Story time, kids! Take your seats!
Anyways, I was in elementary school, where I was kind of a loner. Not really sure why I was a loner, but I was. At that point, I wasn't an avid fan of video games and whatnot because I didn't have interest in them. One day I was hiding near the playground where everybody was playing. Suddenly, this awkward kid came up to me and see if I wanted to play a game called "Sonic Genesis" (At this point, Sonic Genesis barely came out). At that point, I didn't grasp the difference between a good game and a bad game, but I remembered loving the crap out of the game. This kid later came to my house, conveniently, with a Sega Genesis, and we played the Sonic trilogy for the entire rest of the day. As years gone by, I'd have more and more friends drop by so we could play some Sonic games, even though games like Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed were released.
I guess the point of that little story is that I made friends because of Sonic the Hedgehog and his games. That is (partly) the reason why I am still a Sonic fan today, so I know that I can spend time with my friends of how much this new Sonic game is kickass. If a Sonic game sucks, me and my friends would banter on how bad it is (We would usually just have meet ups just to make fun of Sonic '06. That game reached clown status, ladies and gentlemen). The point of Sonic, since its inception, is so we could have fun while playing the game, and to this day, that point hasn't changed for me.
What also helps is the Sonic fanbase. For as rabid as they can get, at times, they shine like a gem. The fandom may be crazy, but they are very much devoted to give us awesome things like fan games, hilarious videos, etc. For example, have you ever noticed that people appreciate Sonic the Hedgehog so much that they devote all of their free time to make fan games? Special mention goes out to fan games like Sonic BtS/AtS and (To some extent) Freedom Planet. Another example is the Sonic Shorts series.
They were inspired by a great franchise to make games and videos that is also great, and thus, we get more out of Sonic.
As for the future of Sonic the Hedgehog, I am really optimistic. Even though Sonic Boom flopped, I still look forward to what Sonic Team has in store for us. For me, if a Sonic game is good, it hits it right out of the ball park (Sonic Colors, Generations, Sonic CD Re-release). I have a gut feeling that very good Sonic games are on the way for us pretty soon, and I am hopeful that they will appease some of the hardcore pessimists in this thread. (KIDDING. Jeez.) I'm with you, Ryan. I'm hopeful.