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Speaking with Retro Gamer magazine in their newest issue featuring a making of Sonic Adventure feature as teased before, Sonic Team’s boss Takashi Iizuka, who also directed Sonic Adventure (as well as Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, and Shadow the Hedgehog), said the following:
Continue reading Takashi Iizuka is Really Interested in Remaking Sonic Adventure
To celebrate 20 years of Sonic Adventure, we take a brief look at some of the best Sonic Adventure-themed merchandise released in 1998 and beyond!
Just over a month ago, I set myself a little personal project, I decided to research the various official Sonic Mascot costumes which have been used over the years, I wanted to see how they changed, if there was any relation in design to the games, as well as how other regions created their mascots.
It was supposed to be a short project, I thought ‘there can’t be ‘that many, this will probably be just a 5 min video at best’, I was very wrong. Not only did this project take a full month to complete, it ended up being one of the strangest research trips I have ever undertaken. You can view the full end result video at the end of the article.
For now, enjoy these highlights.
If you’ve ever attend any video game convention or event, chances are you’ll see at least one official mascot, every big publisher tries to have one near their stand. They’re like people magnets, you put a mascot at your stand, people go over to it, it’s a great way to get people to look at your game who may have otherwise past it by.
Sega knows this well, and with nearly 30 years of Sonic games, there has been nearly 30 years of these official Sonic Mascot costumes… And some of them are wild…
During the madness which was Sonic 2’s release, Sega created a Sonic & Tails mascot in the UK. The costumes appeared numerous times in the pages of Sonic the Comic but also appeared in video form on Bad Influence’s 1992 Christmas Special. The Mascots also entertained visitors to the Future Entertainment show in 1992 as well as the 1992 Sega Championship Finals.
The United states also had their own Sonic & Tails mascots at this time, whilst the Sonic was similar in design, their Tails took a different approach, it was still huge but was much less furry and and was a different colour tone.
Japan had a few costumes around this time, but this is the most infamous of the lot, because it hung out with Michael Jackson during the promotion of Sonic 3.
The costume has a very friendly look to it and a “Nice smile” but what you might not realise, the smile is actually a vital part of the design… it’s where the performer looks out of.
At the 1999 E3 expo, Sega debuted an entire cast of new costumes, Sonic, Tails, Amy and Knuckles all got the mascot treatment. Whilst this was a major E3 for Sega, there exists very little media of the costumes at the event.
However, the costumes were so good and popular that they also appeared at several events in Japan and were even brought back into service when Sega were promoting both Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic X and even Sonic Battle!
Over time, Sega increased the number of characters to go along with this line, such as Rouge, Shadow, Eggman and even Cream! Cream made her only appearance at the 2002 Worlds Hobby Fair in Japan and from all accounts has never appeared at any other event since.
Shadow and Sonic’s costume was brought back temporarily to help promote Shadow the Hedgehog, but the other cast would remain dormant until eventually re-designed for later events.
This is probably the longest running Sonic costume in history, probably because it’s so good! Tokyo Joypolis has had this guy entertaining guests for at least 10 years, he’s normally available daily for photos at the park and during special occasions like Halloween and Christmas, Sonic will often dress up to get into the spirit of things.
Sega Republic was Dubai’s answer to Tokyo Joypolis, a huge indoor theme park with Sega themed rides and attractions. To help promote the park, they had three mascots based on Sonic, Tails and Amy.
Whilst Tails and Amy were reserved for media events, Sonic was a daily sight in the park, guests could get a photo with him and he would even attend birthday parties which you could book at the park itself!
Regardless as to what you may think of Boom, a lot of effort went into these creations, Tails and Amy especially since they’re completely original. Whilst the Sonic was based off the main Sega Sonic costume used at the time, they still went to the effort to give him new shoes and accessories.
Chances are you are more than familiar with these two costumes, they have been used at almost every video-game event since 2010, the above one has been a regular feature of Summer of Sonic.
The modern design has slimmed down the costume from the more bulky ones seen in the 90’s and in Japan, this means the performer is able to make more energetic motions, at Summer of Sonic this costume was even seen dancing with Crush 40 on stage and even attended the Alton Towers Sonic Spinball launch event and entertained guests with a number of recognisable poses.
It was used worldwide up until very recently… until this costume replaced it…
This costume uses much higher grade materials which means it still looks really good after a long days use. The shoes are much higher quality and it has a ‘nice smile’ instead of the creepy Sonic Heroes grin that the other costume has.
It was only ever used for one Tokyo Game Show, yet… look at it! They made a Werehog costume to help promote the launch of Sonic Unleashed, despite the size of the costume the performer is able to move very easily in it.
What little video exists shows the costume jumping, waving their arms in the air, walking quickly with confidence and even pulling some of the Werehog poses from the game
And from what I can tell… it was used for less than a week at one event, despite being one of the best costumes Sega have ever made!
This was just a little look at some of the better and most iconic costumes which span the 27 years (technically 28) in which Sega have been promoting Sonic. There are many more and some of them….
…Are certainly unique…
Check out the video below if you’re interested and want to see the full history since it’s quite in depth.
Sonic Adventure celebrates it’s 20th anniversary today after hitting screens in Japan way back in 1998.
We take a look back at what made this game one of the most enduring Sonic the Hedgehog titles, and why SA1 was such a trailblazing title in not only the series, but in video game history.
SEGA of the 90’s certainly knew how to pull out all of the stops when it came to generating a buzz around the next Sonic game, and the anticipation of what was in store brought kids and grown-ups alike to fever pitch…and the announcement of Sonic Adventure was no different.
On the 22nd of August 1998, a few thousand lucky punters were invited to attend the first presentation of Sonic Adventure at the Tokyo International Forum – an event that was luckily recorded for posterity (which you can watch below). The first foray into the world of 128-bit high speed action was introduced by Yuji Naka, entering the stage in Rock star fashion by emerging from a balloon to a face-melting guitar riff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LEoZs_s_oQ
The event also showcased a “Making of Sonic Adventure” semi-documentary presented in a light-hearted manor, in which Sonic Team embarked on a fact-finding trip to central America to visit the Tulum Ruins, the Caribbean Sea, the Tikal Ruins of Guatemala, and Machu Pichu amongst other locations – all of which influenced stages in the game.
Some members of the Team even became ill on their research trip from altitude sickness – talk about dedication to the cause!
Sonic has undergone several redesigns in his 27 ½ year history (we won’t mention the most recent!), but most fans regard the Sonic Adventure iteration of the neon protagonists to be one of the most successful. Characters traded their pot-bellies in for coloured irises and longer limbs, allowing for some incredibly elastic posturing that would become Yuji Uekawa’s instantly recognisable stylisation which remains the norm for modern Sonic artwork to this day. While the classic design of Sonic has since been translated to 3D, the modern Sonic style allowed for a much easier transition to the medium.
Dr Eggman was given a particularly significant redesign, along with both western and eastern franchises aligning on the Japanese name (although Robotnik would be kept as the name for his grandfather in the sequel).
Story was not an element that featured heavily in Sonic the Hedgehog games until Sonic Adventure; in fact, one of the initial ideas while the game was on the development bench was to in fact create a Sonic RPG. For Sonic Adventure to include cut scenes and a narrative was a significant change to the game, and novel in that it in itself was derived from the intertwining stories of six different protagonists (one in fact executed in very few other video games at the time).
The seventh and final story in the game, and the true conclusion only accessible once all six main stories were completed, crescendos in the final showdown with Chaos with the player taking the controls of Super Sonic – something undoubtedly cemented as one of the most memorable video game conclusions for many Sonic fans.
Sonic Adventure was also the first Sonic the hedgehog game to include voice acting (besides SEGASonic Arcade) – and while the jury might still be out on the quality of the dialogue, SA1 is definitely one of the most quotable!
Hum the Green Hill Zone theme and just about any video game fan will tell you that its from a Sonic game – indeed, the soundtrack has always been a core component of what makes a Sonic game so, well, Sonical!
While Sonic Adventure is not the first video game to include vocal tracks (Sonic CD was doing that five years before) it is one of the first to have a fully-fledged album-like feel, complete with a swathe of character themes and a main anthem Open Your Heart, performed Crush 40, that is unparalleled in magnitude. The intro FMV undoubtedly still brings goose bumps to many!
The shift to a rock-centric soundtrack, a decision made by first-time Sonic Sound Director Jun Senoue, was a bold move; the music for the original trinity of Sonic games were after all composed by Masato Nakamura of Dreams Come True (and most likely Michael Jackson), resulting in a prolific pop influence. However, the move would prove highly successful and would be followed up with the equally popular Live & Learn in the sequel.
The magic of the soundtrack however derives from a brilliant use of multiple genres – rock, pop, rap, electronic, and jazz to name a few all feature throughout.
The game’s soundtrack has endured long enough that it has been celebrated since with the Sonic Adventure Music Experience, which saw Senoue-san and company re-record and perform key songs from the game and its sequel.
The Dreamcast was the very first games console to provide a connection to the internet as standard, and as such, Sonic Adventure is the very first game in history to include downloadable content! This came in the form of the Sonic Adventure Christmas download, which was only available for the first few days of release (it was no longer available after Christmas day). While this content only included Christmas trees in station square which played played music and gave a seasonal message when interacted with, it was another example of how SEGA and Sonic games were well ahead of the curb.
Happy birthday Sonic Adventure!
What makes Sonic Adventure special to you? Let us know in the comments!
Issue 189 of the British retro video gaming magazine Retro Gamer features a “Making of Sonic Adventure” feature!
Continue reading UK Retro Gamer Magazine To Feature Making Of Sonic Adventure Feature
What does a movie’s social media team do when the entire internet is lambasting their project to kingdom-come? Partake in the fun, apparently.The official twitter account for the Sonic movie, which has been lying dormant since last June, went live a few days ago. So far, the post embedded below is their only original tweet:
https://twitter.com/sonicmovie/status/1074853082159243264?s=21
Beyond this, they also retweeted 5 posts making fun of the movie’s posters. This one is my personal favorite:
https://twitter.com/zwoltopia/status/1072129128558706689?s=21
Eventually, this account will probably become a source of information for the movie. Until then…well, we got some funny tweets, I guess.
IDW has announced that the Sonic comic will be getting its very first oversized issue next March with Sonic the Hedgehog Annual 2019. This 48-page comic is not only a first for the IDW series, but also the first oversized comic Sonic has starred in in over 18 years.
A big comic requires a lot of people to make and the list of creators for this comic is sizable. This issue will be featuring work from series veterans Ian Flynn, Evan Stanley, Jennifer Hernandez, Jonathan Gray, Caleb Goellner, Diana Skelly, and Gigi Dutreix. The comic will also be introducing new creators from other IDW comics, including Jack Lawerence (Transformers: Lost Light), Cavan Scott (Star Wars Adventures), and James Kochalka (Johnny Boo).
In addition to all of these new creators, the comic will also feature a cover variant from veteran Sonic game artist Yuji Uekawa. Uekawa is best known for his work in the Sonic Adventure games, which introduced Sonic’s modern, green-eyed look. This cover will mark Uekawa’s debut in Sonic comics.
In a press release IDW gave exclusively to ComicBook.com, Uekawa gave his thoughts on IDW’s original characters, which are featured in his cover. “I am really happy to draw IDW’s original characters altogether with Sonic and his friends, as I had never imagined that I would draw these characters as official artwork. As with many IDW Sonic series fans, I personally love Tangle and Whisper, and I am very much looking forward to seeing their further adventures with Sonic, as well as seeing original characters in future issues!”
The other two variant covers will feature art from Hernandez and Nathalie Fourdraine.
The issue will cost $7.99, and the number of individual stories it will feature are currently unknown. Stay tuned for further details!
UPDATE: Sonic comic editor David Mariotte has confirmed that the comic will feature five stories:
A Tangle and Whisper story from Ian Flynn and Jennifer Hernandez.
A Sonic and Tails story from Caleb Goellner and Jack Lawerence.
A Rouge the Bat story from Cavan Scott and Diana Skelly.
A Sonic fan club story from James Kochalka and Jon Gray.
A Blaze and Silver story from Evan Stanley and Gigi Dutriex.
Check out Uekawa’s full cover below:
Did you enjoy Sonic Mania Adventures? Do you want more? Well, SEGA’s got a heck of a gift for you: a surprise holiday special! This special, like the rest of the series, is written and directed by Tyson Hesse, with music from Tee Lopes and animation from Neko Productions.
The special is embedded below:
Whether you’re feeling charitable this holiday season, or just want a bunch of Sonic games for super cheap, Humble Bundle has an offer for Sonic fans: the Humble Sonic Bundle. The money given to this bundle will go to Extra Life, Save the Children, the Willow Foundation, and Access Sport. Alternatively, your money can also be given to any charity in Humble Bundle’s database.
Anyone who’s able to give at least $1 to charity will receive the following games on Windows through Steam:
For those who have a little more to spend, the following games can be had for the current donation average of $7.20:
And finally, for anyone who wants to more than double their donation to $15, they can get the latest games, including:
The bundle will be available from now until the end of the year. You can check it out here.
Enemies finally show themselves in the latest revealed issue!
IDW has revealed its solicitations for February, and the intrigue comes to a head in the next instalment of the series! In Sonic the Hedgehog #14, Sonic is working with Silver again after a tip-off about a base that’s suddenly brimming with activity. But when they go to investigate, they get more than they bargained for when they encounter an old foe…and a new one who’s getting to meet them for the first time! Who are these villains, and how will they react to being disturbed by two of the most powerful hedgehogs out there? Find out in this issue!
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #14 10 COPY INCV FOURDRAINE
(W) Ian Flynn (A) Evan Stanley (CA) Nathalie Fourdraine
A helpful tip leads Sonic and Silver to an abandoned Eggman base suddenly teeming with activity. As the two investigate the action, an old foe returns and a new foe comes face-to-face with Sonic for the first time…
In Shops: Feb 20, 2019
Final Orders Due: Jan 28, 2019
SRP: $3.99
As always, we will have more information on this issue and more closer to the time of their release.
Speaking of, for those expecting Sonic the Hedgehog #12 tomorrow, this will no longer be the case due to the limited release schedule they have this month. You can instead look forward to the aftermath of the battle with Metal Sonic on January 9th 2019, and Sonic the Hedgehog #13 on January 30th. Not much longer to wait for more Sonic comic goodness!
Source: Previews World
It’s that festive time of year again! As always, we at TSS won’t be able to sleep on Christmas eve as we are too excited thinking about the Sonic the Hedgehog merchandise Santa will be bringing us in his sleigh! We must have been particularly good this year (we’ve only been completing hero missions), as Europe and the UK now has it’s very own dedicated SEGA Shop crammed with new and exclusive merchandise.
We take a sneaky peak at some of the great Sonic gear on offer right now…
Continue reading TSS Review: UK SEGA Shop Merchandise – Christmas Edition!
SEGA’s bi-weekly reveals of new Team Sonic racing courses has continued with the reveal of a brand new course: Sand Road. Inspired by Sonic Adventure’s sand-surfing course, Sand Hill, Team Sonic Racing will let players race across the location’s sandy dunes for the first time in nearly twenty years.
When they do, players will also be treated to a remixed version of Sand Hill’s music track, which will feature Tee Lopes and Jun Senoue, with Takeshi Taneda on bass. Check out the music track (and a screen shot of the course) in the video below:
It’s that time of year again!
Our friends at RadioSEGA are back at it once more for another rousing round of WinterFest, bringing together shows and masters of ceremonies from the past and present as well as special guest hosts (including yours truly) for over 30 hours of special broadcasts lasting all weekend long. Tune in starting now to take part in the festivities, enjoy some sweet SEGA and Sonic tunes, and who knows? Maybe you might walk away with a neat prize like Steam codes, Insert Coin vouchers, and much, much more, and become the envy of all your friends!
The festivities are now underway, starting off with GreenViper8’s inaugural WinterFest 2018 broadcast of Topical Resort. The full schedule is as follows:
Friday, December 14th, 2018:
5PM GMT (6pm CET/12pm EST/9am PST) – Topical Resort with GreenViper8*
7PM GMT (8pm CET/2pm EST/11am PST) – SEGA Mixer Drive with Rexy*
9PM GMT (10pm CET/4pm EST/1pm PST) – The Hidden Palace with Skyblaze*
10PM GMT (11pm CET/5pm EST/2pm PST) – Club SEGA with INeedFruit*
12AM GMT (1am CET/7pm EST/4pm PST) – Chaos Control Center with cdrom1019*
2AM GMT (3am CET/9pm EST/6pm PST) – Last Call: WinterFest 2018 Mix #1 – RapidRun
3AM GMT (4am CET/10pm EST/7pm PST) – RSN Live with voice*
Saturday, December 15th, 2018:
2PM GMT (3pm CET/9am EST/6am PST) – You’re Too Show, hosted by Splendor and Caleb
3PM GMT (4pm CET/10am EST/7am PST) – Last Call – WinterFest 2018 Mix #2 – OSC
4PM GMT (5pm CET/11am EST/8am PST) – TO BE ANNOUNCED
6PM GMT (7pm CET/1pm EST/10am PST) – Ravsdom!!, hosted by Ravsieg*
8PM GMT (9pm CET/3pm EST/12pm PST) – WinterFest 2018 Secret Surprise Show*
10PM GMT (11pm CET/5pm EST/2pm PST) – Saturday Night SEGA with Gavvie
12AM GMT (1am CET/7pm EST/4pm PST) – Blastmas V, presented by The Blast Processors*
2AM GMT (3am CET/9pm EST/6pm PST) – The Music Plant Zone with VizardJeffhog*
4AM GMT (5am CET/11pm EST/8pm PST) – Last Call: WinterFest 2018 Set #3
Sunday, December 16th, 2018:
1PM GMT (2pm CET/8am EST/5am PST) – SEGA Talk, presented by SEGAbits
2PM GMT (3pm CET/9am EST/6am PST) – Sweaty Sundays with DrScottnik & Nalbis*
3PM GMT (4pm CET/10am EST/7am PST) – The Voice Of SEGA with DrScottnik
4PM GMT (5pm CET/11am EST/8am PST) – The Blue Zone with PTKickass*
6PM GMT (7pm CET/1pm EST/10am PST) – Radio Redux, hosted by AAUK*
8PM GMT (9pm CET/3pm EST/12pm PST) – The Tally-Ho Show!, presented by Andy and James
10PM GMT (11pm CET/5pm EST/2pm PST) – The SEGA Lounge, presented by KC*
Shows annotated with an asterisk (*) will be the shows with loot to be given away. Be sure to tune in to The Music Plant broadcast tomorrow – I hear that giveaway in particular will ultimately be Smashing!
Source: RadioSEGA
Less than 24 hours after the first teaser poster for the upcoming Sonic movie was released, a second posted was spotted at a movie theatre showing Sonic sat on top of the Golden Gate Bridge displaying his hairy legs and the graffiti ‘Sonic Wuz Here.’
Well, a second photo has emerged of this poster at another theatre putting to rest claims that it was in fact a hoax, it is very real, so behold Sonic’s hairy legs!
It IS real pic.twitter.com/ka3lGUVcJP
— Lorenzo Estrada (@Lozoescartoons) December 12, 2018
The Sonic movie releases in Winter 2019.
Hot off the heels of the teaser shown to Brazillian audiences over the weekend, IGN has posted the first look at the Sonic Movie poster which in turn shows the title of the movie and the design for Sonic! Continue reading Sonic Movie Design, Poster & Final Release Revealed!
It’s getting closer!
According to reports coming out of São Paulo, their fifth Annual comic con held a big surprise for people who attended Paramount Pictures’ presentation.
The First Sonic Teaser Trailer was shown!
The trailer is a teaser trailer in every sense of the word, it gives away absolutely nothing regarding the plot. But here are the details we could get.
Teaser begins with a close up of Sonic’s face.
He is textured and realistic, similar to Detective Pikachu.
The character then runs and breaks the sound barrier.
Full translation is as follows.
Sonic’s preview made Cinemark’s audience agitated. The teaser began with a close close on the face of the hedgehog, which is at the same time as caricature, textured and realistic. Something in Detective Pikachu’s suit. After this we see a plane of the character running and breaking the sound barrier.
In other news… the Sonic Twitter teased a ‘tiny gift’ was coming soon today.
Source: PremierLine
With the popularity of Amiibo figures, it was only a matter of time before other companies followed suit. Gamestop saw the profit in this and with their “ThinkGeek” brand made their own line of exclusive, “Amiibo-ish”, non-electronic figures called Totaku. They don’t interact with your games in any way, they just look pretty on a shelf and they have a plus-shaped base that allows you to connect the bases together for a nice display. It’s a neat way to get non-Nintendo figurines to stand side by side with your Amiibo ones. There are many characters in the line-up including Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Parappa the Rapper, Sackboy, Lara Croft, Kratos and many others.
But of course, I’ll be focusing on the classic Sonic trio recently released. Sonic, Tails and Knuckles are all here in their classic glory. Each one with their own fine details. I’ll be going over each one individually.
Sonic
Sonic has his old finger waving pose with a 16-bit ring laying at his feet. There’s striped grass at the base with the checkerboard dirt underneath showing that he’s standing in the Green Hill Zone. This is the same for all three figures. The paint job is fairly well done with a few very tiny blemishes here and there. For instance, the white of the eyes bleed a tiny bit into the muzzle, but only if you’re looking at it from an upper angle. It’s a common flaw in Sonic figures. The ring has several different pixelated levels of colors to make it as exact to it’s game counterpart as possible which is a very nice touch.
Knuckles
Here he comes! Rougher than the rest of them! While he’s not guarding the master emerald, Knuckles is standing over a green chaos emerald. He’s got a cute smirk on his face and looks like he’s ready to enjoy a good fight at a moment’s notice. This is a real solid figure with no paint blemishes at all. Probably my favorite of the bunch.
Tails
Last but not least, Tails is seen flying just above the striped grass. Shown in a pose that says he’s ready to go and an adorable smile on his face, Tails paint job is also flawless. The only downside to this figure is that he has no extra object on his base. No ring, no emerald, just Tails.
Overall this figure set looks great. With the plus-shaped bases and striped grass, you can make a nice display that connects the three figures together. $10 American each isn’t too much for these quality figures. They also make a nice gift for the holidays. You can pick them up at Gamestop in the US, EB Games in Canada or GAME in the UK.
It’s hard to believe that we first found out about this game back in 2016 and only now we have some clean footage of the game at last!
Clean footage of Sega Sonic Bros has been posted online, directly taken from a new modified version of MAME.
The footage showcases a few new things which we didn’t know previously. When the game reaches level 30, a new SegaSonic Bro enters the game, a white/silver Sonic!
Another new discovery is that at level 40 the music changes to the Blue Spheres theme from Sonic 3, this predates that game by over 2 years! You can check that out in the second video at around 22 seconds.
I’m being told that the individual who compiled this version of MAME goes by the name of GerbilSoft, so send your thanks to them!
Team Sonic Racing may have been delayed to May next year, but there’s a little fuel in the meantime right now!
The full preview for the Team Sonic Racing comic has been released! In this one-off special, follow the antics of Sonic and his friends as they ride wheel to wheel with team Dark and give Eggman a drive for his money! What tricks does Eggman have up his sleeve to even the odds with the heroes…and what exactly does our new associate Dodon Pa want? Find out in this teaser for the game!
Written by: Caleb Goellner.
Art by: Adam Bryce Thomas.
Cover by: Adam Bryce Thomas.
Description: Sonic’s been taken to another world and entered into a race unlike any other! With a little help from his friends Tails and Knuckles, he’ll race to win the competition and get everyone home! But… Before that, check out a comics exclusive story straight from the world of Team Sonic Racing!
Pages: 40.
Price: $4.99.
In stores: December 5.
The Team Sonic Racing one-shot will be available in stores and on digital platforms on December 5th. Beat the cold by burning up the track to your store for it!
Source: Comics Continuum
