What was your FIRST impression of Sonic?

1) Sonic 2, but my first impression was SatAM (and presumably AoStH, which was apparently way less memorable despite airing daily).
2) Gift from mom, probably because I liked the cartoons.
3) I dunno, it was before I developed speech. I know it changed my life, but that's a priori reasoning. When did you realize you enjoyed breathing oxygen?

 

1. The first Sonic game I played was SA2B.

2. I found out about it when I was four years old. I was at my future stepdad's old apartment; my future stepbrother fired up his Gamecube and after sitting through the opening cutscene he started up Crazy Gadget because he was stuck on it (we both had trouble with the Tetris block gravity puzzle for a long time).

3. I just thought it was really cool. Like, really cool. That must have been early on in the school year because I remember for the rest of pre-K only wanting to sleep on the blue side of the mat during nap time (I never actually napped, and I'm not any different now) because I wanted to be on the Sonic side, not the Knuckles side. I remember basically nothing from that part of my life, but I absolutely remember getting Sonic Mega Collection in Kindergarten. The Extras menu music is still one of my most favorite and relaxing pieces to listen to. Sonic is something I always found myself coming back to as a kid, and I started learning a lot more of the history behind stuff through the wiki, and now I'm here. When DigitalDuck came back to the forums, Overlord linked this and I think it's one of the most accurate statements about being a Sonic fan that I've ever heard.

 

A weird story with me. Back before I was in school (keep in mind I'm barely an adult) my mom didn't want to leave me at home alone so I was constantly in and around her friends and their houses. One among them had recently moved in, but the previous owners of the house conveniently left their Genesis at home. That thing had three games: NBA Jam, Ecco the Dolphin, and Sonic 2. AKA one game and two coasters. I was bored and had no idea what my mom was talking about with her friends, but they let me play the game. I was terrible at it, couldn't even beat emerald hill, but I didn't care. it was fun. Then we basically never went back there, leaving me raving on what a "Sonic" was for probably more than a year until our family was at target or whatever and I spotted SADX PC sitting on the shelf. I thought it was the same game I knew, there couldn't be more than one, right? Well, obviously I realized it was not the same game when I played it, but of course I didn't care. It was Sonic! In 3D! And other people! This character is a boy? His name is Miles? That's my dad's name! Ooh! What's a "Kunkles"? etc etc.
So weirdly, even though I remember loving the first Sonic game, a classic game, more than anything, I don't particularly prefer the classics, even though I bought games like Advance 1 and the "Sonic and Knuckles collection" not long after SADX and liked them about as much.

Not Sonic Pinball Party, though.

 

1. Sonic 2.
   
   ...on the Game Gear.
2. Parents got me a portable console, and opted for the Game Gear instead of the Game Boy, because hey, it's in color, so value! This was our first Sega console, too; we were an NES family up to that point. I expect if they'd gotten me the Game Boy instead, I'd probably have been very much a Nintendo kid my entire life instead.
3. I hated it! But it was all I had, and it fascinated me, so I got into the franchise through it. Somehow. Eventually I got the first Game Gear Sonic as a present for a doctor visit (or was it a dentist visit?), and that was a lot more fun - still hard, but not bullshit hard like that friggin' antlion boss was. Then I got into the Genesis games (got 1, 2, 3 and Spinball with my console that Christmas! Sonic & Knuckles came a fair bit later, I'm a bit fuzzy on exactly when though), while keeping up with the Game Gear Sonics (I liked Chaos and Triple Trouble even more than 1 and 2, really dug Tails Adventures, and even liked Labyrinth despite that being an unpopular opinion - missed Spinball, Mean Bean Machine, Drift 2 and Blast, though), then getting Sonic CD for the PC, watching both Sonic cartoons on TV whenever they came on, collecting Archie's comics and shifting to Fleetway around when we moved to England in 1996...
   
   I really dunno how I got hooked on the series with a game as terrible as the one I started with, but eh.

 

1. The first one I played was Sonic Heroes on my cousin's old PS2 back in around 2004-05.

2. Not sure I found out about the series, but I remember watching a few reruns of Sonic Underground before I ever played any of the games, so we'll go with that. Anyways, I was at my cousin's house one day and they had Sonic Heroes running on their PS2. I remember having a go at it, but I had no idea what I was doing. Eventually, on my 6th or 7th birthday, I got a GBA with a few games, including that bad Sonic 1 port for the system of all things. This was the first one I actually owned myself iirc

3. I remember enjoying Heroes, but regarding Sonic Genesis on the GBA.. well, I was a dumb kid back then with no sense of taste whatsoever, so I liked it anyway. Even if it was slow as hell and everything was botched up, I still enjoyed it then for whatever reason, even when I kept getting stuck at Marble Zone and Labyrinth Zone (I eventually did beat it, believe it or not, with all the Chaos Emeralds too if my memory serves me right). Thanks to the power of the internet I was able to get into and keep up with the series at this point. I got a PS2, and on there I got Unleashed, one of the Riders games, and eventually Sonic Heroes once again (my copy doesn't work anymore though). I even got the much better Sonic Advance for my GBA too. I also got SADX for the PC when I was about 10, and, along with the main game itself, I got exposed to some of the older Game Gear games that I had unlocked through there. After that it was pretty straightforward, got a Wii and 360, played a couple of Sonic games that were on those systems (including Generations, which I was addicted to for quite some time), and thanks to emulation I was able to play the Genesis trilogy.

I had various points where I was constantly into and not into Sonic (as well as video games in general) throughout this time due to constant schoolwork and such, but this is pretty much how I got hooked on the series. Not sure how I even managed to get into it at all when one of the first experiences I had with the franchise was with Sonic Genesis on the GBA of all things, but whatever lol

 

1- Sonic the Hedgehog for Mega Drive ... i was ten years old when it was released...
2- Through a neighborhood friend, the first to have a Mega Drive in the zone... lucky fellow!
3- My first impression '' Oh my God... future is here and i haven't noted it... Oh the Humanity" (nowadays technology is taken for granted, it was not the case back then... yes i really thought that some time after we would have time machines and the like... hey i was ten, remember?)

 

I first played Sonic 1 at a demo kiosk in Software, Etc. My thoughts were, "Wow, Sonic the Hedgehog! I've seen this on TV! This is Important!"

 

Well, answering this is a bit weird for me, as my first contacts (yes, plural) with Sonic where through one of those arcades that allowed players to play 5 minutes per coin, no matter what you did with that time limit. So...

1.- I think my first contact and impression was with Sonic 1, and, of course, I was interested, but the first contact I remember clearly and got me hooked was with Sonic 2 (both 16-bit). Sonic 2 was the first one I played, anyways, and it happened later, so my first hands-on impression was like my third contact.

2.- That time-based arcade cabinet on a pub in front of my home. I got more details about it thanks to a friend (see 3rd answer). I played Sonic games regularly much later, when I got a Master System with Sonic inside instead of Alex Kidd. All classics were out when I got my Mega Drive, but my aunt had one and I had the chance to try classics on aunt's or said friend's respective consoles.

3.- Each one deserves its line:
- My first visual impression was "Wow! Those graphics! That look! Those views! Wow again!" And the obvious interest I found in the uniqueness of this game having physics and tight controls. Yes, I didn't need to play the game to know that, a good job speaks of itself.
- My first impression about the game's setting was a friend that had already played it explaining it to me while he was running through Casino Night on that time-based arcade; he told me about "Dr. Robotini", a mistake that make me feel disappointed when I learned doc's real name, as I liked the mispelled one a lot more. And having the bad guy of Sega mascot's game be a moustached italian would have been a delicious pun.
- My first hands-on impression was like a religious experience, trying by myself all those interesting things the games promised in previous contacts. If love had been a game, I had found true love that day, as it was the perfect thing with everything I wanted to find in a videogame. Love at first sight, made mine on the third date.

Be aware I my memories are a bit fuzzy, so the "three" contacts may have been more and I may be only remembering the clearer ones or mixing some on a single one. The chat with my friend and the arcade cabinet remain true, as that speech was my point of no return and I used to play Sonic 2 Vs mode with friends on that cabinet.

Edit: A little grammar correction.

 

1 - What was the first Sonic game you played?

The Master System version of Sonic 1.

2 - How did you find out about it?

When playing at a neighbour's home. They had a SMS II and a bunch of games.

3 - What was your initial reaction to it?

That character looks cool... *sees him looking at the screen while tapping its feet and running across the level with his quills waving with the wind*

... I want this console!

 

1- Sonic 1 on my Sega Genesis Model 3 in 1999 when I was 4 years old.

2- I don't remember exactly. I knew that Mario was from Nintendo and Sonic from Sega but I don't remember where I learned that, maybe it was word of mouth or most likely from watching a TV program that aired here in Argentina that was about videogames called "Nivel X" (translated: "Level X").

3- It was fun and colorful and I couldn't get past the moving pillars in GHZ Act 2. I loved going fast like the demo did and, the acceleration, the sense of speed, also I found interacting with slopes interesting/frustrating. It was so cool.

 

What was the first Sonic game you played?

Sonic the Hedgehog 2​

How did you find out about it?

I was a Nintendo kid growing up (seriously; my first non-Nintendo console was a PS2 that I purchased at 19), but my cousin's family was all Sega. I have fond memories of playing Rampage and Great Baseball on his Master System. Eventually he got a Genesis with two games: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Mortal Kombat II; that was my first exposure to the Sonic franchise.​

What was your initial reaction to it?

It was a lot of fun. At the time, I remember liking that it was easier than any Mario game. It was the first game I ever reached (though could not at the time defeat) the last boss in, and I was so proud of myself for that. It was also my first introduction to cheat codes, which I thought were just the coolest thing in the world. Being able to skip to Hill Top Zone if you really wanted to play Hill Top Zone? Brilliant!

Some of my strongest early memories were of specific zone gimmicks. Casino Night's slot machines were really fascinating to me and I would time over just doing those again and again. Hill Top's rising lava and Aquatic Ruin's arrow shooters were terrifying. Oil Ocean's launchers with the checkerboard patterns on them were perhaps my favorite part of the game.

I distinctly remember consistently failing to reach upper paths, though not for lack of effort. Aquatic Ruin 2 had those swinging platforms at the start whose timing I couldn't figure out, landing me in the water below. Mystic Cave 1 had those collapsing bridges, and the bottom one generally broke before I had a chance to jump to the top one. Hill Top 2 had that rising and falling platform in the lava at the beginning; I was utterly baffled by this one because the platform didn't give enough height even when jumping from its peak, and it didn't occur to me to jump from BEFORE that platform to reach the upper route.​

 

1 - What was the first Sonic game you played?
The first Sonic game I played was Sonic Adventure 2 Battle.

2 - How did you find out about it?
SA2B I found out about from my cousin. I think this was when I was in mid elementary school. I was at my aunt's house, and he had a GameCube at the time.

3 - What was your initial reaction to it?
When my cousin showed me SA2B, I thought it was pretty rad. I mean, I never got past the first boss, but I thought it was really great. The music was awesome, and the gameplay was fluid and fun. And so, I've been Hooked on Sonic(s) ever since.

 

Uh, honestly no clue. Whether it was comic books, cartoons, or games, I couldn't tell you. But as much as I like Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog at its best moments, the comics made the most lasting impression.
Enough to make me give up on them during what felt like a loooonng process of altering the planet to a post-Sonic Adventure world (Bem are one of the last things I distinctly remember).

 

1) Sonic Advance 3 on my GBA SP

2) I was watched a couple of episodes of Sonic X and it was one of the games I could get at the time, because all I had was a GBA.

3) I enjoyed it, Loved how fast Sonic sped around the screen and I loved exploring the levels as tails. Never got pass the first few zones though. I have pretty much been a big fan of Sonic ever since.

 

Ignore the rumours. I am not, in fact, an Ent.

 

- First Sonic game I played: Sonic 1 on the Genesis.

- How I found out about it: I got a Genesis for my 10th birthday in March '92 and it came with Sonic 1 packed in.

- My initial reaction: Coming from the Atari 2600, I was blown away by the amount of freedom the game offered, and how full of life everything was. The physics confused the hell out of me at first, but even after I got reasonably used to it I kept sucking at playing the game. It took me months to finally beat the GHZ boss, and probably a couple more months to get through Marble Zone. I did eventually beat the game that year, a little before I got Sonic 2, I think.

 

I first got into the series thanks to AoStH, of all things. I was either 4, maybe 5 years old, and I didn't know the character's name before the show, but I distinctly remember telling my parents: "Look! It's that guy from Sega!" as the first episode came on. Up until that point I'd always assumed he was perpetually angry (thanks to the art style in the ads and the Sonic 2 box art), but the show made it clear he was actually a pretty swell guy. One Christmas later and my brother got a Sega Master System along with Sonic 1, and I loved it from the get-go (though I did wonder where Tails, Scratch, and Grounder were).

I was primarily a PC kid (which is ironic because I only play on consoles these days), so for the longest time, my experience with Sonic as a game franchise was limited to the first two 8-bit games and the Sonic CD demo (thankfully, that last one had a help file describing the story from other Sonic games, which was also how I first came across the name "Eggman"). I was quite surprised when I found out Sonic 1 and 2 on the Mega Drive were completely different several years later (I actually still prefer the 8-bit version of the former, and the second one is something I hold dear to me despite its numerous flaws, but that's a story for another time). All the while, I'd gawk at anything that had Sonic on it, from magazine screenshots of Sonic Chaos to the idle demo in Sonic CD, as well as the few episodes I'd taped from AoStH and SatAM.

Ah, the days before the Internet...

 

1) Sonic 1
2) Sometime during the second half of 1991 (I was 5), my father took me shopping with him at Sam's Club (he owned a pharmacy at the time and got his snacks and sodas there in bulk), and near the front of the store was Sonic 1 running on a Genesis.
3) I dug it. He was cooler and faster than Mario (my mom had an NES), and the colors were way more vibrant and practically jumped off the screen. From then on I would look for it any time we went to a department/electronics store. I distinctly remember being annoyed that the down button didn't work at Service Merchandise - at that point I had figured out how to roll.

I was obsessed from that point on. Saw Sonic 2 on Nick Arcade and went nuts, even had my dad take me to a store just to look at the box when it came out. Didn't have my own Genesis until '95 or so (it was a Nomad - got my first Time Over on the CNZ barrel the same day I got it actually), so until then I got my fix at friends' houses or console rentals for good grades in school.

 

First Sonic I played was the GG version of Sonic 1 on an emulator for Pocket PC. Getting the speed shoes and invincibility on GHZ Act 1, rolling down that first hill and zooming right off the screen really impressed young me at the time. Played Sonic 2 and Sonic Chaos, also on an emulator, and got my easily impressed mind blown by the Spindash being a thing that existed. Then my brother got a Sega Genesis on a trip to Arizona. First Sonics I tried on that were 3D Blast and Sonic 1. Been a fan ever since.