May 20, 1992 was the day I would own my first console and videogame ever at the tender young age of 5. I never asked for it, but my mom and dad were arcade/Atari nuts before the birth of my brother and I, so my dad felt it would be appropriate to get me a Genesis at the time.



Pictured A representation of, literally, one of my earliest memories in life. Isn't that deep?

So I had my Genesis. I tended to feel like a bit of a blacksheep among my friends, because all of them had NES instead of Genesis (and later, everyone got SNES before I did). I gradually did develop NES envy, since all I ever heard about was Mario Bros., Contra, and Battletoads -- I missed the NES era entirely. That's a different story, though, but relevant to how I feel today with Sonic 4 out (more on this in a little while).

Sonic was a mainstay for me in my early years not just as a gamer, but in life. My Genesis came bundled with the original game, and my dad bought Soni