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Please note that this site is no longer being updated or maintained; as a result, there may be design issues, and links to images and other media may be broken.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.
Just prior to Sonic’s anniversary month, the Sonic Twitter account has announced a YouTube and Twitch stream on May 27th promising “upcoming projects, partnerships, and events.”
Did someone say news?
Tune in at 9am PT on 5/27 for a first look at some of the projects, partnerships, and events for our #Sonic30th celebration! pic.twitter.com/rd4RpyVWFj
— Sonic the Hedgehog (@sonic_hedgehog) May 25, 2021
SECOND UPDATE: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio (best known for the Yakuza/Judgment series) posted a cryptic reply. It’s unclear if this is them telling you to save money for upcoming games, suggesting there’s some sort of new Sonic arcade game, suggesting Sonic will have some sort of cameo in a future Yakuza/Judgment game, or that the studio itself will be involved in a Sonic game. Luckily we’ll know very soon:
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Who likes financial briefings! Now, don’t raise your hands all at once, I know we’re all really excited to get new financial numbers, but for those of you who aren’t already sifting through the 74-page 2020 Results Presentation on SEGA SAMMY’s investor relations site, here are the highlights.
Although several other sites latched onto the “Super Game” mentioned eight times in the report, the way it appears in the presentation suggests “Super Game” might just be a term they use for a game that they can sell to a global audience. It may include new IP considering they have a separate 3-year plan to globalize their existing IP, but it would be very weird for a 5-year plan to include making some sort of global omni-game containing multiple titles. Not impossible, but very weird.
Other notable bits from the report include:
The Sonic series led traditional software sales with 4.4 million units sold, followed by Total War (4 million), Football Manager (3.8 million), and Persona (3 million).
Sonic is used as an example of strengthening the brand through media mix, specifically citing the original Sonic movie, the upcoming sequel, and the Netflix series Sonic Prime.
Games highlighted for release during fiscal 2021/2022 are Humankind, Shin Megami Tensei V, Total War: Warhammer III, Lost Judgment, and Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis.
SEGA’s European studio is working on an unspecified FPS project.
SEGA is instituting an approach of Remaster-Remake-Reboot in regard to current and past/dormant IP. Examples listed under past IP include Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Space Channel 5, Rez, Panzer Dragoon, NiGHTS, Shinobi, Virtua Fighter, Altered Beast, House of the Dead, Streets of Rage, and Soul Hackers, all with the asterisk “*Under examination of which IP to utilize.”
Game software sales stayed strong, and Free to Play titles were really strong throughout quarantine/social distancing.
SEGA SAMMY reiterates that they were hit hard by the economic effects of Covid, leading them to restructure (voluntary retirement, sale/restructure of arcade divisions). Spaces most prominently affected were the arcade business, arcade machines, pachinko/pachislots, and their resorts.
If you’ve ever wanted to know how much SEGA SAMMY is worth, they report having 367.6 billion yen in liquid assets as of March 2021 (or roughly 3.4 billion USD, 2.4 billion GBP, or 2.8 billion EUR). This amount is just liquid assets, and does not include the value of property the company owns or the IP it holds.
SEGA SAMMY acknowledges responsibilities regarding environmental sustainability, diversity, job satisfaction, and addiction prevention.
Oh, and hey, they’re working on a Gamera pachislot machine, which I personally like for esoteric reasons.
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E3’s Twitter account finally confirmed a bunch of companies for their digital event, including SEGA. As things stand, we currently know nothing about SEGA’s E3 presence, but their presence does mean they should have something to show from one of their many franchises. Will it be Sonic? Who knows. But that’s at least a possibility now. It should be noted that SEGA’s presence is never a sure thing: they skipped E3 2015.
As usual, we should be on hand to cover it. We’ve qualified as press for every E3 since 2010, so assuming that streak holds, you can tune into us for whatever digital press-only coverage E3 will be providing this year.
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SEGA Japan today announced that it will be entering the blockchain business this summer, by partnering up with Japanese game company Double Jump.Tokyo to sell NFTs “related to its classic IP”.
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SEGA seems to be planning a digital event that will take place on March 18, and social media posts from company employees suggest that Sonic the Hedgehog news could form part of the festivities.
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In a statement made earlier today, Sega announced that Team Sonic Racing is now available on Amazon’s cloud-gaming platform, Luna. This makes the second Sonic game to be available on Amazon’s new service, along with Sonic Mania.
Start your engines, Sonic fans! Team Sonic Racing is speeding to Amazon’s cloud gaming service! Play it now with early access on @amazonluna (US only).
For those interested, I am currently in the Luna beta and have checked out TSR on its streaming platform. The game looks and plays exactly like its HD counterparts on PS4 and Xbox, however, I did notice occasional dips in framerate from 60 down to 40 or less at times. I tested the same tracks on my Series S and it runs at 60 fps without any issues. That said, the issue pretty minor and the game still runs very well on Luna.
Here’s hoping for more Sonic on the Luna platform in the future. After all, the more Sonic folks can play, the better.
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Since Roger Craig Smith announced his departure as the official voice of Sonic the Hedgehog, many fans have turned to Ben Schwartz, Hollywood comedy star, to ask if he would pick up the mantle. His answer? He’s not quite sure yet.
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To celebrate SEGA’s 60th anniversary, the game company hosted a special public exam to test fans’ knowledge of its history. We missed it too, we’re upset about that as well. But spare a thought for Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka, who revealed that he actually had trouble knowing the answer to one particular question relating to his blue creation. And, as most things, it all comes down to a decades-old case of mistranslation.
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It had been rumored for a little while, but now it’s official. Sonic the Hedgehog is getting a 3D animated series on Netflix, and you’ll be able to see it when it premieres in 2022.
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According to SEGA’s latest annual report, Sonic has now moved roughly 1.14 billion games. That’s a 200 million unit increase since 2018, demonstrating that the blue blur still hasn’t slowed down despite the lack of games.
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What’s that? You want Sonic the Hedgehog news, sonny? Well, it just so happens that we’ve got a whole LIBRARY’S worth of news stories and features covering the last twenty years! We could tell you when Archie Sonic #117 hit comic store shelves… or we could tell you something interesting instead. How about the biggest Sonic stories to hit the internet since The Sonic Stadium opened its doors in 2000?
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SEGA’s 60 years old this year, in case you weren’t aware! SEGA’s been celebrating this with all sorts stuff, including their current Steam sale and Sonic 2 giveaway. But they aren’t stopping there: starting today, SEGA is running a 60 day long celebration. During this celebration, they will be:
Releasing four free retro-inspired mini games.
Discounting more of their games.
Running giveaways and Competitions
Putting out exclusive interviews
And “more” according to their tweet announcing this whole thing. As of today, SEGA is giving away free Steam copies of the Sonic Team classic NiGHTS into Dreams to anyone that signs up at their 60th anniversary website, here.
The website will provide free wallpapers, avatars and early notification of prize giveaways to anyone who signs up. If you want the free NiGHTS code, don’t dawdle, because they will only be provided for ”as long as codes last.”
SEGA will surely be doing lots of Sonic and Sonic Team related things during this, so stay tuned for all that!
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.
Last night, one of Tokyo’s most landmark SEGA arcades closed down for good. The SEGA Akihabara Building 2, best known for its iconic orange escalator design, had its final day of business on August 30. Continue reading Iconic Akihabara SEGA Arcade Closes Down For Good
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The double packs just doubled up! Following the earlier finding of a Sonic Mania + Team Sonic Racing Double Pack for Switch, this time retailer GameFly has put up the same listing, but also added a Sonic Forces + Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz – HD Double Pack for Switch as well. Sadly there is no accompanying box art this time, but the other pack’s box art will give you an idea of what to expect.
While the Sonic Mania + Team Sonic Racing pack is dated for October 26th, 2020 on Amazon for $39.99 USD, there’s no firm date yet for the Sonic Forces + Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD pack. However GameFly lists both for a placeholder October 31st, 2020 date. Perhaps both will release on the same day, possibly also for $39.99 USD?
Once again, when more shows up, we’ll let you know!
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’ve been following things, you may remember that this was leaked via a datamining of the game Ninjala for Nintendo Switch (these things tend to happen) where references to the Sonic franchise were found. Anyway, Ninjala makers GungHo finally revealed the existence of the collaboration with our fav blue Hedgehog. Only, that’s all for now! We’ll have to wait and see what the collaboration will actually be about. When that time comes, we’ll let you know!
Ninjala for those who don’t know is a free-to-play competitive action game that’s out right now worldwide exclusively on Nintendo Switch (from the director of Dissidia Final Fantasy on PSP, I am not kidding). So if you have a Switch, you can try it out now (find your regional store page on the official site) and see if it’s your thing, and it’ll hopefully give you an idea on what to expect from this collaboration.
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So this just popped up. It’s been reported that Amazon.com now lists a double pack of Sonic Mania (the vanilla version it appears) and Team Sonic Racing for Switch. There aren’t any listings of the pack for other platforms yet upon checking. Also it’s not clear if this is yet another of those “put two boxes in a cardboard sleeve” type of releases that Sega do occasionally, as opposed to cramming both games into one cartridge/disc.
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.
While Tangle and Whisper will be coming to Sonic Forces: Mobile very soon, Tangle herself is available in Sonic Dash today! This lightfooted lemur is the first playable Sonic character taken from the comics and not from the games themselves (Sally and the Freedom Fighters had a non-playable cameo in Sonic Spinball). Tangle is playable by unlocking 500 Tangle tokens in an event going on all this week. Shouldn’t take players too long to unlock her as a good player can nab 20+ tokens per game easy.
The event only lasts a week, so make sure you get in some time on Sonic Dash soon!
UPDATE: Check out footage of Tangle in action 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.
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.
In today’s “Japan gets all the cool stuff” news, SEGA is celebrating Sonic the Hedgehog’s 29th birthday by making sure its arcade-goers don’t go hungry. A select number of Tokyo-based SEGA Taiyaki stores will be selling taiyaki in the shape of the blue blur’s face! Continue reading Munch on Sonic’s Delicious Face With This Chili Dog-Flavoured Taiyaki
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Any Sonic fan in 1993 will remember this iconic SEGA statue of Sonic, awarded to Ayrton Senna of the McLaren Team at European Grand Prix at Donington Park that year…but where is that statue now?
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The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
As Sonic fans, SEGA has invariably played at least some role in the tastes of everyone on the Sonic Stadium staff. Whether it is our love for their hardware, software or intellectual property, we each have a memory that either defined SEGA for us, or allowed SEGA to shape our tastes in gaming as a whole.
Today, on SEGA’s 60th anniversary, we thought it would be good to reminisce about the company that created a character we all have at least some fondness for.
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We currently live in a world where E3 is cancelled. Well, everything is kind of cancelled. But that doesn’t mean the hype train hasn’t left the station! Rumours have been circulating about SEGA’s next project, and according to some reputable sources, it’s going to be a big one.
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.
As you might be aware, it’s Sonic’s 30th anniversary next year. Just in case you were worried that SEGA might forget about that fact, and have absolutely nothing planned, fear not! SEGA America’s Chief Brand Officer for Sonic, Ivo Gerscovich, has teased that they have some ‘exciting’ things to share soon. Continue reading Sonic Chief Brand Officer: Exciting News Coming For Sonic’s 30th Anniversary
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.
You might be aware of this already, but 2020 marks SEGA’s 60th anniversary – and the company has gone to great lengths to celebrate, including building an awesome-looking microsite covering its long history. SEGA recently revealed a new ‘hero’ called ‘Sega Shirou’, a new ‘mascot’ to promote the publisher in adverts – and a new video has included a truly random twist on the character’s backstory. Continue reading SEGA’s New Human Super Hero Has A SEGA Saturn-Themed Backstory
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’s official 60th Anniversary website has now opened its virtual doors to accept messages of support from fans around the world – which means that you now have a perfect opportunity to try and get yourself one of these limited edition SEGA 60th Anniversary chalk bags! Continue reading Send Your ‘Messages to SEGA’ And Win This Cool Sonic Chalk Bag
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 sped its way down to the premiere fan screening of Sonic the Hedgehog Movie in London late last month, for a chance to catch the film in its entirety before general release on Friday, 14th of February 2020!
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 Reveals Sonic Announcement Stream for May 27th [Updated Again]](https://archive.sonicstadium.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/30thStream-1-895x375.jpg)
![SEGA Teases ‘SEGA Skyways’ Digital Event for March 18 With ‘Sonic 2021’ References [U: Internal Event Only, No Sonic Announcements]](https://archive.sonicstadium.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-event-tease-hero-875x375.jpg)
