Monthly Archives

February 2011

Community, Humor

Guess the Game: The Solution (and a Chance to Win!)

So, the more clever among you figured out the solution to yesterday’s post: all five posts are, indeed, from Sonic 3. So what’s the point, you say?

There has been a lot of handwringing among the community over the past few months about “the state of the fanbase”; how we’re all horrible people who have turned against each other and now are super! mean! bad! people! In fact, this is all because of Sonic 4 or Sonic Free Riders or because there was an abandonment of ~black eyes~! However, my point is this: there always was and always will be people who are angry or upset or dislike things amongst any group of people. They were around in 1990, 2000 and 2010. There are people who are going to try to take advantage of those things in order to make people even more upset. Some people relish in making others feel that the thing they enjoy as a hobby is lame; therefore, they expend all their energies on making people think they’re wasting their time.

That, of course, is a load of crap. Things have always been the way they are, but the only thing that matters is whether you’re enjoying yourself or not. The reason we at Retro stay around is because so much of making fun of things is not being afraid to make fun of yourself. Because we’re in a fandom that could spawn Shadow the Hedgehog 2 with Big and Froggy.

So, I’m proposing a contest: learn more about the fandom you’re a part of by reading some of its oldest posts, get a laugh and learn that it isn’t as bad as people freak out over. Some of the USENET quotes I posted were pretty great in “the more things change, the more they stay the same” sense, but there’s a ton of ironic posts, things which make no sense in a modern context, things which are creepy predictions of the future that came true. Submit your best pre-1997 Internet commentary concerning Sonic; we’ll take a look and our favorites will receive ~fabulous prizes~. Then again, it’ll be hard to follow up this gem in a 1990 post on rec.games.video:

>Sonic, the Hedgehog, Action, SEGA
>[SEGA’s answer to Mario and Bonk]

Actually I think SEGA already has SEVERAL answers to Mario and Bonk…
and their names are Shinobi, Wonder Boy, Alex Kidd, and Space Harrier…

To find old posts, check out Google Groups or fire up your favorite newsgroup client. Other forms of early communication, such as the rat.org mailing list, are also fair game if you can track them down. The contest ends March 1, 2011, so be sure to have your entries submitted through the comments section by then.

Community, Humor

Guess the Game: Sonic 3 or Sonic 4?

So, I don’t know if you all have heard, but the Sonic community is totally horrible, you guys. But there was a magical time when the community was different! Was better! A time when the community didn’t get at each other’s throats and hate each other and be full of pointless critiques!

That time, my friends, was never. If you’ve been around long enough, you’ve seen the stupidity of the Sonic scene since day 1. Therefore, I’m challenging you all to a game. I have pulled five random forum posts and posted them below. Your job? Determine whether each of these posts were made about Sonic 4, or its predecessor, Sonic 3. Please note that I’ve edited out information that would obviously give the game in question away, but they are otherwise intact. We’ll post the solution tomorrow. Continue Reading

Merchandise

Australia, France and Spain Get A Dreamcast Vinyl

Much like the Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection vinyl album given with pre-orders of the game in Australia, Sega is releasing a six-track album to commemorate the release of Dreamcast Collection in Australia, France and Spain.

Australians can get in on picking up this album if they pre-order the game at JB Hi-Fi, though Sega stresses supplies are very limited. It’s currently unknown which retailers will be offering these albums in Europe.

So what’s on the album? On side A, you’ll find “Open Your Heart” from Sonic Adventure and  “Option Remix 2002” from Space Channel 5: Part 2. Side B is nothing but crazy money, containing “Radical Sabbatical”, “Flinch”, and “Get Out” from Crazy Taxi.

Say what you will about the collection of games itself, but this is a pretty nifty pickup for Sega and music enthusiasts.

[SEGA Europe Blog]

Fan Works, Music

Actually, Propose With The “Gumball Rag”

It’s midnight. Crunch time. This is when you realize that the cholcolate you bought is actually six months old, the flowers are wilted, and your suit is still in the cleaners. That’s when you go to plan ‘B.’ You transform into Tom Brier and play the music from the Gumball Machine bonus stage in Sonic the Hedgehog 3:

Amy Rose’s dress is kinda like a flapper girl from the 1920’s anyway. So it works out a lot better than you might think! Besides, the music is pretty awesome anyway. It doesn’t get nearly as much love as it should. Even if it was used extensively in Sonic’s Schoolhouse.

Game News

Sonic 4 Prototype Captured on PS3

First the 360 PartnerNet leak, then the Japanese Wii Shopping Channel leak. Now, we have video of the QA Network’s version of Sonic 4: Episode 1.

While there’s no leak of the game itself, and from the looks of it, the game won’t run unless the PS3 in question is a debug unit, the video shows enough of the gameplay to satiate curiosity on the game.

Content wise, if you’ve seen or played the Wii and 360 leaks, you’ll already know what to expect here. However, the PS3 version has its very own little oddities that make the game almost unplayable.

Forum member sonic4dude describes that the game has a poor implementation of the SIXAXIS tilt control APIs that make them extremely sensitive, to the point that levels like the special stages and the Lost Labyrinth mine cart stage are barely playable. On top of that, being a Japanese prototype, the game will only boot in Japanese.

As for the timestamp on the build, it’s roughly December 2009 – January 2010. The QA Network is Sony’s equivalent to Microsoft’s PartnerNet.

Screenshots of the build will be coming soon and can be found in this topic on the forums. Information will also be added to the game’s wiki page as it rolls out.

Fan Works, Music

It’s Sunday. Listen To This. Relax.

Love is in the air. Tomorrow, Valentine’s Day will be filling your lungs, and while I’m sure you’re all running about looking for that perfect gift, you should sit back and relax. Put your feet up. Have a chili dog. And listen to someone play Sonic the Hedgehog on the piano.

Sometimes I forget just how amazing the music to the first game is. Maybe someone here could use this music to propose to a loved one! Wouldn’t that be magical? Better than jumping out of a cake dressed as Sonic the Hedgehog and asking your loved one to be your Amy Rose.

Unless you’ve already done that. Then…um…god speed.

And yes, you’ve all heard it before. But it’s Sunday. Nothing new happens on a Sunday.

Site News

International Visitors: Potential Issues

If you are overseas and having been having issues with our forums since Sunday, odds are you’re getting hit by a new system rigged up to deal with a huge wave of bot issues our servers been experiencing for the past few weeks. This is especially an issue if you are in Russia, South America, or are in Italy using Telecom Italia. I’m looking into figuring out more ways to “teach” our firewall to let legitimate users through while stopping malicious bots (for instance, Yandex now works correctly with the site whereas it was having issues earlier.)

If this is happening to you, you can help me out significantly by sending me an e-mail (scarredsun at sonicretro dot org) with your forum username (if you have an account) and the lines “Your User Agent” and “Your IP” from http://whatsmyuseragent.com. If I can at least get some objective cases out of the tens of thousands of IPs that are in the logs, I can work towards fixing this. Please note that even if you do not visit the forums, I need you to check to see if you are getting hit. There is the strong possibility that this same system will eventually be implemented on the entire site.

I should be able to process IPs for whitelisting either late tonight or tomorrow, so I apologize for the temporary lockout.

Game News

Sonic Colors Sends Sega Into The Black

Players agree: the colors felt so right.

Despite some rather mixed reviews across the Internet, that was not enough to deter sales of Sonic Colors. The title took off and never looked back, selling 1.87 million titles combined for the Wii and the Nintendo DS.

On the financial side, Sega Sammy posted sales of ¥310.1 billion ($3.77 billion), up nearly nine percent year-over-year, for its first three quarters. The company’s profits, however, were through the roof, as net income more than doubled to ¥36.82 billion ($448 million) thanks in part to strong sales of pachinko machines.

However, results were mixed in the consumer business division, which includes the home console video game division, as sales were down more than 19 percent to ¥66.9 billion ($814 million). Operating profits for the division still ignored the slip, doubling to reach ¥2.8 billion ($34 million)

Other top sellers for the company included Platinum Games’ shooter Vanquish, selling 820,000 copies between both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and Football Manager 2011, at 690,000 copies sold on the PC and PSP in Europe and the U.S. alone.

Community, Fan Works, Game News

Eggman Hates Furries

Sonic fan games have always had a special place in my heart. It’s where I started in the Sonic scene! From Sonic Boom to Sonic Fan Remix, they all have one thing in common: a vision to create a Sonic game that can be enjoyed and shared by everyone the world over.

Recently, I had been checking for new fan game releases, and I came upon a fan game by Oddwarg that seems to stick out above the rest.

Eggman Hates Furries. Fast and frantic, this Sonic fan game has you on the edge of your seat until the very end (an ending which you won’t see coming, I can tell you that), and is executed flawlessly as levels flow into each other, and the boss fights make you freak out, wondering what they might do next. The trailer for the game doesn’t do it justice, so I highly recommend downloading it. Right now. Also, check out the other games Oddwarg has on his site. Super Sawman is a classic.

Animation, Merchandise

Greatest AoStH Animation Cel of All Time Now For Sale

Occasionally, there’s more than the standard “SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 FOR GENESIS ~@SUPER RARE!@~” being sold on the international auction house that is eBay–for instance, right now there’s an ex-Sega employee selling a ton of official t-shirts, so if you ever wanted a Sega Frontline Marketing shirt, now’s your chance. However, what has appeared for sale today is quite possibly the greatest Sonic-related merchandise I have ever seen on the Internet: a frame of AoStH Robotnik. Naked.

Bidding as of this writing is at $10 USD. Go get it. You know you want it.

[Thanks to Flyboy Fox at the SSMB for pointing this out!]

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