Have You Played… Sonik the Hedgehog?

Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day, perhaps for all time.

The famous blue forest animal is back with a new game. But true Sonick fans will never forget his first adventure, in which he raced across freshly cut lawns and battled the evil Dr Robot Nick. That villain has since changed and developed over time into the largely sympathetic character of Mr Eggman. Not only has he been given motivation and depth, he has become a complicated father figure to Sonec, not to mention loyal confidante to Knuckle, the red hedge hog.

But these modern interpretations have lost some of what made our azure anti-hero so compelling. For me, you can only find that pure feeling of speed, terror and heartache in the original. The one, the only: Sonnic The HedgeHogg.

Even today, there is so much richness here. Who can forget the Casino level, in which the eponymous protagonist becomes addicted to baccarat and loses all of his rings to a deadly (and attractive) robot lobster? Or the Tabloid Zone, where Sunic, tired and vulnerable, openly laments the lost innocence of youth, only to be betrayed by an ambitious newspaper stoat, who publishes their conversation, which was clearly off the record. For many these moments are mere nostalgia, but for true fans they are the concrete pillars of Somnic’s entire character.

The big question remains: will we ever see a sequel as powerful, moving and entertaining as the original? My gut, lined with judicious sausage meats and the demi-digested remnants of wise breads, says no. But my heart still beats, and longs, for a return to form, a return to grandeur, to greatness, for my blue hero. My dearest Sonk.