Happy Birthday, Sega Genesis

I found out a bit ago that today marks the 20th anniversary of one of the greatest gaming consoles ever released, the SEGA Genesis.

I got mine when I was in 3rd grade.  My dad was stationed in Turkey for the year and had bought one to practice for a Street Fighter II’ tournament, and afterwards sent it home to us with copies of Sonic The Hedgehog, Streets of Rage 2 and Pebble Beach Golf Links.  The Genesis was already well into it’s lifespan by this point, and I wasn’t able to really start buying games for it until it was almost defunct as a console, but I played the hell out of this thing.  Mortal Kombat II, The Incredible Hulk,Spider-Man/X-Men, there’s just so many great games for this console, and so many of them don’t get the praise they deserve.

The most notable was a story I was telling Derek last night, after I’d finally tried out Sonic The Hedgehog’s 360 iteration (which is playable but only barely so), was when my cousin’s then-fiance/now-husband let me borrow his copy of Sonic The Hedgehog 2.  It was summer break before I went into fourth grade, if I remember correctly, and I spent about two weeks in front of the Genesis, barely moving.  And almost beat the damn thing before my mom finally made me give it back to him.

The old Genesis has found it’s way into my possession, very much to my sister’s disdain.  It’s not hooked up at the moment, because there’s just too many other things hooked into my TV, but I’ll probably be hooking it back up tonight now that it’s on my mind.

So, what about you guys?  What was your first experience with the Sega Genesis, if you had one.  And if you didn’t, why the hell not?  Forums are wide open, and this is your oppurtunity to share your story and get to know your fellow HomeWorld readers, but I’m really interested in hearing some awesome stories about classic, vintage gaming.