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Please note that this site is no longer being updated or maintained; as a result, there may be design issues, and links to images and other media may be broken.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.
The road to Sonic’s land mark 200th issue continues today, with #198 now available in comic shops across America. In it, Sonic returns to his fight with Eggman, and his newest weapon, the Egg Pheonix! Archie’s newest artist, Renae De Liz, also debuts in this issue. I must say, I’m rather dissapointed that her excellent pencils didn’t hold up to Archie’s inking and coloring team. You can see the cover and four action packed pages below:
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #198
“Egg Phoenix Down”: The countdown to the epic Sonic the Hedgehog #200 continues! Sonic leads the fully assembled Freedom Fighters and Chaotix on an invasion of Dr. Robotnik’s city, but the doctor unleashes a terrifying new weapon that may make their fight a short one! Don’t miss all the egg-plosive action!
SCRIPT: Ian Flynn
ART: Renae De Liz
Scorching hot cover by Tracy Yardley!
Shipping Date: March 4th, 2009
On Sale at Comic Specialty Shops: March 11th, 2009
On Sale on Newsstands: March 24th, 2009
32-page, full color comic
$2.50 US
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.
ShadiWulf from Rings & Emeralds has discovered the website of the art studio that was commissioned to produce concept artwork for Sonic World Adventure (or Sonic Unleashed to you and I). Geoffroy Thoorens, on his personal website Djahalland, was working at art studio AOKI when they were asked to provide settings for the game back in 2007. He has recently uploaded all of those works online, and you can see them here (or on the Djahalland website).
Click the image to see all the Concept Art
The concept art is focused on the stages found in the final game, you can even see some of your favourite moments from the game like the lood de loops in Holoska. The artwork is amazing for the persons first job, it’s great to see how much effort went into the design on the stages and it certainly shows, in this art and the final game.
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 producer for Sonic and the Black Knight, Tetsu Katano, has written a blog post for the official SEGA website, detailing the development process of the game. Throughout the decision to run with ‘swords and magic’, Katano expressed how he had to keep the spirit of the Sonic franchise intact:
After much struggle that gave me both pain and joy, I finally decided to throw Sonic into a world of sword and magic. I confess that I’ve always wanted to see Sonic holding a sword. I also wanted to see Knuckles or Shadow, the usual suspects, back as strong foes, not just as side characters. This is how the plot of “Sonic and the Black Knight” came into a shape.
Perhaps most challenging was to make Sonic have a sword. I had to hold on to the Sonicness. If he loses that as a result of having sword, then it would be preposterous. I sought advice from many people about this. My favourite bit would be when everyone in Sonic Team started to see the great game that this was becoming.
In this day and age though, it’s debatable just what the ‘spirit’ of the franchise is anymore. Is it chequered hills and Flickies; is it in character development; is it in the fun dialogue we’ve seen in Sonic Unleashed? Either way, it seems Sonic Team knows what it is, given their positive reaction to the title during development.
The music that will play during Blaze’s stages was also brought up, with Katano mentioning discussion with Jun Senoue about having a special ‘blaze mix’ for the Flame Master. For those that haven’t been able to get the game yet, you’ll be able to encounter a special item that changes the music during play.
It’s a good read, and Sonic Team are nothing if not good-natured. It’s nice to see developers truly care about the projects they invest so much time and energy in, for better or worse;
I am proud of this game and I will be most happy if users will enjoy this game too… I love Sonic as a series very much. I gave everything I had to make the cool Sonic that we love. And so did my team. I’m sure you will like this game too!
That’s OK Katano-san, our review will be coming soon. And even if we don’t enjoy it, we’ll still love you. I mean, making any sort of game involving swords with a name like Katano is pretty damn awesome. I wonder if the guitarist of Crush 40’s real name is Jun Soundoue. We could uncover something big 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.
We got an interesting tip in our inbox about the pilot to that stupid “Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog” cartoon. Now, The Nostalgia Critic recently tore it apart and I couldn’t agree more with him. The cartoon was an incredibly pointless romp with abysmal production values. It was terrible compared to the vastly superior SatAM series and cartoons as a whole.
However, this uncovered pilot episode is awesome. One of the animators of the show, Milton Knight, uploaded it onto YouTube last week. It’s seven minutes long and lacks any sound, aside from voice acting, but I found it more entertaining than the series’ 65 episode run. The background landscapes are actually landscapes and are not ugly MSPaint-esque shapes on pastel colors. The art design is pretty cool! Plus, there are many elements from the classic Sonic games that make an appearance. Check out the video below and enjoy:
EDIT: Apparently, our YouTube embedder is all kinds of fucked up. Click here to go straight to YouTube for the pilot.
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.
Namco Bandai Games have revealed that Hirokazu Yasuhara, co-creator/level designer of the original Sonic the Hedgehog series, is working on a Pac-Man ‘comeback’ game, due for release on the character’s 30th Anniversary in 2010.
American EVP and COO Makato Iwai mentioned the details to gaming website Gamasutra, where they plan to use the game designer to bring about a full return to form for the ghost-eating yellow blob. “As a group, we feel like we should do something to make him come back. So, there’s one project that we started working on, and [Yasuhara is] part of it.”
Yasuhara has recently expressed his desire to create a new character action game, saying that such platforming games have a chance of becoming popular again. Iwai said to Gamasutra how working on Pac-Man is “sort of meeting his wish 100 percent, in a sense.”
Before recently joining NBGA as Senior Game Designer, Yasuhara worked for Naughty Dog on projects such as Uncharted. His claim to fame came as one of the ‘original trio’ of developers that helped establish Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Mega Drive. His last involvement in the series was the Saturn racer, Sonic R.
With his impressive philosophies on game design and his awesome track record on platforming games (Sonic and beyond), it would have been cool to have seen him try his hand at reworking Sonic the Hedgehog instead of Pac-Man. Either way, it’s good to hear the man continuing to do what he loves – and Pac-Man’s 3D games have been considerably poorer than Sonic’s so if any character needs the help it’s the Pac.
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.
If you thought that the last teaser was ambiguous, this one won’t help you much. The number “247″ is expressed many different ways while the mystery character’s silhouette tosses an apple in the background. The end of the video says that we’ll find out more on March 12th.
Also, I love Engrish. “What’s mean 247?” Bahahaha…
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.
Archie’s Sonic the Hedgehog offshoot series, Sonic Universe, finally debuts today, and it’s something every Sonic fan should be excited about. Posted below is a five page preview of the story, and an awesome cover crawn by Spaz. The picture quality is a little low this month, so some of the text can be a little illegible.
I rather enjoyed this little preview, and the chemistry between Marine and Shadow reminds me of exactly why I enjoy Ian’s writing as much as I do; Ian knows how to do character chemistry. The first page of this issue also perfectly exemplifies why Tracy is one of my favorite artists to ever work on this book; while his style can look deceptively simple, it is nevertheless full of life and great to look at. Overall, I have high hopes for Universe, especially this issue. This is the first time in which Ian will be able to build a mythos from the ground up, without having to do any house cleaning like he did on the Sonic book. It should be interesting to see how he works Shadow’s world into the comic and turns him into something more then a fan favorite guest character.
Below is the blurb for this first issue. I hope you all will enjoy this comic as much as I do.
1st ISSUE SPECTACULAR
BECAUSE YOU DEMANDED IT: A THRILLING NEW SONIC SERIES THAT RAISES THE STAKES & EXPANDS THE COMIC BOOK WORLD OF SONIC!
“Living Weapons”: This is the comic the fans have waited for – an ever-expanding, all-encompassing series revolving around Sonic’s many friends and foes whose continuity aligns with the regular monthly Sonic comic. Along the way, we’ll deliver some of the popular supporting cast from the many Sonic video games, including many who have never appeared in the comics before! The first issue of
“Sonic Universe” debuts with a story that’s out of this world – literally – as Shadow and Metal Sonic continue their series-spanning fight and wind up in a whole new dimension! And things are bound to heat up when Blaze the Cat and a Chaos Emerald enter the mix! Don’t miss the explosive beginning of this universe-spanning series!
SCRIPT: Ian Flynn
ART: Tracy Yardley!
Dimension-defying cover by Patrick
“Spaz!” Spaziante
Shipping Date: February 18th, 2009
On Sale at Comic Specialty Shops: February 25th, 2009
On Sale on Newsstands: March 10th, 2009
32-page, full color comic
$2.50 US
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 user ‘Venom‘ alerted the forums earlier today with a new trailer from massive online gaming website, IGN. The trailer focuses on Knuckles’ character in the game, Sir Gawain, featuring footage of his boss fight and other misc videos of several stages. Meanwhile, Youtube user ‘Supasoni1016′ is kind enough to capture and upload the latest trailer of the game from the Japanese ‘Nintendo Channel’, an online media portal designed specifically for the Nintendo Wii. The Nintendo Channel trailer shows us lots of already seen footage- but with a one minute fifty second version of the games main theme, ‘Knight of the Wind’ performed by familiar-to-the-series band, ‘Crush 40.‘
You can watch the Sir Gawain IGN trailer here and the Nintendo Channel video showcase here. Sonic and the Black Knight will be available for the Nintendo Wii on the 13th of March in Europe.
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 Community frontman ArchAngelUK spent a good chunk of time chatting to Tommy Tallarico, legendary game music composer and host of the Video Games Live concert. As some of you may know already, he’s doing the soundtrack to Sonic and the Black Knight, so this seemed like the perfect chance to ask him about the blue blur and his experiences working with Jun ‘Junny Baby’ Senoue.
One of the highlights includes Tommy’s intended approach for the game, whereby the legality of the original Sonic the Hedgehog theme tune screwed up a possibility of there being some kind of medieval remix:
I would have loved to have been able to take the original Sonic theme and mess with it. I was able to do something similar when I worked on a lot of the Pac-Man games with Namco… or the Bond game I worked on. I’m not exactly sure if SEGA owns 100% of the rights to that original music or not. I believe we had to go through a few different companies (including the original composer) to get the rights to play it in Video Games Live. But to directly answer the question… I didn’t really take inspiration from past tracks, I just kept imagining the Sonic character and all my Sonic experiences and how I would imagine it sounding like (without being able to use the older stuff).
Tommy also states that he feels the modern Sonic games have lost a certain something that the classics have by the truckload. He’ll be happy to learn that Sega have just released Mega Drive Ultimate Collection for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, then:
I’d be lying if I said I’ve been happy with where the Sonic games and franchise have gone. Maybe I’m just more of an old school type of guy, but I always thought the 2-D Sonic games had more playability and fun factor than the 3-D stuff. I hope that statement doesn’t offend anyone, it’s all just personal opinion and taste I suppose. But I really have a fond place in my heart for the 2-D Sonic stuff.
Give the interview – part one of two – a good read, it’s a blast. Although I have to say that a lot of Tommy’s answers seem awfully similar to an interview I conducted with Tallarico about two years ago. As the interview conducted was a written one, it seems likely that Tommy pulled from his responses to my questions to save time rather than some true underhanded plagiarism going on. But still, naughty naughty… veeeeeeery naughty, guys.
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.
6th March Update: All comments have been wiped with the site’s recent server crash. We still have a count of all the people who took the time to write a comment showing their interest. So as not to mess up our ballpark figure, if you have already written in this post before the server wipe please do not so so again. If you do, please let us know you have already posted before. Thanks!
Last year, The Sonic Stadium held, with support from SEGA Europe and Sonic Wrecks, the world’s first Sonic the Hedgehog fan convention in London’s Covent Garden. With a playable demo of Sonic Chronicles, the Guinness Book of Records adjudicating Sonic 2 times, a special song from Dreams of an Absolution singer Lee Brotherton, signings from Sonic the Comic’s Nigel Kitching and a performance from TJ Davis and Richard Jacques (!), the Summer of Sonic metamorphasised overnight from a quaint little British meetup to an internationally recognised, had-to-go-there event.
And as you may already know, we’re doing it all again this year. Only bigger.
I can reveal right now that the confirmed date for the next Summer of Sonic will be Saturday 29th August 2009. The venue has not been finalised, but it will be situated in London, UK.
What I want to know is how many of you will come to SoS 09 on this date.
The reasons I ask this are pretty straightforward, if you knew that we had to turn many people away from the event in 2008. The demand far outstripped the capacity of the poor community hall that we had hired for the day. In a space suited for 200, the Dragon Hall Covent Garden saw 300 Sonic-crazed people flock through their doors. Had we not restricted entry on the Summer of Sonic website, and fully promoted the event in the media as we originally planned, who knows how many people would have showed up.
So what we’re doing here is getting a sample of interested people so we (that’s the Summer of Sonic organisation staff – consisting of myself and AAUK of SEGA Europe for now) can get an idea of how big a hall we can squeeze out of our budget. All you need to do is post a comment stating how many in your household are able to come to this event on the 29th August.
While I can’t reveal anything in regards to what will actually be there this year, here’s some information that will whet your appetite – Jun Senoue knows of Summer of Sonic. Richard Jacques said he would happily attend another SoS. You couldn’t stop Lee Brotherton from getting involved again. Sonic Team’s reaction to SoS 2008 was also reported to be very positive, and SEGA Europe as a whole are both very keen to be more involved yet very respectful as to this being about a fan gathering rather than a buck generator.
This, coupled with the success of Covent Garden last year, should be an indication that there will be at least several things at SoS 2009 to get super-excited about.
So – London, United Kingdom. Saturday 29th August 2009. Who’s able to come? Spread the word!
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 Megamix, the most well known Sonic ROM hack, has returned to the public spotlight with a post by, community oldbie, Stealth at Sonic Retro. Stealth revealed that the drama that resulted in the project’s cancellation months ago was a complete misunderstanding. Therefore, it was only canceled for three days and the once Genesis, now Sega CD project has had work done on it since being resurrected. When Stealth finally revealed that Megamix was not dead a few days ago, he and other team members brought videos with them to show the amount of progress that they have made in private.
Despite publicly announcing Megamix’s return, Stealth did lay some ground rules that I certainly approve of.
With that said, you know how I feel about my projects, and this is no exception. It never has been, less of Tweaker’s over-zealous promotion. I am protective, and I will remain so. We will do what we please with this project, and on a time-table of our own choosing. Requests and questions about release dates are annoying and pointless. There will be no further demos, or even “private” beta-tests. Fact is, Megamix was supposed to end development with “version 4″ (at a later point in time), until this mess happened. There is no way we can possibly make another non-final release and keep it substantially fresh. Trust me – you’ll thank us when you have much more to play with all at once than one level at the end of the game and a couple of menu text changes
(…)
Finally, and this is important, we reserve the right to halt completely at any time. We owe a debt to no-one, and we don’t have to publicize any newer builds. All we ask for is some decency and respect. Don’t launch into actual complaints about how we choose to handle our business. Don’t rip us off solely for the sake of riding off Megamix fame. Also, don’t go asking for or looking for things that don’t belong to you. If we hear about the leaked material, or see it being spread/used, that’s it. If you want to do our jobs for us, we just won’t, and when you can’t handle it, you’ll only have yourselves to blame.
The videos below showcases Megamix’s progress since its move to the Sega CD. The game is not only “Sonic CD” smooth, but now has CD audio, composed by DM Ashura of DDR fame. Megamix’s design continues to, in my opinion, bridge the old and new styles of Sonic. In addition to the classic Genesis presentation, new moves, such as the homing attack, and a higher emphasis on speed make their mark.
Now, if only the level design wasn’t so masochistic.
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 have revealed the UK release date of the next installment in the Sonic Storybook series on Nintendo Wii, Sonic and the Black Knight. The game will hit UK stores Friday 13th March. Let’s hope the release goes well despite being released on the 2nd of this years Friday the 13th’s and on the same day as Resident Evil 5’s release.
Will any of you be picking Sonic’s sword slashing adventure up? 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.
DVD Smith tipped us on the back cover of Sonic & the Black Knight right when pre-order copies of the game rolled into the GAME store that he works at in the UK. He snapped us a picture of the back and even got a close-up on the text.
Sonic’s pose on the back is pretty cool. Click for larger versions of the images.
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.
Get all this all on the new trailer over on youtube. Blaze rocks and you know it.
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 Neopets site has a new flash game that’s SatBK themed. As Sonic, you’re a knight in training. Use the arrow keys to deflect apples thrown at you to win yourself a new trailer of Sonic & the Black Knight, which features more gameplay footage and shots of Sonic & Compant decked out in their new armor.
Alternatively, you can just watch the video below and skip the game.
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.
First, we get shakey mushrooms and now we get some silhouette juggling an apple (which is “Ringo” in Japanese, by the by). I don’t know what to expect from this new teaser site after the 8-bit mushroom made way for a blatant Mario rip-off with dick jokes. I think it’s safe to speculate that we’re getting a platforming game out of this deal.
The teaser page is a little flash ditty with the cartoony silhouette tapping its foot to an upbeat tune.
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.
You may remember not too long ago TSS reported a rumour concerning Mario and Sonic’s return with another Olympic Games compilation. Today, SEGA Europe have updated their official Youtube account with a HD teaser trailer for the upcoming game on Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS set for release ‘soon.’
The new trailer shows off some lovely CG quality movie scene footage and has Sonic, Mario and pals all snowboarding down a huge mountain in front of cheering crowds. The game will be out on shelves in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics, but for now fans of either series can check out the High Definition Youtube Teaser Trailer here.
What’s your opinion on the new trailer? Are you planning on picking up Mario and Sonic’s latest Olympic outing in time for Vancouver 2010? Let us know in the comments 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.
Maaaaan, back when Sonic Adventure 2 was the shiznit, Sonic and Shadow were all like “faker” and “NO U” in some jungle. The dialogue was so bad, that it was awesome. Then, Sonic and Shadow went at it as the island that they were on exploded.
If you have ever thought to yourself that the fight would have been better with swords, your wet dream has come true. GameTrailers’ new SatBK trailer has some footage of the duel between Sonic and Shadow, amongst other things. The trailer showcases more environments, gameplay, action sequences, and the storybook cutscenes (which are less low-budget than Secret Rings, by the way). You also get to see more of these graphics that all of these news folk are raving about.
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.
Sony Computer Entertainment have revealed 24 third party companies who have been granted development licenses to support Sony’s community focused virtual world PlayStation Home and among those 24 names is SEGA. PlayStation Home is currently available via PlayStation Network in BETA form but with all of this third party support should soon be on track to being complete.
The full third party support list is shown in the above slide shown at a press event but if you’d like a written list here it is –
Atlus
Activision
Acquire
Irem
EA
SNK
AQ Interactive
GungHo
Games Republic
Q Entertainment
Capcom
Koei
Hudson
Sega
Disney
D3
Spike
Genki
Nippon Ichi
Ubisoft
Bandai Namco
Paon
Tecmo
Konami
Big names missing are –
Square Enix
THQ
Atari
Midway
LucasArts
Rockstar
Take-Two
No info or media has been revealed as to what these third party companies plan on adding to PlayStation Home yet due to them only just getting their development licenses but it should certainly be interesting with the ability for these companies to be able to develop rooms themed around certain games as shown a while back with Sony’s titles.
Could we see a Sonic themed room with rings, item boxes and Chao decorated around the room. Sonic 1 playable arcade machines in the corner? Maybe it could be like Sonic’s room on Sonic Shuffle? Either way, make it happen SEGA!
Would you like a Sonic room in PlayStation Home? What other SEGA franchises could have a good home in Home? *dodgy pun* 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.
At a recent event in London where Sonic Team’s upcoming Sonic and the Black Knight title for Wii was being showcased, Eurogamer managed to grasp a video interview with Tetsu Katano, who is well known for his work on past achievements such as Sonic Adventure 1 & 2.
In the interview, Tetsu responds to feedback about recent Sonic game gimmicks, his awareness of the criticism and how they implemented into the game. When asked about returning to Sonic’s 2D gameplay, Tetsu let’s us know they do like to target the core Sonic users but it’s under discussion at the moment and he can’t say alot about it. A new game for the hardcore Sonic fans in development, perhaps?
Yuji Naka also had a look at the new game while he was at the event, and explains his feelings on the recent Sonic since he left Sonic Team. Naka-san explains how he is happy to be free to work on new projects now he doesn’t have to work so hard on Sonic. He sees today’s Sonic as one that is breaking out of the mould he made and taking a new direction, and hopes this will be one the fans can enjoy.
You can check out the video interviews here. Yuji Naka on let’s Tap: 0:00-06:09, Tetsu Katano: 6:10 and shortly afterwards Yuji Naka’s thoughts on recent Sonic.
What are your oppinion’s on these statements? Do you like Sonic’s recent direction? Is the TSS front page getting too clogged up with Yuji Naka love? 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.
GameTrailers.com is on the New York Comic Con show floor and have uploaded gameplay videos of Sonic & the Black Knight. It’s cam footage, but at least it is footage! The first video shows off the intro/tutorial level of the game and the second has a giant dragon boss! There are HD versions of each video over at GameTrailers.
You might still be skeptical about Sonic with a sword, but one thing that you have to be sold on now is the graphics. Even from this cam footage, it is clear that the graphics illustrate what the Wii is capable of, even at high speeds. I have yet to play the game, but I know that I am impressed with the game’s visuals.
I will have an old friend of mine, Keith, at the convention today. He’s going to play SatBK and let us know how it stacks up. From what he hears from other show-goers, he says that it is a mixed bag due to the amount of waggle and jumping. However, he is still reserving his judgment for his run today. I will pass his word onto you guys as soon as possible.
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.
What is it with all this Yuji Naka talk lately? We may as well rename ourselves to ‘Naka News’ from now on. Gaming website Kikizo managed to catch up with the man behind such masterpieces as NiGHTS and Burning Rangers for a short interview on his new company, Prope. Looking pretty swarve, Naka turned up to the interview suitably dressed with ‘Let’s Tap!’ figurine in hand all set to promote his new game- however, Kikizo had other ideas in mind.
Naka was asked a series of questions consisting of his opinions on SEGA leaving the hardware market, what his current relationship with SEGA is at and why his socks are the colour orange. They even threw in the question always on a Sonic fan’s mind, did Michael Jackson really compose the music to Sonic 3?
Naka slyly replied:
Naka: [laughs] It’s best that you ask Sega!
Kikizo: Well, er, it was your game, Naka-san… nobody at Sega would even know any more…
Naka: It’s a mystery [laughs]. This information is on a need-to-know basis! [laughs more] One day, when the time comes, I will give you the information!
The inevitable question regarding Naka’s company ‘Prope’ (pronounced Pro-Pay for all those wondering) developing a character based game similar to Sonic quickly came around, to which Naka confirmed that the title has spent a very small time in development and he cannot confirm whether or not the idea will be approved by SEGA. He’ll tell media when the time comes.
You can read Kikizo’s interview with the man himself on their website here. Oh, and if you are still wondering on the question of his orange socks, they’re to match the Prope company logo which is reminiscent of the US orange Dreamcast logo colour. Awesome.
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.
As we write this, print and major online journalists are most likely awaiting (or on their way, no thanks to the snow) to become an audience with Yuji Naka, famed programmer of the original Sonic the Hedgehog. Now the leader of part-SEGA funded studio PROPE, he will visit the European headquarters of the publisher to talk about Let’s Tap. So it can be assumed there will be a European release.
From what we gather, there may be some announcements or two on top of this, but it’s not certain whether said news will relate to the inevitable EU release of the future tapping game or be something else entirely. Other high profile SEGA games, such as Madworld and Sonic and the Black Knight, will be playable for the press today as well, so you can expect some previews appearing in your favourite magazines soon, along with interviews of Naka-san.
Unfortunately, TSS couldn’t make the trip today – we’re washing our hair. But keep an eye out as we will be on the trail for all the news that trickles out of this very exclusive 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.
Hands up who can remember when our friendly neighbourhood SEGA Community Manager (and head of the Sonic Wrecks Website) ‘AAUK‘ announced in the ‘SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection‘ topic of SSMB that SoE were planning on printing some exclusive SEGA blue Vinyl Records? Who couldn’t help but drool over the very lovely classic SEGA themed record sleeve and disc? So, which of you remaining happen to live in Australia? If your hand’s still up, you’re in luck.
General SEGA fan site ‘SEGA Nerds‘ reported today with some exciting news for any Aussies planning on purchasing the upcoming SEGA Mega Drive and Arcade collection title available for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 late this month. Website ‘JB Hi-Fi‘ is offering one of the very limited edition six track 12″ records with every pre-order of the game made on their website, while stock lasts, that is.
I’m sure many Australian fans are going to be picking this up quicker than you can say ‘SEEE-GAAA‘, so you’d better be quick! SEGA fans elsewhere in Europe can keep their eye on the official SEGA Blog for news of that competition in which AAUK is also giving away a couple.
You can check out the original SEGA Europe blog post regarding the Limited Edition Vinyl here and Australians can head over to JB Hi-Fi and lay down their pre-order 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.
Earlier today ‘Hero of legend‘ reported to TSS with a most intriguing link leading to a Nintendo fan-site named ‘WiiNintendo.net.‘ It appears the site has managed to get a hold of some exclusive character model sheets from the upcoming ‘Sonic and the Black Knight’ title currently in development exclusively for the Nintendo Wii.
The character model sheets show off some nifty angle shots of Sonic (as himself), Knuckles (as Sir Gawain), Shadow (as Sir Lancelot) and finally Blaze (as Percival.) Technically the first we’ve seen of Blaze in the game. The model sheets show off her new re-design complete with an armoured mask, similar to that of Gawain and Lancelot’s. Keep in mind all of these character models are taken from the CG Cut Scene areas of Sonic and the Black Knight. TSS seriously doubt’s you’re going to be seeing models as detailed as that in-game.
It’s still unclear how WiiNintendo managed to get their hands on the character model sheets, but what’s even more interesting is a thirty second video showcasing all the characters present, of which has been uploaded to the Nintendo themed websites Youtube account.
You can check out the character model sheets here and the video showcase of all four characters at Youtube here. Just look at those Knights spin!
UPDATE: Unfortunately, it appears that both the images and video have disappeared from the Internet. Either WiiNintendo decided to remove the models on their own accord or with a little encouragement from SEGA. Fear not though disheartened reader, as you can still view all of the images in the SSMB forum topic right here.
See? I told you to get them while they’re hot. Now they’re all gone. Huge thanks to the sexiest of all Sheza’s 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.
Whether or not you’ve decided that Sonic Unleashed is a good game or not, you’ve probably heard a handful of tunes that have got your feet tapping as you blast through levels at break-neck speeds or smack goofy enemies with your Wolfy pimping-hands. So for those of you who are bonkers for Sonic soundtracks, you can rejoice in the knowledge the Sonic World Adventure: Planetary Pieces Official Soundtrack has been released today.
Once again, the usual suspects Tomoya Ohtani, Kenichi Tokoi, Fumie Kumatani & Hideaki Kobayashi have teamed up to create another monstrous album containing a comprehensive collection of all the tracks from the game. The staggering 91 track list includes the rather sexual Werehog Battle music, Jaret Reddick’s “Endless Possibility”, several versions of the game’s theme, and the pleasant “Dear My Friend” from the ending titles. Not only that, the presentation of the box is of the usual incredible standard (there’s a CD with Chip on it!)
You can check out the track listing over at the Video Game Music Data Base, and if you’ve got some coins to spare you can buy yourself a copy from Play Asia or CD Japan for about 4200 Yen...a bit steep at around £31 ($45 – and don’t forget you’ll have to pay for International Postage on top of that), but well worth it if you’re as mad as me for these soundtracks!
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’s very own member ‘KIRBY‘ has informed TSS earlier today (via the forums) with some interesting news regarding a recent edition of Japanese ‘Denki DS’ magazine.
The latest issue includes an exclusive three page preview on the upcoming Wii adventure, including some brand new images consisting of a first look at the multiplayer battle mode, a new cut scene illustration of Sonic and Tails and some never-before-seen image renders of Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Shadow. Just like with ‘Sonic and the Secret Rings’, all returning friends and enemies alike take the form of characters in the storybook at hand, with Shadow as ‘Sir Lancelot’ and Amy as ‘The Lady of the Lake.’
All information written in the magazine is in Japanese (of course), though it may well include some interesting new information on the game. Make sure you keep yourself updated and see the scans for yourselves in the SSMB Topic here. Be sure to let us know what you think of Tails, Amy, Knuckles and Shadow’s new designs in the comments 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.
You better believe they will. Spanish gaming magazine ‘Nintendo Acción’ have rumoured a wintry themed follow up to the immensely popular ‘Mario & Sonic and the Olympic Games’ that’s to be announced in the next issue.
The original Mario and Sonic (released November 2007) saw the clash of two great gaming icons for the very first time, celebrating the 2008 Beijing Olympic games. Hints in Nintendo Acción’s text (of which is written in Spanish, of course) state that the next meeting between both SEGA and Nintendo’s mascot characters will not be much different from the first, sad news for anyone hoping for a more traditional style of crossover game.
The scan was first posted on the Internet by unofficial Nintendo blog site ‘GoNintendo‘, and despite pointing them in all the right directions, still classes the sequel as a rumour until the revealing issue is out on the market.
What’s your take on the rumour? Are you all for Mario and Sonic’s second trip to the Olympics, or are you craving for something a bit different this time around? Let us know in the comments 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.
After an early report from IGN who claimed they had reason to believe 30 staff had been cut from our beloved video game publisher SEGA, a new report from EDGE with word from a SEGA of America representative has arisen to confirm jobs have been cut.
In an e-mail response to EDGE, the un-named SEGA rep stated –
Sega of America has grown at pace with the booming videogame industry, but at this time of economic recession, harsh retail landscape, and the reality of business challenges to profitability, we must take steps to reduce our cost structure and ensure long-term success.”
Guess even Sonic’s latest title can’t save them from the current financial crisis (sorry Sonic, we know you try).
The rep informed EDGE “around 30 people” have been laid off work and went on to say –
“The decision to lay off staff was a difficult one, and we thank these employees for their contributions and wish them well in their future endeavors.”
With todays financial crisis and more and businesses facing pressure and/or closure every day, it is becoming tougher for people to find employment. We at TSS wish those staff members well for the future and hope they do manage find more work and happiness through this difficult time whatever happens.
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’s true. Eagle-eyed SSMB’er Sonic-Fan has spotted some new Sonic X branded plushies, which will be heading for Europe in ‘Early 2009’. The drawback? You can’t buy them. You can only win them.
The plushies were found on SEGA Prize Europe’s website, which is a subsidiary of SEGA that deals in prize arcade machines – the most common of which being UFO Catchers. While super-rare, SEGA branded UFO Catchers do exist in the UK, with the two most prominent ones located in London’s Trocadero Plaza (the building formerly known as SEGA World) in Piccadilly. Although these plushies will most likely feature in SEGA’s own UFO Catchers, the ‘Trade Purchase’ option suggests that non-SEGA branded machines could also house these awesome looking toys.
You can grab one of five different characters; Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy or Shadow. No Eggman sadly, but these 12″-15″ plushies look very cool indeed and are much better than some of the other official UFO plushies that looked like cheap knockoffs. The Sonic one is particularly cute. D’aw, look’attim. He wants a hug.
If you’re a prominent arcade manager, or a rather brave Sonic fan that will gladly pass themselves off as an arcade manager, then you can buy these plushies in bulk cartons of 6 pieces. You can enquire via the SEGA Prize Europe 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.
Sonic Channel, for the uninitiated, is Japan’s official Sonic the Hedgehog website. It’s about ten thousand times better than the American counterpart, Sonic Central, and is currently 100% better than the European Sonic City, which doesn’t exist yet (expect that to change when it re-launches though). It’s updated on a regular basis and provides plenty of decent fanservice for Asian fans of the blue blur. Every so often, we’d like to track the updates we find on Sonic Channel, so you don’t miss out on some good stuff.
Every month we’re treated to a new desktop wallpaper and calendar PDF, which features the talented artwork of Yuji Uekawa (who should really do more artwork for promotional purposes like game boxes – too many CG pieces flying around) – and every so often a little bio written by SEGA Europe’s Community Team as well. Recently the character art has been in a sketch style, which is a cool way of seeing how Sonic and Tails are usually drawn.
February’s calendar character is none other than Chip from Sonic World Adventure / Unleashed. I guess it makes sense – Valentine’s Day is the time of love, and Chip just happens to ‘looooooooove’ chocolate. We’re glad the little random sprat is getting some facetime. Even though it’s pink, it’s on my desktop. Because hey, I’m comfortable with my sexuality. Are you? Click here to grab the wallpaper and here for the calendar PDF.
The other main activity on the Japanese website appears to be on the official microsites of Sonic World Adventure and Sonic and the Black Knight, with the latter updating with a pretty cool video featuring Jun ‘Junny Baby’ Senoue and Johnny Gioeli performing ‘Knight of the Wind’ in a SECRET LOCATION. Well, a studio. A studio in a SECRET LOCATION. It’s pretty good stuff, head to the microsite and click the video called ‘Hey All’ to see it.
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.
Remember when we exclusively broke the news that Tommy Tallarico and Richard Jacques were working together on the soundtrack to Sonic and the Black Knight? Well, what better confirmation to have than an official Q&A with the Earthworm Jim composer? SEGA Europe are staging a sort-of interview with the award-winning chap, and the best part is you get to ask a question or two!
Questions are to be directed to SEGA Europe’s official blog, where approved fan questions will be posed to Tommy in order to give a bit more insight into the production of the music. Simply post a comment on this page (the linked page, not this one!), and as long as it passes all the official interview gubbins (i.e. No asking about things that will reveal anything of the game itself, such as plot points) your name will be up in lights!
Having visited Video Games Live a few times, I’ve had the opportunity to chat to Tommy at length about his career, favourite music and the concert that he and Jack Wall co-created – if you’re trying to think of a question to ask, give the link a good read as it might give you some ideas.
Tommy will most likely be coming back for another round of Video Games Live in London, and TSS will be chatting to him a little later in the year to talk about his Sonic experiences in detail. For now though, this is an awesome opportunity for fans to get into the mind of one of the most charismatic game musicians on the planet. 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.
Of course you can! Or so says gaming website ‘WorthPlaying‘ last November. It seems twenty one new images of the game were added, some of which SSMB members claim to have never seen before, so why not take a chance and go and give your eyes a good oogle at them yourself? Check out the screen shots here and here, and a big thanks to SSMB members TodStar and Tizo for pointing them out!
Sonic and the Black Knight is heading to the Wii this Spring. You can check out the latest two trailers for the game posted here earlier last weekend!
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.
Today, Sonic the Hedgehog #196 is now available in comic book stores across the United States. This issue marks the end of the “Bold, New Moebius” saga, which was made up of four two parter story arcs all focused on reorganizing and reimagining what had always been a stale part of the continuity, Anti Mobius. It gave all of the characters more unique personalities, gave the world a brief but unique backstory, and even made Scourge, formerly “evil Sonic”, into a real villain. Anti Mobius, or “Moebius” now provides something more then evil people wearing leather whom happen to look just like the Freedom Fighters. It is a world with characters that provide real contrast beyond “good and evil”. I commend Ian for this.
I have really enjoyed this saga, and how it reshaped the “evil” characters. This issue looks to be capping the saga off with a pretty epic ending as well. You can see what I mean in the thumbnail images 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 have updated their product page for their upcoming retro collection game SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection. The game will hit European shelves 20-02-09. The collection will feature many titles from SEGA’s 16 Bit history in HD visuals including: Continue reading SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection dated
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.
Screw “Darkspine Sonic!” I’ll take “Gold Knight Sonic” any day of the week!
It looks like the one-to-one odds that a new super-form would appear in this game have seemingly come true. This above image was seen in a completely different trailer for SatBK hosted at every Sonic fan’s favorite website, IGN. Their trailer has the instrumental version of “Knight of the Wind,” more wacky sword play, more castle crashing, darker locales, and (ugh) G…Gol…Gold Knight Sonic. I wonder what 7 magical McGuffins you have to collect to unlock this particluar super-form? Anyway, hit the break for the trailer. Continue reading IGN Showcases Completely Different SatBK Trailer
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.
