There had been characters added in the cartoon series and the comic but never before had a character made the transition to one of the games. Little did we know this was the beginning of the end. Sonic 3 took a bit longer to release but graced our shores in 1994 and introduced a new character. The level design had multiple paths, something not usually seen in most platform games of the time. Casino Nights Zone is still one of the best bits of music ever in a video game. On top of that, every level had perfect music to compliment the level. There were neon lights in one level, a level set in the sky with robot turtles flying on bigger robot turtles, a level where you could fall into some sort of purple chemical and drown. In 1992 Sonic 2 was released and improved on the first game in every way possible. A game of this magnitude deserved a sequel and boy did it get one. This game put the Mega Drive on the map and made it a success. High speed platforming, intricate boss battles, intelligent level design, the list could go on and on. From the second you heard the music, you knew this was going to be a sight to behold. In 1991, Sonic the Hedgehog came out on the Mega Drive and half the world’s eyes popped out. Sonic was the first mascot sega had that people actually gave a crap about Al Kid or Alex Ky was their first unofficial mascot. However, more importantly, one had Sonic the Hedgehog. One had the games that set the groundwork for the next 20 years of gaming, the other had Blast Processing. It was Sega Mega Drive (Genesis) vs SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System). It was a time of rave music, brit-pop and the 4th generation console war. Cast your minds back to the start of the 1990’s. However, at the end of the day the only thing that is so big, so dilapidated, so god dam saddening that it deserves to be the rant that started it all is the ongoing smurfing of Sonic. This was the first ever online rant I wrote and there where many aspects of the industry that grinded my gears.