As you know, this week is our Sega Genesis week, as we are preparing for the big 20th anniversary for our much beloved console. In preparing for the blogs, we all thought it would be a fun project to flashback to when we owned our systems, replay what we were playing and get into the memories and our time with the console.

As a bit of background, I grew up with the NES and played the few games I owned on it for hours and hours on end, which was until I caught a glimpse of the Genesis at a neighbor’s house. This guy always had the coolest stuff, and the Genesis was miles ahead of anything I was playing at the time. Blast Processing, Sonic, 16 Bit graphics with color that was unseen on my NES; I had to have it, it was that simple.

Ok, it actually wasn’t that simple, the challenge was in buying the actual machine; I had nowhere near the amount of money needed to buy it. I did however have a sister and she was far better at saving money than I was. I had to work a bit of magic and probably promise away some chore duty for a few months, but the end result was a shiny new Sega Genesis with Sonic & Sonic 2 packed in and a second player that would battle me anytime in Sonic 2.

When we talked about doing blogs for the Sega Genesis, I didn’t have to think too long about what to write about, it was definitely going to Sonic the Hedgehog 2. My sister and I played Sonic 2 until we mastered it. We had fierce battles in multiplayer, assisted each other in coop (well, sort of coop), and started coming up with new challenges to increase the difficulty. We started trying to beat the game without Rings, or intentionally facing Dr. Robotnik without any Rings, or fastest playthrough, or getting all Rings, or becoming Super Sonic as fast as possible… I could go on, really, we loved it.

Flashback to this last Monday, when we had returned from our Game Room with the Genesis, Sonic 2 was the first game to go in. Well, it was the second; we couldn’t resist playing the boxed in Altered Beast. Playing Sonic 2 all over again on the actual Genesis pad was great, I remembered my old lines and was quick to start collecting Emeralds – I’m going for Super Sonic. It’s nice when I can block off an hour or two and simply play Genesis, so I made sure I got the most out of it. I did manage to grab all the emeralds, a few levels after I normally would, and played from the Casino zone on as a yellow blur with an unquenchable thirst for golden rings.

It wasn’t long before I had to give up my solo play and have a go at the two player mode. Thankfully, Edward@Sega (who if you don’t already know is a seriously hardcore old-school Sega fan) joined me on the second controller and we went at it in 2 player. In that instant, I felt the rush and excitement of playing my sister back in the day, and prepared to launch an all out assault on Mystic Ruins.

Edward is really good and tough opponent; I realized early on I had to step up my game before we started trading off wins with each level. I think I had an edge in the bonus stages, but he had be beat in the Casino stage. After a few quick games, we were not just worrying about time, but also score, total rings, and trying to mess with each other verbally just enough to gain an edge. Each stage also tied, making the final bonus stage tie breaker intense, as we lurched ahead of each other and tried to remember the layouts for maximum rings. With the final stage, we were neck and neck before I pulled out a lucky burst of rings and won the round. Phew, intense and there will be rematch.

So that’s my greatest Genesis memory, relived within the Sega offices, and I couldn’t be happier.  Twenty years seems like such a long time, but the magic is still there even after all those years.  What are your memories of the Sega Genesis and what games will you be playing this Friday to celebrate the anniversary?