Another year rolls around and like clockwork, it’s time for another Summer of Sonic – my 4th and the event’s 5th. With not just a new venue this year but an entirely new town in Brighton, and with all the tickets selling out in the space of around 5 minutes, the show was even more hotly anticipated than last year. So, what’s the skinny, you ask? Well, dear audience, please read on.
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summer of sonic
Saturday, June 25th. A thousand-strong horde of Sonic fans descends upon the Camden Centre in London, to celebrate a video gaming icon with music, games, laughs and chilli dogs. So far, so Summer of Sonic, but this was the 20th anniversary show so there had to be something just a bit special going on, and blimey did they ever deliver on that. How? By getting Yuji Naka and Takashi Iizuka to drop by London to enjoy the festivities, do some signings and some Q&A sessions. That is pretty hard to top, ladies and gents, especially when fans were able to quiz the pair on Madonna, the joint American/Japanese development of Sonic 2, and dat barrel. However, Sonic Retro was also able to get a little more into the bargain and snag an interview slot with Naka and Iizuka. Exciting? I thought so.
Now if you will, allow me to set the scene. Things are behind schedule and everyone is hot and totally knackered, a fact that fellow attendees will attest to. We’re now down to the last interview slot of the day, and another site needs to cram into the session too. We finally get to head in as Jun Senoue takes to the stage to wow everyone downstairs. Still, I know things are going to be at least a little bit good when we’re asked what sites we came from – the mention of our site causes an “Ah, Sonic Retro!” from Iizuka, as he tilts his head back and smiles with a mixture of recognition and amusement. If you were ever in doubt of Retro’s reach, dear reader, that should give you a rough idea of our place in the grand scheme of things.
Then, with little time to spare and more questions than I can possibly ask, we get down to business.
Retro: Naka-san, you joined Sega around the time of its first real console releases, having worked on the SG-1000 and Sega My Card series back in the mid-80s. What was it like to see Sega become a video game publisher that was known all over the world?
Naka: At the beginning, Sega’s real catalyst for success was the arcade, and Sonic pulled it along and really built upon that. Also, the fact that we had hardware and were a first party helped to give us that status in the market, as a global name. So, I feel really happy to be able to be involved, really lucky. It’s really amazing that something created in Haneda, which is not at the centre of Tokyo, sold worldwide.
Hit the post break for the rest of the interview!
Filling in for Slingerland this week, as he is too busy partying with a chicken or something. Sometimes, I don’t know about that man.
Sonic Retro News
- There’s been a series of updates on Sonic Extreme, with commentary from the owner and the original company who developed the demo. Additional footage is also inside. [ Sonic Extreme: Yes, with an E ]
- Progress is coming slowly but surely with Sonic & Knuckles Collection; this time, MainMemory has released a new sound effect replacement tool. [ SKCsnd ]
- Ranger, one of the guys behind Sonic 2 XL, is back with a Mother 3-styled RPG fangame. Preliminary screenshots are up , but still waiting on a demo. [ Sonic and the Rings of Order ]
- DMAshura has announced his open-source Python Sonic engine, Porcupyne. If you’re interested, feel free to jump on the project. [ Porcupyne ]
Sonic/SEGA News
- NG.DevTeam, the studio behind Last Hope and Fast Strikers, have put out their first shots of the upcoming game Gun Lord for the Neo-Geo and Sega Dreamcast. Good to see indie developers still supporting the system more than a decade later. [ Gun Lord ]
- SEGABits is in the middle of Yakuza Week, meant to boost awareness of the new PlayStation 3 game Yakuza 4. Follow along and retweet their articles once a day for a chance to win some of the awesome prizes they’re giving away. [ Yakuza Week ]
- Sega’s upcoming team shooter Binary Domain has been delayed until 2012. To tide you over in the meanwhile, they’ve released a trailer of the game, set in 2080 Tokyo. [ Binary Domain ]
- Sega of Japan have set up a special Twitter feed for Sonic’s 20th anniversary. There have been some pretty interesting tidbits over there so far, including the possibility that Sonic Generations may be getting another title before the game ships. [ @sonic20th ]
- Reservations for this year’s Summer of Sonic are already closed after just 10 hours! Good thing I’m getting in on my dashing looks and charm alone. [ Summer of Sonic 2011 ]
So the game that the vast majority of the SoS-goers were there to play was Sonic 4. Now, a few in the scene have already played it thanks to the leak but I’m willing to bet that most haven’t due to the J-Tag requirement, so for the vast majority at the show it was their first playthrough, it was certainly mine. And after the wait in the queue, the demo pods came within reach and I finally got to see if the internet butthurt over this simple downloadable video game had been warranted.
Crossing London and heading out of Zone 1 with my newly aquired Oyster Card, I arrived at Shepards Bush for my second Summer of Sonic (I was there for last year’s event), and after a quick loop of the roundabout by the train station (for which I blame some terrible signage on the part of London’s travel authorities), I finally crossed into the main park and spotted the Pavilion for the first time – though honestly, the crowd was more of a pointer. =P
