Sonic

More Sonic & Mega Man crossover art – Knuckles and Shadow meet their rivals

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Archie Comics has released more promotional art for their 2013 Sonic & Mega Man crossover event. This time they’re showing off Sonic’s rivals who, in turn, have their own rivals. Looks like Knuckles will be meeting Mega Man’s rival Proto Man, while Shadow will meet Bass. I gotta say, these team ups really work well! Far better than a Mario crossover, in my opinion. So who is next? While, I’d imagine Tails will be paired with Doctor Light and I’d love to see Amy Rose paired with Tron Bonne. I could even see more obscure Archie Sonic characters, like Sonic’s dog Muttski, paired with Mega Man’s dog Rush. After the break, check out Shadow and Bass as well as a larger image of the Sonic & Mega Man logo.

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5 things Sonic can do now that he is 21

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Tomorrow marks Sonic’s 21st birthday! While not a milestone like the 20th anniversary, Sonic’s 21st is a big deal in regards to the perks that come with being a 21 year-old, at least in the United States. In a very special Weekly Five, we’ll take a look at five things Sonic will be doing tomorrow. Some good, but mostly bad. Okay, mostly bad. Do you really think we’d be all cheery and PC when it comes to Sonic?

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SEGA teams with Nike to present a run and jump Sonic mini-game

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From the Sonic Stadium comes this cool bit of Sonic news. Nike Football and SEGA have teamed up to promote football shoes (soccer shoes to Americans), and to do this they’ve created a rather ingenious interactive video that unlocks a Sonic mini-game. The game features a modified Green Hill Zone with Splash Hill music in which Sonic runs forward, with the space bar acting as the only way to control him. Sonic can jump and double jump (what is this, Sonic Colors?) as well as execute a killer soccer attack not unlike his recent move in which he can blast a box forwards to kill a string of enemies as seen in Colors and Generations. After the break, learn how to access the game.

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Spoiler Alert: See every page of The History of Sonic book

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGURDOlBcQ8

Pix’n Love Publishing’s The History of Sonic book has finally released… in French! So while English readers await the release of the English version, which is coming, enjoy this spoileriffic page by page video of the book. The book looks to be very impressive, with a lot of artwork and screens as well as a good amount of text, a nice balance of pictures and words in my opinion. The most awesome aspect of the book is that it has never before seen artwork! After the break, part two of the book.

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Contest: Tweet and win a Sonic related shirt from Insert Coin Clothing

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Today we are giving one lucky twitter follower a Sonic related t-shirt from Insert Coin Clothing. You can either pick the bright blue Team Sonic shirt or be a bad guy with the Eggman inspired t-shirt. I have to say, that Eggman shirt sure does look nice. So how do you enter and win one of these bad boys? Simple, follow us and retweet the message below:

Follow @SEGAbits and retweet this message to be entered to win a Sonic shirt from @insertcointees. More details: http://bit.ly/y2VXMo

A winner will be picked in random and notified by twitter that they won. The winner will be picked on Thursday at noon. Happy tweeting!

CONTEST IS OVER, WINNER HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED. 

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Sonic Monopoly Arriving August 2012

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Thanks to the Sonic Stadium’s resident merch hound Hogfather, it has been discovered that American board game company USAopoly will soon be releasing a line of Sonic the Hedgehog games and puzzles due out in August 2012! Various online toy and game retailers have started posting up pre-orders for games and puzzles, including a Sonic die cut puzzle, a Sonic memory game and… a Sonic Monopoly! The last item mentioned is the most exciting of the three. Many franchises have gotten the Monopoly treatment, including Nintendo, World of Warcraft, Seinfeld, Simpsons and Futurama.

A Sonic Monopoly could be awesome, or it could be a disappointment. USAopoly has a history of some great versions of the classic game, such as the Simpsons version. However, other franchises aren’t so lucky. Nintendo Monopoly, for example, features a plain white board with Nintendo characters acting as property. How uninspired! I only hope that some Sonic fans are working on the project, so we get a Monopoly that the franchise deserves. And hey, if it doesn’t work out, you can always print out and play the Sonic Monopoly that I’m making! The image above came from my work-in-progress board.

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New Sonic Toys Revealed at New York’s Toy Fair – Plush Metal Sonic, Modern PVC Figures and Charmy!

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Another year, another Toy Fair. That means more Sonic toys from Jazwares! Unlike last year, which revealed a LOAD of 20th anniversary figures, this year is rather light despite the many figures and plush dolls crowding the booth. The first thing you’ll notice is that they’ll be removing the 20th anniversary logo and will be replacing it with a standard gold ring and Sonic logo. There are a few repackagings of existing items, such as the classic 3″ figures in a four pack. The new additions to the line, seen for the first time in these photos include:

• Metal Sonic plush doll – seen above
• Modern PVC figure set including Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Amy and Metal – seen above in front of the classic PVC set
• Chaotix figure 3-pack featuring Charmy, Vector and Espio – seen after the break

Click Here to Read More

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Sonic Appears in a New Progressive Commercial

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http://youtu.be/RfUsKWyRRm0

Typically when a Progressive insurance commercial comes on the air, I mute the television. But this brand new one requires SEGA fans to crank the volume! For whatever reason, Sonic is now in a Progressive ad. Sonic is shown running about to the Sonic 3 invincible theme looking for savings on insurance, which is smart considering he always has a violent evil doctor out to get him. Flo, Progressive spokeswoman, stops him and yammers on about savings and insurance. The ad ends with Sonic celebrating to the Sonic 3 extra life jingle.

Overall, a very unexpected but awesome ad. The animation is well done, and everybody loves some classic Genesis tunes pumping through their speakers. One note: when the humans get toonified, they look very much like Sonic Unleashed-style humans. Cool to see that SEGA hasn’t dropped this style, despite humans being MIA since 2008 (Eggman aside).

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Sonic 4 Episode 2 Officially Announced

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KhMsQij8H0

Here it goes again! The controversial Sonic 4 is back again for another shot at classic sonic gameplay, Sonic 4 Episode 2 was officially announced today by Ken Balough on Gamespot. Check out the teaser trailer above.

Ken seemed really excited to announce Episode 2 you could see it all over his face, but why? Well Sonic 4 Episode 2 will boast new physics, new graphics and everyone’s favourite two tailed fox Tails!

Now, when talking about changes Ken specifically mentioned that Sonic will no longer stick to walls or ‘uncurl’ as he leaves ramps. Those of course were real problems with Sonic 4 Episode 1. What he didn’t mention but what is by far my biggest gripe with the game is this; when I take my finger off of the forward button is Sonic going to suddenly stop dead in the air? I honestly felt that was the biggest problem with Sonic 4 Episode 1 and that will be the make or break of Episode 2.

What personally I don’t care about at all but would probably go a long way would be a classic model for Sonic and the option to turn on and off the homing attack, maybe for classic Sonic it could be an item in one of those TV screens so he can still get though the level. Just a suggestion!

Ken announced Episode 2 for PSN, XBLA, Windows Phones, iOS and Android devices.

You can see the entire interview with Ken here!

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Five Great Santas in SEGA History

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Consider this a SEGAbits exclusive: Santa is real! Yes, as it turns out the annual gift giver is the real deal. All those Santas we see at malls? They’re just the middle men. They’re the guys that report to the real Santa. How about all those variations we see of Santa in the media? This is a marketing effort on the real Santa’s part to keep his image alive. Proof of this exists everywhere, but today I thought I’d highlight five notable Santas in SEGA history. After the break, we reveal our Claus.

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Sonic CD is out, it’s cheap and it’s really, really good!

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SEGA have done something fantastic today, something you don’t see big publishers doing very often. They have chosen to reach out to the community and nabbed themselves Christian Whitehead aka ‘Taxman’ and his quite marvelous ‘Retro Engine’. It’s my understanding that Whitehead has been developing his ‘Retro Engine’ for quite some time now and gained a name for himself in the Sonic Community, and I can see why. His re-master release of Sonic CD for XBLA, PSN, iOS, Android, Windows Phone and of course PC is really, really good!

Unlike Backbone’s rather poor and often botched efforts at updating SEGA classics, Christian Whitehead’s ‘Retro Engine’ has given us Sonic CD locked at 60fps on every platform, both Euro/Japan and US sound tracks, new features, playable Tails, a choice of filters and modes, achievements and more… It really boasts the lot!

Hit the jump to find out why I think SEGA should snap up Whitehead and his engine!

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Let’s Go to the “Sonic Generation” Art Show in Philadelphia!

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When Gagaman of SEGA Memories wrote about the “Sonic Generation” fan art show in Philadelphia, PA, I knew I had to make the long trek to check it out. Grabbing my old near-broken digital camera (my new one is being repaired), I headed out into the tepid weather and braved the 9 minute subway ride to the Brave New Worlds comic book shop. The show, which is actually rather small despite the spiffy website, features various renditions of Sonic, Tails and Eggman from a variety of artists. Located in the outer lobby of Brave New Worlds, the gallery takes up what usually would have been a blank wall.

Click here for photos and more!

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Sonic 20th Anniversary Action Figure Roundup

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2011 has been a huge year for Sonic in a number of areas: we’ve seen the return of the Genesis-style gameplay, Archie’s Sonic series gave us a great adaptation of Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 and the toy company Jazwares has released a number of action figures celebrating Sonic’s 20th anniversary. While I haven’t been posting about the many figures here at SEGAbits, over at SEGA Network affiliate SEGA Memories I’ve been regularly sharing the Jazwares toys. As of this week I’ve collected the full line of 20th anniversary figures, at least until Jazwares releases more which they have hinted at doing. What follows is a handy roundup of all my Jazwares figure posts from the past year, where I review each figure and share photos. Enjoy!

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300 Page Sonic History Book Releasing in France

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The French are such lucky dogs (or should I say, “lucky frogs”? sorry, bad joke), they’re getting a beautiful 300 page book spanning the history of the Sonic franchise. Released by Pix’n Love Publishing, with approval from SEGA of Japan, the initial release touts a blue hardcover with a gold printed logo and a unique serial number. The book is up for pre-order with an expected January 2012 release and Pix’n Love ships worldwide for a nominal fee. I was able to preorder the book for 35.50 euros, that’s 30 euros for the book and only 5.50 euros for shipping, roughly $47. The downside? Most of it is in French, the upside, a bit of it is in English and there are a lot of pretty pictures to look at. Also, Pix’n Love Publishing has an English language site and they have released a few of their more popular French books in English. So if their History of Mario book is anything to go by, there may be a softcover English release of the Sonic book in late 2012. For more images of the book, check out their virtual preview on their pre-order page.

UPDATE: A rep from the UK Pix’n Love shop has said that an English version is coming, and pre-orders should start in a few weeks. Time to cancel that order from France!

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