Sega actually remembered what the word "advertising" means and actually did it!

 

Anyway, my dad bought me the Sega Genesis, bundled with Sonic 1. I loved the game, as I had fond memories of it that summer with the awesome music, fast gameplay and the like. Eventually I had Sonic 2, Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic Spinball in my collection as well. I really enjoyed the games but it was the cartoons that really got me into Sonic, especially Sonic SatAM. I liked AoStH as well, and it was a real joy for me to be able to see Sonic in a cartoon 6 days out of the week with his vivid personality shown throughout his adventures, which really stuck out to me and caused me to really adore Sonic.

[JBrewer]

When I was a wee lad, my Dad and his brother used to play Sonic and Knuckles nearly every night I hardly ever got to have a go. Until one night they let me play. I chose Knuckles. It was love at first sight. 

 

Sonic and Knuckles is still one of my fav games of all time and I still have a great fondness for Knuckles but like Sonic only slightly more

[iDEATH]

I first got into Sonic shortly after I got a megadrive one year for my christmas, I think it would have been 94ish.

I remember being really confused because the first thing I opened was the lion king and I had no idea what it was, I'd never even heard of the megadrive and I thought it was a cassette or something

 

A little while after I got the first Sonic game and was pretty much hooked after that, a year later and I had sonic 2 and Sonic&knuckles and had started reading STC and I've been hooked ever since.

[Rexeljet]

I was first properly introduced to Sonic in 2006. I was 12 years old and at a camping holiday at a place called Mill Park in north Devon. The camp site had a clubhouse which had a Mega Play (or possibly mega tech) arcade machine (Think of it like the PlayChoice 10, but with Mega Drive games) and one of the games was Sonic 2. Initially I wasn't interested until I saw someone else playing the game. I hadn't played many platformers at the time (I mostly played driving games) and seeing Sonic 2 for the first time was something of an event, since I hadn't seen a sidescroller that looked so fun or fast before. So when I had the chance I inserted a coin and started playing the game. I didn't get very far- I think I got stuck at Chemical Plant act 2. 

 

So that Christmas I asked for a plug & play system which had a couple of Sonic games, but most importantly Sonic 2. The other games on the system were Sonic 1, Sonic Spinball and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. I didn't think much of the latter two (and still don't) but played the hell out of Sonic 1 and 2, though looking back, the Radica "Play TV Legends" systems weren't spot-on emulations of the original games (the sound was a bit off), and I don't think there was a way to do multiplayer. A friend had Sonic Gems Collection on their PS2, and I remember being really confused because the version of Sonic 2 in Gems Collection (The Game Gear version) was nothing like the one I knew and loved. 

 

Later on I got Sonic Mega Collection where I found out about so many more games, including Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Due to all its improvements over the first two games it quickly became my favourite Sonic game. I played the game gear games quite a bit as well, though I thought Sonic labyrinth was kinda boring and that Sonic Blast was a bit rubbishy.

 

I was introduced to the 3D games around this time. Sonic Heroes was my first, shortly followed by Sonic Adventure DX. I quite liked SADX but found heroes a bit less polished and more clunky, and really got annoyed with all the pits of death. Although there are some things I appreciate more about the game than I did back then (the level aesthetics are some of the best in a 6th gen Sonic game) some aspects have gotten on my nerves more and more over time (such as the aforementioned pits of death). Granted, I played the PS2 version initially (Though I've played the PC version too) so a lot of my hatred stems from that version.

 

Not having a 7th gen system in 2007, the Sonic game I asked for that Christmas was Shadow the Hedgehog. I still remember thinking it would be awesome; basically Sonic-style gameplay (a-la Sonic adventure) with a little run-and-gun thrown in. Boy was I wrong. It's still my least favourite Sonic game to date, even moreso than 06 (Since I only bought 06 a few years ago, I knew what to expect) it was a confusing mess for 13-year-old me. I couldn't tell whether the story was trying to be a darker approach to the series or a satire. The good/evil missions were monotonous, the controls were slippery, the bottomless pits from Heroes were back in full force, people on your side still wanted you dead, and none of my choices mattered because it was all retconned with a last story. 

 

The following year I got Sonic Unleashed for the 360, and after the trainwreck that was Shadow's game, playing Sonic Unleashed for the first time was like a breath of fresh air and a change that I was only too quick to welcome. I even liked the werehog, it may not have been as good as the daytime sections but it was certainly a million times better than Shadow the Hedgehog.

 

Around this time I was looking up things Sonic-related on the internet and lurking the forums. This was how I found out about NiGHTS into dreams and that game alone prompted me to ask for a saturn for Christmas 2009. (Since then, I've bought pretty much every Sega console from markets and the like).

 

So even though I was introduced to Sonic during one of his darkest times, I'm still more of a fan of the earlier games, though the modern Sonic games are still some of my favourite games I have in my steadily-growing collection of video games.

[Turbo the Punk]

Why do I have a feeling this is just one of many similar threads. Who cares, moving on to the topic.

 

Back in mid 1998, I got a Sega Genesis which was bundled with Sonic the Hedgehog, along with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Mortal Kombat II. I'd pick up Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles later at a local overstock dealer. Besides introducing me to Sonic it was basically one of my first if not the first experience with video games. I have nothing else to say other than that it was a fucking awesome experience that nothing can replicate.

 

Now that I've answered the question, if you'd like to continue and read a semi life story that is slightly irrelevant to the topic, please click below.

I enjoyed my Genesis until it was unfortunately stolen from me in early 2000. Ironically, I still actually have the games themselves stored somewhere in my endless pile of shit

 

Around that same time (2000) is when I saw a few advertisements for the Sega Dreamcast. As much as I was interested, I abandoned Sega and Sonic for... Sony and Grand Theft Auto (you all have permission to hate me now). I did this mainly because my uncle at the time owned a Playstation, so I being interested in the selection of games at the time I bought a PS2 which is still with me today. My cousin however owned a Dreamcast so I was able to play Sonic Adventure and later Sonic Adventure 2 at least a few times, along with another favorite of mine, Crazy Taxi.

 

During 2001-2003 I was a very casual gamer. I owned the GTA's that were out at the time along with some other games, but for the most part I was out of my house either hanging with friends, buying CD's, skateboarding or just chilling by myself.

 

In 2004 my priorities somewhat changed. I focused more on my course work so I didn't really do much else, until I picked up GTA SA (who didn't) and I focused on that for a long time. The only thing Sonic related that I did get during this time was Sonic Heroes, for the PS2 which I ended up setting aside for a long time. For what it's worth, I did enjoy it's soundtrack as well as it's level design.

 

2005 was a long year for me. Early on, I contemplated purchasing Shadow the Hedgehog, but for better of worse I didn't because I (ignorantly) dismissed anything relating to any antromorphic hedgehogs as being somewhat childish. That was the least of my problems.

 

During this time, I also went through a personal loss in my life (which I rather not go into detail about) so I was really disconnected from reality during this time. At the risk of sounding extremely antisocial, I really couldn't give a fuck about anyone or anything, myself included. I essentially isolated myself and went into a spiral of depression.

 

2006-2008 was a dark point in my life. My whole life was basically me trying to survive Jr. High while managing the stress I had at home. I soon entered adolesence and did many things that I regret doing that have never been metioned to anyone. I did have a few good experiences however, mainly with my two younger brothers. The oldest of the two having enjoyed Sonic Heroes and would eventually become somewhat of a gamer.

 

2009-2010 was fair to me. I moved from my home town with no regrets and found a new positive outlook on life. I started playing guitar and eventually I entered high school. Here I would form a urban-punk band with some friends only to later dis-band due to relocation of one of our members.

 

While I wasn't much into Sonic games my brother sure as hell was. He owns all the Sonic games for the Nintendo Wii, so me watching him play basically rekindled my interest in not only Sonic games but video games as a whole.

 

Moving to 2011-present, now here I am. So to be quite honest, as much as I liked Sonic, I wasn't really heavily into Sonic for the majority of my life. Whether or not that's a bad thing I'm here now.

 

 

For everone that read through all that, sorry if I went off on a tangent. My mind is just in many different places right now.

 

Also....

Oh I was just saying it's sad because basing your life around a jittery rodent with the personality of a 90s skater kid is kinda in the sad territory XD

I suppose, but that's essentially the foundation of my personality. My positive side anyway. Why is this I don't know, perhaps because the majority of my positive experiences were in the 90's?

 

Damn, am I that irrelevant now?

[Gozar]

I was only three years old when my parents bought me a Sega Genisis along with the original Sonic the Hedgehog and that was 20 years ago (Jesus! I'm old!). I've always been a fan of the classic games for the Genisis and never really branched out beyond those classic Sonic games until just recently. Now I am starting to play some more recent games and really enjoying them.

[Vertekins]

Way back in 1994 when I was 6 years old, I was much more of an introverted loner. We lived in a cul-de-sac in Billesley back then and my older sister's best friend lives opposite our house. When I was all by my lonesome one day, my mom told me to look for my two sisters and I eventually found them inside said best friend's house.

 

She had a Master System that had Sonic 1 built into it. You know how European Master System's could have games built into them? I walked into the bedroom and they were playing Sonic 1. First time I ever saw Sonic was in Bridge Zone. I distinctly remember being entranced by the enchanting music and colourful visuals.

 

The rest is history

 

We got a Master System for Christmas of that year. Back in those days, I wasn't a very good gamer. I remember getting my sister to traverse water levels because they scared the crap out of me and I couldn't for the life of me control the hang glider in Sky High zone in Sonic 2. My sisters each owned a Sonic game; Older sister owned Sonic 2 MS and younger sister owned Sonic Chaos MS. To say that they were possessive of their games is an understatement. They loved Sonic as much as I did. Nowadays? No.... though my older sister had a blast to the past some years back when she saw Sonic 2 on SADX XD!

 

I remember that we got a Mega Drive in early 1996 with Sonic 1 and 2 and Sonic and Knuckles. I also distinctly recall getting a few issues of Sonic the Comic with that Mega Drive too XD.

[mysha_the_bat]

Chao got me into sonic I remember my brother showing me them on his dreamcast I'd have to beg him to let me play with them eventually though I got myself a gamecube and sa1 and sa2 and been hooked ever since. I was particularly fond of the rouge levels and as of this day still get all emerald pieces faster than anyone else  . How I miss those days though of free roaming ability other playable characters chao and in depth stories

[Scar]

Its quite simple. My cousin gave me his Mega Drive when he got himself an N64 back in '97. 3 years old, and seeing a small blue animal catapulting itself across brightly coloured stages was enough to leave a serious impression. Sonic 2 I salute you.

[Kuzu]

My brother had Sonic & Knuckles collection on the PC, he was Sonic and I was Tails, and the rest was history. And my first Sonic game I had was Sonic Adventure 2 which just cemented Sonic in my heart.

[Burnt Ash]

I may or may not have a lot to say about this, but oh well.

 

Anyway, I don't remember the year exactly, maybe 2004 or something like that, but I played Sonic Adventure 2 (Battle) with one of my best friends, and I instantly loved it. I found the game difficult, I thoroughly despised having to go through Cannon's Core without Knuckles's Air Necklace, but despite that, I found it and the Chao Garden to be quite a memorable experience. If SEGA wanted to leave a good impression on me about Sonic, this was the game to do it. Sometime soon, I would go ahead and play Sonic Mega Collection, only to be immensely frustrated with the games, which resulted in me shunning away much of the classic Sonic titles for quite some time. Oh yeah, I suppose it's also good to mention that SA2 was the game that made me like Shadow as a character. Anyway, I later looked up some walkthroughs for SA2 and all a few years later, and this in turn, for some reason, brought to my attention Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2006. I'm not sure what I thought about ShTH at the time other than "whoa Shadow's back", but I distinctly remember being amazed by the plot of Sonic 06 from its description on its Wikipedia page. Anyway, at this point I also have experienced a bit of Sonic Heroes which also helped increase my interest for Sonic. So, soon after, I went to GameStop and I had to go through a decision on either buying ShTH or Sonic Heroes. For whatever reason, maybe I was just intrigued by Shadow having his own game, I chose ShTH, and played it immediately, and liked it. I think a couple months later, I ended up buying Sonic Heroes, SADX (after realizing that it wasn't a sequel to SA2, and was actually a port of SA1), and Sonic Riders together. I liked these three at the time, but I don't think I like them much anymore. Well, at this point, I didn't really have any other Gamecube Sonic games to get. However, I did have a Wii, so I did some research on that. The next Sonic game I would get would be Sonic and the Black Knight. I think I chose this over Secret Rings due to the motion controls. I loved this thing from start to finish, and loved to play as all the different characters, and was intrigued by the story. At this point, it's safe to say that I was back into the Sonic franchise. Later on, I watched HellfireComms playthroughs of Sonic 06, BlazeHedgehog's "Sonic the Hedgehog is a Bad Game and Here's Why" video, and other various criticisms of Sonic 06, and regardless of whatever criticisms people threw at it (as much as they were enjoyable), I went and bought it, two weeks before I got a 360. I liked it and all, and I thought it was plenty fun, with an intriguing story as well. 

 

From this point on, recalling my history with the Sonic franchise shouldn't be difficult to remember. I remember that I hated Sonic Unleashed for the Wii and this (pretty much due to my own ignorance) was the reason I avoided the HD version. However, I looked into it further, and realized "Hey, this version has less Werehog and even more stuff!", and went ahead and bought it. I played it a lot, and I was frustrated by the time I got the Dark Gaia and put away the game for a month or two, before I finally beat the boss. I would later go on to buy Sonic and the Secret Rings I believe, and I can safely say that it was the first Sonic game that I truly disliked upon the first playthrough. However, since I already liked a ton of other Sonic games, this didn't have much of an effect on me, other than shelving the game, never to complete it. After hearing about Sonic Colors, I knew I should avoid it since it went against pretty much everything I liked about Sonic games past, and I did avoid it, until I got it...for some reason that I still don't know...and played it. I liked it...at least the first few levels, but then grew to dislike it, as I found it to be very boring. It wasn't as frustrating as say, Secret Rings, but it wasn't really entertaining as say, Generations. Finally, I think this would be the time I would join these forums (after inactivity on both TSSZ and the Sega Forums), and join the final moments of Generations hype. It was brilliant fun, and it led to me preordering Generations and liking it upon the first playthrough. Still like it now I guess, but it's kind of went "meh" on me in recent months. After this, I would get other spin offs like ASR and ASRT, or other Sonic games I haven't been able to try like Sonic 4 or Sonic CD, and well, yeah. That's where I am now. 

[Briraka]

I think it was about 2009 when I got into Sonic. Me and my mother were looking around a game shop to get something for the gamecube, and she saw SA2B. She suggested it to me and I was skeptical because I herd that the 3D Sonics sucked. But there was the 2 player option, so my mom bought it anyway and she said I needed to try new things (I was heavily into Mario and Megaman).

 

So, I popped the disc into the GC and we tried the treasure hunting mode. Unfortunately, mom picked Mad Space and both she and I didn't know what we were supposed to do to get to the emerald shards. A few days later I just decided to play through the story for some reason. I found myself enjoying the hell out of it (ironic, because as time passes, I grow less and less fond of SA2).

 

My experience with the Sonic series has brought me to places where I learned certain elements of game design, which is helpful, as I aspire to be able to make my own games someday. Seeing Awesome Chaotix on Retro's front page led me to Egoraptor's Sequelitis on Megaman X, and how the game's design can teach a player on how to play the game. There's also other reviewers like Somecallmejohnny, JonTron, AVGN, as well as various others that have entertained and taught me the importance of certain things in video gaming as well.