Monthly Archives

October 2014

Retro Contests

Giveaway: Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Shattered Crystal

rise of lyric box thumbnail
[The following article was written by site member GerbilSoft]
It’s that time again: GerbilSoft gives away new Sonic games! This time, it’s Sonic Boom for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS.
The rules are simple. Send an email to me, GerbilSoft, with answers to the four questions listed below (and optionally the fifth question). If you answer all four questions correctly, you qualify for a chance to win one of these two games:

Two winners will be selected; the odds of winning depend on the number of correct entries.
Official Rules:

  • Participants will send their answers to the four questions below (plus optional fifth question) to [email protected], with subject: “Sonic Retro’s Sonic Boom Giveaway”. Entries must be sent by2014/11/06 11:59 PM EST (2014/11/07 04:59 AM UTC). (DON’T POST YOUR ANSWERS IN THE COMMENTS!)
  • The giveaway is open to all legal residents (13 years of age or older) of the United States, Canada (except Quebec), United Kingdom, and Australia (except ACT). Other countries may be eligible; check your local regulations.
  • Only one entry per person; make sure your answers are correct before you send your email!
  • Sonic Retro, Sega Retro, and SEGAbits staff are not eligible to participate.
  • Two winners will be randomly selected from all entries that have the correct answers for the 4 main trivia questions. If no one got all four correct, then two will be selected for 3 out of 4, etc. If no one got any answers right, then you all suck and the contest will start over with new questions.
  • Winners will be announced within two days after the contest closes, and they will be contacted with regards to what game they would like to receive.
  • Prizes will be new games delivered to the winners using Amazon.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to some issues with the Sonic Lost World contest, I will be disqualifying anyone who:

  • Attempts to submit multiple entries in order to skew the odds in their favor. (This is only for users who maliciously send tons of entries; accidentally sending one or two duplicate emails will not be a problem.)
  • Complains about the choice of platform(s) and/or game(s) for this giveaway.

THE TRIVIA QUESTIONS:
If you want to win GerbilSoft’s Sonic Games, you just have to answer these four trivia questions. (The fifth one is a bonus question that won’t count for anything but bragging rights.) Send your answers to [email protected], with subject: “Sonic Retro’s Sonic Boom Giveaway”. (Confirmation emails won’t be sent; if you want a confirmation, enable the “Return Receipt” flag in your email client.) Entries must be received by 2014/11/06 11:59 PM EST (2014/11/07 04:59 AM UTC).

  • When Sonic Adventure 2 was ported to GameCube, one of the options on the main menu was removed. Which option was this?
  • What two Game Gear Sonic games were not released on cartridge outside of Japan?
  • What assembly language do you need to know to hack the Sonic Advance series?
  • Shadow the Hedgehog (the game) has branching story paths. What is the total number of possible paths throughout the storyline?

Optional bonus question for bragging rights:

  • What C++ library used in recent Sonic games has the same name as one of Sonic’s signature moves?
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Animation, Podcasts

SEGA Cinema Halloween Special: Sonic the Hedgehog Double Feature


 
SEGA Cinema has risen from the dead with a spooktacular boogielicious Halloween Special! Okay, so it’s actually not scary at all. Like our Christmas Special, Sonic Retro and SEGAbits writers team up to tackle classic Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons. Barry and George are joined by Sonic Retro’s David the Lurker to watch two episodes featuring clowns, ghouls, sea monsters, and a half-man half-sponge who lives in the sea. No, it isn’t Spongebob.
First up is Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog‘s “Boogey-Mania”, which plays out like a cross between NiGHTS into Dreams and A Nightmare on Elm Street. And then, interrupting the Sonic cartoons are a compilation of cutscenes from the SEGA Saturn’s Deep Fear and Mr. Bones. Ending the special is the scariest thing of them all, an episode of Sonic Underground titled “The Deepest Fear” in which Sonic faces his fear of water. Don’t worry, he doesn’t drown and the story ends with an awful song. Enjoy the special, and Happy Halloween!
Like this video? Subscribe to the SEGAbits YouTube channel!

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Fan Works, Game News

Taxman and Stealth celebrate Sonic & Knuckles’ 20th anniversary with a Sonic 3 & Knuckles proof of concept


Today marks the 20th anniversary of SEGA’s Sonic & Knuckles, and to celebrate, Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 remastered developer Christian Whitehead shared a proof of concept prototype from the Taxman & Stealth personal vaults featuring Sonic 3 & Knuckles running on the Retro Engine. Of course, this is presented unofficially, so don’t jump to the conclusion that a Sonic 3 & Knuckles remastered is on the way anytime soon. Still, awesome to see that they’ve done work on the much requested title, even in an unofficial capacity. The Taxman himself shared this link in our forums, stating that “this isn’t an official announcement of any Sega project, nor to we intend to work on this as a fan-project. It’s simply a proof of concept from our vaults that has been kept to our chests for some time.”
You can learn more about the technical side of the project in Stealth’s latest blog post!

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Fan Works, Music

Zone Runners Debut Album!

ZRTrio-ChehayaHey! The Zone Runners album is now out for purchase! New in from DiGi Valentine, halc, and Sir Jordanius, it’s a hip hop album based on Sonic tunes, and the Zone Runner’s adventures through the zones their songs are based on. Check it out! http://zonerunners.net/

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Comics

Archie Comics announce “Worlds Unite” – The Sequel to the “Worlds Collide” Sonic VS Mega Man Crossover


In something almost completely out of the blue, Archie comics has announced the Blue Blur and the Blue Bomber are set to join forces once again in the new crossover event Worlds Unite, starting Spring 2015. Indeed, Sonic and Mega Man are starring in another crossover comic series, set to be “even bigger” than 2013’s previous crossover.
As Polygon reports, the new crossover will be detailed at New York Comic Con later on this week. Paul Kaminski, executive director of editorial at Archie, has said that “You saw what happened when worlds collided, now see what happens when Words Unite! And this time, no universe will be safe…”
Intriguing stuff! Keep an eye on NYCC, where the Archie Action Hour: Sonic the Hedgehog and Megan Man panel is set for Thursday at 1pm, where more details are set to be announced regarding this exciting crossover event.
[Reported by TrackerTD]

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Community

SEGA’s Sonic Boom 2014: Lost in New York


SEGA’s Sonic Boom event took place this past Saturday in New York, and I was able to attend, representing both Sonic Retro and SEGAbits. The whole night was a lot of fun, and it was great to meet so many people responsible for one of my favorite SEGA franchises. Stephen Frost did an excellent job hosting the show. All the guests were friendly and willing to go above and beyond for fans, most notably Ted Poley and Mike Pollock who were able to stick around and sign additional autographs outside their sessions. If you’re interested in reading how the night unfolded, make sure to check out my impressions over at SEGAbits.
What made this year’s Sonic Boom unique from previous years was the focus on SEGA West’s Sonic Boom franchise. Outside of the live music, which featured tracks from Sonic Adventure through to Sonic Lost World, and Iizuka being present, the night was mostly about Sonic Boom. All the bases were covered, with Archie Sonic artist Tracy Yardley manning a busy table featuring a convention exclusive Sonic Boom poster for sale, and guests from TOMY, Sanzaru Games Inc., BigRedButton Entertainment, and the full voice cast doing interviews and signing autographs. Fans expecting a peek at what Sonic Team are up to were out of luck, but for those who wanted to learn more about SEGA’s new branch in the Sonic franchise, the night did not disappoint. I can easily say that I am far more excited for the 3DS version and the cartoon show now, though the Wii U version and the comic book are still a gray area. Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric looks far better in person, however I’m not sure how well the game will be paced, and the camera in the speed sections needs work. The comic book is sure to have great art, but I’m not sure how the stories will play out. Still, following the event I am more sold on Sonic Boom now than I was before.
Being the only Sonic Retro writer in attendance this year, I’ll admit to feeling a bit like a lone wolf for the first half of the night. Thankfully, I came across several Sonic and SEGA fan site and YouTube channel owners which included SEGA Driven‘s SonicYoda, The Sonic Stadium‘s T-Bird, Tails’ Channel’s Matt, SomeCallMeJohnny, and the Find The Computer Room team. It was great to meet these guys in person, and I was glad to find such a large pocket of people at Sonic Boom who liked seeing Shadow getting kicked in the face, thought mid-20s hipster Chris Thorndyke is the greatest idea for a cosplay, and believed Big the Cat deserved his own game (okay, maybe I’m the only one who believes that last one).
After the break, check out a gallery of photos from the night, and there’s also those additional impressions I mentioned *cough cough*.
Continue Reading

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Game News

Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal Demo Coming to the eShop on November 4th


According to Nintendo World Report, a demo of Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal will be released on the eShop on November 4th. It isn’t known if or when a demo of its Wii U counterpart Rise of Lyric will also be released or if this is the same demo that was playable at events like Sonic Boom or PAX.
The site also recorded a playthrough of the Sonic Boom demo with direct feed audio, so you can also listen to what the game’s music is like. They recorded some gameplay of the Rise of Lyric demo as well, which can be seen after the jump. Continue Reading

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Miscellaneous

Monday Links: That Game With The Smashing Edition

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Chances are that if you played some video games this past weekend, that you were playing Super Smash Bros. for 3DS. And if you did, chances are that you noticed that Sonic’s taunt is not nearly as fun to use as it used to be. No longer does Sonic annoy other played by saying “You’re too slow!” or “C’mon, step it up!”, instead he just says “Sonic Speed!” or “C’mon!”. Sadly this isn’t nearly as satisfying to use.
So it’s a good thing that Shulk from Xenoblade Chronicles is there his incredibly British voice. He’ll shout “I’m really feeling it!” or “Now it’s Shulk time!” when taunting, which really fills in the gap Sonic’s lack of satisfying voice lines left. He can also say “This is the Monado’s power!”, but I don’t think that’s quite as satisfying to use as his other two taunts. Also, one of Shulks alternate costumes is him wearing nothing but his undies. Basically my point is: everyone should be maining Shulk instead of Sonic.
Oh right, this article is supposed to have links in it. They’re all after the jump cause oh god there are so many. Continue Reading

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