Sonic The Hedgehog

I remember being a big fan of Sonic The Hedgehog (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_(character) when I was a kid back in the 90's. I remember the first game for how different it looked and for how much fun it was. I never owned a Sega Genesis as a kid, and I still don't, but Sonic was good enough to make me want to own one. In fact, that's just what ended up happening. I wanted to get the system just so that I could get Sonic. Everything about the first game was appealing--from the great graphics, to the high speed that Sonic ran, and even the character himself. He was so cocky, cool, and full of attitude. And that is what made him great.

Sonic The Hedgehog 2 is one of my all-time favorite games, and it's definitely my favorite Sonic game. This game was just as fun as the first one. The soundtrack was a lot of fun to listen to, and it still is. This game is also notable for introducing a new character, Miles "Tails" Prower, who went on to be a long-time mainstay of the franchise.

Sonic had successful game after successful game for a while. I even remember the 3rd one for introducing another new character, who also went on to be a long-time mainstay, Knuckles The Echidna. The 3rd one was a great game as well, and so was Sonic and Knuckles--a game that was notable for having Knuckles as a playable character. I liked that he brought something different to the table, and that was his ability to glide and stick to walls. It added a different element to the game, and I liked that.

Things were going good for him until...Sonic 3D Blast. This game is absolutely awful. The graphics were impressive at the time, but they didn't age well at all. This game plays awkwardly and abandoned the speed that made Sonic popular, and that's a big mistake because speed is what Sonic is all about. He's supposed to be fast, but the game unfortunately forgot about that and we were left with a game that just did not work in any sense.

Sonic made the jump to 3D early on with the previously mentioned game. He then had a racing game called Sonic R for the Sega Saturn, but I never played it nor owned a Saturn. However, I did play Sonic Adventure on the Sega Dreamcast, and I did enjoy it from what little I played while at the video store. Since then, he has been in several different 3D games, even going back to his roots on the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS with games such as Sonic Advance (and its sequels). I played all 3 Sonic Advance games, and they were really good. They were so much fun! It reminded me of classic Sonic, and that is always a good thing.

He has been in both good games and bad games (Sonic 2006, Sonic 3D Blast). However, it's the good games that remind me as to why I was, still am, will always be a fan of his. As for the bad games, I mainly avoid them while acknowledging them for what they are. Still, Sonic remains one of my all-time favorites. He's still one of the all-time greats.