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Sonic the Hedgehog Christmas Extravaganza

Miscellaneous

Twelve Days of Sonic Retro Christmas 2011 Edition: Day 12

On the twelfth day of Christmas, Retro gave to me…

Once again, Christmas is upon us. By the time you read this, more than likely you’ve already opened up whatever was hiding under the tree, and are now wasting time until you’re forced to go see even more family to reminisce about Christmases of the past. For while Christmas is about giving gifts in an act of kindness to others, it is also about reflection. To look back on the year to think of the highs and the lows, to smile at the memories you created that you will cherish for a lifetime, to remember the ones we’ve lost when we shouldn’t have. The elements that make us who we are, and will hopefully make us wiser come the new year.

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Humor, Miscellaneous

12 Days of Sonic Retro Christmas 2011: Day 11

On the eleventh day of Christmas, Retro gave to me…

…a bunch of videos of kids on Christmas.

So it’s Christmas Eve. Things are winding down, with last minute shopping and Christmas dinner being concocted. If you’re a kid, you won’t sleep tonight, wondering just what Santa got you for Christmas this year. I try to keep myself hip with the kids, with all their electronic gadgets and whatnot, but I don’t know what the hottest toy of the season is. But as a kid of the 90’s, there was only one item you wanted under the tree. That one box, covered in a Sega logo, that would send you into a crazed frenzy. While it may have been a very long time since anyone has gotten this excited over anything Sega related, let us take a look back to Christmases long, long ago, when the Sega Seal of Quality was still around…

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Fan Works, Humor

12 Days of Sonic Retro Christmas 2011: Day 10

On the tenth day of Christmas, Retro gave to me…

…some fanmade Sonic Christmas specials. Yep.

By now, we’re all familiar with the officially licensed Sonic the Hedgehog Christmas stories, even if you’ve only heard of them on the front page. Sonic Christmas Blast. The numerous Sonic the Comic tales. Sonic’s interpretation of A Christmas Carol. That hasn’t stopped some fans from trying to create their own Sonic holiday specials, which all have their own spin to them. They’re definitely not everyone’s cup of tea, and I’m sure more than a few people are going to go “why is this on Retro.” But you know what? It’s the holiday season, and what’s Christmas without some extremely cheesy Christmas specials?

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Merchandise

12 Days of Sonic Retro Christmas 2011: Day 9

On the ninth day of Christmas, Retro gave to me…

…a look at Christmas swag you can’t buy anymore.

We’re hitting the home stretch here. Christmas is only in a few short days, so its quite possible that you’re reading this article on the go, looking for a gift for that special someone. Each store you enter is covered in Christmas, shelves strewn about with an ever-shrinking stock.

One thing that always confused me even as a child, however, was the amount of Christmas-themed gifts. If you’re a kid on Christmas day opening up presents, the last thing I’d think you’d want is something that has Santa Claus on it. Sure, you can use it the day you get it, but what are you going to do afterwards? Are you going to wear a Christmas sweater come July? I don’t think so.

But I guess it’d be forgivable if Sonic was involved.

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Miscellaneous

12 Days of Sonic Retro Christmas 2011: Day 8

On the eighth day of Christmas, Retro gave to me…

…Sega’s Christmas push of 1990.

I know that I’m a bit late with this, but hey. It’s Christmastime give me some slack. It’s not like I’m charge of Sega of America or anything.

It’s easy to forget, but there was an era of Sega before Sonic the Hedgehog. They were still in the business of making video games, they just didn’t have that killer app yet that would put them over the top. That didn’t mean they weren’t trying, though. As the Good Morning America clip above shows, they were giving it their all. Sure, it wasn’t enough that year, but the next? Oh ma’am.

Either way, it is a nice look into the very early days of the 16-bit console wars. I wonder how merry Tom Kalinske‘s Christmas was that year. After all, he was the president of the Sega Genesis…

Miscellaneous

12 Days of Sonic Retro Christmas 2011: Day 7

On the seventh day of Christmas, Retro gave to me…

Sonic the Sketchhog: The Retro Review

Now, we’ve seen a number of big releases this year. Sonic Generations. The Sonic the Hedgehog CD remake. But there is one release that has been pretty much ignored here on the front page of Retro, aside from a small blurb about when it was announced. Before the two big releases, iPhone/iTouch/iPad users got an entirely different game to waste the time away. It might not have been the biggest, most in-depth game, and it’s true that it doesn’t have a whole lot to do with Christmas. But you know what? I’m not going to let that stop me. I’m already running late on this, so we here at Retro are going to give you another review for your money’s worth.

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Humor, Miscellaneous

12 Days of Sonic Retro Christmas 2011: Day 6

On the sixth day of Christmas, Retro gave to me…

…some videos that make me want to go the store.

Let’s be perfectly honest here: while we may love Sonic the Hedgehog and Sega as a whole, at the end of the day they are a business, which means they want to sell the public something. It certainly helps when it’s something we really, really, want, of course. And what better time is more appropriate to dwell on consumerism than Christmas? We all know that people buy the most around the holiday season, so why wouldn’t you want to try and advertise the world of Sega while visions of sugarplums dance in your head?

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Miscellaneous

12 Days of Sonic Retro Christmas 2011: Day 5

On the fifth day of Christmas, Retro gave to me…

…the Korean opening to Sonic Christmas Blast.

Now, I’m sure everyone here has seen the animated special Sonic Christmas Blast at least once in their life. Produced after Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and the Saturday morning series ended, it is most definitely a continuation of the first, although the pink version of Princess Sally shows up. Sure, she doesn’t talk, but she shows up!

Originally named An X-Tremely Sonic Christmas, it was retitled to match the Sonic game that was actually coming out in 1996. And to be honest, it’s worth watching just because of how insane it is. How often do you get to see Robotnik dressed up as Santa, anyway? The video above is the intro to the special, but as you’ve probably come to notice, it’s in Korean. And while we don’t have a translation just yet, the lyrics definitely are about Sonic the Hedgehog. And Christmas.

[Source: slimer via #retro via naver.com]

Comics, Humor

12 Days of Sonic Retro Christmas 2011: Day 4

On the fourth day of Christmas, Retro gave to me…

…a Christmas story done by Archie Comics.

Now, last year when I started reading the Fleetway Christmas comics, I must admit a small corner of my mind was tickled by the concept. I mean, the idea of the Christmas special isn’t something new. We’ve all seen Charlie Brown buy the saddest tree in existence. We’ve watched the Grinch steal Christmas at least 40 times. And who knows how many times we’ve been forced to watch It’s A Wonderful Life? Now, what all these share is that they are just moments in time, and are always repeated but never changed. Sonic the Comic, on the other hand, tried to make it a yearly tradition to always come up with something new to usher in the holiday season. That’s when a small part of me wondered aloud, “Why didn’t Archie ever do anything like this? They’re a comic book, too!”

So when I started my game adaptation reviews, I was floored to see that, indeed, they had done a Christmas special. One that I completely forgot about.

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Merchandise

12 Days of Sonic Retro Christmas 2011: Day 3

On the third day of Christmas, Retro gave to me…

…a huge poster scan of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Now, we’ve all seen the cover to the Sonic the Hedgehog promotional comic that came out back in 1991 in the United States. Drawn in that very familiar American artstyle…well, you can argue the pros and cons of how he ended up looking. Either way, you can’t dismiss the fact the image is iconic. But since the most common scan of that cover has a very large crease in the middle, and the fact that it’s a comic book cover so it automatically has all sorts of text and icons scattered about, there hasn’t been any super huge awesome clean scan of it.

Courtesy of Sonic Retro member jlmcr87, this has all changed. Possessing the poster version of the image (which means no text save the Sonic the Hedgehog and Sega logos), you can now download it at the extreme resolution of 4905 x 6956. That’s suitable for framing! If you have the means, you can make a print and hang it in your house, just in time for your most recent Christmas party. Imagine how your guests will swoon over your wall! It could very well be the best Christmas ever. Just go ahead and click on the image above to get the extreme version. Just be wary of the file size. Might not be such a good idea for you to try and view it on your iPhone.