Welcome to the Archive site of The Sonic Stadium (2008-2023)
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SEGA Europe has today released the European version of the recent Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 trailer. In it we get an update on the European release dates for the game, but unlike the US, we don’t get anything more solid than the month of May for the Xbox 360 and PS3 platforms. The PC, iOS and Tegra 3 compatible versions will also launch in May, with the Android/Google Play version following in June, and the Windows Phone 7 version made available later in July.
Eurogamer also reports that Sonic 4: Episode 2 will be priced at 1200 MSP on Xbox Live, £9.99 on PlayStation Network, and £12.99 for PC. No pricing info was given for the other versions, but we’ll pass on those details when they’re made available.
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It’s Easter Sunday! Monday! Hope you’ve had a cracking weekend and not too full on chocolate. Well it started nice and calm last week didn’t it? The usual trickle of news… and then we got to Thursday… Don’t know what happened? Read on!
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When Sonic 4 was revealed in 2010, it quickly became a very controversial game. Fans reacted with emotions ranging from joyful glee to seething, undiluted hatred. Criticisms ranged from the physics, to the level design, to Sonic’s…eye color. By the time of the game’s release, the more serious complaints were proven to have validity, though in despite of this criticism Sonic 4 Episode 1 received the highest scores of any console Sonic game in years, even managing eights from many of the larger websites.
One of the great things about releasing a game episodically is that it allows for developers to take fan and press criticism into account mid development. Sonic 4 is easily one of the best examples of this: Episode 2 features a large variety of improvements over Episode 1.
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Following on from yesterdays new trailer and announcement of ‘Episode Metal,’ the Japanese Sonic 4 website has updated and with it, lots of new screenshot’s including images of ‘Episode Metal.’
The website also confirms the new level to be named ‘Oil Desert Zone’
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UPDATE: Click to the comment section to see the full trailer. Updated the title since Metal appears to just have his own episode separate from the main game.
Just revealed on Gamespots “On the Spot” was that owners of both Sonic 4 episodes (on the same system I believe) will get “lock-on” technology where you will be able to play as Metal Sonic! Plus, purchasing both episodes gives you four exclusive levels. Along with this news, the release date have been revealed for the US. May 15th for PSN, May 16th for LIVE, later May for PC, June for Android and July for Windows Mobile. Also, expect to see a new trailer with a new level revealed later today.
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Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator Hirokazu Yasuhara has officially joined the ranks of Nintendo, Sega’s old business rival in the 90’s, settling into NoA’s Nintendo Software Technology branch. While both Nintendo and Yasuhara have indeed confirmed the move, no details as to what is Yasuhara’s new role have been revealed yet.
To Sonic and Sega fans, Yasuhara is best recognized for creating Sonic the Hedgehog alongside Yuji Naka and Naoto Ōshima, working within SEGA as director, designer, and game planner for the Genesis and Saturn entries of the series. While he is known for his work from Sonic 1 through Sonic R, his portfolio also extends to other popular games such as Naughty Dog’s Jak and Daxter and Uncharted franchises, as well as the Pacman 30th Anniversary arcade game for Namco-Bandai.
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UPDATE: Harmonix has just announcedRock Band Blitz for XBLA and PSN. The list is now looking more credible. Thanks, Cola and Aptiva!
Original article:
What is believed to be a leaked list of upcoming Xbox Live Arcade games has appeared in a post at popular forum NeoGAF. Many already announced games are featured in the list, like Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2, but there are some unannounced games, including Sonic Adventure 2 and Rock Band Blitz. The first Sonic Adventure game is already available on XBLA, so it would only make sense to re-release the sequel, too. As for Rock Band Blitz, Harmonix has recently stated that they are planning to announce their next game at PAX East this week, so could this be the new game?
The credibility of this list will rest on Harmonix’s announcement. We’ll let you know of any further developments.
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A selection of Sonic 4: Episode 2 avatars have been put up for sale on the Xbox Marketplace this week. The selection of items include your usual suspects such as clothing and toys. However also included in the selection is an Episode 2 cartridge and Special Stage half pipe avatar prop.
See a full selection of whats on offer after the break.
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A lucky handful of Japanese fans got to experience the full tenacious force of Crush 40 in Toyko over the weekend just gone, with two shows over two nights at the Shibuya GUILTY venue followed by a meet and greet session on Sunday night. Johnny Gioeli and Jun Senoue were joined by Takashi Kaneda and Toru Kawamura to create a full-bodied ensemble to present a history of Crush 40 tracks covering three decades.
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WELL! Good day to you TSS! Good day to you! How are you!? It’s April Fools Day! …What do you mean it’s over? Oh very well, here’s the news of the last week.
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You might remember back in December we reported on a rather obscure arcade game called Sonic Cosmo Fighter Galaxy Patrol, a game which sees Sonic take on the role of a galactic fighter pilot, there’s something I didn’t think I’d ever type.
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Meccano has announced that their upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog branded construction sets will be available this July and will be priced between £14.99 and £69.99. Amazon France has also added product descriptions to their listings for the items, which we have shared Google translations of after the jump.
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Behold! A new reason as to why your wallet is going to scream “Noooo! I was only just full! Leave me be!”
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I0pWLLneJ8
You might remember shortly before New Years Day, F4F released a Christmas Card to everyone, well eagle eye’d readers spotted that hidden in the image was what appeared to be a new Sonic statue.
Well F4F have finally let the cat out of the bag with a teaser video showing off their new Sonic Statue, as well as a small picture of the it after the break.
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With the closure of the Odaiba-based SEGA JOYPOLIS last month, many fans making a pilgrimage to Tokyo might be feel a pang of disappointment in that they won’t be able to visit what was the last remaining bastion of SEGA theme parks.
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After announcing development on three new tracks back in January, Crush 40 released a two-and-a-half-minute preview of Sonic Youth, One of Those Days, and Rise Again on their YouTube channel this morning, granting fans and listeners a quick sample of what to look forward to once these tracks are available in full.
On the group’s Facebook and Twitter pages, Jun Senoue teases that they will perform all three tracks in Tokyo for the first time this week, and advises fans to stay tuned an iTunes release in the near future.
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It’s been a busy start to 2012 hasn’t it? Sonic 4 Episode 2 is on the way! SOS & Sonic Boom have been announced! Rumors of ASR 2 are all over the place! So this week’s sum up Sunday is likely to be one of the best yet! With that in mind here is a roundup of the week’s news at TSS.
Monday
Sonic Boom tickets went on sale, prompting many Sonic fans to yell “I got my tickets!” and many more to yell “Why can’t they host it at my house!?”
And finally!
And finally we have… oh, it would appear we didn’t cover anything else at TSS… right… Well in that case, here is a picture of a baby hedgehog.
One day, he shall save the world
See you next week. With any luck something might happen between now and then.
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Tickets for the live US Sonic event Sonic Boom 2012went on sale today via the venue’s ticketer Ticketmaster.
This year’s event, being held at the House of Blues in San Diego on July 13, has already confirmed the presence of rockers Crush 40 and Jean Paul/Alex Makhlouf from Cash Cash. As is Sega’s way, more guest and event announcements will be coming through a sieve in the coming months.
Though Sega have yet to announce today’s opening, they did announce the date and time last week. Tickets this year are priced at a total of $20 per head, which includes food and a drink during the evening.
The switch to paid ticketing came about due to Sega of America’s experience with the inaugral Sonic Boom in 2011, where there was a great deal of confusion over how many ticketholders and non-ticketholders would actually arrive at the Los Angeles venue. It remains to be seen whether the UK’s Summer of Sonic convention – where similar confusion over numbers came to a head last year – will go the same route.
Thanks to Sonic Wrecks for the heads up via Twitter.
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Keen-eyed SSMB member Hogfather has spotted new listings at Amazon France for the upcoming Meccano Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing construction sets. The listings include the previously mentioned Green Hill and Casino Night sets, (though Casino Night is listed as Casino Street from Sonic 4: Episode 1 here), but most interesting is the listing for a Chemical Plant Zone set. If the toys are being tied-in with a Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing sequel, then it appears the Sonic franchise will be represented with a focus on the classic games this time around.
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This mystical statue has a familiar face to it. Yup, taken pretty much directly from the Marble Garden zone, it’s the “Strange Relief”. Why that name? Well, besides it’s red jewel flashing as you get near which triggers arrows to shoot at you from it’s mouth, it also doubles as a toilet. Just don’t ask me how.
A little birdie told me about the next piece of art. Read on on to see it.
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A trio of Game Gear games arrive in the good ol’ USA on the Nintendo 3DS today with the top (and most expensive) one being Sonic Triple Trouble at $4.99 (American). Play as either Sonic or Tails (Tails?! Bah! Who’d wanna play as him in single player? Right guys?) and encounter Dr. Robotnik, Knack the Weasel and…..pink Knuckles as you hunt down the Chaos Emeralds and foil Robotnik’s latest scheme. The Game Gear titles will get a lot of cool new features including saving at any time, button configuration, “original or “special” performance (optional slowdown?) and optional original blur. Also, you can arrange your screen size by pixel perfect (with a Game Gear frame), widescreen or original 4:3. Also available are GG Shinobi ($3.99) and Dragon Crystal ($2.99). So now, you can have all the Game Gear fun without draining 6 AA’s every three hours!
These GG games will arrive in Europe later this month. Continue on to see video of the three games in action.
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Tickets for the US Sonic the Hedgehog convention,Sonic Boom, will go on sale next Monday, 19th of March. Unlike last year’s application process, the tickets will be be distributed through Ticketmaster, from which entry can be purchased for the cost of $15 + a $5 fee ($20 in total).
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Talking to the website DigitalSpy, Takashi Iizuka has confirmed that there are currently no plans for another episode of Sonic 4.
“We are looking forward to hearing the feedback from the users for Episode 2, but we are currently not planning to release another episode. We just want to see how the users accept this episode.” – Takashi Iizuka, Producer.
Naturally, plans can change. For time being being though, Sonic 4 will be ending with Episode 2.
For an interview with Iizuka and a hands on preview of Sonic 4, head on over to DigitalSpy.
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SEGA has today released fifteen more screenshots of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2. In this latest batch we get a good look at Sylvania Castle Zone and White Park Zone’s boss fights with Dr.Eggman and Metal Sonic respectively. You can check out all of the screenshots in our gallery after the jump. Continue reading New Sonic 4: Episode 2 Screenshots Show Boss Fights
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Hi guys. Like what you read in the little tease yesterday? Well the main course is now up! Here we have a roughly 40 minute interview with Ken Balough where we ask him every question we can possibly think of in regards to Sonic 4 Episode 2. Want details on what’s been changed with the physics? How Sonic CD fits into the series? Why the trailer was so springeriffic? Why Tails isn’t playable? Then click the link below. Just keep in mind, we also did a regular podcast in addition to the interview. The podcast is in the middle.
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A new preview of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 from GDC 2012 has appeared over at Droid Gamers, and in it we learn that the mobile version of Episode 2 will contain two exclusive bonus levels.
The Android version will also come with two exclusive bonus levels that you will have to hunt down.
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 contained two Acts that were different in the console version, but whether the situation is the same here or not remains to be seen. Droid Gamers also shared a full demonstration of White Park Act 1, which you can view in the above video. You can read Droid Gamers’ full hands-on preview at the below link.
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Tomorrow will see the release of the Segabits podcast, Sonic Talk: Episode 4. In it, me and Alex interview Ken Balough about all things Sonic 4:Episode 2. One thing that’s been discussed in other forums and kinda revealed lately is how the physics are shaping up and it’s all good. Here’s what Ken had to say on the new and improved Sonic 4-2 physics.
You’ll notice the changes right from the get-go. We took fan feedback and made sure he doesn’t uncurl. So now when he rolls up those hills, he’ll stay in ball-attack form. The other thing was to start having the game have more momentum style physics similar to the Genesis. In act 2 of Silvania Castle, it starts off at a big hill. So if you just put Sonic towards the edge and have him tuck and roll (not spindash) and let him roll naturally, you can put your controller down because not only will he roll down that hill, but he’ll actually pick up speed and roll off a ramp (for example) and have it similar in essence to the way it was on the Genesis.
Check out Sonic Talk 4:Episode 2 tomorrow on the Segabits website (or use the link I’ll provide later on this site) to find out more on the physics, how Sonic CD is now embedded into Sonic 4 and the Genesis trilogy, what kind of adaption will be in the Archie magazine, which versions have “transfarring” and much more!
Also, you’ll get to hear some nerds talk about Game Gear games and the Sonic Advance series so…win win!
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This path has a branch! Branching paths confirmed!
Beleaf it or not, there’s some contraverstree over this piece of artwork. I’m stumped that someone would find this oakfensive, but they’ve really flipped their twig about it! Frankly, I think they’re barking up the wrong tree. They need to get to the root of the problem and tell Sega what kind of art they pine for. Maple they’ll listen. Don’t beat around the bush either or your efforts will be foilaged! Take a fern stance on the issue! No ifs, Ents or buts about it!
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I’ll be honest, I don’t really know what’s going on in this video. But is that really necessary anyway?
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-1SYcojXCQ
Sonic running around in circles in the air, Eggman playing air guitar, Sonic getting overly excited… is there anything this video doesn’t have?
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UPDATE 08/03/12 23:59 GMT: Well, that didn’t take long. The product pages on eStarland have now been wiped clean and all versions of the game no longer show up in searches.
Original article:
Listings for the Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing sequel we first brought you word about in January have appeared at US retailer eStarland.com. The site lists Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing 2 for the PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii platforms and says the game will be released November 30th 2012, which is likely a placeholder date, because games usually release in the US on a Tuesday, not a Friday. There are no signs of Wii U, 3DS and PS Vita versions, but at this early stage anything could change.
A placeholder box art is also on display on the site featuring the first game’s logo with a number 2 underneath it. The product description simply reads “Sonic and friends go back to the track in the sequel to their 2010 kart racing outing.”
Could these listings mean an official announcement is soon on the way? We’ll keep you posted.
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Our good friend Kevin “ArchangelUK” Eva got up to quite a bit in his time at Sega UK, so it stands to reason he’s got his fair share of rare Sonic merch. Now the former Community Manager is raising funds with a load of his stuff seeing the light of eBay.
Now I’m no merch hog, but most of this stuff I didn’t even know existed, so if you like your collectables, you know what to do.
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The Australian Clarification Board has rated Sonic Blast and Sonic Labyrinth for the 3DS Virtual console. While I could think of much better Sonic Game Gear games to put on the 3DS, you gotta admit that it’s an…interesting choice. Sonic Blast is a 2-D platformer with 3-D rendered graphics (ALA Sonic 3-D Blast) and very choppy animation while Sonic Labyrinth is considered by many fans to be one of the worst Sonic games of all time. When these games will be available or in what countries is still unknown, but it should be later this year. In the meantime, read on to check out some gameplay videos from both of these titles.
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I would like to apologize (or make some of you happy) on the lack of bad puns in this weeks post. I mean, last week gave us ice cubes and a snowman. I coulda gone on for days just on that! But this weeks art is hard to write around as far as puns go. Here we have…A Ring Shooter. Yup. That’s what it is alright. Ummm… I guess Sonic won’t have to worry about ring around the tube? It’s totally tubular? “SIGH!” Sorry. That’s the best I got. Read on for…a floating platform.
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These Sonic head danglers are kinda neat for $1 American each, but there’s something off about them. Something bulbous. Something I can’t quite put my finger up-ON! I mean on. Hmmmm I guess I’ll really have to put my nose to the grindstone to figure this out. Man, even Metal has a huge schnoz.
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It was inevitable. After Sonic Underground, then Adventures hit Netflix, it was only a matter of time until Sonic SatAM hit the service. Now Netflix is streaming Sonic’s full DiC…produced cartoon series (now known as Cookie Jar). All 2 seasons of SatAM are available for viewing in SD format right now.
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Crush 40 gave us a sneaky peak at some of the track titles of the songs the band are currently working on last month, named “Rise Again”, “One of Those Days” and “Sonic Youth”. A post today on the Crush 40 facebook page confirmed these songs have now been recorded, with commentary from Johnny Gioeli on the themes of these songs.
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Not happy with the quality of the first Sonic 4 video? No worries, we found another one! This one is from Gamerlive.tv as they talk with a SEGA rep demonstrating the game at the event. There isn’t much new information in the video itself, aside from one somewhat disappointing piece of news: despite earlier claims from Phandroid that SEGA had told them the game was coming out in April, the SEGA rep in the video claims the game is in fact still being released in May. He also says that Tegra platforms will be getting the game a few weeks before other platforms.
So, which is it, an April release or a May release? Only time will tell, but I am pretty sure that either way, this only effects users of Tegra chip powered platforms.
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![[UPDATE] RUMOUR: Sonic Adventure 2 Coming to Xbox Live Arcade?](https://archive.sonicstadium.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Sonic-Adventure-2-screenshot-895x375.jpg)
