2017 promises to be a big year for Sonic the Hedgehog. With not one but two major game releases slated to come out, excitement and speculation has been running wild. Since being announced last July, both Sonic Mania and “Project Sonic 2017” have been shrouded in mystery, with only scant pieces of information being released on either title since their grand unveiling.
Though there’s nothing wrong with keeping things close to the chest, SEGA has promised to reveal some new details on both games at this year’s SXSW Conference in Austin, Texas. To get the hype train rolling, the official Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter has been teasing some of what’s to come, especially for Sonic’s return to form in the 2D platforming landscape.
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Sega held a party for Sonic’s 25th anniversary at one of their Joypolis parks in Japan earlier today, which they live streamed online. There they showed new gameplay of Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice and announced that the next main Sonic game will be released in 2017.
But the coolest thing that was shown was the original concept art of various Sonic characters. While a bunch of it has been shown before (and can be found on our wiki), we also get to see never before seen design sketches of characters like Shadow the Hedgehog, E-102 Gamma and Big the Cat for the first time. You can see all of the concept art that was shown above.
[Source: The Video Game Art Archive]
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Also there are some new screenshots for this and Shattered Crystal and some concept art that reveals that Metal Sonic and Shadow are in this game with their designs unchanged. So there’s your fanservice. SEGA also confirmed that both games will come out in Europe on November 21st.
We’re not quite sure where it came from, but a new photo of the Big Red Button office has surfaced. This photo shows Bob Rafei sitting next to a board with concept art for new characters and enemies that will appear in the Sonic Boom game for Wii U. The image was found by Sonic Stadium forum members Eitarou and A Real Human Bean, though where they actually found the photo isn’t clear. Be sure to click it to see it in the full resolution. Another SSMB member, Storme Prince, distorted the picture to give a clearer view of the new characters.
[Source: The Sonic Stadium]
As was reported a few days ago, artist Greg Martin passed away in May of last year, under the radar of those who obsess over the smallest details involved in the Sonic franchise. Responsible for nearly ever major Sonic the Hedgehog cover in the west through 1995, along with a slew of promotional art, his was the image of Sonic kids across the western world grew to know and love. Who didn’t have that Are You Up 2 It? poster taped to the back of their bedroom door? Who didn’t stare obsessively at ads for Sonic CD, seeing Sonic grabbing that Time Stone out of Metal Sonic’s reach, and plot for hours on end how’d they convince their parents to buy them a Sega CD?
Some time back, Sonic Retro forum member Buyatari was able to purchase a slew of line art from the man himself, and has recently scanned them for all on the Internet to see. We tip our hat to you, for without your efforts, who knows if any of these would have seen the light of day again?
It’s that time again! Friday has once again made its merry way, and what do we get? More Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 concept art! We were spoiled a bit last week, seeing as we got two days in a row of conceptual Sonic the Hedgehog imagery thrown at us, so this week Sega has decided to scale things back to normal, with the black and white/color combo of the main attraction at their official blog, with the Facebook side dish. So, what do we get today?
Seems not every badnik we’ll be fighting off will be original. If that fish looks familiar, just one glance at his name will tell you why. Meet Chop Chop (or simply Piranha if you want to be Japanese for a day), the blue fish that would love to rush at you back in Sonic the Hedgehog 2‘s Aquatic Ruin Zone. Unless he’s learned how to fly, you can expect to trend some water in the next installment, so those who have a fear of the drowning music best get prepared now. He has been slightly redesigned since we last saw him, with the brand new addition of eyes.
The bonus piece of art is simply being called the “Flip Platform,” so make of that what you will. Yes, that bottom does kinda look like a bumper. But who yet knows if it is, or simply something interesting to look at while running through the game? I’m sure we’ll find out how it all comes together at some point.
[Source: Sega.com Blog]
Being Friday, Sega continues what they promised last week, issuing out yet another round of concept art to hype up Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2. Doing what they did last time, we get the deluxe version of concept art for one with both the black and white and color sketches, while the Facebook exclusive image only comes in the final colored form.
The first featured is the multicolored Fullboar, who will certainly fulfill your pig-badnik needs. The other is the Facebook exclusive “Steelion,” whose name is all sorts of pun. Normally I’d go into super commentary mode, but there isn’t much to say except, hey, they are new enemies. See you next week!
[Source: SEGA Blog]
For anyone out there who was expecting the exact same marketing scheme, feel free to pat yourself on the back. If the initial teaser trailer wasn’t enough Deja Vu for you, the blogs at Sega.com have announced Concept Art Friday, where every week we get to experience another piece of imagery from Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 with no context whatsoever. Hopefully we won’t be forced to answer generic questions to get palmtrees this time around…either way, what has Sega decided to use to kick off the next wave of Sonic hype?
If it hasn’t clicked yet from the black and white lineart just what that is supposed to look like, then the full color version might be enough to jog your memory…
It’s the middle of December, and the rerelease of Sonic the Hedgehog CD is supposed to happen at any moment. No, we don’t have a release date still. But Sega of America seems to realize that, yes, we really want this game. And so instead of telling us when it’ll come out, they’ve given us something amazing. Something that, by all rights, should have been in the documentary Sonic: The Birth of an Icon. Though the interior has been redone by our very own Taxman, the visual style of the game is still definitely that of Kazuyuki Hoshino, who was also the lead character designer of the game. And since he’s still at Sega, someone decided to ask him to talk about the game. And talk he did.
New concept art from the Sonic 4 flash: what appears to be a redesign of Sonic 2‘s Masher badnik.