Cody “Rick ‘Polygon Jim’ ‘Pegleg Jimmy’ ‘Grand Master Jimmy’ ‘PeglegPolygonGrandmasterJimmyJimJimmy’ Fields” Lawrence
April 10, 1992 – May 18, 2013

This is the picture I took the last time I was ever with him. I’m still amazed that he managed to make that domino tower while drunk.

What can you say about Jimmy? He had a goofy sense of humor, hilarious to some, aggravating to others, but I don’t think anyone would deny that he was a man of charisma and fun. He was the most reckless guy I’ve ever met in my life, that’s for sure. He lived and died with the spirit of fucking around.

I’d known Jimmy for a good 5 years. During the lead-up to Sonic Unleashed, he was 50% of the reason I decided to check out Sonic Retro in the first place. Last fall, in the span of about 24 hours, he drove to Louisiana and became my roommate and hang-out buddy. There were ups and downs, but we had the time of our lives. Unfortunately, he couldn’t maintain the rent and moved back to his home in Pennsylvania. My chief concern about it a couple weeks ago was that he and I didn’t get to go see Iron Man 3 in theaters like we had planned… now that he’s dead, I have to get it through my head that I’ll never see him ever again.

Though he leaves this world today, he will live on in the Sonic community through the best hack ever and the phrase “assface Sonic”, which he coined.

Rest in peace, you magnificent bastard.

Read the local news report on the incident here.

Nintendo has also unveiled additional information regarding Game Gear games appearing on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console during their previous Nintendo Direct. While they have mentioned of releasing at least four more titles previously, although the last time they said those games would appear soon was…a year ago. Nintendo has announced that they will be releasing them soon, again, as well as reveal more Game Gear titles which includes additional Sonic games as well as Tails’ second (and last?) game and even Dr. Robotnik’s own “game.”

• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2
• Sonic Blast
• Sonic Labyrinth
• Sonic Drift 2
• Tails Adventure(s)
• Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine

There are more non-Sonic games appearing including Columns, Defenders of Oasis and Shining Force II: The Sword of Hajya. The full list can also be seen on our sister site, SEGAbits.

[Source: Nintendo Online Press Room, SEGAbits]

If you’ve heard of the recent rumblings of the debug mode for the latest Sonic 1 port, you may not be aware of some of it’s hidden features that some of you die hard Sonic fans will get a kick out of. Rolling balls, goggles, animal buddies, unfinished editor features and more await you in this port, and we’ve got a video of almost two hours worth of content.

You have a number of ways for trying out the debug mode yourself. First start a “No Save” game and choose a character. If you have a controller plugged in you can use the traditional method of entering the cheat codes (Up, Down, Left, Right, Hold A + Start) or on the touch screen, after selecting. Otherwise, on the touch screen, tap the letters S-E-G-A in that order and listen for a ring chime. Then hold two fingers on the bottom of the touch screen. When the title screen appears, slide both fingers to the top of the screen to enter the level select.

Here you can enter the sound test for some additional cheats.

04, 01, 02, 06 – Obtain all emeralds

01, 09, 09, 01, 00, 06, 02, 03 – Debug mode.

To activate debug mode tap the GUI in the top left corner of the screen.

Shattering any sort of barrier from the 1990s, SEGA of America, SEGA Europe, Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Europe GmbH have announced that they will be partnering up to bring some major Sonic love to the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS over the coming years.

What does this mean overall? Nintendo is set to get three big Sonic titles exclusively to themselves, with two confirmed as the recently announced Sonic Lost World and Mario and Sonic at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. The third title has yet to be announced, but it would be hardly surprising if it was next year’s yearly big title.

This doesn’t mean non-Nintendo gamers are out of luck. Sonic will continue to appear on these, though it may only be through smaller digital titles, such as the recently released remastered Sonic 1 on iOS and Android.

[Press Release]

We also got one other intriguing piece of information…

Iwata has revealed that Nintendo & Sega have entered into a “worldwide partnership in the Sonic franchise”, and as such, Sonic: Lost World will be exclusive to Wii U and 3DS owners. No date was revealed, but November seems a safe bet based on past years.

Iwata also announced the already widely-expected Mario & Sonic at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. This looks to be largely the same as the previous instalments in the series, with the usual array of regular and Dream events, and is also coming out on Wii U and 3DS. No date was announced for this either, but expect it before the Games start in Feburary 2014.

[UPDATE: It's now on the Google Play store.]

Ever wondered when Taxman and Stealth’s Sonic 1 Retro Engine remaster would be made available? Next week? Next month?! Well, in fact it is actually hitting both the iOS and Android as soon as today or tomorrow depending on your region and platform. Most regions should be seeing the iOS port as soon as right now, or at least tomorrow. As for Android, according to Taxman on the Retro Forums he says, “Thursday 16th PST for Android, US & Canada so you’ll have to wait a bit longer sorry.”

In the meantime, there has been some light shed on some of the differences and new features the port has. Such as Time Attack modes, remastered music, spin dash feature, slightly updated boss patterns, smoother motion in the Special Stages, and unlockable characters? Perhaps there may be more surprises in store, but the wait for this release is just about over, depending on where you are.

Check out some of the features shown below with images taken from staff member TimmiT.

Sega Sammy released their financial reports for the company today, and it turns out the company did rather well. Of note, the company posted a net profit of ¥33.5 billion, or about $331 million, which is an annual growth of 53.3 percent. However, Sega Sammy’s operating profit decreased year-on-year by 67.3 percent, down to ¥19.1 billion ($189 million). Majority of this was through the sales of “investment securities” and transfers of employees’ pension benefits.

That’s all well and good if you’re financially oriented and looking to invest in Sega, but you’re here for game sales number to shamelessly slap people on message boards with! While physical retail game sales were down, causing the company to consider refocusing efforts more toward smartphone and digital titles, Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed zoomed across the finish line with 1.36 million units sold globally. No platform-by-platform break down was provided, but that’s still a rather strong number for the shape-shifting kart racer.

On top of that, Sega broke down plans for the 2014 fiscal year, saying that they plan to ship 11 games on PC, 7 on Wii U, 7 on PS3, 6 on 3DS, 5 on Vita, 4 on Xbox 360, and 2 on PSP.

While no doubt at least one of those will be a Sonic title of some sort on nearly every platform, what surprises us more is the PSP still getting some love. Keep on trucking, little guy!

For a more thorough breakdown, hit up our sister site SEGAbits. She’s just as pretty as we are, promise.

While this isn’t particularly thrilling news, and especially on the toes that Christian “The Taxman” Whitehead is at work on a Sonic 1 remake for Sega along with the Sonic Scene enigmatic man known as Stealth, the game will follow the line of other 3D Classic series titles on the 3DS that uses the system’s 3D features to add depth to the the game’s background.

As for what’s included in this particular version of Sonic 1, expect exciting new features such as the never-been-added-before Spin Dash Attack and special animations on Green Hill Zone’s clouds and Labyrinth Zone’s rippled water. Oh, and some nonsense about customizable controls and “CLASSIC” display mode, which makes the game look like you’re playing it right off a CRT TV running the Mega Drive via its RF Adapter.

For the audiophiles, a mode is also included to adjust the balance of  the PSG and FM audio. On top of that, players can choose Mega Drive 1 sounding balance or Mega Drive 2.

While the core Sonic 1 experience is still the same as ever, the added features for general Mega Drive 3D Classic remakes are actually pretty neat, and certainly better influenced than Nintendo’s own 3D Classic outings.

Sonic 1 hacks are a dime-a-dozen these days. This makes getting excited about them a little difficult if nothing more than a few palettes are edited and zones are sloppily renamed to fit their new color schemes. That said, it’s never a dull day when someone steps up and delivers a new Sonic 1 experience with new boss enemies, moves for Sonic, and more.

Enter Russian Sonic hacker vladikcomper and his project Sonic Winter Adventures. In similar stead to Sonic 1 Megamix, Adventures enables Sonic to enable the full power of blast processing  with the addition of light speed dash, super peel out, the spin dash, and even the homing attack. Let’s give the purists a little time to seethe. … All right then!

While the level variety isn’t very boastful, vladikcomper laments, the amount of work put in so far is a very commendable effort and definitely worth playing though. Some of his bosses make specific use of Sonic’s new age moves meaning you can’t just throw Sonic’s body into Eggman eight times and waltz over to the Egg Prisonpod so easily.

So what are you waiting for? Download this bad boy and give it a spin yourself! And don’t think that beating the game means it’s over. vladik teases that more playthroughs unlock more things.

[Official Sonic Winter Adventure Thread]