Twenty three years ago, Sonic the Hedgehog burst onto the platformer scene and took it by storm. I was four at the time, and I still have fond memories of playing the game even at such an early age. Man, that makes me feel old saying this, but Sonic the Hedgehog was one of the most inspiring games of my entire life.

Released on June 23rd, 1991, the final design for the blue blur was originally mocked up by former Sega and Sega AM8 division employee Naoto Ōshima. The game’s development first started in the previous year of 1990, and when it was released the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis saw a tremendous boost in popularity – Mario the plumber finally had a rival.

To this day I still hold Sonic fondly in my heart, a symbol of a simpler time in my life when there wasn’t more to worry about other than achieving good grades and playing video games as much as possible in my spare time. With my first kid on the way, the looming reality of a mortgage, a day job, and so on – I can only hope my future kids can have a chance to enjoy Sonic the same way I did all those years ago.

We’ll be reviewing both Sonic Boom games later this year – so please stay tuned.