It’s pretty clear that the development of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric was troubled to say the least, and nothing shows this quite as well as seeing what the game used to look like. While we don’t know how much work was done on this version of the game, it’s pretty clear that the game was originally going to look a lot better graphically. This isn’t the first time that we’ve seen this unused hub(?) world, but this is the first footage of the characters interacting with the environment. Which shows that it was playable at some point. This footage was found in the demo reel of character animator Tuan Nguyen, who was a junior animator on the project.
SEGA just announced that three more 3D Classics games will be released on Nintendo 3DS later this year. These include: 3D Streets of Rage 2 coming this July, 3D Gunstar Heroes coming this August, and 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2 comingthis September. Aside from the addition of 3D effects, these new versions will likely have plenty of extra features. Each of them will cost $5.99/€4.99/£4.49 and will be released on the eShop.
Also, real talk, Gunstar Heroes is pretty darn good and you all should get that instead of yet another Sonic 2 re-release if you’d have to choose between the two. Just saying, you’ve probably played Sonic 2 enough times already.
So while you can use quite a few amiibo with various games, so far it’s only been possible to use the Sonic amiibo with the latest Super Smash Bros. However, soon you’ll also be able to use it with Mario Kart 8 as well, as Nintendo is adding compatibility for more amiibo (including Sonic) in an upcoming update.
After this update you’ll be able to unlock a Sonic racing suit and helmet for your Mii by using your Sonic amiibo with the game. Meaning that you can finally race against Mario while pretending that you’re playing as Sonic. This is what fans have been waiting for since Sonic started driving a car in Sonic Drift.
Other new compatible amiibo include Mega Man, Bowser, Toad, Olimar, Rosalina, Villager, Pac-Man, and of course Wario. The update, which also includes a new 200cc mode with appropriately faster gameplay, will be released on April 23rd.
So SEGA has been announcing a lot of games lately, and last week they decided to announce one more. And if you’re wondering just how anime it is:
It’s pretty goddamn anime. This anime game is called Miracle Girls Festival, and it features various anime characters from anime like YuruYuri, Wake Up, Girls!, Vividred Operation, and a bunch of other anime that my friends who are into anime will probably try to get me to watch. And as you can see by the UI, this game is gonna be a lot like the Project Diva games except will less vocaloids and more anime schoolgirls. Featured SEGA Retro Articles of the Week
Look, a new thing that I added to the list! Here I’ll link to an article from SEGA Retro that’s pretty neat or possibly needs more work. First off, to keep up with the anime theme of this week’s article [Astro Boy]
Also, that Astro Boy game kinda sucks so here’s an article about a good one [Astro Boy: Omega Factor]
So SEGA put out a update for Sonic Runnerswhich you have to download if you want to be able to play the game, which is okay as long as you can download it. Except it’s not officially released yet outside of Japan and Canada, so Android users outside of those countries can’t update the game the normal way.
Thankfully, Neowl from our forums has uploaded the .apk file, so just install it on your Android device and you should be able to play the game again. And your save data won’t be lost by downloading it. Alternatively, you can also download the update through the Japanese QooApp store. You should also be able to download any future updates through that as well. iOS users should be able to normally update the game through the App Store.
As for what the update actually does, we don’t know the official patch notes but our forum members have noticed framerate improvements and that the game no longer closes when their phone goes into sleep mode. So you no longer have to worry about your phone going on stand by because of how long the loading screens are.
This was a pretty good week when it comes to SEGA stuff, with them revealing new games and releasing 3D OutRun, a fantastic re-release of the original game with new features. And among the games they revealed was Tembo the Badass Elephant, an action sidescroller by Game Freak that’s coming to PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One. It was playable at EGX Rezzed earlier this week, and the first impressions from the couple of our forum members who were there are pretty positive. It’s always nice to see a new quirky sidescroller, so we’ll be looking forward to this one. Featured SEGAbits Article of the Week
Okay so the SEGAbits gods thought that no longer linking SEGAbits and general SEGA stuff in Monday Links wasn’t such a great idea. But you know what’s a good idea? Still not linking them on Monday Links and instead doing a separate feature with just SEGA stuff and without the Sonic. So here’s a new feature that’s a recap of SEGAbits and SEGA stuff. Featured SEGAbits Article of the Week
Sonic Retro forum member woun has been uncovering a plethora of data contained in the recently soft launched Sonic Runners. The new assets reveal upcoming characters and events that will take place in future episodes of the game. While several characters were shown off in the game’s latest trailer, new surprises include Metal Sonic and Big the Cat! Sorry, had to include an exclamation point, because c’mon… it’s Big the Cat!
Also revealed are upcoming events featuring characters and locations from Sonic and the Secret Rings, Shadow and Omega with creepy glowing purple eyes, and what appears to be Metal Espio and Metal Eggman. You can see woun’s findings as they come over at the Sonic Retro forums.
[UPDATE 2: If you’re outside of Japan and want to play this on your Android device, you can download the APK file here.]
[UPDATE: Read below for a lovely write up by forum member Roybertito about the game and some of its nuances.]
As seems to be the case with mobile games and their oblong release dates, Sonic Runners bursts out of the warp zone and onto your friendly local digital shop. There are some caveats, however.
As of this time of writing, I am unable to download the title on any of my three Android devices (a Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 2013 running on the latest version of Licorice, and an Xperia X10 running on Gingerbread) on the Google Play Store but those on the Apple side of the digital world have already gotten the game running. Interestingly, the version released is marked as 1.0.0t, representing it’s a test build. Of course, the humor isn’t lost in the event that another Sonic related thing was leaked early, as has seemingly become a trend in some capacity.
Regardless, early reports show the game plays like an auto runner ala Rayman Jungle Run with you in control of Sonic and friends’ movements as they zip through the grassy knolls of Sonic Lost World’sGreen Hill Recolor #29 Windy Hill Zone. And if that isn’t enough to tickle your free-to-play mobile game fancy, plenty of microtransactions are included! One such, as posted over on Sonic Stadium’s Twitter via H Hog, invites players to invite their friends to play the game for a bounty of red star rings and the chance to play as series fan girl and general annoyance, Amy Rose. But only if you get 10 friends to join the game!
Remember, we’re dealing with normal Amy here, not arguably better Boom Amy.
Regardless, with the game now on the shops and playable on the iOS side of things, it’ll only be a matter of time before Android users can join in on the fun and advertising. Continue Reading
We all know the story. 19 years ago, everyone was getting super excited about the upcoming release of Sonic X-treme, which would mark Sonic’s first fully three dimensional adventure. Long story short, the game was never released, and the Sega Saturn always had a hole in its library, no main Sonic title ever being released.
While bits and pieces of what the game would have been have leaked/been released over the the years, last November JollyRodger showed up with a plethora of material from defunct gaming studio Point Of View, including the source code for a variety of Sonic X-treme builds on both the Saturn and the PC. Being as the code could only run natively on hardware very few people have access to, Jolly took it upon himself to begin the process of porting the code to modern PC’s. Earlier tonight, the first public release of this labor of love was been released, “version 037” of X-treme now fully operational.
