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Christian Whitehead

Reviews

Sonic Mania – The Retro Review


By the fans, for the fans. Truer words have never been spoken when it comes to Sonic Mania, a game does the unthinkable in 2017: get everyone excited for Sonic the Hedgehog again. And by everyone, we’re not talking about just fans of series, but folks who have been withdrawn since the days of the Genesis, people who haven’t considered playing a Sonic game since 1995. And there’s good reason for that too, after a year of development, Christian Whitehead, Headcannon, PagodaWest, and a whole gaggle of friends, members, and family from Retro and beyond have created one of the series best entries ever.
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Game News

Sonic Mania Gets Lovely New Trailer, Launches August 15th


Sega just released this lovely new trailer for Sonic Mania. It features animation by Sonic Mega Drive artist Tyson Hesse and music by Hyper Potions, along with a first look at Stardust Speedway from Sonic CD. Also there’s a reference to one of Sonic’s rejected character designs, so that’s neat!
The trailer also reveals when you’ll be able to download the game: on August 15th. Plus it can now be pre-ordered on Steam, PlayStation Store, and Xbox Live Marketplace for $19.99/€19.99/£15.99.
If you want to listen to the full version of the song in the trailer, it can be found here.

Game News

Sonic Forces Us To Recap SXSW


Surely the internet isn’t going to make the title of this article a played out meme before it goes up, nope, probably not, nah.
So that Sonic SXSW panel happened, and we got some pretty good reveals out of it. And enough of them for us to actually make a recap article for once! Now, if you want to watch the panel for yourself, Tails’ Channel has the panel up on his YouTube channel. But if you just want all the news about Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces, here’s our recap: Continue Reading

Opinion, Previews

Sonic Mania – 25th Anniversary Party Preview

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The second Christian Whitehead, better known as Taxman, posted his YouTube video presenting his Sonic CD remake for iOS, he became a household name. Folks had known him before, but for the first time, a fan’s efforts had caught SEGA’s attention and sure enough, we got the Sonic CD remake, then the original Sonic 1 and Sonic 2.

Fast forward to 2016, and Taxman, along with Headcannon and PadogaWest Games are bringing us a brand new experience feature select levels from Sonic’s past, as well as brand new levels for fans to explore and enjoy. Sonic Mania is the game fans never thought they’d see again, but at the 25th Anniversary Party, we didn’t just get a trailer: we got to play it.

Hit the jump for thoughts from Sonic Retro’s own Bartman3010 and myself.
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Game News, Opinion, Previews

SEGA News Bits: Sonic Mania Hands On Impressions


We played Sonic Mania, and now we’re going to tell you what we think! In this SEGA News Bits, George and I (Barry) rest our aching feet just hours after the Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary Party in San Diego to share our reaction to the Sonic Mania reveal and give our thoughts on how the game plays. Do we have another Sonic 4 on our hands or is Sonic Mania the true successor to Sonic 3 & Knuckles? The answers are obviously “nope!” and “hell yes!” in that order.
Special thanks to Neo Hazard for letting us use his footage, you can check out his channel here! Also, thanks to Bartman for being the one to play the game in our footage. You can find Bartman’s YouTube channel here!
SEGA News Bits is a production of SEGAbits, covering all things SEGA and Sonic the Hedgehog. When we touch on Sonic stories, you’ll be seeing them here on Sonic Retro as well. If you enjoyed this episode of the SEGA News Bits, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and never miss an episode!

Game News

Sonic Mania Announced For PS4, Xbox One and PC


Holy shit.
Sega is working together with Christian Whitehead, Headcannon and PadogaWest Games to make Sonic Mania, a new 2D game featuring brand new zones alongside re-imagined versions of old zones.
People at the 25th Anniversary Party can play a demo featuring a re-imagined Green Hill Zone and a new zone called Studiopolis Zone right now. Sega has also given out a goody bag with an USB stick that includes one of the songs from the game, which will undoubtedly be put online sooner than later.
Sonic Mania will be released on PS4, Xbox One and PC in Spring 2017, and we can’t wait to play it.

Game News

Sonic CD is PSN’s Top Dowloaded Game for December 2011

Sony’s official U.S. PlayStation blog revealed that Sonic CD boomed past the competition and was the top purchased digital game on the PlayStation Store for the last month of 2011. Given the cult classic status it has amongst Sonic fans, seeing it bust out the gate strong is always a pleasant sight, though its feeling of familiarity with small enhancements for this HD age to give it a breath of fresh air certainly left us smiling.

The other story is that it no doubt shows success for Christian “The Taxman” Whitehead’s Retro Engine, utilized to power the game and all its modifications, and more importantly sends a strong message to Sega that demand is out there and there is benefit to using the engine in not only new Sonic games, but various new titles in general given the engine’s versatility. Congratulations, Taxman!

If you’ve not gone and purchased Sonic CD or spread the word to friends who enjoy a quirky platformer, what are you waiting for? We’ll even GIVE you a copy of Sonic CD on Steam if you have a nice tale on how you got someone to play Sonic CD!

Sony’s official U.S. PlayStation blog revealed that Sonic CD boomed past the competition and was the top purchased digital game on the PlayStation Store for the last month of 2011. Given the cult classic status it has amongst Sonic fans, seeing it bust out the gate strong is always a pleasant sight, though its feeling of familiarity with small enhancements for this HD age to give it a breath of fresh air certainly left us smiling.

The other story is that it no doubt shows success for Christian “The Taxman” Whitehead’s Retro Engine, utilized to power the game and all its modifications, and more importantly sends a strong message to Sega that demand is out there and there is benefit to using the engine in not only new Sonic games, but various new titles in general given the engine’s versatility. Congratulations, Taxman!

If you’ve not gone and purchased Sonic CD or spread the word to friends who enjoy a quirky platformer, what are you waiting for? We’ll even GIVE you a copy of Sonic CD on Steam if you have a nice tale on how you got someone to play Sonic CD!

Sony’s official U.S. PlayStation blog revealed that Sonic CD boomed past the competition and was the top purchased digital game on the PlayStation Store for the last month of 2011. Given the cult classic status it has amongst Sonic fans, seeing it bust out the gate strong is always a pleasant sight, though its feeling of familiarity with small enhancements for this HD age to give it a breath of fresh air certainly left us smiling.

The other story is that it no doubt shows success for Christian “The Taxman” Whitehead’s Retro Engine, utilized to power the game and all its modifications, and more importantly sends a strong message to Sega that demand is out there and there is benefit to using the engine in not only new Sonic games, but various new titles in general given the engine’s versatility. Congratulations, Taxman!

If you’ve not gone and purchased Sonic CD or spread the word to friends who enjoy a quirky platformer, what are you waiting for? We’ll even GIVE you a copy of Sonic CD on Steam if you have a nice tale on how you got someone to play Sonic CD!

Sony’s official U.S. PlayStation blog revealed that Sonic CD boomed past the competition and was the top purchased digital game on the PlayStation Store for the last month of 2011. Given the cult classic status it has amongst Sonic fans, seeing it bust out the gate strong is always a pleasant sight, though its feeling of familiarity with small enhancements for this HD age to give it a breath of fresh air certainly left us smiling.

The other story is that it no doubt shows success for Christian “The Taxman” Whitehead’s Retro Engine, utilized to power the game and all its modifications and more importantly sends a strong message to Sega that demand is out there and there is benefit to using the engine in not only new Sonic games, but various new titles in general given the engine’s versatility. Congratulations, Taxman!

If you’ve not gone and purchased Sonic CD or spread the word to friends who enjoy a quirky platformer, what are you waiting for? We’ll even GIVE you a copy of Sonic CD on Steam if you have a nice tale on how you got someone to play Sonic CD!

Reviews

Sonic CD: The Retro Review

Let’s level here for a second–if you’re a Sonic fan in any capacity whatsoever, you’ve heard of Sonic CD, the tried-and-true cult classic of the original Sonic “trilogy,” as it were. Released in 1993 for the SEGA Mega CD, spearheaded by Sonic’s original character designer Naoto Ohshima and developed by a completely different team than the first Sonic the Hedgehog game, the game has received wildly mixed views as both the best and worst Sonic game–and in some cases, platformer in general–of all time. Sporting surreal and immersive environments, a heavy focus on puzzles and exploration and an absolutely killer soundtrack overseas (courtesy of the collective genius that is Masafumi Ogata and Naofumi Hataya), Sonic CD stands out in a lot of ways from virtually every Sonic title that came after it. This is likely due to the fact that game designer Hirokazu Yasuhara had no involvement in it whatsoever, contrary to the original Sonic and the two sequels that followed it. Still, love it or hate it, Sonic CD has left a longstanding impact on those who played it–both good and bad. Continue Reading

Game News

First Look at Sonic CD on XBLA, U.S. Soundtrack Confirmed

Although GameStop’s tablets include a copy of the game already on them, new video on YouTube of the Xbox Live Arcade build of the game gives us a crisper look at the game running, as well as laying any fears to rest of the Spencer Nilsen soundtrack being excluded for those preferring the more rock and synth U.S. soundtrack.

The video gives us glimpses at the main menus, Tails as an unlockable character, and a new instrumental remix of the original International opening theme, “Sonic – You Can Do Anything”. Christian “The Taxman” Whitehead’s Retro Engine can be seen in full force as the game animates at a smooth 60FPS on a 16:9 aspect ratio, allowing more of the action to be seen by the player.

The big stunner of the video comes at the end when the player goes through the Special Stage, now significantly smoother to any other experience of Sonic CD to date. It’s almost disorienting after playing it at its chugging Mode 7-esque pace.

Sonic CD is due out by year’s end on every platform under the sun except for the Wii and 3DS. Sorry, Nintenation.

Game News

UPDATE: Sega Staffer Speaks Sonic CD Details; Revised as Sonic 4 ‘Prequel’

[UPDATE: Sega’s Ken Balough offers more clarification on the jumbled mess that is the timeline. Read the full quote at the bottom.]

Brace yourselves one more time. This could be a bumpy ride.

The start of PAX today in Seattle allowed attendees to get a first taste of Sonic CD on the Retro Engine before making its way to consoles, computers, and mobile devices, running through the entirety of Palmtree Panic Zone. Initial reactions from the crowd are fairly positive.

While trying out the game, forum member Shade Vortex got to speak to Patrick Riley, a staff member at Sega of America, [UPDATE: Ken Balough, Sonic Digital Brand Manager,] about the game. A few of the details revealed by Retro Engine creator Christian “The Taxman” Whitehead might have been a little premature.

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