I’m not a happily married man just yet, but I am a guy who has been with the same girl for the last four years and can say with complete honesty she’s the one for me.
It didn’t take long for me to realize it either.
The epiphany that I’d met my future wife came in two separate parts, about a year separated from each other. The first half came when she knew what the oranges in The Godfather mean.
The second half came when she told me she used to play Sonic the Hedgehog.
As a child of the late 80s and early 90s, the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo consoles will forever define my childhood video game experience. Yes, I had an NES, but I was only in kindergarten. I also had N64, but I was a teenager by then. When I was 8, 9, 10 years old, however, the 16-bit galaxy was everything I needed.
And few games, if any, are more iconic of this generation than the first Sonic the Hedgehog title. After all, it came with the Sega Genesis, back when video game consoles came with games. So the first Genesis game I ever played was Sonic.
And it was awesome.
There was nothing revolutionary about Sonic, or the game. He was blue and pointy and could spin into a ball and you had to collect coins and dodge obstacles and eventually fight Dr. Robotnik and you couldn’t save the game halfway through. It was like Mario, but on Sega.
The game was also remarkably charming. The graphics were solid and the music was catchy. All the levels were also fun and the increasing level of difficulty made beating the game feel like a real achievement.
Of course, there was a cheat code that could take you right to the end, but going this route really wasn’t satisfying.
In later years, subsequent Sonic games would always be fun, especially when you could play as Knuckles, but the first Sonic game will always remain an unforgettable classic.
Oh, and if you don’t know about the oranges in The Godfather, it’s time to grow up.
By George Morse
gmorse@eastbaynewspapers.com