I was 7 years old, and i see an ad on the television, it was this game, Sonic Heroes.
I became obsessed with wanting this game from seeing the team up gameplay, the incredible music, the variety of characters and play styles, it was a game i begged my mum for.
Until one day, day before my birthday, the mail came in, my mum gave me the game a day early and i played the game so much over the years i needed to get a second copy because i wore out the disc.
i would play the game with no memory card as well as i didn't have one at the time and would play from the start every time, and i didnt care, because the game was so fun.
It's not the perfect sonic game by any means but it is most definitely the most fun sonic game to play and at the end of the day, a game comes down to how much fun you have with it, no matter how technical or graphically impressive the game is.
This game stands the test of time as a game for new and old sonic fans, and I grew up on the old Sega Megadrive games as well, taking regular visits to see my uncle to play them on his P.C.
This game is also one of the last sonic games at the time where you got to play as all these characters, something i've missed a lot and glad that they've started thinking about again with the new additions in Sonic Frontiers.
Sonic Heroes is the perfect mix of the old and new styles of sonic gameplay with bringing back the act structure, the variety of pathways to take and characters to play, this is the definitive sonic game for old and new players as well as being the true essence of what sonic is.