SEGA News Bits: Roger Craig Smith Will No Longer Voice Sonic The Hedgehog

We learned the sad news today that Roger Craig Smith will no longer be voicing Sonic The Hedgehog, after over ten years in the role. On this SEGA News Bits, Barry and George share their thoughts on his departure and what the future might hold for Sonic.

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Roger Craig Smith Will No Longer Voice Sonic The Hedgehog

Sad news today for Sonic fans, as longtime Sonic The Hedgehog voice actor Roger Craig Smith announced via Twitter that he would be stepping down from the role. Roger said “Welp, 10 years was an amazing run. Onward to new zones! Much love to the fans who’ve been so kind. It’s been an honor.”

Roger began his career as Sonic not in games, but as the voice of a Sonic themed hotel room in the UK Alton Towers resort. Roger made his video game debut as Sonic in the Xbox 360 Kinect exclusive Sonic Free Riders and appeared soon after in Sonic Colors. From there, Roger voiced Sonic in a variety of roles, from video games to the multi-media project Sonic Boom to both Wreck-It Ralph films to LEGO Dimensions. Between all his Sonic work, Roger was and is undoubtably the most prolific Sonic voice actor to date who has portrayed more versions of the character than any other actor before. His work will be fondly remembered by generations of fans and his work as Sonic, alongside his nemesis Eggman voiced by Mike Pollock, will be sorely missed.

It is unknown at this time if Roger is stepping down on his own, or if he has been replaced. It is also unknown who that replacement is. We also do not know at this time if other voice actors from the series are leaving. More news as we hear it. In the meantime, we wish Roger all the best and thank him for his excellent work. After the break, check out our classic Swinin’ Report Show interview with Roger.

Sonic The Hedgehog Sequel Sees a Returning Actress PLUS Filming Locations Revealed

Since we’re all at home, its easy to catch daytime television. On Live with Kelly and Ryan, actress Tika Sumpter guested and confirmed she will be returning for the Sonic The Hedgehog movie sequel and filming will begin in March, 2021. Additionally, the movie will film in Vancouver and Hawaii.

Fans might remember the first movie filmed in Vancouver, which acted as Montana and San Francisco. So it is likely we will return to the small town of Green Hills, Montana. Additionally, the Hawaii location is interesting as it could act as Sonic’s world with some CG enhancements. We’ll know more as filming begins.

[Source: Twitter]

SEGA Talk Podcast #62: Bayonetta (2009)

On this stylish, sexy episode of the SEGA Talk Podcast, George and Barry look back at the Platinum Games’ masterpiece known as Bayonetta. We dive into the development, the characters, the games, and hopefully by the end we can silence what little critics this game has left.

Support us on Patreon! Get early access, tell us what games to cover, and have your SEGA memories read at the end and more!

[iTunes – Stitcher – YouTube – Play Music – 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!

Ground Zero Texas – Nuclear Edition Revives SEGA CD Classic – Announced for PS4 and Steam

Screaming Villains, who released HD ports of Night Trap, Double Switch and Corpse Killer – FMV games made famous on the SEGA CD – is back at it with an HD release of Ground Zero Texas.

The game will release digitally March 2nd, 2021 to PlayStation 4 and Steam, and there will be a physical Limited Run Games release which will be available for pre-order on January 22, 2021. We can assume there will be both standard and collector’s editions as they have gone for the previous games.

SEGA Talk Podcast #61: Arcade Candy Cabinets (1986-2005)

Barry and George take a break from talking about SEGA software and shift the focus to SEGA’s legendary “Candy Cabinet” line of multi-purpose arcade cabinets which included the famous Astro City and many more. Let’s dive deep into Japanese arcade history on this hardware episode of SEGA Talk Podcast!

Support us on Patreon! Get early access, tell us what games to cover, and have your SEGA memories read at the end and more!

[iTunes – Stitcher – YouTube – Play Music – 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!

Unboxing: Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog Animation Legends Blind Bag Part 3

Back again, this time with a captain’s hat! It’s another blind bag of animation cels from the 1993 cartoon Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog from Animation Legends.

The company promises that you are guaranteed to have an A rated cel (80% – 100% of a character), and the remaining cels will be randomly selected with a B (cel visibly shows less than 80% of a character) or C (cel might include parts of a character but these cels mainly include scenery or other aspects of the show) grade. I ended up ordering another 15-pack and above you can check out my third unboxing.

If you like what you see, hit up Animation Legends and check out their offerings. Many cel packs are currently 50% off, and as an added bonus you can use promo code SEGABITS10 to take an additional 10% off your purchase!

SEGA Talk Podcast #60: Sonic Colors (2010)

On this Christmas Day episode, George and Barry celebrate the tenth anniversary of Sonic Colors with a special look back at the game and the impact it made on the franchise. This is also our 60th episode, and the last episode of 2020 which happens to be SEGA’s 60th anniversary!

Support us on Patreon! Get early access, tell us what games to cover, and have your SEGA memories read at the end and more!

[iTunes – Stitcher – YouTube – Play Music – 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!

SEGA Forever Bares its Knuckles in New Streets of Rage Retrospective Video

SEGA Forever, SEGA’s nostalgic social media machine, has dropped another retrospective pop-up video, this time focusing on the Streets of Rage series. Streets of Rage has seen a trilogy of great beat ’em ups on the Genesis/Mega Drive, and most recently on modern consoles with Streets of Rage 4. Check out the video above and be on the lookout for more SEGA Forever retrospectives!

SEGA News Bits: Our Favorite SEGA & ATLUS Games of 2020

On this SEGA News Bits, George and Barry share what they thought were SEGA’s best offerings, and reflect on the year as a whole. How was a year without Sonic? What did SEGA’s 60th anniversary have to offer? Click play and hear our thoughts!

If you want to support this type of content, you can check out our Patreon!

If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a thumbs up so it shows up on more like-minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that YouTube algorithm is.

SEGA News Bits: Most Disappointing SEGA Games of 2020

Every year we pick our most disappointing SEGA games that we played, because in our eyes no SEGA game is truly “bad” or the “worst”. This year, we think our choices reflect just how good the year actually is. We hope you’ll agree, and if you don’t… sorry!

If you want to support this type of content, you can check out our Patreon!

If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a thumbs up so it shows up on more like-minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that YouTube algorithm is.

Unboxing: Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog Animation Legends Blind Bag

If you’ve been a longtime reader of SEGAbits, you might have picked up on the fact that I am a big fan of the 1993 cartoon Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. Shortly after the series wrapped, my dad gifted me three framed animation cels. Hand-painted animation cels for the series have been available for years, but you either had to hit eBay or animation art galleries. Earlier this year, I started seeing ads for Animation Legends, a company that was selling blind bags of animation cels from a number of cartoon series from the 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s. The promise is that you are guaranteed to have an A rated cel (80% – 100% of a character), and the remaining cels will be randomly selected with a B (cel visibly shows less than 80% of a character) or C (cel might include parts of a character but these cels mainly include scenery or other aspects of the show) grade.

I ended up ordering a 15-pack and since then I have been hooked. Above you can check out my second unboxing (unenveloping?) and after the break my first bling bag unboxing.

If you like what you see, hit up Animation Legends and check out their offerings. Many cel packs are currently 50% off, and as an added bonus you can use promo code SEGABITS10 to take an additional 10% off your purchase!

SEGA Talk Podcast #59: Samba De Amigo (1999)

Samba De Amigo! If you can’t tell, Barry and George are excited to discuss the arcade, Dreamcast and Wii releases of Samba De Amigo on this episode of SEGA Talk! Learn about the various maraca accessories, the differences between releases and the future of the Sonic Team rhythm dance franchise.

Support us on Patreon! Get early access, tell us what games to cover, and have your SEGA memories read at the end and more!

[iTunes – Stitcher – YouTube – Play Music – 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!

Netflix and SEGA Announce Sonic The Hedgehog 3D Animated Series, Premiering in 2022

Big news today, as Netflix tweeted out that a new 3D animated Sonic The Hedgehog series will premiere in 2022, created in partnership with SEGA, WildBrain and Man of Action Entertainment. For a better idea of what to expect from the series, WildBrain is best known for producing Apple TV+’s Snoopy in Space and Netflix’s Carmen Sandiego while Man of Action Entertainment is best known for Ben 10Marvel’s Avengers: Assemble, and Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man.

You can read the full descriptions of these two companies after the break, and we will update this article if more information is revealed today.