The fact that it's Sonic the Hedgehog's 35th anniversary fills me with both horror and delight. The terror comes from the fact that the blue blur and I are the same age, which makes me want to crumble into fine dust. I will delight in shouting at you to play the original 16-bit capers on an actual Sega Genesis (or Mega Drive if you're where I am), and I've got plenty of tricks to make the '90s system feel modern.
I consider all the best retro consoles to be my children, so I don't like picking favorites. As Sonic celebrates his big 35th birthday, it feels like I can confess that the Mega Drive is in my top three, and I've spent extensive time dialling in my setup to get the most out of the 16-bit hardware. Making Sega's old gadget look strikingly good both on CRT TVs and modern panels is a party trick I reserve for visitors (and my Tails-obsessed partner), and I always get good facial expressions when I whip out the wireless gamepads.
