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Retro Contests

Retro Contests

RAGE (Really Amateur Games Expo) Returns on January 17th, For Real This Time!

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RAGE (Really Amateur Games Expo), which was originally going to return last month on December 18th, is going to return for real this time on January 17th! If you don’t know what RAGE is, basically it’s a sort of game jam where you have five days to make the worst but also funniest fan game possible.
While the goal is to just do whatever and somehow churn out the shiniest turd you can make, there are still guidelines that need to be followed:
• Games need to stick to the theme, this is the most important requirement to note.
• Submissions need to be in by 11:59 pm CST on Friday, January 22nd.
• Send all RAGE submissions to [email protected]; submissions before January 17th will not be accepted.
• Games should really only be 5 – 10 minutes long. We’re not looking for an epic here.
• Feel free to use any engine/platform/program you like, just make sure it’ll run on modern day systems!
• If you don’t have something on hand, there’s trials of several commonly used programs, as well as free versions. Less experience might even help you here!
• Have fun with it! Sure you’re shooting for bad, but you’re wanting to make funny bad, like The Room or Birdemic of video games. (In other words, you’re aiming for humor, not just garbage.)
Of course, you wouldn’t want to spend time and effortless effort making something terrible without getting rewarded for it. Thankfully, the RAGE organizers thought of that. If you win this contest, you’ll get a $50 Amazon gift card. (Or if you don’t live in the US, your country’s equivalent of $50.)
If you’re a member of our forums, be sure to take a look at the official thread. You don’t have to be a member to take part in this contest though.

Community, Miscellaneous, Retro Contests, Site News

Hey, You! Take the Sonic 2sday Challenge

Hiddenpalaces2In case you’ve not noticed, it’s a Tuesday. Besides it being M. Bison’s favorite day of the week, this is a particularly special Tuesday: it’s Sonic 2sday.
Sonic 2 was released on this day 23 years ago. Fairly exciting stuff considering all that it packed after the Blue Blur’s first outing. It even brought along perennial buddy and the sometimes annoying Miles “Tails” Prower.
Five years ago, we hosted our first Sonic 2sday Challenge. The premise is simple enough: you attempt to destroy the arduous task of Nick Arcade Expert’s Challenge of collecting 25 rings in under 30 seconds. I mean, ’90s tv sitcom star Melissa Joan Hart couldn’t! Surely a ragtag group of Sonic fans could. The catch? You must use the existing Sonic 2 Nick Arcade prototype.
Still not enough challenge for you? Then for those seeking to REALLY show off how awesome they are, feel free to submit your own challenges, such as the dreaded Emerald Hill Sweep (getting all seven emeralds in Emerald Hill) using both Sonic and Tails. Or use the mobile version of Sonic 2 and go for the gold as the fastest speed demon of Hidden Palace Zone.
After all, Hidden Palace and Sonic 2 started this lovely mess that became Sonic Retro.
Otherwise, kick back and enjoy a super spin through one of the pinnacle titles of the classic era. Sorry Sonic 3 fans: you’re ignored until further notice. If you really want to show off, you’re welcome to shamelessly plug yourselves in the comments below attempting this dreaded challenge or just streaming some Sonic 2 goodness. You could send it to the contest email from five years ago, but I hear a certain demonic presence inhabits that account now…

Retro Contests

Giveaway: Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Shattered Crystal

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[The following article was written by site member GerbilSoft]
It’s that time again: GerbilSoft gives away new Sonic games! This time, it’s Sonic Boom for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS.
The rules are simple. Send an email to me, GerbilSoft, with answers to the four questions listed below (and optionally the fifth question). If you answer all four questions correctly, you qualify for a chance to win one of these two games:

Two winners will be selected; the odds of winning depend on the number of correct entries.
Official Rules:

  • Participants will send their answers to the four questions below (plus optional fifth question) to [email protected], with subject: “Sonic Retro’s Sonic Boom Giveaway”. Entries must be sent by2014/11/06 11:59 PM EST (2014/11/07 04:59 AM UTC). (DON’T POST YOUR ANSWERS IN THE COMMENTS!)
  • The giveaway is open to all legal residents (13 years of age or older) of the United States, Canada (except Quebec), United Kingdom, and Australia (except ACT). Other countries may be eligible; check your local regulations.
  • Only one entry per person; make sure your answers are correct before you send your email!
  • Sonic Retro, Sega Retro, and SEGAbits staff are not eligible to participate.
  • Two winners will be randomly selected from all entries that have the correct answers for the 4 main trivia questions. If no one got all four correct, then two will be selected for 3 out of 4, etc. If no one got any answers right, then you all suck and the contest will start over with new questions.
  • Winners will be announced within two days after the contest closes, and they will be contacted with regards to what game they would like to receive.
  • Prizes will be new games delivered to the winners using Amazon.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to some issues with the Sonic Lost World contest, I will be disqualifying anyone who:

  • Attempts to submit multiple entries in order to skew the odds in their favor. (This is only for users who maliciously send tons of entries; accidentally sending one or two duplicate emails will not be a problem.)
  • Complains about the choice of platform(s) and/or game(s) for this giveaway.

THE TRIVIA QUESTIONS:
If you want to win GerbilSoft’s Sonic Games, you just have to answer these four trivia questions. (The fifth one is a bonus question that won’t count for anything but bragging rights.) Send your answers to [email protected], with subject: “Sonic Retro’s Sonic Boom Giveaway”. (Confirmation emails won’t be sent; if you want a confirmation, enable the “Return Receipt” flag in your email client.) Entries must be received by 2014/11/06 11:59 PM EST (2014/11/07 04:59 AM UTC).

  • When Sonic Adventure 2 was ported to GameCube, one of the options on the main menu was removed. Which option was this?
  • What two Game Gear Sonic games were not released on cartridge outside of Japan?
  • What assembly language do you need to know to hack the Sonic Advance series?
  • Shadow the Hedgehog (the game) has branching story paths. What is the total number of possible paths throughout the storyline?

Optional bonus question for bragging rights:

  • What C++ library used in recent Sonic games has the same name as one of Sonic’s signature moves?
Community, Fan Works, Hacking, Retro Contests, Site News

Sonic Hacking Contest 2014 is Live

Sonic Hacking Contest 2014
 
Sonic Retro and Sonic Stuff Research Group team up once again to bring you the Sonic Hacking Contest 2014.  The competition for all ROM hacks, mods and more based on our favorite blue blur. Entries are now being accepted on the website and can be accessed by logging in with either a Retro or SSRG forum account. Our resident Cinossu breaks it down on our forums with whats new for this year.
“Like last year, everything is handled on-site and you can log in with your Sonic Retro forum account to get started. More information is on the site itself, including instructions on what to do, how to do it, etc.
The biggest addition this year is Teams, which can be set up from the new “Teams” section. They can be a mix of both Retro and SSRG members, and allow credit to be on all members of the team as well as allow any member to modify and set up entries for the whole team.
As always, enjoy. If any issues, bugs, etc. are found, just let us know either in here, the SSRG thread equivalent, or in the comments of the news post on the site itself.”
The deadline for entries is on July 31st, 2014. If you’re not interested in participating, you will eventually get to see the entries that are made publicly available, or look at entries from years prior. Head on over to the website itself for more information!
Ready, Set, Procrastinate!
[Source: Sonic Hacking Contest 2014 – Sonic Retro Forums]

Community, Game News, Miscellaneous, Retro Contests, Sega Retro, Site News

I Forgot to do a Monday Links: Rated E10+ Edition

ESRB_E10+It’s the grand return of the not Monday Links! Seeing how some things happened (or are happening), I guess there’s reason enough to do one of these again. Also I’m bored and don’t want to do the things I should be doing. Anyway, here are some links:

Retro News

  • Tomorrow is the last day you can add a new entry to the Sonic Hacking Contest 2013, so this is your last chance if you still have something you want to place in the contest! [SHC2013]
  • Also tomorrow, an update to the Sonic Adventure Generations mod which adds 2 new levels. [Youtube]

Sonic/SEGA News

  • A whole 15 minutes of gameplay of the Castle of Illusion re-imagining. [SEGAbits]
  • The ESRB has put up the rating summary for Sonic Lost World explaining why it is rated E10+ revealing incredibly dark generic things villains usually say, obviously various fans overreact about it. [ESRB]
  • Yuji Naka’s new game Rodea the Sky Soldier is still a thing. [Ferraris for everyone!]
  • SEGA announced a new Sakura Wars game for Mobage while nobody wants it. [SEGAbits]
  • A new Sonic game was announced and released. [Hurr hurr hurrrrrr] Continue Reading
Retro Contests, Site News

Retro Giveaway: Sonic Franchise Bundle on Steam

Seasons greetings, dear Retro readers! Last night, jolly old Santa Claus visited the Retro HQ, ate all our cookies and milk, and didn’t leave us a damn thing. Fortunately, we managed to pull his bag off his sleigh as he tried to escape from our armed pursuit, and in his wonderful bag of gifts, we found a hundred pounds of solid gold ingots. We promptly sold all the gold, and I’m happy to report that all of the Retro staff slept on mattresses made entirely out of cash last night. In the spirit of the Christmas season, we thought we’d pass our frankly tremendous fortunes on to you, so today we’re holding a giveaway for a Sonic Franchise Steam Bundle. This bundle includes every single Sonic game available on Steam (see complete list below), and only one lucky reader is going to walk away with the whole thing. To enter, simply leave a comment on this post before 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time on December 31st, 2012, and include an email address we can contact you at in case you win. Make sure to read the rules below as well. Good luck, and may you enjoy these games as much as we are enjoying our endless pits of money.

Complete List of Games Included:

  • Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
  • Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
  • Sonic 3D Blast
  • Sonic Adventure DX
  • Sonic Adventure 2 (with Battle DLC)
  • Sonic CD
  • Sonic Generations (with Casino Night DLC)
  • Sonic Spinball
  • Sonic the Hedgehog
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 2
  • Sonic 3 & Knuckles
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II

Contest Rules

  1. Sonic Retro staff are barred from entering. Yes, me, that means you.
  2. You must not already own more than three of the games on Steam. We will need permission to view your Steam profile to verify that you meet this requirement. This is so that people who don’t already own these titles have a chance to get them.
  3. Entries must be submitted by 11:59 PM EST on December 31, 2012, and must have supplied a valid email address.
  4. Only one entry per person. Trying to skirt this rule may result in all of your entries being disqualified, not just the additional entries.
  5. The winner will be chosen whenever we feel like it between January 1st and January 7th, 2013.

Clarifications:

  1. You do NOT need to put your email address in the text of the comment, just use the email field provided for you.
  2. You do not need to put your Steam profile in your comment. We will email you and request that information when and if you are picked as the winner.
  3. DLC, such as the Adventure 2 Battle DLC or Generations Casino Night, does not count against the three game limit from rule two. Games will be considered as listed above.
Retro Contests, Site News

Sonic CD: The Gift That Keeps on Giving (Back to You, That Is)

Over the past few weeks or so, we here at Sonic Retro have been imploring our userbase to buy the new Sonic CD for Everything this holiday season–not so much because it’s a good game (and don’t get me wrong, it’s fantastic!), but because we really want to support the concept behind the release. From having a port done with care to having one of our own doing the work to paying attention to lesser-known titles, Sonic CD, this release is kind of a big deal.

By financially supporting these sorts of releases, it sends a very clear message to Sega that we want to see more things done right and by awesome people. If the game sells a million copies, for instance, it shows that licensing the Retro Engine is more financially advantageous than just slapping a hq3x emulated version up for sale. It shows that people are willing to support adding features to a port to give it new life. It shows that we’re not all dicks who pirate everything and just have a bone to pick.

Beyond that, though, it lets people who may mock the Sonic series see that yes, there were legitimately good games that made us all fans. Odds are if you read a site as shall we say, dedicated, as Sonic Retro, you’re pretty read up on video games. Your real-world friends know you as that gamer gal or guy. So this season, we want you to share the love.

Give your family, friends, and loved ones who are into video games a copy of Sonic CD. Let your girlfriend see what the big deal about platformers is by getting a copy for her iPhone. Give your FPS-loving bros a copy over XBLA or PSN to show them that the franchise isn’t all Shadow the Hedgehog and the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog. Call up your childhood friends who you played Sonic 2 and S3K two-player mode with and let them relive the nostalgia with a Steam gift of Sonic CD.

“But Scarred Sun,” you say, “I need to buy Sonic CD, too!”

Well, duh, of course you do. But we’re willing to help you out there. Because it is always more fulfilling to give than to get, we want to give you copies of Sonic CD this holiday season–that’s why we’ve bought a dozen copies to give to our users. We want to hear your stories of giving Sonic CD to others; in return, we’ll pick the best entries and gift you a copy over Steam for your own account (sorry XBLA/PSN people–we haven’t found a way to just gift you the correct amount for the game or else we’d go that path as well.) Leave your story in the comments, and if we hear anything particular heart-touching/funny/nostalgia-y, we’ll hook you up so you can get a copy on Day One of the Steam release.

Besides, there’s nothing wrong with being evangelical about one of the best Sonic titles ever produced. Happy holidays!

 

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Retro Contests

The “Tony is a Lightweight” Memorial Cocktail Contest

“What do you mean, ‘no contest’? I could have been way more drunk if I knew there was a contest!”

Linkin Park & Shadow AMVs. Embarrassing fancharacters. Dealing with 12-year-olds who get angry with you for daring to not be blindingly positive.

Man, the Sonic fandom can really drive you to drinking at times.

Therefore, it was a wise decision on behalf of Sega to hold Sonic Boom in a venue with a bar, because lord knows it was needed. To the credit of Club Nokia, they tried to join in the festivities of the night with a house cocktail: Sonic Rocks. Made with blue curacao, vodka, lemon and Sprite, the drink was described by forum regular Ashura2k as tasting “like a Chaos Emerald.” Your guess on interpretation is as good as mine. However, I do know one thing: a drink made with those ingredients is going to be relatively weak. That’s why I’m betting that the Retro community can come up with an even better Sonic-related cocktail–so much so that we’re giving away a set of Sonic shot glasses to whoever can create the best drink.

Details and rules after the cut.

Continue Reading

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