I'll agree with the parent's general premise--in my place, we had just about every console made except for Sony and most of sega's later offerings and Sonic took most of my time out of all of them. I barely remember the TurboGrafx's 16's, but I always remember the Genesis controller as the best in the lineup. The NES controller was generally too small and took sime time getting used to wherein its elegant simplicity would shine somewhat dim. I always found the shoulder buttons on the SNES awkward, and it was still too small. I wish my dreamcast and the concept behind it lasted long enough. I fondly remember the N64's in the later years--it was too just too cool with Goldeneye.

But the Genesis's controller wins hands down. The C button was nifty, the ergonomics and weight were perfect, and there was nothing to get in the way. The 8-way D-pad was too cool.

But the best way to play Sonic the Hedgehog was the PC version of I think it was Sonic CD. Seriously. I could beat the Time Trial in the end hands down every time with a regular PC keyboard whereas I might get it every so often on the Genesis.

Any controller, however, that relies on the dexterity of the thumb is just stupid--that's when it becomes less and less about skill and more how good just one stupid appendage is at doing things it's not made to do. Too bad the PowerGlove was too ahead of its time--from what i've seen, the Wii's just half-way there on the same concept. I mean, they could have the PowerGlove and the PowerShoe (and the PowerBrassKnuckles) and people would finally get points for virtually or quite literally beating each other.

How cool would that be to watch?