Monthly Archives

February 2012

Game Secrets

The Story of the Sonic Beta, With The Best Shots You’ll See Today

When it comes to new information about early versions of Sonic the Hedgehog titles, we here at Sonic Retro get very excited. If you’ve been here long enough, you may remember that this whole community was birthed because a certain fellow stumbled across the Sonic 2 Beta many moons ago. In the interim, we’ve been able to get our hands on even more Sonic 2 prereleases, not to mention early builds of Chaotix, Sonic CD, Sonic Spinball, and who can forget the interviews and concept art that have been gathered over the years…but there has been a holy grail that is still elusive to this day. Something that, until last summer, we didn’t even know existed. What I am talking about is the very first playable version of the original Sonic the Hedgehog designed specifically for the Tokyo Toy Show back in June of 1990. The only shots of that build we had for ages were of Sonic standing in a pose not seen anywhere else, and Sonic running next to a sign that we still don’t have a clear shot of. But today, that all has changed.

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Game News, Sega Retro

Sega Hosts Graffiti Contest and Reveals Details for Jet Set Radio Re-Release

 Sega has revealed more tidbits available for Jet Set Radio slated for re-release for digital distribution. Sega will be releasing the title for PC platforms along with Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 slated for this summer. Sega has also revealed a handful of screenshots showcasing the widescreen presentation. Even without updating the graphics, the game still looks just as vibrant as it did before.

Sega has also opened up a contest open to all in the US and UK regions for artists (Or would be vandals?) to submit their graffiti pieces to be used in the game. Up to 18 will be selected and will award those with a number of prizes including a Bluetooth, solar powered Rukus.  Details for the contest can be found at http://www.sega.com/jsrcontest

Game News

Watch Someone In Spain Play Sonic 4: Episode 2

It isn’t a secret that Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 is coming to just about everything under the sun. One particular release they have been pushing, though, is the version that will be on Android devices, specifically those with the NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 processor. After all, it was an earlier conference with NVIDIA that was originally meant to unveil the logo to Episode 2 (though that didn’t actually happen). Well, at the Mobile World Congress 2012 currently taking place in Barcelona, Spain, this cross promotion has allowed a playable build of the game to be on the show floor. And where there are playable builds of Sonic games, there are men and women with video cameras ready to capture every second!

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Game News

Sonic 4: Episode 2 Japanese Website Updates, Screenshots Galore

Earlier today, Sega of Japan decided to update their website for Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2. Though the splash page teasing the unveiling of the site has been there for a bit, the doors finally opened. Yes, it does feel similar to the Episode 1 site layout, but that’s more then likely intentional. With badniks and rings floating in the background, you can take a gander at Sylvania Castle and White Park all you want!

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Game News

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 Achievements Revealed and More Screenshots

Just as we thought we wouldn’t see any more Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 info or media for a while, the achievements for the game suddenly pop out of nowhere. Around the same time Sega of Europe has uploaded seven more screenshots on their official website, showing a returning object from the more recent titles in the Sonic franchise:

As you can see, the Red Star Rings from Sonic Colours and Sonic Generations are back. In previous games they unlocked Game Land stages or extras and skills respectively, so the question is what they unlock this time around. Go after the jump to see the rest of the screenshots and the achievements, beware that these do have some pretty big spoilers.

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Game News

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 Gameplay Trailer Now Online

Look, screenshots are all well and nice. Certainly better than an endless stream of concept art that doesn’t clue us in to what the final product will actually look like. But ever since Sega revealed that Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 was being developed, there has been one main request: to see how it looks in motion.

Well, just as was foretold, today Gamespot.com officially unveiled the first gameplay trailer to Sonic 4: Episode 2. How does it look? Well, judge for yourself.

That is certainly more than three seconds of gameplay footage!
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Game News, Sega Retro

Jet Set Radio Skating Towards XBLA and PSN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfDlHdERxrE

Turns out the new Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 trailer (more on that later) may not be the most important Sega-related reveal today. A teaser trailer for the re-release of Jet Set Radio, a favorite of all Dreamcast fans, has just been released on Youtube. While there’s no release date announced, we do know that it will be released on Xbox Live Arcade and Sony Entertainment Network.

It seems like fans don’t need to worry much about Sega having lost the licensing to the music like with the digital release of Crazy Taxi, considering Funky Radio can be heard in the video above. Now let’s just hope it gets a better treatment than the other Dreamcast ports released so far as well.

Game News

Sonic Heroes Now Available on the European Playstation Store for PS3

Sonic Heroes, one of the games that according to some started the wave of bad games in the Sonic franchise, is now available on the Playstation Store in Europe for £7.99/€9.99 for the Playstation 3. This was released along with other PS2 games under the PS2 Classics label on SEN. Note that these games (Including Sonic Heroes) didn’t get the HD treatment certain other “classics” like the God of War or Sly Cooper franchises got. These are exactly the same as the original versions, with the resolution being upscaled to what you have in your PS3 settings.

So yes, this means it’s the worst version of Sonic Heroes. And no, this does not mean that Sonic Adventure 2: Battle will be getting a re-release. Also, the file size is 4.5 GB, so if for some reason you actually want to buy this game make sure you have enough space on your PS3’s hard drive.

[Via Playstation Blog]

Game News, Sega Retro

Capcom, SEGA and Bandai Namco Crossover Game for 3DS Announced

Announced at the Nintendo Direct live stream earlier today, a crossover game for the Nintendo 3DS between Capcom, Sega and Bandai Namco is in development. The last of these three is also doing the publishing and one of their developers, Banpresto, best known for the Super Robot Wars franchise, is making the title.

That’s all that there’s known at the moment. Any details like what franchises appear in the game or if the game will even hit stores outside Japan still need to be announced. You can visit the teaser site here, but there’s not much there to discover besides the company logos. Still, whatever this is may be worth keeping an eye on.

Animation, Miscellaneous

Eggman Appears Along With Other Video Game Villains in Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph

Any animation fan should fondly remember Robert Zemeckis’ tribute to the golden age of cartoons, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. To those who have never seen the movie (and you should be ashamed of yourself if you haven’t), the movie contained many cameos from various cartoons with characters like Donald Duck and Daffy Duck sharing screentime together. Disney’s upcoming movie Wreck-It Ralph does something similar (though it presumably does not contain live-action actors), but instead of being about cartoons it’s about videogames.

The movie is about that angry looking fellow shown in the movie’s logo, Wreck-It Ralph, who appears in a fictional arcade game called Fix-It Felix. His job is to destroy the buildings that the game’s titular hero has to fix. Because Ralph doesn’t like being the bad guy anymore and wants to be good he gets out of the game and jumps into other genres like first person shooters and kart racers. Though the games he gets into are made up for the movie, not all of the characters are. Like Roger Rabbit, famous characters from videogame history appear throughout the film.

One scene in particular has Ralph in a support group for villains, pictured in the above image (taken from Disney’s D23 Magazine). As you can see Eggman appears in this scene along with Bowser, Dr. Wily and Zangief. If he’s just going to sit there doing nothing or if he actually has a speaking role we don’t know, but it’s still neat to see him appear in a big Disney flick. Considering the nature of the film, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Sonic make a small cameo as well. Of course if he doesn’t matter because the movie sounds awesome as it is. You can find Wreck-It Ralph in theaters from November 2nd this year.

[Via Rockman Corner]

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