Welcome to the Archive site of The Sonic Stadium (2008-2023)
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The latest Sonic Channel wallpaper has been revealed by Sonic Team designer Tomoko Hayane – and you probably won’t be surprised to learn that the blue blur himself, Sonic the Hedgehog, is the focus this month.
Celebrating his birthday on the 23rd June, SEGA’s heroic mascot features in this new batch of wallpapers and artwork. From Tomoko Hayane’s notes on the official Sonic Channel website:
Sonic this time looks like he’s recovering from a sudden attack, but on the contrary, he looks like he’s challenging himself. And the fearless smile is cool! Is that your nemesis, Dr. Eggman?
……Well, that’s what I imagine .
From the first appearance of “Sonic the Hedgehog” to the latest work, Sonic has saved the world over and over again with an expression like this illustration, even in situations where many people would despair.
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In what has become a monthly tradition, SEGA’s Japanese Sonic Channel team has opened a poll to ask fans which character they would like to see in the next Isekai ‘Fantasy Artwork’ episode due later this month. This time around, Tails will be the star of the show, but only Wave the Swallow or Marine the Raccoon can ultimately join him.
Just like many of the previous polls, both options feature side (or minor) characters that would benefit from some new official artwork. Wave the Swallow made her debut in the spinoff racing series Sonic Riders, while Marine the Raccoon’s only appearance has been in the Nintendo DS sequel Sonic Rush Adventure.
It is probably the latter fact that explains why Marine is currently pulling ahead in the poll at time of writing, which is now taking place on a Google Form rather than directly on Twitter. There are many fans that want to see more of Marine, it seems!
As for the scenario, as per usual that is mostly a mystery but we do have some clues. According to machine translation of the Sonic Channel’s social media accounts, Tails will be presented as a “prince of the entertainment world”, and whoever wins this next poll will join him as his “princess”.
Who would you like to see win the poll? Let us know in the comments section below!
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If you ever wanted to have the chance to create something Amy Rose-y in pixel-perfect proportions, then SEGA Japan has you covered. The company released a reference sheet of the Sonic series heroine, for fans to get crafty ahead of the release of Sonic Origins Plus.
As you can see, the sprite reference features Classic Amy Rose’s new standing pose and running animation, as seen in trailers for the upcoming compilation pack. A new addition to the Sonic Origins collection, Amy Rose is an extra playable character that can be used in Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic CD and Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
Photos courtesy SEGA Japan Official Twitter Channel.
SEGA’s official Japanese social media channels shared a link to the Downloads page where you can find the PDF reference sheet, along with the above photo to show what you can do with it. The company also appears to task fans with an Iron-on Beads art challenge over the coming Japanese ‘Golden Week’ national holiday.
You can visit the downloads page here, there are other characters available to get creative with too, from Sonic to Tails and Knuckles.
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Mighty takes centre stage in this new art piece published by the official Sonic Channel team, created to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the SEGASonic the Hedgehog arcade game.
Released in 1993 to a limited test audience in Japan, SEGASonic the Hedgehog was a unique arcade game that featured a trackball for movement of Sonic, Ray the Squirrel and Mighty the Armadillo (who debuted in this adventure). Players had to dash through isometric stages, bashing through obstacles as quickly as possible in order to outrun Dr. Eggman and his deadly traps.
A commemorative illustration of “Sega Sonic the Hedgehog” celebrating its 30th anniversary since its release in 1993
This arcade game is the debut work of Mighty and Ray who appeared in “Sonic Mania Plus”
Characteristic trackball operation is tricky Mighty seems to be a master
It’s really nice to see Mighty (and Ray, to an extent) recognised again in official artwork/media, after their appearance in Sonic Mania Plus was largely seen as a one-off. What do you think of this art piece? Let us know in the comments below!
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The official Sonic Channel Japanese social account has completed its latest poll asking fans who they’d like to see in the next issue of its ongoing ‘Isekai Ohgiri’ fantasy art series – with Vanilla the Rabbit beating out her daughter Cream to feature in a new scenario with Vector the Crocodile.
According to the Sonic Channel social media post, Vector will be portrayed as some kind of ‘detective’ in the upcoming art piece, which will likely be completed and posted at the end of the month. The poll showed two emojis alongside the two character options, with Cream getting a ‘spy’ emoji and Vanilla a ‘painting fingernails’ icon. This may be a hint as to how the two characters would have been handled in the final piece.
It would have been nice to see Cream potentially run alongside Vector as a co-detective – like Batman and Robin – but Vanilla hasn’t been represented much in Sonic media outside of a side role in the Sonic Advance games and some TV and comic media. This may be just one reason why she won the poll by quite a substantial margin – 70.5% to Cream’s 29.5% result.
What are you hoping Vector and Vanilla’s partnership is going to look like? Let us know in the comments below.
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Moor-Art Gallery is set to launch another official Sonic the Hedgehog art print tomorrow, and this one is pretty golden.
This latest piece, titled ‘Mega’ and created by artist and designer Eileen Steinbach, features a cool silhouette of Sonic racing through Green Hill Zone on a giant ring – all of it painted gold. The print comes on A3 on premium quality gold art paper, and looking at Moor-Art’s promotional images, it certainly looks the part!
This print will be limited to only 125 copies, first come first serve. It’ll go on sale on Friday 3 March at 6pm UK / 1pm Eastern / 10am Pacific, and will cost £29.99. You’ll be able to grab it at Moor-Art Gallery’s website here.
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The latest fan poll for the Japanese Sonic Channel’s ‘Isekai Ohgiri’ fantasy artwork series has launched, and is currently asking the community which character they would like to see paired with Silver the Hedgehog – Elise from Sonic The Hedgehog (2006), or Merlina from Sonic and the Black Knight?
As with previous polls, the winning character will feature in a special art piece alongside a second pre-determined character (in this case, Silver). Both will be placed together in a surprising and interesting new scenario that fans will have never seen before.
Not many details are currently being shared as to what that Silver x Elise/Merlina scenario will be, but machine translation on Sonic Channel’s social media post suggests a sporty theme, with Silver perhaps playing the role of coach.
This poll in particular is significant because both characters have only had minor roles in the Sonic game universe, and have not had much representation outside of their respective games since. Elise in particular has never had the 2D Uekawa-style treatment, so that might be fun to see.
Fans have until Monday 6 March at 12:00 Japan time to vote for their favourite to win. Best of luck to all concerned!
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SEGA Japan’s official Sonic the Hedgehog portal, Sonic Channel, has released a brand new piece of artwork for its monthly ‘Sonic Pict’ series – and as usual it’s packed full of cuteness. For February 2023, the scene is of Classic Amy baking some cookies in her kitchen, with Little Planet looming outside in the background.
If you wait here at this time of year, maybe that blue hedgehog will come back to see you?
Amy, who works hard at making sweets, wants to say a few words of thanks
Give a wonderful gift to your loved ones with your feelings
What a ‘sweet’ message (get it? Oh, never mind). See if you can spot the ‘Future’ and ‘Past’ cookies, as well as a little cameo from a certain purple cat’s best friend…
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