30 Days of Sonic DAY 1 - Question of the Week 0: How Did You Become A Sonic Fan? [30DOS22]

[Dreadknux]

Welcome to the very first activity for 30 Days of Sonic! It's coincided with a rather eventful day for the Sonic community, but let's all focus up and lean on the reason we became Sonic fans in the first place - and have some fun! 

It's Wednesday today, which means it's time for our weekly activity which we call...

Question of the Week!

This is where we ask a simple question to kick-start some interesting conversation among the Sonic community. Everyone with a TSS Account and posting privileges are free to participate, and we want to encourage some really great chat and camaraderie within the forums! So be nice to one another!

We will log every member that replies to this topic. You have until Saturday 4 June at 23:59 UK Time the end of the month to take part in this week's Question. Those who do participate will receive the following Badge on their TSS Account [once our new Achievements system has launched, later this month]:

So let's get chatting away!

Question of the Week

How Did You Become A Sonic Fan?

For me, I was a little too young to know of Sonic or video games in 1991, as I as only six years old at the time. I think it was probably the year after, when I started making friends at primary school, I went round someone's house and they had Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 on Mega Drive. They also had a Game Gear with Sonic 2 as well (I always thought that family was rich, lol), and my friend and I would play these games together.

Honestly, it was the first time I became interested in video games at all, let alone Sonic. But it was Sonic that drew my interest - the game was so colourful and fast, and playing it was an absolute joy as a kid. So I had to have a Mega Drive and a copy of Sonic for myself.

Unfortunately, even though I was able to save up my pocket money for what I thought was going to be a Mega Drive... my parents didn't know what a Mega Drive was, and I was just a kid who knew about 'SEGA'. So when I went to the local game shop to put down all my money and shouted, "I want a SEGA and Sonic", the shop guy looked at the money I had and put a Master System down in front of me instead. "Is this what you were after?" he asked.

I knew it wasn't. I didn't know the name, but I knew what a Mega Drive looked like and that wasn't it. I realised I didn't have enough money for a Mega Drive after all, and I saw Sonic wagging his finger at me on the Master System box (Sonic 1 was built-in to the system) I decided to get the 8-bit console anyway. Never looked back. That Master System brought me years of fun, and while it was a totally different game, Sonic 1 on the Master System was a really decent version that I know like the back of my hand now.

That day I also got a couple other Master System games, Donald Duck Lucky Dime Caper and Ghostbusters. Those games ruled too.

Anyway, I've be a die-hard Sonic fan ever since!

----------------------------------

So! How did you guys become Sonic fans?

[Ryannumber1gamer]

For me, my very first introduction was a few things. Heroes was the very first Sonic game I played as a young kid, as one of my friends back then had it on the PS2. At the same time, Sonic X was running on Jetix/Fox Kids, and both AoStH, and SatAM were running on POP!, all four of which being the main things that got me into the series.

A year later, Mega Collection Plus was a game I was seeing in shops like Smyths, and it was one I desperately wanted, and after some searching, my parents took me into Smyths to pick it up, and I ended up playing it non-stop, even though I didn't get far into them, and I thought Sonic Blast was great, for some reason (probably Knuckles tbh). Then I eventually got Heroes from a local second hand game shop as well.

Rush was then my next game, which I got for Christmas the same year in which I got my DS Lite. I also distinctly remember Shadow being one of the hypest games amongst myself and my friend group (and is partly the reason I think SEGA knew full well what they were doing with that marketing lol). 

I remember that despite liking AoStH and SatAM, I always preferred X and Heroes in general - I thought the design work was the best in them, and I loved that 2D artstyle. Tails in particular was my favourite character back when I got into the series, so it was such a stark contrast to go from the cool yellow Tails who was piloting mechs and planes in Sonic X, to this weird brown-furred Tails who had to be babied all the time, not that it ever stopped me from watching SatAM or AoStH either way lol. There was a point I was staying up late to watch Jetix's late night block consisting of Sonic X, Pucca, and Yin Yang Yo! I can even distinctly remember watching the SA2 episode where Sonic and co are at Eggman's pyramid base. 

Anyways, from Rush onwards, I'd just ended up playing some more games. Rush Adventure, Advance, Unleashed PS2, Secret Rings (which was partly the reason I asked for a Wii over a PS3 back then). I'd even tracked down Adventure DX and SA2 Battle because I'd heard how cool they were and I really wanted to play them. But Heroes is where it all started for me.

[StaticMania]

Question #1: How Did You Become A Sonic Fan?

My mother bought me Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Mega Collection, and Sonic Heroes when I was young.

Sonic's design was so cool to me just from seeing him on the boxart and it inspired me to start drawing.

While getting far in SA2 or Heroes wasn't possible for child me, both having chasing sections (which are scary), the classic games were fun & enjoyable enough to hook me to the series. I looked up things online of course like cheat codes and how to get past the barrel and gradually started looking up all sorts of Sonic related art and flash games.

The series is sticky.

[Shiny Gems]

It was Christmas when I was about five years old. We were at the Christmas tree unwrapping presents. I unwrapped mine and it was a Sega Genesis with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 bundled with it. After we finished with the presents, we hooked up the Sega Genesis and my sister and I played. I sucked initially, but when I played the game on my own later, I got better at it. I loved Sonic since that day.

[DaBigJ]

My overall history with the blue rodent's a bit foggy to me, but I'm pretty sure I got into the Sonic series thanks to the DS. In particular, this very collection

I played this a lot on my DS, it was a blast playing the Genesis titles on the go. Being able to go Super Sonic, fight Knuckles and Robotnik, flying as Tails, very good memories, honestly. Afterwards I started to get more and more interested in the franchise, getting games like Sonic Generations, SEGA Genesis Collection (PSP) and Sonic Adventure (PSN).

Sonic was also a big inspiration for me to get into art, in terms of creation and appreciation. As much as the series cheeses me off, I'll never be upset over the impact it had on me, as a gamer and as an artist, after playing Sonic Classic Collection, the other games in the series, and seeing the iconic character designs.

[Piko]

I knew of Sonic from a pretty young age thanks to Sonic X being on the air at the time; I also watched quite a few reruns of SatAM.

However I didn’t become a fan until I was about 4, when my sister and I got a PS2 for Christmas. I can’t remember if we got it with the console or later on, but one of the games we had for it was Sonic Heroes. The second I put the game in and heard the sweet, sweet drum intro to the titular song I. Was. Hooked. I definitely spent a lot more time playing Heroes than my sister…mostly fighting with her over who got to play as Team Rose in the multiplayer mode.

[Winston]

I believe I was around six or seven when I first became a Sonic fan. I was never much of a morning person, but I'd wake up early every Saturday to catch Sonic X. Granted, looking back, the show isn't all that special but something about it really interested me as a kid. I think that's what led me to getting both Sonic Advance 3 and Sonic Heroes, although not too sure which came first. I know Sonic Heroes was the first 3D Sonic game I ever played, and I did play it a lot even though I never did fully complete it. I also got Mega Collection Plus on PlayStation 2, and that was my first experience with the classic games, and while I wasn't too big into every game in that collection, I really enjoyed Sonic 2 and 3.

I think the first Sonic game that really blew my mind as a child was Sonic Adventure DX on GameCube. Now, that isn't the best version of that game IMO, but it was so much fun running around and exploring the different areas. I also loved using the spindash in that game and shooting across the hub worlds and stages. That's really the Sonic game that made me a lifelong fan, so I do consider that the beginning of my true love for the series, but Heroes and Advance 3 are the first Sonic games that I ever played. 

[Cosmos Rogue]

In 1995 I had a couple of friends, a brother and sister, who lived two doors down the street. They had a Sega Genesis, and I'd play Sonic 1, Sonic 2, and Ecco the Dolphins (also a cool game) with them. That Christmas my mom got me my own Genesis, with the 6-pak cartridge bundled in, and the Sonic Classics collection to go with it. I've been a Sonic fan ever since.

[Eggman Fan]

I was playing on my dad's old genesis, when he put in a Sonic game (I believe S3&K), and holy god I was hooked. The speed, the jumps, and Knuckles, I was constantly playing the games from then on out. Never beat it thought, despite my obsession, I was rubbish at the games, still am in fact.

 

It's a incredible game and tied one of my most cherished memories, and I didn't even know why it was called Sonic 3 & Knuckles back then, bet my mind woulda been blown if I knew what the other cartridge was for. 

[PaddyFancy]

Probably going back to 1994 or 95 when my parents got my brother and I a Sega Mega Drive II with a copy of Sonic 2 bundled in. For years it was the only Sonic game we actually owned until we were grown up enough to buy our own games (which by then it was retro so it was off to the likes of Gamestation aor Cash Converters to buy second-hand carts).

Although in the early days of the interim we had gone to Xtra-Vision (Irish equivilant of Blockbuster) to rent out the likes of Sonic 1 or Sonic & Knuckles. Those two especially with that one game we owned left quite an impression on me and that ensured that I wouldn't forget about Sonic even after I first drifted away from the franchise until SA2B came along.

[Muscles Maximum]

I got into Sonic during the early 2000s. Probably around 2001-2002. My best friend of that time collected the archie comics and he'd bring them to school, and I loved looking through them and the designs of most of the characters really stuck out to me. I was always into drawing and I'd draw Sonic characters all the time, I just loved the look of the characters so much. Sonic was just so stylish back then. Uekawa's artwork during that time period was just so amazingly inspiring to me, honestly still is.

Naturally he'd start talking to me about the games as he showed me the comics, and I soon got my hands on Sonic Advance 1. I loved that game, the feel, the aesthetics, the different playable characters. I was just totally hooked. Eventually my fandom spiraled from there. Advance 2, SA2B, SADX, Heroes, Advance 3, Riders, Mega Collection, Gems Collection, etc. etc. I learned everything there was to know about the series and that came so easy due to just how obsessed and passionate I was about it.

Good times back then, I do miss those simpler times.

 

[JezMM]

I was a Master System Sonic newbie too, in my case, my Dad borrowed a Master System II off a friend of his, and the games they had were Alex Kidd in Miracle World (built-in), Cool Spot, Streets of Rage II and, what remains one of my favourite games of all time to this day, the Master System version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

It's hard to pinpoint my first encounter with Sonic - I'm sure I knew of him beforehand some way or another, because I never remember a time where all these games felt of equal importance to me - Sonic was always number #1 out of the selection I had.  Beyond this, I remember discovering a videotape with the first three AoStH episodes on it at a friend's house, and they let me have it since they no longer cared for it (they were quite a bit older than me).  In addition, a school friend who also had a Master System leant me their copy of Sonic 1 for the Master System, so I got to play that plenty too.  Ultimately I got to keep all the above - I don't know whether my Dad paid his friend or what, but the Master System II never got given back, and one day, while Sonic 1 was in my ownership, my friend's Mum sold their Master System, so the friend just told me to keep it.

Other than playing the Mega Drive games at a friend's house, reading Sonic the Comic and catching the cartoons on TV occasionally, that was pretty much my whole experience of classic Sonic.  We would later get a Game Boy and N64, and I fell out of touch with SEGA during their troubled years.  I would try Sonic Adventure at a kiosk in a shop, but was never enamoured by it.  It wasn't until SEGA went multi-platform and Sonic Adventure 2 came out for the Gamecube that I reconnected with Sonic properly.  At the time I was a bit snobby - I was so used to Nintendo's twee, gentle, polite games that the idea of this fast-paced platformer in an Earth-like setting with lyrical rock music blasting sounded ridiculous.  That's not what games are!  But my friend brought SA2 around my house one day and I was blown away.  It completely broadened my horizons to the idea that games can be cool and stylish and break the mould, and from that point I was back on the Sonic horse for good.

[Covskin]

I honestly can't remember my exact first encounter with Sonic. I recall seeing Sonic 1 or 2 at friends' houses, but somehow it already felt familiar? I dunno.

Those experiences were enough to lead to a Christmas Day when my brother and I received a Mega Drive with Sonic 2 though (along with Bart's Nightmare, the 3-in-1 pack and randomly Skitchin'). I was hooked immediately, each new Zone a delight having never seen past Chemical Plant previously.

That was soon followed by grandparents bringing home issue 18 of Sonic the Comic, but I didn't regularly start collecting until Issue 27. It took over 4 years until reprints that I finally got closure to that cliffhanger!

It would have been around this time that AoStH was broadcast, episodes split into pieces during The Big Breakfast on Channel 4 before getting their own dedicated time slot. Man, looking back that was a weird set of circumstances.

By this time Sonic 3 hype was hitting and that was pretty much it.

I've been trying to figure out which Christmas I got the Mega Drive and Im pretty sure it was 1993, but various websites tell me Skitchin' wasn't released until 1994 whilst others say 1993 but it was definitely before Sonic 3 and now I'm super confused.

[azoo]

It was 1998, and I went to my grandmother's house. My uncle and cousin left a Genesis over there that they'd play when family get togethers happened, and through that I got to play Sonic 2. Every time I went to her house I got on it and played it to death.

Some time around 1999, I had the choice of a Dreamcast or N64 for Christmas and ALMOST chose Dreamcast, but I went for the N64 because Pokemon was at it's height. Instead, I got Sonic R and S&K Collection on PC that same Christmas. That was the first Sonic games I ever owned, and is basically where the adventure began.

[Indigo Rush]

I was first exposed to Sonic when I was about 4-5 years old back in the 90s when Sonic & Knuckles had just been released. I was visiting a friend's house and they had that game running on their Genesis, and they offered to let me give it a spin. I still remember getting stuck on those vines in Mushroom Hill Zone and asking him to get me unstuck, hah. 

Not too soon after that, my Dad's friend gifted me with his old SEGA Genesis with a copy of Sonic the Hedgehog, and on my 6th birthday my grandfather got me Sonic 2. But that's not when I became a "fan" so to speak. 

It was this:

Seeing Sonic animated on TV. This was the moment I became obsessed. I loved this cartoon and my parents kept getting me the VHS tapes. Soon enough I'd have the entire Genesis game cataloged filled out with the PC port of Sonic CD to boot, but it was the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog that gave my brain the juice it needed to fortify the fixation!

[TheOcelot]

First time I heard of Sonic was when I played Sonic 1 on a Mega-Drive console which was bought for the whole family (although I played it most). My first impression of S1 was of a hard game which I didn't like much. Maybe that's because I sucked at it. Then played Sonic 2. Death Egg Robot kicked my ass but eventually I got good. Had hours of endless fun playing against my sister in Sonic 2 vs mode.

What really made me a Sonic fan was the brilliant animated series; Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic SatAM. I adored them both. Loved Sonic's personality, Jaleel White absolutely nailed it. Tails was my favourite, guess I related to him more. 

Then I got to play Sonic 3 and as soon as I saw Knuckles send Super Sonic flying in Angel Island I knew I was a Sonic fan for life.

[Celestia]

Sort of a two part answer:

My aunt had Sonic & Knuckles Collection and I played it a bunch. Not that I made it every far (there was a time I didn't realize you could spin dash, which limits you severely in that game a lot more than most), but I was pretty enamored with it and the characters. I didn't even request the game or anything, which makes sense since I don't remember hearing of them and I only saw the cartoons afterwards. The shows were a big part of me becoming a fan too, not to mention I started checking out Sonic fan sites around the time I was watching them. Including TSS of course!

After this point, I of course would want to pick up Sonic games whenever I saw them, but the only home console I had was a Playstation for a while. Luckily I got a Gamecube next, which as it happens was the console that had almost every Sonic game at the time. Sonic Adventure, it's sequel, and of course Mega Collection all cemented me as a fan for uh...probably forever if I had to guess.

[Iko]

It was long time ago, so I can't remember precisely what year and how old I was.

My older brother (still a kid) had a passion for the Italian version of the Mickey Mouse comic, and on those books there were pages dedicated to advertising new toys, including videogames which were considered toys at the time.

I was younger and didn't know what a videogame was, though my brother became interested in the famous platformer games such as Mario and Sonic through  those advertising, and asked for a Game Gear as present. During the wait he was so excited that he drew some platformer levels invented by himself on paper, and the idea interested me a lot (it's when I started to become interested in game besign, but I was still too young).

I think that the Game Gear was my first experience with videogames in general, though I'm not sure because I don't remember much, and I also used to play with my cousin who was a bit older than me but younger than my brother, and had a Gameboy and a Super NES. Regardless, I never had a Sonic game on the Game Gear, only the 4 in 1 game bundled with the console, Psychic World (a platformer that looks a bit inspired by Megaman and a little bit by Metroid too, which my brother got as a present while asking for "the game of the little jumping man", and ironically, the main character of that game is a girl), and Ax Battler.

Later I got a Master System II with Sonic installed into the console, identical to the one in the picture from the first post. I was very young, and Sonic 8bit gave me a lot of problems... I got stuck at Scrap Brain after a whole afternoon of playing, and when I did a gameover I cried because of all the lost progresses... at the time I couldn't imagine that the game would have grown on me so much that some day I would have become able to finish it in a little more than 1 hour and with losing little to no lives. Other games I got were Rescue Mission and Air Rescue... both purchased by my parents for being cheap at the store, though one of them required the gun and they discovered it when it was too late and had to buy that as well (sometimes being greedy makes you lose more money instead lol).

After a while I started getting into Mario, and abandoned Sonic a bit. Years passed, and I became a teen... my cousin bought a Gamecube with Sonic Adventure 2, and later DX, along with a GBA with the first 2 Sonic Advance games. I mostly played those games when I was at his home, didn't own them until some years later. Adventure 2 and the Advance games brought me back to the Sonic series, along with a little bit of emulation of the Genesis games (later I replayed them on real hardware through the Sonic Mega Collection).

I became a fan of videogames in general and started buying more consoles, mostly Nintendo. Platformer has always been my favorite game genre, and the big platformer icons such as Mario and Sonic (later I got into Kirby too) became some of my favorite series ever.

[Polkadi~☆]

For me, Sonic very much dropped at my feet out of nowhere. I didn't play any video games aside from Gran Turismo 4, and I was closed off from that side of the world in general, until my papa came home one day with a Gamecube that a friend had given him because their sons stopped playing on it. With it, a whole collection of really cool games, like Pikmin and Star Wars Rogue Squadron. But what caught my eye immediately was Sonic Adventure 2 Battle; the box art was totally unlike anything else I've seen as a kid, and it captivated me instantly. I played the unholy heck outta that game.

Though the Gamecube is gone, and I've talked about it's dreadful fate in these forums before, I still have the game, and the memory cards holding my saves. They're treasured memories for me, you'll have to pry them from my cold dead hands.

Anyway, my love for Sonic Adventure 2 combined with me getting on the internet for the very first time, I slammed headfirst into the wide world of Sonic with all the flash games and websites to visit, and I've developed fond memories of those too. Sadly, no, this site was not one I went to as a kid.

I even went onto sites like Sonic Channel, which is definitely not English. And I found videos of Sonic X in its original language, that I watched endlessly without ever noticing that it wasn't English. Fast forward, I'm speaking Japanese now, thanks to Sonic inexplicably doing so as a kid. Funny how that works.

[Ducktor Naldush]

Let's see if I can remember correctly

Now, the question is "how did you become a Sonic fan", so I guess I should leave AOSTH aside, as that's how I got to know something called "Sonic" existed. I liked the show but I couldn't describe the me from that time as a "fan" per se. I mean, "Tails' New Home" was the first episode I watched and from that one alone I decided I would actually watch the other episodes when they aired.

Furthermore, I had a pencil case with the blue guy's face on it, a hand-me-down from a relative, but that's because I really liked the way the character looked and this relative, on his way to middle school,  gave it to me as a "good luck" gift for the Hell Journey known as "Elementary School"

And it's in Elementary School where I think I became a Sonic fan.

A classmate, nice girl, noticed my pencil case and told me that she had games with the character on it. I didn't have consoles at the time (the first I owned was a PS1 that I got when I was 10), and all I had to go with was the aforementioned relative's NES, where we would play Mario Bros, Duck Hunt and Solomon's Key, so I got curious. (yes, I am aware this ages me quite a bit)

We become friends, have play dates and stuff, and I end up going to her house. She didn't have a videogame system, but instead she had a PC (and to the little ones reading this,  when I was in Elementary, not everyone had a PC at home) with tons of emulated games. Video game emulation and pirating was pretty common and widely accepted back then, you see. 

She scrolled through her infinite list of games, and there it was....

Sonic Spinball for the Mega Drive.

...

...

We played like 5 minutes of it, got kinda bored and she goes

"You know, I have another game with Sonic, there is this red guy that can climb walls and he's cool, wanna try it?"

"Yes, please"

The game started, I still remember the title screen music blasting in that dark room with posters of the Backstreet Boys attached to the walls 

and history was made

Knuckles running, jumping and climbing through Mushroom Hill was my first taste of what would become one of my favourite videogame series of all time until Sonic Lost World came out and I understood that yeah the series...is...different now. But that's a story for another time.

 

 

BUT WAIT, THERE IS MORE

 

You must have heard that in Europe the Master System was pretty big, I think. In Italy, the system actually arrived before the NES!(by memory the MS arrived in 1988 and the NES in 1989, if you were curious)

Well, it turned out that another relative had a Master System. With Sonic 1 & Sonic 2. And I played the heck out of those. Sure ok, I never managed to go beyond the Underground Zone of Sonic 2, but Sonic 1? I absolutely loved it. Even now, I would stand by the opinion that 1 on the MS is actually better than the one on the Mega Drive, but I know those are dangerous words, so I'll stop here.

 

Also, this is very important because it would influence my entire interpretation of the series and it wouldn't feel right to not mention it, the kid upstairs, when I was in 5th grade, had a Dreamcast

a modded one, of course.

And he had Sonic Adventure. In Japanese. We would spend entire days roaming around the hub world without knowing what do (not that having the International version would have helped, as that one wasn't translated into Italian, fun times), but the Japanese voice cast slowly became the voices that I associate with the characters. No Drummonds, no Smiths, maybe a bit of Griffith, I admit I liked his voice very much.

 

The years followed, and you know they start coming and they don't stop rolling or whatever, and I end up owning a PS2 and a Gamecube.

Also a PC that emulates things. Again, widely and commonly accepted practice.

With Adventure 1 & 2 on the GC, Battle and the Advance series on you know what, and Heroes on the PS2 my Sonic days were in full force. 

And the world lived in peace, until the Zeti nation attacked.

[Sega DogTagz]

I was lucky enough to have a Genesis and a copy of Sonic 1 as a kid. Got a ton of mileage out of it and loved the character.

 

But as for when I became a fan, well that would have to be when I got my hands on Sonic 2. I have a twin brother, so video games were often a back and forth affair, passing the controller around so we each could get a turn. Sonic 2 was our first introduction to co-op games. Now all of a sudden, we both could play and both share in the enjoyment. While there was quite a bit of waiting for P2 to respawn every now and again, it was a small price to pay for the advantage a second controller gave you during bosses. Whereas a younger version of myself may have found difficulty it beating some of the S2 bosses, our tag team duo felt unstoppable and really left an impression. Now me and my bro were a team, destroying each of the games bosses and having fun doing it. Just like Sonic and Tails.

I've been on board with this franchise ever since.

[Dr. Mechano]

I grew up in the 90s. But I was not a Sonic fan during that time, as I had a Super Nintendo instead of a Genesis.

I was tangentially aware of Sonic. I played the games at friends' houses sometimes, and occasionally caught the odd AoStH episode, but it was never a series I closely followed.

That all changed when Sonic Adventure 2 got ported to the Gamecube in 2002. I decided to try out this series that I'd been missing out on for so long, saw Eggman bust into Iron Gate when I selected the dark side story, and instantly thought, "Wow, this guy is really cool." It was that instantaneous. One look at Eggman and I instantly liked him. Oh, and the rest of the game was good too of course.

It didn't take long for me to catch up on the rest of the series. I bought a Genesis and even a Dreamcast at a used game store (I had no idea that Mega Collection and Sonic Adventure DX were on the way to the Gamecube in mere months), and quickly caught up on most of the big-name installments in the franchise. I fell in love with the classic games and, to this day, still consider them some of the finest platformers ever made.

Really, for better or worse, I've been at least somewhat invested in this series ever since!

[Your Vest Friend]

I legit don't know.

Seriously, one of my earliest memories is just getting out the Mega Drive to play Sonic 2 with my sister as per routine. I've been playing since before my long-term memory developed. 

I can say how I got back into fandom though; it was about 2003. I had long stopped playing the Sonic games since Sonic and Knuckles came out and the Playstation took over in the household. It was the summer before I started high school, and for the first time, we had the internet available to browse at leisure instead of being super limited. So, I went on a search spree, for stuff I was into then and stuff I used to be into. When searching for Sonic, I found that he was not only not gone, but that his world had changed so much since I was a toddler. I first caught up on the Archie comic stuff up to that point (which took me about a year), then I learned that Sonic Heroes was the latest game and became obsessed with getting it with my pocket money. I...ended up getting Mega Collection Plus first, but once I did get Sonic Heroes for just over £15 from ASDA, I loved it to bits, and set me on the path as the long-time Sonic fan I became, minutia obsession and all.

[Blue Blood]

I was about 3 years old and the family had gone to a friends house for a BBQ. Their kids (teenagers) had a Mega Drive with Sonic 1 and 2 which I fell in love with. And at the end of the day, we took the console and games home with us. It was as simple as that. My parents are still friends with them. My understanding is simply that the "kids" didn't use the console anymore and were happy to give it away to us. I'm glad that I can still remember my first time playing Sonic, and that it was with Sonic 1. It's probably one of my earliest, clear memories tbh. 

[Stasis]

So many factors, so let's start at the beginning.

June 1991, my parents were invited to a family event on my dads side. My sister and I were left in the care of my older cousins and a few closer in age while they went out for a night on the town. While I'd never really taken an interest in anything beyond the Atari 2600 or Commodore 64 at close to 5 years old, they had a Mega Drive and were playing Sonic 1. I didn't get to play it but I remember them playing Green Hill Zone and them going through an S-loop. It was nice to look at.

Fast forward to 1992, my uncle (who at the time was 19 give or take and not my uncle just yet) was visiting with my auntie, and he brought with him a Mega Drive and Sonic 2. THIS was my first hands on with Sonic the Hedgehog, and my god was it glorious. I died over and over in Chemical Plant but it didn't matter. We played 2 player split screen until it was time for them to leave. Whenever we went to visit, that's what I would be playing. Sonic was such a great game!

So at Christmas I get a Sega Master System 2 with Alex Kidd built in and later that evening received Sonic 2 from an auntie. My brain didn't even compare it to the Mega Drive version; this was a Sonic game. The Master System was where I played Sonic, with my best friend having the first game built in on his console to him then owning Sonic Chaos. All great games. Merchandise started to come out and I got bits and pieces like stationary/shirts, but the biggest hook was on a holiday in Blackpool; Sonic the Comic Issue 6.

I saw it amongst the other comics and the cover blew me away. I had to have it! I spent the rest of the holiday reading the stories over and over, fascinated by the art. This would become my Sonic life line for many many years and would be the main factor in making me a major fan. The Mega Drive series of games came in to my possesion between the ages of 10 and 14 in random order with Sonic 3D being the first I'd buy on release and so missed out on them. StC provided everything that magazines like Sega Magazine were showing. Metal Sonic!? Amy Rose!? Knuckles the Echidna!? All here in well drawn and written stories. 

The Saturn came and I played Sonic Jam in Comet. Sonic World was just wow, but it was essentially a collection of the old games and I'd played Crash Bandicoot on a rented Playstation. It couldn't compete. Until the day I played Sonic Adventure on a Dreamcast kiosk at Odeon, the comic filled that gap. Had it not been for this comic providing personality to these characters I'd started to enjoy, I don't think I would have been as gripped as I am now.