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Cheap Plug: The Official Sonic Retro Flickr

Sonic Retro has largely clung on to this whole crazy Web2.0 movement, what with our own Facebook page after much demand, a Twitter feed, and even our own little Steam group. And yet, it feels like there’s something missing…

So, being arbiters of shameless self-promotion, I’m happy to introduce to everyone the Official Genuine Imitation Sonic Retro flickr™!

Right now, there isn’t too much going on there aside from some of the photos we took while over at Sonic Boom this year, but please check them out! Maybe even friend us, you aspiring photographers out there? I’ve seen some of the work you all do in Creative Works.

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Community, Music

Listen to Crush 40 and Alex Maklouhf’s Covers of Super Sonic Racing, Sonic Boom

Over at Sonic Boom, a small concert was thrown for the club’s goers by none other than Crush 40’s Jun Senoue and Johnny Gioeli, singing songs like Open Your Heart, His World, In The Wind, and Live and Learn to name a few. However, Alex Maklouhf from Cash Cash joined them on stage to also perform Sonic Colors’ Credits Theme, Speak With Your Heart.

So imagine some people’s reactions when they all got together and did new versions of Sonic R’s Super Sonic Racing and Sonic CD’s Sonic Boom, which were apparently one time performances for Sonic Boom attendees. Well, we got you covered.

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Community, Site News

Post-Sonic Boom Update: Media Soon!

You may have noticed your Sonic Retro Boom Crew has been a bit quiet with poor David stepping up and keeping this place from being a waste. We love you and you’re awesome.

Well, we weren’t strangers at Sonic Boom. To those who went, you may have seen us. We were that small group near the cupcakes and the 3D Generations station not wearing those Sonic hats. Some of you stopped by to say hi because you somehow know how Scarred Sun looks like or you wanted to chew out Slingerland before realizing he’s a behemoth of a man, and we thank you for all the kind words and support!

You’ll recognize me as that one dork in the brown overshirt with a blue shirt, a DSLR and the huge red backpack stuffed with eight Sonic hats flitting around the floor taking photos and talking to whatever Sega people showed up.

Now, most of of us are heading home today, so things are going to be a teeny bit slow on Boom content, but rest assured, we got tons of photos, video, and maybe some more goodies lined up for you as the weekend rolls on by.

Again, thanks to everyone who stopped on by us!

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Community, Site News

Follow Sonic Boom Shenanigans with Retro!

So, while here at Sonic Retro World Headquarters™ we’re prepping to head out to Los Angeles for the next few days, the fact is, dear Internet, that not everyone is going to be able to make the trip to be with the coolest folks in the community. Some of you will be off to Summer of Sonic in London in a couple of weeks–as someone with a peek behind the curtain, let’s just say if you’re going that you will be far from disappointed. Unfortunately, though, there will be a good number of people unable to attend either event.

Good thing Retro has your backs.

The Retro crew will be doing live Tweeting and picture shots throughout the day and evening to keep the rest of the Internet in the loop on all the action. Fellow staffers Gene, Slingerland and I plan to feed back as much information as we get it to you all, but we’ll probably rope in a few more people before it’s all said and done. We may try a few more…ambitious things as well, but we’ll see how those pan out. 😉 If you don’t already follow us on Twitter, we have the oh-so-creative handle of @sonicretro; likewise, you can like us on Facebook and keep up on everything there. Also keep in mind that if you’re in the area and are over 21, we’re hosting a pre-Boom party at Blipsy Barcade. You can also come up and say hi to us at Boom; I’ll be the lady wearing the Retro donor pins–if you’ve got ’em, flaunt ’em.

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Community, Humor

Unofficial Poll: Sonic Generations Console/Portable Stages

With Sonic Boom less than a week away and Sega releasing trickles of details about Sonic Generations‘ 3DS iteration, including that StreetPass will be foolishly used for additional unlockable content, you can imagine that news has been rather slow to generate.

Although now there’s rumors that Sonic Generations is also headed to Sony’s upcoming PlayStation Vita (the PSP2) device, those are largely hearsay and it’s before E3, so take that with a truckload of salt.

So, while sitting with the lovely and rabid people of our IRC channel in #retro (drop on by, we won’t bite… hard,) a discussion came up about Generations 3DS stages. It’s likely the modern stages will cause a rift in both versions of the games, so the console version may include levels from Sonic 2006 (prepare the painkillers), Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Colo(u)rs, while the 3DS version will tote levels from Sonic Rush, Rush Adventure, and… Sonic Colo(u)rs.

This isn’t limited to that era too. It’s a possibility that Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, and Sonic Heroes entries will be replaced with counterparts from Sonic Advance, Sonic Advance 2 and Sonic Advance 3 on the 3DS.

So here’s where you guys come in. What stages would you like to see from those games? Unfortunately, both games cannot get Starlight Carnival or Sweet Mountain, so it’s decision time. Sound off in the comments below!

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Community, Site News

Get Your Sonic Boom Pregame On with Sonic Retro

If you’re headed out to Los Angeles for Sonic Boom next week, you’ve got your event tickets, your flight lined up, your travel copy of Sonic Colo(u)rs stowed away in your bag, but one question remains: how are you going to put up with being in one area with a ton of rabid Sonic fans?

The answer, of course, is cool people and booze.

Sonic Retro will be hosting a pre-Sonic Boom party at Blipsy Barcade, located in LA’s Korea Town about 10 minutes north of Club Nokia, where Sonic Boom is. The venue is 21+ only (sorry, underage folks) and features a variety of classic arcade cabinets mixed with a full bar—essentially, the perfect place for a Retro party. We’ll be meeting up at 4 p.m. to discuss the pressing subjects on the minds of Sonic fans: Generations, bad cosplayers, 100P lyrics (“you’re damn right, Knuckles!”), and the under-appreciation of 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand. You know, the important things in life. Afterwards, we’ll head down to Club Nokia to attend Boom. Besides, as a Retro UK Barcade veteran, we Americans need to show the Brits how it’s done.

Blispy is located at:

369 N Western Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90004

Hope to see you there!

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Game News, Site News

Monday Links: Yep, Koei Still Sucks Edition

Filling in for Slingerland this week, as he is too busy partying with a chicken or something. Sometimes, I don’t know about that man.

Sonic Retro News

  • There’s been a series of updates on Sonic Extreme, with commentary from the owner and the original company who developed the demo. Additional footage is also inside. [ Sonic Extreme: Yes, with an E ]
  • Progress is coming slowly but surely with Sonic & Knuckles Collection; this time, MainMemory has released a new sound effect replacement tool. [ SKCsnd ]
  • Ranger, one of the guys behind Sonic 2 XL, is back with a Mother 3-styled RPG fangame. Preliminary screenshots are up , but still waiting on a demo. [ Sonic and the Rings of Order ]
  • DMAshura has announced his open-source Python Sonic engine, Porcupyne. If you’re interested, feel free to jump on the project. [ Porcupyne ]

Sonic/SEGA News

  • NG.DevTeam, the studio behind Last Hope and Fast Strikers, have put out their first shots of the upcoming game Gun Lord for the Neo-Geo and Sega Dreamcast. Good to see indie developers still supporting the system more than a decade later. [ Gun Lord ]
  • SEGABits is in the middle of Yakuza Week, meant to boost awareness of the new PlayStation 3 game Yakuza 4. Follow along and retweet their articles once a day for a chance to win some of the awesome prizes they’re giving away. [ Yakuza Week ]
  • Sega’s upcoming team shooter Binary Domain has been delayed until 2012. To tide you over in the meanwhile, they’ve released a trailer of the game, set in 2080 Tokyo. [ Binary Domain ]
  • Sega of Japan have set up a special Twitter feed for Sonic’s 20th anniversary. There have been some pretty interesting tidbits over there so far, including the possibility that Sonic Generations may be getting another title before the game ships. [ @sonic20th ]
  • Reservations for this year’s Summer of Sonic are already closed after just 10 hours! Good thing I’m getting in on my dashing looks and charm alone. [ Summer of Sonic 2011 ]

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Community, Humor, Site News

Photoshop Friday: Mario and Sonic at the Royal Wedding

It’s Friday, Friday!

…How the hell did that become so popular? Ugh. Now that the hype of the royal wedding is going to wind down, it’s time for something somewhat new here at Retro.

Let’s play a little game! About a week ago, the crazy people over at Sega had some fun teasing their upcoming game Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games with a little photo tour of Mario and Sonic across the various sites of London.

So, here’s your mission: using photos of those Mario and Sonic suits, create some photoshop wizardry of the two gate crashing the royal wedding or simply mingling with the thousands outside Westminster Abbey.

The best ones will be featured in a future post here with the opportunity for a cheap plug to your page! I’m looking at you, roving deviantartists. The only rule is to try and keep it rated PG and safe for work, though subtle suggestiveness is welcome. In other words, nothing that will get a person fired if their boss saw it.

The deadline is next Friday at midnight UTC. That’s 8 p.m. for you U.S. East Coast types. Just link them down in the comments below. Good luck and have fun!

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Fan Works, Hacking, Site News

See Shadow The Hedgehog’s Test Level In Action

Back in March, we posted some images of two test levels in Shadow The Hedgehog found by Spanish fansite Sonic Rekai.

Thanks to a 15-minute video recorded and uploaded by forum member DinnerSonic, we can now see how this level looks like in its entirety. Using a ripped version of the game and an emulator, he filmed every little bit of the level.

Being a test level, most of it is designed to test out the game’s physics on how Shadow controls on loops, slopes, steps, and half-pipes among other structures. There’s also the odd laser object, mostly due to triggering some flags in Westopolis.

There’s still no video of the other test level, but if you keep an eye on the forum thread, one may just pop up sooner or later.

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Site News

We’re Too Slow! Server Issues Fixed

If you’re reading this, we’re back online.

Long story short, this wasn’t a last second poorly planned April Fool’s prank. There were server problems that caused the site to be painfully slow for a good while. One server reboot and several cable switches later, and things should be back up to speed again.

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