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Please note that this site is no longer being updated or maintained; as a result, there may be design issues, and links to images and other media may be broken.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.
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If you thought that the lack of a new Sonic game (or news one) has dented the popularity of SEGA’s long-running franchise, prepare to be pleasantly surprised. In SEGA Sammy’s latest financial call, the company revealed that the Sonic the Hedgehog series remains the best-selling of all of the publisher’s titles.
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Japanese green tea company ITO EN has launched a brand new TV commercial for its popular range of bottled ‘Oi Ocha’ drinks, leveraging a new partnership with pop group Dreams Come True. As part of this collaboration, DCT’s Masato Nakamura appears to have introduced a new arrangement of Sonic the Hedgehog’s ‘Green Hill Zone’ for the commercial’s music.
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Who likes financial briefings! Now, don’t raise your hands all at once, I know we’re all really excited to get new financial numbers, but for those of you who aren’t already sifting through the 74-page 2020 Results Presentation on SEGA SAMMY’s investor relations site, here are the highlights.
Although several other sites latched onto the “Super Game” mentioned eight times in the report, the way it appears in the presentation suggests “Super Game” might just be a term they use for a game that they can sell to a global audience. It may include new IP considering they have a separate 3-year plan to globalize their existing IP, but it would be very weird for a 5-year plan to include making some sort of global omni-game containing multiple titles. Not impossible, but very weird.
Other notable bits from the report include:
The Sonic series led traditional software sales with 4.4 million units sold, followed by Total War (4 million), Football Manager (3.8 million), and Persona (3 million).
Sonic is used as an example of strengthening the brand through media mix, specifically citing the original Sonic movie, the upcoming sequel, and the Netflix series Sonic Prime.
Games highlighted for release during fiscal 2021/2022 are Humankind, Shin Megami Tensei V, Total War: Warhammer III, Lost Judgment, and Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis.
SEGA’s European studio is working on an unspecified FPS project.
SEGA is instituting an approach of Remaster-Remake-Reboot in regard to current and past/dormant IP. Examples listed under past IP include Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Space Channel 5, Rez, Panzer Dragoon, NiGHTS, Shinobi, Virtua Fighter, Altered Beast, House of the Dead, Streets of Rage, and Soul Hackers, all with the asterisk “*Under examination of which IP to utilize.”
Game software sales stayed strong, and Free to Play titles were really strong throughout quarantine/social distancing.
SEGA SAMMY reiterates that they were hit hard by the economic effects of Covid, leading them to restructure (voluntary retirement, sale/restructure of arcade divisions). Spaces most prominently affected were the arcade business, arcade machines, pachinko/pachislots, and their resorts.
If you’ve ever wanted to know how much SEGA SAMMY is worth, they report having 367.6 billion yen in liquid assets as of March 2021 (or roughly 3.4 billion USD, 2.4 billion GBP, or 2.8 billion EUR). This amount is just liquid assets, and does not include the value of property the company owns or the IP it holds.
SEGA SAMMY acknowledges responsibilities regarding environmental sustainability, diversity, job satisfaction, and addiction prevention.
Oh, and hey, they’re working on a Gamera pachislot machine, which I personally like for esoteric reasons.
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It sounds like the long wait for the next Sonic game announcement may soon be over, if a statement by SEGA Chief Strategy Officer Shuji Utsumi is any indication. In a recent interview with Famitsu Magazine, he talked about SEGA and its upcoming software limit. On the subject of Sonic, he said the new an announcement for a new game “might be coming soon.” Noncommittal language aside, there are a few reasons to expect it will happen soon, since both E3 and Sonic’s anniversary are next month month, and Sonic Colors Ultimate was leaked roughly a month ago now.
In that same interview, Utsumi also commented on people pointing out that SEGA was releasing more mobile games then console games. According to him, the company has been going through an organizational shift, and that there will be more console games starting from 2022 onwards.
It’s been a long while since the last Sonic console game, Team Sonic Racing, was announced. It’s been even longer since the last console Sonic game was released. Whether its with a Sonic Colors remake, or something else, that appears likely to end soon. What are you hoping for this year? Let us know in the comments!
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In a very weird month for the Sonic Dash series, data mining has revealed the latest version update includes event assets for pirate versions of Sonic and Shadow, as well as Bongo, the Danimals mascot.
Version History 4.20.0 May 10, 2021 Ahoy! We have a double surprise lined up for a very special birthday this year! Keep a look out for our upcoming swashbuckling event!
Sonic Dash has had some unusual promotional character choices throughout its long, long life, including the likes of Pac-Man, Hello Kitty, the Angry Birds, Longclaw, Teen Sonic, Baby Sonic, and Tangle & Whisper. However, I’m comfortable saying that that Bongo’s haunting stare may the least predictable and most visually startling guest character, even more than Andronic.
Look out for these events being officially added to Sonic Dash soon.
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E3’s Twitter account finally confirmed a bunch of companies for their digital event, including SEGA. As things stand, we currently know nothing about SEGA’s E3 presence, but their presence does mean they should have something to show from one of their many franchises. Will it be Sonic? Who knows. But that’s at least a possibility now. It should be noted that SEGA’s presence is never a sure thing: they skipped E3 2015.
As usual, we should be on hand to cover it. We’ve qualified as press for every E3 since 2010, so assuming that streak holds, you can tune into us for whatever digital press-only coverage E3 will be providing this year.
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Well… this was unexpected! After a long, long while without any sort of meaningful update, Sonic Dash 2, also known as Sonic Boom Mobile, has gotten a major addition to it’s roster: Vector the Crocodile!
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.
Even if you don’t celebrate the four Japanese holidays between April 29 and May 5 that comprise “Golden Week”, Steam wants you to spend it buying games from Japanese developers and publishers, Sega included.
Though a vast number of games are getting solid discounts, you may want to check out these Sonic-centric deals (All prices USD):
You can check other deals over on Sega’s Golden Week page, if you’re looking to get some Yakuza games, or Persona, or just if you’ve decided it’s finally time to buy Shining Resonance Refrain.
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 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 last month’s announcement of Sonic: The Card Game, Steamforge Games has revealed further details about the game and its box art. The boxed product is expected to launch in September, 2021 at a suggested price of $19.95, £14.99, and €17.95.
The 20-30 minute game allows 2-6 players to play as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, or Blaze, as the deck produces a level for the characters to race through. While no specific mechanics have been revealed, Steamforge implies there will be some form of press-your-luck element, stating, “Each time a new card is placed, they must decide whether to keep racing to try and grab a bigger pot of rings, or to retire and collect their share of the rings and bonus cards on the table. If players keep racing, they risk running into enemies and losing lives, but the chance to win more rings and bonus cards could be tempting enough to keep racing on.”
Steamforge Games‘ previously published works include board game versions of Dark Souls, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Resident Evil 2, PAC-MAN, and Ni no Kuni II. Expect a detailed review when the game launches later this year.
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UPDATE: Thanks to Ali Ahmed in the comments, we now know of another source that’s leaked info. French online game retailer Sogamely has Sonic Colors listed for Switch, PS4 and Xbox One for €35 each. Given how game prices tend to work that’d translate to $35 USD. The games are called “Sonic Colors Ultimate – Limited Edition.” If accurate, this would appear to suggest that the remaster would getting some sort of physical release as well.
Unfortunately, linking to it directly doesn’t seem to work, but you can find it yourself by going to the Sogamely link we provided and searching “Sonic Colors.”
Original Article:
German dubbing studio iksample has potentially leaked a Sonic game: a remaster of Sonic Colors. The company lists it among their upcoming projects (albeit with a Sonic Boom graphic). This would be a pretty odd thing to list by mistake, but as always: this isn’t a confirmed project, so treat it as such.
If true, this suggests the game is getting a German dub, something the original game didn’t have. A “remaster” can mean a variety of things in today’s game industry, but the creation of a new dub suggests something a bit better than “Sonic Colors but in HD.” Though it hardly points towards a completely remade game either.
If this is real, we’ll likely be hearing about it soon. Stay tuned for further updates!
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Following the 2019 release of two IDW tabletop games, one Hasbro game, and the Shinobi 7 Kickstarter game, Sonic once again returns to tabletops in 2021 with Sonic The Card Game.
While we do not have any details on the game as of yet following the company’s Game Manufacturers Association preview, the blog describes the project as a “competitive card racing game where you’ll collect power-ups and rings to win.” Expect the game to launch this calendar year.
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SEGA seems to be planning a digital event that will take place on March 18, and social media posts from company employees suggest that Sonic the Hedgehog news could form part of the festivities.
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In a statement made earlier today, Sega announced that Team Sonic Racing is now available on Amazon’s cloud-gaming platform, Luna. This makes the second Sonic game to be available on Amazon’s new service, along with Sonic Mania.
Start your engines, Sonic fans! Team Sonic Racing is speeding to Amazon’s cloud gaming service! Play it now with early access on @amazonluna (US only).
For those interested, I am currently in the Luna beta and have checked out TSR on its streaming platform. The game looks and plays exactly like its HD counterparts on PS4 and Xbox, however, I did notice occasional dips in framerate from 60 down to 40 or less at times. I tested the same tracks on my Series S and it runs at 60 fps without any issues. That said, the issue pretty minor and the game still runs very well on Luna.
Here’s hoping for more Sonic on the Luna platform in the future. After all, the more Sonic folks can play, the better.
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This year’s Sonic Amateur Gaming Expo will be coming a bit earlier than it has in recent years: it’ll be running from August 21 to August 27. In addition to the start date, SAGE also revealed their new logo and tagline for the year, which you can check out in the tweet below:
It's finally here!
SFGHQ PRESENTS: the Sonic Amateur Games Expo 2021 running from AUGUST 21ST through AUGUST 27TH!
We’ve decided to give you a head start this time around, so get to work and EXPRESS YOUR LOVE TO THE WORLD! pic.twitter.com/pwnzvof22S
SAGE is a long running Sonic fan game expo that celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. You can check out our coverage of last year’s SAGE here.
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It seems that SEGA is preparing to organise a special music concert to celebrate Sonic the Hedgehog’s 30th Anniversary, according to a recent report in a licensing trade magazine.
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Earlier today on Twitter, Tails voice actor Collen O’Shaugnessey was showing off her new flocked Tails Funko Pop that she got from Target, when she broke some surprising news in the comments.
As we reported earlier this month, Colleen is one of several voice actors not returning to their previous roles in the upcoming Sonic Netflix show, Sonic Prime. However, as one fan mentioned how much they are going to miss her, Colleen surprised everyone with the following…
So what does this mean for Colleen in the role of Tails? Well, she’s completely out of Sonic Prime. “Still not Canadian, so still not doing prime” she replied to one fan. Whether she’ll be back for the Sonic 2 movie, or if she’s returning to the games, she definitely won’t be leaving Tails and the Sonic franchise behind just yet.
Both Sonic Prime and the Sonic 2 movie will be out next year.
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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.
Masato Nakamura, the man who composed the music for Sonic 1 and 2 on the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive, expressed excitement over the news that one of his compositions will be in the next Sonic movie. A remix of one of his tracks, Emerald Hill Zone, popped up in the recent Sonic the Hedgehog 2 movie tease.
In a blog post, Nakamura expressed his feelings over the inclusion:
I am very happy to share the news. One of my compositions, “Emerald Hill Zone” will be used in the movie “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” which will come out in 2022.
When I composed the music for “Sonic the Hedgehog 1&2”.I tried to write a soundtrack for the movie. I imagined the game like a movie.
After 30 years later, my music for the game becomes a part of the movie soundtrack of “Sonic the Hedgehog”.
Literally, it’s a dream comes true.
This isn’t the first time his work has appeared in a movie, as a jazz rendition of Green Hill Zone appeared at the end of the previous Sonic movie. You can read Nakamura’s entire blog post in the source at the bottom.
The Sonic the Hedgehog 2 movie is set to begin filming next month, and is scheduled for release on April 8, 2022.
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Sonic the Hedgehog’s 30th Anniversary celebrations may involve ports of popular titles to PC for the first time, if the online resume of a SEGA America employee is to be believed.
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He’s still here!! While the Sonic voice-acting talents have changed many times over the years, one actor has managed to consistently keep his role since 2003: Mike Pollock as Dr. Eggman.
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It’s only been a week since Roger Craig Smith announced that he is no longer the official voice of Sonic the Hedgehog, but former actor Ryan Drummond has confirmed that his agent has contacted SEGA with an interest in reprising the role.
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There has been another confirmed departure from the Sonic voice actor cast, the second in just the past week. Cindy Robinson, the voice of Amy Rose, has announced that she is no longer going to be voicing the character.
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I was at E3 2010 when I heard the news that Roger Craig Smith would be taking over as Sonic’s voice actor. As I sat in a corner of the convention center and hurriedly typed out an article about it for Sonic Stadium, I was only feeling one thing: excitement. This, on top of playing Sonic Colors – easily the most promising Sonic game I had experienced in years – really made it feel like SEGA was working hard to revitalize the character.
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Colleen O’Shaughnessey, Tails’ voice actress for the past seven years, has confirmed on Twitter that she will not be reprising her role in the upcoming Netflix series, Sonic Prime.
Unlike Roger Craig Smith, this does not yet appear to mark a permanent departure from the role, and it appears that Sonic Prime may instead either have a separate voice cast, or only share some cast members from the games. What makes O’Shaughnessey‘s lack of involvement especially surprising is that she did actually voice Tails in last year’s Sonic the Hedgehog movie.
Mike Pollock, the voice of Eggman, does appear to at least be hinting that he is a part of the production. Though he could also just be trolling us for his own amusement:
My Non-Disclosure Agreements have never been more crucial than at this very moment.
Every copyright law in the universe is going to stop me from sharing what I know.
Turnover in the Sonic voice acting cast is nothing new. Back in 2019, several characters had their voices recast, the most notable of them being Knuckles. The first major voice actor overhaul came in 2005, when every voice actor from the games was replaced with the cast from the recently released 4kids dub of Sonic X. That cast was in turn replaced five years later in 2010.
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It’s looking like we’re not done talking about departures from the world of Sonic just yet, although this one has been rumored for a while now. it’s also looking very likely that the next Sonic game is even going to have some new writers.
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If you want to try Balan Wonderworld, the latest game from Sonic creators Yuji Naka and Naoto Oshima, it now has a demo out on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Switch, and Steam! If you don’t have the time or just want a second opinion, we’ll have our own impressions article up later today.
Balan Wonderworld will be out on all platforms March 26. It is being published by Square Enix and co-developed by Balan Company and Arzest.
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To celebrate SEGA’s 60th anniversary, the game company hosted a special public exam to test fans’ knowledge of its history. We missed it too, we’re upset about that as well. But spare a thought for Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka, who revealed that he actually had trouble knowing the answer to one particular question relating to his blue creation. And, as most things, it all comes down to a decades-old case of mistranslation.
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Balan Wonderworld, a new collaboration between Yuji Naka and Naoto Oshima, will be getting a demo on all current console and PC via Steam on January 28.
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Remember those Taxman remakes/ports of Sonic 1 and 2 on iOS and Android? Remember how they were really cool, but they never ported them to consoles or PC?
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If your New Year Resolution, as a Sonic fan, was to unlock all of those limited edition characters in Sonic Forces: Speed Battle, then you’re in luck this weekend! SEGA HARDlight has launched a new ‘Knight of the Wind’ campaign where you can try again to get yourself Excalibur Sonic from Sonic and the Black Knight.
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For all those loving the chocolate-and-peanut-butter of puzzle games, Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 gets a big content update tomorrow Jan. 14th in Japan (there is no Western confirmation at time of writing), including a bounty of Sonic content.
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On January 12, Adobe will be killing Flash Player after more than two decades of support, when they officially begin to prevent the player from running anything. When this happens, hundreds of Sonic animations and video games will become inoperable in their original form, including more than a dozen official games from SEGA itself.
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![SEGA Teases ‘SEGA Skyways’ Digital Event for March 18 With ‘Sonic 2021’ References [U: Internal Event Only, No Sonic Announcements]](https://archive.sonicstadium.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-event-tease-hero-875x375.jpg)
