Monthly Archives

November 2011

Game News

Sonic The Hedgehog CD Achievements Revealed

Next month, the re-release of Sonic the Hedgehog CD will be in our digital hands. Available for just about everything (except for Nintendo users…yes, we understand your pain), this will certainly be the definitive release of the game. A choice of soundtracks, unlockable “Tails,”…how could you not want it? I know we’ll have plenty of time to gush over Christian Whitehead once it’s released, so for right now we just have to settle for what the Internet has given us today: courtesy of xbox360achievements.org, we now are able to see just what is in store to get that perfect gamer score. If you want to stay in the dark as to what the achievements are, turn back now.

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Fan Works

Sonic Goes Classy at the Sonic Generation Art Show

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fan art is, for better or worse, one of the biggest aspects of Sonic. Actually, I don’t think there’s any other videogame franchise with such a huge amount of it. But for as many fan artists there are, we never see professionals do their thing with the blue blur. Considering you have probably noticed that classy image of Robotnik above or the title of this article, I don’t really need to say that this has now changed. An art show is being held in Philadelphia with fan art by artists professional enough to draw/paint/sculpt things as their job. For example, there’s Nelzon Diaz’s The Study or Glen Brogan’s Robotnik.

It’s being held from December 2nd until the end of the month. You can find more details and preview more of the art on the website here.

Game News

Sonic Advance Heads to Android in Japan

Ports of Sonic games to mobile devices  have been nothing new or notable for a while now–after all, we’ve seen both Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 ported to everything ever, as well as mobile versions of games like Sonic Unleashed and Sonic at the Olympic Games appearing for phones alongside their console counterparts.

But in a move unseen since Sonic N (rest in peace, taco phone), the classic game Sonic Advance (aka the Advance series game that was actually pretty great) is now available on the Japanese Android Marketplace. For free. How awesome is that?

The game is slightly different than the original Game Boy Advance release: when the 3x scaling is calculated back down to the game’s original size, the screen resolution comes out to be 264×158 instead of 240×160. Rather than the GBA’s chiptunes, the original MIDI compositions are being used in this port, which is unsurprising but still pleasant.

If you live outside of Japan and still want to play the game, we have a rip of the APK available for download.Note that you will need to know how to root and modify your Android device (which we can’t help you with, sorry 😉 ) and that you’ll need to set your provider id to docomo. Here’s hoping it gets a proper release in the western Android Marketplace for everyone else!

Game News

Wavemaster Announces “History of Sonic Music” 2-Disc Set

This has been quite the year in terms of Sonic the Hedgehog music releases. We received the amazing deluxe version of the Sonic the Hedgehog 1&2 Soundtrack. We just got the first official release of the Japanese soundtrack to the fan-favorite Sonic the Hedgehog CD. We have all been jamming to the love letter that is the Sonic Generations soundtrack, though its official release is still over a month away. And of course, we did get those Best-Of compilations for Sonic Adventure, Adventure 2, and Sonic Heroes, though those seem so far away. Well, get ready to add another music album to the pile.

History of Sonic Music 20th Anniversary Edition is a 42-track two-disc music compilation spanning every major title in Sonic’s two-decade career, starting with the original Sonic the Hedgehog and ending with last year’s Sonic Colors. If you want to be kept in the dark over what the track listing is, refrain from continuing on. Just know that only seven of the 42 tracks are repeats from the 20 Years of Sonic Music/History of the 1st Stage releases in each region’s respective collector’s edition. Those that are have been marked with a handy asterisk, for those keeping score.

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Game News

First Look at Sonic CD on XBLA, U.S. Soundtrack Confirmed

Although GameStop’s tablets include a copy of the game already on them, new video on YouTube of the Xbox Live Arcade build of the game gives us a crisper look at the game running, as well as laying any fears to rest of the Spencer Nilsen soundtrack being excluded for those preferring the more rock and synth U.S. soundtrack.

The video gives us glimpses at the main menus, Tails as an unlockable character, and a new instrumental remix of the original International opening theme, “Sonic – You Can Do Anything”. Christian “The Taxman” Whitehead’s Retro Engine can be seen in full force as the game animates at a smooth 60FPS on a 16:9 aspect ratio, allowing more of the action to be seen by the player.

The big stunner of the video comes at the end when the player goes through the Special Stage, now significantly smoother to any other experience of Sonic CD to date. It’s almost disorienting after playing it at its chugging Mode 7-esque pace.

Sonic CD is due out by year’s end on every platform under the sun except for the Wii and 3DS. Sorry, Nintenation.

Humor, Miscellaneous

Watch Sonic’s Splashing Return to New York Skies

For those of you that slept in or really had no desire to put up with show tunes, marching bands and pop stars, you too can check out the small bit of time in which Sonic streaked by briskly through the crisp New York skies over 34th Street.

Nothing much to note other than the usual plug for Sonic Generations and some ham-fisted anchorman dialog. The music Sonic floated in with is the Splash Hill Zone remix featured in Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games. And no, the balloon did not come crashing down onto innocent bystanders again.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you Americans out there and a hello, we love you all to the rest of the world. Save us some stuffing!

UPDATE: For those who want Sonic for all time on your hard drive, Retro member Spazz, who put the clear version of the footage you see above on YouTube, has also encoded the Sonic moment for convenient download. Sure, the links are already in the comments, but hey. Why not?

1080: http://goo.gl/6bQFU
720: http://goo.gl/SUzmM

Fan Works

Ever Wanted To Paint Your Face Like Sonic?

Of course you have!

Though it may not be Halloween again until next year, tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I’m certain that more than one person is going to be in the crowd for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for one simple reason: to see Sonic the Hedgehog once more along the New York Skyline. So what better way to show that you’re a Sonic the Hedgehog fan than to paint your face in the visage of the blue blur himself?

YouTube user dannylynnforever, who apparently does this sort of thing a lot, has made a tutorial as to how even you can paint your face to look like Sonic the Hedgehog. Sure, it might look a bit…well, scary at first, but that’s only because we all remember what happened the last time Sonic had human proportions. I must wonder, however, what ol’ Danny Lynn did after she painted her face. Did she just wash it off, or did she wander the streets of Australia to see what people would say back to her?

If anyone gets the urge to paint their face this way, be sure to send the results to [email protected] and just maybe we’ll make another post about it. Because who doesn’t love people pretending they are a blue hedgehog.

Humor

Mega64 Go To Casino Night Zone

While Mega64 have done sketches about Sonic, they have never represented him in one of their traditional videos where they act like videogame character and do crazy stuff in public. That is, until now:

Derek has donned a Sonic costume and ran through Las Vegas Casino Night Zone while disturbing many random people that happen to pass by. Mega64 mostly do sketches these days, so it’s always nice see them do a video like this once in a while. Also be sure to watch their Minecraft video.

Merchandise

Online Sonic Merchandise Store Opens Up For Europe

 

 

 

 

With popular video game characters usually come merchandise, and Sonic is no exception. In fact, he has so much merchandise there might as well be a store dedicated to it. It seems like SEGA had this idea, as they have launched an official online store with Sonic figurines, posters, DVDs and more. So if you were looking for a site where you can buy a DVD box-set of the complete series of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog or a poster with classic Sonic, you found it. That is, if you live in Europe, the store doesn’t ship anywhere else at the moment, sorry Americans. The site uses a reward point system, so if you buy a product you’ll get a certain amount of points which you can use to pay part of a different product.

Click here to go to the website’s homepage.