If there’s one thing most of you guys know about me, it’s that I’m a huge Mad Men geek. At the end of this most recent season, Bobby is taken to Disneyland, and he says this really poignant line: “I don’t want to ride an elephant. I want to fly a jet!” Therefore, I guess it’s time to not only look back, but open our eyes to the future of Sonic Retro. Yeah, it’s time for one of these again: State of the Retro.
Monthly Archives
January 2011
You may remember the PartnerNet Leak of Sonic 4: Episode 1 quite a while back, which sent the community into an uproar over several questionable design choices Sega put into the game.
Thanks to a slight slip of the hand on Sega’s part, the company accidentally uploaded the same build up on the Wii’s Shopping Channel over in Japan. For a small period of time, people who purchased the game received this build until it was taken offline and replaced with the actual final build.
But as with all slight slips of the hand, just a few minutes is enough time for things like this to leak out on to the Internet and pop their way onto YouTube. Forum member 1stKirbyever has taken the time of tracking down said leak and recording a 55-minute playthrough of the prototype Wii version, noting differences between this leak, which includes the infamous pinball and mine cart stages, and the final build.
Look below for a full breakdown of differences without watching the whole video.
Coming on the heels of 2009’s Sonic the Hedgehog release for the iPhone, Sega has released a version of the same game for Android phones in Japan. This version features an emulator and ROM combination, as opposed to a port, and somewhat accurately emulates the original Sonic the Hedgehog for the Mega Drive. The game retails for ¥700 and can be purchased from Android Market, au one market or Gゲ.
No announcement has been made as to whether the game will be released on the Android platform in other regions yet.
For more information, see the official site for the Android release.
The Sonic the Hedgehog fanbase has a very unique reputation. Made up of fans from across the globe, it is split up in so many directions that it can cause your head to spin. People who love the old games, the new games, one of the four TV shows, the American comic, the English comic, the Japanese comics, the OVA…people who love to talk about who Sonic should marry or how he should sound or what he should look like…yeah, it’s not hard to see why the Sonic fandom isn’t the most well-respected on the planet. There are those who yearn for a simpler time, when half of those continuities didn’t exist and the fandom seemed to be a bit more gelled together, giving off the impression that it wasn’t as bad as it is nowadays. And with SEGA getting ready to celebrate Sonic’s 20 years of existence, isn’t it only right to celebrate 20 years of the fanbase? To remember the good ol’ days? And what better way to do that then to turn back the “page” of history, and look fondly at “Sonic-Grams,” the first physical form of communication for numerous Sonic the Hedgehog fanatics…
Less than a week remains on the countdown! Giving credit where it is certainly due, today’s Dev Blog update looks at the talent behind the art direction and animation of S2HD.
We’d like to post up questions on the blog that the project’s followers here on Retro have for individual staff members as well, so sound off in the comments!
When the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog speaks, millions listen. Except those who are waiting for Martin Burke to make his triumphant return.
This amazing footage was taken by Retro’s own Skyler “Moonshadow Ben Kalough Catz” King, on assignment at SacAnime, in beautiful Sacramento, California! Among the many guest who showed up was Sega’s own Roger Craig Smith, the current voice of the blue blur. Apparently nice enough to deal with Sonic the Hedgehog fans (or at least hasn’t fully come to terms with what he’s gotten into) he offered his well wishes to not only Moonshadow, but the only Sonic site second to Sega. What site could that be? Protip: It starts with the letter “S.” Playing favorites? I certainly hope so.
I really need to get around to checking out those consoles.
To get the blog rolling before the countdown hits zero, we’d like to give you a better idea for the individuals behind the project and what their roles include. Only a few of the staff members are active on Retro’s forums, so take a look — there’s at least a few you’re unfamiliar with. We’ll be updating the Staff Attack! in three parts, starting with the team’s veterans.
Sonic the Hedgehog fans are a patient bunch. Sometimes. Patient in the fact that they have been waiting for the redemption of the series not just in their own eyes, but in the eyes of the media at large. It’s hard to say you love something that hasn’t had a critically praised game since 1998. Hiding behind all of this has been a longing of a different sort – the yearning for a Sonic the Hedgehog movie. After all, Mario was able to receive the full big screen treatment (even if it was completely insane) at a time when Sonic the Hedgehog was just entering his biggest period of popularity. With two television series, comic books, and numerous other media, it was simply assumed that Sonic would be in a feature film. And while the west did get a “movie” (which was simply a two-episode direct to video animation from Japan stitched together), it wasn’t that high-budget extravaganza people were hoping for. And though rumors of a Sonic movie have been circulating since the Mega Drive days, as of the dawn of Sonic’s 20th anniversary celebrations, nothing has come to fruition. Thus, it was inevitable that a Sonic the Hedgehog fan film would be made.
ScrewAttack’s Hard News feature had a segment about the Sonic 2 HD project today. While not a whole lot was said–and, in fact, there was a lot of insistence on the project’s inevitable shutdown–it’s nice to see that the project is getting a fair amount of exposure.
With 12 days left and counting, Sonic 2 HD is bound to impress with its latest upcoming announcement. What will it be? Tune in and find out!
Even though 2011 has only just begun, Sega has wasted no time in kicking off their celebrations for Sonic and Puyo Puyo’s 20th anniversaries with teaser websites.
While there’s very little in terms of information, Sega also released two images: one of Sonic with an item monitor and one of the official 20th Anniversary logo. A pop up on the site when clicking the logo gives information about the debut of Sonic and the fact that the brand has sold over 70,000,000 units globally since June 23, 1991.
It goes on to tease future games for the franchise in 2011, of which we know there are three more projects to be announced this year according to Allan Pritchard, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Sega of America, in a recent interview with Game Informer.
Source: andriasang