Browsing Tag

Sonic 2

Fan Works, Hacking

Sonic Hacking Contest 2023 Announced, Trophies Listed, New Judges

Looking to introduce your Sonic hack or mod to the public at large? Want to put it to the test to see how it stacks among the rest? Wonder no longer as this year’s Sonic Hacking Contest is on track to arrive later this year in late October. This year introduces new guidelines and judges over last year’s event. Make sure to catch up to speed by taking a look at last year’s winning entries and the 2022 trailer showcase.

This year introduces upload limits, three per person, to address issues the community had raised over last year’s event and to ensure that judges are given time to address the community’s inevitably large output for this year. Entries will remain unlimited for team entries and non-judged Expo entries. To help tackle this workload, new judges have been introduced for the three entry types; ‘Retro’,’ 2DPC’ and ‘3D’ Entries. This is to also help ensure fairer evaluation for unique fan projects such as Sonic 3 A.I.R. mods that were introduced last year. The judges participating are subject to change before this year’s contest begins.

For more information on what to expect this year, head on over to the Hacking Contest’s website. You can also receive up-to-date information following the official Twitter account. Discuss the contest in the Sonic Hacking Contest 2023 thread on our forums as well as on Sonic Stuff Research Group’s own thread.

Fan Works, Hacking

Sonic Hacking Contest 2022 Reveals Trailer, Entries and Trophy Names

Recently revealed is the trailer for this year’s Sonic Hacking Contest of 2022 by BlueVivacity as seen on Twitter. The event goes live next week from October 10th to the 16th. Many ROM hacks, mods and add-ons for your favorite Sonic games will be up for grabs. If you’re not sure what to play, you’ll have a chance to see them in action from streamers as the week goes on. Of course vote for your favorite entries to earn one of several awards.  After the jump you’ll be able to see what trophy awards are up for grabs this year and of course what will even show up at this year’s contest.

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Game News, Game Secrets

David Javelosa Sonic and SEGA Music Demo Tracks Surface Online

You’ve probably seen this tweet making the rounds online of unused Sonic 2 music being shown off to a classroom.


It turns out this student’s professor is David Javelosa who, if you aren’t familiar with him, is a freelance composer who used to be an Audio Director at SEGA of America. These days you’ll find him as a professor at Santa Monica College. You will typically find his name on western productions of SEGA titles including Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, Ecco – The Tides of Time, Spider-Man VS. The Kingpin and even was part of the SEGA Multimedia Studio to help with SEGA CD development.
After the tweet gained massive popularity the poster agreed to try to convince David to put his works online somewhere. Luckily he agreed to it and now you can find this online. A SEGA Genesis GEMS Test Module. GEMS of course was the sound driver used in many western Genesis games including Sonic Spinball. But in the video below it seems to center around Sonic 2. You can find more demo reels and music tracks from this channel after the jump.

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Fan Works, Hacking

Sonic Hacking Contest 2018 Serves Up a Hearty List of this Year’s Entries


EDIT: Updated the article to embed the trailer hosted by TailsChannel.
The deadline for entries has passed and the community has provided a helping of hacks and mods for both the Expo and the Hacking Contest, including entries for both Sonic Forces and Sonic Mania for the contest. Since its nearly Turkey Day its time for me to bust out some food adjectives.  You can also expect savory helpings of mods for Shadow the HedgehogSonic HeroesSonic Adventure 2, a drizzle of SEGA Mega Drive and Genesis ROM hacks and more. Hit the jump to check out whats on the menu this year. In the meantime there is one entry made available early to the public, Sonic 3 & Knuckles Battle Race.  Check out this page for download information and more before the smorgasbord later this month!
The contest week is set for Monday through Sunday, 26th of November to the 2nd of December. To learn more about the rules and trophy guidelines you can check out the contest’s new website by visiting sonichacking.org.
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Merchandise

First 4 Figures Unveils ‘The Tornado’ Diorama

sonictornf4fheader

First 4 Figures have unveiled their latest statue – and man, is it awesome.

The statue is a fantastic diorama of Sonic and Tails taking flight in the Tornado, with the store page describing it as from Sonic 2‘s climax (and quite a decent description it is). Accurately, they’ve included the rocket booster Tails strapped to the bottom of the plane – and it even lights up! Those who have kept up with these statues over the years have probably come to expect some form of illumination to be included, but this goes beyond what I expected.

The statue is available for pre-order now from the First 4 Figures site. According to the page, the figure is slated to be released at some point in Q4 2015 and will stand approximately 17.5” tall.

If you’ve got some cash to drop, you can do a lot worse than F4F – all of their output has been absolutely stellar; but when you’re asking $299.99 and only releasing 1,000, what do you expect, really?


(P.S. Isn’t this one cool too)

Site News

Three New Sonic Game Gear Prototypes Found


[The following was provided by forum moderator and researcher JenHedgehog.]
Sonic Retro member Orengefox recently acquired three new Sonic Game Gear prototypes, which have now been made available for download. These are review copies of Tails Adventures and Sonic Labyrinth, and an early demo of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (all obtainable here.)
Sonic 2 is a rolling auto-demo showcasing mainly the prototype version of Green Hills Zone, which was prominently shown in many early magazine articles prior to the game’s release. Sky High Zone and Underground Zone can also be seen. The auto-demo has a time stamp of Dec. 5, 1991, making this an extremely early version of the game that was compiled almost a year before the final version was released.
As well as the Game Gear games, Orengefox is releasing some other new Sonic demos including a previously unseen Japanese Sonic Adventure trial, and a trial version of Sonic & the Secret Rings[forum link] which was distributed in limited quantities to competition winners in Japan.
To see what our members are able to find hidden inside these games once the digging begins, head over to the forums, where all these prototypes can be downloaded right now.

Game News

SEGA Shows Support for Amazon Fire TV with Sonic Line-Up

sonicFireTV
Amazon’s set top box pulled a SEGA Saturn by releasing at the same time as it’s announcement, not only acting as a direct competitor to other multimedia devices such as the Apple TV and the Roku, but also acting as a dedicated game console as well, sporting it’s Android based operating system sporting games like Minecraft – Pocket Edition, Telltale’s The Walking Dead and more. With an Android based system comes SEGA with a number of conversions of their Android based Sonic games. Check out after the break below to see the list of games from SEGA that became available at the launch of the system as well as their price and more on these ports.
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Game News

Eggman Joins Sonic Dash, Sonic 1 and 2 Updated

Sonic-Dash-1A slew of updates rolled out for several Sonic titles across Android and iOS devices. Sonic 1 and 2 now both enjoy more stability and Android Kit Kat’s unobtrusive mode, while iOS7 support is included on the Apple side for Sonic 1, and the ability to use a controller instead of smudging screens with filthy fingers. Sonic 2‘s updates further refine multiplayer to be less of a hassle (though that still doesn’t seem to stop people from disconnecting… rude.)

If for some reason you still happen to be playing Hardlight Studios’ Sonic Dash, you’ll be delighted to find out that after putting up with Zazz beating you like a “DRUUUUUUM” for the past several months, a new boss has stormed out the gate to wreak havoc on the ever repetitive Seaside Hill Zone.

Every other run through the never-ending serpentine roads will result in Zazz and Eggman switching places to try and cut your run short. Unfortunately, while being two different characters, Hardlight decided to phone it in and just reuse the same boss A.I. So it’s less a new boss, more Zazz in an Eggman suit. At least the Egg Hornet theme from Sonic Adventure makes a return!

The update also contains new achievements for Silver and the announcement of the next global challenge to unlock series jewel thief Rouge the Bat. Neither are actually up and running as of publish time.

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UPDATED: Impromptu VidyaRetro Stream: Sonic 2 Remastered

Have you ever wanted to watch some schmucks play a brand new game from 20 years ago? That’s exactly what we’re doing right now, so join us as we play the newly updated release of Sonic 2 right now!

Despite some issues, the stream is now being hosted on the Vidya Retro Youtube channel split into four parts. You can watch the normal playthrough of the game in two parts, the debug playthrough or take a look at the two player mode in action.

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Debug Mode] [2 Player Mode]

Game News

Sonic 2 Mobile Update, Transformed iOS Unveiled

Sonic 2 2013 CPZ

Sega announced today their Winter 2013 lineup features Sonic 2‘s mobile update and Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed for iOS. The two titles are joined by Rhythm Thief and the Paris Caper (which is fantastic and worth checking out if its 3DS counterpart indicates anything) and a new MOBA card game called Demon Tribe.

Sonic 2’s update brings the same enhancements that Sonic 1 received in the form of wide screen display, a smooth 60FPS gameplay, and a host of other enhancements such as high quality Mega Drive sounds, leaderboards and achievements. I’m sure most of you are wondering about the game’s two-player mode. While Sega’s said little about the title, title developer and connoisseur of vegemite Christian “Taxman” Whitehead offered a little tease.

“I’m pretty limited in what I can mention about Sonic 2 right now, but when the Press Release says that the game runs widescreen at 60fps, that applies to all aspects of the game… wink wink, nudge nudge,” Whitehead said.

The Transformed port for iOS will feature a refined World Tour mode to accentuate gaming on the go and also provides four-player local and online multiplayer.

Both titles are currently scheduled for release sometime next month. Grab some hot chocolate, a blanket, and your mobile device (these should undoubtedly make their way over to Android users too.) Sega is aiming to provide a comfy winter for mobile gamers. Let’s just hope Sonic 2 can make it in time for its Nov. 24th anniversary.