Less than a week ago, Sonic 1 received a Taxman/Stealth makeover for mobile platforms. The updated port has already cracked the Top 10 Paid Apps list in the US for both Google Play and the iOS App Store at #2 and #8, respectively. As we covered earlier, there are a ton of bonus features that more than warrant its $2.99 price tag. We encourage you to purchase the app, which you can find in the links below. After the jump you will also find some screenshots showcasing some of the bonus features (slight spoilers).
Retro user Orengefox posted on the forums his discovery of two Japanese prototypes of Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 on Sega Dreamcast. Both of which have a potential source of content that are missing from the final builds with the Sonic Adventure Auto Demo showing some good promise. Continue Reading
Nintendo has also unveiled additional information regarding Game Gear games appearing on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console during their previous Nintendo Direct. While they have mentioned of releasing at least four more titles previously, although the last time they said those games would appear soon was…a year ago. Nintendo has announced that they will be releasing them soon, again, as well as reveal more Game Gear titles which includes additional Sonic games as well as Tails’ second (and last?) game and even Dr. Robotnik’s own “game.”
If you’ve heard of the recent rumblings of the debug mode for the latest Sonic 1 port, you may not be aware of some of it’s hidden features that some of you die hard Sonic fans will get a kick out of. Rolling balls, goggles, animal buddies, unfinished editor features and more await you in this port, and we’ve got a video of almost two hours worth of content.
You have a number of ways for trying out the debug mode yourself. First start a “No Save” game and choose a character. If you have a controller plugged in you can use the traditional method of entering the cheat codes (Up, Down, Left, Right, Hold A + Start) or on the touch screen, after selecting. Otherwise, on the touch screen, tap the letters S-E-G-A in that order and listen for a ring chime. Then hold two fingers on the bottom of the touch screen. When the title screen appears, slide both fingers to the top of the screen to enter the level select.
Here you can enter the sound test for some additional cheats.
04, 01, 02, 06 – Obtain all emeralds
01, 09, 09, 01, 00, 06, 02, 03 – Debug mode.
To activate debug mode tap the GUI in the top left corner of the screen.
Shattering any sort of barrier from the 1990s, SEGA of America, SEGA Europe, Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Europe GmbH have announced that they will be partnering up to bring some major Sonic love to the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS over the coming years.
What does this mean overall? Nintendo is set to get three big Sonic titles exclusively to themselves, with two confirmed as the recently announcedSonic Lost World and Mario and Sonic at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. The third title has yet to be announced, but it would be hardly surprising if it was next year’s yearly big title.
This doesn’t mean non-Nintendo gamers are out of luck. Sonic will continue to appear on these, though it may only be through smaller digital titles, such as the recently released remastered Sonic 1 on iOS and Android.
On today’s Nintendo Direct, Satoru Iwata has announced the upcoming 3D Sonic title Sonic: Lost World. Not much was shown, but we did get this art shot (click for full size):
We also got one other intriguing piece of information… Continue Reading
Sega Sammy released their financial reports for the company today, and it turns out the company did rather well. Of note, the company posted a net profit of ¥33.5 billion, or about $331 million, which is an annual growth of 53.3 percent. However, Sega Sammy’s operating profit decreased year-on-year by 67.3 percent, down to ¥19.1 billion ($189 million). Majority of this was through the sales of “investment securities” and transfers of employees’ pension benefits.
That’s all well and good if you’re financially oriented and looking to invest in Sega, but you’re here for game sales number to shamelessly slap people on message boards with! While physical retail game sales were down, causing the company to consider refocusing efforts more toward smartphone and digital titles, Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed zoomed across the finish line with 1.36 million units sold globally. No platform-by-platform break down was provided, but that’s still a rather strong number for the shape-shifting kart racer.
On top of that, Sega broke down plans for the 2014 fiscal year, saying that they plan to ship 11 games on PC, 7 on Wii U, 7 on PS3, 6 on 3DS, 5 on Vita, 4 on Xbox 360, and 2 on PSP.
While no doubt at least one of those will be a Sonic title of some sort on nearly every platform, what surprises us more is the PSP still getting some love. Keep on trucking, little guy!
For a more thorough breakdown, hit up our sister site SEGAbits. She’s just as pretty as we are, promise.
Another year, another insatiable urge for Sega to release a brand new iteration of Sonic 1. Launching May 15 in Japan, Sonic 1 joins Super Hang-On and Space Harrier as the first three 3D Classic Mega Drive remakes for the Nintendo 3DS. This is to commemorate the Mega Drive’s 25th Anniversary in Japan.
While this isn’t particularly thrilling news, and especially on the toes that Christian “The Taxman” Whitehead is at work on a Sonic 1 remake for Sega along with the Sonic Scene enigmatic man known as Stealth, the game will follow the line of other 3D Classic series titles on the 3DS that uses the system’s 3D features to add depth to the the game’s background. Continue Reading
The Sonic the Hedgehog comics, Archie and STC alike, have dedicated followings. One of the people responsible for the comics is Ian Flynn, the chief writer for the Archie series since #160. Recently, he sat down for an interview with the Super Power Flower Hour, a relatively new Sonic-related podcast. He gives his thoughts on the Sonic franchise, working on the comics, the Mega Man comics, and more. Check it out.
Do you live in Tokyo and want to see Sonic’s ass in front of you while you run on a treadmill? Well soon you can in a new arcade game called Sonic Athletics. In this game you will need to run as fast as possible on a treadmill to get the highest score. While you do this you will also see a Sonic character run on a screen in front of you. The faster you run, the faster Sonic or a different character runs as well. This game can be played with up to eight players, each as a different character. The playable characters are Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Metal Sonic, Silver and Blaze.
This glorified treadmill will be open for all starting from April 25th at SEGA’s Joypolisin Tokyo and will cost 500 yen per game. It also seems like this will be the only place where it can be played, everywhere else people will probably have to stick to boring ordinary treadmills.
