Monthly Archives

April 2011

Comics, Humor

How Fleetway Played The Games, Part One: Of Flying Battleships and Space Eggs

It’s easy to forget with the ongoing popularity of the Archie Sonic comic that there was a second Sonic comic, by the (self-explanatory) name of Sonic the Comic. Published by Fleetway Editions in the UK between 1993 and 2002, it was officially Sega licensed and did comic stories about not just Sonic and pals (that as a whole tended to stick closer to game canon than Archie did), but also other Sega franchises like Ecco the Dolphin, Shinobi, and more. And naturally, like in the USA, there were a few game adaptions. However, unlike Archie, they tended to be spread over the course of several issues. Many fans still regard the Sonic 3 & Knuckles adaption one of the finest game adaptions that’s been done in printed media.

But that’s not what we’re looking at today – we’re looking at Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Early on in the comic’s history, in issue #6 (with #1 coming out in May 1993, Sonic 2 had already been out for a good 6 months, so the comic from the very start was set post Sonic 2), there was a single-issue loose adaption of the final 2 zones of the game – so, let’s dive in and take a look!

Continue Reading

Merchandise, Uncategorized

CafeReo Unveils Sonic iPhone 4 Cases

If the cover on your iDevice is just looking a bit too blasé for you, consider checking out a new line of Sonic the Hedgehog and classic Sega game console iPhone covers by Japanese manufacturer CaféReo. These polycarbonate cases, which fit iPhone 4 16 and 32GB models, are part of the Sotogawa line of licensed iPhone covers. These covers are part of a larger Sega offering, including cases from Shining Wind, Valkyria Chronicles 3, Phantasy Star Portable 2, Border Break and Puyo Puyo. CafeReo plans to release these covers sometime in June, but various import shops around the Internet are already taking pre-orders; Google is your friend if you want to snag one of these for your phone.

 

Game News, Game Secrets

Unreleased Xbox “Sonic Extreme” Game Footage Released

So, I heard some of you are a fan of this one game, Sonic Adventure 2. It’s a pretty great game, I must admit. Most people who have played are familiar with the very first stage, City Escape. The very first part has this little part where you do a bit of downhill “skateboarding.” Pretty fun, right?

Now imagine a game based on that, because that’s precisely what Sonic Team was working on at one point in time.

Sonic Extreme is a game recently discovered on a development unit for the original Xbox console that appears to be based off the Sonic Adventure 2 engine, possibly between the time of SA2 and Sonic Heroes, and features Sonic skateboarding around in an area reminiscent of Heroes‘s Seaside Hill. Additionally, there appears to be a battle mode with Sonic and Shadow built in the same split-screen style as Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. More videos after the cut.
Continue Reading

Community, Humor, Site News

Photoshop Friday: Mario and Sonic at the Royal Wedding

It’s Friday, Friday!

…How the hell did that become so popular? Ugh. Now that the hype of the royal wedding is going to wind down, it’s time for something somewhat new here at Retro.

Let’s play a little game! About a week ago, the crazy people over at Sega had some fun teasing their upcoming game Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games with a little photo tour of Mario and Sonic across the various sites of London.

So, here’s your mission: using photos of those Mario and Sonic suits, create some photoshop wizardry of the two gate crashing the royal wedding or simply mingling with the thousands outside Westminster Abbey.

The best ones will be featured in a future post here with the opportunity for a cheap plug to your page! I’m looking at you, roving deviantartists. The only rule is to try and keep it rated PG and safe for work, though subtle suggestiveness is welcome. In other words, nothing that will get a person fired if their boss saw it.

The deadline is next Friday at midnight UTC. That’s 8 p.m. for you U.S. East Coast types. Just link them down in the comments below. Good luck and have fun!

Comics, Humor

How Archie Played The Games, Part Four: Of Walkers and Snipers


With the excitement over Sonic Generations bubbling all over the Internet, people have been looking back on the classic games, hyping themselves up over what may be coming down the pipeline. What zones might come back, what friendly classic faces they’re going to run across again, hoping beyond hope for Metal Sonic to redeem himself for what he did in Sonic Heroes. Looking back on the classic era, it might be easy to overlook the Master System/Game Gear games, since the first two weren’t as critically hailed as their Mega Drive/Genesis counterparts. But the Sonic & Tails series (known as Sonic Chaos and Sonic Triple Trouble over here in the west for…well, I have no idea why) delivered some amazing moments on its own, even with the restraints by the 8-bit hardware. Many people even think of Sonic & Tails 2 as a contender for the “true” Sonic 4, since it was made during the same era. And it does have Fang the Sniper. Who doesn’t love Fang the Sniper?

So of course, Archie had to make it a comic book.

I’m not entirely sure if Sega asked Archie to make this or not, since it was a Game Gear title and, while a money maker for Sega, not nearly as high profile as their major titles. With a cover date of October 1995 (meaning it came out a couple months before…but still way after the fact when you take the game’s release date into consideration) the cover proudly states its collector’s edition status. The four-part, 24 page tale hiding within, written by Mike Gallagher and drawn by Dave Manak, is sure to be a rip-roaring good time, so without further adieu, let’s jump inside!
Continue Reading

Game News

G4 Sonic Generations Preview Reveals More Information

Continuing the slow drip of information on Sonic Generations, a few nuggets of joy were dropped in an interview on G4 conducted by Morgan Webb.

While there’s no new information on other levels aside from the already confirmed (and naturally expected) Green Hill Zone remake, Patrick Riley, director of international production at Sega, confirmed that the poll recently conducted by Sega on what stages fans loved was used as feedback for the development team to gauge which stages to include. Sega has also been scouring the forums of popular video game and Sonic sites (COUGH) to see fan reactions on the game and discussions on the series.

Coffee’s behind the logo, Sega reps.

Continue Reading

Game News

Mario And Sonic Go To Mini-Game War Again In London

Sonic Generations has commanded the attention of the fan base since its reveal earlier in the week. That still hasn’t stopped Sega from quietly confirming that Mario and Sonic will continue their bitter rivalry 20 years too late as they compete in the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Excitement.

Although it’s another compilation of mini-games for the Nintendo Wii, Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games will be the series’ debut on the Nintendo 3DS. DS owners need not apply, as it looks like there’s no DS version planned.

New events include horseback riding and football (the non-American kind), meaning those still stuck in the ’90s can finally have Mario and Sonic face off for two halves of headbutts and red cards.

While it’s easy to brush the game aside as another collection of mini-games, having the two mascots face off in the Olympics served Sega well, as the games have so far been sleeper hits for the company, selling over 19 million copies globally.

No release date has been penciled in for the title, but it’s safe to assume it will either be by year’s end or certainly before next year’s Olympic ceremonies begin.

Check out the full press release after the jump.

[Via Sonic Stadium]

Continue Reading

Game News

“Sonic Generations” Revealed, Screenshots and Video Abound

I certainly hope that everyone has two pairs of pants on the ready, because Sega decided to give everyone a gift today. The gift of Sonic Generations. Yes, that is the title. Yes, the rumors are true: classic levels all over the place. And yes, it looks to the best Sonic game in a decade. Posted all over the place from Sega’s official blog to C&VG and IGN, we get a game that just screams “oh man, they actually looked at all the poses Ohshima drew oh god look Sonic is holding his hand over his eyes and he even has an edge animation and he taps his foot and 1991 is the future.”


Continue Reading

Miscellaneous

Let’s Pretend It’s 1998 For Five Minutes

So I’ve been in a Sonic Adventure kick for a few days now. Looking back at what made the game great, going through how it was developed…there’s no denying that, regardless of how you feel about the game nowadays, the Sonic Team that made that game put a lot of care and effort into it. They gave everything the thought it deserved, didn’t take any one aspect lightly, and somehow had a blast while making it. And they went to a different country just to gain inspiration! That’s nothing to sneeze at.

What some of you may have forgotten, though was the huge media push that went on during the buildup for the first game. And how was it all launched off? With a gala event right in Tokyo, showing off the game for the first time to the masses. Being a thirteen year old kid at the time, I couldn’t attend in person, instead watching a live stream over dial-up at a blazing 33.6k. Sure, I couldn’t understand a word of it, and I could barely make out anything over that RealPlayer stream, but gosh darn it, it was amazing. It was Sonic.

And it wasn’t hosted by this guy:

The above footage was taken from a “video magazine” called Fuse. I bet you wish you were as cool as that guy. Then you could make weird faces when talking about wrestling and awkwardly try to hit on that girl in the video and never get to first base. Yes, he is very late 90’s, but there’s nothing wrong with drifting back to a more simple time. I still want those pins…and that book…

Fan Works, Music

“The Sound of Speed” Proves Too Fast For The Naked Eye

Huh. Feels like I just wrote about this. Oh well, doesn’t hurt to let everyone know that OverClocked Remix‘s latest album The Sound of Speed is now out for your listening pleasure. Available as both a direct download and as a torrent file (if you want to save their bandwidth and pretend it also helps the environment), all thirteen tracks on the album are full of Masato Nakamura goodness. Sure, you may find some of the arrangements aren’t your cup of tea, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to at least download and give it a listen.

Oh, look at that, it’s Tuesday. Man, if this was Sonic 2, I could make such an overused joke!

To go to the album’s official site, just click here.