Sonic Retro News

• Tech Member Techokami has created a tool that rips level maps for the Rush games, including Sonic Colors for the DS.  Watch how my amazing template is proven correct.  Seriously, these level designs are super boring.  [Sonic Rush Level Maps]
• Techokami was on a roll last week, I guess.  He uncovered some unused sound files while he was hacking Sonic Colors for the Wii.  We’ll post them if and when they are released.  [Colours Hacking]
• doc eggfan’s Sonic 2 LD is entering Chemical Plant.  [Sonic 2 LD]

Sonic/SEGA News

• SEGA is dropping prices again with their Mega Holiday Sale!  After prices were lowered permanently, these sale prices are ridiculous, so hit these deals up.  Until the sales pay us to take the games, though, we’re not touching that Sonic Adventure port.  So terrible.  [SEGA Blogs]
• Platinum Games, the only developer that SEGA has that’s any good, is sticking around.  [Xbox Addict]
• Iizuka blames all of his problems on something besides himself once more.  This time, on America.  Remember Shadow the Hedgehog?  Yeah, America’s fault.  Yeah.  [The Sonic Stadium]

Other Stuff

• Have you ever wished to put the Benny Hill theme on your favorite YouTube video?  Well, your wish has come true.  Where’s Sonic 65?  He’ll love this tool to use on Wetflame’s vlogs.  [Benny Hillifier]
• MARIO PARTY 2 IS NOW ON THE VIRTUAL CONSOLE.  YES.  [Joystiq]
• The greatest protest signs ever made.  [The Chive]

Monday Video

Technotronic’s PUMP UP THE JAM.  I wish music videos still looked like this.  So ridiculous.  BBL, playing NBA Jam.

Sonic Retro News

• Sonic 2 LD released a demo.  Boot up your SEGA Master System Emulator and try it out!  [Sonic 2 LD Demo]
• Get your Sonic 1, 2 & 3 metatiles, courtesy of Mercury.  They are 7zips, so get 7zip.  [Sonic Metatiles]
• Are you participating in the 25-ring challenge?  The contest ends tonight at midnight.  [Sonic 2sday Contest]
• Jim Sterling continues his silly tirade against Sonic Retro by calling us “pathological haters” for responding to Iizuka’s latest quote regarding the physics of Sonic 4.  According to Jim, the physics of Sonic 4 are fine, but he’ll throw a temper-tantrum about them in his Colors review. We’re not allowed to give our honest opinion, but he can do it all day, every day.  All of our posts are hateful and venomous, but his are just peachy.  All this coming from a guy who hates on everybody, screams at a camera in aviator sunglasses and calls people “furry virgins” instead of actually responding to their claims.  He realizes that SEGA is calling him a troll, too, right?  The company that actually makes the games?  Look, dude, we like Colors, but nobody here cares that you gave it a bad review.  That’s your opinion.  We just like to point out that you’re a hypocrite the size of a semi-truck.  [Destructoid]

Sonic/SEGA News

• Another iPhone sale is going on.  Sonic 4: Episode 1 is marked down to $4.99.  [SEGA Blogs]
• The Sonic 4 leaderboards were wiped.  Hackers rose right back to the top about 10 minutes afterwards.  Hackers gonna hack.  [Sonic 4 Boards Wiped]
• Iizuka says more dumb things.  Probably the dumbest thing of them all.  [Iizuka Says The Darndest Things]
• Today is Cyber Monday and Sonic Free Riders is on sale at $39.99.  [Amazon]

Other Stuff

• The sun: now under new management.  [Fox Orlando]
• I like reading well-written essays from time-to-time.  It’s good for all the traveling I do, so I highly recommend this site.  [Give Me Something To Read]
• I would love an internship at the Dinosaur Office.  [Dinosaur Office]

Monday Video(s)

Legendary comedic actor Leslie Nielsen and Empire Strikes Back director Irvin Kershner have passed away.

Sonic Retro News

• Aquaslash took on Sonic Free Riders and had some nice things to say about it.  Mulitplayer review coming shortly!  [Sonic Free Riders Single Player Review]
• Sonic 2 LD will have a demo dropping this week.  Wednesday, the 24th is when Doc Eggfan wants to release it, but don’t hold him to it.  [Sonic 2 LD Trailer]
• Mercury released the 10th revision to his cool hack, Sonic: The One Ring.  [Sonic: The One Ring Thread]

Sonic/SEGA News

• 1UP’s Holiday Gift Guide is out and Sonic 4: Episode 1 is on the list for those kids that you don’t like.  [1UP]
• With everybody already in Christmas mode, you might have forgotten that Thanksgiving is this week.  Super Monkey Ball has got you covered with some wallpaper.  [SEGA Blogs]
• SEGA continues doing its “re-releasing every game ten times over for a quick buck” thing.  Crazy Taxi hits PSN.  XBLA version later this week.  [SEGA Blogs]
• Gunstar Heroes gets re-released, too.  Now, it’s on the iPhone and suffers from the same emulation issues seen in previous Genesis ports.  When will that be fixed?  Probably never.  [The Loop] [SlideToPlay]
• Sonic and the Black Knight is a big-time Black Friday sale item, marked down to around $13.  Again, for those kids you hate.  You can only find this deal online, since SEGA smartly took it off store shelves.  [Underground Newsroom]

Other Stuff

• My hometown of St. Louis once again tops the list of the “Most Dangerous Cities in the U.S.”  We also top the list of “Nelly Having.” See if your hometown makes the list!  [Gawker]
• This life-altering traffic light concept is neat, but it probably sucks for colorblind folk.  [The Daily What]
• Area 51 seems like a fun place to visit.  [Google Maps]

Monday Video

Jay Pharoah is the best thing to happen to television in a long time, being the most consistent and talented performer on Saturday Night Live. YouTube is full of videos of his dead-on impersonations of just about every celebrity worth impersonating. Here’s a video of his strongest impressions.  (nsfw)

Droppin’ around November 24th, Doc Eggfan’s Master System hack will be here and you will be taken aback by its greatness.  Sonic 2 LD is the opposite of our ever-mysterious Sonic 2 HD project, bringing the Genesis levels to the Master System version of Sonic 2.   Check this retro-inspired trailer for more details and gameplay.

This week we decided to look are a pretty wide range of interests in the Sonic community. In fact we hit the ground running with the discussion of Rotor’s alleged sexuality and from there, get into a pretty deep discussion about the Sonic Archie universe. We even take a look into the mind and character of Dr. Robotnik AKA Eggman to find out he might not be quite so evil and instead just a jackass.

We also talk over TSSZ News and the man who runs it, Tristan. And we say things like (EDIT – Inflamatory – T). But after all the drama, we go ahead and discuss one of the more positive aspects of the community which is the hacks! In particular, we talk about Sonic Boom and how much we both love it hate its difficulty. After that, we give Sonic 2 LD a bit of a spotlight which is a pretty cool project by Doc Eggfan.

Be sure to stick around for the next episode (within the year) where we’ll talk about Sonic 2 HD and Tom Payne’s art scans from Sonic 2′s production. And who knows what else!