Monthly Archives

October 2013

Humor, Miscellaneous

Happy Zalloween from Sonic Retro and SEGAbits

Zalloween

Happy Halloween from your friends at Sonic Retro and SEGAbits! Whether you’re going out trick or treating dressed as Princess Elise (the Third, of course), or are staying in to watch Uwe Boll’s cinematic triumph The House of the Dead, we hope you have one zeck of a night. To celebrate, we’ve carved up a pumpkin to resemble Sonic’s new nemesis Zavok from Sonic Lost World, complete with a stem pony tail and horns.

What are your Halloween plans? Going out, or staying in to enjoy some Typing of the Dead: Overkill and Sonic Lost World? Let us know in the comments!

Podcasts

Vidya Retro Streaming Feature of House of the Dead


Watch live video from VidyaRetro on TwitchTV

With the release of Typing of the Dead Overkill on Steam, we get to take a look at it along with other games in the House of the Dead series.

Update: Our livestream is over, but you can expect the Retro crew including Bartman3010, DavidTL, Overlord, Perfect Chaos Zero, GeneHF and Guess Who looking at several titles including The House of the Dead III, The House of the Dead 4, Zombie Revenge, and several random mobile games as well as The House of the Dead Overkill – Lost Reels, and the horrors of the mine cart in Sonic 4 Episode 1. 

Community, Humor, Miscellaneous

UPDATED: PSA: Sonic Lost World “First Play” Charity Marathon This Saturday

Watch live video from Nyteworks on www.twitch.tv

The stream is live right now, be sure to hit play in the player above and donate often!

Usually, we don’t really cover goings-on with other sites in the community, much less those outside of it. However, when a charity marathon pops up that is not only centered around the as-of-yet-unreleased-in-the-U.S. Sonic Lost World on Wii U but also features Archie Comics’ own Ian Flynn (the man behind the current line of Archie Sonic comics and Mega Man comics), exceptions can be made.

Mega Man Network site staffer LBD Nytetrayn will be streaming the game while chatting with Flynn about all things Sonic and Mega Man, and viewers will be able to grill the man behind the panels about all things comics. On top of donating to the Sick Kids Foundation, raffles will be open to donors for prizes such as Sonic Boom 2013 lanyards, the History of Sonic book from Udon, and even a Deluxe Wii U with a copy of Lost World.

For the Americans that can’t wait until Tuesday or don’t have a Wii U, here’s one more chance to see the game in action live. The activities kick off at noon Eastern time and will be available for viewing on Nyte’s own page, through Twitch.tv, and on YouTube.

Comics, Site News

An introduction and a confession from Barry the Nomad

barry

Hello and welcome to my formal introduction to the Sonic Retro news page! My name is Barry, I’m an admin, writer and graphic designer for Sonic Retro sister site SEGAbits. Since our April 1st partnership, we’ve been making strides to bridge the sites, including bringing Sonic Retro writers on as SEGAbits writers. Now that I’m an official writer over here, consider the bridge built, but we still have improvements in the works.

To show that I have nothing to hide, I thought I’d be upfront about something. The letter to the left is my claim to fame in the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comics, appearing in Sonic Super Special #15’s Sonic Grams. The issue itself was awful, featuring the worst art I have ever seen in a commercial comic book. But my contribution is arguably worse than the work of Many Hands. After gushing a bit too much over Archie’s Sonic Adventure adaptation, I noted my disapproval of a previous issue’s letter asking for the series to stop introducing new characters. It was then that I wrote what I’ll always regret writing: “I say the more characters, the better!”. Could I have unwittingly inspired Ken Penders to soldier ahead with his army of Knuckles clones? Was Mobius 25 Years Later my doing?

I should note that the original letter was edited down by Archie’s Sonic staff. I distinctly remember saying that I wanted more characters from the games, and I gave a specific shout out to the Chaotix. Still, the damage was done. So that’s my confession. At least they didn’t cut the part where I gave kudos to the awesome Patrick Spaziante.

Glad to be on the Sonic Retro writing staff and hopefully you all can forgive me.

Game News

Sonic 2 Mobile Update, Transformed iOS Unveiled

Sonic 2 2013 CPZ

Sega announced today their Winter 2013 lineup features Sonic 2‘s mobile update and Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed for iOS. The two titles are joined by Rhythm Thief and the Paris Caper (which is fantastic and worth checking out if its 3DS counterpart indicates anything) and a new MOBA card game called Demon Tribe.

Sonic 2’s update brings the same enhancements that Sonic 1 received in the form of wide screen display, a smooth 60FPS gameplay, and a host of other enhancements such as high quality Mega Drive sounds, leaderboards and achievements. I’m sure most of you are wondering about the game’s two-player mode. While Sega’s said little about the title, title developer and connoisseur of vegemite Christian “Taxman” Whitehead offered a little tease.

“I’m pretty limited in what I can mention about Sonic 2 right now, but when the Press Release says that the game runs widescreen at 60fps, that applies to all aspects of the game… wink wink, nudge nudge,” Whitehead said.

The Transformed port for iOS will feature a refined World Tour mode to accentuate gaming on the go and also provides four-player local and online multiplayer.

Both titles are currently scheduled for release sometime next month. Grab some hot chocolate, a blanket, and your mobile device (these should undoubtedly make their way over to Android users too.) Sega is aiming to provide a comfy winter for mobile gamers. Let’s just hope Sonic 2 can make it in time for its Nov. 24th anniversary.

Game News

Sonic Lost World Demos For Wii U and 3DS Up On the eShop In Japan (UPDATE)

SLW_0430_1windy1_10

UPDATE: This week’s releases for the Wii U and 3DS eShop in the US and Europe don’t include the Sonic Lost World demo, so it looks like we’ll have to wait a bit longer for it.

Those who want to try out Sonic Lost World before it releases may not have to wait long, as a demo for both the Wii U and 3DS was released on the eShop today in Japan. This means that it’s likely that a demo will also be released in the US and/or Europe tomorrow, because the eShop updates on Thursdays in those regions.

The Wii U demo includes the first Windy Hill Zone, while the 3DS demo includes a tutorial level and the first Windy Hill zone.

Animation, Game News, Interviews, Miscellaneous, Sega Retro

Monday Links: Animu Edition

kill-la-kill

And by animu I only mean Kill la Kill. It’s a show in which school uniforms give people powerful powers and there’s different tiers of powerful school uniforms and it’s made by the same guys who made Gurren Lagann. Go watch Kill la Kill you guys. Also some big Sonic stuff happened.

Retro/Bits News

  • Forum member Jayextee is making his own neat-looking game called [SLAVE]
  • George, Barry and Bartman did a commentary on Shenmue the Movie [SEGA Cinema]
  • The SEGAbits The Cave contest ends tomorrow, you can still enter and try to win some stuff [Contest]
  • Speaking of The Cave, here’s an interview with Ron Gilbert by [SEGAbits]
  • My Life with SEGA revisits the Alien Trilogy [Youtube]

Sonic/SEGA News

  • Nintendo brought the incredibly shocking news that Sonic will be in Super Smash Bros Wii U/3DS [Smuggy smug]
  • The first CG Sonic cartoon is coming to Cartoon Network next year [Sonic Boom]
  • Gametrailers dug up some new details on Michael Jackson’s involvement with Sonic the Hedgehog 3 [Gametrailers]
  • If you’re one of those guys who likes to spoil everything before he plays a game, here are all of the worlds and color powers in Sonic Lost World [I’m not looking]
  • Ikaruga is on Steam Greenlight, vote for it if you want the game to be released on PC! [Steam Greenlight]
  • SEGA is making a Plants vs. Zombies arcade game [Arcade Heroes] Continue Reading
Game News, Game Secrets, Interviews

New Details On Michael Jackson’s Involvement With Sonic 3

Gametrailers’ released a new episode of their Mythbusters-for-gaming show Pop Fiction today about Michael Jackson’s involvement with Sonic the Hedgehog 3. The first half of the video is a pretty good summary of what we know already along with links to where they get their info from (thanks for the hits GT), but at the 08:36 timestamp they begin to talk about their own research.

First off, they got to do another interview with Roger Hector, who stands by what he said in his interview from 2005. He also gives additional details on how Michael Jackson got to work on Sonic 3 and why his music was “pulled”. After that Gametrailers got an anonymous source to confirm that MJ did work on Sonic 3‘s music with again more details on what he did and a different account on why he wasn’t credited.

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Animation

Sonic Makes a Return To Television With a New CG Cartoon Series: Sonic Boom

sonicboomteaser

 

SEGA just suddenly announced that there will be a new comedic CG animated series called Sonic Boom. This show will be Sonic’s fifth cartoon on TV, but if this teaser image is anything to go by this will be the first to heavily change the character designs. I can’t be the only one getting flashbacks to Loonatics Unleashed

Sonic Boom will air during the fall of 2014, with the first season consisting of 52 eleven-minute episodes. The cartoon is being produced by SEGA of America and Genao Productions. You can read the full press release after the jump for more info. Continue Reading

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Game News

Sonic’s Smug Face Confirmed For Smash Bros 4

Those who have always wanted to pit some blue guy against some red guy against some blue anthropomorphic animal will finally be able to do so in the new Super Smash Bros game for Wii U and 3DS, as Nintendo confirmed that Sonic will be playable on the latest Nintendo Direct. The trailer above shows that he’ll retain his moves and taunts from Super Smash Bros Brawl and that there will also be a stage based on Sonic Lost World. Now they just need to confirm Crash Bandicoot and we’ll have the best video game mascot fighter ever.

You can also see some new screenshots (including a screen of Sonic in the 3DS version) and promo art after the jump. Continue Reading