The design concept behind Sonic isn't a hard one to grasp; travelling really, really fast is fun, right? It might seem weird for a vivid blue hedgehog to be a speed demon but hey, we'll be able to criticise when we make a massively popular character too. When Sega stumbled and crashed their way out of the console market, Sonic became something of a crutch to lean on; suddenly, he was appearing everywhere. When the ill-fated Dreamcast launched, the era of the 2D platformer was well and truly over. Sonic's transition into 3D wasn't the humongous success many wanted but the Adventure series was still good, solid fun. Then everything got a bit weird; Shadow The Hedgehog featured the anti-hero Shadow wielding a gun; Sonic Riders saw the beloved characters racing on everything but their feet; and Sonic Heroes abandoned many platforming elements, trying to mish-mash too much together. It all became a bit of a mess. Then came the Sonic of 2006. Sega had an opportunity with the game to return Sonic to his platforming roots and firmly push him as one of gaming's greatest characters again; it backfired dramatically. The game was awful; a glitchy mess with few redeeming qualities. It probably did far more damage to Sonic than anything that had ever come before; the less said about it, the better. Sonic '06 didn't kill the character completely but he has never really recovered. While he did eventually stumble back into 2D platforming territory with Sonic The Hedgehog 4 (an episodic game for no apparent reason), he's also been spotted playing tennis, brawling with various Nintendo characters and getting back into the hoverboard scene. Sonic's still kicking about but man, it's been a painful transition period for him.