Archive for the 'Game News' Category

16 years ago, the sequel to one of the most iconic faces in video game history, Sonic the Hedgehog, hit the retail gaming market. This game introduced a new character to the series, Miles “Tails”  Prower, who to this day has remained a prominent face in the Sonic franchise. With Sonic and his new sidekick tearing through brand new zones at breakneck speeds, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 set the bar not only for the Sonic franchise, but for platforming games as a whole at its time. Not used to the speedy platforming that the games delivered, players were blown away by the pace of each level. When asked how they were able to make the game go so much faster than other games at the time, SEGA would explain it using the classic term, “Blast Processing.” Indeed, there was something special about this game!

Celebrate Sonic 2’s 16th birthday with something special! Dust off the ol’ Genesis and give the game a whirl. Get an friend to blast through Emerald Hill Zone in the game’s two player mode! Set yourself some new challenges–for example, I’ve never personally tried getting all of the emeralds because I hate the special stages. Who knows, though–maybe this time I’ll get lucky.

Recall your memories about the game in this forum thread! Share what you decided to do for Sonic’s special day today. Engross yourself in what made this game great. It’s the least you can do, after all!

As some of you may have heard, Sega announced Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection today with a whopping 40 games on a 9GB DVD disc! Moreover, there are a grand total of 4 games that are not already on Gametap!

Intrepid Sonic Retro members were so excited over this upcoming game that they hacked into Sega’s servers and used the same pixie dust magic to get their own games into Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection! Behold!

Click on the image for full HIGH-DEFINITION GOODNESS!!!

Not to be outdone, Retro members have rallied to make their own project, Sonic 2 HD, able to compete with this glorious advancement in technology with the new Sonic 2 HD HD (working title). We were able to get a sneak preview of this amazing update, as seen below in this screen shot–thanks to nineko for leaking this~

I’m totally amped for this exciting new title! A big thank you to Sega for taking the immense amount of time and effort required for such a compilation!

SEGA’s most successful console turned 20 this past week, so I figured that I should take some time out to honor SEGA’s greatest contribution to video games and its impact on my life.  When I was a child, the Genesis practically dominated my free time and it was deserving of such.  I have some great memories of beating all the Sonic titles for the first time and creating characters in Evander Holyfield’s Real Deal Boxing called “Coconut Poo”.  Give me a break - I was, like, 6.

This maverick of the 16-bit era makes McCain and Palin blush with envy.  Sonic burst on the scene and immediately gave the Genesis an attitude unmatched to this day.  The badassery didn’t end with Sonic, as Mortal Kombat gave us the blood that we were craving for after witnessing the “sweat” on the Super Nintendo.  SEGA became so successful that they decided to run its console into the ground.  In an attempt to hold-on to that success for dear life, SEGA made many Genesis remakes, add-ons, and gimmicks to pathetically end its envious ten-year run.  A fail-tastic trend seen to this day on their many other projects.

Since I’m in a reminiscent mode, what are your memories of the Genesis?  Sound off in the comments, fools.

Over at the Sonic World Adventure (aka Sonic Unleashed) official Japanese site, there have been some new updates to the character information, with new art and info on the ice cream-loving Chip (first seen in the Sonic Unleashed manga) and Dr. Eggman. These new images will probably hit the English press (and removed from the site’s flash) in a day or two, but for now, enjoy. Pics under the cut.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today I report on the current state of Sonic Unleashed. A new video was released about a level… Adabat. It’s a pretty shiny looking island area. And, as one astute forumer commented, the flute line on the night song for it appears to reference Rusty Ruins… from Sonic 3D Blast. Unlike the very fast levels we first saw, this one also features a little more platforming action, and it seems to have some new night level enemies.

It’s clear that, if nothing else, the game looks pretty, and the framerate seems fine in this level. It’s just up to Sonic Team to make sure it keeps up the progress so far… until then, we have plenty of nice videos to watch, at least. That, and…

Discuss on the forums!

The advancement of this game continues, with the new China level finally showing up for us here to see in depth. They’ve continued the pattern of spinning platforms and dragon pathways and added on some Chinese architecture to the fray, while at the same time throwing in a huge amount of enemies for Were Sonic to fight.

There’s also an instance where Were-Sonic howls (sort of weird feature) and one can see that the level is overcast. All in all, it has a little lag in places, but it seems to retain the quality expected so far. But of course, we can never know, having seen so many games which look good and then play horribly; though it seems to have had a better impact on people’s opinions than a previous video which showed the difficulties of a person at a convention trying to play through the first level.

Rather than continue talking and try to convince you, the reader, of the details, we have a nice convenient link to the highest quality version of the video we could find. Enjoy!

The Sonic community never fails to be just as bad as you stereotypically imagine it. As a promotion for Sonic Team’s upcoming Sonic and the Black Knight, Sega of America is holding a fan art contest, with the best 20 being featured in the game.

The results are pretty much what you expect.

The Minus World has taken the brave step of managing to pick out the 20 worst drawings and have collected them for your mock–er, enjoyment. Hopefully we’ll get some decent fan art in the game, but who knows.

The game that many of us have been waiting for is nearing completion, and with it comes yet another game play video. This is one of the few videos which seem to be controlled by an average player rather than a developer or a previously programmed script.

The Video

…The video is a mixed bag; it gives us an idea of what the game will be like, but it also is not being played ‘optimally’, so we can’t immediately conclude what the actual experience is like. However, a few things stand out.

• The game is not entirely ‘hold right’ game play–Sonic must jump over obstacles and, in one case, even avoid spikes. Spikes he would hit if one did just hold the button.
• There is a strange, Omochao-like creature at the end. Its role is unknown, but it seems to be possible as a tutorial element.
• The game either has very easy to get S-ranks, or they’re still developing a ranking set. Sonic appears to see and react to the ranking.
• There are Eggman-like humanoids. A definite shift towards a cartoon-like version of our world?
• Speed and ease changes a lot between segments. This could lead to choppy game play if not properly bothered with.
• Finally, some people have pointed out some frame rate lag. I don’t exactly see it, but it isn’t surprising, considering how fast Sonic is going in places…

This video has split a lot of people over the game’s fate. It’s sure to be interesting to play when it comes out, though. And thanks to Ell678 of the forums for pointing out this video, which, in contrast to a previously linked video, doesn’t have people walking in front of it.

I’ll be following Sonic Unleashed up until it is released. Stay tuned.

While, naturally, this has already been posted on other news sites, it’s helpful to list what we know about this game now.

The aforementioned infamous Nintendo Power issue which introduced us to this game also included an in-depth look at how it’s shaping up. To break it down, the game revolves around the various features:

• It’s a sequel to Sonic and the Secret Rings, continuing what may become known as the ‘Storybook’ series.
• Sonic will possess a variety of sword-based moves.
• The sword talks to him, instructing him on how to become a knight. Apparently it is also possible to smite innocent villagers, although this is frowned upon by the game.
• Jun Senoue is composing the game’s music, and will be working on a sort of Celtic themed soundtrack.
• Yet another special gauge (just like in SATSR) will be a part of the gameplay, allowing Sonic to build up energy for use in combo attacks.
• Just like Secret Rings, the story involves a warped story world; in this case, King Arthur has apparently become evil and Sonic must stop him.
• Unlike Secret Rings, some of Sonic’s friends are playable.

While many people (myself included) don’t have incredibly high hopes for the title, it appears to, nonetheless, possess decent graphics and some upgrades to the SATSR engine. We will have to wait for actual gameplay videos to be sure, although the story is shaping up to be pretty strange.

If it continues as it is now, it should shape up to be a strange version of SATSR, replacing the Arabian motif with slashing enemies to pieces, and the occasional character change… I would predict that it should be easier control, as well.

But we’ll have to wait and see, won’t we?

For those interested in more details, visit Gamekyo: Sonic and the Black Knight first pics !

-Stumbles onto the blog looking rather tired and worn out.-

Yes, I know. I haven’t been posting much. Sorry guys, but I’ve just been pretty busy lately! Anyway, I was checking out one of my favorite gaming blogs, Joystiq.com, and thought it would be a nice idea to post a link to their view on Sonic Unleashed. All together, they seemed fairly up-beat about it and said “Even with rough shadows and unfinished lighting physics, the game looks gorgeous.”  for the version they saw at E3. They also warn that they hope it controls as good as it looks, so here’s hoping for that too. An interesting bit is they say that Sonic’s Warewolf form looks like it’ll be fun for those who love good old fashion platforming. Follow the link below for their full perspective on the game.

Joystiq E3 Eyes-On: Sonic Unleashed