Man, 2007 was when I transferred colleges for my third year of college, met most of my current friends, got back into videogames after a year hiatus, and I remember vividly attending the local Modern Warfare 2 and Super Smash Bros Brawl midnight launches at the only GameStop in my college town that was located in the local mall with the aforementioned friends (who had become my roommates)... Huge lines that wrapped all the way around the line for both, absolutely the biggest midnight launches I ever attended. Lots of drunken Rock Band was happening all the time, too.
Hard to believe that was already 10 years ago. I feel like it was just a few years ago.
Now I barely get to see those friends because of adult responsibilities, both games ended up personally disappointing in hindsight (ended up playing each for only like two weeks before dropping them), GameStop is no longer in that mall -- in fact that mall has completely renovated and is completely different, GameStop is barely even relevant at all anymore (I ended up working for GameStop for almost 3 years after college, too!), and, well... 2017 is insanely good for games, generally speaking (the loot box creep is starting to bug me now that it's fall and major publishers are all on-boarding with it, though).
And yes, I do remember specifically being pumped for Sonic's appearance in Smash. It was an insanely hype announcement. Was Snake announced yet, or was he after Sonic..? Because I lost my mind at both announcements.