Monthly Archives

January 2011

Fan Works, Humor

Awesome Chaotix is…Well, Awesome.

Animator Egoraptor, known for his video game parodies, is pretty much concerned with all things awesome–so much so that he has a whole animated webseries about the intersection of games and awesomeness. You may remember Awesome the Hedgehog from 2006. Nearly five years later, Egoraptor has teamed up with voice actor Joshua Tomar to come back with Awesome Chaotix. It’s a definite step up in terms of animation from the last time you may have checked him out (not to mention it’s still pretty great), so you should take a look.

Awesome Chaotix at Newgrounds

Arcade Games, Hardware

Check Out ‘Sonic Quad Air’ and ‘Sonic Slot Machines’

While covering the European Amusement and Gaming Expo, forum member NiktheGreek also managed to catch a few other Sonic related machines on display at the show.

First up is Sonic Quad Air, a four-player Sonic themed air hockey table. While not deviating much from normal air hockey, the addition of two players at least spells for a rather chaotic match.

The more interesting machine, and no doubt already getting soccer moms lined up to ban the machine in the United States, is a Sonic series slot machine. Much like the slots in casinos and games, you line up the reels to win a prize. In this case, the payout is done in redeemable prize tickets, with triple Chaos Emeralds promising a payout of about 100 tickets and a jackpot of an ever increasing amount of tickets included.

A special thanks to Nik for taking the photos, viewable in the gallery below.

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Comics, Humor

“Sonic-Grams” Vol. 3: Everyone Loves Tails

Today, issue #221 of Sonic the Hedgehog hits comic shops across the country, which means in only four short months another anniversary issue will be in the hands of those who still care. So for the month of June, you’ll get to read…issue #226. Which is almost as cool, right? Either way, it’s that time again. Another Wednesday, another volume of “Sonic-Grams.” So we can sigh at our younger selves, cringe at our words, and be baffled at how we still can’t form coherent sentences. Charge up those spin-dashes, people! Just remember, back then you didn’t have to hold forward afterwards to have it send you more than two feet.
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Fan Works, Humor, Music

Sonic The Hedgehog 2×4: Album Of The Year

Once again, all-star Retro Member Skyler “Make Me A Staff Member So I Can Post This Myself” King delivers on the goods. Struck by musical inspiration, Skyler has dared to ask the question, “What would happen if Sonic the Hedgehog 2‘s music sounded as I truly imagined it?” And that is how Sonic 2×4 was born. Listen to the Emerald Hill Zone as if it were really Splash Hill. Marvel at Metropolis like you were running from a wall that wanted to ruin you. Be thankful the flippers work properly in Casino Night. And most importantly, wonder what would go through the mind of Masato Nakamura if he ever heard this.

Visit the official Retro thread here, or you can jump straight to download here or here. Play on, Sonic the Hedgehog.

Miscellaneous

Sonic Channel Uploads 100th Desktop Wallpaper

The Japanese Sonic portal of Sonic Channel today put out their 100th desktop wallpaper. They’ve been releasing these monthly since June 2005 – initially with a clean or calendar-emblazoned version of the image, since July 2007 they’ve stuck to a single variant.

The milestone spot features a sketch-style Amy Rose. If this isn’t your cup of tea, why not check out the back catalogue?

[via: Sonic Channel]

Arcade Games, Game News

Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing Spotted in Arcades

Spotted out in the wild (or as wild as Chuck E. Cheeses can get), we have our first look of the arcade version of Sumo Digital’s Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing, already undergoing location tests around the U.S.

While it’s unlikely it’ll include any new content that the console versions don’t already carry (power drifting and items are all accounted for), the game comes with three gameplay modes set.

Time trial – Race alone to set the fastest times on each track – there are “Staff Ghosts” to beat.

Quick Race – Race and battle against others, single or multiplayer.

Grand Prix – Progress through a single player, three race championship.

Other details include the game running on Ringwide hardware and a small aesthetic of  the seat changing colors via lighting.

[Via Arcade Heroes]

Comics, Humor

“Sonic-Grams” Vol. 2: Sonic and Eggman Can Never Die

Ah, another Wednesday, another edition of Sonic-Grams. If I keep up this schedule, we might actually have a feature beyond the Monday Links that lasts. For those of you who may have forgotten, this is when Sonic Retro takes a look back to a time when Sonic fans were still young, impressionable, and full of hope because their beloved franchise hadn’t entered its downward spiral. Rummaging through the many issues of Archie’s Sonic the Hedgehog, we’ve once again gathered letters from the golden age of Sonic comic-dom. Some good, some bad, but all charming in their own way. So, without further ado, let’s get onto it, shall we?
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Podcasts, Site News

Sonic Retro Podcast #4 Released

Clocking in at a little under a…um, year since we’ve last done a proper podcast comes the fourth Sonic Retro podcast! Coming in on the heels of lost podcasts, podcasts where we only talked about Shaq-Fu: The Return, podcasts which were too embarrassing to see the light of day, we give you…a slightly less embarrassing recording of Sonic Retro staff and friends pallin’ around.

This episode we take on the release of the Sonic the Hedgehog fan film Return to the Little Planet 2 (and our ensuing confusion over how it even relates to the Sonic series) and speculate on Sonic the Hedgehog’s 20th anniversary, only to realize there’s not that much to speculate on at this point; therefore, we look back at other anniversary milestones and assess what they mean on the eve of this major event.

Our friend Bartman performs hosting duty this time around, and the show is, as always, mixed and produced by InstantSonic. Who knows–maybe we can get around to doing these more than once a year eventually.

Fan Works

The Countdown Has Ended!

Tonight marks the World Premiere of Sonic 2 HD! For the first time since the project’s technical demonstration in 2008, the curtain has been pulled away to let the world see what Team S2HD has been building up. We hope this answers many of the questions long-time fans of the project have had, and that everyone is just as excited as we are for what’s to come.

For those who haven’t seen S2HD since the Tech Demo, you’ll notice that just about everything has been rebuilt from the ground up. What isn’t as obvious is that everything behind the scenes was scrapped as well: shortly after the Tech Demo’s release, the engine used was thrown away in favor of an even more accurate engine in the works–one capable of far more expansion than was originally imagined. In the year that followed the art direction also saw massive changes, and, from late spring of 2010, the finalized art style brought about the last wave of changes to everything that had been created previously. All of Sonic’s movement frames were redone. All the Badniks were scrapped and redesigned. Many of the level art assets underwent the same treatment. The result of these changes is reflected in what you now see.

By the fans, for the fans, spread the word: the alpha release of Sonic 2 HD will arrive Q1 2011!