Sonic 20th Anniversary

Sonic’s 20th anniversary nendoroid figure gets priced

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We brought you the news that Good Smile Company would be making a nendoroid figure for Sonic’s 20th anniversary in Japan.

Now for what you all want to know. How much will this beautiful figure cost me? If you live in Japan it will cost you ¥3,500 (about $45 USD). If you live outside of Japan, you will be paying more for importing it. The figure comes with Sonic (you can pose him standing or running), item box, chaos emerald and point marker. When is it out? April 2012 is what Good Smile Company is aiming for. Check out the product page here.

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Sonic 20th Anniversary Soundtracks Now Available on iTunes

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Today, Sega of Japan announced that the Sonic 20th Anniversary Soundtrack would be available on iTunes in Japan, Europe and The United States. The soundtracks include Sonic CD, Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 and Sonic Heroes. Also available are two Crush 40 albums including a “Best of” and Jun Senoue’s “The Works”. The albums are only $9.99 American so download now!

 

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Takashi Iizuka wants to reinvent Sonic for 2012

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Takashi Iizuka says some of the weirdest things. Everyone seems to be excited for Sonic Generations and its getting good reviews. The future looks bright for the Sonic, but Iizuka thinks of Sonic Generations as a book end to modern and classic Sonic. Wants to reinvent him for 2012.

“I would like to make a new standard Sonic, a modern Sonic if you will, in 2012 and beyond. There have been a lot of Sonic titles in the past, and I think, at this point, there’s a pretty good idea of what a Sonic game should be like — a fun, frenetic action game. As I said, I feel the need to surprise the fans in new and innovative ways, but I don’t want to do anything to depart from that style. The color powers in Colors are a good example of that.” – Takashi Iizuka

So are you guys ready for a fresh new Sonic or do you think Sonic Team can further fix modern Sonic to make him better?

[Via: Destructoid]

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SEGA building a Sonic the Hedgehog themed park in Oakland

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SEGA is going to keep on celebrating Sonic the Hedgehog’s 20th anniversary. SEGA of America have announced that they are helping design a custom playground inspired by the world of Sonic in East Oakland, California.

SEGA will be working with Youth UpRising and outdoor play non-profit group KaBOOM on the project. The park will be designed to serve up to 400 local kids.

SEGA volunteeres and members of East Oakland community will have a gathering on the 28th  of October to construct the park on a single day. The park will formally open on November 1st, which happens to be the release date for Sonic Generations. Oh, what a nice little promotion!

[Source: GameSetWatch]

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Sonic CD getting soundtrack release for Sonic’s 20th Anniversary

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SEGA is going soundtrack re-release crazy in Japan. They already announced both Sonic Adventure soundtracks and also Sonic Heroes’ soundtrack getting a re-release. Now Sonic CD gets its time to shine, only this is not technically a ‘re-release’.

According to TSS, this is the first official release for the Sonic CD. The soundtrack is coming out November 23rd for ¥2400 (about £21 / $32).

You can pre-order it here.

[Source: TSS]

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Sonic the Hedgehog paper craft up for pre-order

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Ami Ami, the largest Japanese internet figure shop, has put a new product up for pre-order. A Sonic the Hedgehog paper craft. So what do you get with the product? I assume the printed out full color high quality paper and instructions on how to assemble the figurine. They said you can make the figure above in 10 minutes without using scissors or glue.

The figure will be 11cm tall and will cost you 630 yen (About $8 USD), doesn’t include stuff like taxes or shipping and handling. It will get release mid-November. It takes time to print paper.  Yes, Ami Ami does ship world wide.

[Source: AmiAmi]
[Thanks: dhjfgh via e-mail]

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Sonic the Hedgehog gets 20th anniversary shirts in Japan

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SEGA Japan is releasing a couple of Sonic 20th Anniversary shirts, they are both pictured above. The one on the left, with the image of Green Hill Zone from Sonic Generations, will cost you 6,300 yen ($82 USD). Yeah, swagger money.

If you like the more simple type design on the right, it will run you 3,045 yen ($40 USD). If you have the cash to pay for them, more power to you.

[Source: Sonic Stadium]

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SEGA Japan launches Sonic tweeting game

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SEGA Japan launched another web app for Sonic’s 20th anniversary. This strange little app is called “Sonic ★ Tweet“.

I guess the way the game works is that you have to use the twitter client to unlock 500 cards that feature characters from Sonic’s history. How do you unlock the cards? Defeat Eggman by using some wit in your tweets.

Basically the game takes your tweet, breaks down the words and each one has assigned points. Depending on what words you use, in one tweet (and what others online are using) you rank in combos, giving Sonic’s attack more damage.

After you take down Eggman’s health to zero, you will get exp and a card. Cards can be used to bypass a cooldown phase (you have a limit to how much you can attack).

Sadly this game is only up for our Japanese readers, the rest of us either have to learn Japanese or pretend we know how.

[Source: Sonic Wrecks]

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Sonic making his return to Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

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[Sonic the Hedgehog, rocking Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in 1993]

Back in 1993, Sonic the Hedgehog broke ground for video games by being the first video game character to be featured in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Now SEGA has confirmed that Sonic will be returning to the parade this year.

For those readers that love their parades, this parade will take place on November 24th. If you live in New York and attend, send us pictures. We love pictures.

[Via: The SEGA Source]

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Sonic Generations demo impressions

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Happy Birthday, Sonic. I think it is fair to say that many of us can thank the blue hedgehog for who we are today (in a sense). I know that part of the reason I work on this site has something to do with the blue blur’s influence on my early life, and when I look at how many comments we get on Sonic articles compared to most other Sega games it’s evident that there is still a lot of passion for the character 20 years on.

My first Sonic game was Sonic the Hedgehog, the original Sonic game. I got it as a pack in with my Sega Mega Drive and I was hooked right from the start. For me, it took what Mario was doing and made it faster and gave it some attitude; it was like a roller coaster and I’ve stuck with the character through the years. Whilst Sonic went through a really rough patch where even I stopped playing his games, I’m happy to report that I absolutely loved Sonic Colours and as I type this, I’m playing the Sonic Generations timed demo which, despite a few hiccups, I’m enjoying quite a bit.

Sonic Generations demo impressions after the jump:

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Sonic Boom t-shirt and buttons giveaway

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Celebrating Sonic’s birthday? We are too, by giving away some Sonic Boom swag for those of you that didn’t make it to the event. Here’s what we have to give away:

  • 3 Sonic Boom shirts
  • 3 Sonic Generations buttons
(Winner gets one of each item. Contest open worldwide. Shirt sizes available: S, M, L, XL. Contest closes on Wednesday.)

How do you enter? We want to hear your Sonic story. Tell us how you were introduced to the blue blur and what made you fall in love with the franchise. You can send your e-mails here. Also, make the email subject “Sonic 20th anniversary contest.”

The SOA staff said they are willing to sign the swag. If you win, whether you want your swag signed will be up to you. Thanks to all the SOA people for supporting this site and contest by giving fans sweet swag. We love it.

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Let’s Take a Look at Sonic #226 – The Genesis Saga Part 1!

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Just a day until Sonic’s 20th, and this arrives in the mail: Archie’s Sonic the Hedgehog #226. This issue is better known as being part one of the hotly anticipated Genesis saga, which throws the main cast of the Archie continuity back into the SEGA Genesis days of Sonic. In the previous issue, #225, the Eggman of the Archie continuity (who looks like the modern Eggman of the games but has a back story so complicated I’ve yet to wrap my head around it) unleashed a resurrected Death Egg on the Freedom Fighters. After a bit of fighting, Eggman killed a well known character from the SatAM days and powered up a device that enveloped the universe in white (hmm, sounds like something that is happening in Sonic Generations) and rebooted the entire universe. As such, when issue #226 kicks off, Sonic is acting as though he is from the Genesis era (with a modern design), running through Green Hill and bopping badniks which he seems to be encountering for the first time.

Click here to read more

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SEGA teases Sonic 20th Anniversary iphone app

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SEGA had an event on the 18th in Japan for Sonic Generations. All the big guys from Sonic Team where there to answer fan questions, the public got to play City Escape level on the PS3 and Green Hill Zone (modern) on the 3DS. Then this little app above was teased.

SEGA is calling the app “Sonic 20th Anniversary” app. Featured in the pictures is ‘Soinic the sketch hog’. The app will give you the latest news on how SEGA is celebrating the blue blur’s 20th anniversary and exclusives like wallpapers.

The app is set to debut on the Japanese Apple Store, for free, on June 23rd. Will we be getting a American app? Who knows.

[Source: AndriaSang]

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