The Sonic Stadium has been going now for five years running. And during it’s lifespan it’s become the Number 1 source for anything related to Sonic the Hedgehog. Thanks guys! To show our appreciation, we’re holding a competition for our fifth anniversary. This is a small contest where you can win some very real prizes.
WHAT YOU CAN WIN:
We’ve recently reviewed Sonic Gems Collection on the Nintendo Gamecube, and you can win a copy of this rather spiffing compilation. However, you may be either bummed out that the European or American versions came castrated – or you may own your own copy already – which is why our prize is the super-cool Japanese Version. The Japanese copy of Gems includes all the features in the Western iterations, with the added bonuses of Bonanza Bros and the entire Streets of Rage series. We realise not many people will have Japanese Gamecubes to play this on, so we’ve thrown in a Datel Freeloader, which enables you to play any import game on your Gamecube with ease. Finally, what better method to play Sonic Gems Collection than with your very own Arcade Stick? After all, it’s better to play an authentic game of Sonic the Fighers. This stick is a third party stick that has been customised with Sonic the Fighters arcade cabinet artwork. You’ll be whupping Eggman in style!
Entrants had to submit a piece of creative writing about Sonic the Hedgehog. We had a ton of entries, people were clamouring for this prize, and we saw just how dedicated some of you guys are. You’re all fantastic Sonic fans, and that’s great to see. =) What made us particularly happy was the fact that we had quite a few entries from people around the 18-20 year old regions, it’s good to see some Sonic fans as old as some of us geezers here entering.
The one that pipped everyone to the post though, was CosmicFalcon from Southampton UK, using some of that classic British humour everyone keeps hearing about. CosmicFalcon decided to write a song to detail how much of a Sonic fan he was. It was such a fabulous composition, it had us in stitches. He also submitted an mp3 file of his song, cheeky fellow. We disregarded that and based our judging on the lyrics alone, although the MP3 is a hell of a listen. Here is CosmicFalcon’s entry below. Imagine singing this to the music of the original Mega Drive Sonic the Hedgehog credits theme:
Sonic is my favourite hedgehog,
I love him much more than Shadow.
Come on Tails and come on Knuckles,
Let’s all have one more adventure.
Together we’ll foil Eggman
Bust his bots and destroy his plan.
Oh snap there’s that effing faker,
Once again he has amnesia!
I know, he is a hedgehog.
And I know that he’s coloured blue.
But I don’t care, I still love him.
For he is my childhood hero.
Let’s go Sonic!
Do a spindash!
Hit the signpost!
Run like The Flash!
Collect more rings!
Get one hundred!
That’s a 1up!
Okay, let’s go!
He’s been with me so long,
Back to the very beginning.
My good old Mega Drive
Is always ready
For me to play.
I’m his biggest fan!
I play all
Of his games!
Even if they are so very crap.
I don’t care, they’re still fun!
But not just that!
Yes, I also own Sonic toys and plushies.
And my jacket
That I wore for five or six years.
Now! I will follow him wherever he goes!
Even to the Xbox.
And I may forgive SonicTeam for woes!
If it’s good.
This Christmas sees so many new games:
Shadow, Rush and Gems Collection,
However will I buy them all?
Sonic the Hedgehog!
He’s my favourite Hedgehog!
All of the others,
They just cannot compare!
I’ll be his fan for all of time!
This is the end of my song!
If you can’t imagine, you can listen!
Click here to listen to the song that won it.
Congratulations CosmicFalcon, there’s a Japanese Sonic Gems Collection, Freeloader and custom Arcade Stick being wung your way soon. Your song was so good it made our mates at SEGA UK laugh out milk through their noses. Maybe not their noses.
While we had so many entries, we can’t possibly display them all here (we don’t wanna be accused of favouritism amongst all else!), so we will note the people who kindly entered the competition below (in no particular order):
Rally the Cheetah (Jenny Pledger) – sent in a great story called ‘A Hero’.
Hunter Boone – Told us about his first Christmas with Sonic. He has a ‘few’ Tails plushies.
Cody Tucker – Very almost won it with his touching account of what Sonic represents.
Latrell Kidd – Told us all about his game collection, and lots of cheats. ^^
MikeII(2) Gremillion – Gave a great account of how Sonic has been a role model.
TaShara Lee – Wrote a fun story about being trapped in Sonic Adventure 2. Sonic Wind!
Anthony Cavallo – sent us a nice empty email. =D
Andrew Robertson – Used great imagination in creating a prologue to Sonic the Hedgehog.
William Parsons – Impressed us with a Sonic Haiku. Not easy to do.
Brandon Roberts – A poem which tugged at our heartstrings. We thought we were Scrooges.
Chili Dawg – A fellow SSMB member recalls the ‘gap’ of Sonic that many fans such as us experienced during the Saturn era.
Tailsy the Fox – Sonic fans need dedication, and a lotta dosh. True.
Tyler – Submitted a sprite he edited from Super Sonic. Looks cool.
Foster Hudgens – He’s the biggest Sonic fan in his school.
Stephen Skinner – Gets irate over ‘true Sonic fans’. Could agree more.
Eleanor Spring – A wicked analysis of what makes a Sonic fan.
Scott Reed – A hilarious ‘transcript’ featuring old favourite characters like Bark, Bean and Mighty.
Brad Hughes – An account of his life as a Sonic fan.
Jared Curry – A brief history of SONICTEAM and the success of Sonic. Great stuff.
Dean Cantrell – Tommy the Poet Master’s made a great little Ode involving cowboys.
Robert Lino – No doubt about it, he loves Sonic, and Sonic CD. And TSS too – thanks. ^^
Aaron Foster – Got back into Sonic after Mega Collection. Right on. =)
Andrew Hawkes [Hawkz] – A fabulous story of someone with Sonic on the brain. Reminds us of us.
Jerry Lynn Alexander II – Tails can fly, somebody just got fried. Genius. =D
But don’t worry cowboys and indians, your work isn’t lost forever. As a consolation your work will feature prominently in the Articles & Events section, a page each to your name. They’ve all been fabulous entries, and making the decision was really hard going. But congrats to CosmicFalcon and well done to everyone that took part!
Final words: Thanks to Psychobob for providing the Arcade Stick, Phr0zen for the Sonic the Fighters artwork for the stick, and to all that entered the contest!