I started out hating Sonic and I eventually got over it.
It all started back in the Nintendo versus Sega wars. I hang on fiercely to Mario franchises, hating Sonic and Sega for no reason at all.
When I went over to my cousins' house, they only had Sega. Since I'd go catatonic without video games at the time, I just watched. They were playing Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and I noticed a cute orange fox trailing behind. Kept telling whoever was controlling Sonic to slow up and let -her- catch up.
Yeah, at the time I thought Tails was female.
Whenever I wanted to play 2P, the game stayed in single-player mode (because to go multiplayer would be useless, I against someone who had played the game for probably six months). Naturally, I was always left 20 screens behind, constantly shouting "Wait for me!"
While I maintained that I hated Sonic, I loved Tails. Thought "she" was the cutest thing out there.
My friend brought over a GamePro magazine one day. I looked through it, didn't see anything interesting except stuff for other consoles (no good Super Nintendo games coming up? What a gyp). The one thing I did see that looked interesting - Ecco the Dolphin - looked to be the best thing ever. I read to find out what system it'd come out for, because it'd be great if it came out for Super Nintendo - it said Sega Genesis. I had to re-read that a few times, not believing that it would never come out for the Super NES. After my hopes were crushed, I was in tears - but I vowed one day I'd play that game one way or another.
A few months later, my friend brings over a CD with a couple games on it. One is Comix Zone, the other is... Ecco the Dolphin. I immediately threw Ecco into the CD drive, exclaiming that I've heard of it but never thought I'd be able to play it, or at least not this soon. At some point I praised it for coming out to PC. Started it, saw it was made by Sega, and thought "well... okay... one franchise that I like Sega for". Once I started Ecco, you wouldn't see me for another few weeks - played that thing through on the easiest difficulty (which was still a bit hard at some points), enjoying it all the way. I especially enjoyed the cutscenes, felt concern for Ecco, so I was happy when Ecco finally blew up the Queen Vortex.
Tried a little of Comix Zone and thought it was interesting (paper airplane attack! Various comic-book sayings as a fight progressed!), but never got past the second level.
After a while the CD got lost, and I never saw it again.
Since I liked Ecco, I decided one day to bite the bullet and watch the Adventures of Sonic cartoon (not Sonic SatAM). Tails's high-pitched voice further added to my belief that he was a she. I didn't quite know what to make of the cartoon - I just watched it for Tails. I couldn't have cared less about Sonic.
One day, I was casually browsing eBay, looking up rare stuff, and there I saw it - Ecco the Dolphin, PC version, mint condition, no bids (so I could do Buy It Now with no fuss). Perfect opportunity, and perhaps the last chance I'd ever have to get it, so I went for it. Arrived a week after, and I was happy.
Some time later I hear that Sega's going out of the console race and possibly making games for Nintendo's upcoming console, then known as "Dolphin". Mario and Sonic together at last, thought I'd never see the day. Because of this, I thought "well, Sonic's on Nintendo now... might as well give them a chance now that the feud's over".
Was introduced to Sonic SatAM shortly thereafter and loved it. Got Sonic Mega Collection for GameCube, played it mostly for Sonic the Hedgehog 2 which I loved (more for Tails and the overall better control than anything else). By this time I knew Tails was male, through websites and by realizing his real name was Miles Prower.
So it took the end of a war before I forgave Sonic and Sega, though as you can see, I gave Ecco a chance beforehand (because it looked so awesome that I was willing to look past it being made by Sega, otherwise I would have dismissed it). In general I don't care for the high speed of the Sonic series because there's usually obstacles I have a split-second to respond to thanks to not being able to see them far away in advance. I like high speed, but I like a chance to stay at that high speed instead of crashing into something every few seconds.
Despite this, Sonic Mega Collection is one of my favorite GameCube games, more for its excellent presentation than the games themselves. I enjoy it for Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the great menus, the music for the menus (especially Extras/Options), the very high-resolution images and full manuals and everything, and the "Sonic Firsts" comic (most of the actual Sonic comic covers I don't care for, but #46 I go wild for because of Geoffrey St. John). They just went wild with the space afforded to them, and it looks very polished.
Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future for Dreamcast and PS2 though... from screenshots it looked beautiful. When actually playing it, it's still beautiful. The actual game's disappointing, but the visuals make up for part of it.
Sonic I think is okay game-wise, Sonic SatAM is great (I liked them more than the Super Mario cartoons), but Ecco I have a deep fondness for.