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

[Adamabba]

I was probably 3 years old when I played my first Sonic game which was Sonic Advance. I know I once owned the game and enjoyed it but I was too young to remember my experience with it. I didn't become a fanatic until the next year though. I'm not sure what made me fall in love first, it was either Sonic X or Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. I still remember how very very very excited watching the show and watching my brother and his friend play the game made me.

Around the time Sonic Heroes was released and they had kiosks with the demo at Walmart for it I'd be glued to them until my family had to pull me away, and I was probably crying when they did. When my dad was going to buy me a game I wanted I planned to pick SA2 even though Heroes had just came out. Don't remember why though, maybe it was because I never got to play SA2 at all while I had played the Heroes demo alot, or I just liked what I saw of SA2 more. Either way my brother convinced me to get Heroes since it was the new title. To this day it's those two games that I consider my favorite. We also got Sonic Advance 2 around that time period too, which is one of my top 2D Sonic games.

Those were my golden days of being a Sonic fan. Just absolutely loving me some Sonic Heroes, SA2, Sonic X, and Sonic Advance 2. 

[Rabid-Coot]

It was one of the first games I had for the Mega Drive in the early 90's and easily one of the better ones then the glut of books shows and comics at the time helped flesh it out.

[Victory Defender]

I was pretty young, and I think it was 1999 when my uncle gave me and my older brother his Sega Genesis. The two games he had were Sonic 2 and Quackshot. I was in love with Sonic 2. My brother eventually got Sonic 1 and we had those two games to keep. We never got the opportunity to own Sonic 3 but my brother borrowed it from his friend at some point and when I played that I was blown away. I never got the opportunity to play S&K, and eventually we got a Sega Dreamcast with SA. I completed every story in that game. I never got SA2 - my brother grew out of Sonic at this point - and I wasn't able to get games for the dreamcast. I hadn't played Sonic for a while, but when I got a PS2 and saw Sonic Heroes, it reinvigorated my love for Sonic. I ended up getting Sonic Mega Collections + after that and had played every single Sonic game released since then.

And now here I am.

[Badnik Mechanic]

I went into a video game store in 1991, and apparently was transfixed at the game just running on demo mode. According to my folks, I was just staring at it for ages before we left.

That Christmas I got the console and the game and... that was it, died at the Marble Zone, think I beat it by some point in January and then moved onto Altered Beast.

Now I sit on YouTube and tell all the Sonic fans what the good games are! See father! See! I'm the Edward Said of my generation!

[Sonictrainer]

I became a Sonic Fan because of my Uncle.

At a young age, I watched him play Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on his Sega Genesis.

Since then I've been hooked.

[Echidna Adventurer CC14]

I've liked Sonic since I played the Genesis games, watched AoStH and picked up the occasional Archie issue from my local grocery store back in the day, but playing through Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast was what made the series one of my personal obsessions. Since then, I've followed the Hog from console to console and picked up each and every one of his major adventures as they were released. All because of a little game with seven parts that made up one big journey packed with awesome music, fun levels and the most captivating storytelling I had experienced in a game up to that point.

[Silvereyes]

I'm slightly younger than Sonic himself. In the late 90's, my family moved house several times before settling down. In one of those houses, the previous owners left behind their Sega Mega Drive, with copies of Sonic 1, Sonic 2, and Dynamite Heddy. Remember loving Sonic 2, playing it when I was 6 and 7 but was terrible at most of the boss fights, my Dad had to keep bailing me out.

I had a developmental disorder after I was born and still had it when I was 6 years old. I struggled with learning English. At that age, kids could speak properly in full sentences. I couldn't use sentences, couldn't string words together. I think it was effecting my behaviour too because I found communication nearly impossible, and kept getting angry all the time. My parents found a government school that offered a special limited program for kids with developmental problems like mine but you had to apply for it. From what I understand, a woman came to my house and asked me questions. The issue was trying to find out, basically, if it was an intelligence problem, that if I couldn't talk because of a disorder or because my IQ was so low that is why I couldn't talk. Couldn't answer basic maths questions because I didn't understand the question. "Silvereyes, I have 10 apples, and I take away 6 apples. How many apples do I have left?" "APPLE!" My Mum got the idea to turn on the Mega Drive and they watched me play the first level of Sonic 1 and 2, hitting Badniks, collecting power ups, and beating the first boss. That was what proved I wasn't unintelligent, and got me admitted to the program. A year later, I overcame my language problem and could talk like any other 7 year old. Needed that program to be able to get anywhere in life, and it was thanks to Sonic I got admitted.

Remember in Primary School the afterschool club had a Sega Mega Drive before they upgraded to a PS2. That was fun, first time I saw someone play Sonic 3 there. When I got my PS2 I got Sonic Heroes, first 3D Sonic game I ever played. Really I never actually played that many Sonic games, and to this day, there is still quite a number of Sonic titles I have not played. It is something I'd like to really do at some point. I guess I feel like I was always into Sonic more for the characters and aesthetic. I remember I'd read the wiki in the late 2000's to see stuff about lore, what was happening in the Archie books. I watched all of Sonic X on TV, haven't watched it since there, I really want to go back and watch the Japanese sub. Remember being so hyped for Sonic Mania, the 2 extra weeks to wait for the PC version while everyone else enjoyed the console versions was painful. And nowadays my main fandom is for the IDW book, I love Tangle and Whisper especially.

[Sapphirine Wind]

It must have started when I was 5. The Game Cube was a gift for me, because I had just become a big sister to my little sister.

I got a hold of an SADX demo for the Game Cube (I think my dad got it) and I was utterly obsessed. My favorite characters to play were Knuckles, Gamma, Tails, and of course, Sonic. I played it so much that eventually, my mom got the full game for the Game Cube. I had a hard time fighting Chaos (I threw a little tantrum... but I had to have been like, 5), but after that, I could finally get into the rest of the game. At the end of that night, I got to one place I instantly fell in love with: the Chao Garden.

The music, all those animals I had accumulated in the stages jumping out and running around, and the adorable little chubby Chao; I was instantly charmed. I went to bed soon after, but I was so eager to play the game the next day, and it was a game that'd I come back to for years as a kid.

I just had so much fun. I loved how the hub worlds had interactive elements, how different characters had different abilities to interact with the world. If the demo didn't make me a fan, SADX did. I often find myself missing parts from that game that aren't present in more recent games. I miss just rolling into a ball as I ran around, I miss hubworlds, I miss the chao garden, and I really miss being able to play as other characters.

I think because of that, Sonic became one of my mainstay interests, the ones I always end up going back to.

[JonoD]

This probably goes back to about as early as my memory goes.

I was 3 years old in the middle of 1994, and we were visiting family in Texas (we'd come over from the UK). One evening when I was particularly bored, my cousin set me up on his Genesis in his room with a couple of games. One of which was Sonic The Hedgehog.

Needless to say that I really didn't do too great at it, but I did know I loved it. Loved it to the extent that my parents then took me to the local Blockbuster, and we rented out Sonic 2, which I similarly sucked at hard. Didn't matter. The seed was sown.

When we eventually got back home, I started watching Sonic on TV, primarily with AoStH (with occasional pepperings of SatAM where I felt like it) and that's where most of my Sonic fascination really started to take hold.

...Right up to my 5th birthday when this happened.

(Yeah that's 5 year old me. You're permitted to giggle)

Following that, I got into the games properly. Sonic 3 and Knuckles rapidly became a big favourite of my collection of games and I adored collecting every issue of Sonic the Comic I could. I especially remember going into town with my grandmother, going into WH Smiths, finding the filing cabinet in the corner and pulling out our subscription copy of the comic every week. Great times.

What turned Sonic into a *hero* for me though was something my parents did.

As you would expect from a shy and nerdy kid, I found starting school difficult. Starting school properly is tricky for any child, but stepping into a setting that was that unfamiliar was something I simply didn’t feel ready for. I’d come from pre-school, which I’d largely enjoyed, but somehow there was something very different about starting school properly. 

I would come home upset, telling my parents about how school filled me with “bad feelings”.

Flash forwards a couple of weeks. I’d woken up as usual. I’d had breakfast as usual. I’d gotten dressed as usual. Something, however, wasn’t as usual. There on the doormat downstairs was a single envelope with something inside of it, addressed to me. My parents sat me down, each with knowing smiles on their faces as we went through the contents together.

Inside the envelope were two things that blew my tiny mind – First was a small, colourful pog-sized disc with artwork of Sonic the Hedgehog on it. The second was a letter, which had been delivered by none other than Sonic the Hedgehog himself. He wrote asking how I was. He wrote about how he’d heard about how tough I was finding school. He’d heard that I’d come home with those “bad feelings” every day.

The letter went on, saying that the disc I’d found in the envelope was packed full of the power of the many hundreds of golden rings I’d helped him collect in the games and that he’d lent me their power to get me through each day. Apparently, just a single one was enough to give me all the energy I needed and more. To say I was overwhelmed was an understatement.

Sonic wasn't just a cool character to me anymore at that point. He was a hero I admired and looked up to. He was there for me. He was willing me on to succeed.

Since then... Well. I've made Sonic friends, helped run Sonic events, gotten married to the best Sonic fan I know... It's been pretty great honestly.

[WanderingBleats]

My earliest memory of Sonic is at a swimming pool, of all places. Both of my parents worked, so I was left in the care of this daycare program until they could pick me up. I remember occasionally there would be a Genesis there, and one of the kids talked about how there was a game where "you can turn into a woof" (which turned out to be Altered Beast). I don't remember if this belonged to the kid, or one of the counselors, or whatever. One day, there was a trip to the local pool. I remember going into the office at one point and there, on the TV, was Sonic the Hedgehog. Specifically, it was one of the Special Stages in Sonic 1. I didn't get to play it or anything, but it was fascinating enough that the image stuck with me.

A few years later, I got a used Genesis and the Sonic trilogy (& Knuckles) as a birthday present, along with Sega Channel. Sonic's popularity was starting to spike at this time, and I also got into the comic books. At that time, Knuckles was my favorite character. I remember wanting to watch the Sonic cartoons, but they always came on when I was at school or something. I remember renting a Sega CD from Blockbuster or Hollywood at some point, along with Sonic CD. And also renting a SatAM VHS tape and being disappointed that the episode "Sonic Boom" didn't have the song from the game.

I enjoyed the Sonic games and universe a lot as a kid, but then the Saturn came out. We couldn't afford two consoles, and if I had to choose between Sega and Nintendo, I was choosing Nintendo. So I stopped paying attention to Sonic for the most part, except catching a few episodes of Underground and occasionally checking in with the comics. As for when I became a "hardcore fan..."

Years later, I heard a rumor Sonic was coming to Nintendo, and I was intrigued. When it was confirmed that Sega was bowing out of the console business, I was fairly excited. I got Sonic Advance when it came out, but more importantly, I got Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. I was eager to learn all about the weird stuff that had happened in my absence, like how Robotnik had been renamed "Mr. Egg" (according to a friend of mine). The game was amazing and I loved it. Eggman was really cool, but Knuckles was still my favorite...

...but then one day in late 2002, I clicked a signature link I found on an EarthBound fan forum. It led to a website called the Eggman Empire. At that point, my interest in the series exploded, and I dived into learning all the nuances of the bizarre lore, the obscure games no one talked about, and the sometimes troubled history and debates amongst fans. I started making fan content relating to my new favorite character, Eggman. And I made a lot of my first online friends, some of whom I still hang out with to this day. At least one of them is on this forum!

That's my origin story!

[RosaRosaRosalina]

Me and the blue guy have had a lot of run ins in my younger years, it's like no matter where I seemed to go, Sonic was right there.

I've explained this before, but my earliest memory with Sonic was when I was but a little baby. My older brother owned a Sega Genesis and a Nomad (which I have my hands on to this day) and he would often play with a friend of his. With nowhere else to go for the time being he let me hang out with them on the chair as I watched them play Sonic 2, heading for the two player mode for a bit, and boy was I enamored.

From there on, I kinda could never live without him, since growing up I'd witness seeing Sonic around on the TV more often. He was there when I left for preschool in Underground, and later elementary with Sonic X. Around this time I even got a few of my own first Sonic games: Heroes, Riders and Rush, games I've always had fond memories of. And that kind of set things off for me! I got into the lore, read some of the comics, spent time in other Sonic communities online, even managed to play games I never even knew existed thanks to emulation.

It's real hard to imagine me being the way I am now without my brother's influence, so for better or worse, I thank him for that! 

[SIXTH-RATE SOMA]

For me, it’s the Sonic Heroes. I had to have been like 8 or 9, renting whatever games we could for our Gamecube because my family didn’t have much expertise in the field outside Pac-Man or Backyard Baseball. All I remember now from the experience is that I DEFINITELY cried about Team Rose’s song. After we went and bought the game for real (Sonic Heroes was extremely dope and hip and with it for prepubescent Soma), I later convinced my folks to buy Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (it had Shadow in it). It was INCREDIBLE. And then we bought Sonic Adventure: DX (it had Gamma in it). It was BALLS. And then we rented the OVA about thirty consecutive times and my brain melted into mush. All in all a solid way to spend my pre-puberty years.

[The Tenth Doctor]

Well my first try was back in 2000. I was left at my child minders, who had a Dreamcast. With Sonic Adventure. It was love at first play. I got my own Sonic games in 3D Blast and R for the PC but it wasn't till Adventure 2 Battle, when I finally got a Gamecube which opened the door for more plays. Now I was ready to become the Sonic fan I was meant to be.

[Rabbitearsblog]

I was first introduced to Sonic the Hedgehog around probably 1993 on Christmas Day.  My parents gave me and my sister a SEGA Genesis and the games that we got were Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic Spinball.  I remembered how me and my sister were terrified of Sonic Spinball because of the first boss level that had Robotnik as a giant terrifying looking spider and my dad had to get through the level for us.  But afterwards, me and my sister played Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and my sister would always play as Sonic, while I played as Tails.  Then later on, we got Sonic 3 and Knuckles, although at the time, we only had Sonic and Knuckles, since we didn't get Sonic 3 until much later on and we didn't know about why the Sonic and Knuckles game cartridge was much bigger than the other games we had, until we found out that you can attach other games into the Sonic and Knuckles cartridge and once we finally got Sonic 3, we found out that Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles were actually meant to be one game instead of two separate games.  Once I played Sonic and Knuckles, I was automatically hooked to that game, especially since I get to play as Knuckles and I loved the fact that I could glide through the levels as Knuckles.  And then once we finally got Sonic 3, I was even more excited to play that game, especially since now I can play as Tails and actually be able to fly with him, which was something you couldn't do in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

But, I didn't really become a true fan of the franchise until I started watching Sonic SATAM.  At first, I didn't like the show or AOSTH at the time since I wasn't into the action shows.  But, once I started rewatching Sonic SATAM, I started loving how the characters were written and the serious tone of the series and it was then that I went ahead and started picking up the Archie Comics and started watching other Sonic related shows, like the Sonic OVA movie.  And then the moment that Sonic Adventure came out, I've been a fan of this franchise ever since.

[Strickerx5]

I believe it was somewhere in the 2006-07 range when my brother brought home a borrowed copy of Sonic Rush. I was familiar with Sonic well before that point of course but had never really been a fan. Only really dabbling in Sonic 1 at that point and playing a bit of both Heroes and Riders at a friend's house (both of which I don't remember being particularly great experiences... which is sort of on point for me and Heroes lol).

Anyway, the game caught my eye and when my brother put down his DS I tried it out for myself and was pretty instantly hooked. It was unlike anything I had played before and I became addicted to the twitch reaction, speed based gameplay. And it all went downhillup from there.

I needed more. Not only did I go to Gamestop soon after to get my own copy, but I also picked up Sonic Adventure DX and the Sonic Gems Collection too. With that I started to watch X both online and whenever it was airing (along with binging both SatAM and Underground too).

From there I just kept going, picking up any game and merch I could afford lol. Though strangely I never did play Rush Adventure until much later... don't really know why I didn't go after it back then as I feel like I knew it existed. Hell, the only reason I didn't pick up 06 at that point was because I didn't have either an 360 or PS3 at that point.

This all led into the press cycle for Unleashed which, well... as you can summarize there was no chance of escape for me at that point lmao

[Scott]

Wow! Well for myself, I was like 2 or 3 years old when I first played Sonic 2 on my brothers Mega Drive. It would sometimes be the 2-Player races but I often controlled Tails in the single player too. We moved house when I was 5 and my brother traded away his Mega Drive and my parents got him a PS1 later. I was devastated. I didn't play games very much, but I loved Sonic 2.

As I got older, I still didn't really play games unless at a friends house or having a small go of one of my brothers PS1 games when he wasn't in. But all in all, I had no desire to really sit through a game start to finish or ask for any kind of gaming console or device myself. I was always more interested in playing with my toys.

And then came the Gamecube. God damn, the Gamecube changed EVERYTHING. Not at first though. Not until the day my brother borrowed the Sonic Mega Collection. My eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas! I didn't even know Sonic the Hedgehog was still a thing. I got at excited at how much I was gonna play this when my brother wasn't in and then he played the trailers....that beautiful Sonic Adventure 2 trailer. I was blown away. I had questions. Who was that black hedgehog? Who's the bat lady? Do they talk in this game? 

And then he played the Sonic Advance 2 trailer. Man, there was so much for my eyes to digest, it was like a sugar rush for the peepers! But I was also in awe at the 2D gameplay of Advance 2. "It's just like the old games" I said to myself. It was in that moment that I knew I needed a Gameboy Advance and I needed Sonic Advance 2!!! 

My brother got Sonic Adventure 2 a couple of weeks later and I couldn't NOT watch him play it from start to finish. I had questions and I needed answers. He kinda stopped playing the Mega Collection; I would play it more. Sometimes it was just to sit in that menu with that beautifully nostalgic music. I eventually asked my mum for the Gameboy Advance and got it on my next birthday. I was silly enough to not ask for any games, so I didn't get any Sonic games for it. The first sonic game I did get for the GBA was Sonic Spinball via the Sega Smash Pack. I then eventually bought myself Sonic Advance with money from my first job - a paper route. And the rest, they say...is history

[Chili Dawg]

it was 2002. I had a cursory awareness of the character of Sonic, though I really don't know how. But one friend of mine had a SEGA Genesis- and one particular game grabbed my interest like no other- Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The speed, the music, the multilayered levels, the general coolness. It's funny looking back, this game seemed really old, in fact, it was a year older than me! But at that point, it was only about 10 years old- for some context, that is about as old as Generations is currently. Games certainly made a ton of progress over the course of the 90s. But I digress. Despite being old, Sonic 2 was awesome, and having owned a Game Boy Advance, I asked for Sonic Advance for Christmas later that year cuz only having Sonic at my friend's house wasn't enough of that little blue fuck. 

Now, Sonic Advance was a great game. It introduced me to my favorite Sonic character- Knuckles. Playing as Sonic was fun, but this guy could climb and punch things! HOWEVER, while I did enjoy the game a lot, I think I had my watershed moment as a fan about a year later. Like Sonic was a game I really liked, but I think the game that truly made me a FAN, was one I played about a year later.

Ya see I had just gotten a Gamecube for Christmas, because I'm a fucking Nintendo nerd, always have been. And I had no idea what a massive failure this system actually was for the company. So when one of my relatives gave me a Circuit City (god i'm old) gift card, I get in there, and all Players Choice Gamecube games are basically two for the price of one. HOT BUTTERED POPCORN THAT'S A DEAL. Nintendo is being generous as fuck because they're dying! So I grab Luigi's Mansion and one other game. I go home and play it.

First level Sonic the Hedgehog jumps out of an airplane, and snowboards on a MOTHERFUCKING STREET as a song that would more or less shape my tastes in music begins to play.

I liked Sonic before... but when I played Sonic Adventure 2 that first time, I was fuckin' in. Like the design of City Escape, it was all downhill from there.

[iDEATH]

I got a megadrive II for Xmas either 95 or 96. It actually made for a pretty funny home video because I was young enough to have never even heard of a video game so opening up the machine I had no idea what it was, so on the video I open it, glance at it for a few minutes, say thanks and immediately abandon it to start playing with a plastic sword that must have cost £1.99...my poor parents... 

I actually don't have a memory of when I got Sonic 1, but that's basically the story. Got it at some point and never stopped. 

 

My main love of Sonic comes from STC though, I first picked up issue 101 and bought every issue up until the final one. 

The stc version of the character and the story telling which was so much grander to me that the games, we're what WAS Sonic to me... And still is in many ways. 

[Nix]

When I was young, my parents would leave me with some of my relatives when they had to work in the morning. While I waited for my cousin to wake up, I basically sat in the other room watching cartoons the entire time.

And boy howdy did The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog play a lot. I loved the show to death when I was a kid, I don't think I was even aware that Sonic was a video game franchise at the time. I was almost exclusively a Nintendo kid, so it'd be around SA2:B when I finally would get the chance to experience that side of the franchise.

Anyways, AoStH was a huge part of my childhood, and I'm extremely happy that I managed to get my hands on some of the cels and other production materials used in its creation. I really need to get some of them framed.

 

[FReaK]

I became a Fan when I was around 3 or 4 years old back in 1994ish. My dad got a Mega Drive bundled with Sonic 1 and 2, I remember watching him play a lot with my aunt. Someday he asked me if I wanted to play Sonic 2 a bit, and it was basically 'love at first..play?'. From that moment on, I remember playing..a lot. Well, at least until I reached Chemical Plant Zone 2 and that dreaded underwater climbing segment. I died a lot there. A few months later I finally finished the game. Since then I got every single game (well, except the boom stuff, lol) and played all of them to 100% (except S4E2, some trophies just suck.) If I had an opportunity do double dip I did that, I have all achievements and trophies for both the PS3 and 360 versions of Sonic Unleashed, finished Adventure 1 and 2 100% multiple times on multiple consoles, including the Dreamcast versions,..well, you know the drill.

I'm still proud to be a fan. But nowadays I tend to bother less about modern Sonic and prefer the classic game formula and overall aesthetics way more then their modern counterparts.

[Dark Qiviut]

It's been a long time and I was just four years old, so memories are a little fuzzy. But IIRC, my family influenced me into becoming a fan. Back in Sonic's earliest days, my dad used to fervently play Sonic 1 on the Genesis. Not long after, I decided to play it and wound up liking it. Not long after, a family friend (who later became my stepsister) had a Genesis that included Sonic 2. I played and enjoyed that, as well!

Without my family, I wouldn't be fan in the first place.

[Raya]

 

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

My first contact with Sonic was Sonic 3D Blast (more known as Flickies Island in my country) added to the local games magazine. But I'm more into the series since the release of Sonic Heroes and TV airing of Sonic X. After Heroes I bought my own Dreamcast and fell in love with Sonic Adventure 2, then SA1, then Riders, GBA and DS games - and, finally, I discovered Sonic fandom on the internet and fully soaked into being fangirl.

[Teoskaven]

I'm not sure I should have posted this, but Dreadknux suggested I'd do it anyway, so be forewarned because I'm about to sound like a massive pretentious hipster and a colossal noob at the same time.

I've barely touched this series and the few times I did they weren't exactly great experiences.

Back when I was 3-4, one of the neighbors had a Mega Drive with a bunch of simple titles, including the first Sonic. I managed to get stuck in Marble Garden act 1, the lava creeped me out (try to understand, for a long time I've been very impressionable with videogame stuff) and we spent the rest of the time on Castle of Illusion and Desert Demolition instead.

Then many years later i tried Sonic Heroes on the PS2, started with Team Dark and promptly abandoned it around the end of their campaign.

Then i tried Shadow the Hedgehog on the PS2, went one of the neutral paths and abandoned it at Cosmic Fall.

During the PS3 era i first tried as a joke Sonic 06 at a friend's house because we were curious how much of a dumpster fire it was, but did not do much progress. As i reported here, i eventually beat the HD ports of Adventure 1 and 2, and the first one is probably the best time i had with the franchise. Seriously, fuck Mad Space, especially with Rouge.

Occasionally i tried Sonic 2 on a PSP Sega collection and still did not managed to go that far.

And a few years ago i got gifted Mania Plus for a birthday and absolutely sucked at it, only managing to get a bit far using Tails as a crutch. More recently i got TSR from the PS+ subscription but i haven't played it much.

The general problem that i have almost constantly with this series is that the controls are too damn slippery for my taste, and for precision platforming it feels like trolling. This is why stuff like the mech sections in Adventure 2 or Tails Adventure feel more appealing to me, due to being more slow and methodical. I'm sure if i put my mind into it nowadays i should be able to not suck anymore at these past titles, but I don't feel much incentives to do it.

Outside of the games, i watched most of the animated stuff via the Motobug streams and i had a semi-decent time, more so with AoStH than X or Underground (SatAM is complicated to me). The OVA is the one thing that if developed fully it probably would have made me a fan due to its concepts alone, but alas. And the first live action movie was fine, a couple of bad jokes non withstanding (haven't seen yet the second).

 

So yeah, not really thinking of myself as a Sonic fan, at best someone staying on the sidelines occasionally seeing what's happening, and considering how a good chunk of the fandom (no particular names) ranges from being annoying to very unsettling in their behavior, i think I'm gonna keep this position. Sonic himself feels more like a living meme to me than a genuine videogame icon, sorry.

So if the logical next question is what am I even doing here, i just ended up following Sumo's interviews when searching for news regarding ASRT back in 2012 (which means it's almost my 10th year on this board) and i stayed because the non-Sonic discussions and the more chill behavior of the place were interesting (seriously, i can't stress how despite its flaws, this place remained better than stuff like the old TGWTG board or NeoGAF).

 

Sorry again.

[castell-neath]

Mine is a bit similar to Dreadnux.

In 1991 I was desperate for a Mega Drive for my 9th birthday after seeing the footage of Sonic 1 on the TV, but my mother could simply not afford one at the time. I had a master system 2 with sonic 1 built in and despite it not being the mega drive, I absolutley loved it! The music, the colours, the animations- everything. I still prefer it to the 16bit version to this day - and no rings for the bosses is how it should be too! Sonic 2 soon followed and not even the most tricky first boss in ANY sonic game could put me off. In the meantime I was reading Sonic The Comic (an issue 1 reader!!), wearing my BHS sonic tshirt with pride and was waking up early to watch the Adeventures of Sonic cartoon on s4c/ channel 4.

For christmas 1993, I finally had the mega drive and that cemented my "Sonicdom"...Sonic 2 16 bit was completley another level to me and I LOVED it, especially with Tails following along and the dramatic final act in the skies / space - I was hooked.

Despite the let down that was Spinball (the first of quite a few sonic ganes that would be a disapoinment) Sonuc Chaos on the Master system tied me over until Sonic 3. After that, I knew I was hooked for life...I had a Mega Cd in 1994 just for Sonic cd, and playes s3&k until the controller burned out!

I never did see the 90s Sonic hot Air balloon though...it remains on my "to do" list!

 

[Solister]

I think it was around 2008-2011. My brother got a copy of SEGA Genesis Collection for the PS2 and once he put Sonic 2 for us to play, him as Sonic, and me as Tails (but not on the 2-Player mode). I can't remember how my first impressions were, but I guess good enough that I'm still here to this day.

For him, on the other hand, I think it goes a bit earlier, perhaps early to mid 2000s. We had an old Windows 98 PC which included Sonic CD as an OEM and still to this day remains one of his favorite games.