Once upon a time, in a galaxy about 300 miles south of here, there was an adorable little blonde boy, who, with his less adorable brother, played a game called Sonic the Hedgehog.
This game was simple; a side-scrolling platformer that had, instead of jumping over pits of spikes...oops, it had that, instead of bouncing on the heads of enemies...opps it had that, that allowed a little blue creature to roll into a ball, rev-up his speed by spinning in circles and unleash his momentum to run blazing speeds across boards, zip around loopty loops, jump over trees, bounce off of springboards, collect rings, defeat evil machine bugs and destroy Dr. Robotnik, who had earlier kidnapped all of the furry forest creatures.
Yes, these two lads spend hours challenging themselves to improve their times, collect more rings, gain high scores, all with a little blue beloved hedgehog.
Unfortunately in the intervening years the people on Sonic Team (Wiki page because theirs is all in Japanese) have taken Sonic down paths some gamers are unwilling to follow. We won't go there, it's too dark to re-live.
But now, perhaps times have changed? Sonic the Hedgehog 4 arrives, and perhaps with gameplay that will rekindle the love of Sonic, seen in that adorable little blonde boy. Cheers.