Welcome to the Archive site of The Sonic Stadium (2008-2023)
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Knock knock, it’s Knuckles! The powerful Master Emerald protector takes the spotlight in the next month’s Sonic Wallpaper art series, as shared online by the official Sonic Channel social media account.
As described by Sonic Team designer Tomoko Hayane, you can really feel the “dynamism and power of Knuckles” in this latest artwork. In the Sonic Channel blog post, Hayane wonders if the enemy Knuckles is fighting here is either a bigger and stronger opponent, or just a foe that happens to be flying in the sky. What do you think?
We have JPG versions of both the Desktop and Mobile wallpapers below, but if you want the super hi-res real deal, head on over to Sonic Channel’s website and download the PNG versions straight from there.
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“Will Microsoft buy SEGA” is a question that has survived within the community since the death of the Dreamcast, but after years of speculation, we now have a concrete example of them trying to do just that… but very, very recently. As reported by The Verge, an e-mail from Xbox’s Phil Spencer shared during Microsoft’s FTC hearing shows that Spencer was seeking approval to approach SEGA Sammy in November of 2020.
Spencer touts SEGA’s portfolio and global appeal as big benefits for their Game Pass service; however, SEGA was among several companies being considered, including Supergiant Games, IO Interactive, and even Bungie. As history as borne out, none of these possible acquisitions were seen to completion, and Microsoft began pursuing Activision Blizzard following ABK’s repeated scandals.
Despite the will-they-won’t-they dogging Microsoft and SEGA over the years, buying SEGA comes with some complications, which Spencer acknowledges in the e-mail. Beyond the cultural barrier, SEGA is a major component of the larger SEGA Sammy group of animation studios, music labels, toy makers, travel resorts, pachinko machine makers, Japanese sports teams, and online-enabled arcade dart machine services. Even if Microsoft wasn’t able to buy SEGA outright, Like a Dragon and Persona fans can still find a hearty chunk of SEGA’s modern library on Game Pass.
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Back in February, we reported that an official Amy Rose Fortune Card Deck was on the way. Pre-orders are now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other Simon & Schuster distributed bookstores. The deck is currently listed at $27.99 with a November 21 release date (a bit out from the original Barnes & Noble listing of $24.99 and October 10).
The set includes 78 fully illustrated cards, including the Major and Minor Arcana (or however they’re interpreted in Sonic’s world), and a 128 page guidebook. Though on all storefronts, there’s a large “Art Not Final” label, the cards shown include “Statue Savior” (the Tidal Tempest angel statue), “The Master” (Emerald), and “Chao’s Fruit” (self explanatory). The cover also shows card designs with Silver’s glove and Knuckles’ fist. The colorful card backs feature iconography from the series like rings, gems, flowers, bumpers, and checkerboard patterns, while the face’s yellow and dark-red border emphasize whether the card is drawn right-side-up or upside-down.
With the series taking a hard (hammer) swing back towards Amy’s old Fortune Teller lore, this design for Amy’s deck has already appeared in the IDW comic series, Sonic Origins’ animated cutscenes, and possibly even in an upcoming Sonic Frontiers update. Whether you see this as a functional novelty, a series of cute art prints, or even a cosplay accessory, this is an interesting choice for one of the series’ first major adaptations of in-world object to physical merch.
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Sonic’s Birthday was the primary focus on this week’s Sonic Station Live Japanese livestream, but in covering all the major Sonic Central announcements, they included a full playthrough of Bridge Island Acts 1 and 2, including several special stages. The full footage is here (and timestamped), but underneath we’ll break down just a few of the details noticed within:
Online discussion has assuredly picked apart dozens of Summer Games Fest playthroughs, so some of these details may already be known. Even so, there’s a bunch of bits worth highlighting in the footage:
Throughout the footage, a “Trial Version” watermark appears in the bottom-right corner. It looks very much like the kind that appears in Unity projects, suggesting this may be a Unity game.
[40:53] When the game is training Sonic on the water Emerald Power, it notes that powers recharge when passing star posts. Throughout the video, when you see Sonic use an Emerald Power, an icon at the bottom-right corner shows the power being used up.
Sonic clones running across the screen animate at a slower framerate. This will presumably make it easier to identify which Sonic is the one you’re controlling. They can also collect item boxes.
[41:53] Magnets and Shields are either distinct entities or stack. When Sonic loses his shield to damage, a magnet remains. Also, the water transformation and waterfalls don’t disrupt the Magnet (so more Sonic Adventure and less Sonic 3).
[42:24] Sonic pops a balloon with a ring attached, and is given 10 rings. Collecting 100 rings earns a medal.
[42:29] The magnet doesn’t protect Sonic from damage, and he does lose it when he gets hurt.
[44:12] Act 1 directly transitions into Act 2 without leaving the screen (like in Sonic 3).
[44:24] A cute little visual touch, but it looks like some of the background flowers spin faster when Sonic runs past them.
[44:48] Sonic can enter the air-launcher arches from anywhere in their path. The last one in the chain causes Sonic to follow a ring path while rolling on a rainbow.
[45:01] A blue warp ring (like the yellow warp ring in Act 1). The player doesn’t use it. (Is it because the player already got the emerald?)
[45:12] The player finds a different kind of warp hidden in the level (there was another in Act 1 that the player doesn’t use). It takes Sonic through a freefalling special stage to collect rings for a couple of seconds, and then respawns him back in the level at a different spot (possibly used for shortcuts?) There were no emeralds or medals in that special stage.
[45:34] Sonic (as a single player) passes by Amy and a giant walrus cheering Sonic on in the background. (If you play Single Player, do the other characters appear as NPCs?)
[46:08] That classic idle pose.
[46:49] A giant loop with a countdown number. Sonic has to run through it that number of times to destroy it and get through.
[47:00] Another small detail, but when you hit a Star Post, arrows appear to tell the player what direction to continue in.
[47:04] As Sonic approaches the boss, sunset turns to night. This also happens at the beginning of Act 2 as day turns to sunset.
[47:53] Sonic clones will attack from both sides of the screen.
[48:21] Eggman defeat animation
[48:35] The animal capsule is a roulette (and let’s be real, we all balance on the edge of it). Unfortunately, we don’t get to find out what the yellow fruit symbols are.
The stream also covered new trailers and merch announced in the latest Sonic Central, and featured birthday well-wishes from vtuber Korone and troublemaking mascot Chiitan. It also seems that Eggman has gotten the vtuber model treatment.
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There are only three constants in life: death, taxes, and game patch data containing hints at upcoming content. It wasn’t long before the community (specifically Bluwolfblitz on Twitter in this case) began dissecting the game’s new files and discovered new animations, textures, and weapon models for Sonic’s soon-to-be-playable buddies.
The full thread is available here with screenshots, videos, and textures, but there are a few worth highlighting:
Each of the three have some form of weapon associated with them, Amy fighting with both Tarot cards and her iconic hammer, Tails getting a “Cyblaster” gun or turret, and Knuckles either punching or taking the form of a drill.
The series, thoroughly doubling-down on Amy as a fortune teller, has incorporated her deck into an attack. The cards have the same texture as those in the IDW comics, Sonic Origins, and the upcoming reproduction set releasing this November.
Knuckles Climbing Up animation. (Slightly over exaggerated due to the anim importer having issues) pic.twitter.com/rw2WytOOXl
Far from the days of Sonic Adventure 2’s wall crawling, Knuckles’ climb animation here is much more aggressive. He’ll also squat down in idle like a stereotypical anime delinquent. (And really, is Knuckles anything but?)
And finally, Tails does what Tails does best, fly in ways that defy physics and poke at invisible machines. Without context, we don’t know the constraints to his flight yet, but one must imagine it would be quite useful on the more vertical islands.
Currently digging through Update 2 files of Frontiers. The skill tree texture has been updated. Includes ID numbers and colors for Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. pic.twitter.com/Z16ohKcRVm
Finally, it appears that each character may get their own skill tree. Sonic’s tree in the game totals to 15 moves (many of which are combat finishers), and Tails, Knuckles, and Amy appear to have the same quantity as Sonic himself if the 1-15 labels are any indication. It’s probably safe to assume the numbers are placeholders.
As a caution, Bluwolfblitz notes that the update also contains much of the third update’s script text. They’ve opted not to share them, but for those wary of story spoilers, the info will likely be out there elsewhere.
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If you’ve been anxiously waiting for the latest Sonic Frontiers update… well, chances are you’ve already downloaded and started playing “Sonic’s Birthday Bash,” but for everyone else, hey, it’s out now across all platforms. A few features were highlighted in this morning’s Sonic Central presentation, but a full update list has been detailed in a news post on Steam. Here’s what you can expect when you jump in:
The islands have been decorated for Sonic’s birthday, and Sonic has a new costume to go with it.
You’ll also find another new costume, “Frontier Elite.”
The Koco will now appear in different costumes across the island.
There are now 24 new Jukebox songs hidden in the game.
You can now play in New Game+, restarting the game with all your stats and skill tree unlocks.
You can unlock and use Sonic’s Spin Dash.
The Open Zone areas have new challenges.
Island completion percent is now available on multiple screens.
Cyber Space level results will show colored marks based on which special abilities you’ve used, including the Homing Dash, the Spin Dash, changing jump deceleration, and Cyber Space Power Boost.
There are additional settings for…
Rate of jumping deceleration,
Dramatic camera angles during special attacks,
Decelerate when stopping,
Maintain boost when jumping,
“BGM Change” in Cyber Space stages,
And clearing your times in timed challenge modes (such as Cyber Space levels).
Rhea Island’s towers have been rebalanced for Easy difficulty.
Other bug fixes.
Though we were expecting a few of these, like the birthday events and new Koco, the inclusion of a New Game+, deceleration, and the Spin Dash are welcome additions. For those who are looking for an excuse to dip back into the game, this update’s new configurations compliment the previous update’s challenges and sets a pretty high bar for this year’s Third Update featuring new character and story content.
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So, that was Sonic Central 2023. This year’s annual blue blur showcase certainly would have had some amazing reveals, if much of it was not already announced at Summer Game Fest and the Nintendo Direct earlier this week. But however you felt about the event, there’s no denying there was a lot of information shared in such a short space of time. Let’s go through it piece by piece and take it all in, shall we?
Happy Release Day!
If you hadn’t noticed, SEGA actually released a game today (well, an expansion to a collection of games). So it made total sense for the company to focus on Sonic Origins Plus at the top of this thing, otherwise their marketing department would be pretty bad at their job. A release day trailer was shown at the start of Sonic Central 2023.
Open (Zone) Your Birthday Presents
Happy Birthday Sonic! We were starting to think that SEGA had forgotten all about this, but we actually got a look at Sonic Frontiers’ second free DLC pack, titled “Sonic’s Birthday Bash”. Obviously meant to celebrate the blue blur’s 32nd, the expansion contains a number of new open zone challenges, collectible Koco, costumes, moves and a New Game + mode. This was practically the headliner of Sonic Central simply because it contained brand new footage and information. Check out more details in our news story here.
Tuxedo Time
Sonic Speed Simulator may be a game that has become more well-known for its controversies these days, but the Roblox project’s partnership with SEGA continues at pace with today’s announcement of a new Classic Sonic skin. And to be fair, he does look exceptionally cute. Look at him in his little birthday tuxedo and top hat. If you’re someone who plays Sonic Speed Simulator, you’ll be certain to find this celebratory character waiting for you right now.
Binge-Watching & Binge-Running
Sonic Central was pretty good for some Sonic Prime news, as we were treated to a brand new teaser trailer for the next episode in the Netflix animated series. You can catch up on all of that in our separate news story here. The show picks up again from July 13, and that’s the day a special version of Sonic Dash will also be released. If you’re curious as to why Sonic Prime characters can’t just be released on the already-existing Sonic Dash app as limited edition characters, consider that Netflix has bags of money – that’s probably why Sonic Prime Dash exists. Good for them.
App-tastic Characters
Sonic Prime Dash wasn’t the only mobile Sonic news that came from the Sonic Central showcase. If you play Sonic Dash and Sonic Forces Speed Battle religiously enough, you’ll get to unlock some crazy cool new characters. From Super Silver to Dragon Hunter Lancelot to Super Classic Sonic. Sounds like a fantastic time. Check out the full story right here.
Speedo-de-Janeiro
There appeared to be time to talk about a lot of collaborations in this year’s Sonic Central, including this admittedly super-cool one involving the return of long-forgotten Dreamcast classic Samba de Amigo*. While the return of Amigo and his rhythmic ways has already got us super excited, the addition of Sonic the Hedgehog as a guest – along with a number of Sonic songs in the tracklist such as ‘Fist Bump’ – is the icing on the cake. More details here. SAMBA!
(*Yes, we know there was that version on the Wii, but… did it… really exist? Do you want to remember it existing? Ask yourself that.)
Sonic (Music) World Adventure
You can finally call the Sonic Symphony a World Tour now, as SEGA revealed a number of new locations for the upcoming orchestral extravaganza. Paris, Tokyo, Dusseldorf, Montreal, Sao Paulo and more were announced for the rest of 2023 and beyond. Check out the full details right here.
And Now For Something Completely Different…
SEGA also wanted you all to remember that they put a lot of time and effort into its ‘Tails Tube’ social video series, which sees Tails become a ‘VTuber’ (or would that just be Tails being a YouTuber, because if we’re pretending he’s real he wouldn’t be virtual would he? Argh, our brains hurt) and spout some fun stuff to other Sonic characters. It wasn’t a terribly interesting segment, but it’s always nice to hear Colleen O’Shaughnessey do her thing.
What Are Ya Buyin’?
As is customary with these Sonic Central showcases, there was an update on the extensive licensing and merchandising that has been planned for the Sonic franchise. And boy, there was so much of it that it took us forever to collate them all in our roundup article here. Much of it we had already known about – a bit like the entire Sonic Central to be honest – but there were some cool reveals, like the ESP Sonic guitars and the Jakks Pacific Death Egg diorama. All we know is, our wallets are going to be very angry at us over the next year.
SDCC: Sonic Dog-Chili Concierge
We’re not sure who really needed to hear this, but there’s going to be a Sonic the Hedgehog themed restaurant setting up shop at San Diego Comic Con next month. It was such a throwaway announcement in the Sonic Central that we wondered if it was worth just waiting for the right moment on social media to talk about this instead. Still, we’re hoping to be at the show next month so we’ll make sure to road test those chili dogs for you and let you know if they taste any good!
A LEGO Eggman Takeover
Now this was cute. A total time-filler, but we adore Mike Pollock and his sultry Eggman voice, so we’ll take any excuse to hear him go at it in a sketch like this. While discussing the new LEGO Sonic sets, the Sonic Central is ‘disrupted’ by a fantastic rap by Dr. Eggman, who wants to take the time to highlight the fact that the LEGO company actually fixed his presence within the LEGO world and made him into an official Minifig. The tiny brick dictator also suggested a new look for Sonic, as you can see above. #MakeLEGOSonicMoreEggman.
A Meeting of Minds
With Sonic Superstars heralding the return of the blue blur’s prodigal son – original character designer Naoto Ohshima – SEGA took some time in its Sonic Central showcase to interview both him and Takashi Iizuka on developing the upcoming 2D Classic Sonic adventure. Don’t expect much in the way of interesting answers – in the short clip that was shown the questions and responses were pretty much fluff, and the extended interview on the Sonic YouTube channel isn’t much better. But we love the fact that Iizuka-san and Ohshima-san are sitting in the same room together working on Sonic again, we think that’s really nice.
Built Like A Brick Speedhouse
The most random thing of the show was the surprise reveal that LEGO and SEGA were collaborating on some kind of content for Sonic Superstars. Like… why? But you know what? Maybe that’s the wrong question to ask. This Sonic Central was quite heavy on the LEGO love this year, so it makes sense that some of that would seep through to the latest game in the series. We later learned that this is in fact themed DLC for the game, which sees you fight LEGO Dr. Eggman as LEGO Sonic. You can check out more in our story here.
And that was that! What a lot of information, hmm? Let us know what you thought of the Sonic Central 2023 in the comments section below!
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Today’s Sonic Central reveled a whole host of new merchandise for Sonic collectors out there, even our heads are still spinning!
Just in case you missed it, here’s our whistle-stop tour of what we can expect in the coming weeks and months!
#MakeLEGOSonicMoreEggman
We saw Eggman take over LEGO HQ, and showcase not only a new and improved LEGO Eggman figure (they even got in on the joke no one liked the brick Eggman), but Sonic, Tails, and Amy to boot as well. There are 5 sets on the way, including Sonic’s Speed Sphere, a monster Green Hill Zone set, and a Death Egg Robot!
What a Croc
Love ’em or hate ’em, Crocs have collaborated with Sonic to prouce some Sonic-red clogs which you can customise with official Sonic Jibbitz™ charms.
They’ve missed a trick not doing Vector-themed ones though.
An Egg For Trying Times
The Jakks Pacific merchandise keeps coming thick and fast at the moment, and the line up just got even bigger – figuratively and literally – with the Death Egg Playset!
The monster sphere features an internal playset in which Sonic can grind on rails and battle against Dr. Eggman. We think this would look great hanging from your ceiling.
Ice Cap
For those heading out to enjoy a picnic in the sun, the sixteen-bit style Playmate cooler from Igloo for those wanting to keep their Sonic ice creams cool on the go. 623 coolers purchased today will include an exclusive Sonic sticker/decal, so get yer skates on.
Hyper Sonic
Boutique clothers Hypland are bringing a range of apparel to market that feature deisgns that cover a huge range of designs from across the Sonic time and space. The collection includes shirts, hats…and even rugs.
If you are local to LA, check out the launch at the pop-up Hypeland store; if not, the collection will be available online on June the 26th.
Sonic vs. Shadow
At long last! Lifted straight from Sonic Adventure 2 artwork comes a statue of epic proportions from new brand S-Fire. This Sonic and Shadow statue begins pre-orders today, but comes in at a rather hefty ¥44,000 ($300) before shipping, so this one is for the serious collectors. It does look awesome though.
ESP Guitars will be releasing another Sonic the Hedgehog-themed guitar later this year. The brand have released guitars before (including copies of the iconic guitars used by Jun Senoue) but have come with a premium price – this one looks to be aimed at fans with a more modest budget.
More details soon!
HOLD!
The Cable Guys (not the Jim Carrey film) are adding two modern era Sonic figures to their controller stand line in the form of Sonic the Hedgehog and Shadow the Hedgehog.
They can also hold other things!
Stay tuned for more merchandise updates!
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Looks like someone let the cat out of the bag. Although the Sonic Central showcase from earlier today announced a Fall 2023 release for Sonic Superstars, a listing on US retailer Target has the game down for a much more specific date: October 17.
The website prices the game at $59.99, and details the pre-order bonuses announced earlier in the Sonic Central showcase today; a LEGO Eggman Minifig character skin – alongside an acrylic display stand and reversible game cover.
If you wanted a closer look at that nice and shiny PS5 game cover as well, you can see that for yourself below.
While October 17 isn’t officially confirmed, obviously, it’s worth noting that retailers often get these kinds of details ahead of time and every so often they let those legitimate details slip. It would certainly fall into SEGA’s previous release window of ‘Fall 2023’, but that date also puts Superstars in direct competition with Super Mario Bros Wonder, a 2D Mario game that is releasing on Nintendo Switch on October 20.
No matter how much time has passed, we always somehow come back to that classic 1990s battle, between Sonic and Mario. When will this war ever end?
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Following today’s latest Sonic Superstars trailer, the official Sonic Superstars website updated with the new LEGO reveal, the pre-order deal, and character profiles. Most notably, this includes the new and returning antagonists Fang (or “Fangs” according to his profile image file name) and Trip:
Not much is known yet about Trip, the mysterious girl first encountered by Fang on the Northstar Islands. While a bit clumsy, Trip is heavily armored and has been enlisted by Fang and Dr. Eggman to protect and guide them around the wonders of this uncharted region.
Fang is a springy jerboa that is light on his feet and is always looking for the next big score. A bounty hunter by trade, Fang the Hunter has been known by many different names over the years, likely due to his “WANTED” status with the authorities. Always trying to stay one step ahead, he’s constantly modifying and upgrading his primary mode of transportation, the Marvelous Queen.
To those looking to justify their need for canonical consistency, it seems Fang may have previously taken on a pseudonym and… pseusospecies in Triple Trouble. Meanwhile, this is our first clear look at Trip, a clumsy girl in heavy armor guiding Eggman and Fang around the island.
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SEGA has revealed that it is working on special LEGO-themed DLC for Sonic Superstars, as part of a collaboration with the Danish toy company.
Announced during the Sonic Central showcase, with a short trailer that saw Sonic transform into LEGO and face off against a similarly brick-built Dr Eggman, the new partnership also includes a special pre-order bonus for the game where players can unlock a special Dr Eggman LEGO Minifig costume.
While the trailer and the showcase itself told us little about the collab, a follow-up press release we received from SEGA reveals that, “Sonic and LEGO have teamed up for a brick-tacular DLC where fans can soon experience the Blue Blur in brick form with a free LEGO Sonic skin! Fans who pre-order Sonic Superstars will also get access a special skin that transforms Eggman into LEGO Eggman!”
So there you go. Look forward to that!
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The Sonic Symphony World Tour’s larger touring schedule has finally been unveiled! In addition to the previously revealed cities of London and Los Angeles, which the tour will go to in September, the symphony will also go to Paris, Sao Paulo, Boston and Chicago by the end of October.
Beginning in February, the tour will also head to Asia, kicking off in Tokyo. For a full list of confirmed cities, check out the image below. More cities will be revealed in the future.
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Sonic Prime got a nice little trailer at today’s Sonic Central, which dished some new info on the upcoming episodes.
Shadow explained to Sonic that in order to restore their world, they needed to gather the pieces of the paradox prism, which has one piece in each shatterspace. Sounds like Sonic and Shadow will be working together, at least for a bit! We also get to see a little more of that phantom Green Hill that was used in the footage released yesterday, including a ghost Big.
The worlds and characters of each Shatter Space also appear to be merging, with buildings from New Yoke City growing out of the ground in Boscage Maze. Finally, the trailer ends with the debut of….some sort of new robot Sonic?
Check out a gallery of stills taken from the trailer below:
Sonic Prime is set to debut July 13. You can watch the full trailer in the embed below:
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The popular mobile endless running game, Sonic Dash, will be getting a ‘Sonic Prime’ themed lick of paint and re-released for Netflix customers under the name “Sonic Prime Dash”.
Announced during the Sonic Central showcase earlier today, Sonic Prime Dash will feature everything that you already know and love about the existing SEGA HARDlight game – which first launched in 2013 – but will take character designs from the Netflix animated series.
Not a lot of extra information was revealed at the time of announcement, but hey. If it’s more Sonic Dash, that’s good enough for us. This new version of the game will launch alongside the upcoming ‘new season’ of Sonic Prime, on July 13. If you’re subscribed to Netflix, then you’ll automatically have access to this game via the Netflix Games service.
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This morning’s Sonic Central brought a few mobile game update announcements for new characters and what could technically be called a new game by the loosest possible definition.
Sonic Prime Dash
Netflix is getting an exclusive version of Sonic Dash, titled “Sonic Prime Dash.” The game will launch in July with the new season of the show, and features characters from the show. However, all stages appear to be the same as the ones from regular Sonic Dash, so don’t expect it to be significantly different. More information in our separate news story for it, here.
Super Silver in Dash/Speed Battle
Super Silver already hit both Sonic Dash and Sonic Forces: Speed Battle. In Dash, he has about 5 days remaining, and will be available until the 29th in Speed Battle.
Monster Dragon Hunter Lancelot
Shadow’s medieval getup was previously available in Speed Battle, but will hit Sonic Dash/Dash+ in July.
Classic Super Sonic
No specifics given, but Classic Super Sonic was teased for upcoming events in Sonic mobile games. The last time we’ve seen polygonal Classic Sonic go Super was in 2011’s Sonic Generations.
Sonic’s Got a New Hat in Roblox
Sonic Speed Simulator on Roblox (the one that, you know, is dealing with some things) will be adding a new skin featuring Classic Sonic in an open tux, jaunty top hat, and classy shoes.
No Sign Yet of HARDlight’s “Narrative Driven” Game
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It was only a matter of time before we’d hear about this, so it’s not surprising that we got to hear about the next batch of major content that is coming to Sonic Frontiers. Sure enough, today’s Sonic Central broadcast confirmed new details on the update, including the news that you’ll be able to play it later today!
There was 3 noteworthy parts of the update. The first one was probably the most obvious one: Sonic and the Starfall Islands got festive for the Blue Blur’s birthday. There’s also some new moves, including the return of Sonic’s signature Spin Dash. It seems to use the stamina meter, the same meter that Sonic uses for boosting.
There’s also new Challenges and Koco. However, the biggest addition that this update has is that there is a New Game +! They didn’t elaborate more on what New Game + is like, but fans won’t have to wait long to find out. The update will be available to download for free later today!
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It was only a matter of time before we’d hear about this, so it’s not surprising that we got to hear about the next batch of major content that is coming to Sonic Frontiers. Sure enough, today’s Sonic Central broadcast confirmed new details on the update, including the news that you’ll be able to play it later today!
There were 3 noteworthy parts of the update. The first one was probably the most obvious one: Sonic and the Starfall Islands have become festive for the Blue Blur’s birthday. There are also some new moves, including the return of Sonic’s signature Spin Dash. It seems to use the stamina meter, the same meter that Sonic uses for boosting.
There’s also new Challenges and Koco. However, the biggest addition that this update has is that there is a New Game +! They didn’t elaborate more on what New Game + is like, but fans won’t have to wait long to find out. The update will be available to download for free later today!
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“Happy Birthday, Sonic. Now feel our mighty laser blast!” That’s something we’d imagine the combined forces of Gemerl, Orbot and Cubot would say to the blue blur as they stomp around Station Square in this Mighty Morphin’ mech of mass destruction.
Yes, it’s time for Sonic Channel’s Calendar artwork for July 2023, and as you know already the theme this year is “Isekai Ohgiri”, which puts Sonic characters in unique and unfamiliar scenarios. And I don’t know about you, but I definitely wouldn’t see the otherwise meek and gentle servants Orbot and Cubot join forces to create something mega-deadly. Gemerl… eh, he’s had previous.
As with all Sonic Calendar 2023 art pieces, the scene is awesomely dramatic, and we just love the craziness of this setup. On the Sonic Channel website (where you can download a PDF of this month’s calendar art to print off for yourself, here), there is talk of “pests” and “insecticide”, which makes the whole thing sound even more off-the-rails. Which is great. More of that, please.
Sonic Channel usually throws in a full story to complement each month’s Calendar art, but this time around it appears to be coming a bit later (probably because it’s Sonic’s birthday today – lots of other things going on!). So keep checking the link above if you’re curious about what Sonic Team ‘canonically’ has to say about this intense robot partnership!
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It’s time to party! Because it’s Sonic the Hedgehog’s birthday today! SEGA Japan has marked the occasion by sharing the latest artwork in its Sonic Pict series. And as you’d expect, the focus is on the birthday boy himself.
Staging a massive concert in the middle of Studiopolis Zone, Sonic is truly king for the day. And you can see many Sonic characters in the audience celebrating with him – Tails, Amy, Mighty and Ray are all rocking glowsticks and raving out with the blue blur.
SEGA Japan released this artwork with the following message (machine translated):
The highlight of this year’s birthday party is Sonic’s birthday live!
To thank you for always celebrating with us, we will perform a lively performance
Before I knew it, the studio police camera team had arrived, and the stage was getting more and more gorgeous…! The best night is coming!
Happy Birthday Sonic
Happy Birthday Sonic, indeed!
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Solicitations for the next issue of IDW’s Sonic the Hedgehog have come flying out the gate, and those who miss the racing action of Sonic Riders will be pleased to know that the Babylon Rogues are back in a new story.
You can check out the synopsis below from from Penguin Random House. The issue is written by Ian Flynn and Evan Stanley, and will be illustrated by Mauro Fonseca and Adam Bryce Thomas.
The misadventures continue! It’s Knuckles vs. the Babylon Rogues! They have stolen a relic from Angel Island, so Knuckles enlists the Chaotix to track them down. But the Chaotix have a super important date to keep: dinner with Vanilla and Cream! The pair are busy preparing when they get two very unexpected and stinky visitors…
But somehow there is alternative preview text that exists, which outline some new details (revealing Rough and Tumble, for example), which has been provided to us by Sonictrainer:
The Babylon Rouges have stolen a relic from Angel Island and Knuckles has hired Team Chaotix to help. However, the Chaotix might miss their get together at Cream’s house. To make matters worse, Rough and Tumble plan on inviting themselves over for dinner.
Check out the covers below!
Cover A: Natalie Haines
Cover B: Eric Lide
Cover RI: Nathalie Fourdraine
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It’s hard to believe that THIRTY-TWO YEARS AGO today, the original Sonic the Hedgehog video game arrived on store shelves. And since then, the heroic blue blur has catapulted himself to super-stardom, appearing on everything from comics to TV shows and movies, to coffee cups and t-shirts and a whole lot more!
SEGA’s mascot has had the kind of celebrity life that many can only dream of: the dizzying highs of ‘Sonic Mania’ in the early 1990s; the crushing lows of ‘Sonic 2006’ in… well, 2006; a series of make-overs and interesting fashion choices; the always-classic “five year lull”; and a comeback story that celebrates both his retro early successes (Sonic Origins, Sonic Superstars) alongside his more Adventure-ous contemporary works (Sonic Colours Ultimate, Sonic Frontiers).
If any character proved that they can truly stand the test of time, Sonic the Hedgehog is that guy. Several times.
To celebrate, SEGA shared an incredible fan art piece today by Serxx – you can see it below and catch the original SEGA post here.
We’ll be updating Sonic News throughout the day with cool things that the official Sonic channels have done to pay homage to the blue blur on this day. How will you be celebrating? A little bit of Sonic Adventure 2? Reading the latest IDW Sonic issues? Watching the Sonic 2 movie? Let us know in the comments below!
Oh, and don’t forget – today is also the day SEGA hosts its annual ‘Sonic Central’ showcase, which is bound to include a number of interesting surprises.
Happy birthday, Sonic!
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It’s really happening: Classic Amy is getting her own one-shot comic from IDW in celebration of her 30th anniversary. This will be in keeping with the Classic Sonic and Tails 30th anniversay one-shots, which have practically made these Classic Sonic comics an annual tradition.
The comic will be written by Ian Flynn, with art by Aaron Hammerstrom and Reggie Graham. The issue will release in September for $5.99. Check out the full solicit with the plot summary below:
Cool, sweet, and pink! All words that describe our absolute favorite hedgehog. That’s right, step aside, Sonic, and have no fear, because Amy Rose is here!
Ian Flynn, Aaron Hammerstrom, and Reggie Graham are back for another Classic Sonic special! And this time, Amy’s doing the saving!
After Metal Sonic interrupts her picnic, Amy uses her Fortune Cards as a guide to free her friends and stop Doctor Eggman. Can she save the day and still get back in time for tea?!
The comic has three covers, with Cover A done by Aarom Hammerstrom, Cover B being done by Mauro Fonseca, and the retail incentive cover being done by Jennifer Hernandez. Check them out below:
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The Sonic Origins Plus DLC has officially rolled out on all platforms as of midnight EST. Playstation, Xbox, and Switch players can all play it, and Steam users can…well, buy it, at least, for a slight mark-up.
Unfortunately, as of this writing, the Sonic Origins 2.0 patch with all the fixes and DLC content has yet to become available on Steam, meaning Steam players are locked out of the DLC even if they buy it. This will hopefully resolve soon, but anyone on Steam hoping to play the game at midnight will need to hold off.
Steam users are also currently being charged a dollar more for for the DLC, for some reason. We have reached out to SEGA for comment.
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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.
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.
SEGA’s twitter account gave us a sneak peak inside of their brand spanking new refurbished offices in the Tokyo office, which now have a distinctly Sonical theme!
Sonic Team veteran artist Kazuyuki Hoshino was part of the team working on the project, which includes 6 themed conference rooms along with a space for seasonal artwork to be displayed.
Check out each of the spaces and their unique artwork in the video above!
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Sonic and Shadow are duking it out in a new clip released by Netflix Malaysia as part of their “What’s New in July” video compilation. The clip sees them fighting as Shadow seemingly attempts to steal Sonic’s “tech.” Interestingly, the battle takes place in a weird, off-color version of Green Hill. It seems the new batch of episodes may shed more light on what exactly happened to Sonic’s original friends and home. You can check out the clip below:
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Nintendo held a Direct today, but you probably already knew that. However, you may be surprised to learn that a new trailer for Sonic Superstars appeared in the presentation. You may be even happier to learn that this trailer contained some new information about the game, and showcased some new gameplay!
So, where to start? Well, the first thing you probably noticed is the music playing. It is more than likely music from the game, which means that we finally got an idea of what the game’s soundtrack may be aiming for. And the music is actually really good. If this is what the music is for the rest of the game’s soundtrack, then I don’t think fans will have to worry about them taking a musical route similar to Sonic 4’s. There’s a new render too, potentially the game’s box art, which you can see right here.
Other than that, there were a lot of small tidbits throughout the trailer, including some things that you’d miss if you blinked. We got to see a pinball area for some carnival zone that hadn’t been shown before. Fang appears in the background of some cutscene, and we get to see that we will be fighting him as a boss.
SEGA showed a new emerald power, which seems to function similar to the Sunglasses and Treasure Scope that Knuckles and Rouge get in Sonic Adventure 2, respectively. It causes hidden things to become visible, including platforms and rings. And speaking of the emeralds, we actually got our first look at how the Chaos Emeralds look in this game. Well, one of them, anyway.
We even learned that Tails can carry Sonic and friends, just like he could in Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic Mania. Perhaps the biggest piece of info we learned from the trailer, however, is the news that there will be a total of 12 new zones in the game. It’s more than some fans were speculating, and it was a big factor in how justified some people felt the $60 price would be.
We’re still hearing a fall release date, but there was a Sonic Central announced for Friday. It’s doubtful that there will be any further information about the game, but clearly SEGA has more Sonic news to share. Whether we’ll get more Sonic Superstars info there is another matter entirely. In the meantime, check out the trailer down below!
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So, Sonic fans got to see a brand new trailer for Sonic Superstars earlier today. It was incredible. But it seems SEGA isn’t done spoiling Sonic fans with mews just yet. Sonic’s birthday is a couple of days away, so SEGA has decided that it is time to have a Sonic Central broadcast!
The description for the Sonic Central isn’t unsurprising. It’s the usual info telling us that it will feature “a sneak peek of our upcoming projects, partnerships and events”. Of course, these things will only be for this year, so any information about 2024 and onward is not something you should be expecting at all. Nevertheless, there has been lots of anticipation for the next Sonic Frontiers update, so this may finally be the time that we will get to learn more about it!
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Developers Evening Star, made up of the team behind Sonic Mania, have revealed their first novel IP title, Penny’s Big Breakaway!
Showcased during today’s Nintendo Direct, the title see’s the player take control of the title’s namesake Penny, navigating their way through obsticles and tackling hordes of penguins.
While we only have 90 seconds of footage to go off, fans will no doubt see a lot of the Mania team’s DNA in the art direction throughout, alongside some unique gameplay gimmicks and stages.
We can’t wait to find out more!
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We already know how big of a deal it is that Sonic Origins exists. We raved about it in our review, after all. Finally getting a Sonic 3 & Knuckles re-release after a decade in legal limbo (and a full-on Headcannon remaster at that)? Experiencing the Taxman and Stealth remasters of Sonic 1, 2 and CD on home console and PC? Some minor bugs aside, the overall quality and sheer importance of this release made it instantly worth buying by default.
But now, a year later, SEGA is offering an expansion in the form of Sonic Origins Plus. Will it similarly be worth your money? All signs point to ‘yes’ – with some caveats.
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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.
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.
The next instalment of the Sonic the Hedgehog movie series will begin filming on location in late Summer, according to details listed in an industry film and TV production tracker. For British fans, that shooting location will be exciting indeed as it is currently set for London, UK.
In the production notes, found on website Production List (via Collider), cameras and crew will start their work in England’s capital from August 31. So if you see some makeshift movie set barriers and big blue hedgehog-shaped puppets being carried around Leicester Square, it’s likely that director Jeff Fowler is on the loose doing his thing.
Further details are scant, and a lot of the information on Production List is (quite rightly) redacted, but it does re-affirm the involvement of Paramount movie series names such as Pat Casey and Josh Miller on writing and Tim Miller and Toby Ascher on producer roles. Neal H Moritz, Nan Morales, Toru Nakahara and SEGA Sammy chairman Hajime Satomi are also credited there.
We’re looking forward to seeing more (literally, if we can catch a glimpse of the movie being made!) later this year. This news has also clearly given us an opportunity to re-use our header image from our 2022 April Fools Day gag. Hey, why waste quality work on a single day of the year?
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(Spoiler Warning, but hopefully you know what you’re getting into if you saw the article title).
One point of the fanbase’s longstanding curiosity with Sonic Origins Plus and its addition of Amy Rose has been “Will she have a super form?” It appears we may have an answer. A video posted to YouTube channel “Sekaimen” feature all four character’s Super and Hyper transformations, including the previously unseen Amy transformations.
While you (like me) may be skeptical of the footage this early given the strange nature of the channel itself, we took a good look at the sprites compared to other official sources, and they do line up. Much like most other Super forms, Amy gains enhanced speed, though she does not appear to have a unique sprite to her form (much like Tails or Knuckles). Her Hyper form doesn’t seem to visually change her, nor does this video show off any additional abilities (if there are any).
SEGA has kept a tight wrap on Amy footage up until yesterday’s Sonic Official Stream, but with the DLC releasing next week, this might be our first external peek at what she can do. Those hoping Amy’s Super inclusion would buck a visual trend set across the 16-bit styled games may be left wanting, but her consistency here and her inclusion in Superstars has cemented her as an important character to the Classic Sonic series.
Thanks to _jubbalub on Twitter for the tip!
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The first full look of Amy Rose gameplay in Sonic Origins Plus has been revealed by SEGA’s Sonic social media team, during the latest ‘Sonic Official’ livestream. In it, you can check out some of Amy’s unique moves and how she controls in Sonic CD, one of the four titles in the collection where you will be able to play as the rosy rascal.
As you can see, Amy has a “Drop Dash” move equivalent when playing the 2D classics – when you hold the jump button in mid-air and land, she will speed ahead while mashing her Piko Piko Hammer. That move smashes anything that happens to be in her way, including Badniks and item boxes. Amy also has a cool double-jump spin involving her Hammer, which we imagine can be used as a sort of buffer when attacking enemies in the air.
The action starts at 36:40 in the video above, so scroll over to that time and check out the gameplay for yourself.
What do you think? Game changer, or more of the same? Let us know in the comments below!
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