Happy 20th Sonic the Hedgehog

Today marks the 20th anniversary or birthday of Sonic the Hedgehog! It's hard to believe it's been that long, but I guess I am getting up there in the years myself.

Sonic was released in 1991 on the Sega Genesis (or Mega Drive) and was probably responsible for moving so many of those consoles to consumers, myself included. His cool appearance, coupled with the 'dude with a tude' tag for his personality made him an appealing alternative to Mario for gamers who may have started on the NES. Not to mention the amazing (for the time) graphics and crazy speed of his first game. Speaking for myself, after playing Sonic at a test play kiosk at Sears I HAD to have a Sega Genesis and I left the store that night thinking "Mario-who?"

Unlike his plumber rival though, Sonic games have had their ups and downs, the later being in the more recent years. Things have been looking up recently though with releases like Sonic Colors and Sonic the Hedgehog 4 episode 1 (and arguably Sonic Unleashed).

Things continue to look good for Sonic's 20th birthday as Sega prepares to release Sonic Generations, a title that combines the new school Sonic with the old school in a dream matchup fans could only have dreamed about.

I feel like the future of Sonic games looks bright, as long as Sonic Team continues to remember the mistakes they've made and try to learn from them. They seem to finally be on track with their more recent releases and what we've seen of Sonic Generations thus far.

Time will tell what the future holds, right now though I'd like to look back at the last 20 years of Sonic the Hedgehog and reflect upon my favorite memories of my favorite dude with a 'tude.

My top 10 Sonic the Hedgehog memories

10. Playing the game in Sears as I mentioned above. The colorful graphics and speed of the game has me hooked instantly. This wouldn't be the last time Sonic sold a console to me though.

9. Getting a 1up for the first time. In the Genesis titles getting a 1up was always met with such a fantastic fanfare that gave a great feeling of accomplishment, rather than the usual chime or quiet melody you'd hear in other games of the time.

8. The sound a ring makes when collected. It's never changed and it never should.

7. seeing the Sonic CD opening movie for the first time. This brief animated piece blew me away. The way they portrayed him was so much more sylish and lively than he appeared in the games. It made me wish for a Sonic animated series. Too bad the ones we got never lived up to my expectations.

6. Getting Sonic and Knuckles and actually using it on the past games. I'm pretty sure Sonic and Knuckles was the first console game to receive an expansion pack (in North America at least). This cartridge technology seemed utterly amazing to me back then.

5. Debug modes. Once these codes were released for the first 3 Sonic games I found a completely new way to play. When I wasn't using them to try to force my way into unfinished areas I spent a lot of time trying to design my own pinball games in Casino Night zone.

4. Seeing Windy Valley Zone on the Sega Dreamcast for the first time. Around the time the Dreamcast released, Electronics Boutique had Sonic Adventure in their kiosks for test play. Someone left it on Windy Valley, which was the first 3D Sonic stage I'd ever played. Needless to say I purchased a Dreamcast that day. I was already thinking about it anyway for Marvel vs. Capcom 1, but the amazing graphics of this stage, especially the Tornado segment, pushed me to my decision.

5. Playing the special stage of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the first time. I remember saying to myself as a kid, "man, graphics will never get better than this!" Ha!

4. Getting a time of 17 to 18 seconds in Azure Lake zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 3. I dunno if it's the best but I was pretty proud of it. I need to find my Sonic 3 cartridge and take a screen shot for old times sakes.

3. Becomming Super Sonic for the first time. I'll never forget the text "now Sonic can become Super Sonic" after getting all the chaos emeralds in Sonic 2. No explanation was given, so I went about playing guessing I would figure it out eventually. As soon as I got 50 rings and unknowingly jumped I was in for a big surprise.

2. Finishing Sonic the Hedgehog for the first time. For a game that I can finish in under a half our now it sure seemed like a huge quest back then, like a journey across the world. Smashing Robotnik's craft one final time as he tried to escape was icing on the cake.

1. Going around the first loop de loop in the first stage of Sonic 1. I was amazed. This was so fun, like nothing I'd seen in gaming before (I was very much an NES kid). I had to run back and do this a few more times before going on to finish the level.

That was a nice trip down memory lane. I'm sure there are a lot of things I've forgotten that would be higher on other reader's lists. Such as the first time playing the Dooms day Zone in Sonic and Knuckles, see I already thought of another!

Through thick and thin, Sonic remains one of my all time favorite video game characters. It was fun trying to think of my favorite Sonic moments and it'll hopefully be even more fun seeing classic Sonic team up with new Sonic in Generations.

Here's to the next 20 years! Happy birthday Sonic!