Few of you truly know the depths the Sonic franchise have sunk to. I know this because I’ve been there repeatedly. I’m not sure if it is out of some perverse pleasure of causing myself pain, or if I just feel the need to punish myself, but I have attempted to play this game repeatedly for all of you, so that I could deliver an accurate account of the experience for the #Sonic23on23 celebration. I mean, what better way to celebrate Sonic’s Golden Birthday then to talk about the worst thing he’s ever been in? Unfortunately, after staring into the awful, dark, green-gray abyss that is the Game.com screen, I come back to you defeated and with a warning: for the love of God, stay away from this thing. This isn’t just the worst portable Sonic game ever made, it’s the worst Sonic game ever made period.

I suppose, before I go into just how awful this thing is, I should give you all a little history lesson. In early 1997 the Game Gear was discontinued, and other handhelds began to rush in to fill the void it left in the market. Among the first was an awful little handheld from Tiger Electronics, a company best known in the gaming space for their portable LCD games. These LCD games were usually based off of licenses from other companies, including SEGA, which gave them the licenses for many of their properties including Panzer Dragoon, After Burner, OutRun, NiGHTS, Shinobi, and of course Sonic. Given their extensive experience in the portable gaming space with these various LED games, one would think that a cartridge based handheld game system would be a natural evolution for Tiger’s business. Unfortunately, Tiger would instead produce the worst handheld game system to ever make it to market.

The Game.com was awful. It possesses one of the most consistently awful and poorly programmed gaming libraries of any system, it’s screen was poor and difficult to see even by 1997 standards (even worse than the Game Boy’s, released in 1989), and the damn thing just feels cheap to hold. What makes all of this even more depressing is because in many ways this system was ahead of its time. It was the first gaming system to feature a built in touchscreen (seven years before the DS), it was the first handheld system to feature built in PDA functions like a phonebook and calculator, and it was the first handheld system capable of connecting to the internet, albeit through an add on. This damn thing was ambitious, but was so poorly made in so many critical areas that this ambition didn’t really matter. As far as I can tell, this system’s most critical flaw was its lack of true third party support. Though the system features IPs from numerous companies, as near as I can tell they were all developed in-house at Tiger. At least, that’s the only way I can explain the amazingly consistent poor quality of every game in the library to myself, especially Sonic Jam.

Even explosions can't break the boredom Tails is suffering from. — Even explosions can’t break the boredom Tails is suffering from.

So what of the game itself? Well, put simply there is absolutely nothing redeemable about this thing. Nothing. The game utilizes 16 bit sprites ripped straight from Sonic’s Genesis titles, but the Game.com clearly doesn’t have the power to run them. The game runs at a constant slide show, only reaching a playable frame rate for a few faint seconds every now and then. I doubt this game is even running at 15 frames per second most of the time. The physics are the worst I’ve ever experienced. Getting up every single hill is a chore, causing Sonic to slow to a complete stop no matter how much momentum you may try to build up. It’s virtually impossible to build up momentum without use of the spin dash, which itself has been severely gimped so that it’s not possible to rev it up. Rolling down a hill will not only not gain any real speed, it also reveals another weird flaw: the game doesn’t want you to move fast. Try rolling down a hill, and you will hit the edge of the screen and an invisible wall which significantly slows your progress.

Unfortunately the level design often only intensifies these issues, with its constant slopes and hills and randomly placed springs that will shoot you into the air with no apparent destination or item in mind. There is no rhyme or reason to this game’s level design, it all just kind of feels like it was slapped together by some intern in a level editor over the weekend. My first thought was to compare the design negatively against fan games, until I realized that I’d only be insulting fan games. I don’t think I’ve ever played a Sonic fan game that even approaches how slapped together these stages feel. One stage even had a whole lower path that was just a series of flat planes, that occasionally rose or fell. That said, the one positive thing that I can say about these stages is that they aren’t linear. They are actually pretty decent in size and offer a few different paths to traverse. I mean, the design of these stages are still poor, but at least it’s possible to explore right? That’s more than can be said about a lot of other Sonic games!

Some parts of the game don’t even seem to work at all. Near the end of the first Sonic 3 level there is a tree that you have to run around in in order to get to the end of the stage. This tree is something most of you might remember from the end of the Angel Island stage. The Game.com attempts to recreate this cool little moment, which it fails to miserably. This makes the entire Sonic 3 portion of the game completely unbeatable by any character but Tails, who can just fly up to the exit after the game breaks.

Really, Tails is the only way to play this game, since Knuckles can’t glide or climb and the level design is so awful that the game is physically painful to traverse on foot. Tails’s flight lasts long enough to get through most of a level in just a couple of goes, and is really the only way to get through any of the levels in this game. Don’t think for a moment that I’m implying Tails makes the game fun though, he just makes it a little less torturous to get through stages. The actual boss battles still tend to be pretty damn awful, since it’s really difficult to play them with the game’s horrid frame rate and they were made too large for the Game.com’s small screen.

Then there’s the game’s music and…well I don’t even think I’m going to bother describing it. As near as I can tell the Game.com has the worst sound capabilities of any handheld I’ve ever played (including every handheld that predates it) so I’m not sure it’s even fair to bash the poor thing for it. Instead, I’m going to go ahead and link to one of the game’s tracks below. “Enjoy”.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay8ilo08mlY[/youtube]

Sonic Jam for the Game.com is the very definition of shovelware. It doesn’t have even a lick of passion in its design, something that I don’t think can be said about any other Sonic game out there. It’s a slow, ugly, poorly planned mess of a game made by people who clearly didn’t seem to understand the limitations of their hardware. The entire game is a mess of false advertising, too.

This isn’t a portable version of Sonic Jam, but instead just a hastily made “original” Sonic game that takes sprites and bosses from Sonic 2, 3 and Knuckles. Though the game may display the cartridges for these games in the menu, each game only actually uses the assets from the first stage of each game. In other words, Sonic 2 just has a few really crappy stages using a assets from Emerald Hill, Sonic 3 is just Angel Island and Sonic & Knuckles is just Mushroom Hill. There are a few bosses taken from randomly from other parts of the game, as well as fully realized 3D special stages from Sonic 3 (which run about as well as you’d expect) but “jammed” this game certainly is not, unless they are referring to how they jammed 16 bit sprites into an 8-bit handheld.

The one positive thing that could probably be said about this game is that at the very least, Sonic hit his low point early in his career. Sonic 2006 and Shadow the Hedgehog have nothing on this travesty. After the death of the Game Gear all this release really did was rub salt in the wounds the character was dealt by the Game Boy. I can’t help but pity the few poor Sonic fans who picked this up expecting a quality title, only to discover something that was virtually unplayable, especially given that this was released when Sonic fans were starved for games and didn’t even have Game Gear releases to look forward.

Thankfully, Sonic fans wouldn’t have to wait too long to get their next quality portable Sonic fix. Released on an equally obscure (but considerably better) handheld, Sonic Pocket Adventure would not only act as the final chapter in Sonic’s pre-Nintendo career on handhelds, it would serve as a nice bookend for the classic era of Sonic, released just as Sonic was finally about to make the jump to the third dimension and change the franchise forever.

The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.

xxOLDArticles, xxOLDColumns

The Sonic List: My favorite Sonic related moments

28th June 201428th June 2014

Jason Berry

9 Comments

DSCF0198 — Iizuka – “Why does that scary fat man keep following me?!” Jason “Hhhhiiiiiiiiiiiii.”

To be honest, if it wasn’t for Barry’s Weekly five list on Segabits, I probably wouldn’t have been inspired to do my own Sonic List column. Seeing how people comment and react to my opinions gives me a great feeling of pride (and sometimes shame). The first time I did one of these columns and saw all the replies, good or bad, it was one of my favorite Sonic related moments. That’s what today’s column is all about. My favorite moments in Sonic-dom. Weather it’s from a game, a cartoon or just part of my life. These are the moments that I remember back with great fondness. Click below and enjoy! Continue reading The Sonic List: My favorite Sonic related moments

xxOLDOfficial News

Sega Looking at Sonic Boom Trading Cards & Archie Comic adaptation?

28th June 2014

Dave Luty

95 Comments

Following the Vegas Licensing Expo, Sega have held an interview with License! Global magazine in which they go into detail about Sonic Boom including a few new details regarding their plans with the Boom franchise. From what was said, it sounds like the plans for Boom run much deeper than the initially announced game, toyline and tv-show adaptation.

According to the interview Sega intends to license out boom along the following categories.

Toys & Games.
Clothing.
Publishing.
Accessories.
Food and Drink.
Temporary tattoos.
Sticker collections.
Party goods.
Cakes.
Boutiques within stores.
Trading cards.

In addition to this, Sega are also looking to work with Archie Comics to ‘explore publishing’ which would suggest a comic book adaptation.

Other details from the interview were suggestions that Knuckles is now comic relief, that Sonic has been split into a two tier franchise, with Boom being aimed at younger audiences, but a retro/classic look and style for older fans.

It sounds a lot like Sega really are putting everything into Boom, what do you think, excited for the plans or think it’s a bad idea? That’s why we have the comments.

Source: License! Global June issue.

#Community

The Completionist 100th Episode – Sonic the Hedgehog 2006

28th June 20148th October 2016

VizardJeffhog

22 Comments

One week ago, Jirard “Dragonrider” Khalil had… changed.

That one video gamer who many have come to know and love as The Completionist, for some inexplicable reason, took a turn for the demonic on the heels of his 99th review for the SNES title Mega Man X 3, and Greg Wilmot, series cohost and the last to have interacted with Jirard, had since gone missing.

Somehow, this was all tied to the black sheep of Sonic games, the forever scorned ugly duckling, Sonic Team’s pitch for the 15th anniversary of the franchise.

Continue reading The Completionist 100th Episode – Sonic the Hedgehog 2006

xxOLDMerchandise, xxOLDOfficial News, xxOLDReviews

TSS Review: Sonic Pixel Bricks by Paladone

28th June 2014

JonoD

6 Comments

Paladone has recently released the two items I was the most excited for when they announced their range of Sonic the Hedgehog goodies: The Sonic and Tails Pixel Bricks sets! So no sooner than they were released we got our hands on them.

The premise is simple: Get bricks: Make Sonic and Tails! Due to the natural blocky-ness behind this kind of toy, it almost seemed a natural idea to make something pixellated out of them! And that’s what Paladone did. Two small figures built out of lego-styled bricks.

The boxes were a LOT smaller than I was expecting for the pair of these. These tiny boxes contain an instruction sheet and a lot of sonic-y coloured building bricks.

The bricks used in this set are of the ‘Nanoblock’ flavour, and are about a quarter of the size of the typical Lego brick. This means that even though each of these models are made up of nearly 400 pieces between them, the finished models stand not much higher than 4 inches tall.

I’ll admit this right away. I was more of a K’nex child when I was growing up, so to me, this build went on a little… longer than I was anticipating.

Just how long you ask..? Well, just check out this little video I created below.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM2-WjAlTl8

Yep. That’s nearly an hour and 20 minutes to finish just ONE of these little suckers. Granted my time was likely impeded with me building over the top of my camera, but yeah: If you’re not adept at building Lego style constructions, I just pray that you’re patient enough to see the construction of one of these through from start to finish.

With small models of this complexity, a set of good and comprehensive instructions are essential, and I’m sad to say that this long build time wasn’t helped by the instructions. I found following them very confusing at times. The instructions follow the typical Lego formula of building one part shown from an isometric view, then adding further pieces on to it as you progress further through the build. The isometric views given were good, but unlike normal Lego instructions, each step greys out the pieces built in the previous step. Some people may go ‘so what?’ but it get’s very difficult to position certain pieces accurately when you only have the shape of what was built in the last step as a guide. Simply colouring in the diagram would have made this build a LOT easier, and would have taken out a bunch of the guesswork. I appreciate that the construction of these things are probably meant to be savored, but I feel that building one of these should be a fun activity, and not a test of patience and skill.

But yet, after all that though, the finished results I think are lovely little things. They’re awkwardly cute in a way, and pack in a curious amount of detail for something made up of nothing but bricks. Of the pair, I’d say that Sonic is the more impressive of the two, especially when you look at him from behind and take in the shape of his spines. It all looks grand!

Display wise, these make for great little conversation starters, and are certainly something more ‘out there’ than your typical Sonic action figure. One important word though… these are very much display pieces, so don’t move them around too much. Some of the parts (namely the arms) are held together with nothing more than a single stud, and handling them too much will ultimately end in disintegration. I can probably count at least 3 times when I’ve held Sonic wrong, and he literally came apart in my hands, meaning lots of rebuilds. If you don’t glue them together (which I honestly considered doing at times), just hope they don’t take a shelf dive. You’ll be searching for the pieces for weeks.

Thankfully, these models do come with a few spare pieces, so don’t despair too much if you find yourself losing one of the two (yes… that’s seriously how many there are in the finished model) minuscule yellow bricks that make the buckles on each of Sonic’s shoes.

Overall, I do love these little things. They really are quite unlike anything else, and possibly one of the most unique Sonic collectibles to come along in a while. But… I have to say that the experience building them was a lot more trying than I was expecting it to be. If you’re amazing with Lego, then I think you’ll have a blast putting these together. For the rest of us though… The challenging build and the constant falling apart may get on your nerves.

=========

Second Opinion by TSS Staffer Hogfather

I’ll get the bad points out of the way first.

1: The instructions for both Sonic & Tails can get very confusing, angles on where the pieces should connect are not user friendly and in some cases your eyeline is draw to begin construction on an area which will be impossible to connect since it requires another part to be constructed.

2: The photos provided for the finished model on Tails are not what the instructions state, on more than one occasion the instructions clearly differ in design to the photographic reference model, this makes one particular tricky section harder to complete than it should.

3: The pieces do not connect very well along the Z axis, unlike lego, when connected the pieces are free to move along their Z axis, this means sometimes parts of the model would move out of place and for pieces which are connected by a single point, they WILL fall off on the slightest touch, huge problems are found with Sonic’s arms and Tails’ whiskers.

4: The models ‘cheat’ with perspective, parts of it are not a fully solid object, you’ll be convinced that some additional pieces should go in certain places, but nope, it’s their way to save construction costs since you won’t see them, even though they would aid to stability.

5: Parts of the model are VERY fragile when finished.

Now for the good points.

It takes somewhere in the region of 1:30 – 2:00 to create just one of these figures, so if you were afraid that these would be simple things aimed at kids, think again, it takes time to construct these.

However, when you get started and you see the models take shape, there is a strong sense of enjoyment as you see these things come to life. Suddenly it goes from “Why does this body look like a blue sheep” to “Hey it’s Sonic!”

There is something very unique and charming about both the idea and the execution of the product, it really does look like a pixelated representation of Sonic & Tails. There really is nothing official which looks or behaves like these products do. Very unique and a very welcome addition to all the recent Sonic products of late.

Packaging is also very attractive and very well designed, small and portable, yet quite nice to look at despite the use of stock art, even if it is odd how the Tails box has Sonic stock art all over it.

Another huge bonus is that several of the pieces include additional parts, so if you lose one during construction, odds are there’s a spare.

Overall, this is a really well made unique piece of merch, certainly recommend it, however I would advise kids to get a parent to help build since it can become tricky at times to complete certain segments, step 1 on Tails for instance will get you very confused since part of it isn’t possible to attach until the end of step 2.

=========

You’ll Love:

Totally unique and quite unlike anything in your collection
Very well detailed given the nature of the set
Attractive price
Nicely presented

You’ll Hate:

The confusing instructions
Instructions sometimes differ to the reference photographs
The long build time if you’re not a Lego expert
VERY fragile when finished

xxOLDArticles, xxOLDColumns

In Defense of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric

27th June 201427th June 2014

Nuckles87

55 Comments

During E3, I came away with an opinion of Sonic Boom that was a little sunnier than most. It didn’t blow me away like Lost World’s crazy cylindrical stage had the year before, but I came away from it smiling and entertained, but not blown away. As I was writing up my preview, Ben Burnham (who wrote the Anatomy of a Bad Sonic Game article, which you should check out) contacted me on Skype and we began talking about the game’s quality. His opinion, based on the various previews he had read, was very bleak. “It sounds like it’s going to be an awful game, man”. I disagreed, but not strongly. Though I didn’t find the demo to be particularly great, I certainly didn’t find it to be awful either. Towards the end of our discussion he asked “How can you defend mediocrity?” It was late, I was busy and tired, and I wasn’t quite sure how to address that.

Last night, after we finished recording our latest, biggest episode of Sonic Talk yet (seriously, we had four guests on) to celebrate #Sonic23on23, it came to me as two of the guests stayed up afterwards debating the game’s quality in the chat. Ben brought up the question again, “How can you defend mediocrity”. As GX and he really got into it, it finally came to me.

Gamers these days, I think, get a little too caught up in the idea that every game needs to be a “triple A, top quality game”. Certainly, it’s not a bad standard to have. When you’ve got a limited time and budget, why settle for anything less than the best? But then, I would need to ask that person: why are you even playing a Sonic game to begin with? Sonic Generations and Sonic Colors are fun games to be sure, but why play those games when you could be playing Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario 3D World, Ratchet and Clank Future and other superb platformers currently available either physically or digitally? Even the best Sonic games of the last several years have been considered only “good” at best in the face of other triple A platformers, not to mention the numerous other triple A games being released in other genres every year.

Again, I’m not saying you shouldn’t have high standards and that you should excuse games for being less then what they could be, but not being as good as some of the best rated games in the genre doesn’t really make a game “bad”. I have played and enjoyed numerous games over the years that have had serious flaws. Among them have been Rhythm Thief, Shinobi 3DS, Batman Arkham Origins, Resident Evil Mercenaries, and most recently Entwined. Criticisms have ranged from these games being too hard, too shallow, or too much of the same. You know what though? I had fun with these games. I don’t regret the time or money I expended on them. In the end, whether or not I had fun, regardless of the quality, is what matters to me. For the record, Shinobi 3DS stands as one of my favorite games on the system and I’m glad I gave the full game a chance despite the somewhat tepid response it got from the gaming media.

Really, the same was true for the Sonic Boom Wii U demo. I did not regret the time spent with it (well, aside from the fact that it ate up most of the time I was supposed to spend writing my preview) and I came away a bit happier with it then I thought I would. Sure, the graphics were average, the combat was typical and the stage layout was ho-hum. The demo had its flaws, but it also had one very important element that separated it from numerous other Sonic games I’ve played: it was at least entertaining.

I loved beating the crap out of enemies as Sonic. He has an awesome spin move that jets him quickly around the battlefield and lets him slam into enemies, which can be followed up with a series of quick jabs. Enemies could be dispatched quickly, which allowed for a certain flow from battle to battle that seemed to at least move faster than Unleashed’s werehog stages, which had a tendency to really drag with the amount of enemies that would spawn in a given area.

I loved exploring the demo as the various characters, since each stage on display had completely different methods of traversal for each character, which gave me more to see then I was used to for an E3 demo. I liked digging around as Knuckles and popping up under enemies, I liked hitting them with Amy’s hammer and I liked tossing the smaller enemies around with the enerbeam, which worked well. I enjoyed the funny banter between the characters, which probably stands as some of the best dialogue I’ve heard in a Sonic game outside of Robotnik’s Sonic Colors quotes. It’s all simple, story driven beat-em up fair, but it’s functional and it’s fun.

So for me anyway, the Sonic Boom demo did its job. Should it be aiming higher than “just okay”? Should it be aiming for Super Mario Galaxy? While that’s certainly a noble sentiment to have, it’s also an unrealistic one. There can only be so many games that have the talent, budget and time put into them to become Super Mario Galaxy. The very reason games like Galaxy are held so highly is because there can’t be many of them. I think that when it comes to Sonic Boom, it’s good to approach it for what it is: an okay beat-em up platformer (that will have a variety of speed segments, according to the game’s developers) that aims to make itself accessible to a new generation of Sonic fans. So as far as I’m concerned, I’m not “defending mediocrity” because I don’t need to. The level of fun in a game, for me anyway, is irrelevant. The game just needs to be fun.

When it comes down to it, fun is all a game really needs to be. If you have higher standards then me, I respect that. Just remember that there is a much bigger difference between a game that isn’t fun and one that is, then there is between a game that is amazingly entertaining and one that just provides an okay experience. That is the difference between an awful game like Sonic 2006 and an okay game I actually enjoyed like Sonic Unleashed. That is also, in my opinion, the difference between this game and Sonic 2006, or Shadow the Hedgehog, or (shudder) Game.Com’s Sonic Jam. I can’t speak to this game’s final quality, but if the demo is any indication it will at least be okay. When the game does finally come out, just be sure to look to reviews from critics you can trust, or friends whose tastes you know well, or even better try the game for yourself before you buy. Another man’s trash can and often is another’s treasure, after all.

xxOLDMerchandise, xxOLDOfficial News

First 4 Figures Teases more of Robotnik Statue

27th June 2014

JonoD

4 Comments

First 4 Figures sure love their teasers!

Dr. Eggman is evidently getting closer to release, as First 4 Figures today teased a new photograph of currently-in-development classic Dr. Robotnik statue on Facebook. The last time we saw him, he didn’t look to be much more than a computer generated render, but now…

Yep, he exists all right!

There’s still no word yet as to cost, size or even when First 4 Figures will open up the gates to pre-orders… But on evidence of the photograph above, he can’t be overly far away!

Once we know more about when Robotnik goes live, we’ll be sure to cover it!

Source

xxOLDArticles, xxOLDColumns

The Anatomy of a Bad Sonic Game

26th June 20141st July 2014

Ben Burnham

42 Comments

The following is a guest article from SEGAbits writer Ben Burnham, who joined the website several years ago. He is an avid and long-time Sonic fan who’s written about the games numerous times over the years. As part of our intersite #Sonic23on23 celebration, Ben has written an article for us about what he thinks makes a bad Sonic game well…bad! Hope you enjoy.

If there’s one series known as much for its failures as for its successes, it’s Sonic the Hedgehog.
There was a time when SEGA’s famed mascot, spinoffs aside, seemed like he could do no wrong; The series was incredibly popular, and arguably a major reason the Genesis was able to put up such a strong fight against the Super Nintendo.

It then came time for Sonic to make the dreaded transition to 3D, and though critics and fans have become more jaded about the quality of the games in hindsight, the fact remains that Sonic Adventure and its sequel were given rave reviews and greeted with much fanfare when they were released on the Dreamcast.

From there, however, it would become a bumpy ride. Sonic Heroes and Sonic the Hedgehog 4 divided the fanbase, while Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, and Sonic and the Black Knight were panned across the board. Sonic and the Secret Rings and Sonic Unleashed were met with only tepid enthusiasm, and even with the well-received Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations thrown into the mix, it remains evident that the franchise has struggled to find its ground in recent years.

It makes sense then to answer, or at least attempt to answer, the big question of what makes a bad Sonic game bad, and how Sega can work to prevent future entries in the series from becoming bad. It seems like an easy question, but upon sitting down to write this article, it became clear to me just how difficult it is to answer.
The Sonic Adventure games on the surface featured much of what fans would grow to hate about the series; multiple playable characters, a large variety of differing gameplay styles, linear levels with few paths, and cheesy presentation. With all that said, these factors didn’t seem to bother much of anyone back in 1999 and 2001.

Upon giving it some thought, I’ve come to the conclusion that what made it work in those days was that the ideas back then were seen as being executed well. Most 3D platformers of that era didn’t feature multiple playable characters; and I don’t think many, if any at all, let you play as the villains in addition to the heroes. The freshness of these concepts certainly gave them strength, and while people universally preferred the Sonic gameplay to that of the other characters, the fanbase by and large didn’t question the existence of the other characters’ gameplay, seeming to accept them as a necessary part of those games. But it wasn’t just the fact that it was a new concept that made it a success. More importantly, the Sonic Adventure series was able to justify the other characters by getting their gameplay right and by giving them a role in the game that felt genuine and not like a marketing ploy.

Though fairly simplistic, the shooting mechanics of characters like Gamma and Dr. Eggman were solid, doing their job and working the way they were supposed to. Many dreaded the Knuckles and Rouge stages in the Adventure series, but they provided a challenge and did what they were supposed to do. With the exception of Big the Cat, most of the gameplay in the Sonic Adventure games, if nothing else, proved itself worthy of being a part of the overall experience, and it fit organically into what those games were and what they set out to be.

My big issue with where Sonic’s gone these days isn’t that they continue to add gameplay variety, but that the different gameplay they come up isn’t fun or well thought out. Amy Rose’s levels and her storyline in Sonic Adventure were short and didn’t overstay their welcome, while the Werehog in Sonic Unleashed had levels that felt like they went on for ages. Sonic Team back then knew where to devote the majority of their gameplay, while the Sonic Team of today releases games that are more Werehog than Hedgehog. The old Sonic Team knew how design gameplay centered on each characters’ unique strengths, while the new Sonic Team will add a parkour mechanic to a game and do almost nothing with it.

If there’s one thing that I’d like more than anything to get across to those who make the Sonic games, it’s that the poor implementation of the ideas is the problem, not the ideas themselves. Nobody would have complained about using the sword in Sonic and the Black Knight if the swordplay was fun and didn’t detract from the experience. Developer Big Red Button didn’t pull punches when they revealed up front that Sonic Boom would be far heavier on the exploration elements than recent Sonic titles, and I personally believe that many in the fanbase were optimistic about this, or at least hopeful, that we would have a fun new take on the franchise. It’s a series that’s flexible enough to warrant change, and to regularly shake things up, and these things are what keep things fresh.

It’s in this sense that Sega shouldn’t be afraid of new ideas. New ideas are what keep long-running series’ going, and without them, they eventually cease to exist. What makes a bad Sonic game bad isn’t that it features a new take on the character, or a new style of gameplay, but that the gameplay isn’t well-developed or fun. It’s not enough to just give Sonic a sword and call it a day, but the gameplay has to be paced well, using the sword has to be fun, and the new gimmick needs to justify its existence rather than simply feeling like a way to sell Happy Meals. A Sonic game that feels more like an exercise in marketing than a well-made product is a bad Sonic game. A Sonic game that’s released unfinished, where it’s evident that monetary return was more important to its publisher than putting out a quality game, is a bad Sonic game.

These are aspects that should apply to any game, but the Sonic franchise has fallen into these traps repeatedly. The worst Sonic games either banked too much on ideas that didn’t work or weren’t fun, or they attempted to do far too much with too little development time. There’s a level of quality that’s just expected from an IP of Sonic’s stature. Developers who are content enough to add guns to a Sonic spinoff, but not to make the effort to ensure that they work properly and that gamers would be happy to use them, are not doing justice to the series. Ideas that just seem to come across (at best) as “okay” in practice shouldn’t be included in a game, even if they’re for secondary characters, or if they’re in addition to strong speed sections. The ideas should never be making it past the planning stages because they aren’t worthwhile additions to the gameplay.

Looking towards the upcoming Sonic Boom, my fear is that it will be a bad Sonic game. I hope I’m wrong; I was so excited when it was first announced, believing that it would be a promising new start for the iconic mascot. If a combat system, which currently looks to (but hopefully does not) take up a majority of the game, is being viewed by the majority as something that isn’t fun, then it’s something that the developers need to make note of and fix. It’s something that they should have caught before the game was even shown, because what makes a good Sonic game good, just like with what makes any game good, is that it’s fun to play.

Through it all, that’s the most important thing. The conclusion after all this is so simple, but it’s one that has in the past so easily eluded Sega’s grasp; the game has to be fun to play. No matter what longtime fans may think of putting a villainous hedgehog on a motorcycle and sending him into battle, if the gameplay was fun to play, people would have eventually grown to accept it. Fun speaks volumes, and ultimately is the most important part of all forms of entertainment.

If any aspect of the experience, especially a major aspect, proves not to be fun, or proves not to justify itself in the context of the game it’s in, then that’s when we have a problem; because, in my view, that’s when we have a bad Sonic game.

xxOLDArticles, xxOLDColumns

SEGA Games for the Sonic Gamer, Part 1

25th June 201425th June 2014

Nuckles87

11 Comments

Like many SEGA fans, I started out as a fan of Sonic the Hedgehog more so then SEGA itself. As I became more invested in SEGA hardware, though, I was encouraged to begin trying out some of SEGA’s other franchises. I’ve since grown to love a variety of SEGA franchises and as part of the #Sonic23on23 celebration, I’d like to share some of my favorites with other Sonic fans on behalf of SEGAbits! All of the titles I’ll be talking about in this series tickle my fancy in the same way Sonic games have for years, that any Sonic fan ought to experience. These titles are not necessarily platformers, or involve cute and furry animals, but they do share at least one key element with Sonic games.

This series will divide the different games into categories and let you know which title you ought to try fist. I hope you’ll try some of these games!

Rail Shooters:

After Burner

Before Sonic, SEGA had another adrenaline inducing game called “After Burner”. Here, players take control of the iconic F-14 Tomcat and blast through stages at sonic speed…literally. The After Burner games are all about memorization and twitch game play. Players have to be fast and at least somewhat familiar with enemy formations in order to succeed. All of the After Burner games produce a great sense of speed that is impressive even these days.

The original After Burner is not the most easy game to pay these days, and the best versions of the game available were made for the SEGA 32X and Saturn. SEGA has released a version of the game for the 3DS, which I do recommend picking up if it ever comes over. More accessible is After Burner Climax, which is currently available on Xbox Live and PSN.

If you want to know more about the game franchise, I recommend heading over to SEGAbits and checking out our content from After Burner Week.

Panzer Dragoon

In Panzer Dragoon, players take flight on top of a big laser breathing dragon. This franchise is slower and more methodical then the After Burner games, but makes up for that slower pace with deeper game play and longer levels. Just like any great rail shooter, Panzer Dragoon is all about twitch game play, as players get constantly attacked on all sides by waves upon waves of enemies as they blast through beautiful, creative levels. Panzer’s world and music also possess an exotic charm that sets the series apart from other rail shooters.

Panzer Dragoon Orta is easily the most accessible game in the series, as it is the most affordable and is playable on both the Xbox and Xbox 360. It is also my personal favorite game in the series and has probably aged the best out of all of them thanks to the Xbox’s capabilities. The original trilogy is currently only available on SEGA’s Saturn. Of those, Panzer Dragoon Zwei is easily the best rail shooter of the bunch, though the original Panzer Dragoon is also pretty good. The franchise’s magnum opus, Panzer Dragoon Saga, is unique and excellent RPG, though is quite expensive and doesn’t really possess the qualities that would lead me to recommend it to Sonic fans.

Sonic Team Games

NiGHTS into Dreams

Kind of obvious, but NiGHTS needs to be included all the same. NiGHTS once had a tendency to pop up often in Sonic games, and with good reason: outside of the Sonic series NiGHTS probably stands as the best thing Sonic Team has ever made. It shares some of Sonic’s qualities: it is simple, yet inventive. Each stage has its own theme and gimmicks that make them stand out and memorable. Many of the stages have unique topography that really do look like they came out of a dream.

NiGHTS isn’t exactly adrenaline inducing, but it’s still a fast game. Many of the game’s best moments come when your quickly zooming through loops and collecting blue chips, racking up huge links and points in the process. NiGHTS is all precision and memorization, perfecting your runs through the game’s stages so that you can improve your scores and A rank all the stages. NiGHTS into Dreams in many ways invokes many of the best elements of Sonic’s best games.

NiGHTS into Dreams HD is available on Xbox Live, PSN and Steam. If you’re feeling up for playing it old school, it’s also available on the Saturn. There was also a sequel released for the Wii version called Journey of Dreams, but that isn’t really as good and shares flaws with many of Sonic Team’s modern Sonic games.

Ristar

Though it doesn’t bear the Sonic Team name, many Sonic Team alumni apparently worked on the game. In fact, this was character designer Yuji Uekawa’s first game. He would soon go on to become the character designer for the Sonic games starting with Sonic R in 1997.

Ristar itself is considerably slower than your standard Sonic game, but features the kind of cute character design, creative level design and unique character abilities Sonic Team was once known for. Ristar is all about swinging and bouncing around stages and adapting to the unique gimmicks each stage throws at you. One musical stage has you carrying around metronomes and bringing them to song birds that, when activated, add their voice to the stage’s background music, which slowly becomes more elaborate over the course of the stage. Another has you springing traps meant for you by throwing miniature Ristar models. Even the boss fights are varied, and can range from a cute little snow ball fight with a small child to an epic confrontation with a giant robotic mole during a freefall.

If you want to know more, you can check out the content I wrote for Ristar Week, which I ran for SEGAbits earlier this year. Ristar itself can be played on the Wii and Wii U through the Wii’s Virtual Console service. It can also be found on numerous compilations including the SEGA Genesis Collection, Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection and Sonic Mega Collection (as an unlockable). The original game can be played on the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive.
I’ll be back later with more recommendations, so stay tuned!

xxOLDNews

Sonic Boom is “a unified design and vision”, says Frost

25th June 201425th June 2014

Symbotic

33 Comments

A new interview with Sonic Boom producer Stephen Frost over at Gamasutra has gone into detail about the vision of the new extension of the Sonic franchise, giving some insight into how the collaborative efforts come together. Frost talks about a wealth of things from the creation of Sticks, the audience they’re aiming for and how he wants the whole of Boom to have a connected feeling to it.

Talking about the game itself, Frost touches on how Boom won’t be all existing Sonic fan’s cup of tea –

“We wanted a new kind of direction or branch of Sonic,” Frost says. “There are a lot of people who are familiar with Sonic, or fans of Sonic, who might be intimidated, or don’t play the traditional speed-based gameplay.”

In fact, there are even Sonic fans who have lost access to the franchise, says Frost: “We have this fan base who loves the character, but this is not their type of game.”

He then goes onto explain how he was initially worried about how Rise of Lyric seemed to have no core elements of Sonic, but development has improved on this with some signature speed –

Changing the Sonic formula too much can be a bit dangerous, though: “We had a point early in the early prototype phase where we’re sitting back and we were like, ‘You know, if we remove Sonic and the team from this… it could be anything,'” Frost recalls.

That’s changed, he says: Now, “there’s enough speed, enough core elements that make Sonic, Sonic in the game.”

Another interesting part to the article is where Frost goes into detail about how the synergy works across Sonic Team, the animation department, and Big Red Button when creating the identity for Boom. He specifically goes into detail about the newcomer Sticks, which he believes represents the “unified vision” despite there being multiple teams behind the character look and personality –

He told me this story about the creation of Boom’s new character, Sticks: “Sticks’ personality and core being was established by the animation team, but there was no design for her, so we took her core personality, and Sonic Team started doing sketches and ideas after that, and then based off of that, Big Red Button took that and fleshed it out into a 3D design.”

That kind of interaction leads to “a unified design and vision” for the franchise, moving forward, Frost says.

I’ve included the link to the interview below. It’s much more behind the scenes, but an interesting read nonetheless. Give it a look, and let us know what you think about what Frost expressed here in our comments below. Remember, this week is our collaboration with Sonic Retro and SEGAbits for Sonic’s 23rd birthday – keep tagging with #Sonic23on23 to keep the party going!

Source: Gamasutra

xxOLDOfficial News

SEGA Japan to Demo Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric in Livestream Event June 30th

25th June 2014

Shadzter

5 Comments

SEGA Japan has announced that they will be demoing some of their upcoming games via a livestream event over at NicoVideo Monday June 30th at 9pm JST (1pm BST). Among the games present will be Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric for Wii U for its first public demonstration in Japan. Sonic Team’s Takashi Iizuka will also be on hand for a Q&A with viewers, so we may see some new details come to light. We’ll pass along any new media and information that comes out of the presentation.

Source: NicoVideo

xxOLDNews

Sonic R Soundtrack Now Available on iTunes and Amazon Music Worldwide

25th June 201425th June 2014

Shadzter

16 Comments

UPDATE: It’s now available worldwide on iTunes. In the UK the album will set you back £7.99, while individual tracks are priced at 79p each.

SEGA Japan has today announced that the soundtrack for the SEGA Saturn classic racing game Sonic R is now available via digital download in Japan. You can grab the seventeen track album, which includes fan favourites like Resort Island : Can You Feel The Sunshine? and Super Sonic Racing, for ¥1,600 from iTunes and Amazon Music.

Source: SEGA Japan Twitter

xxOLDArticles, xxOLDSite Updates

TSS Discuss: Sonic Boom… After E3

24th June 201424th June 2014

Dave Luty

21 Comments

Following E3, tons of new information regarding Sonic Boom was released in all areas of this franchise launch, with that in mind, we here at TSS decided to share our thoughts on what got shown.

—

Hogfather – Boom Wii U: (Primarilly based on the E3 B-Roll video). Now… it hasn’t gone unnoticed by a lot of people that if anyone has a negative criticism of the game, regardless as to how well justified it is, they’re then subject to a barrage of “Well you shouldn’t” or “Well it’s just early” or in some laughable cases “You call yourself a fan!?” So let me deal with a few of these as I go on.

“You shouldn’t judge a game at this early stage.” Why not? This is a product, Sega want people to buy. They want people to pre-order the product, if the product put out does not look very good, give me one reason why anyone should stay silent on problems with it? You put out something which people don’t consider to be up to scratch… you can bet people will respond to it.

So with that out of the way let’s talk about the problems it has right now.

“This isn’t like other Sonic games! It’s different! You should expect a different type of game” NO!? Really!? You mean when they announced that this would focus on combat and co-op, it was actually going to focus on combat and co-op!? This excuse is really wearing thin, and it’s not an excuse, it’s desperation, take out the characters, slap in random new IP’s in place of Sonic, you still have lifeless speed sections with no enemies, traps or anything inspiring other than boosters and jump pads followed by automated sections everywhere. Gone are the homing attack chains, now we have ener-beam swing, so once again we’ll get homing attack esq segments of gameplay. You still have button mashing fight sequences confined to arenas which open up once all enemies are defeating, combat so far has shown nothing interesting other than hammer the button an point the stick in said direction.

This was becoming a tiresome trend in the middle of the last gen, now, we should expect more and be demanding more from games which have a form of combat within them.

Here is how every boss fight shown currently works. Use the beam to grab something, throw it at the boss. Then use a finish move. I’m playing as Sonic why am I not using a spin attack to weaken the boss? Oh wait not normal Sonic game. All right switch to Knuckles punch that boss to weaken, oh wait, not a normal… Amy! She has a hammer go on smack that… oh wait… Tails! Use your… beam to throw a robot/missile/object at Eggman/Giant drill thing/other boss… you see the problem? Why should I get excited when the boss fights we’ve seen are all dealt with in the same manner?

Dialogue is great, but it needs toning down, every 5 seconds someone feels the need to say something. Go play Puppeteer on the PS3 and see how long you can cope before you are rolling your eyes at the sun fairy who constantly comments on your actions and you’ll see how quickly it becomes annoying.

With regards to the ‘new footage’ which shows textures and lighting effects in place, and I agree, this makes the game ‘look’ a lot better. You certainly can’t dismiss it as ‘looking’ like a PS2 game when it ‘looks’ fine.

However, there is a problem with this footage, it’s from the same build, or at least it’s from a very similar build, you can tell by several elements within it. This means that all what Big Red Button did was the following… ‘they change the value of the effects within the code from 0 to 1.’ Do not be under some illusions that this game will somehow undergo a transformation in the next 3 months, this is what we’re getting, and based on what’s been shown so far, it feels like it was designed as every stereotype movie license game.

Finally… there is this….

“Call yourself a fan!?” Grow up. Fans are not nor should they be mindless drones who must support every product or decision made by the owners of the IP. This mindset is degrading to your non argument and a pathetic attempt to try and hide or re-direct criticism. You should not instantly rush out and buy or support anything just because you are a fan of something, you are free to criticise something so long as there is grounds to support what you are saying, just as you would if you wish to praise something. Otherwise, we can apply that criticism to the movie. Since the majority don’t like the sound of a live action Sonic movie made by the people who brought you The Smurfs 2!? But who knows it’s early and it’s not like any other Sonic game so… oh… Yeah exactly, doesn’t exactly work when it’s something you’re not looking forward to does it?

TlDr: I like the character designs, I like the idea behind what Boom is (to a point), and I like the world that they’re trying to create… however, it all comes down to gameplay. Boom looks like it’s a painfully average game. If stuff comes out between now and release date which really shows it off, or if Sega wants to send me a preview copy and it’s amazing, I will gladly change my stance on it. But right now, based on that disastrous E3 B-Roll footage and the fact the gameplay looks so generic and dull, just looks painfully average, and this angers me, because I really wanted to like it.

Boom 3DS: Looks great, full of action, lots of variety in the gameplay modes, looks far more engaging than the Wii U version. Would like to see a lot more from it, we’ve seen how the different characters can be used in each stage, really want to see more of the game.

Cartoon: Main attraction for me. Looks absolutely fantastic, verbal and visual humour, the animation actually looks really good for a TV Show. Roll on Winter season so we can see more of it.

—

Brad – I wanna start off this with saying that unlike the majority (and completely shockingly for me personally), I think Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric is still looking like it’s going to a be an enjoyable, completely new take on the franchise. I went into Boom expecting a completely different gameplay experience, and that expectation is true. A mix of puzzle solving, platforming and combat are all key elements to RoL, and especially the latter has surprised me with how fast paced and enjoyable it looks. What I fear most is that RoL is trying so hard to depart from the conventions of Sonic they’re afraid to dip into his identity – springs lack their signature star design and are instead replaced with boring, glowing blue circles without even a hint of the classic noise there. Jumping has no classic sound to it, and the spin dash lacks its famous rev. These little touches would just add a little injection of Sonic identity into RoL which I think it could really use, since the character dynamic and dialogue is all on point. Even if it’s sounding a tad repetitive at times.

And I share the unpopular opinion on Shattered Crystal. I think the game looks dreadfully boring. Absolutely nothing about the title stands out for me. It feels like it’s poorly imitating the classic games while trying to inject the floaty, boosty ideals of the Rush games. The visuals are nothing special and while the focus on exploration may be nice, there’s no sense of challenge in the platforming footage I’ve seen and the speed is nothing like Sonic Rush or the classic titles. Also, Amy being a damsel in distress? After Rise of Lyric so brilliantly defines her as a confident new woman who don’t need no Sonic? It’s a little frustrating to say the least. I have no interest in picking up this version in the slightest.

The TV show stands as a highlight amongst all three however. Though we haven’t seen much footage yet, I can already see the top notch production values there. Character models are spot on and the animation is stellar and smooth, almost like actual top quality CG cutscenes from the Sonic games themselves. The characters, like in RoL, seem to be written perfectly in line with their characters, and the humour genuinely made me chuckle at times. We can’t really get a real grasp of the plots themselves being interesting or not (though we know each episode is stand alone) but it’s looking like a fun, uplifting romp. This is the one I really have my eye on and I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

—

Doctor MK – It’s been a few months now since Sonic Boom’s initial reveal and, while the uproar over the new character designs has significantly quietened down, this new branch of the franchise still remains a controversial one – and E3 only really added to that notion.

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric for Wii U is a game that I simply cannot decide how I feel about. On the one hand, I’m thrilled that we’re going to be seeing a return to a more story-driven Sonic title after the wafer-thin plots of Colours, Generations and Lost World, and the characterization on show for the main cast is far beyond what we’ve seen from Sonic Team’s efforts in recent years. Plus, the talented voice cast working on the series at the moment finally get a real chance to shine with plenty of dialogue and some genuinely well-written lines – however, it’s something that will need to be handled with care. In just the couple of levels shown in the E3 demo alone, voice clips were heavily repeated and recycled – hearing the same old grunts and “nice kill, Sonic!” every few seconds over the span of the entire game could grow tiresome, no doubt about it. But it’s the gameplay that is arguably holding Rise of Lyric back the most. Speed has been thrown out of the window (aside from in specific, often automated sections of levels) in favour of exploration and combat, making this a mish-mash of the Sonic we know and love and something not unlike Sonic Unleashed’s Werehog stages, all at the same time. It has potential and I’m by no means writing it off yet, but I need to see more before I can truly get on board with it.

Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal for 3DS, on the other hand, looks more initially promising on face value. The characters are still slower and the focus still remains on exploration, but the level design is much more familiar to what we’re used to from a traditional Sonic game, and that ultimately might be the deal-breaker for many fans. Again, it’s difficult to form a solid opinion on it just yet, but it’s one to watch for now at least.

And finally, the cartoon. Unless the games seriously impress upon release, I’m certain that Sonic Boom’s TV series will unanimously be the best part of this new approach to Sonic. The animation is smooth, the voice cast are in full force, and there’s some brilliantly memorable scripting (even if it is somewhat random at times!). So all in all then, Sonic Boom as a whole is shaping up to be interesting, that’s for sure – it just appears to be a question of how far you’re willing to accept “this is not a normal Sonic title” if you are to get the most out of the tie-in games.

—

Jason the Jackass – As one of the few on staff who has played both games, I can honestly say that the Wii U version is not looking the best right now. Not like, Shadow or “06 bad, but I’d put it up there with Sonic Chronicles. A game with a pretty good story and easy to get through, but very bland gameplay in the middle. There were some fun spots such as traversing as Amy with her gymnastic moves and her Hammer that can clear away a ton of robots, but playing as Knuckles and pushing a mine cart around for a puzzle was tedious. But as Stephen Frost has stated before, these are small chunks of the game that don’t quite represent the overall product. Hopefully, before November, we can get a better idea of what the full game is like.

That said, there’s something about the 3DS version I really liked. Yeah , the traditional gameplay is so-so. Feeling closer to Sonic 4 than Sonic Rush and the speed isn’t super fast. However, I did like the exploration aspects and the extra levels were pretty fun, especially the rivals race. You’re gonna think I’m nuts, but the game has a bit of a “Sonic Colors” vibe to it what with the overhead map and returning to older levels with new characters who have different abilities. It almost makes the other cast feel like Wisps in a way. I mean, Knuckles is definitely like the Drill Wisp what with his burrowing. This is the most excited I’ve been for a Sonic 3DS game yet.

—

Nuckles87 – I think the new Sonic Boom franchise is looking decidedly average, which considering how awful Sonic games and cartoons can be, is almost something of a relief for me. The new trailer for the cartoon that they were playing ad museum at E3 actually looks cool, and I was digging the character centric humor it was hitting at. I will also confess that I couldn’t help but chuckle a little every time I heard Eggman talk about building a new, superior robot that will bring him “evil ham”. Maybe my sense of humor is just lousy? Either way, rather than taking a neutral attitude towards it I’m actually starting to look forward to it now.

As for the games, well, I wrote two whole previews for them at E3. You can find my impressions of the Wii U version here and my impressions of the 3DS version here. Long story short, I found Boom Wii U to be a decent Sonic themed brawler, free of many of the graphical issues the pre-E3 demo apparently had. I will admit, after being blown away by Lost World’s creative level design last year, Boom is disappointing in comparison, but where Lost World’s final game had high highs and low lows, maybe Boom Wii U will at least provide a more even experience. The 3DS version, on the other hand, seems to be a good game hampered by a poor interface.

For the games, I continue to take a wait and see approach. Will they be awful games? I really don’t think so. They probably won’t be great games, though. I think that, at the very least, they will probably both be decent. By the way, as a quick last minute plug, go check out my interview with Sonic Boom producer Stephen Frost over at SEGAbits.

xxOLDCommunity News

Sonic 2 HD Rises From The Grave

24th June 201424th June 2014

Symbotic

23 Comments

If you remember a couple of years back, a highly ambitious fan project aiming to re-create the classic Sonic the Hedgehog 2 with high definition visuals released its first ever alpha to the public. It was certainly stunning – however, issues behind the scenes involving the programming and engine arose shortly thereafter, which sadly brought a swift end to the future of Sonic 2 HD.

However today (and what a day to announce it on), the project was announced to be back on via the Facebook page. A fan came and saved the day, lending his own independently created engine to the game. Even without all its previous team members, Sonic 2 HD is back in production with even a Mac OS version coming at a point. The full post is as follows:

Hello everyone!

The only thing more surprising than seeing an official post from us here is our announcing that S2HD is no longer dead.

You read that correctly: work has once again begun on Sonic 2 HD! That said, we’d like to give you all a brief tie-in for recent events leading to the project’s reboot.

As many of you know, the leading reason behind the project’s cancellation was due to the programming element being removed with no possibility of return in its existing form. As of last year, this changed. Before anyone raises the question, no, the former programmer and the S2HD team members have not had a reunion; instead, a fan of the project independently created and submitted his own engine to Vincent, the project leader, for evaluation. After integrating the art assets from the alpha release and successfully testing it, Vincent began to let the rest of the prior team members know, and we’ve picked up where we left off sans those who are unavailable due to real life obligations. Two other talented programmers have since offered their skills to recreate the game’s physics to match the original, and to port the game to the Mac OS platform (the latter of which is still in the earliest possible stage, and we have no estimate on when it will be playable, so stay tuned!).

In response to some of the questions we have seen, the Alpha Release build is officially discontinued and will not get any form of support as we do not have the source code. The next release will be entirely new programming from the ground up.

We’ll provide more details in how you can help us out in the next few days. It’s good to be back!

From that final note, you can see the team might be reaching out for some help from the community soon. Make sure you keep up to date with their Facebook if you feel you can contribute. I personally wish them all the luck in the world that they’ll succeed – Sonic 2 HD is a huge undertaking but it would be a dream to see it become reality!

Got any fond memories of Sonic 2 you wanna share with us? Be sure to head over to Twitter and get involved in the week long celebration for Sonic’s birthday which we’re collaborating with SEGAbits and Sonic Retro. Use the hashtag #Sonic23on23 to get in on the conversation, and we’ll be looking out for some of the best to re-tweet and favourite!

Source: Sonic 2 HD Facebook

xxOLDOfficial News

Sonic Features at Summer Games Done Quick Marathon

23rd June 201423rd June 2014

Ian

4 Comments

Quick update: The Summer Games Done Quick speedrunning marathon is running right now to raise moneys for Doctors Without Borders (the American branch of Medecins Sans Frontieres).

Their Sonic the Hedgehog segment is due to start at around 8:30pm UK time tonight, featuring Sonic 2, Sonic Advance 2, Sonic Unleashed, and the finest Sonic game in history… Tails Adventure.

Donating during this segment will enter you in a raffle for a prize of a Sega Genesis with a load of Sonic games included. The whole event is well worth a watch, though.

Summer Games Done Quick

xxOLDArticles, xxOLDReviews

TSS/SEGAbits Review: Sonic Pocket Adventure

23rd June 201431st October 2016

Nuckles87

1 Comment

Years ago, I was working on a review of Sonic Pocket Adventure for Sonic Stadium, in an effort to increase TSS’s coverage of Sonic’s more obscure titles. Unfortunately, taking screenshots was a pain, so I left it incomplete. A year later I found myself needing to come up with content for my (relatively) new job over at SEGAbits, so I repurposed this review into an article for them. Now, as part of the #Sonic23on23 intersite celebration, I’m bringing this article back to you folks in the hopes of rousing some interest in this fun little game! You can find the original article here, as it was posted back in November of 2011.

If you want to buy this game and the Neo Geo Pocket you’ll need to play it on, you can find them both over at eStarland.

After SEGA retired the Game Gear in early 1997, they suddenly found themselves on the market for a new handheld to support. That same year SEGA threw its weight behind the Tiger’s Game.com, offering Tiger the licenses to several of its franchises, including Sonic. This deal would give rise to the worst shit SEGA ever slapped its name on. As the Game.com quickly dropped dead at the sight of the Gameboy, SEGA threw its support behind another, much better handheld: SNK’s Neo Geo Pocket Color. This support would only yield one SEGA game in the American market, in the form of Sonic’s last portable adventure before going third party: Sonic Pocket Adventure.

Sonic Pocket Adventure is a classic Sonic platformer. It utilizes the classic Sonic physics that we all know, love, and miss. If you’ve played any of the old Genesis titles you should know what to expect here: a physics based platformer that requires the player to use momentum and quick reflexes to get to the end of each stage.

The physics work well and feel right. You won’t ever find yourself standing on walls or walking up ceilings here. The controls are responsive, and the levels are largely well designed. This game was made before endless bottomless pits became the default method of making Sonic games hard, so the difficulty feels fair here. Like any side scrolling Sonic game, there are seven chaos emeralds to collect, and they are required to play the final boss and beat the game.

SPA holds the unique distinction of being the last “classic” Sonic title. In fact, the game’s content is actually an amalgamation of all three games from the original Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy. The locations of the first six zones were taken from Sonic 2, as are the half pipe special stages. The final zone was based around Scrap Brain from Sonic 1. The final two boss areas were taken from the Death Egg boss and Doomsday boss areas from Sonic & Knuckles. Finally, the music is all derived from Sonic 3.

That being said, don’t take that to mean this is a port. SPA is in fact more like the upcoming Sonic Generations: its taken locations from previous games and has built all new levels in them. All of the bosses are also completely original, aside from Mecha Sonic. The music has also been redone, since the Neo Geo Pocket couldn’t handle Genesis music anyway. Finally, the game also has a set of puzzles that you can only complete from collecting pieces in game. This mode likely won’t attract anyone other than the hardcore completest, but it does offer players something else to strive for once they’ve beaten the game, especially since these pieces are not easy to find.

SPA plays like the Sonic game people have been demanding for decades. It’s got the right physics and it’s got the right level design. This is a classic Sonic game in every way, except for perhaps the title screen since that features green eyed Sonic. Of course great game play isn’t everything, especially not in a Sonic title. The visuals and audio also need to hold up.
Before I talk about how this game’s visuals measure up, I’m going to talk about the Neo Geo Pocket’s hardware for a bit. It was originally marketed as a “16-bit” color handheld.

While it was certainly graphically superior to the 8 bit Game Boy Color, it couldn’t hold a candle to what we typically expect from a machine like the Genesis. This is the best looking Neo Geo Pocket game I’ve played thus far. The colors are bright and vibrant, the boss sprites are large and detailed, and Sonic himself is the best looking sprite I’ve played on the NGP. Most of the sprites have fairly limited colors and utilize a lot of white and black, but Sonic’s sprite is fully colored. The backgrounds look great, and the art style of the old games shine through pretty effectively here.

While SPA is one of the best looking games on the NGP, it also highlights some of the system’s limitations. For one, the levels here don’t look nearly as good as the original stages they were based on. There is less detail and everything looks blockier. There is also one vital problem that keeps SPA from being a triple A Sonic title: the frame rate. Frame rate issues are common in the NGP’s action games and unfortunately SPA was not an exception. The frame rate isn’t persistently poor, but rather pops up when there is a lot going on on-screen. The problem isn’t persistent enough to run the game, but it’s still far too noticeable to be ignored

The music selection is pretty solid, with tracks from Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles, and even a few from Sonic Jam. The first two have my favorite tracks out of all of the old school Sonic games, so SNK certainly picked good tracks to bring over. Of course, the NGP’s audio quality isn’t as good as the Genesis, so the tracks don’t back quite the same punch, but they are still a very good reason to keep the volume up.

Sonic Pocket Adventure is the last hurrah of the retro Sonic era, before the character jumped headfirst into the art style and world we know today. As a send-off to this era it works pretty well, even if that probably wasn’t the intention at the time. It is an adventure I would highly recommend to any Sonic fan, and considering Neo Geo Pockets are pretty reasonably priced and have a great selection of still exclusive games to choose from beyond Sonic, I would highly recommend picking one up. While it does have a poor frame rate and retreads environments we’ve seen before, it also revisits the 16 bit era of Sonic in fashion that only a game from this era could do. Pick it up.

I would like to end this review with a fun fact: did you know several people who worked on this game would later go on to found Dimps, the creators of every handheld Sonic adventure since this one? Dimps was formed by several former SNK employees shortly after the company’s acquisition by Aruze. Dimps has since gone one to become the go-to developer for Sonic’s side scrolling handheld adventures, one of their latest efforts being a little game called Sonic Rush Adventure. How does that game measure up to their first effort? Find out here!

You’ll Love:

Great, classic Sonic game play ripped straight from the Genesis classics
Lots of call backs to old locations, but still uses all new level design and bosses
Best looking game on the Neo Geo Pocket
Combination of old school game play with all new level design make this a game every Sonic fan should seek out

You’ll Hate:

Frame rate problems
Doesn’t use any truly new locations

xxOLDArticles, xxOLDCommunity News, xxOLDReviews

Sonic Stadium, SEGAbits, & Sonic Retro team up to celebrate Sonic’s golden birthday – party all week!

23rd June 201423rd June 2014

Nuckles87

21 Comments

Twenty three years ago SEGA introduced Sonic the Hedgehog, a character that would go on to challenge Mario for the gaming throne and champion a decade’s worth of SEGA hardware. Now, twenty three years later, Sonic’s Golden Birthday approaches, as Sonic’s birthdate and age synch up for the one and only time! In order to celebrate this momentous occasion, Sonic Stadium is teaming up with Sonic Retro and SEGAbits to bring you a week of Sonic content! Visit all three sites for articles, streams and videos as we celebrate Sonic’s birthday from today through to the 29th!

SEGAbits and Sonic Retro will also be hosting a panel at Too Many Games in Oaks, PA on Saturday the 28th at noon as part of the celebration. The panel will feature a Dreamcast round table, a My Life with SEGA episode premiere, the history of Sonic the Hedgehog 2‘s Hidden Palace Zone, and a trivia contest with rare SEGA prizes including The House of the Dead 3 & 4 posters signed by series director Takashi Oda. There will also be several Sonic prizes on hand.

Readers can join in on the celebrations as well! All you have to do is follow The Sonic Stadium, SEGAbits and Sonic Retro on Twitter and share your Sonic the Hedgehog photos and memories with the hashtag #Sonic23on23. The best tweets will be retweeted and shared to over 11,000 SEGA and Sonic fans, and we all know that in today’s world nothing is more rewarding than a retweet.

Happy Birthday, Sonic! The party has just begun!

xxOLDOfficial News

Sonic Movie Not Based on Boom

Gallery

21st June 201421st June 2014

Dave Luty

54 Comments

So the writer of the new Sonic movie Mr Van Robichaux recently registered on The Sonic Stadium’s own forums and made a few comments regarding the Sonic movie being made by Sony pictures. Whilst he can’t go into specifics or details due to NDA’s, he did offer a few clues as to the direction it will be heading in.

I can’t get into any specifics about the story of the film, but I can say that Boom is a completely separate project.

As well as this small clue that the movie will not be based on the Sonic Boom continuity. There was also this comment regarding his selection for position as writer.

One of the main reasons I was hired for the project was because they wanted someone young, who is a true fan of the character and games. If that doesn’t speak to their intentions, I don’t know what does.

We’ll keep you updated with more news as we get it.

Source: Sonic Stadium Forums.

xxOLDOfficial News

UPDATE: Cyborg Eggman — New SatAM Concept Art Found

20th June 201421st June 2014

Dave Luty

56 Comments

Update: Even more concept art found.

First up is Rotor, not much to say about this one, other than he looks slightly more cartoonish.

Secondly, we have another Bunnie concept art, she looks a lot more like a robot in this one.

Actually, scratch that, she looks less like a robot/cyborg and more like she’s wearing power armour.

And finally… we have this… Cyborg Robotnik, with electric pony tail.

That is awesome!

Original Story: It’s not unusual to go onto ebay and find animation cels from episodes of The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog or any other Sonic cartoon… However, what is odd are finds listed here. A seller who has listed and who has a history of listing official annimation cells from AOSTH and SatAM has listed a bunch of concept art from the show which shows radically different designs for some of the main characters which have never been seen before.

First up is Princess Sally… who is now a human!

Is it just my imagination, or does she look a lot like the Princess from Dragons Lair?

Here is another early concept of Princess Sally who looks more like her final animal form.

There’s something about her which looks Middle Eastern, almost like Princess Jasmine from Aladdin?

Up next is Bugs Bunny’s after an operation… Sorry I mean Bunnie…

Now… this is where things get… stranger…. Behold… Dr Robotnik!

He has devil horns green skin! How is this possible? Do I need to comment further on this? The design looks a lot like a villain from other cartoon shows at the time, but it looks absolutely nothing like Robotnik.

So this next one is a strange one. Mainly because I don’t remember it from any episode, but a golden glow Sonic was also added, however the date would put this very close if not prior to Sonic 2.

And finally we have… the thing which made me roar with laughter when I saw it… Robotnic’s Chicken!

Please… Sega… make this a playable character in Sonic Boom. He can wander around the levels pecking up rings and randomly screaming at enemies. Also here’s a challenge, mod generations so we play as Robotnic’s Chicken, bonus points for custom animations and clucking noises. I also want fanart and comics too!

Thanks to iDEATH & Indigo Rush for the finds.

Full sized and additional images can be found in the gallery.

xxOLDOfficial News

Andronic races onto Sonic Dash for Android

19th June 201419th June 2014

Doctor MK

14 Comments

Well… umm… this is weird.

In a new update that absolutely nobody could see coming, the Android version of mobile endless runner Sonic Dash now features two additional characters – the Android robot and (yes, you’re really hearing this right) Andronic the Droid Hog.

The Android robot comes free as part of the new update, but if you play as him 50 times, you’ll unlock the Sonic themed reskin that will undoubtedly become the subject of many future fan-fictions, as with the Tails Doll and the Sonic Omochao before him. I can’t decide whether it’s meant to be adorably stupid or utterly terrifying.

Understandably, this is exclusive to Google Play, with no equivalent iOS update detailed at the present time. Perhaps this is a strange way of paying back all the Android customers who were left anxiously waiting for Sonic Dash to hit their mobile device of choice while Apple users were speeding away months in advance.

Here’s a video of Andronic in action (no sound though, unfortunately). Marvel at how silly he looks, flailing his arms around like a madman!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sqJYsyL7nA[/youtube]

What do you make of this new Sonic Dash update? Will you play as Andronic the Droid Hog?

xxOLDCommunity News

GameStop giving away free $5 XBLA codes, (MIGHT only work on US accounts, your mileage may vary) (Edit: Over)

19th June 201421st June 2014

Hero of Legend

9 Comments

Edit @ 6:49PM EST: The promo is over, BUT, it’s actually going on for the next few weeks on Thursdays, so stay tuned for next week for another shot!… if they still have codes to give away! 😛

Original: So GameStop is giving away said codes. What do you have to do? Click on this link (just copy and paste the link on that page to your address bar) and then put in your email address, then it’ll prompt you to sign into your facebook account, do that and then confirm, and then you will right away get the code.

Someone over at NeoGAF posted this as a work around for those outside the US (or just don’t have said account period):

For everyone outside of the US, head to My Account on xbox.com, go to Payment & Billing, and hit Change My Region.

Worked for me.

So as I said, your mileage may vary, but hey, IT’S FREE!

What’s that? What does that have to do with Sonic? Easy! You can buy some games on XBLA with that code alone!

Have a look (based on the NA marketplace site):

Sonic Adventure $4.99

Sonic 1 $4.99

Sonic 2 $4.99

Sonic 3 $4.99

Sonic & Knuckles $2.99

Sonic CD $4.99

Sonic the Fighters $4.99

And a bunch of other stuff like DLC for like a buck or so.

Granted I’m uncertain if they add tax on top of those prices. Nintendo’s eShop does, Sony’s PSN does not.

Happy spending! 😀

xxOLDCommunity News, xxOLDGames, xxOLDMerchandise, xxOLDSpotlight

Sonic Revolution in Pictures!

19th June 201420th June 2014

Jason Berry

16 Comments

Pictures courtesy of Christian Gausin and 50 Rings Photography. This past Sunday was the first ever gathering of Sonic Revolution at the Holiday Inn at Buena Park. It’s the largest organized Sonic convention in the U.S. similar to “Summer of Sonic” in the UK, but still fairly small so far. We also are encouraging other Sonic fans across the U.S. to make their own Sonic conventions or at least a “meet and greet”. Sonic Revolution was founded by Shayne and Charles Edwards, Christian Gausin and Lidice Garcia. It started with them organizing “Sonic Boom U.S. West Chapter” (it was in response to Sonic Boom moving to St Louis) in September of 2013. During our little meet and greet, she asked if we’d like to be involved in building up the community for a full on Sonic convention and we were all in!

So how was it? It was great! We had some wonderful guests and a nice amount of attendees. Guests included gaming composer legend Tommy Tallarico, Archie Comics Evan Stanley, artists Elson Wong and Devin Taylor, my brother John and his girlfriend Debbie selling her hand-made jewelry, Darian Gonzalez with his very Sonic-like fan game “Bingo the Multiva” Chris Wilcots of fan film “Sonic Prologue” and rock band Serenity Seven. Not to mention the extra surprise of Sega’s Aaron Webber and Stephen Frost who stopped by to check out the event. We even had a real life hedgehog show up!

10301204_10152972534594816_1535587133199628585_n — “Where’s Amy at?”

The schedule of events included a cosplay contest, a panel with Tommy Tallarico talking about his life and video game music (he confirmed that Michael Jackson was the composer on Sonic 3), two concerts by Serenity Seven, Chris Wilcots showed off two exclusive scenes from his upcoming fan film “Sonic Prologue”, Aaron Webber and Stephen Frost had a Q&A panel (or course someone shouted “When do we get Shenmue 3?”), a very tough trivia contest (hosted and prizes supplied by yours truly), a one minute art contest in which Evan and Elson had to draw Sticks auditioning for Sonic Boom, a gaming competition (with several consoles in the back showing off many Sonic games) and finally, a raffle for some cool prizes and one more concert by Serenity Seven. It was an absolute blast and I can’t wait until next year! Let’s get to the pics!

Our Gaming Tournament booth.

Tanner “Ogilvie” Bates showing off his display of Sonic merchandise for sale.

Our program guide.

Blaze and Rouge enjoying themselves.

Bishop’s son enjoying the show.

Now THAT’S a big Sonic.

Tails – Don’t worry Shadow, I’m sure there’s someone who wants a giant, ugly Shadow plush.

More of Tanner’s merch.

Bishop Gahram’s Silver poster.

Rouge with what appears to be a piece of the Master emerald.

Letting people in to enjoy the show.

Blaze the Cat.

Shard’s here and ready to party!

Mariaaaa!!

Aaron and Steven Arrive on the scene.

“Sonic the what now? Never heard of it.”

Tommy Tallarico hangs out with Serenity Seven.

Tommy talks to the crowd about his music career.

Aaron and Stephen enjoying the show.

It was so cool getting to meet a musical legend like Mr. Tallarico.

This father and son were in line at least 3 hours before the show opened

“Gasp!” It’s the Chaos Emeralds!

“Time to go super!”

Some classic Sonic merchandise.

“Hmmmm yes. This does play quite like Sonic. You’ll be hearing from our lawyers soon.”

Here, Aaron is showing off a fan’s concept art for a game idea Stephen had were Tails (who’s deathly allergic to bee’s in his official bio) is being chased by Charmy and the object of the game is to keep the pair apart.

This is Aaron idea for a game. Big’s Big Fishing Adventure 3.

Guess who won first place in the cosplay contest?

Aaron and Stephen answering questions on stage.

The fans soaking in the Q&A panel.

Fan’s at Evan, Elson and Devin’s booth.

Founders Shayne and Lidice enjoying the fruits of their labor.

Evan won the one minute art contest with her drawing of Sticks jugging. Elson was apparently drawing her on a surfboard,but didn’t quite get to finish.

Well, that’s a wrap for now. There’s plenty more pics on our Sonic Revolution Facebook page at www.facebook.com/groups/sonicrevolution . There, you can check ou-wait! What’s th-..

Oh dear lord!!

RUN AARON AND STEPHEN! RUUNNN!!

xxOLDCommunity News, xxOLDNews

Sonic Characters – Did You Know Voice Acting? feat. Kirbopher

19th June 201419th June 2014

VizardJeffhog

8 Comments

Did you know these interesting voice acting facts? For those fans who always enjoy a good piece of trivia or two on Sonic the Hedgehog, for those who’ve always been fascinated by the VA business to some degree, or for those braggarts who want to come across as more knowledgeable towards their peers, have I got just the thing!

Did You Know Voice Acting? is a series of short videos crafted by TOME: Terrain of Magical Expertise producer Chris “Kirbopher” Niosi, providing some level of insight on all things voice acting in the gaming and animation industry. Each episode caters to a specific franchise in mind, such as Cartoon Network, Dragon Ball, and, for today’s topic, Sonic.

Curious to see what you’ve already known about the Sonic voice cast, past and present, or fascinated by the prospect of finding out tidbits of info you don’t already know? Watch on below!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-0CHWQrkGU

With that, don’t forget to head on to Sonic Characters – Part 2 and the recently released Part 3 for more info! If these have whet your appetite, might I suggest going through the series itself?

xxOLDGames, xxOLDInformation, xxOLDMedia, xxOLDNews, xxOLDVideo

Sonic Boom’s E3 Makeover

19th June 201419th June 2014

Jason Berry

24 Comments

Our own Hogfather brought this up on our message boards. Look at this snapshot from Sonic Boom’s pre-E3 B-Roll footage.

Looks like an old PS2 game right? Super bland textures. No lighting. Now look at the same area from footage taken during E3.

Holy cow! What a difference! It looks 100 times better.

This brings up an important question. Why in the world was that B-Roll footage ever allowed to be shown to the press and public in the first place? This does nothing but sour peoples feelings towards the game. It even affected my thoughts on the game on Sonic Talk pre-E3 (plug, plug).

If anything positive can be said, it shows how much a game’s look can be improved in just a short time (or it could be the effects were turned off to help stabilize frame rate). In the meantime, check out both videos below to see some of the other differences.

Original B-Roll from the Sonic Show

[youtube width=”600″ height=”345″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdaGYQIh0DE[/youtube]

Now, this new footage from Nintendo World Report

[youtube width=”600″ height=”345″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srz_xVXat3I#t=14[/youtube]

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Covers and Solicitations for Sonic the Hedgehog #265 and Sonic Universe #68 Revealed

18th June 2014

VEDJ-F

10 Comments

Darkness falls over the comics (literally), and one must wonder how eclipses affect lycanthropes.

Midtown Comics has a bunch of new details about the September/October issues coming up, and the themes are quite apt leading up to Halloween in a few months. In Sonic the Hedgehog #265, Sonic has been pushed across his brink and has gone full Werehog on the gang, and he isn’t a fluffy puppy! As the flames are up in the surrounding jungle, it’s up to Mighty to try and bring him to sense in “Control”: part 2. Meanwhile, Rotor’s keen to show off what the Sky Patrol can do, but runs into bother thanks to a Badnik Horde in “The Grand Tour”.

(W) Ian Flynn, Joey Esposito (A) Terry Austin & Various (CA) Tracy Yardley & Various
‘Control,’ Part 2. The Werehog is unleashed! As the jungle collapses in flames, it’s up to Mighty to bring his feral friend to heel! But can Sonic even tell ally apart from enemy anymore? Then in ‘The Grand Tour,’ Rotor shows off all of the Sky Patrol’s abilities; unfortunately, it’s right as a Badnik Horde attacks! Don’t miss a moment of the action, with cover art from the titanic team of Yardley, Austin and Stanley – plus an epic Sonic Adventure variant by the newest Sonic superstar Rafa Knight!

Sonic Universe #68 turns tact with Knuckles searching for the Dark Arms in the mountains with Rouge and E-123 Omega in tow. Shadow’s solitude does not go unnoticed, and ‘little brother’ Eclipse goes on the attack against his kin! Shadow starts facing off against this monster relative in “Total Eclipse”: part 2

(W) Ian Flynn (A) Jim Amash & Various (CA) Tracy Yardley, Ben Hunzeker
The first-ever Sonic Universe trilogy continues here in ‘Total Eclipse,’ Part 2! Knuckles leads Team Dark’s Rouge and Omega into the wilds of the Red Mountains, searching for the mysterious Dark Arms. But while the echidna’s away, the darklings will play – but darklings don’t play for fun-they play to kill! With Knuckles’ back turned, the evil Eclipse attacks Shadow the Hedgehog! Can even the ultimate life-form withstand Eclipse’s terrifying Monster Form? Don’t miss the new cover art from Tracy Yardley and returning Sonic painter Ben Hunzeker-plus an all-new ‘Tabloid’ variant cover by Jonathan H. Gray, Jim Amash and Matt Herms!

We will have more on both of these issues closer to the release date.

Source: Midtown Comics

xxOLDArticles, xxOLDSite Updates

TSS Discuss: What was your favourite part of E3?

18th June 201419th June 2014

Dave Luty

10 Comments

Since we’re all quite the avid gamers here at TSS, we all watched the circus which is E3 and each of us had their favourite part, be it an announcement, surprise, reveal or bit of news on a project we’ve been anticipating. So we decided to share with you our favourite E3 moments, and likewise, feel free to post your favourite moments from this years E3 in the comments section.

—

Hogfather – For me, there were two moments which stood out. The first was the reveal of Bloodborne. Bloodborne is being made by the same people behind Demons Souls and Dark Souls (nope, they didn’t make DS2). This fact alone pleases me. But aside from their history, just look at the game, it looks stunning. The monster designs look scary, the premise sounds like something from an old horror legend, the way the characters move and fight with one another. It just looks like you need to be so much more aggressive, it looks like you’ll actually have to ‘fight’ in this, and by that I mean, physical, almost raw in nature.

The second moment was the new information on No Man’s Sky. Now lets get the obvious out of the way, visually, this looks stunning. But the premise sounds incredible. An entire galaxy, never ending, full of planets you can visit and explore, each with their own ecosystem, plant and animal life.

Just imagining it, an endless universe, all of it explorable, yet impossible to explore, you’ll never finish it, it’ll be forever expanding. You discover a new animal or planet, every other player in the game will know it’s your discovery should they too find it.

You’ll be able to upgrade your ship so you can explore more worlds, or take on more dangerous pirates and other enemies on your travels. Everything about this looks like a grand adventure in outer space, you are the captain, you have the con.

—

Hero of Legend – My highlights were all Nintendo. I admittedly had fairly low expectations (funny enough I was the least excited I’ve been in years) since the last few have been really poor for Nintendo. Like last year the Direct was laggy as can be, and they spoiled their key Wii U games in the January 2013 Direct, leaving only Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze as their sole new Wii U game, yikes. Mario Kart 8, Bayonetta 2, and X (now Xenoblade Chronicles X) were the highlights last year.

This year, holy CRAP did they hit a home run. Not only was the presentation hilarious with the Robot Chicken segments, but the sheer volume of games was easily rivaling their E3 2010 and even E3 2006 showing, that is a high bar folks.

My game of the showing would likely be Bayonetta 1, which while of course being a port, it’s one I was BEGGING for (what, did you all ignore my signature for the past 6 months? XD). I have a personal love for playing high-quality Nintendo versions of classics not on a Nintendo system prior, not so much games out at the same time that are gimped in some way. Bayonetta 1 falls into the former (as does Tales of the Abyss on 3DS, highly recommended!).

Other highlights include Yoshi’s Wooly World finally back from the dead after the only showing at the aforementioned Jan 2013 Direct. What a jump it made. So pretty. As well as Kirby and the Rainbow Curse. Never did I imagine that HAL would already be putting out a Wii U Kirby game this soon, and right after Kirby Triple Deluxe on 3DS. They’ve come a LONG way after the long hiatus between Kirby Adventure GCN’s cancellation and Kirby’s Return to Dreamland on Wii.

Disappointed in X being simply Xenoblade, and it’s not even an actual sequel but a spiritual successor. The hell is the point? Also they said way back the game they were making was a new IP. O_o

Should mention that I got to see Sony’s conference in the theater. And honestly I don’t see myself doing it again, felt kinda awkward only just having a Vita and only getting really started in the Sony camp. Sony certainly didn’t give much time to the Vita at all.

Saw a tad of Microsoft’s online but left it due to disinterest. The whole Conker thing is something else. I was actually humored at his “comeback” explaining the trademark renewal, but OH did fans get pissed and I see why, wow (and I love Rare, and dearly miss their Nintendo partnership *sniff*, I’m so getting The Unlikely Legend of Rusty Pup by Conker’s creator by the way for Wii U eShop). Was also kinda half surprised and half not of Kamiya’s Scalebound. That Crazy Buttocks guy on GAF hit the nail on the head last year with that rumor. Was disappointed that he wasn’t on another Wii U game, but eh, can’t be sad with all this Bayonetta goodness and The Wonderful 101 to play now can’t it? 😉

And that’s it for me! 😀

—

JonoD – For me, I found that E3 this year was very much a fleeting kind of affair. There really wasn’t anything this year that had me screaming at the computer screen with excitement.

Whilst I didn’t catch all of the press conference presentations, what I saw of the ones I did manage to catch seemed like the standard affair to me. EA’s conference was loaded with sports and guns… meh. Microsoft had a lot of stuff to cater for a good proportion of the mainstream gamer demographic (and Sunset Overdrive looks freaking awesome), but Sony’s conference had the most of interest for me. There was plenty there to satisfy my more ‘out there’ gaming tastes with titles such as Abzu, LittleBigPlanet 3, Entwined and… The Ratchet and Clank movie. Yep, the Ratchet and Clank Movie.

The movie looks to be an interesting retelling of the Ratchet and Clank story from a different approach, and whilst we haven’t seen much, I’m looking forward to catching this thing in theatres (assuming it makes it as far as ye olde England). The other bombshell they dropped? Original Ratchet and Clank remake… on PS4. The moment I see that, the PS4 system: Sold to me.

Another game I’m looking forward to: Mortal Kombat X. Awful teaser trailer song be damned, seeing the actual game in action was a great laugh, and has me looking forward to severing limbs left, right and center. The kombat (heh) looks to be much improved over last time, as is the game’s overall presentation (the X-Ray moves look a LOT more natural and painful!), and I’m looking forward to seeing what story route the game is going to take. Will have to wait and see there!

It’s funny… Why is it that the games I’m looking forward to most, are the ones I’ve pretty much already played years ago?

—

VizardJeffhog – If there’s one part of E3 that I have thoroughly enjoyed, that had me on the edge of my seat even before the show began just from the sheer amount of hype it potentially generated… it has got to be, hands down, Nintendo’s main E3 presentation through their Digital Event. Heck, what else would a Nintendo fanboy fawn over at this time of year? It was glorious, goofy fun all around, not to mention that it trumped over the other conferences by showing a necessary and gratuitous amount of, well, gameplay instead of relying on prerendered material for the most part, so how could I not highlight this?

Not to say that Microsoft and Sony had nothing to show, don’t get me wrong! Personal highlights on those ends would be the insanely bright and colourful Sunset Overdrive, seeming to be well on its way since its premiere at E3 2013 and downright insane in its execution, and the Ratchet & Clank remasters, seeing as I’ve always been meaning to get into the series but have yet to obtain a Playstation console. On the EA side of things, Mirror’s Edge 2 looks pretty fantastic, and I hope to get my hands on that particular gem in the near future, once I’ve gotten ahold of a PS4 that is! ~~What about Ubisoft though?~~

But Nintendo. Oh my god, everything I’ve ever could have wanted and then some got showcased, the Robot Chicken skits aside, hilarious as they were. Wanted to star in Super Smash Bros yourself? Now you can! Needed a quality Yoshi experience to make up for New Island on the 3DS? Woolly World has everything! Enjoyed the Captain Toad levels from Super Mario 3D World? Here’s an entire game based around it! Looked forward to Bayonetta 2 but never had the chance to play the first? Bam, here’s both games in one! Kirby: Canvas Curse sequel? Missed Midna of Twilight Princess fame? Open-world Zelda? Make your own Super Mario levels? WhaBAM on all counts!

What really stood out for me, however, was the unorthodox reveal that is Splatoon, Nintendo’s own take on the shooter genre. What makes it unique? Squid-girls blasting coloured ink everywhere for territorial domination, transforming into squids to either swim through ink at high speeds or use as camouflage, and going head-to-head in 4 vs 4 online brawls with these elements in mind! I’m looking forward to see how this IP will evolve over the next few years, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it come 2015!

On a final note, I’ve also had the chance to try out Super Smash Bros for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U at a local Best Buy for Smash Fest (it’s the same build as E3’s own, so it counts!), and it plays exactly as you would have dreamed. It’s frantic, it’s fast-paced, and it’s chaotic good fun, just as it should be, this time leaning more on the side of Melee than it did Brawl. The game plays fine and dandy with the Nintendo 3DS’s control scheme, and I had a great time breezing and powering up Sonic through Smash Run, the mode inspired by Kirby Air Ride‘s City Trial mode, and wailing on computer players in Gold form within the New Super Mario Bros. 2 inspired level. I also had a run-in with a familiar Sky Sanctuary-native robot within Smash Run, so keep your eyes peeled for these guys once you get ahold of this game!

This did not come without the announcement of a delay from a slated summer release to October 3rd for the 3DS version, but hey, it makes for a better quality product in the end. Besides, the reveal of Mii Fighters, Lady Palutena from Kid Icarus, and Smash co-developer Namco’s own Pac-Man as playable characters all in a single day makes the wait more than worth it… as though everything else about the game doesn’t make it obvious enough!

—

Doctor MK – As I’m not a big Sony or Microsoft follower, E3 for me was (as always) all about Nintendo – and I am pleased to say they did not disappoint! While they’ve had some disappointing performances in recent years, 2014 truly was the year that they got things right. There was a lot of debate about whether holding another digital presentation was a good idea, but the Digital Event really proved how to pull it off with aplomb – from the self-deprecating humour of the Robot Chicken sketches to the Reggie v Iwata fist fight, this was all stuff you simply could not have done live on stage.

The real highlight of Nintendo’s E3 approach though has to be the Treehouse Live – almost constant round the clock three day coverage of all their big new games kept interest in Nintendo’s reveals alive long after the excitement for Sony and Microsoft died down. And what games they are! Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS continues to impress (the Palutena reveal making me far happier than it should… perhaps even more so than Pac-Man!) and Yoshi’s Woolly World, the re-woven Yarn Yoshi, looks simply sublime. Classic Yoshi gameplay with that adorable art style and some creative new ideas? Count me in!

In terms of surprises, Captain Toad’s Treasure Tracker was a game that seemed so obvious in concept that it might never have been made, and though we were all expecting our first look at the new Legend of Zelda… actually seeing it, just wowzers. Stunning visuals, a bold new approach, and open world gameplay will all make up Link’s upcoming adventure on the Wii U. But it was arguably the squid-tastic shooter Splatoon that remains my firm favourite – which is funny really, because I glanced over it a bit during the Digital Event. But having seen more of it via the Treehouse Live, it looks like one heck of a blast, and a much needed shot in the arm for Nintendo’s online multiplayer community. This is definitely one to watch! 2015, hurry up and get here already!

—

Brad – First of all, I wanna say that each of the big three did a great job this year. A huge improvement on the previous few conferences gone by even with the high and lows they all shared, most notable being Microsoft who really surprised me with a really enjoyable hour. Because of that, I wanna give a highlight from each of their conferences.

From Microsoft, the entire trailer for Sunset Overdrive made me chuckle and super envious of all the Xbone users out there, because man does that look fun. It has a a bright, comic charm to it that’s undeniably infectious, and the gameplay itself outside of the gunplay looks extremely fun. Also, special shout out to “Super Ultra Dead Rising 3 Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX Plus Alpha” for making me laugh (again) like a total idiot, and premiering Rise of the Tomb Raider which I can’t wait to see much more from, even if it’s not an exclusive. Great stuff.

Sony had quite a few strong points. No Man’s Sky finally captured my interest, Uncharted 4 looks visually stunning, and there’s new games coming from the developers of Limbo and Journey, two excellent indie titles. But honestly my favourite moment goes to the announcement of LittleBigPlanet 3, and the pure surprise of it. Reps get on stage, and say “hi, we’re here to show off LBP3” like it’s nothing and the crowd reacted fantastically. Looking at the new cast of characters and the increased creativity options available (and, developed by Sumo Digital!), LBP3 is shaping up to be a great game for this year. Also, I really can’t not mention Arkham Knight. If it wasn’t delayed to next year, it would have pushed me to make it my favourite. Because goddamn, it looked absolutely incredible.

Finally, Nintendo. They had a really enjoyable conference this year with Robot Chicken segments that were tongue-in-cheek laughing at themselves plus fans/critics, and the epically memorable Reggie versus Iwata showdown was super fun to watch play out. However, my favourite moment is almost certainly a tie between the new Legend of Zelda game announcement, and the first true trailer for the upcoming Pokemon generation three remakes for 3DS. I’d say Zelda takes the cake here just for the presentation itself, as Aonuma simply clicked his fingers and suddenly this gorgeous, vast and sprawling huge world appeared behind him, while he explained you could travel to all the areas you could see before you. After a short chase sequence done completely on the in-game engine, I was so excited and happy that I was squealing.

Oh, and let’s not forget the wonderful and beautiful Aisha Tyler, the presenter of the Ubisoft conference for the third year. She’s an absolute star and I hope to see her in the future. It’s been a pretty great E3 2014! Even if most of the games are coming out next year, hehe.

—

Jason Berry – I’m with Hero on this one. Nintendo really knocked it out of the park this year. Between the recent launch of Mario Kart 8, the huge Smash Bros tournament at Best Buys, cool original IPs like Splatoon (Which was incredibly fun to play) and a brand new, open world Zelda, things are finally starting to look up. Surprisingly, I was also impressed with X-Box One’s lineup. Especially Sunset Overdrive which is giving me Dreamcast vibes with it’s “Jet Set Radio meets Ratchet and Clank” style of game play, Ori: The Blind Forest was full of feels, playing Halo in 1080P/60FPS is a must and Scalebound from the director of Bayonetta! Sadly, Playstation failed to impress me for the first time in years. I’m sure I’ll love LittleBigPlanet 3, but no other exclusives got me excited.

—

Nuckles87 – E3 was full of nice, small surprises this year. In terms of how much they interested me, this was probably the best year since 2010. Bayonetta 2’s new demo kicked all kinds of ass, of course. As a fan of point and click adventure games I’m excited for the re-release of Grim Fandango, which will be getting a port to Playstation platforms later this year and finally give me a chance to play it. Though I didn’t get to play it since I left my PS4 on the other side of the country, Entwined was a really cool new game to see, and between that and Abzu it looks like Sony is going to continue to amazing by supporting and providing some of the most artistic and creative content in the industry.

On the Nintendo end of things, I am glad they gave us a brief glimpse of next gen Zelda and made it clear that the game game in the franchise was going to be sprawling and wide open. Smash Bros continues to be one of my most anticipated games this year, especially now that Miis and Pac-man are coming. Star Fox, Splatoon and Giant Robot were all welcomed surprises, but my favorite was easily the announcement that Wii U owners will not only be getting an enhanced port of the original Bayonetta, but they will be getting it for free with Bayonetta 2.

As a huge Halo fan, the announcement of the Master Chief Collection was easily my highlight of their conference. Not only are we getting four awesome Halo games in one package, not only are we getting every single multiplayer map, not only will all of these games feature enhanced resolution, but Halo 2 will also be getting the full anniversary treatment, with remade Xbox One graphics! On top of that, they are bringing over the entire multiplayer experience completely untouched, something I’ve been wanting to re-experience ever since the servers for the Xbox version went off line back in 2010.

I really dug this E3. Though this year wasn’t exactly filled with huge announcements, there were more than enough small ones to make me happy. Jason and I also got to hang out with Sven for a bit after the show ended!

=======================

So you might be wondering, ‘hey, didn’t any of you like Sonic Boom?’ well funny you should ask that, we’ll be discussing Sonic Boom (all aspects of it) in a future update.

P.S. This moment was also rather wonderful.

He can make people bow on demand, he’s that powerful.

So agree/disagree with anything mentioned here? Did something else catch your eye? Let us know in the comments.

xxOLDGames, xxOLDInterviews, xxOLDMedia, xxOLDNews, xxOLDVideo

TSS@E3 – Interview With Matt Kraemer (Sonic Boom 3DS)

17th June 201417th June 2014

Jason Berry

37 Comments

[youtube width=”600″ height=”340″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUZ1KtEE_Q8[/youtube]

Sometimes when working for two sites at an event, it’s easy to get your wires crossed. In this case, I refer to myself as Shigs from Segabits after Alex informed me that this interview was meant for Sonic Stadium. Oops!

Anyway, this is my interview with Lead level designer from Sanzaru Games, Matt Kraemer. Matt was incredibly friendly and I gotta admit, Sonic Boom:Shattered Crystal (3DS) was by far my favorite of the two Sonic Boom games. Here, we discuss collectibles, second goals, Streetpass features and more! So why are you still reading this? Press play!

xxOLDComics

Ian Flynn, Tracy Yardley and more at Heroes Con on June 21st (Updated)!

16th June 201419th June 2014

VEDJ-F

7 Comments

Close to Charlotte, North Carolina and like the Archie comics? This could be something for your diary!

Over this coming weekend, a comic convention called Heroes Con is being held at the Charlotte Convention Centre in Charlotte, NC. Amongst the guest list across the three-day event are several representatives for the Archie comic, and there’s a dedicated half to the panel for Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Universe and Mega Man with Paul Kaminski (editor), Ian Flynn (writer) and Tracy Yardley (artist). The official website has the specific schedule for the Archie panel;

Room 201
PART I :: ARCHIE: Life, Afterlife and Beyond
Join moderator Jimmy Aquino (COMIC NEWS INSIDER) in a talk about the major events happening at Archie Comics – from the hit horror series AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE to the upcoming “Death of Archie” in the pages of LIFE WITH ARCHIE and much more – with an all-star cast of Archie staff and stars, including artist FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA (Afterlife with Archie), PAUL KAMINSKI (Archie Comics Executive Director of Editorial) and Red Circle Comics Editor and Archie SVP – Publicity and Marketing ALEX SEGURA.
PART II :: ARCHIE: SONIC THE HEDGEHOG and MEGAMAN
Get the inside scoop on what’s coming up in Archie’s best-selling “Action” line of video game titles, including SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, SONIC UNIVERSE and MEGA MAN, with SONIC/MEGA MAN editor PAUL KAMINSKI and long-time Sonic and Mega Man creators IAN FLYNN and TRACY YARDLEY

You can get a three day pass in advance of the event until the end of June 18th, or you can get a one day pass on the day for $20 if you wish to get in for Archie on June 21st. If you want a potential day out, this might be something to consider! More details about the location and other technical details are on the Heroes Con website.

UPDATE: It’s not June 20th at 4pm as the schedule said at the time of posting, it’s June 21st at 2pm! Make sure you don’t get confused and get there a day early! Although several Archie people will be at tables throughout the weekend anyway.

Table details are listed on the official Bumbleking website.

Source: Heroes Online

xxOLDArticles, xxOLDColumns, xxOLDNews

Sum-Up Sunday: The Week That Was E3 2014

15th June 201416th June 2014

Symbotic

19 Comments

E3 2014 has come to a close, and what a week it was for our blue hedgehog. In case you missed anything, Sum-Up Sunday is here to catch you up on all the big headlines that you might have missed. Tons of new footage from Sonic Boom, plenty of interviews, a trio of new trailers, and even a movie announcement. Check it all out below:

Monday

Over five minutes of promotional footage provided by SEGA for Sonic Boom was uploaded, giving us full quality and sound. Hear the little snippets of dialogue between the characters as they rush through speedy areas and fight off enemies.
Take a look at the Sonic Boom banner that was displayed proudly at the E3 convention centre. Hopefully it helped to drum up a little more interest for people to go try out the upcoming title.

Tuesday

Sonic Jump Fever, a sequel to the original Sonic Jump title, is coming soon to iOS and Android devices. It will feature a more dynamic action and combos, and doesn’t yet have a release date for any region… what? What do you mean it’s already out in Canada?
A trio of E3 trailers came out for the three areas of Sonic Boom. First is Rise of Lyric with some epic movie style narration, second came Shattered Crystal showing off the gameplay and character’s unique abilities, and finally the TV show which gives us an idea of the type of ham Eggman eats.
Some new concept art showed up for Sonic Boom for both Rise of Lyric and Shattered Crystal, giving a look at some of the environments – like sprawlingly tall trees in a jungle/forest, and some enemy designs.
And the big one – Sony Pictures confirmed that they were making a live action/CGI mix Sonic the Hedgehog movie! It won’t just be one though. It’ll be the beginning of an annual release movie franchise.

Wednesday

TSS begin their coverage of E3 with our hands-on preview of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, thanks to our own Jason Berry. Give it a read, it’s a good one that goes into plentiful of gameplay details and more.
Also, get a good look at the giant range of toys launching alongside the Sonic Boom franchise. Plushes, action figures, and Sonic figures with articulated joints to make them look like they’re from The Exorcist.
Is that Metal Sonic in Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal? Eagle eye viewers brought to our attention that he’s most certainly there, clear as day; is it a random cameo, or is it something more? He’s had no design changes seemingly…

Thursday

Gamespot had a preview of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, and re-uploaded their footage clean. You can see a few more of the cutscenes, where you can see Sonic and Knuckles’ rivalry has been re-ignited, and Amy has become quite the confident member for the team.
Take a look at the Sonic Boom blackboard at E3. The video gives a look at the whole thing which Tails makes notes upon, which also includes the team’s individual little cameos made in their own respective colours.
We also got a hands on preview of Sonic Jump Fever. It’s definitely looking like a notable improvement on the original and it feels significantly less “empty” than it did before.

Friday

As E3 draws to close, TSS has another hands on preview – this time, with the 3DS version of Sonic Boom. This one is far more akin to a traditional Sonic experience than it’s big brother on the Wii U, with exploration also being a key element.

Saturday

Finally, we have an interview with Sonic Boom producer Stephen Frost. Stephen goes into a lot of neat details about the game in our 16 minute interview, so sit down and enjoy it with a nice hot drink. I normally go for tea.

And that’s all for this week – so much stuff happened! Phew. Tell us what you thought was the most exciting development of the week in the comments, and what you’re looking forward to most now you’ve seen more from Sonic Boom – the Wii U version, the 3DS version, or the TV show. Until next year and a new Sonic title, E3!

xxOLDArticles, xxOLDGames, xxOLDInterviews, xxOLDMedia, xxOLDNews, xxOLDSpotlight, xxOLDVideo

TSS@E3 – Interview With Stephen Frost

14th June 201414th June 2014

Jason Berry

50 Comments

[youtube width=”600″ height=”355″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU3neKGNktA[/youtube]

While on the E3 show floor, I got a chance to interview the producer on Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, Stephen Frost. We talked about the game, some fans concerns and Sticks. I was originally going to do a transcript of the interview, but it’s 16 minutes long and that’s a lot to transcribe and it’s been a long week and I’m lazy. Besides, this way you get to hear it straight from the man himself and reading is overrated anyway. Enjoy!

xxOLDArticles, xxOLDOfficial News

TSS@E3 – Hands-on: Sonic Boom Shattered Crystal

13th June 201423rd June 2014

Nuckles87

25 Comments

For a second opinion, please head over to SEGAbits to check out Shigs’s thoughts.

It’s felt like years since I’ve played a new handheld Sonic title that I’ve really enjoyed. Sonic Colors, Generations and Lost World have all had stages I’ve liked, but as a complete package none of them seem to be able to reach the level of the Sonic Rush titles. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal is going to change that trend, if my time with the E3 demo is any indication.

Shattered Crystal brings some really interesting ideas to the table. Instead of focusing on the typical multilayered super-fast platforming Sonic is known for, Shattered Crystal’s primary focus is exploration, with some brief speed areas in between large, expansive, almost labyrinthine areas. These stages are huge. As I was playing I constantly tried to go off the beaten path to find every nook and cranny, which often resulted in me uncovering small hidden areas. Sometimes however, I found myself on a completely new path that took me further into the game. The exploration is facilitated by the diverse cast of Sonic characters at your disposal in the game.

At the start of the game you will only have access to Sonic, with Knuckles, Tails and Sticks being made available later on. Each of these characters have their own moves that allow them to access specific parts of a given stage: Sonic can blast through these large blue blocks that block certain areas, Tails can glide on air currents that allow him to access high places and get over gaps, Knuckles can dig through specially marked areas to get around walls and access hidden areas, and Sticks can hit faraway switches with her boomerang. Between these different abilities you can solve a variety of simple environmental puzzles and explore an expansive level design that is the very antithesis of “hold right to win”. Doing that here will rarely get you anywhere, except maybe dead.

Compared to The Rise of Lyric, Shattered Crystal is much closer to a typical Sonic experience. All of the characters have a homing attack, are able to boost anywhere in the game, there are loop-de-loops, booster pads and checkpoint posts, and the overall game just feels a lot more familiar. That isn’t to say there aren’t some serious differences though. Much like the Wii U game, lives have been removed and rings now act as a life bar. It’s now possible to switch between characters on the fly, allowing you to easily choose the right character to bypass certain obstacles. Though this game feels more familiar, it is still quite distinctive in its own right.

Really, for all intents and purposes, this should be an amazing Sonic game, because it tries to correct so many complaints people have with Sonic’s side scrolling handheld affairs. In addition to being extremely non-linear, pitfalls are easy to spot in the opening stage and the game rarely moves with any serious speed. Even with the boost button the game never approaches the speed of the Rush games, which could often move too fast. So what’s my problem with this game?Unfortunately, it’s the level design and the interface.

Both the level map and character selection share the touchscreen, and players have to switch between them in order to access the different functions. In the demo, which starts with all the characters unlocked, this was a problem. In order to move smoothly through a level you need constant access to all four characters so you can quickly switch to them on the fly, but in order to make your way around the complex level design without getting lost you need access to the map screen. This game isn’t slow and methodical like other Metroidvania type games: there is constant movement and action here, and this game is at its best when you’re able to move through stages seamlessly. This interface results in awkward pacing and frustrating stop and go gameplay.

When I first played the demo I preferred to keep the lower screen on the character selection screen, but I quickly found myself becoming lost and going in circles to the point where I was growing increasingly frustrated. So I switched to the map screen and thought my problems were solved….until I began to run into a constant flow of obstacles that required different characters, a few of which I didn’t realize were there until it was too late, causing me to fall to a lower area and forcing me to make my way back up. So I found myself constant having to switch between screens twice with many of the obstacles I encountered in order to ensure I always had access to the map screen and didn’t become lost again.

As an experiment, on the final day of E3 I attempted to run through the demo with just Sonic as my character. Since Sonic is the only character available at the start of the game, I thought that perhaps I might be able to blast through the whole demo as Sonic and enjoy a more seemless experience. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a Sonic only path, so it seems that all of the characters will be needed to traverse through at least some stages in the game.

As a huge fan of Metroid, I would love to see a Sonic game like this actually work. The most painful part about this is that I feel it almost does. I feel like there is a great game here, hidden behind a frustrating interface that makes exploration and puzzle solving more of a chore then it should be. Interface aside, there are so many parts of this game that work! The level design feels like it could yield endless possibilities and I found myself constantly torn between which way I should go since I wanted to see as much as I could in the small amount of time I would have with it. I love that feeling, and the great thing is that after three playthroughs I know I haven’t seen everything in that one single stage.

The rivals race with Sticks is also a lot of fun. It’s probably the closest this game comes go traditional Sonic, with loads of ramps, loops, Mobius strips and straight-aways. You can go nuts with the boost button here, and let me tell you that in terms of physics this is probably the best handheld Sonic has felt in a long time. The characters feel like they have weight again, rather than hollow plastic action figures come to life. It feels like momentum kind of means something here, too. Finally, there’s also a 3D tube level, which adds a nice bit of behind the back 3d excitement to the proceedings. It’s nothing spectacular, but it was fun.

After five years worth of E3s, there are three things that can usually be fixed between the demo and the final product: interface, controls, and minor graphical issues like frame rate and texture pop-in. These demos are always examples and works in progress, and I’ve seen these issues be fixed before. This game’s two major problems are its interface and framerate (which fell well below 30 frames for a sizeable portion of the demo), so this game could certainly still be a lot of fun. Personally, I’d like to see the character screen either integrated with the map screen, or mapped to the d-pad like it is on the Wii U version. I found myself preferring to control the game with the analog stick, since the game feels like it was made to work well with analog control. Alternatively, character selection icons could be relegated to one side of the map screen, so they can be accessed quickly there.

Provided Sanzaru finds a solution to this issue, this could be one of the best side scrolling Sonic games in years. If they don’t, this may unfortunately continue the string of mediocre handheld titles that the Sonic series has been left with since they were tied into the console releases. Either way, we’ll find out when the game is released in November.

xxOLDNews, xxOLDReviews

TSS@E3 – Hands-on: Sonic Jump Fever

12th June 201413th June 2014

Nuckles87

6 Comments

I wasn’t really a big fan of the original Sonic Jump. It was fairly simplistic and lacked the kind of adrenaline pumping speed I’ve come to expect from Sonic’s 2D efforts. The game also became impossibly hard later on, being very unforgiving of mistakes in the hopes of getting players to spend real world money on power ups and other “cheats”. Since Sonic Jump, Sonic’s mobile efforts have improved immensely, from Christian Whitehead’s stellar retro Sonic ports to better modern Sonic efforts like Sonic Dash. How does the new Sonic Jump sequel, Sonic Jump Fever, stack up to the other, better mobile games Sonic has starred in over the last few years?

Sonic Jump Fever is definitely an improvement over the original game. Graphically the game looks a lot better, with much more colorful sprites and much more detailed backgrounds. Whereas the old Sonic Jump looks like a cheap fan game, the visuals here look far more like what you would expect from a proper, official Sonic title. These improved graphics are accompanied by much more hectic movement. Whereas Jump could often feel kind of empty, the stages we got to play in Fever where constantly filed with moving enemies, flickies and platforms.

Visuals are nothing without good game play though and in this regard Fever brings some huge improvement to Jump’s formula. Where Jump had a slower pace, focused a lot on vertical movement, and came to a complete stop with every death, Fever flows a lot quicker. The action is constantly moving and between the various orange boost rings and bouncing platforms it’s very easy to keep upward momentum going. Even dying no longer kills the momentum, since the game gives you extra lives in the form of cannons, which immediately launch you back into the air if you miss a platform. Once you run out of lives, the game immediately takes you to the end of the stage instead of giving you a game over screen. Finally, Fever also adds a boost meter, which is fueled by collecting rings and getting combos. Once the boost meter fills up, it automatically activates, blasting Sonic upwards into a massive barrage of rings. This boost meter is a very welcome addition to the Sonic Jump formula, making an already fast game all the more exciting.

The speed is complimented with a time limit, which can only be increased by reaching ribbon check points placed at set parts of every stage. Much like in old school arcade games, the timer helps to add some urgency to the proceedings, since trying to slow down to collect rings or rescue flickies can end your game in short order. Fever’s stages are also more populated, filled to the brim with enemies, power ups, moving platforms and caged flickies. This really lends the stages a sense of movement and life that the original Sonic Jump lacked. Even the end of the stages are better: instead of a bland sign post, every stage is topped with a platform full of flickies and a hot air balloon that you need to toss them into. Fever also adds new helper chao, which can be found and hatched in the “Chao Forest”. Once hatched, these Chao can assist you in levels, whether it be in collecting rings or defeating enemies.

All of these improvements culminate in a game that feels much more complete than its predecessor. Everything about it, from the graphics to the level design to the game play, has been improved markedly. That said, I’ve no idea how this game will hold up over the long term. I grew bored of Jump and Dash rather quickly because there wasn’t much to them, and I can’t yet say whether or not the same will happen to Fever. One thing is for sure though: it is a lot better than Jump. It could very well be the best made-for-mobile title Sonic has ever had. I had a lot of fun with it and anyone who’s a fan of the original Sonic Jump will certainly love this title.

xxOLDGames, xxOLDInformation, xxOLDMedia, xxOLDNews

TSS@E3: Check Out The Sonic Boom Blackboard

12th June 201413th June 2014

Jason Berry

13 Comments

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSeE3AQ0Ntw

One of the things I miseed while at the Sonic Boom booth yesterday was this huge blackboard which appears to be from Tails workshop where he appears to be studying some of the enemy robots and making a little robot buddy of his own. Also, Sonic, Knuckles and Amy leave some comments of their own on the board as well, with their chalk representing their color. I haven’t seen it around on the internet, so I thought you’d enjoy it in full form.

xxOLDOfficial News

New Sonic Boom Gameplay and Cutscene Footage

12th June 201412th June 2014

Symbotic

46 Comments

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Sp4HdRE3q4[/youtube]

As E3 continues through the week, more and more gameplay is coming forward from our two upcoming Sonic titles this year. Most notably, Gamespot decided to showcase Rise of Lyric (Wii U) in their livestream for an extended period and now are uploading the footage to their YouTube in HD glory with full audio. How nice of them! A total of three videos have been released so far for your viewing pleasure.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LFjDlhTNGY[/youtube]

Most of these videos contains areas we’ve seen the team explore previously – however what we do get to see (and hear) in these videos are two of the cutscenes. It gives us a nice look at how the dynamic of the team is, and how they’re being characterised. There aren’t that many story hints but it’s always nice to see Sonic and Knuckles have their little banter. Amy Rose has gone through one of the biggest transformations in terms of character, having a confident approach to situations and is seemingly no longer fawning for Sonic’s love and attention. You go girl!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoQtr7QFIy0[/youtube]

You can also sample some of the voice acting in the game. The whole cast is sounding a little better to me with seemingly better direction for all four voice actors. This goes especially for Amy who has dropped the infamous “Minnie Mouse” tone we heard in Sonic Lost World. That’s enough of what I think though – how about you? Let us know in the comments. Stay with TSS for the remainder of E3 so you don’t miss any news regarding our spiky blue hero. Also – did you see the new TV trailer yet? Because that’s looking pretty fantastic too amid all this gaming news.

xxOLDNews, xxOLDOfficial News

Metal Sonic is in Sonic Boom!

11th June 201411th June 2014

Dave Luty

31 Comments

So yesterday, Sega released trailers for both the 3DS & Wii U versions of Sonic Boom. However hidden away in one of the trailers is a character yet to be confirmed, and it’s Metal Sonic.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHK0h__6qZ8

At around 0:34 seconds, Sonic blasts through a wall and theres a transition to another part of the gameplay. At this moment, for a split second you can clearly see Metal Sonic jumping on a spring pad as Sonic blasts through another wall.

See these screens for the exact moment.

So, random cameo? Or is Metal Sonic going to play a major part in Sonic Boom? No official word yet from Sega, but take a look in the trailer and you can clearly see he’s right there.

Thanks to TSS commentator Neo Metal Sonic (how appropriate is that username?) for bringing this to my attention.

xxOLDInformation, xxOLDMerchandise, xxOLDNews

Toying With Sonic Boom! UPDATED

11th June 201411th June 2014

Jason Berry

37 Comments

"No, I have not had any plastic work done! Why do you ask?" — “No, I have not had any plastic work done! Why do you ask?”

First off, sorry for the quality of these pics as they were taken off my iPod. Second, I’ll have more high quality photos as soon as I can get the picture from Nuckles87. I knew you guys would want to see the new toys as soon as possible and I couldn’t wait to show them to you. There’s quite a lot of toys and vehicles that will be available including the entire known cast. Look out below for some more pics. UPDATE: Speaking of, I just got Alex’s pics from him.

Some plushies of Amy and Tails