Let's not waste time by discussing the obvious; modern Sonic games are rubbish, everyone knows it and is exhausted from trying to make Sega see reason. It's disquieting to think that younger generations of gamers will hear the name Sonic today and immediately find their thoughts focusing on Werehogs, Secret Rings, copycats or the true horror that is Sonic Boom - all of which offend the senses by their very existence. What I would much rather do is reminisce about the days when Sonic's name was big enough to keep Nintendo on their toes and make them think twice about the construction of their next Mario. Sonic was the cool alternative to Mario. He had beyond-athletic speed, a slick design and the most high quality, energetic music to have ever graced a 16-bit cartridge. What did Mario have? Well, he had a lacklustre jump, dungarees and a slight bulge in his gut. Somehow, Sonic still remains hugely iconic today, and while his reputation has taken repeated blows through no fault of his own, there's still a chance for Sonic Team to redeem his legacy.
Joe is a freelance games journalist who, while not spending every waking minute selling himself to websites around the world, spends his free time writing. Most of it makes no sense, but when it does, he treats each article as if it were his Magnum Opus - with varying results.
