Game News, Opinion

Sonic Central Happens, IGN Keeps Talking Sonic

Last year, the folks over at Sonic’s social media team rolled out the first Sonic Central, a short digital presentation talking about upcoming projects featuring the blue blur. Giving the impression it would become a somewhat regular feature, the second installment has finally happened. Has this concentrated burst of news been worth the year long wait?

Well, it’s not like there hasn’t been anything said about Sonic since May of 2021…

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Game News

Sonic Frontiers Gameplay Revealed, More Promised This Month

In May of 2021, we were teased with the existence of the next 3D Sonic the Hedgehog title. Seven months later, we were teased with the existence of the next 3D Sonic the Hedgehog title, now with a title – Sonic Frontiers. Yesterday, we were teased with the existence of Sonic Frontiers by seeing thirty seconds of gameplay footage where Sonic ran, jumped, and spun in the air around enemies.

Today, we were teased with the first seven minutes of proper gameplay footage.

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Podcasts

SEGAbits Swingin’ Report Shows: Sonic Movie Novelization Writer Kiel Phegley | Sonic Timeline Discussion

[Download] [RSS] [iTunes] [Archive]

Over at Sonic Retro’s sister site SEGAbits (say that ten times fast) I host an interview show called The SEGAbits Swingin’ Report Show, which has existed for over a dozen years. The latest shows are of interest to Sonic fans so I thought I’d cross post them here. First up, Kiel Phegley talks about how he became the go-to Sonic movie novelization writer, the process of creating a novelization for both Sonic movies, and his work with IDW on the prequel comic for Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Next up, Sonic Retro’s own David the Lurker joins me to talk about the ins and outs of the Sonic video game timeline and canon. We will discuss the split that Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces introduced, how the Archie Comics and IDW canons interact with the games and answer viewer questions. You can watch Kiel’s video up top and the timeline discussion after the break!

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Movies

Sonic The Hedgehog 2: The Retro Roundtable

We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?

Once upon a time, the very idea of a Sonic the Hedgehog movie seemed frightening. After all, the track record of videogame adaptations had not been particularly stellar, what reason was there to assume that anyone would get Sonic right? Yet here we are, on the cusp of a Sonic cinematic universe. Before Sonic the Hedgehog 2 hit theaters, Paramount announced a third movie plus a series starring Idris Elba as Knuckles the Echidna. Clearly their confidence wasn’t misplaced. As of this article, Sonic 2 has gone on to become the highest grossing film based on a videogame in the United States, and has made over $320 million worldwide. Quite a feat!

If you’ve lived in the UK, it has been a month since the movie premiered. So it’s long overdue that we give you another round of the Retro Roundtable: four mini-reviews about the latest film to star the blue blur.

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Game News

Sonic Origins Trailer Live: What We Now Know

In the wee hours of the morning, the official Sonic the Hedgehog social media account woke up and went “hey, let’s talk about Sonic Origins.” After eleven months of near radio silence, they posted a trailer complete with Hyper Potions music, the English and Japanese websites went live, and everyone suddenly woke up to talk about it.

So, what do we now know about Sonic Origins? Let’s go through it after the jump.
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Game News

Early Knuckles the Echidna art and details emerge from newly uncovered internal document

Less than a month before Knuckles’ theatrical debut comes an early document from SEGA Technical Institute dated April 12, 1993. The document, which was shared on a private Sonic the Hedgehog collectors group, was meant to introduce the new antagonist to staffers of SEGA’s American development team. Given Sonic the Hedgehog 3 released on February 2, 1994, this document was seen nearly a full year before making it one of the earliest glimpses of the character.

The document is chock full of interesting tidbits, including a humorous placeholder for his name which is literally “(Name)”. Also, it is stated that Knuckles crates a whirlwind to knock down walls. Of course, in the final game he just sort of walks into walls and “punches” them. But this ability DOES appear in the Sonic 3 Happy Meal which has the Knuckles toy spinning in a dust cloud. Also, Espio does eventually have such abilities.

After the break, read the document for yourself!

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Opinion, Podcasts

SEGA Talk Podcast: Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric

On this SEGA Talk, we put on some sports tape and discuss the flagship video game for the Sonic Boom multimedia project: Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric! What were the project’s origins? Why was it a Wii U exclusive? And we settle the debate once and for all: which was worse? Rise of Lyric or Sonic 2006? Included in this discussion are new production details from Sonic Boom TV series writer Alan Denton.

[iTunes – Stitcher – YouTube – RSS – Download]

If you want to give us feedback, suggest a topic for the next podcast or want to ask a question for us to answer on the next episode you can add  them as a comment below or send theme directly to our email. Make sure you use subject line ‘SEGA Talk’ and as always, thanks for listening!

 

Fan Works, Hacking

Sonic Hacking Contest Announced for 2022

Once again the online event for Sonic mods, ROM hacks and general nonsense is upon us with the Sonic Hacking Contest for the year of 2022. The Hacking Contest website has been updated with finer details on entry requirements, categories and more which can be found here. Tentative dates for the event will center around October much like last year’s event. The contest is asking entries to prepare their works based on Sonic ROM hacks or mods for Sonic games. Mods can include titles released on PC including digital storefronts such as Steam (For titles such as Sonic Mania and Team Sonic Racing) as well as mods for console games. (Including Sonic Riders Zero Gravity for the Nintendo Wii) Of course as is with tradition, ROM hacks from Sonic games on Mega Drive and Genesis systems (Such as the ever present Sonic the Hedgehog 2) are also welcome as entries.

This year’s contest involves a change in how trophies are delivered. While the contest acknowledges the desire for the return of themed trophies from 2019, they are looking to make these trophies to better reflect the criteria involved. The contest is also asking for suggestions for naming trophies from the public, and is accepting multiple entries on their Trophy Naming form. Otherwise the structure of the event will be similar to last year’s event.

More information will be provided over the coming months as deadline dates and more are finalized. Future updates can be found from the Hacking Contest website as well as the official Twitter account. Discussion on the contest can be found both here on Sonic Retro’s forums as well as the Sonic Stuff Ressearch Group forums.