I believe that this is my first post in this thread, but I've noticed a revelation of sorts. I'm 33 years old, I grew up on Mario as I had the Nintendo consoles growing up. I played Sega with friends and family. I've always thought Sonic was a cool game. Now, I'm a step-father to a four year old boy and he prefer Sonic to Mario. I bought him a 3DS for Christmas with Super Mario 3D Land already installed on it. Additionally, he played Mario Kart with me and with others so he is familiar with Koopa and Luigi and others. However, he prefers the Sonic game with 1-3 on there.
Fast forward to whatever Steam sale with Sonic Generations came out. As with all other games, from Halo to Persona 4, he always asks to play. I figure, it's Sonic, he got first run with the game so we both went into it blind. I've seen Green Hill Zone forever but for his first time, it was the craziest thing to go from 2D to 3D and then back. It, for lack of a better term, made me feel like a kid so imagine a four year old, who is very good at a 360 controller, flying through levels.
Next, I get most racers but missed out of the first Sonic karting game. When Sonic All-Star Racing Transformed comes out on Steam in January, we get it and we both fall in love. I'm already on record on GAF for saying its the greatest karting game ever.
Not wanting to make it a Sonic vs Mario post but it's interesting seeing this happen through the eyes of a four year old. He can play Mario quite well but whenever he plays Sonic, he always says 'Cool! or Awesome!' Its a beautiful thing. He can't consume enough Sonic now, I've bought Sonic Adventure 1 from Amazon for him on PC. His favorite character though is Tails.
Anyways, given that this is a Sonic thread, I thought I'd leave word that at least there is one little boy from the next generation is following in everyone's footsteps here.