Video game historian and regular Time Extension contributor Damiano Gerli has unearthed a clip from Italian television which shows the late, great Motörhead frontman Lemmy (real name: Ian Fraser Kilmister) being interviewed inside the band's tour bus – which contained a TV playing Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
The 1997 clip sees the legendary rocker being asked if he likes video games. His response is a moderately emphatic "Sure!"
Lemmy has spoken about his love of video games – and Sonic, in particular – in the past. As Retro Gamer's Nick Thrope recalls, he was interviewed for the magazine a few years back and revealed that he prefers playing as Knuckles in the Sonic games. He also explained that, during his gaming career, he had owned a wide range of consoles, including an Atari Lynx, SNES, Dreamcast, Xbox and GameCube. Oh, and he likes Strider, but he found it so difficult that even after "two f*king months" of play, he wasn't able to topple Grandmaster Meio.
Given the time that would have elapsed between Sonic 2's 1992 release and 1997, it would be fair to assume that Lemmy kept his Mega Drive on the bus as a regular form of entertainment (unless, of course, he was playing the version on Sonic Jam, which would suggest he was a Saturn owner by this point).
Regardless of which platform the game was running on, it warms our hearts to know that one of heavy metal's most famous figures felt Sonic 2 was the peak of the series. We wholeheartedly agree, Lemmy.