More 25th Anniversary Licensing Details Discovered at BLE 2015

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We’ve had a few items up this week regarding Brand Licensing Europe, but one thing we’ve not yet told you all is that we actually had someone at Brand Licensing Europe to check out the various booths, the reason being is that in the past not many websites/blogs bother to take pics or cover the Sega booth, so we sent our own guy, despite this year being odd in that Sega decided to advertise their own booth on twitter, our guy was able to take some additional photos and provide some new information.

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The 25th Anniversary area simply had t-shirts, including two of Sonic himself (one being the box art of Sonic 1). On the other side of that wall was a sketch of a Classic Sonic ‘get ready’ pose, with an interesting little ‘GOTTA GO FAST’ logo featuring AoStH Sonic at the bottom. I tried to snag a look inside those Sonic bags that people were toting around, but all I could see was promotional material picked up from other booths.

Elsewhere in the booth, there were a few new Sonic Boom renders plastered about and the television was showcasing various trailers of season 1 of the Sonic Boom cartoon and SEGA properties like Football Manager and Total War. There were t-shirts to go with these, but you have already published photos of them on the site.

The Christmas Sonic jumper was also there; although it was difficult to get a good picture of it because people were often walking past or huddled in front of it. There is also a bag at the front (bottom right) of the image, as well as a couple of other jumpers and an Ecco t-shirt at the back, but again, people persistently positioned their bodies in inconvenient places.

Looking at the images from our correspondent myself. It would appear as if Sega are not only heavily pushing active franchises, but there is also a big desire to push what seems to be dubbed ‘The Retro Collection’

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Alex Kidd, Alien Syndrome, Altered Beast, Ecco, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage and Shinobi are all listed as being licenses up for grabs. That’s quite a wealth of content right there! Would love to own some more Streets of Rage stuff, just hope that also includes Streets of Rage 2 & 3 and not just the first game.

But let’s bring it back to Sonic for now, in the last few months since we first saw the 25th Anniversary logo, we keep seeing words like ‘Classic’ and ‘Heritage’ being branded about. This is the first time that we have seen the 25th Anniversary logo and some of the promotional material for it in close and clear proximity.

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The use of the classic Sonic as a sketch, that to me screams of origins/early creation, then we have the leaflet all of what appear to be T-Shirt design, notice how they are all classic era designs. No sign of any modern Sonic, or any other modern character for that matter.

Sadly there are still no clues on the content for the next big Sonic game, however with Sega promoting the 25th as being classic and heritage based and also confirming that they are intending to celebrate it, to not have a game which ties into this seems like a missed opportunity.

Very special thanks to SSMB member Pawn for the photographs and report.

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37 Comments

  1. I hope the 25th Anniversary Game isn’t another Classic Sonic nostalgia game. Sonic Generations is my favorite Sonic game for its gameplay, and it was awesome to see HD Classic Sonic… but I don’t want them to do something like that again. Not only does it feel too soon, but it feels less special if so. I am not sure if this event really means anything about the direction the game will go in, but I figured it’s worth mentioning.

    On another note, those Boom renders are pretty cool (reminds me of Sonic Colors), and it’s cool to at least know that there’s a fair bit of ambition for next year, both regarding Modern Sonic and Sonic Boom.

    1. I agree, but I wouldn’t worry for now. There’s likely more that simply isn’t being shown for the sake of preventing leaks. Wouldn’t want a camera savvy fan to get a glimpse of the new title before announcement, after all.

      1. I imagine this Classic showcase is most likely just for merchandise and retro feelings, and may not have bearing on the actual game.. but I can’t be too sure.

        1. Nah Jazwares in early 2011 leaked Classic Sonic and the levels of Generations without anyone realizing this until months later. Highly unlikely that we aren’t seeing the stage being set in a similar fashion.

    2. i get what your saying and i agree, however, due to so much being leaked about sonics 25th being about classic sonic, even the first 4 figures statue fans where helping make was meant to be “classic sonic focused” so i can see the next big game being focused on that, and since they wouldn’t rly want to bring modern back into the limelight just yet as they are trying to put as much attention on sonic boom as possible, modern sonic might draw people away from it, hence why sonic dash 2 probably ended up being sonic boom instead of the normal/modern world.

      but i’m happy with classic sonic at this point xD really i just want something that isn’t boom, though it makes me sad modern is kinda being forgot about minus a phone game not everyone can play >n< but hey. i have my hopes he will be brought back in a major game at somepoint. ;-;

  2. I really hope is not a Classic Sonic oriented game and this is just merchandise not tied to the anniversary game.

  3. Pretty sure that’s not AOSTH Sonic, but a rip from one of the earliest archie sonic comics. Not sure if Dave Manak or Scott Shaw drew it.

    1. Ryan, I saw the same thing! I’d bet dollars to chili dogs that it’s Dave Manak, right during his first few issues. Kind of cool that art from the Archie comics has shown up in the official licensing logos.

  4. Something tells me there’s more to the 25th anniversary game than just Classic Sonic. I think Sega is just holding back on releasing any info relating to Modern Sonic until the official announcement of the 25th anniversary game. That way, it can prevent leaks regarding the 25th anniversary game from being accessible to camera savvy fans.

    I love the new Boom renders! They’re so smooth and detailed. I hope the second season of Boom TV looks like that. I am a huge fan of Sticks and thus inclined to like her render, but Sonic looks really, really good too. Also, is that a Sonic Boom novelization that I spotted, or is that just a catalogue?

    I notice that Rise of Lyric and Shattered Crystal aren’t mentioned under the video game section of that poster, while Boom is described as a new animation for the new generation. It has been confirmed what I suspected all along– Sega is trying to rebrand Boom as primarily a CGi show, while distancing itself from the failure of the first two Boom games.

    1. There is zero logic in that, Modern Sonic being featured would not be surprising or hint at anything, SEGA themselves featuring Classic Sonic is however very telling. SEGA requesting a Classic Sonic only statue from First4Figures for next year is VERY telling. This is different from years previous when their merchandise partners would choose to use Classic Sonic rather than SEGA specifically wanting a focus on that style and era.

      1. Actually, there’s plenty of logic in that. While it would be obvious that Modern would make some sort of appearance, the manner which he was depicted could be very telling of what the game is actually like. For example, if he is shown with a city background alongside many friends, fans could use that to guess that the next game is related to Adventure in some way. If that’s true, then the game just got leaked.

        Plus you have to keep in mind that people in the tech industry are very paranoid. They are terrified of any sort of leak, since it could tip off rivals to their activities and thus allow the rivals to get an upper hand or adjust strategy to bring people away from the company whose products got leaked, as well as ruin any surprises they planned for the game. In this case, the game hasn’t even been officially announced yet and is planned for announcement early next year, so Sega has absolutely no reason to show anything relating to it, Modern Sonic included. Meanwhile, Classic Sonic is not related to the game and thus does not risk leaking the game, thus he gets a small feature.

        Plus, Sega would want to capitalize on the success of Classic merchandize for the anniversary. This doesn’t mean anything regarding next year’s game. If I see a trailer with Classic Sonic in it, then I will conclude that its a Generations-like thing. But for now, I have absolutely no reason to believe such.

  5. That’s not Adventures Of Sonic, that’s an older Archie Sonic, I believe it’s from issue 2. I mean, it’s still derived from AoStH and SatAM, but it still has a distinctive style that I would recognize anywhere.

    Anyway, this could mean anything at this point. I would hope for either a brand new Modern Sonic adventure with a newer fresher approach that isn’t necessarily trying to look like the classic games as much as lately, a 3D remake of Sonic 1 in a similar style to Generations’ Classic Sonic segments, or a collection of the classic series (plus CD) in their remastered forms (Taxman/Stealth versions) including a surprise addition of S3&K. I kind of doubt the last one will happen, but one can dream. Either way, no matter what we get, I hope that it feels as big, well made, epic, and fun as an anniversary title aught to be.

  6. I’m kinda worried the announcement is being left a bit late. I really hope there definitely is a new game coming out soon 🙁 hopefully it’s just one of those deals where Announce the game!! Two weeks later, I Got The Game!!! =D

  7. Actually… that Sonic on the “Gotta Go Fast” logo isn’t AOStH Sonic. I’m pretty sure that’s taken from the very first issue of the Archie Sonic series. That definitely looks like Scott Shaw! artwork.

    I wonder if he knows that they used his drawing.

  8. well theres a small hint that the 25th anniversary game will included classic and other classic characters that will appear along with sonic and his friends appearing in the modern form and also lets hope the this anniversary be on every console that people will enjoy.

  9. The 25th Ann. game will likely be announced to be Sonic Boom Fire and Ice.

    There’ll be DLC for Dash 2/Runners/Lost World PC. There’ll be unique merch. And who knows, maybe Shuffle will go on steam with the extra charas being paid DLC.

    You guys are asking NOT for another Generations game, but something different. I hope you’re not expecting what I think you’re expecting.

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