Sonic the Hedgehog

First appearance: Rad Mobile (1991), Arcade (cameo), Sonic the Hedgehog (1991), Sega Genesis (playable)
Created by: Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima

Having recently established the legend of Super Mario, it seemed logical to me that his longtime rival should not be far behind. Allow me to introduce you - but of course, we all know who he is anyway - to a character marketed directly to the demographic I belonged to; whose conception and execution was so infectious, he still holds a dear place in many hearts. To be clear, I love Nintendo and I love Mario... but Sonic, he's my boy.

In the early 90s, going toe to toe with Nintendo was practically a suicide mission. Many had tried, and most had failed. Sega themselves were waning, lacking a definitive mascot and a cutting edge identity. Throwing a few ideas out there (my favourite being Theodore Roosevelt in pyjamas, which later involved into the series' antagonist), they eventually landed on this curious little blue hedgehog. Whereas Alex Kidd, the preceding company frontman, was much like any other gaming character, Sonic was in your face, and that's exactly what we wanted.

In Mario, we saw a stable everyman whose strengths included exploration and saving damsels in distress. Sonic was about speed, attitude and style. He ran loops, he span wildly about, he impatiently stamped his foot if we dared leave him idling for too long. He was refreshing, and it goes without saying, the games he featured in blew our minds. Can you remember the first time you grabbed a pair of Power Sneakers and rocketed off at speeds so fast, the screen had to take a moment to catch up? Sonic was marketing gold, and Sega now had its campaign: not only were they going to stand up against the behemoth of Nintendo, they were going to mock them and brand themselves as the new thing in gaming.

Genesis does what Nintendon't!

But we're not here for a history of the console wars. We're here for Sonic. Each game that came out introduced new allies, new abilities and new plots, but at its base, we would always seek the same thing: Dr. Robotnik had some nefarious plot that involved machines, Sonic would save the day by running like the blazes and smashing things to bits. Indeed, if you were to pinpoint some of the low points for the character over the years, you'd find a recurring theme: too much deviation from that formula. Whereas Mario's evolution to the 3D realm fit him like a glove, Sonic's strengths had to be channelled specifically: gotta go fast, right?

Sonic occasionally teeters dangerously close to irrelevance, as many other gaming mascots have before him. Bubsy was loud, witty and charismatic, which was fine for the first game. Once they built on that, the character became obnoxious and detestable. Crash Bandicoot was wacky and brash, but in the end got palmed off too many times, and lost his lustre. Spyro had to sell his soul to maintain his position, as the Skylanders brand has grown far bigger than the little dragon himself.

But the blue blur has hit his stride as of late, returning to basics and delivering on the aforementioned formula. For a while, the franchise was like an ill-fated tower reaching towards the heavens: a new layer, a new gimmick, more sidekicks and more storytelling. It seemed grand, but it was about to all come crumbling down. Once they embraced Sonic's past and focussed on simplicity, our faith was restored.

For me personally, the character maintains that same charm. I don't need too many new bells and whistles, just give me Sonic, give me Tails, give me Knuckles and give me Robotnik - and we're good.

...Oh, and Chao's. I do love me some Chao's.

Mario

First appearance: Donkey Kong (1981), Arcade
Created by: Shigeru Miyamoto

I will divulge from my deep-seated Nintendo fanboyism at some point, but let's get something straight about gaming: without the big N, and Mario specifically, gaming may not exist today. Miyamoto and company took a broken medium, injected their own brand of magic into it, and reshaped it enough to put it back on track. Sure, you could argue that R.O.B. was the saviour of gaming, but nobody could question the merits of one Super Mario.

For thousands of years, we've had an unrealistic expectation of our heroes: the musclebound behemoths aren't exclusive to our youth, for Arnold Schwarzenegger is to us what Heracles was in Greek mythology so long ago. Our idols are rugged, stoic and loaded with testosterone. They represent everything we want to be. And yet, Mario has been an enduring figure of heroism for almost 35 years. Because Mario, you see, is more like us. He's just an average guy, trying to eke out a peaceful existence, blessed only with a bevy of power ups and athleticism that belies his portly figure.

In today's era of FPS and mobile gaming, Mario maintains a special place in our heart. Though many have strayed from the foundations that Nintendo laid down so long ago, they surely still hold dear their early memories with the humble Italian plumber. Whether it's his consistency or his wild range of specialties (oxymoron, ho!), Mario has worn many hats, and yet, he's the same guy he ever was. And we love him for it. He's honest, he's courageous, and he's fallible in a way that makes us cheer him on. And to the eternal credit of Charles Martinet, the transition to actual speech did not ruin him. Martinet's high-pitched, enthusiastic vocals fit the character like a glove. Could we have picked this as Mario's voice back in the NES days? No, not necessarily. But we certainly can't unhear it now, and I mean that in a good way.

What does Mario do, exactly? Beyond the obvious 'whatever's necessary', an allusion to his tendency to take whatever resource is given to him in order to conquer obstacles, we know, for sure, that he can leap. As Prince Mallow once said, our moustachioed protagonist has more JUMP in him than a box of frogs! As iconic as it is for him to gobble up a Fire Flower and reign flaming death upon his hapless foes, we know that the one surefire way to fell most soldiers is to simply bop them on the noggin with a well-timed pounce.

His tools have been many over the years: his infamous hammer, some sort of innocuous-looking item that allows him to fly, a water-filled cleaning device, even his keen ability to shut doors (Don't think you'd escape mention, Hotel Mario!), but at the base of it all, there's bound to be jumping. Because Mario is synonymous with the platforming genre of gaming, and what a fine genre it is. We have Mario to thank for our modern cartoon heroes, from Spyro and Crash, to Jak and Ratchet, to even Yooka-Laylee today. Forgive me for flogging a dead horse here, but Mario made these things possible; the only difference between him and Pac-Man or the Pong paddles is that he successfully transitioned with the passing years, subtly adjusting his craft like a digital Madonna in order to maintain relevance.

In today's modern world of gaming, Mario is still there, doing his thing. It feels a little bit weird, honestly, seeing my nephew play Super Mario 3D World with all of the same wonderment and excitement I had with its non-3D ancestor, the aforementioned SMW, some 25 years earlier. It's no surprise that I love Nintendo to this day, quite fiercely, and Mario is at the forefront of it all. He innovates, while remaining a familiar friend. He inspires, while being as unspectacular as your next-door neighbour. He teaches, much in the same way we teach today's generation of children how to grab that pesky golden star.

Mario is gaming. He is everything this 'Hall of Fame' embodies, and the only kind of video game industry I could imagine features him as a staple forevermore. Same bushy moustache. Same cheeky smile. Same legendary icon. He could never be any less, honestly.

Super Mario World

Platform: Super Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo EAD
Release: 21/11/1990

We open our hallowed halls with the first game I ever owned, and possibly one of the first games I had ever played, in Super Mario World. People will always hold their first game in high regard, due largely to nostalgia, but my favouritism towards this game is grounded in much more than that: this is one of the finest examples of a 2D platforming game of all time; a master class in level design and imaginative ways to play.

People will usually point to this game's predecessor, Super Mario Bros. 3, as the pinnacle of the series, and it's easy to see why: it was a revolutionary game that took all of the elements of the original title and retooled it until it was near to perfection. In fairness, when SMW launched at the beginning of the 90's, it wasn't breaking new ground as much as 3 had. SMW was very much like what the SNES became known as: all of your favourite things, done better. And for that, it holds a place in history.

A new palette of colours and shades, and wild pixel stretching capabilities that allowed things to grow and shrink before your very eyes made this game a sight to behold, and the very scope of its potential was truly encapsulated within its title: Super Mario World. Because this was a world presented before us: with hundreds of hidden pathways, obscure nooks and crannies we may have never found without assistance, and challenges that stretched us to the limits of gaming.

There has arguably never been a package as complete as SMW, as it brought so much to the table without ever feeling bloated. No element was superfluous or tedious, and the core gameplay innovations became hallmarks of the franchise: the spin jump, which at last allowed us to destroy blocks from above (a move that has since evolved into the ground pound), and Yoshi, a steed who truly captured the spirit of the 90s, and deserves special mention.

The introduction of the companion dinosaur/dragon hybrid not only allowed for a whole new range of abilities, but was a marketing boon for Nintendo at the time. Kids loved Yoshi, couldn't get enough of him, and no doubt many players can attest to the frantic races they held in Super Mario Kart... the race to select Yoshi first.

Gaming these days could be seen as overly linear: you play the game from A to B, then from B to C, etc. Sometimes, there are extra paths that become available, but they are truly only A1 and A2, they will lead you back to B eventually. Such was not the case in Super Mario World. Unlocking a secret path didn't just diverge you from the path set in stone, it sometimes allowed you to bypass it entirely. How many gamers focussed solely on progressing through Star Road, thereby gaining access directly to the back door of Bowser's Castle? How many others found a warp pipe that took them to an area they had seen on the map hours ago, and had been clamouring to access? Previous entries in the series had allowed us to warp ahead in the game by skipping several stages, but with SMW's singular, intertwined world map, it felt less like cheating, more like pioneering. We didn't 'jump ahead'. We merely blazed our own trail.

Each Mario title had its own trademark item (most typically, one associated with flight), and let's not forget to mention the cape, arguably one of Mario's most powerful abilities of all time. What made the cape so useful was its potential to be used for unlimited periods of time, and some might say this was a drawback. On platform-heavy levels with a lot of jumping from place to place, if you found enough ground to get a running start, you could take to the sky and literally soar over the entire stage. Unless the level was enclosed or there was a pipe jutting out to block your progress, the cape did allow for some people to cheat the game. But hey, that's their loss, because all of the fun was happening right below them.

Mario games are typically synonymous with Nintendo consoles, and this is particularly the case with Super Mario World. The SNES evolved radically over its six year shelf life, and in a technical sense, SMW was left in the dust. By the time it's pseudo-sequel, Yoshi's Island, hit the scene, you could almost surmise that there had been some kind of expansion attachment placed onto the console. However, the gameplay held strong. When it was rereleased for the Game Boy Advance in 2001, we were reminded of exactly how good it was. It was like crossing paths with a retired wrestler; it may have aged a bit, but damned if it didn't grab you in a headlock the moment you doubted it.

On a personal level, of course, Mario brought me into gaming. His appeal as a mascot is a whole other article worth delving into, and his friendly, familiar visage is practically a stamp of quality unto itself. I've grown up with Mario, with all of the quirks and wonders of the Mushroom Kingdom, and for me, Super Mario World was the first chapter. It holds a very dear place in my heart, and I look forward to my own kids giving it a whirl someday. By then, it may be through use of some kind of mentally linked USB device, where all actions are made through a series of blinks and twitches, but hey, you take what you can get. If I know this game as well as I think I do, it'll be magical in any medium.

Welcome

Life is an ever-changing, ever-evolving thing. It's complex, it's weird, and sometimes it's downright scary. But a gamer can take solace in the reassurance that games are still there. Their form may have changed over the years; from cabinets the size of refrigerators to palm-sized microgames on the smart phone, but our love remains the same.

So for all of the fun and excitement they've given me throughout my life; the experiences they've given me, and on occasion, the companionship they provided me when I was feeling alone... for all of these things, I made this blog to honour the things in games that I held most dear.

I warn you, this blog is based not on fact or popular opinion, but my opinion, solely. For this reason, you might notice some bias present. If you don't like it, then I invite you to open your own hall. After all, in today's digital medium, it's absolutely free, and you sure as hell can't argue with that.