The following is a documentary created by UnknownArchive, providing an opinionated analysis of Sonic’s 20 years on Earth so far. Lots of swearing and toilets around, so viewer discretion is advised.
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(The following is a guest editorial written by forums member Guess Who, because frankly, someone needed to say it.)
Starting in the late nineties, a sizable community formed around reverse-engineering Sonic games. Thanks to the work of this community and its extremely talented individuals, amazing feats have been achieved. The original Sonic titles have been disassembled into their raw Motorola 68000 assembly code and thoroughly documented, allowing for substantial modifications; Sonic Adventure DX has similarly been torn apart, allowing for the creation of useful tools such as level and model editors; even the brand-new Sonic Generations has already been hacked wide open for creating custom levels, porting levels from Sonic Unleashed, and importing music. One thing all of these accomplishments have in common is that all of them are the result of collaboration. Many people worked for days, weeks, months, and sometimes even years to acquire and share the knowledge necessary for all of these technical marvels to come to fruition. Sonic Retro has always fostered a collaborative environment thanks to its forums, wiki, and Mercurial repository, and consequently has become the de facto hub for all things Sonic hacking.
So in March 2008, when Sonic 2 HD was announced, it was hailed as a shining example of the collaborative community environment that’s been so crucial to the Retro community. Media outlets like Kotaku covered the game’s announcement with great anticipation. It was given its own forum where members could contribute their own assets to the game, whether it was art, music, programming talent, or just general feedback. The engine, coded primarily by long-established community member LOst, was built using the disassembled code of the original Sonic titles (you know, that code collaboratively reverse-engineered and documented by a number of community members?) as a basis for its physics. The original Sonic 2 HD board received a whopping 14275 replies, mostly from members offering their own work or feedback for the product.
Community, Game News
Sonic 2 HD Alpha Release Now Available, Continues Development As Closed Project
You waited for nearly two years. You questioned whether this project was still alive and kicking. But with time comes development, and to show you that things ARE getting done, the Sonic 2 HD team has released a new playable demo.
Being an alpha release, it’s understandable that not everything is perfect and things can (and likely will) go wrong. But what we do have is an impressive feat of love and creativity from a group of fans with a passion to give Sonic the Hedgehog 2 a visual spit shine and touched up music.
However, a small bit of controversy around the project is the nature of it being listed as a Sonic Retro Community Project, despite being a rather closed operation. Project Manager Canned Karma addressed this further by confirming the project will continue a closed development cycle.
“With the game’s Alpha Release, this means our involvement with Sonic Retro’s Community Projects also comes to an end as, in all honesty, S2HD hasn’t been a community game for a long time,” Canned Karma said. “In line with this, we’ve now closed out the topics in the Community Project sub-forum in favor of a single discussion thread here.”
Currently, the demo only supports Windows operating systems from Windows XP through Windows 7.
Updates and downloads on the project will continue to be posted on the team’s official website. For now though, big props go out to the team for all their work so far and we look forward to seeing the project grow and mature even more. Let them know what you think of the game so far in the comments down below.
Chances are the small percentage of you that picked up the PC version of Sonic 4: Episode 1 have gotten a small update to the game. Upon trying the game out, you might have also noticed that your settings were all gone and that your save file was gone as well.
While we could take yet another potshot at Sonic 4, let’s focus on fixing that issue. What this last update did is create a second executable file: one for Windows XP and one for Windows Vista/7. To restore settings, you’ll need to run the settings application included with the game. As for the save file, it’s still there with all your hard work. It just needs a little renaming.
To do so, head into your Steam folder located in Program Files, click on the folder named “steamapps” and then “common”. Click on the Sonic 4 folder and you should see a file named “Sonic_save.dat”. Simply rename this to “Sonic_vis_save.dat” and all your hard work will be restored.
Chances are the small percentage of you that picked up the PC version of Sonic 4: Episode 1 have gotten a small update to the game. Upon trying the game out, you might have also noticed that your settings were all gone and that your save file was gone as well.
While we could take yet another potshot at Sonic 4, let’s focus on fixing that issue. What this last update did is create a second executable file: one for Windows XP and one for Windows Vista/7. To restore settings, you’ll need to run the settings application included with the game. As for the save file, it’s still there with all your hard work. It just needs a little renaming.
To do so, head into your Steam folder located in Program Files, click on the folder named “steamapps” and then “common”. Click on the Sonic 4 folder and you should see a file named “Sonic_save.dat”. Simply rename this to “Sonic_vis_save.dat” and all your hard work will be restored.
Over the years, Sonic fan games have certainly evolved from the days of Klik & Play. Back in 1995, Sonic Boom started it all, with collecting apples and avoiding bees… it was an amazing feat, being the first noted Sonic fan game, and today’s major fan games still provide that same sense of amazement only on a much bigger scale! As of recent, Sonic Fan Remix took center stage on the fan gaming scene. It ultimately changed the way fan games were thought of previously by the public; disposable projects on par with fan fiction. It caught the immediate attention of major gaming blogs, companies, and developers, so much in fact that Sega’s representatives requested Megaupload, the site which hosted the download file, to take down the file because they believed it would disrupt the sales of the then upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1.
Over the past few weeks or so, we here at Sonic Retro have been imploring our userbase to buy the new Sonic CD for Everything this holiday season–not so much because it’s a good game (and don’t get me wrong, it’s fantastic!), but because we really want to support the concept behind the release. From having a port done with care to having one of our own doing the work to paying attention to lesser-known titles, Sonic CD, this release is kind of a big deal.
By financially supporting these sorts of releases, it sends a very clear message to Sega that we want to see more things done right and by awesome people. If the game sells a million copies, for instance, it shows that licensing the Retro Engine is more financially advantageous than just slapping a hq3x emulated version up for sale. It shows that people are willing to support adding features to a port to give it new life. It shows that we’re not all dicks who pirate everything and just have a bone to pick.
Beyond that, though, it lets people who may mock the Sonic series see that yes, there were legitimately good games that made us all fans. Odds are if you read a site as shall we say, dedicated, as Sonic Retro, you’re pretty read up on video games. Your real-world friends know you as that gamer gal or guy. So this season, we want you to share the love.
Give your family, friends, and loved ones who are into video games a copy of Sonic CD. Let your girlfriend see what the big deal about platformers is by getting a copy for her iPhone. Give your FPS-loving bros a copy over XBLA or PSN to show them that the franchise isn’t all Shadow the Hedgehog and the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog. Call up your childhood friends who you played Sonic 2 and S3K two-player mode with and let them relive the nostalgia with a Steam gift of Sonic CD.
“But Scarred Sun,” you say, “I need to buy Sonic CD, too!”
Well, duh, of course you do. But we’re willing to help you out there. Because it is always more fulfilling to give than to get, we want to give you copies of Sonic CD this holiday season–that’s why we’ve bought a dozen copies to give to our users. We want to hear your stories of giving Sonic CD to others; in return, we’ll pick the best entries and gift you a copy over Steam for your own account (sorry XBLA/PSN people–we haven’t found a way to just gift you the correct amount for the game or else we’d go that path as well.) Leave your story in the comments, and if we hear anything particular heart-touching/funny/nostalgia-y, we’ll hook you up so you can get a copy on Day One of the Steam release.
Besides, there’s nothing wrong with being evangelical about one of the best Sonic titles ever produced. Happy holidays!
There’s something about human contact, isn’t there? I haven’t been seen around here so much lately, but if you mention that there’s a meet-up somewhere close to me, I’ll be there. People, with their strange, squishy bodies and minds. Man, I love ’em. You might not be surprised, then, when I tell you that the idea of covering London Gaming Con for Sonic Retro appealed to me. Put a bunch of gamers in the Rocket Complex, add internet celebrities and sprinkle a bit of technology about the place, then bake for a couple of days. That’s my kind of weekend.
Well actually, it was my kind of Sunday because the Saturday was taken up with a family wedding. As a result, I missed out on Dr. Ashen, CoLD SToRAGE and the busier of the two days. What I didn’t miss was the Super Sonic Sunday programme of events, which sought to celebrate our blue hero as his 20th anniversary year draws to a close. You can see some of these events in the video below:
Of course, that’s only part of the story. Do you want to see pics and things? Of course you do. Click the post break already.
There’s something about human contact, isn’t there? I haven’t been seen around here so much lately, but if you mention that there’s a meet-up somewhere close to me, I’ll be there. People, with their strange, squishy bodies and minds. Man, I love ’em. You might not be surprised, then, when I tell you that the idea of covering London Gaming Con for Sonic Retro appealed to me. Put a bunch of gamers in the Rocket Complex, add internet celebrities and sprinkle a bit of technology about the place, then bake for a couple of days. That’s my kind of weekend.
Well actually, it was my kind of Sunday because the Saturday was taken up with a family wedding. As a result, I missed out on Dr. Ashen, CoLD SToRAGE and the busier of the two days. What I didn’t miss was the Super Sonic Sunday programme of events, which sought to celebrate our blue hero as his 20th anniversary year draws to a close. You can see some of these events in the video below:
Of course, that’s only part of the story. Do you want to see pics and things? Of course you do. Click the post break already.
Vast corners of the Internet, are you ready?
Starting in just an hour at 1 PM EDT/5PM GMT, you can tune in to watch 12 hours of every Sonic game imaginable streamed for your pleasure with your donations to help keep us as the biggest hub for all your Sonic needs, second only to Sega, going strong. Not to mention driving the poor sap streamer into insanity with whatever stipulation you can imagine.
We’re starting a little later than previously announced because of Halloween party shenanigans, but you’ll still get half a day of watching someone’s slow and painful descent into the darkest recesses of the Sonic series. Hint hint.
[UPDATE: 2006 is purposely missing from here. We have special plans for that one along with other titles… stay tuned!]
We here at Sonic Retro strive to bring you all the best in Sonic series and technical research through our gigantic wiki and humor through some of the strange discussions that go down in the forums (green eyes, physics, etc.) But all of this requires some pretty hefty “spondooli” to keep running.
So, to help along our efforts to have the rocket fuel to keep this big mother hubbard on its way to Mars on a collision course like a satellite out of control, we’re going to be holding a massive 12-hour gaming marathon of all things Sonic we’re lovingly calling “The Sonic Retro Generational Marathon” to ring in the release of Sonic’s big 20th Anniversary game.
Beginning Oct. 30 at 12pm EDT, forum member The Shad will be playing a plethora of Sonic games for your amusement. However, the games he plays are determined based on which “Generation” they’re located in. Here’s a small sample of what I mean:
GENESIS ERA: Sonic 1, Sonic CD, Sonic 2, Sonic 3
“DREAMCAST” ERA: Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, and Sonic Heroes
MODERN ERA: Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colors
With plenty more secret eras afterward. The Shad will be advancing through eras as more donations are raised. Along with that, beginning at donations of $5 USD, donators can also include tasks The Shad has to perform on air, such as singing along to certain songs or no use of the spin dash/homing attack, on a dollar-per-minute basis. Higher donations can request more complex things, in the event of needing to set things up. Donators will also be enrolled in our little program that top donors will receive special prizes in the mail, because we really do love you all that much.
Plenty of other Sonic Retro staffers will be on hand as The Shad trudges on through the best–and worst–the Sonic series has to offer. What sort of devious Eras have we concocted for The Shad to endure once the Modern Era passes? Tune in Sunday to find out!
And of course, if you can’t make it to the marathon, you can always drop off a little cash on the side on our donation page. Every little bit helps!
So, you may have heard on the Tweeter Twats yesterday that we were developing an app for Facebook. Since we were convinced that some Sonic titles must have just come out of a random word generator (hi, Sonic Free Riders!), we figured we could one-up that, and thus Sonic Generator was born. The app is pretty much what it sounds like: it generates…unique titles for Sonic games and allows you to share them with your friends.
The problem? The Retro staff may have had spent more time “beta testing” the software than working on it. Thus, a chat log full of:
- Sonic & Sega All-Stars Go-Kart Mayhem
- Mecha Sonic’s Zombie Arena
- Sonic Weight Loss CD
- Sonic vs. the Yakuza: Spatula Combat
- Amy Underwear Safari
…and very little work was done that day. As such, we have released Sonic Generator to be a massive timesink for everyone! There’s only one caveat: you’ll need to be a fan of our page on Facebook, which we’ve revamped to be 95 percent more awesome than before. There, you can get the latest front page stories put in your feed, check up on forum and wiki updates, and post on our wall. We’re also looking adding more unique content to Facebook subscribers in the same way we do for our Twitter followers, so check us out!
You can like us at http://www.facebook.com/sonicretro, and if you’re already a fan, can access Sonic Generator directly using this link.