Eh.
I haven't been a 'pure' or 'faithful' Sonic fan for a long time. I will buy and play most or all Sonic games, because I do tend to find some manner of enjoyment in them. But since my return to gaming after a very long break of 'real life', I kinda played all games.
See, I was brought up on Sonic at a young age, then after the Mega Drive and NES, I didn't have another system until Pokemon brought me back into gaming. As such, it was Nintendo from there... and I made a rendevouz with Sonic, unsurprisingly, on the GameCube. BAM.
I loved SA2B, only rented SADX but by that time I was already here I think. From there... well, I keep in touch with Sonic. People are always talking about him in #soniccenter, and I will always claim he is better than Mario (I was going to say I haven't played many Mario games of late, but there haven't been any besides sports-spinoffs) and I will more likely than not buy Sonic games.
To me, Sonic is more of a good friend than a bad boyfriend. The kind of good friend you can have non-consequential sex with, either between partners or when your current other half isn't living up to expectations.