Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween blue believers! Ah Halloween, I still have fond memories of wearing a homemade Dracula cape (which was amazing) walking through the cold October streets knocking on peoples doors, filling my goody bag with all manner of amazing things.

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year (along with Christmas Day and Pancake Day) and it feels like every year more people get into it. So with that in mind, I’ve decided to take a look at my top 5 scary/Halloween related Sonic moments. Whilst some may not be strictly Halloween related, they scared me and others then, and may still scare some people now. So without further ado, hit the read more link to see my Top 5 scary/Halloween related Sonic moments.

Number 5: The Tails Doll, but not that one…

Okay, I might be in the minority here, but this! 

IS NOT SCARY! The Tails Doll from Sonic R, for some reason a lot of people are terrified by this. I however know of a Tails Doll that is far more terrifying. Ladies and Gentlemen, behold, the Sega World Sydney Tails Plush!

Mother of… What is that!? Now you may think ‘you’ve just done that yourself right?’ No, that is how it was when it went on sale at Sega World Sydney. You see, Sega World Sydney was a bit different from other Sega Worlds back in the 90’s. Whilst other Sega Worlds said, ‘We shall make plushies based on Sega Sonic!’ Sega World Sydney said ‘Ha ha! No! We shall make our plushies based off The Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog! And we’ll even make Princess Sally merch and make them look as scary as possible HAHAHAHA!’ Today these plushies are highly sort after and fetch quite a price. Just don’t feed them after midnight.

Number 4: Dracula Sonic

This falls under the ‘not so scary’ Halloween side of the dream pool. Dracula Sonic is my unofficial name for what Joypolis does to Sonic each Halloween, Sonic wanders the arcade wearing a cape, a hat and sometimes a cane handing out candy and treats to visitors to the Japanese arcade of awesome! This year, Joypolis even released a limited edition plush based on Dracula Sonic complete with a cape and pumpkin. Even the Sega Blog now have their own version of Dracula Sonic and the Sonic digital card collecting game have him as a card! Dracula Sonic, not so scary, but gives out candy at the speed of sound.

Number 3: Night of the Werehog

Ah Sonic Unleashed, you divide opinion still and are still the subject of much debate. But one thing that most people are unanimous about, your Night of the Werehog short is amazing! Night of the Werehog was a ten minuet movie staring Sonic and Chip as they explore a haunted house. With two ghosts desperate to scare Sonic, things take a bit of a turn when the moon comes out, for you see, Sonic is not like other guys… he’s different.

Best thing about this? It was free, Sega could have easily charged people to see this, but they gave it away for free. Praised when it was released and still drawing audiences to showings at Joypolis, Night of the Werehog is still as popular now as it was when originally released. If only we could get more animated shorts like this.

Number 2: Nigel Dobbyn’s Knuckles.

Alright, I am probably alone with this, but please, hear me out and at least try to understand my reasoning here. Nigel Dobbyn for those who don’t know was one of the artists on Fleetway’s Sonic the Hedgehog, mainly responsible for doing the artwork for the Knuckles strips, Nigel added a lot of influences into each strip he did… including lots of references to classic horror movies, such as The Evil Dead, Dracula, Village of the Damned and even The Wicker Man.

One such Knuckles strip which is probably my favorite, is a 3 part story called ‘Village of the Damned,’ whilst it’s a near direct parody of The Wicker Man, it also contains several references to other horror movies, the story even opens with Knuckles walking into a tavern which is pretty much the tavern from An American Werewolf in London. The first part is filled with paranoia, there’s a constant feeling that everyone in the village is watching Knuckles and when part 2 begins, it’s a crazy chase as Knuckles is running for his life. Whilst it came out long after it, if you enjoyed playing Resident Evil 4 during the scenes where the villagers would burst out on mass and chase Leon, you’ll love this.

BUT IT’S NOT OVER! As part 2 ends, Knuckles’ dialogue is almost identical to Howie from The Wicker Man, fortunately Knuckles won’t suffer the same fate. In part 3, the references  continue as we get homages to Village of the Damned, Dracula and whilst I won’t spoil it for you, at the end of the issue when we find out why the village is behaving as they are, there is an amazing evil dead homage behind the mastermind.

Nigel Dobbyn’s Knuckles, even if you’re not a fan of fleetway, definitely give the Village of the Damned strip a chance, it’s one of the best love letters to Sonic fans who enjoy their horror movies.

And the Number 1? 

Hyudoro

Huh? Who? What? Whats that? Oh, maybe you know them better as ‘The Sandopolis Ghosts!’

Hyudoro, when you enter Act 2 of Sandopolis, you’re trapped in a pyramid looking for the exit, early on in the stage you find one of those animal capsules, however triggering it unleashes the ghosts! From this moment on, it’s a race against time as the stage grows darker and the ghosts multiply and get bigger and bigger until… it’s over buddy.

Almost everyone who plays this for the first time gets lost on this stage, as the lights go down panic sets in as you’re thrust into a dilemma, go for the end or find a light switch!? The fear and the panic is usually a one time feel for people, after you beat the stage you’ll never experience that fear again. But if you remember the first time you touched this stage, you can’t deny that when the lights dimmed and the ghosts got meaner, you panicked. But don’t worry… it was just a game? Wasn’t it?

Well that’s my top 5 scary/Halloween related Sonic moments, agree? Disagree? Have your own top 5, let us know in the comments, and Happy Halloween everyone. Goodnight Sonic Fans… Whatever you are…

Sega World Plush photo: SegaMew

Hyudoro Image: Sonic Retro

Oh and if I’ve managed to interest you with Number 2, you might find this old article I wrote of interest.