Watch live video from vidyaretro on TwitchTV
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.
On today’s Nintendo Direct, Satoru Iwata has announced the upcoming 3D Sonic title Sonic: Lost World. Not much was shown, but we did get this art shot (click for full size):
We also got one other intriguing piece of information…
[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.”
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.
Another year, another insatiable urge for Sega to release a brand new iteration of Sonic 1. Launching May 15 in Japan, Sonic 1 joins Super Hang-On and Space Harrier as the first three 3D Classic Mega Drive remakes for the Nintendo 3DS. This is to commemorate the Mega Drive’s 25th Anniversary in Japan.
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.
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.
Sonic Retro is seeking a professional designer to commission for a project with abstract interpretations of classic or obscure Sega properties. Experience in apparel design, printwork or severe color restriction is a plus. Please e-mail [email protected] with a portfolio (Behance, Dribbble, standalone, etc.) and a desired hourly rate. We pay competitively based on experience, and are willing to pay a premium rate for premium design. No e-mails without portfolios will be considered. Your DeviantART is not a portfolio.