The week has drawn to a close as does another year of the Sonic Hacking Contest. The results have arrived and you can watch judge commentary from the above video as the trophies are awarded one by one. The video is hosted by both TailsChannel and MegaGWolf For a summary of the contest results, you can read them along with notes from contest judge Spanner after the jump.
It’s been a decade since Sonic Robo Blast 2‘s 2.0 update, and while there’s been a ton of updates since, none have shaped up to be as huge as 2.2. Check out the trailer for the exciting new features coming this Saturday, December 7th, and be sure to keep it locked to Sonic Team Jr.’s site, for when the update goes live.
Sonic in Freedom Planet, E-102 Gamma in Sonic Adventure 2, two Shadows working together and new zones to explore. You bet that this year’s Sonic Hacking Contest is right around the corner! redhotsonic has compiled together footage from this year’s entries detailing whats all in store.
Below are more details about the event that will take place starting on Monday 2nd of December to Sunday the 8th. Over the week several livestreamers will be playing this year’s entries featuring redhotsonic, MegaGWolf, SomecallmeJohnny, AntDude, Garrulous64, DaveAce and more, including our own NeoHazard. For more information visit sonichacking.org.
Once upon a time, a man named Simon Wai came across a prototype of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Not only did it include lost and unused content, it was a window into the development process of one of the most celebrated games of the franchise. Sharing it with the Sonic Internet community, this discovery inspired an entire generation. Not only to wonder, to dream of things they could create, but to also research into the history of the Sonic franchise, and preserve it for future generations.
Over the past few weeks, a plethora of brand new prototypes for a number of games starring Sonic the Hedgehog surfaced. Presented by both Hidden Palace and The Cutting Room Floor, these early versions have answered questions, sparked debate, and most importantly, provided further context for understanding not only Sonic, but game development as a whole.
We also got to see Knuckles make Sonic talk to the hand.
At the tail end of April, the Sonic the Hedgehog movie had it’s first trailer drop and was met with a… less than positive reception. Going back to the drawing board, Paramont, along with a few key artists, decided a delay was in order and postponed the film until February 14th, 2020. There’s been plenty of speculation as to what this meant for the film and just how much feedback truly was taken into consideration. Well pals, speculate no more, the trailer is here and you can see it above. Heck, you probably already have.
What’s interesting is not only does Sonic look different, but the tone of the trailer seems decidedly different as well. There’s a major focus on Sonic, rather than Robotnik or the human characters, Sonic himself is way quippier and arrogant, and overall, the film just seems… better. Time will tell if it succeeds in bucking the poor movie adaption trend or if it winds up another title on the list. One thing is for sure, things are looking more promising than they were just six months ago.
Just a few short weeks after SAGE 2019, the Sonic Hacking Contest 2019 site is live! As noted on the site’s main page, account registration is still separate from the Sonic Retro or SSRG forums. However, existing accounts from 2018 should still be live, though to access them, you’ll need to use the password reset before logging in. This year, entrants will be able to submit as many entries as they like, provided they follow the contest rules. The SHC 2019 contest submission deadline is November 3rd, updates to said submissions allowed until November 10th, expo submissions due by November 17th, and finally, the contest itself running from December 2nd to the 8th.
Back in 2017, Traveller’s Tales co-founder Jon Burton created the YouTube channel GameHut, a behind the scenes look at his time as a video game developer. From Puggsy to Lego Star Wars, Jon has dived into the history and development of the games that has made Traveller’s Tales a household name.
For Sonic fans, the channel has been of particular interest, as TT worked on both Sonic 3D Blast and Sonic R, two spin-offs from the 90’s that helped carry the torch as Sonic Team focused on non-hedgehog properties. A number of videos have been uploaded over the last couple years regarding 3D Blast and R, showing early prototypes and explaining the coding tricks that maximized the hardware they were made for. Heck, Jon even released a Director’s Cut of 3D Blast not all that long ago! However, there has been one item that he mentioned having that he held back on – the demo recordings of 3D Blast’s soundtrack.
Well, until now.
Though only three songs are featured in the video, the fact that it’s marked as “#1” implies that more are on the way. Of particular interest is the the second track, an extended version of the theme song. Sure, it’s only slightly longer, but hey! It’s still neat. Hopefully we won’t have to wait long to hear the rest of those songs.
With the switch thrown at midnight, SAGE 2019 has begun! This year features the biggest host of indie games ever, as well as the much loved Sonic fan games that the show started for! The entire next week is stacked with streams, including several community staples that also grace our sister show, the Sonic Hacking Contest, as well as the yearly fan fiction reading with our friends from MAGfest. With over 80 entries, there’s tons to play, watch, and discuss, so head on over to the site and enjoy!
SEGA’s most iconic console has turned 30 years old this year. With that comes their Mini console that celebrates the legacy of the hardware. Myself along with Neo Hazard will be dual streaming the device on Sunday at 7PM Central, 12AM GMT. We’ll check out Retro-bit’s 6-button controller compatibility, check out the region swap feature and test other functionality to see how it stacks up with the competition.
Back at it again, it’s SAGE! Running from September 27th to October 4th, this year we’re looking at a whole slew of fan games, with an almost equal number of indie titles! There’s still time to submit your project to the show or get on the schedule for streaming! Check out our front page post from last month for more info.
