We did it. Sonic is finally dead.
At least in the context of this year’s April Fools from SEGA. To celebrate April 1st, SEGA has released a murder mystery game in which players solve Sonic’s murder. Titled The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, the game is free to download and play right now on PC and Mac platforms! Check it out and let us know what you think of the game in the comments below.
Sonic appearing in other Sonic Team games was a highlight of the Dreamcast era, so it was delightful to see the press release from SEGA this morning revealing that Sonic himself will be making a cameo in the upcoming Nintendo Switch exclusive Samba de Amigo: Party Central! Sonic and City Escape will play host to Amigo and his friends as players shake it to two songs from the Sonic franchise: “Escape From the City” from Sonic Adventure 2 and “Fist Bump” from Sonic Forces. Check out the screenshot above and check the press release after the break! We wish SEGA sent a video clip too, but this is the best we can offer.
It’s happening! After years of personally asking SEGA, a Sonic the Hedgehog cookbook is arriving this October! Sonic the Hedgehog: The Official Cookbook will be written by Victoria Rosenthal (Official Fallout, Destiny, Street Fighter, GoW, Pokémon & FFXIV Cookbook) and Ian Flynn (IDW Sonic series, Sonic Frontiers), and will be published by Insight Editions physically and digitally. You can pre-order the book right now on Amazon, with a release date of October 17, 2023.
Outside of an art book and history book, both of which have since happened, I’ve long wanted a cookbook inspired by the Sonic franchise. Having cooked through ToeJam & Earl, The Sopranos and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge (in both plain and Life Day editions) I am ready to take my cooking to The Next Level with whatever the authors have cooked up. Preview pages, which you can see after the break, include placeholder text but hint at chili dogs, blue smoothies and Evil Cookies. Read the official description after the break, and do not forget to pre-order yourself a copy!
On this Fastest Food Alive, Barry takes a look at the new Knuckles Sour Power G FUEL energy drink and mixes things up (literally! OH HO HO HO!) by making a Sonic & Knuckles G FUEL mixed drink. If you want some Sonic Peach Rings energy drink for yourself, check out the G FUEL shop and use promo code SEGABITS for 20% off in support of more Fastest Food Alive videos.
First 4 Figures has unveiled the Amy Rose resin statue on Twitter, which will be available for pre-order on November 8th to commemorate the release of Sonic Frontiers. The team used the Sonic Advance Yuji Uekawa design as a base for the statue, even coming equipped with her Piko-Piko Hammer. An exclusive and definitive edition will also come with an interchangeable hand that features a miniature Pink Amy Chao. More details will be revealed at later dates, and you can sign up for the email letter to get notifications or follow First4Figures on Twitter for when more info drops.
Sonic Frontiers is just days away, and in the lead up to the game’s release SEGA has given fans a two part digital comic starring Sonic, Tails, Amy and Eggman showing the events that lead to the game’s opening moments. The official Sonic Twitter account has shared part one and today dropped part two, with a animated short starring Knuckles soon to follow.
Click on over to the Sonic Twitter account and give them a read!
Let’s take a look at the latest SEGA smartwatch band from MobyFox which also includes a sizable library of digital faces. In the unboxing and review video above we showcase the 3D designs that mimic the look of the original hardware as well as some of the cool little touches MobyFox added. Like what you see? You can pick up a smartwatch band for yourself on their shop starting today!
After the break, you can also watch our unboxing and review of the MobyFox line of Sonic the Hedgehog smartwatch bands.
If you ever wanted to know what you missed out on as a kid when McDonalod’s teamed up with SEGA to release a bunch of Sonic LCD games well, you’re in luck! Thanks to developer Dfug hard work, we have been graced with the collection that has all the games from Knuckles Baseball to Tails Soccer. Their painstaking work to digitise the collection of 17 games helps to perserve these bits of Sonic memoriable and shows you how popular Sonic was in 2003, with the height of popularity coming thanks to a combination of Sonic X and the release of Sonic Heroes. So head over to SAGExpo and give them a try, along with all the other cool games at the event.
It’s that time of the year again where the Sonic Amateur Games Expo, or SAGE (No relation to the Sonic Frontiers villain!) for short, graces us with it’s presence. Filled to the brim with some of the most dedicated Sonic fans on the net, this event now boasts a huge selection of non-Sonic fangames from Mega Man to Kirby as well as a host of indie games. In the coming days we’ll be sharing interviews with developers and game impressions at the event, so stick with SEGAbits and don’t miss a beat in our coverage. In the mean time, check out the SAGE trailer and head over to Expo’s website here and start downloading some of the coolest fan projects around!
Enjoy the Ride Records have just released a limited run of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 soundtrack audio cassette tapes, limited to 250 copies, featuring the score by Tom Holkenborg. The cassettes feature UV-printed shells, meaning you get promotional graphics from the movie printed right on the tape. Pretty slick! To sweeten the deal, the case evokes Sonic the Hedgehog 2‘s video game cover art, a move that the 4K home video release also did with the steelbook. Also available is a repress of the first film’s soundtrack on vinyl, featuring a tri-color swirl. Head on over to Enjoy the Ride Records and order yours today!
SEGA recently published two episode of Sonic Origins Speed Strats by Strategy Guide PR, bringing players up to speed on all things Sonic Origins, the remastered multi-game collection of the original Sonic titles. The series covers the original Sonic collection with information on each game on lore, objectives and game play mechanics featured exclusively in Sonic Origins.
This series also will help newcomers understand the original roots of the Sonic the Hedgehog series which I think is perfect timing after the release of Paramount Pictures’ Sonic the Hedgehog 2 movie. If you missed the first episode, you could check out the video here.
Sonic Origins will launch digitally, starting at $39.99 USD on PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, the Nintendo Switch™ family of systems and PC on June 23.
On this Swingin’ Report Show, Sonic Retro’s own David the Lurker joins Barry to talk about the ins and outs of the Sonic video game timeline and canon. We will discuss the split that Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces introduced, how the Archie Comics and IDW canons interact with the games and answer YOUR questions LIVE!
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Sonic has a cereal! So of course its time to return to the pantry with Fastest Food Alive as we look back at the many Sonic cereals and review the new cereal from General Mills.
This episode released a full week EARLY for Patreon members, so why not become one yourself? If you want to support this type of content, you can check out our Patreon!
Update: SEGA Forever has clarified that the mobile ports of Sonic 1, 2 and CD will remain!
SEGA of Japan’s Sonic Channel further clarifies that the following titles will be delisted: Xbox 360: Sonic 1, 2, 3, & Knuckles; PS Now: Sonic 1; PS3: Sonic 1, 2; Steam: Sonic 1, 2, 3 & Knuckles. The Sonic CD port appears to be spared, though given this is the Japanese site, it is unknown if the US and Europe releases will match this list.
SEGA has announced that in the lead up to Sonic Origins, Sonic games found in the collection will be pulled from digital storefronts. In SEGA’s words:
This will include Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic CD. There are a couple of exceptions – Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and 2 will remain available via SEGA AGES on the Nintendo Switch and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will still be playable via Sega Genesis on Nintendo Switch Online +.
Sonic has returned to theaters in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Kiel Phegley is returning to the Swingin’ Report Show to talk about all he has been up to in the world of Sonic books since we last spoke! We’ll talk about how Kiel became the go-to Sonic movie novelization writer, the process of creating a novelization for both Sonic movies, and his work with IDW on the prequel comic for Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
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