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…
With the release of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed being a month and a half away, SEGA has started showing some new stuff for the game. First of they’ve released a new trailer (seen above) which showcases the world tour mode, challenges, online and local multiplayer and the battle mode. A The House of the Dead battle arena can be seen as well in the trailer. SEGA also released a bunch of new screenshots which confirm that Ulala from Space Channel 5 will be back in this game as well and they’ve shown what Danica Patrick and her vehicle look like in the game. All of these screens can be seen below.
Besides all of this stuff, SEGA just started a website for Transformed. Besides there being a neat animation of Sonic’s vehicle transforming, one of the backgrounds shows that Sky Sanctuary from Sonic & Knuckles will be one of the courses. You can also look at a bunch of old trailers and screenshots there if you want to.
With Gamescom starting in a couple of days SEGA has released a new trailer for Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed just before the event actually starts. This trailer reveals various new tracks based on After Burner, Skies of Arcadia, Samba De Amigo and Starlight Carnival from Sonic Colours. There are also a couple of new screenshots, one which shows that Sumo Digital’s favorite Sonic zone, Seaside Hill from Sonic Heroes will once again be represented in their latest game.
IGN also put up a preview of the Wii U version revealing some of the exclusive features that iteration of the game will have, all of them using the new Gamepad. The screen on the Gamepad will show additional info like the current order the racers are in, a mini-map and close-ups of the power-up you’re using hitting it’s target. The Gamepad can also be used as a steering wheel by tilting it left and right and there are various mini-games where one player is using the Gamepad’s screen and other players are using Classic or Pro Controllers. One such mini-game is ‘Super Monkey Ball Arena’, where the player with the Gamepad controls AiAi trying to squash the other players with the ball he is walking around in.
[Source: IGN]
Update: Right after making this article SEGA officially announced the Bonus Edition for in the US and what will be included. It will contain an extra level inspired by OutRun, Metal Sonic will be playable in a new vehicle and you get an Emoticon Sticker Pack. Metal Sonic was also playable in the first All-Stars Racing as part of a DLC pack. Europe will get a Limited Edition which will be announced soon.
Original article: Steve Lycett (aka S0L) has revealed a bit of new info about the upcoming Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed on the official SEGA forums. The game will have a total of 29 characters, but you won’t be able to play all of these characters with just one version of the game. Some characters will be exclusive to a certain platform, with some of these characters being from SEGA and some not. SEGA did something similar with the first Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing, which had Banjo-Kazooie and Avatars as exclusive characters on the Xbox 360 and your Mii in the Wii version, though those were only characters owned by Microsoft and Nintendo respectively. Lycett also said that the amount of characters on some platforms will be in the low 20s and on others it will be in the high 20s.
In other news, Amazon.com has listed a “Bonus Edition”. What this edition will include isn’t known yet, but the product description on Amazon.co.uk does reveal a few new details. There will be a world tour mode as well as a Grand Prix mode in the game. Online multiplayer will allow up to 8 players in a single game (like in the first All-Stars Racing) and All-Stars moves can now be gained by filling up your All-Star meter.
From Comic Con comes a new trailer for Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed showing at least part of the opening cinematic of the game. The trailer primarily features Sonic characters along with a bunch of recycled voice clips, though Vyse from Skies of Arcadia, Gillius from Golden Axe and AiAi from Super Monkey Ball do appear as well as some of the dragons from Panzer Dragoon. The end of the trailer shows the release date of the game, which is November 20th, 2012 in the US and November 16th in Europe.
The box art of the game has also been revealed. Non-Sonic SEGA characters take a backseat on this cover, with Sonic literally appearing five times to show how his vehicle transforms from a boat into a plane into a car. If you squint you might be able to see AiAi flying around in the background. Aside from the lack of other SEGA characters it’s not a bad cover though. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed will be coming to Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Playstation Vita, 3DS, Wii U and on PC download services like Steam.
[Source: SEGA Blog]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w11wp1DNSwE
E3 isn’t upon us until tomorrow, but that hasn’t stopped game companies from showing new stuff during the week before. Like there’s a new Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance trailer, Sony announced Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault and Sega revealed a bunch of new stuff for Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. First off is the new trailer above showing the track based on Super Monkey Ball as well as the new characters Vyse from Skies of Arcadia and Gilius Thunderhead from Golden Axe.
Sega also announced that Shadow will return from the first All-Stars Racing game driving a tank this time around and that Joe Musashi from Shinobi on a quad bike is playable as well. New levels from Golden Axe and Jet Set Radio are shown in a couple of new screenshots which can be seen below.
And it wouldn’t be E3 without there being leaks. Sonic Wrecks accidentally uploaded a version of the new trailer showing the Wii U logo at the end, so it looks like future Wii U owners will be able to get this game for the system. As proof of this a screenshot of this was taken by Sonic Paradise, besides that Sonic Stadium made a post about it before it was removed.
[Sources: IGN and Sonic Stadium]
Last November SEGA released a couple of TV commercials for the release of the Wii version of Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Now that the 3DS version has been released as well another pair of advertisements come with it, again with each having their own gameplay clips and ending.
In this commercial Mario and Sonic get a tour around a royal palace while they try not to act like their usual selves. Above is Sonic’s version, after the jump you can view the version with Mario’s ending and the launch trailer for the 3DS edition.