2001 is the year to start getting excited. Because… it’s Sonic’s 10th Anniversary! And what better to celebrate this year than the world’s most anticipated game ever (those who said Metal Gear Solid 2, go away. Besides, it’s been held back till 2002)…
2001: The Year of Sonic – For Everyone
May: Sonic Adventure 2 Promotion at E3 (USA)
During the world famous E3 Trade Show in 2001, to plug the arrival of Sonic Adventure 2 and the announcing of ‘evil dude’ Shadow, SEGA managed to plant a great big hoofing Shadow poster right outside the walls of the event. Talk about slick. Thanks go to Meejay for providing the photo for this entry.
June: Sonic Adventure 2 Commercial (USA)
Sonic makes an appearance on a Sonic Adventure 2 TV advertisement. A laboratory is conducting experiments on a good hedgehog, then they reel in some cattle down to the evil hedgehog. It then shows some scenes from the game. Choice.
June 19th: Sonic Adventure 2 (USA)
The Americans got the game a few days before the supposed simultaneous worldwide release (grrr…). But, woah baby. This was THE game of the year, bar none. Did you hear me? BAR NONE! A massive storyline, a 2-Player mode, hidden secrets, evil and hero sides (meaning two sides of the story to play on) and Tails in a Eggbot! Not only that, but lucky Sonic Fans got a limited edition box set which included a gold coin, a history booklet and a CD with the cream of Sonic music on it.
December: Sonic Advance TV Commercial (Japan)
Thus begins our look into all the future crazy Japanese adverts featuring Sonic. This one we like to call “Magical” – it plugs Sonic Advance on GBA, and has Sonic running through a street. By using his speed to (what may seem like) cause damage, he also ends up making life better for others. One example being Sonic running past a cute Japanese lady, with his speed causing her incredibly short skirt to lift up. As you see in the distance a kid and an OAP are left with a ‘wide shot’ staring into space as if they were in heaven. “Magical”.
December 20th: Sonic Adventure 2 Battle (Gamecube – Japan)
This marked Sonic’s debut on anything other than a SEGA mainstream console! As SEGA went down the pan due to constant losses, the company had ducked out of the hardware business and went back to third party games, like they did at the start. It seems from this that Sonic Team are siding with Nintendo platforms for Sonic in the future – the port of SA2 to GameCube was done quickly as you can see, and it’s quite good to play, except for that stupid sticky jump…
December 20th: Sonic Advance (Japan)
Originally rumoured to be a Mega Drive port, this is a Sonic 2D platformer of its own – it stays somewhat closely to the series’ roots, yet the level design is nothing to shout about. Good fun though.
December 28th: CoroCoro Comics Appearance
Corocoro Comics begins publishing the second official Sonic manga in Japan, featuring art by Harukaze Santa. Corocoro specialises in comics for the ‘prepubescent crowd’. So kids, then.
International / Other Releases
- June 23rd: Sonic Adventure 2 (Japan, Europe)
- August 22nd: Sonic Adventure 2 Cuts Unleashed CD (Japan)
- September 5th: Sonic Adventure 2 Soundtrack (Japan)
- November: Sonic Shuffle (Europe)