A Love Letter To The Sega Mega Drive On Its 33rd Birthday

thegamer.com:

The 33rd anniversary of the Sega Mega Drive launching in North America recently came and went, so this feels like as good a time as any to declare my undying adoration for the console that made me fall in love with video games. Even though I'm celebrating its American birthday rather than its European one, I am going to refuse to refer to it as the Genesis. It confused me greatly as a kid when I first heard people discussing something called a Sega Genesis, and it will always be the Mega Drive to me no matter what birthday I'm marking.

Now that's out of the way, I also turn 33 this year, which partly explains why the Mega Drive was such an important part of my life. Similar to the two-year wait some have been subjected to in the present day for a PS5, I had to wait a while for my Mega Drive, largely because I had just turned one when it finally arrived in Europe, and one year olds prefer to stuff crayons up their nose than play video games. There was also a Master System in the house by the time I was old enough to pick up a controller and learn how it worked. That was all well and good, but it didn't light a spark in me.

RELATED: Aladdin Was Best On The Sega Genesis - Here's Why

I can't remember exactly when I got my Mega Drive, which speaks to just how young I must have been when it finally arrived. I had clearly shown enough of an interest in playing the Master System for my parents to fork out for one though, and that's when the aforementioned spark was lit. I can only assume I was about three when it arrived. I'm basing that on the fact Sonic 2 is still my favorite game to this day, and the sequel launched two days before my third birthday.

My best friend at the time had a Mega Drive too. That meant more game time