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Sorry for not posting these for a while. The episodes HAVE been going up on SonicBoomCommentaries.com and itunes… I just forgot to post them here. Whoops.
Also available on itunes!
Way back in September we brought you news that TOMY had confirmed that the Sonic Boom toys would be coming to the UK, well several months later, it looks like the merch has landed, or have they?
According to this photo, a number of toys from TOMY’s Sonic Boom toyline have made their way into a UK Store, however, all is not as it seems.
The toyshop in question is named ‘Toy Planet’ which sounds like an independent toy store, but it’s actually an associate store of the toy shop chain ‘Toymaster.’ What does this mean? Well, Toymaster associate stores in the past have been known to order/import items for ‘test runs’ which may or may not reflect the wider chain of stores. Back when Jazwares released a bunch of 20th anniversary toys, one Toymaster associate store got in some 20th anniversary toys which never saw a wide release in the UK.
To further complicate matters, Toymaster doesn’t have an online ordering service, nor does it have a full toy catalogue on it’s website, so trying to verify if this is nation wide isn’t easy.
The photo itself was taken from a store in Derby, the person who took the photo also confirmed that the talking plush, running action Sonic and a Knuckles figure were also in stock, the prices break down as follows.
Although considering Tomy said that they would appear, it might just be possible that these toys are indeed nation wide here in the UK, you would be best checking your local toy stores just in case they pop up.
We’ll update you if we get confirmation that this isn’t just a one off.
Source: Sonic the Hedgehog Collections
We’ve talked a lot in the past about the development of Sonic Boom, since its release, former employees of Big Red Button have posted tons of early development material regarding it’s development which indicate it was once a much larger and very different game.
One such piece of evidence was a photograph taken inside Big Red Button showing what appeared to be an old logo for the game, however the name wasn’t quite clear and since then nobody has confirmed the name.
However, we now know what it is. Sonic Synergy was the original title for Sonic Boom, both the Wii U and 3DS version.
According to a website for Edward Moore who was a UX/UI design consultant for Sonic Boom, Boom was once entitled Sonic Synergy.
He describes his input on Boom as
High level User Experience & UI Design, Flash/Actionscript implementation for the majority of HUD elements, and Localization Production and Debugging.
Along with this are two UI diagrams for both the Wii U and 3DS version of Boom, these diagrams both contain the original Sonic Synergy title screen, as well as other early concept artwork for the game.
In addition to this, there’s evidence to suggest that Boom Sonic looked a lot different.
Sonic’s arms are back to being tan in colour, spikes are also different, much more like the Sega Sonic version. Amy also has some differences too.
What do you think? Sonic Synergy? Good title? Bad title? And Sonic’s alternative design? Like it, Hate it? Let us know in the comments.
To see the full sized images UI designs, check out the gallery below.
Source: Coroflot
A new SEGA job advertisement for a ‘Director of TV Series Production and Distribution’ has appeared over at LinkedIn displaying a keen interest to continue work on the Sonic Boom TV series. Season one is already airing in parts of the world and this fresh job advertisement strongly suggests SEGA is planning season two. The ad also states that upon evaluation the company would maybe be willing to work on further seasons and what they describe as ‘other opportunities’.
This person will act as project manager and coordinate/communicate with all parties ensuring the animation production and distribution is kept on track and the various parties are kept up to date with new developments as the TV series is in production.
Help CCO of Sonic to evaluate business models for new opportunities/subsequent seasons of Sonic Boom with recommending continuity plan of Sonic Boom.
Despite planning further seasons, SEGA is still yet to give word on when fans outside of the US and France can expect season one to air in their countries.
Would you like to see more seasons of Sonic Boom? Let us know in the comments.
Source: LinkedIn
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKlgnKbm-3g&feature[/youtube]
We have a great episode this month. Lidice and I got not one, but TWO special guests! First up is Sonic Boom co-executive producer and writer on Sonic Boom #5, Bill Freiberger. We discuss all things Sonic Boom including the more minor characters. Next, with the release of Sonic Runners soft launch, I got Big Fish Games narrative designer and die-hard Sonic fangirl, Joanie Rich to talk with me about the new game and how successful the mobile industry can be. This is easily the best episode of Sonic Boomcast yet, so tune in!
Former SEGA America producer Stephen Frost has called Sonic Boom a “huge success”, thanks to the project’s cartoon and toy licensing initiatives.
In an audio interview with SEGA Nerds, the producer – who has been at the forefront of all Sonic Boom-related developments, from the video games to the cartoon and merchandising efforts – said that the animated show in particular helped broaden the audience for Sonic the Hedgehog in the US. This also encouraged an explosion of toy sales, which Frost added initially sold out in 24 hours.
Speaking of his response to the fallout from the release of the Rise of Lyric and Shattered Crystal games, Frost was positive about the effect the licensing drive had on reaching a large audience. “Obviously there are pros and cons to Sonic Boom,” he said. “As a whole… for some reason I think people still focus on the game aspect of Sonic Boom. And rightly so because Sonic’s always been a game [character]. But you also have to think about the other things we tried to do with Sonic.
“The goal of Sonic Boom, as I’ve said over the last year or so, is to reach a larger audience with Sonic – to make him relevant again. There’s a very loyal Sonic fanbase [out there], no doubt. But there’s no arguing that every year [the audience] gets smaller and smaller.”
Frost likened the dwarfing audience for Sonic the Hedgehog to other AAA video game franchises on the market. “Even if you have a [AAA budget title] every year, the install base is going to get smaller… So the attempt with Sonic Boom was to appeal to an audience that was not familiar with Sonic – or, were fans previously but weren’t anymore for whatever reason.
“I think from that standpoint it was a success. The audience for the cartoon is [healthy], the toys are selling really well. I remember hearing reports that in the early days, Sonic Boom toys at Toys R Us were selling out in 24 hours – that wasn’t just [sales] from fans, it was from people who were looking for something new.”
The reason for the interest in the toys, Frost noted, was because the “new direction” that the Sonic Boom series took allowed merchandising partners to create more interesting figures based on the new worlds, vehicles and character designs. For licensing partners, Sonic Boom presented “a breath of fresh air into their thinking process and ability to go in a [new] direction.”
Frost also added that Archie and the Sonic voice actors were also appreciative of the opportunity that Sonic Boom presented. For Archie, it offered a chance to create new stories and a new book based on the series, and for voice actors they were able to add nuance to their respective characters.
“I know of so many people who have not been interested [in the Sonic games] that now arbitrarily watch the cartoons and buy the toys, and that’s a huge success,” Frost said. “There are cases where people have come into the Sonic world for the first time, because of either the new toys, or the look of the characters (love it or not), or the cartoon. And that’s why I consider that a big success.”
Speaking about the video games themselves, Frost was pragmatic. “Could the games be better? Yes… [But] I see that we tried to do something different. I think the challenge is that – if you think about the fact that Sonic Team has been making Sonic games for 20-odd years. They understand Sonic and all the things that make a Sonic game.
“In a relatively short amount of time we had to teach new teams what Sonic is all about. But not only that — if I was to say to a team, ‘make a speed-based Sonic game’, they’d have to start from zero and catch up to 24 years of experience in one [development cycle]. Now imagine asking them to reinvent Sonic, to try something different – still capture the speed but also be different enough that when people look at it they know it’s a new experience. It’s really tough!
“We had very ambitious goals. We really wanted to deliver on something that people were excited about, that managed to capture speed but also add new gameplay components… I think that the failures of the game were [of] it being overly-ambitious initially, and the fact that not only were we trying to make a basic Sonic game but we were trying to add to it. We over-extended our grasp in some ways.”
Frost noted that there were a number of positive things that came from the development of the Sonic Boom games – for instance, the popular co-op mode, which he hopes will be a concept that Sonic Team will consider for future mainline Sonic titles.
Naturally, a lot of people have compared Sonic Boom to Sonic Team’s efforts, and Frost accepted that the project’s game development ended up being a victim of the team’s ambition. “There’s a reason why the Sonic games are relatively high quality – they’re basic in design,” he said, talking about how many Sonic titles follow a similar strand of gameplay design. “You have speed, homing attacks… but because of that [streamlined gameplay], and because Sonic Team have been doing that for so long, they can fine-tune that [with every game release].
“We were trying to add in bungee mechanics, combat, puzzles, vehicles, hopefully a more compelling story, and a bunch of different environments. It’s just a lot. And I think that’s the thing. If there’s any lesson that I’ll take forward with me, it’s that being too ambitious can be bad.”
There’s a lot more in the interview with SEGA Nerds – the discussion about Sonic Boom starts at 1:42:00.
Editor’s Note: This article originally offered a brief overview of points taken from the interview that were presented out of context. We have since rewritten the story in its entirety and removed all conjecture from the piece. We apologise for any confusion caused.
For the first time in several weeks, no guests! But a very strange Hunger Games elimination in the latter half of the podcast!
Also available on itunes!
Kevin, Donnie, Tanner and Tom prepare for the latest Sonic Boom episode and discuss your comments and a number of other Sonic-based topics. Including: What would a version of the introduction sequence with Eggman as the hero look like? Strange Sonic 3 Remastered emails, a bizarre version of Oliver Twist seems to happen and is Tom worse than Tumblr? That and the gang do a play-by-play on Tanner’s mid-week reveal of a Hunger Games contest starring them and others. Who survives the games? And will Tanner survive the end of the show!?
According to details posted on Global License, Sonic Boom is set to get more merchandise and it rangers from novel to delicious.
The newly announced products are as follows.
The Bulls I Toy merchandise is already out now, but the other stuff is new. I will be very interested if all this stuff actually comes out, typically stories like this always come out at this time of the year and very few of them see the light of day… Though the helicopters thing, that sounds cool.
Also, would you eat a Sonic Boom cake? Let us know in the comments.
Source: Global License
UPDATE: Images of the calendar have surfaced. Price is $15. Click the images to see them full size.
In today’s wonderful show, Kevin Donnie and Jono are joined by The Great Clement. They get indepth with today’s episode of Boom, plus answer your questions and chat about the usual randomness. Plus, Jay adds his own unique editors notes throughout this 2 hour sausagefest podcast edition.
Episode 16: YouTube Edition
Episode 16: Uncut Extended Podcast Edition
Also available on itunes!
Back again, this time with a special guest!
Kevin, Jay, JonoD, Tom and Donnie are joined by special guest Bill Freiberger! Exective Producer and show runner. We discuss his thoughts on “certain” kinds of fan comments, clarification on the season 2 rumors, Drawn Together, his reaction to the reaction of “new” Knuckles, Shadow appearing in the cartoon, comic books, plus insider info on the show!
Back again, this time with a special guest!
UPDATE: More toys confirmed at the end of the article…
ORIGINAL STORY: It took a while, but we finally have some images of Tomy’s booth from the New York Toy Fair 2015.
The first image was posted on Tomy’s own Facebook page and is a larger shot of the big headed plushes which we brought you news about last week. Included in the shot is an actual physical prototype of the Sonic Shoes which appeared at the Nuremberg Toy Fair in cardboard form.
There also appears to be a new much larger knuckles figure and what looks like clip on Sonic plushes and most surprisingly, what appears to be trading cards as well as a new box set which seems to include Eggman and Knuckles.
However, the second image is what you might find more interesting, we’re not sure on the source of this one, it was posted in our comments by “SpiritOfTheBlue”, so thank you for the heads up.
In the background you can make out more of the clip plushes, including a Knuckles themed one. However what’s more interesting is that there are what appear to be new renders of Metal Sonic & Shadow on a few display pieces, could this indicate that Shadow and Metal Sonic are to appear in the TV show at last? Or at least that they will have some merchandise made in the future? Note how Lyric has been confirmed not to appear in the show, yet Tomy have no Lyric merchandise at all, so far all their merchandise has been TV show themed, seems like a strong hint Shadow and Metal will be in there in some form.
We’ll keep you updated with more news as we get it.
Edit:
Well that didn’t take long, no sooner had I posted this but I got made aware of two new toys. One of which was staring us all in the face, if we enhance one of those images… check this out.
We can jut make out the figures of what appears to be Amy and Eggman, however what’s strange is… Eggman appears to be green? Odds are it’s from an upcoming episode of Boom. Until more details come out, we are all calling this figure ‘Hulk Eggman’ or ‘Gamma Eggman,’ agreed?
The second image comes from twitter user dadarocks an shows knuckles… with rocket powered shoes!
Aside from getting his game gear Sonic 2 on, odds are this is from another future episode of the show.
Finally, there are three interesting figures in the back of the photo which don’t appear to match the current Boom TV show cast, but do look a lot like some certain other characters we all know.
The one on the right looks a lot like Shadow, could the other two be Metal Sonic?
Edit 2:
A new video has surface giving a look inside TOMY’s Sonic Boom booth, where we can get a much closer look at some of the more ambiguous figures mentioned above along with some new ones.
Some Screengrabs:
If any more news comes to light, we’ll let you know.
Cartoon Network has announced that Sonic Boom will be returning to the airways for their 2015-2016 programming schedule. In a press release which details programming intentions for 2015-2016, under the section ‘Returning Series’ Sonic Boom is one of the shows listed.
Despite the poor reception of the game, Sonic Boom the TV show has been doing very well with audience numbers still high for it’s time slot and market appeal, if the information here is correct and the show has indeed been renewed, it’s potentially huge news for Boom as a brand.
Unfortunately the press release isn’t completely clear as to if it means that it’s new content, or if they intend to reshow the first season into 2016.
We’ll keep you upto date with more news as we get it.
Despite New York Toy Fair being one of the largest toy fairs in the yearly calendar, Sonic related news has been very dry. Virtually no booths have any Sonic related merchandise on them.
However, Sonic Boom’s master toy partner TOMY are there, and it looks like they have a few new surprises for us. The above photo was taken by twitter user ‘dadarocks,’ the picture shows what appears to be big headed plushies of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and most surprising of all Eggman.
No other details such as release date or price where given at this time.
We’re still on the lookout for more toy fair related news, we’ll keep you upto date if any comes out way.
Source: Dadarocks
Join me, Lidice and new guest, Johara Finley as we discuss the recent Sonic Boom episodes, comic issues 3 and 4, the Rise of Lyric patch, Sonic Runners and the latest happenings at Sega of America. Also, we tend to ramble on other topics such as Disneyland, San Diego comic Con and the end of Club Nintendo.
Following on from the London Toy Fair, Nuremberg held it’s annual toy fair too, as with London, there was a decent Sonic presence there too.
Spindash.de managed to attend the event and were able to spot the following products.
First up is the ABYstyle booth which had a bunch of the Paladone Sonic toys along with these new items. A T-Shirt which is likely going to be the subject of a number of jokes in the comments for some people and a classic Sonic & Tails mug.
The Tomy booth was very similar to the booth which was photographed at London, only we now have some better images of the new action figures which appear to be variants of the original toyline.
First up is Tails covered in oil, pictured next to the original Boom Tails.
Next is what appears to be Battle Damaged Knuckles, looks like this might be from an upcoming episode of Sonic Boom.
Edit: I have no idea if that’s the official name, just that typically action figures usually end up being called ‘Battle Damaged’ when they look like they’ve been in the wars.
Here we can see a new Sticks figure which was also at London Toy Fair, we can now clearly see that she’s covered in the green slime from the episode in which she gets the robot dog as a pet.
Sonic with light up feet, I have no idea why it happened, it just did.
Next up is the light up mask from Tomy, we even get a look at the reverse side.
Other products noted were the Sonic Saves the Day pack which we spotted at the London Toy Fair and a few other figures which appeared at London.
In addition to the above news, the following bits of information was also confirmed.
Finally, this document was also revealed which seems to show in-store packaging designs as well as some initial launch toys for Europe.
Check out the full report at Spindash.de
Sonic Boom has the distinct honour of becoming the worst selling major Sonic title in history, after figures revealed by SEGA in the company’s latest holdings report. Continue reading Sonic Boom Becomes Worst Selling Major Sonic Game In History
It’s time for the circus everyone! With a solid episode, and Elicense discussion (in the uncut podcast) it’s all good in the Commentary house!
Kevin is joined by Tanner and Jamie as they discuss last week’s episode, the work history of this week’s writer, unsuitable locations for magic, Dick Dastardly, breeding a shiny Jamie, birds without backs and Donnie makes a late appearance for TOTALLY LEGITIMATE EPISODE VIEWING HONEST ‘GUV. Tanner Montana anyone? The gang then watch the episode together before discussing the ongoing troubles and theories behind the SEGA/Elicense drama!
UPDATE: We’ve been emailed the following image which appears to show the figures pictured here.
Not really any new details other than those speculated in the article are confirmed.
If anyone knows of the origin of this, such as if this was found on a website or in some kind of trade magazine, please get in touch.
ORIGINAL STORY: A few weeks ago we brought you news regarding Tomy’s line of Sonic Boom toys which were on display at the London Toy Fair.
However a new photo has emerged which shows an unannounced toy line from Tomy. It seems that they intend to release small collectable figures based on Sonic Boom. Tomy have in the past released small blind Gacha toys based on Sonic, this photo suggests that they also plan to do the same with Sonic Boom.
The photo originates from a company called Heckford who are responsible for the construction of Tomy’s booth at the London Toy Fair. No further details as to price or release dates are available at this time.
However with New York Toy Fair being next week, we might get some more Sonic toy news in the next two weeks or so.
Source: Heckford
Another week, another week’s commentary, in it’s simple video form and Uncut hour long podcast version!
What did you think of the episode? Was it the best way to start the return to your airwaves?
Kevin, Tanner and Tom AND JON AND DONNIE (wow that’s a lot) forget what happens last night and watch two robots try and find out the true meaning of friendship. Naw just kidding they’re looking for Eggman. That gang also google Santa the Claus for science.
UPDATE 2: Paraxade who has been going through the files of the game has uncovered audio from the Western version of the game which reveals that an explanation for Shadows out of character behaviour was included, but was cut from the final release.
One clip is of tails saying “Something’s wrong, he has some sort of chip on his head”
The second is of tails saying “You’re not yourself, you have some sort of device on your head”
So it looks like Shadow was to have a more obvious ‘mind controlled’ back story to him, but it got cut from the final version, yet in Sonic Toon they brought part of it back in.
UPDATE: More video and reports are coming in.
It turns out that at the very end of the game the is a sort of explanation. Shadow is not a robot. He had his mind controlled by Lyric. That’s why his voice sounds really strange. Some translation of his ingame dialogue has also come to light which suggests he says that “He will do anything to help Lyric.”
Whilst this would explain why Shadow is so out of character, it still creates plot hole in that there is nothing to show that this had actually happened since the western version of the game offers no explanation for his actions at all.
Original Story: Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric has been out for a while in the west. However in Japan the game is just released and there’s a rather noticeable difference… Shadow… is an android!
http://youtu.be/He4xWOVu1dw
Youtube user RaqibMarvelous uploaded a video showing the boss fight between Sonic & Shadow including the cut scenes which are done by the Japanese voice cast… and Shadow sounds nothing like he has done in previous games… he’s a robot.
Shadow has this mechanical like filter to all his dialogue like all the other robot characters making him sound more like an android. To compare, here is the Japanese version of Sonic Generations, Shadow pops up at 13:10 and you can hear the difference.
http://youtu.be/-dZs26bpwHg
There appears to be some dialogue changes too which don’t match up with the subtitles, if anyone can translate the dialogue for us we’d really appreciate it.
SSMB member Paraxade managed to extract a bunch of information from the new Rise of Lyric patch and was able to post a bunch of previously unnoticed changes including some information which explains why the patch is so large as well as provide a video showing before and after patch.
The details are as follows.
Now if you don’t spot the problem. This is why the Sonic Boom patch is so big and it also highlights just how bad the game is on a technical level.
Here’s the explanation. Collisions and other data are stored in a giant stream files meaning if you make 1 change to the entire level, your patch has to include ALL data from that original file including the changes.
For instance, say you had a stream file which was 200MB. And you wanted to add 1 ring to that stage. Your patch would be 200MB + the data for that one ring.
The changes are not that big, but due to the way the game is programmed, entire files which do not have any changes in them have to be included in the patch or else the patch will fail.
This means that any future patch is likely to be massive, even if all it did was make one single change to a stage.
As well as the details he also provided a video showing how different one cutscene now looks. (See above)
Source: Sonic Stadium Message Board
It’s a new year and the Boom is back! Here for your enjoyment is this weeks commentary, in it’s simple video form and Uncut hour long podcast version!
What did you think of the episode? Was it the best way to start the return to your airwaves?
Kevin, Tanner and Tom are getting ready before commentating on Sonic Boom 9 – and neither Tanner nor Kevin like it. Uh-oh. Pre and post show commentary covers, Gogobas focused Natural History production, revelations about Comedy Chimp, Tanner reads episode reviews off Tumblr. discussions on ‘leg day’ and the horrors of Boom Knuckles fanart
This information is a little old, but it’s only just come to light as far as I’m aware and sheds some light onto Sega’s strategy for Boom in 2015.
At the Brand Licensing Europe event held in October of last year, Sega revealed some details regarding Sonic Boom and gave some details on products which will soon be revealed and even tentative release dates for their products.
The details include.
As well as Sonic, a bunch of non Sonic products were also revealed.
If we get hold of any images or details of these products, we’ll let you know.
Source Global License
2014 has been a significant year in my books; To mark my 30th I’ve been fortunate enough to have also celebrated Sonic the Hedgehog at three different events across three continents with many fellow enthusiasts. 2014 has also been a year in which SEGA has proven it can still put on a show. Sonic Boom (the fan event, now in its 4th year) was yet another fantastic showcase of the best of what the Sonic franchise has to offer, including the a troop of extremely talented musicians, artists and voice actors presented in an incredibly well executed evening. Sonic Boom (the show, the 5th Sonic the Hedgehog TV series to date) is currently airing State-side entertaining kids young and old alike with its unique brand of slapstick sitcom comedy, packaged snuggly into accessible, digestible episodes. But while two Booms seem to have won over the fans, the third, Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric for the Nintendo Wii U, is most certainly not – and it doesn’t take much searching to find there is a rather polarised, negative opinion of the game.
The game’s origin is unusual in that it is rather Inception-esque: a spin-off game from a TV show, which in itself inspired by the Sonic the Hedgehog series. If SB:RoL were to be purely judged as a tie-in with a TV show, it could be taken as a typical endeavour designed purely to reinforce sales of merchandise.
Unfortunately, SB:RoL doesn’t get off the hook that easily for several reasons; most notably, the Big Red Button brand bred high expectations with many fans for a full and thorough development of something potentially fresh and exciting. It seems like cracks in the game began to manifest fairly early on, likely compounded by the en-mass exodus of staff from the developer. Furthermore, the herculean marketing drive for the game across the many months led many to believe that something special was in the pipeline, myself included. This was further reinforced by the waves of concept art and character designs which came cascading out from official releases; peaks at lush, organic environments and teasers of gargantuan mechanical leviathans confronting our heroes was more than sufficient to induce salivation from a large fraction of the fan base.
So what, in the end, did Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric deliver? The premise is something like this: Sonic and his friends accidentally awaken Lyric, a biomechanical snake with a penchant for destruction, and it is up to the heroes to collect crystals in order to prevent him from eradicating life from the planet. The game takes a triple threat format of speed, puzzle-solving and exploration stages, interspersed with arenas where the player does battle with an onslaught of cybernetic creations.
The game commences with an apparently arbitrary flash-forward before switching to a brief encounter with Eggman and Metal Sonic, after which the player is dropped into the world and SB:RoL begins to show it’s true colours. The bulk of the game consists of navigating through a number of linear dungeons lying off a main hub world. From the get go it becomes strikingly obvious that the sheer scale of ambition in this title has been its demise, resulting in a lack of focus on any element of gameplay. Speed sections, at full pace, give the players few chances to react properly to any obstacles; bizarrely you can also slow to a snail’s pace with virtually no consequence, other than to prolong the experience. Sections involving combat require little to no skill or tactics, and can be completed successfully with the age old art of button bashing. Additionally, there is no consequence in running out of rings as death simply results in an instant respawn, meaning players can operate with near immunity throughout. From start to finish puzzles lack variety or originality and will fail to challenge even the youngest players, and although some differential is offered through each of the characters wielding their own unique abilities, most areas can be navigated regardless of character selected, rendering differences in skill sets as arbitrary and pointless on the most part.
Contrary to what some of the early screens indicated, the worlds of SB:RoL feel empty and flat – almost reminiscent of a past generation game that might have been expected from a title released ten or even fifteen years ago. The sparseness of the realm is baffling as the characters can only saunter along at a leisurely jog (ironically unless you are on water) requiring the player to traverse vast distances to get to and from areas and characters of interest. A number of optional quests delegated by supporting characters fail to provide any unique gaming experience, with the rewards providing no noticeable benefit gameplay whatsoever. What’s more are the numbers of objects dotted around such as crowns and “shinies”, which seem to serve no purpose other than to be sought after by completionists. Fortunately, only one game-breaking bug was encountered in the play through, but demonstrates a distinct lack of any comprehensive QA tests having been carried out.
The story is inconsequential and predictable on the most part, and includes two completely inexplicable encounters with Shadow, the inclusion of which can only really be explained away as fan service. The dialogue in the game is probably one of the highlights, with Mike Pollock once again stealing the show as the voice of Dr Eggman. However, amongst the fleeting moments of humour are the endless cycles of character soundbytes that remind the player repeatedly of the obvious (e.g. ramps can be used as ramps), over and over again.
Needless to say the overall state of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric is disappointing, but the problem with this title, and the continuing problem with modern Sonic games, is much more deep-seated. SEGA has in recent years felt the need to perpetually reinvent Sonic in aid of keeping the franchise fresh to younger audiences. While the redesign of Sonic and fellow protagonists are probably subjective and down to personal preference (and although they are not ‘canon’ could be argued as uncalled for anyway), the deviation from what makes Sonic games so special is where these modern Sonic titles fail. The Sonic games that fans fell in love with back in the nineties won over flocks of gamers because of their originality, their pace, their music and the worlds they painted – it was because of this revolutionary take on the platformer that Sonic became immortalised as videogame legend. While other successful franchises, such as Mario, continue to grow and evolve with ever increasing computational capabilities, we’d have expected Sonic to do similarly. But while Mario retains a familiar identity (characters, themes) and first and foremost its high-calibre of gameplay, Sonic games of recent have futilely attempted to mimic the architecture of others; one recent exception is Sonic Generations, a title that retained the core of what constituted as quintessential Sonic gameplay, and succeeded because of this.
The other great successes of recent have also been the fantastic revampings of classic titles for iOS by Taxman and Stealth – two veterans of the Sonic community. While the success of these titles will have been partially due to the capitalisation on nostalgia, you can ask any die-hard Sonic fan about these versions and they will tell you they aren’t the original game – they are loving restorations, painstakingly tweaked with additions that have breathed more beauty into what were already masterpieces. This duo are already demonstrating they can do the same with Sonic & Knuckles, and we can only hope that this title will get a similar official release. If I was in the shoes of those responsible for mobile gaming at SEGA, I’d be asking these guys to build a whole new game with a neo-retro look around the old engine; retro sells.
From a consumer perspective some of these moves made with Sonic Boom seem logical, and perhaps, as stated before, this game should only be regarded as a spin-off – but from a fan perspective there is a great fear that Sonic is or has mutated into nothing more than the face for market products with, as opposed to a high-calibre game series lovingly constructed by an enthusiastic and capable ensemble and equally loved by those who play them. I hope that the overwhelming opinion on this title will be observed by the powers that be, and that the criticisms, or perhaps even the suggests from the fans and reviewers alike are heeded. I, like many others, am extremely passionate about the Sonic universe – and we want to see great games created.
I’m still ever hopeful that Sonic will return to form very soon, and I certainly hope by the time my 40th rolls around that the Sonic franchise will have found its stride again. In the meantime, the show must go on.
Many thanks to Nintendo PR for supplying TSS with a review copy of Sonic Boom
Disclaimer: The views in this piece may not reflect the views of TSS or other writers on the staff team. The intention of The Spin is to promote debate and discussion of an issue or something that’s happening in the fandom or the world of Sonic.
Article contains spoilers for Boom, also this is not our review of Boom, that is being handled by another staff member. This is more looking into what happened during Booms development and what could have been, not reviewing the final product, that is coming later this week all being well.
Well now, this is going to be an odd one first entry into this feature. For a long time there was a regular feature on TSS called ‘The Spin’ which was a more ‘bloggy’ type thing in which we’d look at stuff with a more personal tone or insight into what was happening in the news or the Sonic fandom. For the past two month’s it’s been my intention to bring it back since it feels like every week for the past two months there has been a new ‘thing’ to talk about.
So, for our first episode of ‘The Spin’ what shall we talk about?
Continue reading The Spin: Sonic Boom – What The Heck Happened? Part 1
What happens when the biggest viral song of 2014 crosses paths with the biggest Sonic release this year? This apparently.
In a similar move to last year, The Sonic Show are celebrating their 8th anniversary by taking a Sonical spin on the years largest viral tune. The 2014 parody takes the animation route by featuring the talents of three different animators plus including the best #BADNIK smashing #SELFIES (that’s a lot of hashtags) submitted by their audience in a art contest run earlier this year.
Not only do they cover the expected ground of the most noticeable complaints from the community over the Boom redesigns, they also still find time to make a small dig at Sonic 06, quite fitting when some are calling Boom “Sonic 14″.
Happy Anniversary The Sonic Show!
They’ve been out in the US for almost a week now, but this Friday will see Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal making their way to European shores – and that’s not all! Revealed via Nintendo’s UK 3DS Facebook page, the Sonic Boom 3DS theme (which has been available to American 3DS owners since last week) will also be hitting the handheld come 21st November… and best of all, it’ll be completely free to download!
The Sonic Boom 3DS theme initially displays only Sonic and Tails, but scroll it along and it’ll eventually showcase all five members of the main cast, including Knuckles, Amy and Sticks. You can get a better preview of the theme in the video below, alongside a sneak peek at a 3DS StreetPass puzzle – there’s no confirmation yet whether this will be arriving in Europe as well as the theme, but we’d place a good bet on it!
http://youtu.be/7IR35VRD7aU
Will you be downloading the Sonic Boom 3DS theme on Friday, be it in addition to the games or just to decorate your handheld menu with everyone’s favourite blue hedgehog? Let us know in the comments!
In the meantime, stay tuned for our TSS reviews of Rise of Lyric and Shattered Crystal, both coming your way soon!
Warning: Spoilers ahead, do not click the video unless you want the final unlockable in Boom 3DS spoilt.
This is what happens when you get all the badges in Sonic Boom Shattered Crystal on the 3DS.
You get invited to a party at Amy’s house.
What is… why are they dancing like… …Am I awake? Is this update actually happening?
Can you believe it’s been over 10 years since Sonic X left the airways? We’ve had a long time to debate the good and bad of Sonic X , love it or hate it, it’s been 10 years since the last Sonic cartoon, unless you include Night of the Werehog. Continue reading TSS Review: Sonic Boom Episode 1 & 2
Someone over at Nintendo UK’s FACEBOOK page (whoopsie XD) seems to not be too fond of Pink Hedgehogs, as seen in this screencap of a post of theirs:
Well whatever your views on Amy herself, you should still have a friendly laugh all the same. 
Now will whoever posted that receive a… pink slip? :O
Oh and I think it goes without saying, but please, keep it civil. 
Like Reggie Fils-Aime said; there’s nothing wrong with having a little fun. 
How would one go about bringing on the boom, anyway?
The beginning of the Sonic Boom influx is finally at our doorstep, and it all begins with a preview for the debut issue of the new official comic coming out tomorrow! Comic Book Resources brings the preview pages for this month’s issue, and it’s a whopping eight pages worth of insight. In the first issue, Sonic and his friends are doing what they do best; stopping yet another one of Dr. Eggman’s evil schemes. But things go strange when Tails’ House simply disappears! What’s the cause of this abode abduction? Find out in “Getting a Little Boulder”.
STORY BY: Ian Flynn
ART BY: Evan Stanley, Rick Bryant, Jack Morelli, Matt Herms
COVER BY: Patrick Spaziante , Evan Stanley, Rick Bryant, Matt Herms
PUBLISHER: Archie Comics
COVER PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE DATE: Wed, October 29th, 2014
Here comes the BOOM! FIRST ISSUE in an ALL-NEW ONGOING SONIC COMIC BOOK SERIES! Based on the new hit TV and video game comes SONIC BOOM #1—a new Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series from Archie Comics! Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends are back and ready to do battle with the evil DR. EGGMAN and his diabolical death-machines! This ground-breaking new chapter in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise puts a new “spin” on all your favorite heroes and villains—plus new faces and hilarious new stories chock-full of action—and it’s all brought to you by the folks that bring the hit series Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Universe to you each and every month! Featuring a stunning first issue cover by Sonic art legend Patrick “SPAZ” Spaziante, and 4-part “HERE COMES THE BOOM” collector covers from series artists Evan Stanley, Rick Bryant and Matt Herms!! Collect them all and own a piece of Sonic comic history! Get ready for the BOOM, baby!
Sonic Boom #1 blasts onto shelves and to digital platforms Wednesday. But store shelves are hardly the worst casualties when the fourth wall is at stake!
Source: Comic Book Resources
Sadly, this is our final Sonic Boomcast…….before all the Sonic Boom media hits!
Yeah, you’re not getting off that easy. We got plenty to talk about this week including the latest Sonic Boom news and Tanner “Ogilvie” Bates fills us in on his trip to the Sonic Boom 2014 event. I also give you a rundown on the brand new Sonic Boom toys just released including prices and a short review. We’d like to keep up the monthly comments section, so keep commenting and if we like (or occasionally hate) yours, we’ll talk about it on the air.
I got an extra Knuckles and Sonic. Do you want them? Just listen to this episode and be the first to answer my trivia question somewhere during the show. You’ll get Sonic, Knuckles and the spindash roller. They’re used but it great condition. UK and USA residents only.
FULL SET! Check for new information in bold.
UPDATE: I now got the full set of figures and have some new news on this toy set including pricing. Prices are actually pretty darn fair.
After heading to two different Toys R’ Us’s yesterday, I managed to snag some of the Sonic Boom action figures that have just been released from Tomy. Outside of my video review, I wanted to give a few more details.
Prices and figure sets. (Prices are from Toys R’ Us USA)
Single packs (Sticks, Sonic and Knuckles) $5.99
Two packs (Sonic & Amy, Knuckles, & Tails, Orbot & Cubot) $7.99
Vehicle Sets (Eggman & Eggmobile, Knuckles & Hoverboard, Sonic & Spindash wheel) $12.99
Sonic with Burnbot is $19.99
Check Toysrus.com for prices on other Sonic Boom toys and plushies.
There are two Sonic head molds. One with a frown (Sonic & Burnbot) and one with a devilish grin (Sonic & Amy)
![IMG_0068[1]](http://www.sonicstadium.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/IMG_00681.jpg)
While the vehicle sets are in a plastic bubble, Sonic and Burnbot are in an open box.
Burnbot has been the toughest toy I’ve ever taken out of a package. He had the wire twist-ties going inside of his body and all around. Sonic was hard to get out as well.
No bumpy elbows means slightly less articulation, but more detail on the toys and they stand up much easier. Shoulders still have huge bumps for articulation. Not noticeable on Knuckles or Tails.
I had a hard time getting Eggman’s foot to fit in the peg in the Eggmobile as it was too close to a ramp in it’s floor.
All figures can stand pretty easily. Even Burnbot if you keep one claw down.
Except Orbot and Cubot who are basically PVC figures with no moveable joints and can barely stand if at all. Cubot was the worst and he’s a freakin’ cube! I added two black lego pieces that are hard to see to keep his head up enough to make him stand.
There was only one Sticks on the rack and plenty f Knuckles and Sonic single figures leading me to believe she may be single-packed (one per case) like many female figures tend to be.
While Amy has her skin color all the way around the back of her head behind her hair/quills, for some reason, her and Sticks are ummm…..”going commando”. I guess they ran out of white paint doing the sports tape.
As mentioned in juvi’s video review (check comments section), Tails “tails” start off as one and only split into two near the end.
That reviewer had a problem with Sticks’ head being wobbly, but mine’s fine.
While the paint detail of Sonic with his spin dash vehicle in a bubble was nicely detailed, for some reason, finding a Burnbot Sonic with a good paint job was next to impossible. Many having the white of his eyes bleeding onto his muzzle.
Neither Eggman or Knuckles can turn their heads
There are 3 different toys that come with a plain Sonic action figure.
Overall, they stand up well and look nice on a shelf but lack articulation (which may be a good thing in this case) and the paint detail can be a bit off (or none in the case of poor Amy and Sticks undergarments).
With Sega’s recent announcement that the UK and the rest of Europe will not get the Boom Cartoon show a year after it’s release, and the general lack of promotion for Boom here in the UK, many people have been wondering ‘What about the toy line?’
Well The Sonic Stadium can reveal that following an email exchange with the UK branch of TOMY, the Sonic Boom toy line is coming to the UK and it will be launched in Spring 2015, with some products possibly making it to shelves before Christmas.
Thank you for your email.
> They are due for Spring 2015. Some maybe in stock before Christmas, but we don’t have an exact date yet.
>
> I am sorry that I do not have any further information for you. If we can be of any further assistance please feel free to contact us.Kind Regards
Lisa
TOMY Careline
So hold off on those expensive imports, the toys are indeed on their way!
UPDATE 2: Sega’s twitter provided a HQ PNG pic of the box for your viewing pleasure:
UPDATE: Offer also available in Canada at EB Games.
ORIGINAL STORY:
An advert for the gaming store GameStop shows what appears to be the first pre-order incentive for Sonic Boom.
For all customers who pre-order Sonic Boom at a North American branch of GameStop will receive a Sonic action figure which comes with an accessory called ‘The Ancients Crystal.’ Doesn’t seem to matter if you pre-order the 3DS or Wii-U version of the game, you’ll still get your figure so long as stocks last.
Interestingly, the first pre-order bonus is an actual physical item and not digital content, typically GameStop would offer some sort of pre-order bonus code if the game supported them.
We’ll keep you up to date with any more pre-order bonuses or incentives as and when we find them.
Thanks to SSMB member LovieHats for bringing this to our attention.
