Once upon a time, there was a hedgehog.

And then his loving parents decided to beat him half to death.

What were sega thinking? I apologise to anyone who liked Sonic Adventure, I'm told it's a reasonably playable game if you gave it a chance but I played it for three hours and then had to go and have a hot bath and play Sonic 2 to reassure myself the Sonic I love still exists. Sonic 3d wasn't that much better but I didn't dislike it as such, I just didn't get into it much. The first four Sonic games were inimitable, they had style, they had finesse. There was a sense that the developers understood that Sonic was a loved character and therefore deserved to be treated with respect. So why oh why did they have to viciously assault a loved franchise. It got worse, I mean what the HELL was Sonic Unleashed about? The side scrolling portions were playable but there was no rythmm to them, no style. They were to stop/start, and the pieces that did flow required no more skill than holding down an analog stick for twenty seconds. I had almost given up hope for Sonic, I had placed my 16bit cartridges in my retro draw with reverence and resolved to play them as often as I needed to be reminded that there was once a shining star within Sega. Then, like a single light in total darkness Project Needlemouse surfaced. I was cynical, but who wouldn't be. But after last nights announcement and the teaser that surfaced showing a return to Sonic's glorious roots, I am excited about a Sonic game for the first time since 1994. I feel refreshed, I feel like maybe there is hope. Now anyone under sixteen who is reading this blog has grown up without the first four Sonic games (unless they're one of the lucky few) but there is still time. Whatever console you have Sonic 1,2 and 3 and Sonic and Knuckles are readily available. Please play them, old is not the same as bad, they are true classics in every sense of the word, still as playable and enjoyable as they were twenty years ago. Hopefully Sonic 4 will give me the same feeling that the other games did, because I miss it. The reason I call myself The Melodramatic Gamer is because I have, on many occasions said "The saddest thing is, the best games of our lives, may be the ones we've already played," I hope that when Sonic 4 is released, I can officially retract that statement.