Game News, Miscellaneous

Japan Celebrates In Style, Announces iDevice App

So America got Sonic Boom during E3, and the U.K. is getting Summer of Sonic this weekend. But what about Japan, the country where the original Sonic the Hedgehog was conceptualized and produced? Well, this past weekend the Sega Joypolis arcade in Tokyo, Japan held their “Sonic the Hedgehog 20th Birthday Party Anniversary Exhibition.” While the Sonic display connected to it opened on the 11th of June, last Saturday was the big celebration, going full out for the 100 invited guests along with whoever else could fit through the door at the last minute. These diehard Japanese fans were not disappointed, able to see Naka, Ohshima and Iizuka live on stage. Sure, there wasn’t a 40 minute Crush 40 extravaganza, but Senoue was more then willing to show his smiling mug, and the Director of Sonic Generations was also on hand. After all, wasn’t the announcement of Sonic’s latest game that got this whole 20th celebration rolling?


As can be expected, a playable demo of Green Hill from Generations was once again on display, but the event did reveal a few choice pieces of information. In addition to the Sonic 1 & 2 Soundtrack announcement, Sega revealed that an iPhone/Touch App called “Sonic 20th Anniversary” will be available free for a limited time starting on Sonic’s birthday, June 23rd. Among such app staples as news feeds and phone wallpaper, a special game called Sonic the Sketch Hog will be included. Looking quite similar to an earlier Japanese-exclusive cellphone game called Sonic Freehand, the miniture sketchs of Sonic that litter the original Japanese manuals come to life. Whether or not the game will be exactly the same but for the iPhone is unknown at this point, but either way should prove to be a fun diversion on the go.

At the end of the festivities, the crowd chanted “Happy Birthday Sonic,” the vocals forever preserved and meant to be included in Sonic Generations, just as the Americans did at Sonic Boom. Does this mean we’ll get plenty of European accents flooding the game this weekend? Only Kevin Eva knows for sure.

While the party may be over, the celebration at Joypolis is still in full swing, the Sonic display remaining until July 10th. So if you happen to be in Japan, swing by, experience Sonic Generations, play some older Sonic games, and look at all the sweet swag you’re not allowed to take home. Like the original version of this picture. Heck, the marker color’s still look as fresh as the day Ohshima drew them.

The following video is in French, yes. But it’s the best footage so far of the entire Sonic set up at Joypolis, so give it a whirl. And if you want to see more photos of the birthday event and can’t get enough of Naka and Ohshima posing, click here.

[Source – Game Watch and XboxGen]

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12 Comments

  • Reply

    now we only need a new event in Dubai :V

    • Reply

      whhaaaaaaaaaattt…dude, everything in dubai is better. all the money is there. I swear, if they make a sonic celbration in dubai, I bet it would be the size of sonic boom, summer of sonic, and sonic exhibition COMBINED!

  • Reply

    when they showed Sonic Adventure on Dream Cast i almost cried, the nostalgia 🙁

    this is really great, if only my room was like this, also did he say House Of The Dead 4?

  • Reply

    Haha, the guy at 1:24 knows about the “Don’t touch the controls in Special Stage 1 to get where you need to go” trick. Also kinda nice to see someone just screwing around in Modern GHZ near the end of the video there, looks like it controls quite nicely.

  • Reply

    lol i also think that guy didn’t know sonic modern doesn’t have spin dash cuz he was mashing that button alot in a similar fashion. Such a shame spin dash is only reduced to being a fancy drift for modern. Also is it just me or does modern sonic seem to look like you can actually control him in a 3d space more like the adventure series when he’s not running fast?

  • Reply

    If only I knew what that guy is saying… Still entertaining though…

  • Reply

    THIS was the “earth shattering” announcement? 😐

    Ah well, at least *something*’s comming out the 23rd.

  • Reply

    see that wine glass and sonic ring at 0:40? I own both of them. those are literally the rarest sonic items ever. in rare, I mean being available to the public. having something rare is the most we sonic fans can ever possibly own. now, a lot of things in this exhibition are unique, meaning that only 1 copy of them exist. like the original drawings of sonic and what not. but nevertheless, owning the 10th anniversary wine glass, which only 10 of them exist in the whole world, and the ring, which only 500 of them exist in the world, and even the ungodly rare 10th anniversary sonic edition dreamcast, which only 5 of them exist in the world, is an achievment only a handful of sonic fans have. and I’m proud to be one of them. considering the millions and millions of sonic fans all over the world.

  • Reply

    I’m always upset about my sega saturn. here in america, only the black saturn is available. but over in japan, they have a gray one and a white one. but what makes me confused is which color mainly represents the saturn in japan, or even worldwide? the black one, the gray one, or the white one? isn’t the white saturn the most popular one in japan? why did they have the gray saturn on display? if Segata Sanshiro saw that, he would literally smash the whole the place and choke everyone around him to death.

  • Reply

    Okay, it seems like obviously, the “hapyp Birthday Sonic” from Sonic Boom will be used for the English version, the one done by the Japanese crowd at Joypolis will be in the Japanese version of the game, and assuming the same thing will be done at Summer of Sonic, that will go into the European version, since this is the first time the game will actually be dubbed for more than just the English and Japanese releases.

  • Reply

    Where is that sonic app?

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