I'm not exaggerating when I say that 2006's Sonic the Hedgehog for the Xbox 360 remains one of the worst titles on the console. The game's release was a bad time for the Xbox 360, for Sega, Sonic and the idiots who believed in him (myself).
The controls for the game are inexcusably atrocious, but it's not much of a loss anyway since the gameplay is as stale as last December's bread. More, people get squicked when they think of the implied romance between Sonic and Elise, a human princess who's literally pregnant with Mary Sue attributes. Doubtlessly the internet's automatic disdain for the furry culture has worn away at our tolerance, but even I have to say "Ewww." I do not envy the woman who has to give birth to spiky hedgehog-hybrids.
As it happens, I can't fault Sonic Team for giving Sonic a human love interest. As it happens, he was always destined to make it with a homo sapiens. Just...not an underage one.
The early concepts for Sonic are always a gas to look back on, though, perhaps, a sad gas (huh?). The Sonic we know today sweats failure the faster he runs, but at his earliest incarnation, he was pretty sassy and adorable. His girlfriend, "Madonna," had no qualms about sticking her bum way up in the air. Sonic my friend, you were denied good times and I advise you to put on your stompin' shoes and bloody well do something about it.
Sonic's early art also reveals an early concept for Robotnik/Eggman, dressed in the colours of a bumblebee. That man was truly ahead of his time.
Related Links:
Sonic the Hedgehog, I'm Just Not That Into You
Trailer Review: Sonic Unleashed
Me VS Blue Hedgehog