Fan Works, Hacking

Sonic Hacking Contest 2022 Now Accepting Entries Plus Updates

The upcoming Sonic Hacking Contest for this year (2022) was previously announced for would be entrants to await for further information. That time is now! The contest is now accepting entries on their website. Check out https://shc.zone for more information.

There is some guidelines and additional information available on the website. This includes entry eligibility, the quality control guidelines and submitting footage to this year’s trailer. The rules now list information regarding Copyright and Intellectual Property.

The SHC Twitter account also put up notices on additional features for this year’s contest including one-click installs for mods, as well as the ability for multiple uploads to limit access to the media panel or to contest judges. Splash screens are currently being prepared for this year’s contest with a splash screen ready for Sonic 3 A.I.R. mods.

Finally a reminder of important deadlines and the date for the contest week are as follows.

CONTEST SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE: End of Sunday 4th September
CONTEST UPDATES DEADLINE: End of Sunday 11th September
EXPO SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE: End of Sunday 25th September
TRAILER CLIPS DEADLINE: End of Sunday 25th September
CONTEST WEEK FROM: Monday 10th to Sunday 16th October

Further information can be found on the Hacking Contest website and the official Twitter account. Check out discussion on the contest at the Sonic Retro forums as well as the Sonic Stuff Research Group forums.

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Miscellaneous

Happy Birthday, Sonic the Hedgehog?

During the holiday season of 1991, the Sega Genesis was already two years old. Jumpstarting the 16-bit era, its sales still paled in comparison to the Nintendo Entertainment System, and with the Super Nintendo finally coming out in the United States, it might have been a safe bet to think Nintendo would continue its dominance in the market. But SEGA had an ace up their sleeve, something that could directly compete with Super Mario World – Sonic the Hedgehog. Suddenly, that safe bet was called into question. Come January ‘92, SEGA had done the impossible – market share in the U.S. for the home console market was split down the middle, with SEGA just ever so slightly having the edge.

Aggressive marketing, mall tours, a character design that instantly encapsulated everything that was hip and cool in the new decade. There was no doubt “Sonic Mania” was just beginning. It’s easy to look back and go “of course Sonic would succeed.” But what was it like to have lived in that moment? Not even as a kid who got a Genesis for Christmas, but as someone who picked up Sonic the moment it came out? Imagine being one of the SEGA faithful, having already bought a Sega Genesis, playing Thunder Force II and Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker late into the night. Waiting impatiently for that one game that would prove without a doubt the system was here to stay.

Imagine being one of the first to experience Sonic the Hedgehog. Walking into an Electronics Boutique, and seeing Sonic’s self-assured smirk on the shelves. Finger pointed, a rendition of the Green Hill Zone teasing the obstacles that would block their way to saving South Island. Did they know they were buying a piece of history as the clerk rung them up? Or was it not until they went home, sliding that cart into their Genesis, flipping the switch, and running through that first checkered loop? So filled with excitement, they just needed to tell someone about how great this new game was. Rushing to their computer, firing up that blistering 14.4 kbps modem, sharing with the world what they had experienced. No doubt, June 11th, 1991 became a date they would not soon forget.

Hold on a second. June 11th?
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Game News, Opinion

Sonic Central Happens, IGN Keeps Talking Sonic

Last year, the folks over at Sonic’s social media team rolled out the first Sonic Central, a short digital presentation talking about upcoming projects featuring the blue blur. Giving the impression it would become a somewhat regular feature, the second installment has finally happened. Has this concentrated burst of news been worth the year long wait?

Well, it’s not like there hasn’t been anything said about Sonic since May of 2021…

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Game News

Sonic Frontiers Gameplay Revealed, More Promised This Month

In May of 2021, we were teased with the existence of the next 3D Sonic the Hedgehog title. Seven months later, we were teased with the existence of the next 3D Sonic the Hedgehog title, now with a title – Sonic Frontiers. Yesterday, we were teased with the existence of Sonic Frontiers by seeing thirty seconds of gameplay footage where Sonic ran, jumped, and spun in the air around enemies.

Today, we were teased with the first seven minutes of proper gameplay footage.

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Podcasts

SEGAbits Swingin’ Report Shows: Sonic Movie Novelization Writer Kiel Phegley | Sonic Timeline Discussion

[Download] [RSS] [iTunes] [Archive]

Over at Sonic Retro’s sister site SEGAbits (say that ten times fast) I host an interview show called The SEGAbits Swingin’ Report Show, which has existed for over a dozen years. The latest shows are of interest to Sonic fans so I thought I’d cross post them here. First up, Kiel Phegley talks about how he became the go-to Sonic movie novelization writer, the process of creating a novelization for both Sonic movies, and his work with IDW on the prequel comic for Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Next up, Sonic Retro’s own David the Lurker joins me to talk about the ins and outs of the Sonic video game timeline and canon. We will discuss the split that Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces introduced, how the Archie Comics and IDW canons interact with the games and answer viewer questions. You can watch Kiel’s video up top and the timeline discussion after the break!

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Movies

Sonic The Hedgehog 2: The Retro Roundtable

We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?

Once upon a time, the very idea of a Sonic the Hedgehog movie seemed frightening. After all, the track record of videogame adaptations had not been particularly stellar, what reason was there to assume that anyone would get Sonic right? Yet here we are, on the cusp of a Sonic cinematic universe. Before Sonic the Hedgehog 2 hit theaters, Paramount announced a third movie plus a series starring Idris Elba as Knuckles the Echidna. Clearly their confidence wasn’t misplaced. As of this article, Sonic 2 has gone on to become the highest grossing film based on a videogame in the United States, and has made over $320 million worldwide. Quite a feat!

If you’ve lived in the UK, it has been a month since the movie premiered. So it’s long overdue that we give you another round of the Retro Roundtable: four mini-reviews about the latest film to star the blue blur.

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Game News

Sonic Origins Trailer Live: What We Now Know

In the wee hours of the morning, the official Sonic the Hedgehog social media account woke up and went “hey, let’s talk about Sonic Origins.” After eleven months of near radio silence, they posted a trailer complete with Hyper Potions music, the English and Japanese websites went live, and everyone suddenly woke up to talk about it.

So, what do we now know about Sonic Origins? Let’s go through it after the jump.
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Game News

Early Knuckles the Echidna art and details emerge from newly uncovered internal document

Less than a month before Knuckles’ theatrical debut comes an early document from SEGA Technical Institute dated April 12, 1993. The document, which was shared on a private Sonic the Hedgehog collectors group, was meant to introduce the new antagonist to staffers of SEGA’s American development team. Given Sonic the Hedgehog 3 released on February 2, 1994, this document was seen nearly a full year before making it one of the earliest glimpses of the character.

The document is chock full of interesting tidbits, including a humorous placeholder for his name which is literally “(Name)”. Also, it is stated that Knuckles crates a whirlwind to knock down walls. Of course, in the final game he just sort of walks into walls and “punches” them. But this ability DOES appear in the Sonic 3 Happy Meal which has the Knuckles toy spinning in a dust cloud. Also, Espio does eventually have such abilities.

After the break, read the document for yourself!

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