The screen that couldn't keep up in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Jonas Mäki
There are many truly epic moments in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 that I consider almost sacred memories, but I'm going to rewind the tape almost all the way to the beginning, because even though Sonic the Hedgehog was magical and unbelievable, Sega hadn't quite nailed the gameplay yet, and Sonic's speed was often limited to rolling through short corridors. But when Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was released in 1992, I was completely blown away. Suddenly there were long, winding paths, and Sonic himself could accelerate by transforming into a ball and building up speed.
Running through Green Hill Zone was epic, but it was on the following stage, Chemical Plant Zone, that my love for the hedgehog really took off. It was faster than anything I—or anyone else—had ever seen before. Sonic truly tore through the level at lightning speed, and in a couple of spots, he could reach such incredible speeds that you could tell the screen could barely keep up. The adrenaline rush was total, and my era as a Nintendo fanboy was over. From then on, I had a place for both Sega and Nintendo in my gamer heart.
Movie hero instead of Mega Drive hero - Fredrik Malmquist
As a Nintendo enthusiast, I've never owned a single Sonic game, yet I understood the character's greatness through friends in my circle in the 90s and beyond. My family's first console was the Super Nintendo, and my siblings and I went wild over Super Mario World. A friend of mine and my brothers kept raving about and playing Sonic on his Genesis. Sure, I got to try it sometimes, but I was mostly just a spectator.
Fast forward to 2022, when Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was set to hit theaters. My oldest son was five, and I let him watch the first movie at home on TV, then we went to see the sequel together in the cinema. They say the most important things in life are the ones we do with our kids. My youngest son has since joined in on the fun and came along to see the next sequel in theatres, and they've also watched the animated series on streaming services at home. The next step is probably for me to introduce both boys to one of the video games...
Sonic 3 on its release day with a handwritten card from the gaming magazine Sega Force - Martin Carlsson
This remains something of a mystery in my gaming career to this day, and there is still no answer as to why Sonic 3 appeared in my mailbox on the very day it was released when I was 10 years old in 1994. A padded envelope from Sega Force—a gaming magazine I subscribed to during the carefree 90s, which was to some extent regarded as a direct (though rather passive and somewhat frivolous) competitor to a Nintendo magazine; it was just a different time, where most things were done in jest and generally had a High Chaparral vibe. I never entered any contests as far as I can remember, and I never called the magazine's hotline via landline for gaming tips. But despite this, a copy of Sonic 3 was in my 10-year-old hands the very day the game was released in Sweden, for reasons that remain highly unclear.
I had played through several versions of Sonic 1 and 2 on both 8 and 16-bit consoles up until that day. I still have the hard plastic card signed by the bigwigs at Sega Force in storage. But the question is, why? Why did I even get the game? I haven't the faintest idea. But I was most likely the first person in Sweden to play Sonic 3, unless you were a journalist back then. The game? Yeah, I loved it dearly. It was also a real treat to pair it with the Knuckles cartridge later that same year.
Sonic Mania is the perfect blend of retro and new - Patrik Severin
I've played Sonic in many iterations, both on Sega consoles and on other platforms. My favourite game featuring the hedgehog, however, is Sonic Mania, as it was perfectly retro without feeling outdated. I still play it every now and then today when I have the time.
The character's 2D adventures are entertaining, and I sometimes replay the originals, however, I don't really have the best relationship with Sonic since I didn't grow up with the character. Rather, I've tried many of the titles primarily in the 2000s and beyond. My favourite memory with the hedgehog is my time with Sonic Mania, a near-perfect interpretation of 2D games from the past with charming music, graphics, and more. Even though the 3D games haven't always received glowing reviews, there are good titles there as well. Sonic is a significant character for the gaming world and an important mascot figure, just as Mario and Crash have been.
Chao Garden in Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 - Johan Mackegård
Even though Sonic and the gang were ever-present as I was growing up, it was actually never the speedy hedgehog who played the leading role for me and my elementary school friends. Instead of focusing on saving the world, collecting Sonic medals, and getting A-rankings, our focus was entirely on caring for and training the ultra-cute Chaos, which served as a sort of mini-game between levels in the Adventure games. I remember how it all started when I was introduced to the Chao Farm at my friend Viktor's house one day, sometime around third grade, and how I immediately fell head over heels for the seemingly endless possibilities of customising the Chao into their very own individuals with personalities and unique skills. If I fed a Chao enough birds, it would soon learn to fly on its own, and the same went for water-based animals when it came to swimming, and so on.
I remember the feeling of entering various races and martial arts competitions with my little buddies, and how childishly happy we'd get when we emerged victorious from an extra-difficult challenge. I remember the joy and curiosity that arose when we found a new kind of Chao egg in the store, the sadness when a Chao lost its life, and the excitement when one of our charges was about to evolve. Would it be an angel or a devil? A swimmer, a flyer, or a powerhouse of muscle strength? I've often toyed with the idea that Sega might bring back the Chaofarm in a new Sonic game, but honestly, I don't think it would be the same today. Not that they couldn't make a fantastic game out of it, but I think today's climate—with its focus on microtransactions and online activity—would risk damaging that cosy feeling that was the whole point of the experience. However, I do sometimes fire up my old Gamecube to say hello to the little creatures still wandering around the garden, and honestly, that's enough for me.
Sonic... the game (almost) no one had - Johan Vahlström
When I was a little kid and the first Sonic games were available, no one I knew actually had them. Except for one. I'd guess that owning a Mega Drive wasn't particularly popular compared to a Nintendo console, so my only experiences from that time were, as I recall, playing Sonic the Hedgehog 2 at this friend's house, a friend I didn't visit very often either, and it was mostly him who played once we booted up that Sega system. But sure, I got to try it out every now and then, and I liked what I played. It had a speed I wasn't used to and a cool new hedgehog who'd stomp his foot when I didn't do anything for a while. The problem was that by the time I had a console where Sonic was available, the series' quality had plummeted, and I felt no urge at all to play.
So, Sonic is one of those series I've never really been particularly interested in playing, even though I have fun with the old games when I get the chance to play them. If that blue-spiked creature hadn't been so damn cool, I probably wouldn't have even thought about him. He's one of the greatest gaming icons ever, but he never really found a home with me.
One day I'll beat a Sonic game - Conny Andersson
I grew up sometime around what's often referred to in the gaming calendar as "the PlayStation era." By this, I don't mean the physical changes that come with early adolescence, but something more fundamental: I realised that being a "fanboy" was pretty damn nerdy. Even today, traces of my extreme "Nintendo" fanboyism echo within me, but I've left the actual loathing and trench warfare behind and finally realised that it's the games—rather than the console they run on—that matter most.
As you can imagine, it wasn't always like that, as during the NES and SNES eras, I waged some kind of emotional war against anything that was a competitor to Nintendo. Strangely enough, I still owned both the Master System and the Mega Drive, but they were always the neglected consoles in the household. It's really odd when you think back on it. Also, because of this, Sonic became the more anonymous and significantly less exciting counterpart to the world's best of Mario.
Of course, one could argue that the blue hedgehog has had a couple of truly standout games. But while Super Mario Bros., World, 64, and Galaxy all revolutionised the platformer genre in some way, I'd argue that the Sonic games never even came close to those heights. Not everyone will agree, of course, but if you chose to buy a Sega console instead of one from Nintendo back then, you naturally have a completely different relationship with the gaming world's two biggest icons. I do realise that Sonic is one of them, even if he never was for me. I say this as I've never, at least not that I can remember, sat down and played a Sonic game from start to finish.
I've played several, but never started from the first level and made it all the way to the end credits. But I intend to change that. I've always thought that Sonic Frontiers from 2022 looks like it would suit me well, so I'm going to give it a chance. Or rather... I'm not just going to do that. I'm going to seriously sit down with the game and play it from start to finish. Sonic Frontiers will be the first Sonic game I complete (or at least have a memory of doing so), and maybe it'll make me re-evaluate my rather pessimistic view of the hedgehog? I actually hope so.
Sonic Adventure was my gateway to the Sega world - Marcus Persson
I was pretty late to discover Sonic, because even though I played a lot as a little kid, it was exclusively on either Nintendo or DOS. The distributor, Bergsala, as we all know, dominated the Nordic regions, and that was very evident in playgrounds during the early 90s. It was the NES, Game & Watch, and later the Super Nintendo that everyone was talking about. I remember one guy in my circle of friends who had a jet-black Mega Drive, complete with the Menacer gun and tons of cool games, including Sonic (of course). A whole new world opened up right then and there, and even though I'd glance at the Mega Drive and Master System in toy catalogues of the time, it was Nintendo that completely dominated my thoughts.
That changed the first time I visited my buddy—David was his name—at his house and got to play on his Mega Drive. I seem to recall that his older brother had picked it up on a trip to England, where everything was bought significantly cheaper than it was here in Sweden. It felt darker, more grown-up, and simply... well, cooler. It wasn't specifically Sonic so much as that whole Sega vibe. But then it took a while, actually, all the way until the Dreamcast, which also became my first console that was NOT a Nintendo of any kind. And alongside the obvious games like SoulCalibur, Sega Rally 2, and Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, it was Sonic Adventure that I picked up, and boy, oh boy, that intro sequence.
The gritty guitars, the graphics, I really played the crap out of Sonic Adventure, if you'll pardon my language. I unlocked every character, yes, even the horribly boring Big the Cat and his sleep-inducing levels, all to reach that perfect ending with Super Sonic. After that, Sega and the Dreamcast were my life, and to this day I look back on it as the console that has made the biggest impression on me ever. It burned intensely but for a short time and it was magnificent. Sonic kept running, and I followed him, though mostly by playing his old games, both on Xbox Live Arcade and in the compilations released for Xbox and PlayStation 2.
Today, I look at Sega, Sonic, and everything they achieved on the Mega Drive as something almost unbelievable. I don't know how many times I've read through Console Wars by Blake J. Harris (seriously, read it if you haven't), as well as delved into a ton of my own research, especially about the colourful personalities who ran SOA back then. And somewhere deep down, I wish I could rewind the tape and get myself a Mega Drive right then and there, back when they were at their peak.
So... let us know what your fondest, best, and/or funniest Sonic memories are.
