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Please note that this site is no longer being updated or maintained; as a result, there may be design issues, and links to images and other media may be broken.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.
Underbelly, the internet series that delves deep into the world of games, movies, comics and the web, has changed target to the Sonic franchise. In their latest episode, titled ‘Sonic the Failhog,’ the show looks at how the Sonic series has changed and developed over the years. It’s an interesting take on the franchise, which fans of the recent games won’t agree with, but even the biggest fans will get a laugh out of some of the sketches in the video. Stay tuned until the end for SEGA’s “latest game announcement.”
Thanks to SSMB member Indigo Rush for the heads up!
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.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DItY3CQSpRQ[/youtube]
(Footage starts at 03:53 and ends at 05:58)
Those left hungry for more from the taste of Planet Wisp that we got from Nextplay’s recording will be happy with gamer365On’s footage from Gamescom. This recording starts a lot earlier in the level, where we see some open turns for drifting, some wall running and some rail grinding sections. Later in the stage, we see more of the alternative routes that you can take if you fall from higher areas. That’s no doubt some good news for those who hate death pits.
Do you like the look of the Planet Wisp stage? Discuss in the comments.
Thanks to Jimmy Kudo at the SSMB for the heads up!
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.
In a blog entry posted on Friday, SEGA of America announced they will be attending the annual Penny Arcade Expo this year in Downtown Seattle, WA. The event will run from September 3rd until September 5th. SEGA will be bringing along playable demos of their upcoming releases for attendees to try out, which include two Sonic titles, namely Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 and Sonic Colours. No details are given regarding what platforms will be there and whether the demos will be of newer builds.
In addition to this, SEGA will be hosting a community event in their Gameworks arcade, located right across the street from the PAX venue at 8pm on September 4th.
We’re throwing a community event to celebrate all the fun we’ve been having in the SEGA community; if you are at PAX or around the Seattle area, we want you to attend! The event kicks off at 8pm on Saturday, September 4th right across the street at the SEGA Gameworks Arcade. It will be first-come, first-served, so get there early if you want to be guaranteed a spot inside. Attendees will have access to free food & drinks, exclusive SEGA swag, musical performances, free Arcade play, and raffle prizes throughout the night from SEGA’s past and present.
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.
SSMB member Doctor MK recently stopped by his local Pizza Hut restaurant with some friends to celebrate his fantastic A-level exam results and was surprised to find the fast food chain is now promoting SEGA’s kart racing title, Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing.
You can now grab a Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing themed activity book that contains puzzles and character bios, as well as a Sonic hat that you can colour in yourself. This promotion was confirmed at various other Pizza Hut restaurants by other SSMB members, including Mahzes who found an activity book with a different cover and contents. This suggests there may be a variety of these that may change from week to week, like with most kids meal promotions at fast food restaurants. The activity books also contain a competition you can enter to win a weekend stay in the Sonic themed hotel room at Alton Towers Resort and other runner-up prizes.
Will you be picking up the activity books and hat? Have you seen different books at your local Pizza Hut? Speak out in the comments.
To find your nearest Pizza Hut and to see their menu, check out their website.
Thanks to Doctor MK at the SSMB for the find and thanks to both Doctor MK and Mahzes for the pics!
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.
More gameplay footage of Sonic Colours has rolled in from Gamescom for both the Wii and DS versions. The above footage is from YouTube user supersonic83, which gives us a look at the updated Sweet Mountain Act 2 and the Green Wisp. In the video we can see the Green Wisp will be very handy for picking up bonuses, such as the red Special Rings and extra lives.
Next up, we have more of Tropical Resort Act 1 from Nintendo-Online. Nothing really new that we haven’t already seen, but we do learn that you can now gain ‘combo’ bonus points with the Cyan ‘lazer’ Wisp.
Finally, we have some footage of the DS version’s Tropical Resort Act 1. The video was recorded by SSMB member MarcelloF, who brought us footage of the DS version’s Special Stage. Hard to tell if anything has changed since we last saw the Act at E3. If you spot any differences, let us know in the comments. Thanks to MarcelloF for sharing this at the SSMB.
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 the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 footage from Gamescom has hit the net, courtesy of YouTube user blogociomedia. Those hoping for footage of Lost Labyrinth Zone will be disappointed to see the demo is showcasing Splash Hill Zone Act 3. It is unclear whether this demo is of a build later than the one shown at E3 or not, but it appears to be the same old demo.
Here is a video of Splash Hill Zone Act 3 from an earlier version for comparison:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXU9I9hWVe8[/youtube]
Do you see any changes? Let us know in the comments.
We’ll keep an eye out for any more footage and try to find out whether this demo is from a later build or not.
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.
UPDATE 2: SEGA have released new screenshots of the Green Wisp in a new stage. /UPDATE 2 END
UPDATE: SEGA have just officially revealed the Green Wisp at the Sonic City Blognik. We also have a new gameplay video from Gamescom above, which gives a better view of the Green Wisp’s Green Hover power and our first look at its Ring Dash ability.
Thanks to nuckles87 for the heads up and to JasonTheJackass for the find! /UPDATE END
SEGA has issued the above artwork and information about the Green Wisp today, previously revealed at Gamescom. Along with the new artwork, some official information about the Wisp’s powers has been detailed:
Go Green with the Green Wisp in Sonic Colours!
Sonic Colours gets more colourful all the time! The Green Wisp is the next in line to unveil its special Colour Power. By absorbing the Green Wisp Sonic gains the ability to soar in the air with the “Green Hover” Colour Power enabling you to find hidden paths, or explore much higher levels than normal! With help from the Green Wisp’s Colour Power you are able to perform a Ring Dash near a series of rings!
More Colour Power reveals soon…
We expect SEGA will officially reveal the Green Wisp later in a blog update. We’ll let you know if anything new appears.
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.
GamerLive.TV grabbed the above interview with Sonic Free Riders’ Brand Manager, James Gray. In the interview, James confirms that the game will support 2 players offline and will also contain a 2 player co-op mode. This information matches what is on the Xbox.com product page. Online multiplayer is also confirmed, but James couldn’t reveal how many players will be supported at this time. Characters will play exactly the same, with the abilities focused instead on what customization of gear you choose to play with.
James says that all of your favourite Sonic characters will be there, but couldn’t reveal any that aren’t in the demo. Tracks outside of the demo also couldn’t be revealed, but emphasis is put on there being “a very good amount, with different landscapes and different routes.”
Some more gameplay videos have also come out of Gamescom, including one from Spark at Spindash.de. You can check out the videos below.
Spark at Spindash.de
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVa2KA6yOtQ&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
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.
Yesterday, we told you, via an eye-witness account from Spark at Spindash.de, that the Wii demo of Sonic Colours at Gamescom contains an updated version of Sweet Mountain Act 2 with the Green Wisp. Spark’s team tried to replay the stage and get footage, but Nintendo booth staff wouldn’t allow people to play the stage publicly. Now, Spark has just informed us via the SSMB that his friends at SEGA-Portal.de managed to sneak in the above recording of the stage, with the Green Wisp in action, too.
In the footage we can see Sonic’s ‘mutation’ to a hovercraft form, complete with hovering powers that allow Sonic to reach new heights. Unfortunately, we don’t get to see the light speed dash ability of the Green Wisp that Spark mentioned.
Thanks to Spark and SEGA-Portal.de for the info and footage!
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.
Thanks to MarcelloF of the SSMB, we can reveal that Special Stages and Chaos Emeralds are in the DS version of Sonic Colours. MarcelloF attended Gamescom and recorded the above footage of the Special Stage. Those who have played the original Sonic Rush on DS will be familiar with the touch screen controlled half-pipe, but this time instead of collecting rings, you are collecting certain coloured spheres.
MarcelloF has explained the Special Stage and more at the SSMB:
First of all: Sorry about the low quality and lack of sound. We we’re using the camera of my friend’s mom and we didn’t know it didn’t record sound.
As you can see I was pretty noobish at the start because I didn’t know what to do. After a bit the Nintendo rep told me I had to collect the spheres of the same colors as the top screen. The rainbow ones can be collected at any time. And then there were checkered ones, that if you collected all of them you would get a 10 sphere bonus.
I didn’t film this, because I didn’t know until we stopped filming, but you get ranked in the Special Stages.
I have some other info that I don’t have on film.
Planet Wisp is Level 4.
Sonic’s model is a bit different from the other two Rushes. He’s much darker and unlike SRA his spindash has the classic form
Thanks again to MarcelloF for this.
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.
Three new videos of the Wii version of Sonic Colours have hit the net, straight from Gamescom. The first video is from SSMB Member and Spindash.de staff member Spark. The footage Spark and his friends recorded gives us a look at the fully animated title screen, where Sonic is running between all of the games Wisps. The video also shows the Act title cards have been redesigned a little to fit the current stage.
The second video is from YouTube user ThomasBillstein, who has recorded footage from an updated Tropical Resort level. The video shows a couple of changes since we last saw the stage in the E3 demo. More crystals for use with the Cyan Wisp’s ricocheting power have been added to the end of Act 2, and destroying the Wisp Capsule at the end of an Act now results in a cool slow motion animation.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U62889MZ_hI[/youtube]
The third video is from GamezGeneration, which shows more of the updated Tropical Resort stage. Thanks to speedduelist at the SSMB for the heads up on this video!
We’ll look out for more footage of Sonic Colours from Gamescom and post it up as we find them.
Thanks to Spark for sharing the title screen video at the SSMB!
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 have today revealed more information about Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 today, as they promised they would yesterday. Todays focus is on Lost Labyrinth Zone Act 2, particularly the changes made to the controversial mine cart sequence seen in the leaked version of the game. The whole of Act 2 has been revamped for the console versions with the torch mechanic seen in the recent screenshots. The mine cart will now only be at the end of the Act and won’t be motion controlled. Could this mean that the iPod Touch/iPhone version is keeping the old Act 2?
Other smaller tweaks have been made to the game, tweaks that many fans have been requesting for ages now. The edits include a balance to difficulty to make tougher sections easier, Sonic reaching full speed and ‘wheel-of-feet’ faster, and an update to Sonic’s running animation.
You can check out the list in full at the SEGA of America Blog and Sonic City Blognik. SEGA promise another update with more changes will be released early September. Some hi-resolution versions of recent screenshots have also been released, check them out below.
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 have today revealed the Pink Wisp for Sonic Colours, along with two new screenshots of its powers in action. The Pink Wisp strengthens Sonic’s spikes and allows him to stick to walls, abling him to reach areas that he couldn’t before. As the box art indicated, SEGA confirms that this Wisp is exclusive to the Wii version.
Sonic is not the only one with spikes in Sonic Colors!
Check out the Color Power of the latest Wisp to be revealed; Pink Wisp and its Sonic-like spikes! When Sonic absorbs Pink Wisp, he can use “Pink Spike” Color Power, meaning he has much stronger spikes. Pink Spike makes the most of the spikes and is able to stick to any wall and ceilings! Exclusive to the Nintendo Wii version of the game, Pink Wisp helps Sonic explore new routes in a brand new way through certain levels of the game.
The new screenshots below showcase a new and unidentified stage. Hopefully we’ll hear more on the new stage at a later date. Impressed with the Pink Wisp? Let us know in the comments!
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.
UPDATE: SSMB Member and Spindash.de staff member Spark has informed us that the booth seen in the above video is the public booth at Gamescom and will inquire with fellow staff still at the event about whether the demo is playable by the public. We’ll update you when we hear more. /UPDATE END
Sonic fans looking to try out Sonic Free Riders for Xbox 360 Kinect at Gamescom over the next few days are out of luck. The above video has been posted at YouTube this morning by theREALshoesy, in which we can see the demo is sealed off in an enclosure, very similar to the one at E3. SEGA staff are on hand again to show how the game is played, while the public can only watch from a distance through glass walls.
Yesterday however, the press got to try out the demo’s single track in full. You can check out a few of their videos below. GameTrailers also has a play test of the demo at their website.
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.
RubyEclipse has announced at the SEGA of America Blog that today’s new media releases for the Lost Labyrinth Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 aren’t the only updates planned. From tomorrow, fans can expect more info on changes made for the final build of the game, with footage of the Lost Labyrinth Zone coming soon, too. RubyEclipse says updates will be posted exclusively on the SEGA Blogs and the Sonic City Blognik. We’ll be keeping an eye out for the updates and post them here at TSS soon after. The above new screenshot has also just been released in hi-resolution. In it, we can see that Sonic will still be able to spin jump while holding a torch.
What changes to the game are you hoping for? Speak out in the comments.
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.
UPDATE: The UK, AU and U.S. official Sonic 4 websites have also been updated with music for Lost Labyrinth Zone Act 1, three new badniks, concept art and more screenshots. The concept art and new screens have been added with the Japanese ones at the bottom of this article.
Thanks to Shoryuken for the heads up and thanks to Woun at the SSMB for obtaining the screens! /UPDATE END
SEGA has officially revealed the Lost Labyrinth Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 today. The update arrived on their official Japanese Sonic 4 website with eight new screenshots. The screenshots show that there has been a major overhaul of the stage, including new elements, such as dark areas in which Sonic will need to carry a torch to light up his surroundings. Sonic will also require the torch to light dynamite packs in certain areas to advance. The mine cart seen in the leaked footage of this level is still present, but it looks like it will only be used for a short period of time rather than take up a whole act. Judging by the screenshot, the mine cart moves forward without the need for tilting the screen.
We’ll keep an eye open for a U.S. and European update and let you know of any new info/media that may get released. Meanwhile, you can check out the screenshots below. If you saw the leaks, are you happy with the changes? If you didn’t, do you like your first glimpse? Let us know in the comments!
Thanks to Blue Blood at the SSMB for the heads up!
UK, U.S. and AU website:
Japanese site:
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.
Many of you remember that Sonic the Hedgehog got a new voice actor in Roger Craig Smith back in July. Roger revealed later that the Sonic voice actor for Alton Towers Resort was him. A lot of people out there weren’t too keen on the new voice, claiming that it’s too deep and too slow, but this was predicted to be the fault of editing work on the clips for the resort. Today, we can prove that the clips were indeed edited with the original high quality voice clips released by ArchangelUK on his Radio Redux shows, which you’ll notice are higher in pitch and a little faster than than those played at Alton Towers.
Folks over at the SSMB, Sonic Retro and SEGA Forums have had a good listen to the clips. So far, feedback is pretty good with most noting a significant improvement compared to past recordings. What do you guys think of the clips? Speak out in the comments.
Thanks to ArchangelUK for playing these and to Hero of Legend at the SSMB for getting a hold of them.
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.
During his rounds last week, SEGA’s Brand Manager David Allen stopped by GamesRadar’s offices where they got to check out Sonic Free Riders for Xbox 360 Kinect. In the video we see Tails in action as David guides Chris through the demos controls, shortcuts and many interactive items and weapons. Speaking of items, in this preview we get our first look at the “Soda Can” item, which you shake until it bursts and gives you a boost as you ride on it in cartoon fashion.
If you look closely, you can see an image of Eggman on the soda can with the words “Power Up”:
(Thanks to Hero of Legend for the image)
With the bowling ball, rocket, golf club and now a soda can item, it appears SEGA are really taking advantage of Kinect to make this the zaniest and most interactive racer out there.
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.
GamePro’s German division has put up the above video preview of the Wii version of Sonic Colours. The levels shown in the footage are the two usual suspects (Tropical Resort and Sweet Mountain) that we’ve gotten so used to seeing in E3 demo coverage, but much of the footage gives us a look at some new areas of those stages, which suggests that this is a newer build being shown to press.
Thanks to MarcelloF at the SSMB, we have a translation of the preview:
After the disappointing Sonic Unleashed, SEGA once again tires with a high-speed 3D Sonic. But, this time without bothersome Werehog stages. The “Sonic Colors” titles game is being release exclusively for Wii and looks phenomenal, as you can see in these impressions of the first level. Once again it proves that there’s a lot more in the Wii than muddy textures and “casual” simple graphics. Plus “Sonic Colors” runs unbelievably fast on the screen.
Similar to Sonic’s 2D adventures, you speed through set sections that are full of junctions and secret areas. Most of the time, you’ll see Sonic from behind while you’re speeding through the tracks. Time and again the perspective switches to the side perspective and your blue runner becomes tiny. Like this “Sonic Colors” plays almost like the classic 2D adventures. At least shortly, because the perspective usually switches fairly quickly back to the familiar “Hedgehog From Behind”.
As you can see, “Sonic Colors” is very colorful, but what does the reference to colors in the title mean? For that let’s see the World Map first. This is an overview of Dr.Eggman’s Interplanetary amusement park. The villain has converted the planets into attractions and it’s up to Sonic to free these planets. But, that still doesn’t explain the game’s title. Time and again Sonic encounters small, alien beings that are prisoned in capsules. If he frees them, he can use the powers of the blue or yellow creatures for a short time.
All that is done by a small waggle of the Wii Remote. If you have an alien, you just have to shake the controller to, in the case of the yellow alien, dig through the earth. The blue alien, on the other hand gives you a laser. Of course there are more colors in the final game to be found, but in our preview version, only the blue and yellow ones were implemented.
Overall, with “Sonic Colors” there finally seems to be a decent 3D game with the sneakered hedgehog in the making. We, at least, can not wait to play this Wii gem in its finished version.
GamePro has also revealed the below clear image of the games map (click to enlarge):
Thanks to Blue Blood at the SSMB for the heads up!
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.
It appears that while Takashi Iizuka was publicly doing his interview rounds with the media over a week ago, UK retailer GAME also got to have a chat with him and quietly published their interview over on their Sonic Colours product page. Continue reading Iizuka Teases 20th Anniversary Game In Interview
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.
While browsing London’s Forbidden Planet store, SSMB member Gnasher came across a humorous Silver figure. The ultra rare “Pingas” edition.
P.S. In case anyone really can’t tell, that’s Silver’s tail. The body must have gotten twisted during packing with hilarious results.
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.
SSMB member and Summer of Sonic 2010 staffer Gnasher recorded a tour of this years Summer of Sonic. Now, those of you who couldn’t attend can get a better look at what was there and just how jam-packed full of fans it was. If you attended, see if you can spot yourself.
Gnasher has also recorded an ‘unboxing’ of the contents of the goody bag, aswell as some other things gained at the event:
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.
Those awaiting updates for Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 will be glad to hear that they won’t have to wait much longer. SEGA of America Community Manager RubyEclipse has revealed in a post at the SEGA Forums yesterday that the updates could be coming as soon as next week and hints at the next zone reveal by stating that the Sonic 4 website will be getting a new zone overhaul. In his post, RubyEclipse has a question to ask of the fans before SEGA reveal anything, “Would you guys like to know only about the biggest updates to the final version of the game, or would you also like to know about the smaller ones?”
Sonic 4 update question – for you guys!
Hi everyone,
With our Sonic 4 Birthday Contest wrapping up soon and our final Hedgehog Day prizes about to go out the door, I have a question for you all with regard to the next news about the game.
Coming up, we’re going to be revealing many of the changes that we spoke about a couple months ago when we announced the extended development. With the website getting another big zone overhaul (possibly as soon as next week), I wanted to pose another question to you guys and get your thoughts.
Would you guys like to know only about the biggest updates to the final version of the game, or would you also like to know about the smaller ones? I ask because though not every update is massively game changing, there are some nice minor touches that I think some fans would appreciate. In any case, I’d like to know what you guys think, since you’re all quite passionate and engaged. (You too, lurkers!)
Let us know which you’d prefer (only big changes, or all changes) in a post below. I’ll be looking over the feedback for a couple days until the end of this Thursday. Thanks everyone!
As stated in the above post, answers are to be posted in the SEGA Forums topic and must be in by the end of tomorrow to be taken into consideration.
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.
In their latest “On The Spot” show, Gamespot got to interview SEGA’s David Allen about Sonic Free Riders. David also demoed the game on the show. Those who have been keeping up to date with the Xbox 360 Kinect title won’t see anything new in terms of the track shown, but we do get a better look at rail grinding and the player interaction required for that technique.
David Allen explains that they have taken the best bits from the previous two Riders games and combined them into this game. When it comes to controls, a lot of detail is given about how interactive the game is, such as its skateboard or snowboard like steering. David, however, is quick to be secretive in response to most of Ricardo Torres’ questions about content, like multiplayer options, modes, other characters, tracks and items. Instead, David assures that the team are trying to get in as much content as possible while rushing to get the game out for its November launch.
You can check out Ricardo’s hands-on preview from the 3rd August at Gamespot’s website.
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.
With Summer of Sonic 2010 wrapped up and us staff having recovered (at least a little bit), I thought it time I put my thoughts about the convention out there and share some photos (sorry for crappy DSi quality).
Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing World Championship Tournament
I was staffing the Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing tournament with Sonic Wrecks’ Blake Draco. Things went O.K. during time trial qualifiers, despite him and I having difficulty monitoring two pods each out of a total of four to make sure everyone kept to the three lap limit, didn’t cheat and helped new players/owners of other console versions to learn the XBOX 360 versions controls.
The 32-player knockout round was a mess since only about half the people showed up but it was more than likely because people had got stuck in queue for other things going on. We didn’t take this into consideration when planning the tournament and I deeply apologise to those who did show up that had to wait while we tried to find your opponents and sort out what to do from this point. The last thing we wanted to do was keep participants standing there wondering what the hell was going on and what you’re doing next.
I also apologize to the few that turned up later and/or didn’t catch our shout outs for you and then had to be disqualified. I felt so bad for you guys having to miss out and wish there was something we could have done.
Despite all of these problems with the tournament, we got our winner and runner-up crowned and their trophies given to them on stage to an applause from the huge crowd of attendees, which made the stress and difficulties all worth it.
The Days Events, Games and Guests
It goes without saying that this year has been bigger and better than ever, with so much to do and see there was plenty to keep any Sonic fan occupied. We had a Cosplay Contest, an Art Contest, a Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing tournament, a comics table where Sonic the Comic’s Nigel Dobbyn was present, a merchandise store,
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, Sonic Colours (both Wii and DS), plenty of other game pods, many on-stage events including Nevermind the Buzzbombers, The Wrecks Factor Live, the one and only Crush 40 and more. Now that is a lot of activities and entertainment. All for a whole day and all for free.
The People of Summer of Sonic
The Summer of Sonic couldn’t be what it is without the people behind the scenes who pull it all together voluntarily and the special guests who give up their time to attend. There is a huge team of us staff who work hard for this event and don’t get paid. They give up their free time, money and risk their sanity and health for the love of one spiny blue speedster and his community of fans.
Many of the Summer of Sonic’s guests and activities all come from the event’s main organisers. ArchangelUK, Dreadknux and T-Bird who deserve the highest respect and thanks for their huge efforts. Without these three guys, there was no way we could have had all of the special things we had and no way we would have gotten through the day.
All of the other staff at the event such as Vger, Flyboy Fox, JayZeach, DiscoPonies, Bmn, Roareye Black, Roarey Raccoon, Echo Hawk, Jemnezmy, Blake Draco, Urtheart, Nemain, Turbo, Iceman Etika, Gnasher and others deserve huge praise, too. This is what the true super power of teamwork has made: a large convention for the community and by the community.
The Heart of the Convention
The heart of Summer of Sonic is what keeps people coming back every year and makes the event really some thing special. The heart is within the community who attend this convention every year and it really shows. From every inch of the convention, you can see people socializing and making new friends, sharing each others experiences in their time in the fandom and even their creations in areas like the art tables. I myself got to see a good friend I’ve made in the community outside of the staff here, Doctor MK, who is the founder of the charity event Sonic Relief that I help out with. I also got to meet other folks, too, like Skai5er (on the left of the photo). To see a room full of love, friendship and spirit for our favourite blue dude with ‘tude is why we staff volunteer our energy and souls to this event.
Final Thoughts
I really enjoyed myself! It was good to see familiar and new faces, make new friends and a pleasure to work with my fellow staff. I didn’t get to take part in many of the days events since I was staffing, but it’s worth it to bring you guys the goods. I’m glad all of us, attendees and staff alike, got to enjoy the Crush 40 concert at the end. That’s an experience I’ll always remember and treasure. Johnny and Jun were fantastic! The way they interacted with the crowd who love them so much was absolutely fantastic. I’m sure the rest of the fandom are so grateful to them for coming down to see us all.
All in all, Summer of Sonic 2010 was a blast and I look forward to next years event for Sonic’s big 20th Anniversary. A massive thanks to my fellow staff and thanks to everyone in the community who have supported us. See you all next year!
Check out more photos of the event below –
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 Europe and SEGA of America have just unveiled an exciting new gameplay trailer for Sonic Colours with more CGI cutscenes and musical goodness. Also unveiled are release dates and box artwork for both versions of the U.S. copies of the game. European fans will be able to get their hands on both versions later this year on November 12th and U.S. folks can go grab it November 16th. We’ll keep an eye out for the Australian release date which was revealed yesterday to be sometime in November.
Interestingly, the box art appears to reveal the Wisp roster for each version of the game. The Wii version will have Cyan, Yellow, Orange, Blue, Pink, Green and Purple, while DS version will have Cyan, Yellow, Orange, Red and Violet.
The below press release has also been issued by SEGA Europe –
SEGA® Europe Ltd., is excited to confirm that Sonic Colours™, a brand new high speed action adventure in which Sonic the Hedgehog races through incredible theme park inspired worlds, will hit stores across Europe on November 12th 2010 for the home video game system Wii™ and Nintendo DS™ system.
In addition to this news, SEGA has today released their first gameplay trailer for Sonic Colours, showcasing the amazing new Drill and Laser Colour Power, as well as two vibrant theme park inspired worlds – Tropical Resort and Sweet Mountain.
Sonic Colours™ will be released for the home video game system Wii™ and the Nintendo DS™ system on November 12th 2010. For more information about the game please visit www.sega.com/soniccolours.
Don’t forget, we’ll have the E3 demo of Sonic Colours Wii & DS at Summer of Sonic tomorrow. If you haven’t got a ticket, you can still join in the fun an hour after ticket holders from 11:30am onwards providing there is space inside the venue.
Are you looking forward to Sonic Colours? Speak out in the comments!
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 Australia have issued the above release date schedule(click to enlarge) for their upcoming games and on the list we can see both Wii and DS versions of Sonic Colours are planned for a November release, which fits the original Late 2010 plan perfectly. No exact date is given, but at least Australian fans know what month to save their money for. Sonic titles don’t usually have a big release gap between regions, so hopefully the rest of the world will see a November launch too. We’ll update when we know more.
Source: GoNintendo
Thanks to Hero of Legend at the SSMB for the heads up!
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.
1UP.com and IGN.com recently got some hands-on time with SEGA’s first Kinect for Xbox 360 title Sonic Free Riders, 1UP.com’s preview comes in video form and IGN’s in written form but they say a video version is coming. 1UP seem pretty positive and both testers agree it controls very well, while IGN think it will cater more to the younger crowd than the hardcore gamer.
New weapons are shown in 1UP’s footage including a bowling ball, which we assume replaces the bowling bomb in previous games, and a golf club. Did we say a golf club? Yes, a golf club for whacking your opponents with. Another thing you may notice in the footage is Sonic swimming, without his life jacket from Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, we’ll let you debate that and everything else in the previews in the comments section.
Don’t forget to check out five new screenshots from IGN’s preview below –
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.
U.S. magazine Nintendo Power has grabbed some time for a chat about Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 with renowned music artist Jun Senoue. Jun, as some of you will know, is providing the music for this new 2D entry in the series like he did with the last games in the classic series with Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles. In the interview, we see that maximum effort has been made to give Sonic 4’s soundtrack a classic and fun feel, even to the point that a Genesis/Mega Drive development kit would have been used if the right tech were available. Now THAT is dedication!
Thanks to Chaosmaster8753 at the SSMB, who grabbed a copy of the magazine, we have the interview in text form below –
Nintendo Power: What was your reaction when you first heard that Sonic the Hedgehog 4 was finally going to happen after more than 15 years?
Jun Senoue: Takashi Iizuka and I worked together for a long time-from Sonic Adventure through NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams. Before that, the first Sonic game either of us ever worked on was Sonic the Hedgehog 3. So we first met…I think it was 17 years ago now. Anyway, he came to me one day out of the blue and told me that we were going to do a classic Sonic game again! At that moment, we didn’t know yet if it was going to be called Sonic the Hedgehog 4. But from the beginning, he wanted me to compose the music in the same style as the classic Genesis games. Both he and I were really excited about the project and had a lot of fun working on it.
NP: How did you change or adapt your musical style for this return to the classic-style Sonic?
JS: Due to hardware limitations of the Genesis, we could only work with a certain number of notes and a certain number of sounds. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is a game for current consoles, but I tried to compose the tracks the old-fashioned way. I went back to the basics. I didn’t actually go back and use the old FM sound tapes, but I tried to compose with as few notes as I could. I went about it largely the same way I did with the music for the Genesis. Actually, I did try to dig up a development kit for the Genesis. But it requires an old Japanese PC from NEC-not a very common PC-and I couldn’t find one of those. So all I could do was sample some sounds from the original Sonic.
NP: What was your approach to creating the sound for the various zones in the game?
JS: Splash Hill Zone is the first level in the game and it’s very similar to the opening levels in the original Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and Sonic 2. So I wanted the music to be similar; the key word was “fun”. Likewise, the second level is a casino-themed world, so I tried to draw from Sonic 2’s Casino Night Zone. And I think the special stage music in Sonic the Hedgehog 4 will remind you of the original game’s special stage. I tried to compose the songs with a similar beat or similar tempo to the first two games in the series. I want players to get the same kind of impression.
NP: Do you have a favorite track that you’ve composed for the game?
JS: I’d say the opening level of Splash Hill Zone. When I saw the game for the very first time, that track just came to me immediately. [Sonic Team director Toshiyuki] Nagahara really dislikes that song, though. He wanted me to compose a new one, but it was important to me, so I didn’t change it. [Laughs] I also really like the music for the first level of Mad Gear Zone.
NP: Since Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was the first game in the franchise that you worked on, does it feel like things have sort of come first circle now with Sonic 4?
JS: Absolutely. There are people I work with now who played Sonic 3 when they were very young children! That’s pretty amazing to me.
Thanks again to chaosmaster8753 at the SSMB for the heads up!
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 has announced the UK and U.S. winners of Sonic’s Birthday Contest along with a full statement regarding the course of action taken in regards to selecting a winner after the contest’s voting was stopped due some irregularities found in the voting system.
The full statement from the contest’s official website is below:
Today we are very pleased to announce the winners of Sonic’s Birthday Contest! The contest challenged the community in coming up with a video that showed the passion and excitement of being a Sonic fan and we were completely blown away by the 300+ videos submitted by everyone! Having enjoyed watching each and every one we finally picked our top 10 videos. And today, at long last, we are very proud to announce the winners of our first, second and third place prizes…
But before we announce these, and to keep you in suspense, we would like to address the concerns with the user participation portion of the contest. As you know we discovered voting irregularities on July 16th and ceased user participation a few days later. It was our original goal to create an opportunity for a winner to be picked by the community but due to these voting irregularities we have had to come up with a different solution. It’s important to all of us at SEGA that this process is made as transparent as possible because we respect and admire all the hardworking fans that created videos in the Birthday Contest.
In looking at the voting data we learned we could not discern the difference between legit and non-legit votes with any accuracy we were comfortable with. We felt it would be unfair to scrub the votes down to the first day or two of voting and award based on that. We also briefly discussed creating a new voting system – but the delay in crafting this new tool would take some time and be extremely limiting; quite the opposite of what we wanted initially.
The goal of this promotion was to do something big, something new and something that would reward the ceaseless efforts of the Sonic community that we are so regularly impressed with. Therefore we decided the fairest option would be for the Sonic Team themselves, along with a team of SEGA employees from our Japanese, American and European offices who worked on the Sonic Birthday Contest, to choose the winners.
Each person within this group has voted on their top videos from the 10 that were pre-selected. And so, after much deliberation, we are very proud and hugely excited to announce the US & UK winners:
Here are the winners (which include TSS and SSMB founder Svend ‘ Dreadknux’ Joscelyne, congrats dude!) :
UK – Grand Prize Winner
“Blue Sky Dreams”
Joe M. from Glasgow, Lanarkshire
A trip for two to Japan to meet Sonic Team and be of the first to play Sonic the Hedgehog 4
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58sTptVl3Mc&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
1st Place Prize Winner
“Mobiuscard”
Kristian F. from Warrington, Cheshire
A 32 gigabyte iPod Touch with Sonic the Hedgehog 2
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSWNAQ0Qv28&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
2nd Place Prize Winner
“Sonic & Me”
Svend J. from Southend-on-Sea, Essex
A 32 gigabyte iPod Touch with Sonic the Hedgehog 2
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EKHkAfWe0c&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Grand Prize Winner
“Needlemouse the Musical”
Nathan M. from Los Angeles, CA
A trip for two to Japan to meet Sonic Team and be of the first to play Sonic the Hedgehog 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48zUHUNFWr4&feature=player_embedded
1st Place Prize Winner
“Past Cool Birthday”
Tabitha W. from Galveston, Indiana
A 32 gigabyte iPod Touch with Sonic the Hedgehog 2
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94YRdocD8Dc&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
2nd Place Prize Winner
“A Day in the Life”
Andrew S. from Walnut Creek, California
A 32 gigabyte iPod Touch with Sonic the Hedgehog 2
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWgtfaY-2do&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Congratulations to all of the winners from everyone here at The Sonic Stadium!
Did your favourite get picked? Do you agree with SEGA’s decision for selecting the winners after what happened with the voting? Discuss in the comments.
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.
A large batch of new screenshots for both Wii and DS versions of Sonic Colours have leaked to the net slightly early from the SEGA press site at the SSMB, the screenshots show more of the new stage teased in SEGA’s last Sonic Colours update in which the Rocket Wisp was revealed. According to the original file names of the screenshots posted here, the stage is called Planet Wisp, so could this stage have an integral part in the story in regards to the Wisp aliens?
You can check out all of the screenshots below, thanks to Hero of Legend at the SSMB for the heads up!
Wii:
DS:
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.
Since landing his new role as Sonic the Hedgehog’s voice actor, there has been a lot of speculation about how Roger Craig Smith will portray the character. Some people have been wondering if the unknown Sonic voice actor at Alton Towers Resort in the UK is Roger and today he has confirmed that it is indeed his voice.
SSMB member XD375 (who you may remember tipped us off about Jason Griffith not playing Sonic in Sonic Colours before a change in voice actors was officially announced) sent the below message to Roger via Facebook together with an Alton Towers Sonic voice clip –
I sent you a message before but I didn’t include the actual clip:
So, there you have it folks. Roger Craig Smith is Sonic’s Alton Towers voice actor. Some fans have felt the voice acting for Alton Towers is a bit over the top to fit the happy and excitable theme park setting. If that’s the case, we have to wonder if Roger will portray Sonic differently in the games.
Those who haven’t heard the Sonic voice clips at Alton Towers can check them out in the below YouTube video (at 01:33) from SSMB member Gnasher:
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.
Announced earlier this evening at the Summer of Sonic website is news that advanced registration tickets for the event are running out fast, Urtheart has the full details below
“To the shock and horror of many we regret to announce that we may soon have to close registration.
In previous years, registration has usually got to a point where we have had to stop it in case we go over the legal limit of how many people we are allowed in the place we hold our events (health and safety and all that, any comments about us being PC will be met with a shotgun).
Despite us being able to hold double the amount of people in this venue, we are sadly reaching that limit again of how many people we can hold. If you are still on the fence about coming to Summer of Sonic, register anyway. This way, you get a ticket in case you do want to come. We will still try to get in all those who want to come and have not registered, but please be aware that ticket holders will get priority.
We are sorry that we have had to warn you of this before a week of registration has come, but demand for Summer of Sonic has once again been far greater than we anticipated with people all over the world trying to get to the event.
We will inform you if anything on this changes.
Joshua Urtheart Cartlidge
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.
Another big announcement has been made at the Summer of Sonic 2010 website that will get all of you merchandise collector types pretty darn excited. I’ll let ArchangelUK explain below:
“Before you even ask me, I don’t even know how I managed this one but Summer of Sonic and First 4 Figures are happy to announce a partnership that will see F4F as a sponsor of this year’s Summer of Sonic and will allow SOS attendees to gain possession of a special free gift from the specialist figure manufacturers.
All attendees will, whilst stocks last, receive free of charge one of First 4 Figures brand new Series 2 of their 2 inch Sonic figures line, which we are also exclusively revealing today. Series 2 will contain Super Sonic and Classic Amy Rose; these will be in shops soon where you can purchase them individually. Also at some select shops, F4F will be releasing a collectors 6 pack which includes both Series 1 and Series 2 together!
A 6-pack AAUK? Wait surely there must be another character then! Well you’d be right. The figure you will be getting is not Amy nor is it Super Sonic, attendees will be getting – before its even out on sale anywhere in the world – METAL FREAKIN’ SONIC!
That ladies and gentlemen is the look of a robot that is going to rip your face off the first chance it gets. GLORIOUS.
And there’s more – somehow…wonderfully… there is more!
First 4 Figures have been even more generous and they will also be entering all attendee’s names into a raffle draw where you can win one of the Super Sonic Exclusive statues – yes the ones that light up! We’re hoping to have the prototype of this figurine on display in our merchandise case this year as well.
Details of this prize draw will be made nearer the time, for now SOS attendees content yourself with the knowledge that a pocket-sized Metal Sonic is coming your way. Everyone else can check out these images of the new Series 2 figures and the limited six pack below.
My thanks to the incredibly generous First 4 Figures. For more details about First 4 Figures products, including the Super Sonic Statue and other video game figurines visit: https://www.first4figures.com/ ”
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.
After suspicions were raised around the Sonic community regarding abnormalities in the voting patterns in SEGA’s Sonic 4 Birthday Contest, the company has suspended voting on the contest’s poll page. A statement says that SEGA has looked into the situation and confirmed the alleged abnormalities. More details are expected in a future update. SEGA’s statement from the contest’s website reads:
SEGA has been monitoring the voting patterns and discovered irregularities on July 16th. On review, we have confirmed the irregularities and have therefore suspended all voting. Please stay tuned for a more detailed update.
We’ll keep an eye out for that update and inform you of SEGA’s plans for the contest’s future. Voting for the contest was originally scheduled to end July 27th and the winners declared soon after. Where do you think SEGA should go from here? Let us know in the comments.
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.
Well how’s about some love for those of us who like to play their Sonic games on the go? Thanks to SEGA we will have a copy of Sonic Colours DS (E3 build) for you to play-test on the day.
For those of you who liked previous Sonic DS titles then this will be the game you want to try out first coming from the team that brought you the fast paced Sonic Rush series, under the supervision of Sonic Team, DIMPS. The game is similar to its bigger brother on the Wii, where you use Wisps as power ups to get to the goal in the quickest possible time, except instead of being distracted by those big expansive 3D environments you can play as Sonic in glorious 2D.
Don’t forget to register your tickets for Summer of Sonic here.”
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.
