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Please note that this site is no longer being updated or maintained; as a result, there may be design issues, and links to images and other media may be broken.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.
Well that didn’t take long: just a month after it was rendered impossible to purchase, Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is back…sort of! SEGA revealed today that the game is being made available again via an offline version, which has had all of its online functionality stripped out. This means that features like daily stages, challenges, rankings, badges, flag stamps and titles, and social functions are gone. In addition to that, in-app purchases are also gone, and players can now own the entire game for just $0.99. When the game first launched, players needed to spend $5 to access the whole game.
Given that the game was barely a year and a half old when its online services were closed last year, it’s nice to see that the game will still be available in some form. The offline version is available on both the iOS and Android stores. Anyone who already owns the game can get the offline version for free via an update.
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.
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.
The second patch SEGA promised for Sonic Colors Ultimate is officially out on all platforms. Before you ask, no, we do not know which glitches were fixed yet. We will be running a stream of the game on PS5 later today to look into that. What we do have, however, are the full patch notes. Check them out below:
First of all, the game now has new customization options for Sonic. Called the “Celebration Pack,” it includes the following:
Burst Shoes
Burst Gloves
Fireworks Boost
Fireworks Aura
The patch also adds numerous quality of life updates, including:
Ultimate Remix/Original Music soundtrack toggle
Full screen boost blur effect on/off toggle
Tails navigation on/off toggle
Full screen movie playback from options satellite
Improved visibly of cyan wisp targeting line
The patch also has:
Improved stability for all platforms
Updates to specific enemy attack speed
Improved Green Hover Wisp light speed dash functionality
Improved visibly of Big Chaser attacks in Switch version
Various bug fixes throughout the game.
If you want to see if this addresses your specific pet peeve, stay tuned to our Youtube channel, where we will be doing a live stream later. It is currently unknown if another patch is in development. If you want to download this patch, it should be available now.
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Today, famous (or infamous) self-driving electric car maker Tesla announced that Sonic 1 will join Cuphead and Stardew Valley as playable on the Tesla Arcade platform built into Tesla vehicles.
Get ready, Sonic fans! SEGA has just announced a partnership with Tesla to bring Sonic the Hedgehog 1, the game that started it all, to Tesla’s in-car gaming console for both existing and new models. Passengers turn into players as they race at lightning speed across classic zones to defeat enemies on a mission to save the world from the evil Dr. Eggman, all in the comfort of their own car! SEGA is excited to partner with Tesla to bring this iconic Sonic title to their extensive gaming library. Sonic the Hedgehog 1 will be available in all Tesla models around the world via the built-in display screen in conjunction with a handheld controller connected through the car’s USB ports. Now no matter where you travel, Sonic can come along with you!
Press Release
It is worth noting that the majority of games on Tesla’s service require the car to be parked in order to play, and that will likely be the case for Sonic. Select games on the service that control via the touch screen can be played while driving; however, this is currently being assessed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the U.S.
This is certainly not the first time SEGA has aligned itself with controversial technology groups; earlier this year, they announced partnership with a Japanese NFT game developer to produce and sell NFTs as collectables and gameplay elements for future games.
All that said, obviously don’t play games while driving, and if you need to play games in a recharging car, just play on Switch, a phone, or one of those handheld PCs. You know, devices that can also run games outside the context of being in a car. You can play Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Stardew Valley, and many other games without needing to hook a USB controller up to a car that’s 2-5 times more expensive than any vehicle I’ve ever owned.
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 Hardlight, the company behind many of Sonic’s mobile games (including Sonic Dash & Sonic Forces) is now hiring. According to Hardlight game designer Antony Lavelle, the company is looking for both an experienced and an entry level UK-based game designer.
If you meet those criteria and want to work for the studio, check out their website 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.
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.
The announcement, via trailer, introduces players to some rather hillarious looking layered armour for you and your buddies to give you feline friend the appearance of Sonic, or your huge wolf dressed up in a Tails-themed “Canyne Tails” costume.
It also appears that the Sonic Gear armour has a Super Sonic mode as well.
Additionally, the trailer also features ring collectables, although there are no details on how these will be incorporated into the event quest.
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A trio of classic Xbox 360 Sonic the Hedgehog titles – Sonic Generations, Sonic Unleashed and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed – will be enhanced on next-generation Xbox consoles thanks to the consoles’ ‘FPS Boost’ feature. The updates will take effect on all three games today.
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Sonic Forces lead antagonist, Infinite, looks set to finally feature in the mobile version of his own game. A community datamine of SEGA HARDlight’s Sonic Forces: Speed Battle suggests that the masked villain will be included as a playable character, some four years after the release of the 2017 console platformer.
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Mediatonic announced today that a special Knuckles outfit for its manic multiplayer game Fall Guys will be made available for a limited time, ahead of the punchy echidna’s movie debut next year.
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Well well, looks like we’re ever closer to the official reveal of the new Sonic game Sega teased earlier this year if this trademark is anything to go by.
Indeed, Sega has trademarked Sonic Frontiers both in English and Japanese back on October 22nd (you’re getting slow, fandom!), and this has happened a few times before. In the past, Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colors and Sonic Lost World for example had their trademarks registered and “leaked” not long before each were announced back in the day.
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.
Sonic hacks come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, from character swaps, to whole new games, to things that use the existing physics and levels to do something completely crazy! Drmelon’s SNOLF goes for the latter, offering a very different spin on Sonic 2 as Sonic is now a golf ball. But is this hack a fun spin on Sonic 2, or is it too frustrating? The answer is both.
SNOLF: Tournament Edition basically turns Sonic 2 into a 2D golf game, with the end of the stage acting as the hole. You line Sonic up and take swings to get him through the stages. Each button acts as a different kind of club, so you can get weak to strong swings. Button A is a putter swing for light taps, B is regular, and C is a driver, which offers the strongest swing. To measure, you have a ring that goes left and right and then up and down so you can get the proper angle. You also have some control of the ball when it is rolling, but not in the air. Because of that, the are moments where you can’t get the momentum to go further, whether it’s rolling from the top of a cliff, or going straight up and down on a spring. When this occurs, the trick is to try and get a swing in mid-air to get a bit further. There’s also a multiplayer mode for up to four players in competitive and cooperative play.
Swatting Sonic through the Sonic 2 levels is both novel and frustrating at the same time. It took me a long time to get any good at this hack and I still had to just give up at Chemical Plant Zone Act 2. There are moments when it seems like it’s just near impossible to traverse any further, not to mention many moments where you can get stuck for tens of swings (I still don’t know how I managed to beat Robotnik in Emerald Hill). Many times, I felt like throwing down my controller in defeat. That said, there are some options to make your experience less frustrating. For example, you can set it to only do Act one of each zone so you don’t have to go against Robotnik.
After everything that’s been said, SNOLF is definitely something you should check out at least once. It’s difficult and frustrating as hell to play, but its unique challenge kept me coming back despite the times I wanted to toss the controller. It’s just crazy and unique enough to give it a go.
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.
To many die-hard Sonic fans, Sonic 4 is a game unworthy of its title, with a physics engine more closely related to Dimps’ DS past than the Genesis/Mega Drive trilogy. But what if Sonic 4 was a Genesis game? CHRdutch gives us a taste of what that might be like in this Sonic 1 hack which covers Splash Hill Zone acts 1-3.
Splash Hill Zone act one mimics the original Sonic 4 level fairly closely. There are some sacrifices made. Gone are the pulleys and rope swings and in their place are rotating platforms. However, it does have much of the original’s poor level design, including the lack of slopes, narrow loops, and completely unnecessary dash-pads. CHRdutch also does an impressive job trying to copy Sonic 4’s game play quirks into this Sonic 1 hack. When rolling into the air off a wall, Sonic will fly up with his arms stretched open and completely defenseless. Sonic also has a forward boost with a double jump. While there is no homing attack in this version, it can hit enemies when used right and works well for a quick boost forward. However, since this is a hack that still relies on Sonic 1 physics in some form, it doesn’t replicate Sonic 4’s physics, so you won’t find things like wall-walking here. That’s a nice improvement in my book, though.
While Splash Hill act one and act three are pretty faithful to the original, Act two offers its own original design. Keep on the upper path, and you can get to the goal quickly. Fall into the lower path, and you’ll be running underwater. Unlike Labyrinth Zone, it doesn’t feel slow and it won’t take too long until you can find your way out. It’s a well-done level. Also impressive is how well the original soundtrack comes over to the Genesis with little sacrifice. Now, from what I recall, Jun Senoue wanted to get the soundtrack as close to the Genesis sound as possible. Still, I’m surprised at how well remix composer LackOfTrack was able to bring over the soundtrack almost perfectly. At times, it’s exact.
Sonic the Hackable: Splash Hill shows both the flaws of Dimps 2D design while showing the strength of the Genesis Sonic’s physics. While not a perfect 1:1 port, the changes made are for the better. If you were wondering if Sonic 4 could work or even be improved on the Genesis, CHRdutch’s Sonic the Hackable seems to be a solid “yes”.
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 30th Anniversary collaborations just won’t stop! During today’s Tokyo Game Show broadcast, Capcom announced that it will be partnering with SEGA to develop some special content for its beast-slaying game Monster Hunter Rise.
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.
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 reports of some bugs ranging from harmless to potentially seizure-inducing, SEGA and Blind Squirrel Entertainment began work on fixing up Sonic Colors Ultimate. The first patch has just dropped, and it’s made experiencing the game much safer for photosensitive players.
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Remember that awesome Green Hill Zone remix from a few months back? The one with vocals from Miwa Yoshida? Well, it has now gotten a music video! And as expected, it’s got plenty of green hills.
Check it out on Dream Come True’s Youtube, or in the embed below:
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The second part of Sonic Colors Ultimate’s promotional web comic has been released. You can check it out below:
This appears to be the end of this little project. What did you think? Would you like to see more Sonic web comics from SEGA?
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While we had a fantastic time with Sonic Colours Ultimate on PS4, it seems that a number of fans have had trouble enjoying the game due to a range of bugs, glitches and crashes. Last night, SEGA reps confirmed that the teams behind the remaster are listening to the online feedback and will be ‘assessing’ the details for an upcoming patch.
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It looks like Sonic Colors Ultimate is having a bit of a rocky launch. Though we have had a rather pleasant experience with it so far, the Sonic community has been finding and documenting numerous glitches within the game, both large and small. We’ve experienced a few of these smaller glitches, as Dreadknux noted in his review, but there’s been a particularly bad Nintendo Switch glitch that has been garnering lots of attention and controversy.
The controversy stems from allegations that these glitches are being faked in Yuzu, a Nintendo Switch emulator. While that certainly has been true for a few, the most notable Switch glitch (which I like to call the “rainbow Sonic” glitch) is most definitely real, and I have just been able to confirm it.
So how is this glitch activated? It requires a few steps. Firstly, all six worlds need to be unlocked. Secondly, the player has to enter and immediately exit a minimum of four separate worlds. The glitch gets worse when this is done six times. From there, playing any stage appears to activate the glitch. After completing or exiting a stage, the glitch appears to immediately deactivate, and the second step needs to be redone to reactivate it.
If you suffer from epileptic seizures, we do NOT recommend doing this, as lots of flashing lights can be involved. If you don’t, the experience can be…trippy. Characters can glow bright colors, Sonic’s model can be swapped with a shark torpedo badnik, graphics can disappear and become corrupted. Some speculate that it could be a memory leak, though no one at Sonic Stadium has the expertise to say that with confidence.
We’re not linking to a video right now, but this should give you an idea of what it’s like.
What we can say, is that it appears to be a glitch that is difficult to activate by accident. Four people on our staff have access to the Switch version, and none of us have come across it by accident. I had to follow instructions online to activate it.
You should be able to exit and enter a world up to three times without activating the glitch. The Switch this was tested on was a launch model, and was downloaded onto a SanDisk Ultra 10 speed SD card. We haven’t tested it on the Switch’s internal memory as of this writing.
Sonic community Manager MiniKitty has confirmed that a patch is in the works, and that the development team is listening to feedback while assessing it. Hopefully, this glitch will be among the ones addressed.
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Sonic Colors Ultimate, which becomes available to anyone who bought the digital deluxe copy today, brings a lot of changes big and small to the classic Wii game. One change we are only just now finding out about comes from the locations of the red star rings, the original game’s primary (optional) collectible. So anyone who thought they’d be able to rely on memory or old guides to collect them all will need to do it the old fashioned way for a bit! While many rings are where they used to be, others have been moved, and replaced with park tokens.
Wait a moment…that’s not where Planet Wisp Act 2’s final red ring is supposed to be!
This was something I personally came to realize just a few hours ago, while trying to collect them all from Planet Wisp Act 2. A few had been moved around, including the final one, which now requires the Jade Ghost wisp to access.
The red star rings are required to unlock levels in Game Land, which is a set of additional levels that can be played in single player or co-op. Beating these levels is how you unlock Super Sonic. We’ve got more Sonic Colors Ultimate content coming down the pipe, so stay tuned to Sonic Stadium!
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