It just never really worked out for Sonic. The 2D games subsequent to his first outing lacked invention but the move to 3D was the real problem. As we moved through the years and into the noughties through to where we are now, the decline of Sonic was palpable and mirrored that of his parent company, Sega. If you could manage this on any of the levels it resulted in such a fluid experience the exhilaration meant there was no way to describe it except for cool. A racing blue hedgehog progressing through various worlds to save his animal buddies from the robots and Dr Eggman (or Dr Robotnik depending on your age – look out for the reference to this in the game!) couldn’t fail to be cool, especially when you were able to react in time to keep you avatar moving at top speed. Mario may well have been the superior pure platformer but Sonic was cool. Distilling it down into the basest level, it was a fight between the console and company mascots – Mario and Sonic. The other was the cool kid allowing all kinds of blood and gore and fun stuff into its games.

One was seen as the superior console with technically better games and a purer gaming experience but it just wasn’t cool. In the mid 1990’s playground squabbles nearly always revolved around which was better – the Super Nintendo Entertainment System or the Sega Megadrive.

Can yesterday’s and today’s Sonic the Hedgehog win the hearts of platform fans the world over?

Sonic generations 2d level