Welcome to the Archive site of The Sonic Stadium (2008-2023)
Please note that this site is no longer being updated or maintained; as a result, there may be design issues, and links to images and other media may be broken. Links to posts may redirect you to the same article on the current Sonic Stadium website.
Because Japan is about to observe Golden Week, a national holiday, these Wallpapers have come in a little earlier than usual, but it maintain the same high-energy and quality that we’ve come to expect from these stylish art pieces. Here we see Rouge kicking into high gear with a ferocity that can only be described as, ‘Give Me My Jewels Back Energy’.
Check out high-resolution Desktop and Mobile wallpapers on Sonic Channel’s website, and find some details (machine translated) from Sonic Team’s designer Tomoko Hayane on this piece below.
Unusually, it’s a Rouge that feels intense and powerful! You can almost hear the sound of her beautiful legs kicking up.
Come to think of it, Rouge played a big role in kicks in her debut work, Sonic Adventure 2!
You even had a one-on-one battle in space with Knuckles over the Master Emerald. The exchange between Knuckles’ powerful punches and Rouge’s kicks was a heart-warming battle!
Rouge’s mysterious and slightly sexy appearance is also attractive, but I think this kind of wild and cool scene is also wonderful.
By the way, it seems that Rouge is fighting with something in this wall illustration, but who exactly is the opponent that Rouge kicks so seriously? Is it a very formidable enemy, or is it a peer in the same industry aiming for the same jewel… I can imagine various things ♪
… Well, the latest game you can play with Rouge is Team Sonic Racing! Although there is no kicking figure, you can see the same mysterious charm and cool figure driving a racing car. Please give it a try!
See you soon! See you in the next wall illustration~!
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Sonic Channel has posted a new episode of its ongoing ‘Sonic Pict’ series today, ahead of Japan’s national ‘Golden Week’ holidays – this time focusing on Rouge the Bat, who is enjoying a little bit of alone time admiring one particularly precious gem.
Posted on the official Sonic JP Twitter account, the wonderfully-coloured and incredibly stylish scene is accompanied with flavour text that suggests that the sometimes-secret-agent has just completed some work for the government, with some kind words of appreciation from the President. We can see the scenery of Radical Highway in the background, along with a billboard featuring Big the Cat and a NiGHTS themed tower across the night sky.
Here’s the short story that accompanies the piece (machine translated):
“You did a great job, didn’t you? President Arigato”
After a certain big incident, there was a figure of Rouge enjoying the vacation in the suite while enjoying the beautifully shining “reward”.
The finest brilliance weaves the happy moments of the night…
From tomorrow #GoldenWeek! Have a nice vacation everyone!
Happy vacation, Japan!
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While a formal corporate response is still forthcoming, Curran’s words in the letter could be interpreted as positive. The exec stated that “Union matters are new to me and SOA and we are investigating and considering the options available to the company” – however, he later made clear that “No SOA employee will be treated any differently whether they support or do not support unionization.”
The letter, published by Axios journalist Stephen Totilo on social media, added: “Some of you may support unionization and some not. That is your legal right… We have a wonderful culture at SOA with a strong commitment to working together as a team. In my mind, it is the SOA employee culture that makes us such a successful company.”
Next steps, as Curran is said to understand it, is for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to conduct a secret ballot of employees – in job positions selected by the NLRB – to determine if unionization will go ahead in a special vote.
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If you ever wanted to have the chance to create something Amy Rose-y in pixel-perfect proportions, then SEGA Japan has you covered. The company released a reference sheet of the Sonic series heroine, for fans to get crafty ahead of the release of Sonic Origins Plus.
As you can see, the sprite reference features Classic Amy Rose’s new standing pose and running animation, as seen in trailers for the upcoming compilation pack. A new addition to the Sonic Origins collection, Amy Rose is an extra playable character that can be used in Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic CD and Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
Photos courtesy SEGA Japan Official Twitter Channel.
SEGA’s official Japanese social media channels shared a link to the Downloads page where you can find the PDF reference sheet, along with the above photo to show what you can do with it. The company also appears to task fans with an Iron-on Beads art challenge over the coming Japanese ‘Golden Week’ national holiday.
You can visit the downloads page here, there are other characters available to get creative with too, from Sonic to Tails and Knuckles.
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It’s that time of year again! SEGA has released their report for fiscal year 2023, and with that, lots of juicy numbers and info. We’ll have a more in-depth look at the report later, but for now we’re going to focus on some of the bigger, Sonic-related numbers!
Like the headline says, Sonic Frontiers has sold 3.2 million units as of the end of March, meaning the same’s sales are still going strong. This puts it ever closer to surpassing Sonic Heroes’ 3.41 million units sold, which would make Frontiers the best selling Sonic game of all time. Given that Sonic Frontiers was at 2.9 million at the end of December, it certainly seems plausible that it will surpass Sonic Heroes by SEGA’s next fiscal report in July.
The Sonic franchise as a whole moved 8.15 million units this fiscal year. That an increase of 1.45 million units from what was reported back in December, eaning that way more than just Sonic Frontiers is selling right now. This is also a significant increase over the 5.8 million units Sonic sold last fiscal year.
In addition to all this, SEGA also outlines their efforts to expand Sonic’s mixed media presence and increase the franchise’s brand awareness. For 2024, SEGA forecasts that the Sonic IP will receive record licensing revenue.
If you want to see the report for yourself, you can find it here. It’s 75 pages and goes into a lot of detail on a lot of things, including multiple pages explaining why SEGA’s buying Rovio (spoiler: they want to increase their foothold in the western mobile gaming space, use Rovio’s mobile expertise on SEGA IP, and also Angry Birds is still very popular).
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Today, IDW has announced plans to cut 39% of its staff and delist itself from the New York Stock Exchange, as reported by Yahoo Finance. While an IDW Media Holdings investor report highlights the “approximately $4.4 million in annual savings,” this decision follows significant reported losses this year of $335,000. ICV2 notes that book channel sales were up in the company’s Q1 2023 financial reports, including those from the Sonic series and TMNT: The Last Ronin; however, major drops hit the company from their games division and streaming series.
As part of big shake-up, IDW’s Board of Directors has moved Davidi Jonas, previously Board Vice Chairman (and son of the Board Chairman), to CEO, and Amber Huerta, Senior VP of People and Organizational Development, to COO.
At this time, we do not have any specific information regarding how this may impact IDW’s Sonic the Hedgehog series, nor have we heard any reports of its staff being part of the 39% cut. With the series being one of IDW’s bigger successes, and SEGA continuing to collaborate with IDW writers and artists on non-IDW projects, it’s unlikely that Sonic himself will be on the chopping block. That said, executive shifts and deep staff cuts still have the potential to directly or indirectly impact the series.
We extend sympathies to all whose job was hit by these cuts.
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SEGA’s maraca shaking rhythm game is only a few months away, and its initial tracklist is finally coming into focus. Joining the two Sonic tracks announced last month are 20 new songs, including 17 from various artists and two covers crossing a variety of genres, including Latin and pop. Check out the list of revealed tracks below:
– “Break Free ft. Zedd” by Ariana Grande – “I Really Like You” by Carly Rae Jepsen – “Payback (feat. Icona Pop)” by Cheat Codes – “Let You Go (feat. Kareen Lomax)” by Diplo & TSHA – “I Will Survive (Eric Kupper Mix Extended)“ by Gloria Gaynor – “I Love It” by Icona Pop – “Centerfold’ by J Geils Band – “Bang Bang“ by Jessie J, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj – “Sucker” by Jonas Brothers – ”TiK ToK“ by Kesha – “Panama” by Matteo – “Plastic Hearts” by Miley Cyrus – “Celebrate” by Pitbull – “The Cup of Life (La Copa de la Vida)“ by Ricky Martin – “XS” by Rina Sawayama – “Bom Bom” by Sam and the Womp – “Azukita“ by Steve Aoki, Daddy Yankee, Play-N-Skillz & Elvis Crespo – “Macarena (Cover)” – “Fugue (classic)” – “La Bamba (Cover)”
The game is also now available for pre-order from various retailers listed here. The game will feature a total of 40 tracks, with more coming as DLC.
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Mighty takes centre stage in this new art piece published by the official Sonic Channel team, created to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the SEGASonic the Hedgehog arcade game.
Released in 1993 to a limited test audience in Japan, SEGASonic the Hedgehog was a unique arcade game that featured a trackball for movement of Sonic, Ray the Squirrel and Mighty the Armadillo (who debuted in this adventure). Players had to dash through isometric stages, bashing through obstacles as quickly as possible in order to outrun Dr. Eggman and his deadly traps.
A commemorative illustration of “Sega Sonic the Hedgehog” celebrating its 30th anniversary since its release in 1993
This arcade game is the debut work of Mighty and Ray who appeared in “Sonic Mania Plus”
Characteristic trackball operation is tricky Mighty seems to be a master
It’s really nice to see Mighty (and Ray, to an extent) recognised again in official artwork/media, after their appearance in Sonic Mania Plus was largely seen as a one-off. What do you think of this art piece? Let us know in the comments below!
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Sonic’s differing US and Japanese design throughout the 1990s is well-documented, but Yasushi Yamaguchi appears to have inadvertently added a new piece of trivia into the history books. The original designer of Miles ‘Tails’ Prower recently revealed that, of all the issues SEGA Japan had with SEGA America’s take on the company’s mascot design, one of the most persistent was over Sonic’s little American crooked legs.
But after being shown photos of SEGA America marketing vehicles and materials featuring a brown Tails based on the old design, Yamauguchi decided to let it be known that SEGA Japan was often annoyed that the US office would ignore the Sonic Team’s design notes.
I have no knowledge of the [above] pictures or figures in the photos. At the time, Sega of America ignored the opinions of the development staff. They did not listen to our requests for the number of fingers on Sonic in the package art, or our request to fix his legs to be straight.
SEGA of America’s maverick approach to marketing and game development in the 1990s is well-documented – and it’s no secret that during the 16-bit console gaming era, the US and Japanese SEGA offices often did not see eye to eye, with the former often ignoring style, design and product guidelines from the latter headquarters.
Sonic the Hedgehog was regularly in the crossfire, with package art and various multi-media projects featuring artwork that differed from the original Japanese design. Most infamously, an entirely new backstory to Sonic’s origin was created by SEGA of America, seemingly without the knowledge of Sonic Team or SEGA Japan at the time. This had been made apparent in recent years with former Sonic Team alumni such as Yuji Naka expressing confusion at hearing stories about ‘Dr Ovi Kintobor’ at the Summer of Sonic convention.
Yamaguchi later added that SEGA Japan actually did not have the adequate resources to fully manage the company’s characters until after the release of Sonic CD, which might explain why there was suddenly a lot more cohesion between the East and West markets after in the late 16-bit era.
Despite all this hubbub in the 90s, it turned out that, according to the SatAM Historian, Sonic co-creator Naoto Oshima was apparently a big fan of the bow-legged American rendition of the hero! So, swings and roundabouts, I guess.
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The Yuji Naka insider trading scandal has taken another turn this week, with Naka reportedly blaming his recent activity whilst at Square Enix on a secretarial mistake.
Naka was arrested late last year for insider trading, and admitted to it in a trial last month. Naka claims that a secretary sent him information he was not meant to see.
According to Gosokkyu, who has been a good source of information over the course of this story, Naka is likely trying to make the case that this was not pre-meditated, in the hopes of getting a lighter sentence.
Whether this defense will help at all, we’ll just have to see.
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The director of Sonic Frontiers has confirmed that contributing writer (and IDW Sonic universe author) Ian Flynn will return to work on the upcoming story-based DLC for the game.
Morio Kishimoto responded to fan questions on his social media accounts about the content of the third expansion pack, which will come later in 2023 following Sonic’s birthday-themed DLC in the summer. “Of course, Ian Flynn will write it,” Kishimoto wrote in Japanese (English provided by machine translation).
“Although Sonic Frontier has a huge amount of settings, there are many episodes that could not be told,” the Sonic Team director added. “Now that we’ve decided which episode to go with, I’m sure we’ll be able to meet everyone’s expectations!”
The long-awaited story DLC for Sonic Frontiers will include new playable characters beyond Sonic for the first time in the game – heavily rumoured to be Tails, Knuckles and potentially Amy. It is assumed that the additional content will add much-needed context to many of the base game’s remaining mysteries and storytelling snafus, such as the meaning behind the familiar glyph symbol as well as questions raised by the ending (and post-credits) sequence.
“When I became director, the content of the game was changed to something completely different, but the development code name remained the same, so Rangers ended up being something completely unrelated to the content of the game.”
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An early sprite design for Miles ‘Tails’ Prower has been unearthed in a fresh set of 1990s SEGA and DiC design documents. The reference artwork comes from SEGA of America and was sent to DiC circa 1992, to brief the animation studio on how to illustrate Sonic’s foxy friend in the ‘SatAM’ and ‘Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog’ TV series.
Also, it shows Tails as brown. Very brown.
The discovery follows the reveal of early Tails artwork designed by several sources, including original Tails designer Yasushi Yamaguchi and Greg Martin. These sprites come from this same SatAM Sonic artwork depository, a resource that community archivist @Fieryfurnace obtained recently.
[The assets folder] also included the only colour reference DiC was sent which I’ve found so far (again, I’m assuming this would be late April 1992 based on the dates for the other Tails sheets and DiC’s character design timeline). It’s an early (perhaps the earliest?) sprite sheet of Tails for Sonic 2. This Tails is burnt orange/brown with a peach snout, chest fur, and inner ears. The tips of his tails are white, the same colour as his gloves.
Sonic fans with long memories may recall a version of Tails represented in various merchandise and other media with a peach-coloured muzzle (as opposed to the white colour we are now used to). This was no accident – Fieryfurnace posits that all of that was an accurate depiction of the character as referenced in the above reference document. You can see an image of this below, courtesy of Fieryfurnace:
While there is evidence of an artist – possibly at DiC – taking a stab at recolouring Tails, it was not until Yamaguchi’s final design came in that a standardised look for Tails was set across all media (and even then, there were divergences across territories, such as on Sonic 2’s Mega Drive box artwork). Fieryfurnace tracks the “origins of DiC’s colour schemes for Tails” in the image below:
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144 employees at SEGA of America’s Irving, California office about to form what is will be the largest multi-department games industry union in the United States. They filed an election petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with a supermajority of support within SEGA of America, meaning the union will almost certainly be certified. The new union, which will be called the “Allied Employees Guild Improving SEGA” or “AEGIS,” will partner with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) in representing the employees of SEGA of America’s various departments incuding QA, localization, product development, live services, and marketing.
The official logo for AEGIS
According to reporting from The Verge, work on the union began more than a year ago. Torie Winkler, senior community manager, told The Verge that a mutual love of the games they worked on fueled the unionization effort. Communication between departments over games eventually led to discussions of how unionization works. Over the course of the last year, employees haven’t experienced any anti-union sentiments from SEGA management. They’re hopeful that management in SEGA of America and Japan will voluntarily recognize the union once it is certified.
AEGIS explained why they were unionizing in a statement on their new Twitter account, saying “We are unionizing because we love the games that we work on, we love our coworkers, and we love working at SEGA. But unfortunately for many this job is not sustainable. Our goal is to make SEGA someplace where we feel employees can thrive for many years to come.”
The tweet goes into further detail, explaining various issues employees face, including below-industry-average pay, weak benefits, a lack of paths for promotion, and a third of long-time employees lacking full-time status and all the benefits that come with that. The union hopes to correct these issues by attaining a higher base pay, improved and stable benefits (such as healthcare and retirement), increased and clearly outlined opportunities for promotion, balanced workloads and schedules, and ensuring adequately staffed departments to end overwork.
You can read the full statement here. AEGIS also has a petition, where you can show SEGA management you support the union, here. AEGIS also encouraged the tweeting of #UnionizeSEGA and #AEGISAlly as another way of showing your support.
Now it’s up to the National Labor Relations Board, a federal agency responsible for enforcing US labor laws, to set a date and ensure the election is appropriately run. Once the election is certified, the union will be official. The Communications Workers of America, which AEGIS will be partnered with, is the largest communications and media labor union in the United States, representing more than 700,000 employees. They will go by the local union number “CWA Local 9510,” which is used to identify a union’s location.
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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.
Sonic Channel has published its latest Calendar Artwork for May 2023, and the results of its fan poll from earlier this month have been realised! The latest in its ‘fantasy scenario’ art series, this new piece features Vector as a superhero protecting Vanilla the Rabbit (presented as a theatre-going contemporary damsel in distress) from certain robot doom.
According to the Sonic Channel blog accompanying this artwork (via machine translation), “This month [we have] Vector, looking like an American comic book hero, and Vanilla, looking a bit more adult [sophisticated]! What is the mysterious giant robot looming far beyond the city at night?”
The interesting mashup is the latest in the Sonic Channel social media team’s ‘Isekai Ohgiri’ series, which places well-known characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog series in unconventional situations and scenarios. Previously, we’ve had Shadow and Infinite doing battle as idol singers, Amy and Blaze seeking truth in some celestial powers, Tikal and Chaos running a pizza parlour and Silver and Elise stunning the crowd as ice-skating performers.
You can download this latest May 2023 Calendar art, as well as all previous months in this series, on Sonic Channel’s website.
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For those not in the know, the Sonic Amateur Games Expo allows amateur game developers to show off their Sonic fan games and demos alongside some other projects showing a wide range of different gameplay styles.
For more information and to check out last year’s games, check out the official SAGE website.
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If you haven’t been paying attention to YouTube in the last couple of years, you might be interested to know that there’s been a bit of a trend – particularly in Japan – towards creating content using virtual hosts instead of real people. Even the Sonic social team has got on board recently with its TailsTube series.
Now, SEGA Japan has launched its own VTuber called Usaki Rin, and one of the first things the company got ‘her’ to do was to sing Sonic Adventure 2’s “Escape From The City”. Because, of course it did.
This cover of the iconic City Escape theme, which features a cool new arrangement by Jun Senoue, was actually posted a couple weeks ago on Usaki Rin’s standalone YouTube channel – and is itself a full version of a song originally performed back in February during a ‘SEGA New’ livestream.
But the Official Japanese SEGA Twitter account has only just got round to posting it, so we’ve heard it, and now we’re obliged to share it with you, ensuring that there is truly no escape from hearing the vocalised tones of our new Kawaii Overlord.
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Six years after the release of its first demo, fan game developer ChaosX has released a new version of the unofficial Sonic 2006 Unity remaster known as ‘Sonic P-06’. With this new update, players can finally enjoy running through all of Silver the Hedgehog’s stages, as well as some new cutscenes and enhancements to boot.
This latest release includes ‘the full release of Silver’s Trial Campaign accompanied by Sonic’s & Shadow’s Trial Campaigns with all kinds of improvements and enhancements’. It also contains all of the stages available in Sonic, Shadow and Silver’s stories, so you can play everything that has been released to date in one package.
“[This update has] been long overdue – with each release, the project continues to grow in almost every way,” ChaosX wrote on their YouTube channel. “To say this release in specific was harder to work on than the last one would be an understatement, so from me and all who helped in this release, we hope you enjoy this new release!”
Check out the release trailer for the fan project below. You can download the game for yourself here (mirrors are available on the YouTube page of the video embedded below if that doesn’t work).
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The third issue in IDW Sonic’s Eggperial City arc is out today in comic shops and on IDW’s website and Comixology! This issue sees Sonic and friends battling Shadow androids while trying to take down Dr. Eggman’s self-repairing & expanding Eggperial City.
Check out the official solicit, cover variants, and preview pages below:
solicit:
“ Androids everywhere! Three teams are trapped in Eggperial City, fighting wave after wave of androids. Sonic is speeding, Amy is smashing, Tails is flying. Shadow is punching, Omega is ripping, Rouge is…looting. But will it be enough? And has anyone seen Tangle?!
Preview pages:
Cover variants:
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Four brand new LEGO Sonic the Hedgehog sets have been revealed for release in August 2023, featuring Sonic, Tails and Amy character minifigs as well as a number of game-themed locations.
The new sets follow the release of the Sonic LEGO Ideas package last year, and builds on that scope with new interactive gimmicks and models such as the Tornado plane and a bumper-themed sphere launcher.
You can check out images of the sets below, along with details of each new set. Prices range from $39.99 USD for the Tails’ Workshop and Tornado plane, and scale up to $99.99 USD for the complex Green Hill Loop Challenge set.
LEGO Sonic the Hedgehog Sonic’s Speed Sphere Challenge (76990)
Ages: 7+
Pieces: 292
Measurements: The speed sphere launcher measures over 1.5 in. (4 cm) high, 5.5 in. (14 cm) wide and 2 in. (5 cm) deep
3 characters and accessories – The set comes with Sonic the Hedgehog, the iconic Moto bug Badnik, Sonic’s Flicky friend and lots of accessories for role play
Price: 29,99 EUR / 34,99 USD / 24,99 GBP
LEGO Sonic the Hedgehog Tails’s Workshop and Tornado Plane (76991)
Ages: 6+
Pieces: 376
Measurements: The workshop measures over 3.5 in. (9 cm) high, 5 in. (12 cm) wide and 3.5 in. (9 cm) deep
4 characters and accessories – This action playset comes with characters Sonic, Tails, a Clucky, Buzz Bomber and lots of toy accessories for role play
Price: 42,99 EUR / 39,99 USD / 37,99 GBP
LEGO Sonic the Hedgehog Amy’s Animal Rescue Island (76992)
Ages: 7+
Pieces: 388
Measurements: The island measures over 5 in. (12 cm) high, 9.5 in. (24 cm) wide and 6.5 in. (17 cm) deep
6 characters and accessories – The set comes with characters Amy, Tails, Crabmeat, Picky, Pocky and a Flicky, plus accessories for creative play
Price: 52,99 EUR / 49,99 USD / 46,99 GBP
LEGO Sonic the Hedgehog Sonic’s Green Hill Zone Loop Challenge (76994)
Ages: 8+
Pieces: 802
Measurements: The primary track assembly with loop measures over 8 in. (21 cm) high, 14.5 in. (37 cm) wide and 7.5 in. (19 cm) deep
9 characters and accessories – The set comes with Sonic, Amy, a Flicky, Becky, Pocky, Pecky, Dr. Eggman, plus Badniks Chopper and Newtron and lots of toy accessories for role play
Price: 104,99 EUR / 99,99 USD / 94,99 GBP
SEGA formally announced the new sets with a teaser video, which you can see on their Twitter channel below.
A new adventure is building! Get ready for the all-new @LEGO_Group sets celebrating Sonic and his fast friends!
Billund, Denmark – April 19, 2023 – Today, the LEGO Group and SEGA revealed a fresh collaboration bringing fan-favourite characters and environments from across the Sonic universe to brick form. With the brand new ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ product range from the LEGO Group, Sonic fans can build, create and play as Sonic, Tails, Amy and Dr. Eggman in beloved levels including Sonic’s Speed Sphere, Tails’s Workshop and Tornado Plane, Amy’s Animal Rescue Island and the iconic Green Hill Zone. The LEGO® Sonic product range will be available at authorized retailers starting in August 2023.
“At SEGA, we strive to create memorable experiences with our licensing partners that fans will cherish for years to come,” said Ivo Gerscovich, Chief Business & Brand Officer at SEGA of America. “The LEGO Group is the leader in play, and the perfect partner to bring exciting stories, iconic characters & environments from the Sonic universe to life in fans’ living rooms globally. Through our creative collaboration with the LEGO Group, Sonic fans of all generations can use their imaginations to play out their favourite Sonic moments, and we can’t wait to see their awesome creations.”
The LEGO Sonic the Hedgehog collaboration features four sets of different sizes and complexity with modular elements inviting Sonic fans to build high-velocity obstacles for Sonic to blast through as he battles the Badniks and rescues his friends. Sonic fans can get creative, construct their own unique courses, combine sets and invent new storylines, or reminisce their treasured memories as they challenge the beloved hedgehog to be the hero of the day.
With all-new toy accessories, builders will have unique role-playing opportunities where they can step into the Blue Blur’s iconic red sneakers and spend time with his famous friends, hang out at the DJ deck, repair the Tornado plane and more fun activities.
The product range from SEGA and the LEGO Group furthers the global companies’ collaborative efforts, following the highly successful LEGO® Ideas Sonic the Hedgehog™ Green Hill Zone set, released in 2021.
“It really isn’t like anything else! The sets offer an entirely new, action-packed play experience,” says Frédéric Roland Andre, Designer at the LEGO Group. “I’m especially proud of the Speed Sphere, as it was quite a challenge to figure out how we would get Sonic to speed up and interact with each course. Sonic is known for his speed and how he runs and jumps through courses, so for LEGO sets inspired by him there was no way we could create a static set, we simply had to be creative and make them as action-packed as possible!”
Let’s roll! The LEGO Sonic The Hedgehog sets are on sale from August 1st, 2023, on www.LEGO.com and in LEGO stores.
To stay current on Sonic the Hedgehog news, follow Sonic on Twitter and Instagram, like him on Facebook, subscribe to the Twitch channel and the YouTube channel. Also, don’t forget to visit the SEGA e-shop at shop.sega.com for products for the ultimate SEGA fan.
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SEGA have announced a collaboration with Uncanny Brands to bring yet another appliance to the kitchens of hardcore Sonic fans; a waffle maker!
The waffle maker is being added as a prize option at the US restaurant chain Dave & Buster’s, so for the time will only be directly available for North American fans.
The waffle maker, as well as featuring a modern Sonic design, will be able to imprint a Uekawa-style Sonic head onto each waffle thanks to an ultra-detailed plate.
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If you’ve been wondering what’s going on with that Knuckles show for Paramount+, wonder no more: Sonic Movie director Jeffrey Fowler has confirmed via his Twitter account that filming of the show is officially underway, with him in the director’s seat for the pilot. Whether this marks the official first day of shooting, or if this is just the first day he can talk about it, is currently unknown. The Knuckles series is supposed to debut later this year.
Interestingly, Knuckles’ iconic Sonic OVA hat is in the photo, meaning it is almost certainly going to be worn by him in the series. According to Variety, the series will see Knuckles “agreeing to train Wade as his protege and teach him the ways of the echidna warrior.” Adam Pally (Wade Wipple) will star alongside Idris Elba, who will be reprising his role as Knuckles.
Edi Patterson, Julian Barratt, Scott Mescudi, and Ellie Taylor will features as recurring actors while Tika Sumpter (Maddie Wachowski) will guest star along with Rory McCann. James Marsden (Tom Wachowski) is not currently listed as a returning actor, so it seems like outside of Wade and Knuckles, the series will focus on a newly introduced cast. Additional casting is expected to be announced at a later day.
The series pilot is currently filming in London using a script from Sonic 2 screenplay writer John Whittington, and will serve as head writer. Brian Schacter and James Madejski have also been confirmed for the writing team.
We’re likely to hear more about the Knuckles series in the coming months, so stay tuned! It’s supposed to release some time this year.
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SEGA Sammy looks set to expand its mobile gaming business very soon, as a fresh report from the Wall Street Journal has revealed that the House of Sonic is nearing a deal to buy ‘Angry Birds’ developer Rovio Entertainment for around $1 billion.
According to the WSJ, assuming the talks “don’t break down or drag out”, the Finland-based mobile game maker could find itself a part of SEGA Sammy’s portfolio as early as next week, citing people familiar with the deal.
Rovio is best known for its fowl-flinging, pig-smashing hit game, Angry Birds, originally released for mobile devices in 2009 and is largely credited as one of the first breakout games for the iPhone and the then-nascent smartphone market. The company has built on the initial game’s success as much as it could over the years, turning the name into a multimedia franchise spanning TV spinoffs and movies.
It seems that, despite Rovio’s best efforts, it reportedly could not replicate the same success as it did with Angry Birds for any of its new IP, which is cited as a reason for the company putting itself on sale and becoming available for acquisition.
Of course, in today’s gaming landscape acquisitions are starting to become commonplace, with Microsoft and Sony getting headlines for its increasing third-party studio buyouts. It seems only natural that SEGA Sammy would join in on the action – and adding an existing beloved IP to its portfolio could perhaps revitalise the Japanese corporation’s performance in the mobile space.
All that said, don’t hold your breath for any Sonic x Angry Birds crossover events just yet. You could probably expect a silly art piece from the official Sonic social media team though.
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Hallmark has their upcoming Christmas ornaments available on their website. Along with a new Sonic in spin-attack mode, comes a Sega Dreamcast with lights and sounds similar to what we got last year with the Sega Genesis ornament. The Sega Dreamcast has a tiny, 8-bit Sonic in the VMU and plays music from Emerald Coast.
The Sega Dreamcast ornament will retail for $22.99 US while the Spin-Attack Sonic will retail for $18.99 US. Both will be available on October 14.
Check out our Twitter page here and here to see video of the ornaments in action.
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Details on Jakks Pacific’s upcoming line of Sonic Prime toys have been leaked by Entertainment Earth, a toy wholesaler that specializes in selling toys to stores. They posted a listing, which was quickly removed, detailing the nature of the upcoming toy line.
The Sonic Prime action figures will be five inches tall, and the first wave will consist of the following characters:
Sonic
Dr. Eggman
Thorn
Nine
While Earth Entertainment was quick to remove the listing, they weren’t quick enough. The Twitter account Sonic Merch News spotted the listing and tweeted it out.
These aren’t the first Sonic Prime toys to be revealed. PMI announced their own line back in January, and Turkish toy company Dede has pasted the show’s branding on various toddler toys.
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It’s been a hot minute since we all binged (very quickly) the first eight episodes of Sonic Prime on Netflix, and since its December debut we’ve not heard much about when the rest of the first season will hit the streaming service. But if a supposedly leaked clip of a future episode is any indication, we may be in for some news very soon.
A short seven-second clip has surfaced on Twitter, originally posted by AstroSeedP but circulated further by the ‘Sonic__Prime’ account, claiming to be “new Prime Season 2 leaked footage”. While we’d argue that this wouldn’t strictly be ‘Season 2’ (more like ‘Season 1, Part 2’), the clip does appear to show an action sequence that could legitimately follow on from Episode 8’s swashbuckling cliffhanger.
We won’t speculate any further – although we will note that the clip does also seem to feature an action from Sonic that doesn’t previously seem possible in previous episodes – but if you’re curious and don’t mind potential spoilers, you can take a look at the video and some screengrabs we’ve pulled from the clip below (click the spoiler tags to reveal).
Clip:
(we don’t know why the clip includes Sonic Unleashed music, either)
Screengrabs:
What do you think? New episode batch announcement imminent? Let us know in the comments below (be sure to use the spoiler tag to be respectful to other fans reading this story)!
Via Twitter (unmarked potentially spoiler-y video linked)
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After casually announcing it without much fanfare, SEGA HARDlight has shadow-dropped the dates for its newest Sonic Forces and Sonic Dash characters, Popstar Amy and Rockstar Rouge. And what’s more, you can start working towards unlocking one of these new players right now!
Tucked away in its community Discord channel, SEGA HARDlight revealed via its Events Calendar that the first event in the ‘World Tour’ series has begun today. Popstar Amy has arrived in Sonic Forces: Speed Battle, and if you want to keep her as an active competitor you must collect a number of character tokens in order to have her on the roster.
We also know the cadence of the rest of the ‘World Tour’ events, too. Once Popstar Amy ends on 20 April, Rockstar Rouge will be available for a limited time in Sonic Forces until 27 April. Then the two characters move on to Sonic Dash, with Popstar Amy available between 20 – 26 April and Rockstar Rouge taking the stage from 27 April until 02 May.
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After years of development plus a 24-hour delay due to bad weather, the European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (aka JUICE) is just hours away from launching and starting its eight-year journey to Jupiter. JUICE will explore the Jovian system, particularly the icy moons of Ganymede, Callisto and Europa, before eventually settling into an orbit around Ganymede in 2034. If successful, JUICE will be the first spacecraft to orbit a moon other than our own.
And Sonic will be along for the ride!
As we reported back in 2019, Sonic adorns the spacecraft as part of the logo for one of its instruments, the Radio & Plasma Wave detector (RPWI):
SEGA was nice enough to grant the team permission to use Sonic in their logo after the RPWI team leader, Dr. Jan-Erik Wahlund, requested it. According to Dr. Wahlund, Sonic was chosen due to his many adventures in space, as well as Wahlund and his team’s deep affection for the character. That the spacecraft is called “Juice,” a commonly used word by SatAM Sonic and his assumed name during the show’s Blast to the Past two-parter is purely coincidental.
The launch will occur at 8:15 AM EST and will be livestreamed from the ESA’s website here, or on their Youtube channel here.
The Sonic-adorned space craft will be launching from Guiana Space Center using an Ariane 5 rocket. It’ll be going on a little tour of the solar system over the next few years, using Earth, the Moon and Venus for various gravity assist maneuvers, before eventually passing through the asteroid belt (where it may do a fly-by of an asteroid) and reaching the Jovian system in July 2031. In July 2032, it will do a flyby of Europa before settling into a high-inclination orbit around Jupiter in order to study its polar regions and magnetosphere.
In December 2034, it will begin the aforementioned orbit around Ganymede, before crashing into the moon at some point the following year. That final maneuver may be changed if scientists conclude it may contaminate a liquid ocean.
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This week, Sonic Speed Simulator developer Gamefam has reached a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board regarding an early 2023 complaint. GamesIndustry.biz reports Gamefam put developer Joshua DeBoer on leave after DeBoer discussed the studio’s salaries with other employees to identify if Gamefam payed below industry expectations for the duties involved.
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Blaze the Cat is finally coming to Jakks Pacific’s line of Sonic toys in August. Entertainment Earth recently posted a listing for Jakks Pacific’s 14th wave of their 4” figures, with Blaze the Cat among the line-up. According to the listing, she will come with a sol emerald of unknown color.
Aside from her, the rest of the wave will be reprintings of previous figures, including Modern Sonic, Shadow and Knuckles. The EE listing is meant for stores, not regular consumers, hence the high price. Notably, these figures are being sold to stores in cases of 6, with each case containing only one Blaze. So she may be a bit hard to find.
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We have gotten our first look at early, never-before-seen Sonic Frontiers footage thanks to a video leaked to Twitter from a now-deleted account. The account, @AVtoGAMEnoYAMI, was focused on another game that appeared in the footage, but the Sonic Frontiers stuff is what we’re (mostly) interested in.
The footage shows off some interesting details, including a larger Kronos Island that appears to be linked to the Rhea and Ouranos islands, a different Caterpillar miniboss, and a Super Sonic with a way more showy transformation, complete with loads more yellow energy. The footage appears to be from an internal SEGA meeting from 2021, meaning it was never meant to be seen outside the company.
Given the nature of this footage, we won’t be posting it. We will be posting some screenshots from it, however, much like we did on Twitter, though these are of a somewhat high quality.
Below are screenshots from the Sonic portion of the video. Please excuse the quality, that’s baked in to the originally uploaded video:
The other two games shown in the video were what appears to be a Persona 3 remake, as well as the oft-rumored new Jet Grind Radio, which may be SEGA’s fabled super game.
It’s pretty interesting seeing footage from earlier in Sonic Frontiers’ development. Hopefully, SEGA will allow us to see more from earlier phase’s of the game’s development, in a legit (and higher quality) way.
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In their effort to preserve and document as much from DiC’s Sonic cartoons as possible, Sonic DiC preservationist Fieryfurnace has found never-before-seen early Tails artwork, likely the earliest ever uncovered. The bulk of the artwork is from Yasushi Yamaguchi, who originally designed Tails. Two pieces are some turnarounds from Moore & Price Design, while the final piece is a sketch from US Sonic game box artist Greg Martin.
Check them out below:
Yasushi Yamaguchi:
Moore & Price Design:
Greg Martin
Notably, Yamaguchi’s Tails artwork is less consistent between pieces, and also features a Tails that is far fluffier and furrier than the final design. He gave more details on Twitter:
“These are the earliest character set-up drawings. Since the development period for Sonic 2 was short, we used these drawings as a base and brushed up the design as we created the game.”
This artwork was found in a box of Sonic SatAM pilot material that Fieryfurnace paid to have scanned, and then posted to Twitter. These were the reference materials SEGA of America sent DiC during the development of the SatAM pilot, likely as far back as April 1992. You can find out more about their efforts to find and preserve various materials from the Sonic DiC cartoons here.
They’ve said they will be uploading all future scanned materials to a drop box, which you can find here.
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An obscure arcade carnival game starring one of Sonic’s animal buddies has recently been uncovered: “Air Circus,” starring the seal Rocky. The machine was discovered in a high quality scan of SEGA’s 1994 Amusement Machine Guide, recently uploaded to Retro CDN. The scan also includes a high quality image of Curling Holiday, another obscure machine starring the penguin Pecky that has been known about since at least last year. Check out images of both machines below:
Air Carnival challenges the player to balance beach balls on an air stream coming out of Rocky’s mouth and getting it to float. “Curling Holiday,” a miniature curling game, had two players competing to toss Pecky-adorned curling stones at a target on the table. It kind of worked a bit like air hockey.
The machine was brought to the attention of the wider Sonic community thanks to a topic on the Sonic Retro forums, which was then disseminated to Twitter by Dave Luty.
In addition to these high quality images, someone in the linked thread also linked to a video showing the machines in action that was posted to Youtube years ago. In addition to footage of the two aforementioned games, it also has rarely footage of the game “Sonic Canball” in action!
You can check out the footage in the embed below, or here.
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The official Sonic Channel Japanese social account has completed its latest poll asking fans who they’d like to see in the next issue of its ongoing ‘Isekai Ohgiri’ fantasy art series – with Vanilla the Rabbit beating out her daughter Cream to feature in a new scenario with Vector the Crocodile.
According to the Sonic Channel social media post, Vector will be portrayed as some kind of ‘detective’ in the upcoming art piece, which will likely be completed and posted at the end of the month. The poll showed two emojis alongside the two character options, with Cream getting a ‘spy’ emoji and Vanilla a ‘painting fingernails’ icon. This may be a hint as to how the two characters would have been handled in the final piece.
It would have been nice to see Cream potentially run alongside Vector as a co-detective – like Batman and Robin – but Vanilla hasn’t been represented much in Sonic media outside of a side role in the Sonic Advance games and some TV and comic media. This may be just one reason why she won the poll by quite a substantial margin – 70.5% to Cream’s 29.5% result.
What are you hoping Vector and Vanilla’s partnership is going to look like? Let us know in the comments below.
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You probably aren’t surprised, as it happens every year. But still, it’s reassuring to see that, indeed, it’s happening. So, the Sonic Hacking Contest is returning for another year.
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