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Horror master, composer, and all-around auteur John Carpenter has been a fan of video games for decades now – a passion he has kept as a hobby alongside his professional work as a film director and composer. Now, we’ve learned what kicked off his love for video games.

Carpenter fell in love with the original Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis over 20 years ago, news he revealed in an interview with FACT.

“I loved the game. I loved everything about it. I especially loved the music,” Carpenter said to FACT. “There was something about the whole sound and feel of the Sonic games and suddenly I’m so much younger and it’s the ’90s.”

His love for the blue hedgehog didn’t end there, however.

“I even like the one where he turns into a werewolf,” he said. Carpenter is talking of course about Sonic Unleashed, the 2008 full-3D entry in the series that had traditional Sonic the Hedgehog gameplay during the day — but at night Sonic turned into the “werehog” and would brawl enemies.

Reportedly, he’s even played Sonic Mania, the throwback entry in the franchise released this past summer.

“Oh hell yeah,” he said when remarking on the game. “It took a while, these things are hard to beat.” He naturally wants more Sonic games. “I just keep wanting to play Sonic games — because they’re fun. I hope they keep making them.”

Make sure to check out the entire interview, where Carpenter also talks up the difficulty in the Sonic games, as well as the infamous underwater level.

Sonic Forces is now available for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and the Nintendo Switch. The precursor to Sonic Forces, Sonic Mania, is also available now for PC, Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. In case you missed it, you can find my review for that game here (I absolutely love and recommend the game!).