15th Anniversary Duet of Dreams Dreams!

How's this for a "Sega Memory"? Cameron Strother, the man that as a young boy sang in the game NiGHTS into Dreams, contacted NiGHTSintodreams.com recently with a rather special gift: a brand new duet of the song "Dreams Dreams" between himself and Jasmine Ann Allen, the other original singer! Jasmine sung this song for the Wii sequel on her own but this is the first time since the original Saturn game that they have sung it together! They were both just kids when they originally did this and as a bonus Cameron sent this message reminiscing about his time working on the game and visiting Sega's headquarters.

I was very young when I first heard and sang this song. I'm not sure how many years ago it was now but it seems like I recorded it a year or two before NiGHTS was released. It was my first paid singing job. I was paid a handsome sum (didn't mean much to a kid) and was given an armful of Sega Saturn games (meant the world). More than the money or even the games though, I remember the special feeling I got when visited the Sega HQ building. Video games were my chocolate so I felt like I was walking around Willy Wonka's factory, witnessing a magical process.

I remember seeing the early plans for a game that was supposed to replace Sonic the Hedgehog as Sega's new flagship series. I was supposed to keep quiet about it but I told all my Japanese school friends about this amazing new game that was coming out and how I had seen the secret last boss. Suffice to say, It was an awesome experience and it holds a very special place in my childhood memories and I was glad to revisit that happy time by singing Dreams Dreams again. I myself am a big NiGHTS fan and I'm still holding out for a proper sequel or at least a good re-release for the current generation of consoles.

Thanks for keeping NiGHTS alive!

-Cameron Strother

You can download the MP3 of this new track over at NiGHTSintodreams.com!

Metal Sonic Statue is almost here! Production photos!

 Eeek! It's the brotherhood of Metallix!

I love when First4Figures does this. They have put up production photos of the Metal Sonic statue on their Facebook. You know what this means? They are almost ready for shipment! This also means a big chunk of cash will be leaving my bank account. Ouch.

Sonic CD's Secret Strategy Guide

Believe it or not, this is the American strategy guide for Sonic CD! Back in 1994, between the release of Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles, strategy guide publisher Brady Games released this guide. The book covers all of Sonic 3, but as Sonic and Knuckles had yet to be released and because Sonic 3 itself was on the short side, the guide itself came up short. I assume Brady Games solution was to fill the last third of the book with a year too late guide to Sonic CD. In celebration of the rerelease of Sonic's SEGA CD classic, let's crack open this book and take a look inside!

My Sonic CD Art Contest Entry

So Sega has given us the get go to publish our entries for the Sonic CD art contest they set up some time back, with the results being shown on their blog later today. I got e-mailed this morning that I was one of the 50 UK winners! This means I'll be getting a copy of the soundtrack sent in the post! Here's my entry..

..and now you'll know why I wrote so much about the hidden art from the sound test in my previous article! because that was such an inspirational and bizarre element from the game, I decided to pay tribute to it in my entry. It's a re-creation of this art from the game below, with references to most of the other hidden pics too, see if you can spot them!

I guess it was a bit of a risk picking this scene as I wasn't sure if the judges would even recognise it, or if it would even be in the new re-release, although it turns out that not only is it still in, but the Taxman even went to the effort of animating the DJ Robotnik and sticking him on the soundtrack select screen! How cool is that?

You'll notice the creature from that one artwork that inspired a character out of me is also hiding within the image. Well I had to go one step further and remake the entire picture didn't I?

Obviously this wasn't entered into the contest, that would be pushing it! I only put this together yesterday for a laugh really. But really, the only way to experience this image is for it to have the music with it, in particular what played with it on the American version of the game so er...here you go!

UPDATE: Sega have uploaded all the winners to their Flickr account here. Some truly amazing pieces in there, check it out.

Sonic CD is my life.

Sonic CD is something of a special game to me. game play and level layout wise, it's not my favourite game and not even my favourite Sonic game, but the art style, soundtrack and general tone of the game is by far the one that has stuck with me the most ever since I played it in 1994 when I was 8. Incoming long ramble about Sonic CD inspired moments of my childhood and beyond!

The first Sonic game I played was Sonic 2, although I think it may have actually been both the cartoons and the fleetway comic that first got me into the character. We got a second hand Mega CD out of the local newspaper classified section and it came with a bunch of games including Sonic CD. I have owned this copy of the game ever since, mainly because barring eBay I have never seen another copy for sale since, same case with most of my Mega CD games.

Childhood doodles and my top 20 favorite pieces of music from the game after the jump!

Today is 'Buy Sonic CD' day.

I did a post like this back when the new downloadable port of Daytona USA was released and I'm doing it again now because Sega deserves to be shown when they do something oh so right. Sonic CD is being released for the X-Box Live Arcade and Playstation Network (in Europe anyway, PSN America gets it in a week) as well as iPhone and Android devices (with PC and Windows Phone releases coming early next year) for an absolutely bargain price across all the formats of $5/£3.59, especially considering just what a special re-release this is.

Re-built by programmer extraordinaire Christian Whitehead, previously known for producing some of the slickest fan games in the community  in his custom built Retro Engine, this is how you port a game right (coughcoughbackbonecough) and is now the definitive version of the game thanks to containing both soundtracks, solid 60fps and widescreen support, and extras including an option for the Sonic 2 spin dash and the ability to play as Tails!

So what are you waiting for? It's an absolute steal of a price and is better than ever before. I have another article about Sonic CD coming later in the day, so watch this space.

New shirt designs from Meat Bun: including Alex Kidd!

Meat Bun have been selling unique creative video game t-shirts for quite some time now (such as the day of the Dead inspired Samba De Amigo design) and recently they released a new batch of designs including 2 Sega themed ones! First off, an Alex Kidd design! Never thought I'd see that! This one can be bought in either red or black and is illustrated by Ashley Davis, who has a great Tumblr dedicated to un-sung video game character illustrations, with many Sega characters!

Next up is 'Needlemouse' which is very much the same concept of some of the artwork displayed at the Sonic Generation art exhibit in that it gives us the bastard love child of Sonic and Mickey Mouse. This one is up for grabs in blue, black and gray. They are all available at $24 each. Must admit I need more t-shirts like I need a bullet to the head but I'm tempted in that Alex Kidd one!

Sonic CD Developer Diary with Kazuyuki Hoshino!

Wow, this came out of no where. With Sonic CD due to be released this week there hasn't been a whole lot of marketing for it yet now Sega have released this rather special video. In it art director Kazuyuki Hoshino shows us a whole ton of concept art from the game, including a lot that has never been seen before! What a wonderful surprise for fans of the game! Now all I'm wondering is why the room he is sitting in is full of rocks..maybe he's in the past version of that room?

Another display of Sonic Art, this time in a French magazine.

So there is another show of art celebrating Sonic's 20th anniversary, but in this case rather than an exhibit this a collection of art produced for French magazine 'Amusement'. Also unlike the Generation exhibit in the US, many of these are photography and digital illustration based rather than paintings and sculptures. For example these two illustrations representing classic and modern Sonic and pop culture from their eras (or the years 1991 and 2011 to be particular).

So classic gets the Terminator, Michael Jackson, a Mega Drive controller, Silence of the Lambs and Nirvana, whereas modern gets Justin Bieber, Avatar, a Wii remote and a Facebook 'like' button? And you thought having green eyes was modern Sonic's biggest problem! Haha, I kid. Still, it's mighty clever is it not?

See more examples after the jump!

Another Sonic Generations Statue is Coming, This Time from Jazwares

Thought the Wii charger, the Collector's Edition, the First4Figures exclusive and the Japanese arcade prize were the only Sonic Generations statues we'd be seeing? Jazwares says "think again". Due to arrive the first quarter of 2012 is another statue featuring classic and modern Sonic, only this time the two aren't standing around. Instead, they're running side by side much like they do in the game's teaser trailer and box art. Note the "exclusive game codes", I'll best they're statue codes for the statue room in Generations. The big ring is very shiny, I hope the final figure released has that shine to the ring. At first I thought the blue bits under their feet was water, but I'll bet they're trying to depict that blue energy that Sonic creates when he boosts.

Unlike past figures, this one will be quite easy to find. In fact, fans can pre-order it for only $21.99 over at BigBadToyStore.com (retail price is $24.99). They even ship internationally, for those fans who don't trust their home country to offer the statue. I'd assume other stores, like Gamestop and Toys R Us will carry it come next year.

Let's Go to the "Sonic Generation" Art Show in Philadelphia!

When Gagaman 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.

Check Out the "Virtua Tennis – 10 Years Gone" Documentary!

Out of nowhere, SEGA has released an awesome 40 minute long documentary to celebrate Virtua Tennis's tenth anniversary! Lots of emphasis on the mechanics of the game, and the history. Series creator Mie Kumagai even gets in front of the camera and shares her thoughts! Virtua Tennis has long been one of my favorite franchises, despite me having very little interest in the actual sport of tennis. It's just SUCH a SEGA game: the music, the arcade gameplay, the quirky mini-games and the fun SEGA references. Enjoy the documentary and make sure to play your favorite version of Virtua Tennis this week.

Jazwares Roundup: Classic Amy, Super Hedgehogs & Flocked Sonic

I've been holding off on another Jazwares post until I wrangled up enough figures for a good ol' fashioned blogger's roundup. Yeehaw! I've said it before and I'll say it again: Jazwares really has gone all out for Sonic's 20th. I never would have dreamed that in 2011 we'd be seeing a line of classic figures from the Genesis era. Beyond the classic line, Jazwares has given us improved 5" figures and new spins on already available figures. The first figure I'd like to show off is the highly sought after Amy Rose (who knew!).

Sonic Generations Art Show in Philadelphia from December 2nd!

Wow, Sega have been really pulling out the stocks for Sonic 20th anniversary. As far as events in America go, there was the Generations of Skate, the one-day Sonic themed playground build, and most recently Sonic returning in balloon form to Macy's Day Parade. Before the year is over there is yet one more event to check out!

From December 2nd onwards till the end of the month in Philadelphia, PA there will be a Sonic Generations Art Show featuring unique paintings, illustrations and sculptures inspired by the blue rodent! While there have been video game art shows like I am 8-Bit before, there were normally focused on the likes of Mario, Pac Man and other 80s icons little to no Sonic inspired art, but now his getting a show all to himself!

There are more examples of the art that will be on display at the website, as well as an address to go hunt it down when it's on if you live near there. If anyone goes there please send us some photos and impressions!

Summer of Sonic 2011 Documentary

Anthony Caulfield & Nicola Caulfield, the filmmakers who also put together the Birth of an Icon documentary were also working on this documentary for this years Summer of Sonic at the same time! Lots of interviews, including Svend, Kevin Eva, Nigel Kitching and Dobbyn, and many others. Cracking stuff.

Don't forget to check out all my previous coverage of Summer of Sonic 2011, 2010 and 2009 if you haven't already!

Official Sonic Merchandise website now open!

Sega has finally launched the official Sonic Merchandise store, just in time for Christmas! While there is nothing there that is exclusive to the website, plus in some cases you will be able to pick this stuff up cheaper elsewhere, it's nice to see everything on one place: All the school gear, t-shirts, action figures, posters, the chess set, Radio controlled cars, and even DVD box sets of almost all the Sonic cartoons (not including Sonic X).

They also have a points system so when you purchase from there you get a fraction of your money back in points. So far the site is available for the UK, France, Germany and Spain with the choice of listing everything by Pounds of Euros. Not sure if those outside those countries can also order, I guess you lot will have to find out for yourselves!

Pix 'n Love to release History of Sonic book (Update: English version too!)

Pix 'n Love are one of the many reasons I envy France sometimes (one other reason being their animation scene). They are a highly prolific publisher of gaming related books including many charting the history of consoles, game developers and franchises, most of which so far have focused on Nintendo and Hudson works. Early next year however they have their sights set on Sonic!

The History of Sonic the Hedgehog is currently up for pre order at their website for 30€ Euros and will be a massive 300 pages long! At this moment it looks like it's only going to be sold in French but some of their books have been translated into English before so here's hoping! Even with the language barrier however it still looks like it's going to be full of great full colour art from all over the history of Sonic; judging from this preview page below even as miscellaneous as Tails and the Music Maker!

Just because Generations has arrived doesn't mean the 20th Anniversary celebrations are ending! If we hear anything about a English translation of this book we'll of course let you know, at least after I've pre-ordered myself a copy anyway.

UPDATE: Well what do you know! Turns out Pix 'n Love will be releasing an English version at the same time! It will be available to pre-order from their English website in a few weeks!

Sonic: History of an Icon Documentary now online.

Thanks to the Sonic Show, the documentary that is found in the Sonic Generations collector's Edition is now onlne for all to see. It's covers some similar ground and is not quite as slick as the documentary GameTap put out a couple of years ago, but at 36 minutes it's still well worth a look. Funny how you can clearly hear the likes of Yuji Naka say 'Mega Drive' but it's subtitled as 'Genesis'!

EDIT: Replaced video with the extended cut which features an additional 6 minutes of footage.

Sonic Generations Press Pack

There has just been so much Generations merch to cover! Not only is there not one but soon to be two different collectors editions (as Barry's article of the newly revealed Japanese edition shows) but there is also a press pack floating about that only a select few lucky people have, including Diogo Miguel who is guest writing this article!

It's been twenty years since Sonic first stepped into the limelight of gaming. Not many video-games characters can claim to be around this long so it's not a surprise that Sega has decided to celebrate in style. Everyone know about the ultra rare collector's edition that Sonic generations has been treated to. But there's also been a limited number of shoe boxes containing promotional items for the game.

Hit the jump for more on this shoe box of goodness!

Japan's Sonic Generations Box is Crystal and Classy

Thought the European Sonic Generations collector's box was all we were getting? Think again! The Japanese release of Sonic Generations, due next month, is featuring completely new goodies! The laser carved crystal statue seen above is just the tip of the iceberg. The set will also include a cloth (seen after the break) and a CD featuring music from past Sonic games. The PS3 and 360 version of the collector's edition will have the White Edition of the CD, the 3DS collector's edition will have the Blue Edition. Each has a random mix of a dozen tunes, with no real real reason for the selection of songs. There is also mention of a bonus book, which I assume will be the booklet that comes with the CD.

Sonic Generations Collector's Edition: Unboxing video

Put this video together real quick this morning when it arrived. This video is literally me opening it for the first time. There are much better unboxing videos of this about, including one Svend did for Sega's official blog which you can check out here.

Sonic Generations Collector's Edition: IT'S HERE.

What can I say other than this is the best collector's edition Sega I have ever owned, and yes I am including the Segagaga box set. Just compare it to the 10th Anniversary Sonic Adventure 2 one for scale..

Some more photos after the break!

Ever wanted to cuddle Seaman?

No? Me neither. You don't really cuddle fishes as such do you? Especially fish with miserable ugly human-like faces on them. Still, the Dreamcast game Seaman, in which you raised said creature and had chats with it via a microphone, was big enough of a hit in Japan for it to warrant merchandise including a surprisingly large collection of plush toys, one of which I have got my mitts on because....I don't know, really. Why not I guess?

More photos of this thing after the jump..

Sonic Tomy Gacha Capsules: Russian Roulette with Toys

I've seen these little Sonic toy capsules quite a bit over the past year. They're at Target, they're at Wal-Mart and they were at the local "$5 or Less" store. It was at the last location I finally caved and picked up three, in hopes that I wouldn't be screwed over with two werehogs and a Shadow. So just what are these things? Well, think of those 50 cent toy dispensers, mark the price up eight times and instead of your chance resting on what the bottom toy capsule is, your figure depends on which capsules you blindly grabbed. Each capsule contains one of six figures: Sonic, Super Sonic, Metal Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow and the Werehog. Each figure must be built, and usually consist of three to five parts. I think most people think that there is a method to picking the best capsules, but really grabbing the first three or every second one that rolls out of the box will have equal chances of getting a good one.
After the break, lets see what I got! Did I get screwed over? Or did I snag three Metal Sonics, thus winning a jackpot (if you apply slot machine gameplay to the capsule toys).

¡Samba de los Muertos!

Anybody who has seen my XBOX avatar knows I'm a Samba de Amigo nut. I paid real money for the virtual sombrero, I own both versions of the Dreamcast game and have three different sets of maracas. One thing I don't have, however, is this sweet fan made shirt entitled "¡samba de los muertos!" for sale at MeatBun.us for $24. I'm usually not one to pick up fan made shirts, but for this one I may make an exception. Only thing is, I'm torn between the black shirt (seen above) or the white shirt (seen below).

Daytona USA is finally getting the console port it deserves.

Sega have been doing a lot to keep fans happy lately, especially on the downloadble games front. As of late they have brought us the Saturn classic Guardian Heroes, two more Dreamcast games including the mega-rare Space Channel 5 Part 2, and later this year we will be getting Sonic CD. Best of all, they have actually been putting quite a lot of care and love into these ports unlike those sloppy Mega Drive re-releases from a while back. This trend of goodness is continuing with Daytona USA, announced just yesterday and due for release very soon to XBLA and PSN.

After they released Sega Racing Classic in arcades a couple years ago, a HD re-release of Daytona USA with the licensed name and some of the music removed, it looked as though if we were ever to get a proper port of this game on consoles, it would be without that iconic cheesy music. However they have managed to acquire the license for this download edition and it looks to be an arcade perfect port, which has been around 17 years in waiting!

Daytona USA was and in many ways still is the ultimate arcade game. While most arcades replace old games with those with newer graphics or simply anything with a dance mat on it, Daytona can still be found in many arcades everywhere as people still love to play it. Even people that are not fans of racing games or casual gamers can easily jump into the seat of the cabinet and have fun playing it, it's a timeless classic.

Console wise we got a Sega Saturn port that visually was sloppy to say the least, but still played as close as you could get to the arcade game at the time. They tried to 'fix' this by releasing Daytona USA C.C.E a year later, and although it looked better most of the music was replaced and it didn't feel the same for some reason. Many years later we got Daytona USA 2001 on the Dreamcast that included online play (except here in Europe) and while it looked even better than the arcade game in many respects, the controls of that version were almost completely different. It was still fun, but nothing like the arcade one.

So now in 2011 Sega are giving us the port we always wanted. It looks identical to the model 2 arcade game and they appear to have removed any pop u that that version had. It will have online for up to 8 players, very much like how many of the arcade machines were linked up for 8 player. The achievement list includes many of the easter eggs that were in the arcade including making the Jeffry statue animate by hitting the special button, and there is even a karaoke mode!

What else can we expect from Sega in the future with developments like this? A real dream would be to get some of the arcade-only follows up on consoles, such as Daytona USA 2 and Scud Race, but who knows if that's possible at this point. As a Sega fan prove to them this is a good idea and buy this release. We've waited long enough for a port this good, show them they are doing the right thing and maybe they'll keep this ball rolling!

First4figures Knuckles officially revealed! Here we go again!

It's that time again! First4Figures has opened pre-orders for the forth in their series of highly luxurious and highly expensive Sonic statues, this time of Knuckles punching into the ground of the lava reef zone!

Much like the Super Sonic and still as yet to be released Metal Sonic statues, this one comes in both a standard run of 1,500 for $170 and a limited edition light-up version that is exclusive to their website with only a run of 500 that will sell for $190! These are available to pre-order now and the estimated release date is "Q2 2012" though I would bet on that slipping to "Q4 2012" as the same happened with all of the previous statues.

Personally? I think I may pass on the limited edition this time around. I think I will hold out until shops like Forbidden Planet have the regular edition. I don't think I can justify three of these statues for that kind of money in a row. They have yet to even take the money for the Metal Sonic one and to be fair I'd be happy with having two special ones of my favorite characters (Metal and Super) and two regulars for Sonic and Knuckles, as much as that lava effect is nice. So once this one is out who's next? Tails would be my guess and I know they've stated they are going to start a line of modern statues as well including Shadow, but I could live without those myself.

Rollerblades with ATTITUDE.

As a little brat I used to go roller-blading from time to time at one of those indoor places where a whole bunch of kids would be roller-blading in a big circle with a disco ball and whatever music was in at the time. I played Bomberman for the first time on an arcade cabinet there, but that's got nothing to do with this blog so er...hey look Sonic roller-blades! Or roller-skates, whatever you want to call them.

I had these at some point during my childhood but wherever or not I took them to that indoor thingy or if they gave you a pair to ride about in there I don't know. There was also a skateboard and a crash helmet from what I recall but the latter was only in adult size from what I recall, could be wrong though. I got the skateboard one Christmas but ended up takeing it back and using the money to get Sonic & Knuckles instead. More photos and rambling after the jump!

Belgium gets Sonic 20th Anniversary stamps!

That's right, stamps! Why not? Bpost have released a set of five stamps with pretty standard artwork of Sonic, including some with Sonic grouped up with Tails, Shadow and Amy. is this the first time Sonic has ever been seen on a stamp, excluding eBay bootlegs? Either way it's interesting to see what a push Sonic's 20th anniversary is getting. Spotted this on Tumblr via Albotas.

Knuckles statue from First4figures is next!

They released a pixellated image of this statue a while ago, and now it's revealed that Knuckles will be the next in First4figures line of massive (and expensive) Sonic statues! So far it doesn't look as though there will be a additional light-up limited edition like there was for Super Sonic and Metal, so this one will just be a regular slightly cheaper statue like the first Sonic one. Pre-orders for this one start in just a couple of days.

Speaking of the Metal Sonic statue, it's still not yet! It's due this month sometime however, though an exact date is not confirmed yet.

10" Classic Sonic = Best Sonic Figure Ever

I apologize for the lack of non-Sonic SEGA posts over the past year, but you gotta believe me: it's not my fault! SEGA has been celebrating Sonic's 20th in a huge way, by offering up amazing classic figures, statues and books. Heck, we've yet to even see the release of Sonic Generations and we've already seen loads of awesome nostalgic merch. Thankfully, it appears Jazwares Sonic 20th Anniversary line is winding down, but it is winding down in a big way. They've released an excellent 10" classic Sonic figure!

Early '80's SEGA Ads Are... Interesting.

Thanks to the awesome free to use television archive site fuzzymemories.tv, operated by The Museum of Classic Chicago Television, I came across three very old SEGA ads for games released to arcades, Atari and ColecoVision consoles. That's right, these are pre-Master System ads! Funny how SEGA was a publisher then, and they're a publisher now. When you think about it, SEGA really wasn't in the console business for long when you look at their entire history as a company.

After the break, check out three old ads!

Even More Jazwares Sonic 20th Anniversary Figures!

I've held off on sharing a lot of these as I was awaiting to have every figure that I wanted in my hands. Now that that time has come, I can finally show off everything in one go, so prepare yourself for an epically sized Sonic action figure post. Hey, at least it's better than me spamming SEGA Memories with a new figure every day. Who wants an article dedicated to a Silver figure? I know I don't. After the break: a lot of stuff!

Dreamroom UK 2011 is Today!

Watch live streaming video from gagaman at livestream.com

Today is the day before the 12th anniversary of 9/9/99 and because I won't have time to livestream tomorrow just before barry's one I've decided to dedicate today for my show!

I will be starting at 1pm UK time (7:00am Eastern Standard Time) will take a couple hour break somewhere between 3 and 5pm, then return continue on into the night! That's a lot of Dreamcast gameplay!

So make sure to come and visit at the video link above sometime today for the celebrations! Then tomorrow it will be Barry's turn for him to treat you to some Dreamcast gaming goodness!

EDIT: It's over! Thanks to everyone who popped in! If you missed out you can watch it in the 'Dreamroom UK 2011' folder here. It was running for roughly a total of 8 and a half hours! Here is a list of the games that were played throughout the day:

• Mars Matrix
• Segagaga
• Gundam E.F.F vs Zeon DX
• Marvel Vs Capcom 2
• Rush 2049
• Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
• Alien Front Online
• Daytona USA 2001
• Power Stone
• Pro Yakyu Team de Asobonet!
• Zombie Revenge (complete play-through of arcade mode)
• Densha Deo Go! 2
• Sengoku Turb - Fanfan I Love me Dunce doublentendre
• Fast Striker
• Heavy Metal Geomatrix
• 18 Wheeler

Sonic Generations Europe Collector's Edition: OH MY GOD.

...

So yeah, would you look at that. Sega have just revealed the European collector's edition of Sonic generations and boy is it something special. Here is Sega's announcement copy-pasted:

Celebrations continue in Europe for Sonic the Hedgehog’s 20th anniversary with an impressive collector’s edition for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation3 versions of the upcoming Sonic Generations game.

The Sonic Generations Collectors Edition combines limited edition collectables based on the upcoming game, as well as assets handpicked by Sonic Team to celebrate Sonic’s 20th Anniversary, which provide the ultimate celebration of Sonic for fans new and old.

Included in the collector’s edition is a collectable figurine featuring both Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic, an exclusive, individually numbered commemorative “Gold Ring”, and a “20 Years of Sonic Art” book, containing never before seen sketches and images from the past 20 years. Also contained in the Collector’s Edition are the ‘20th Anniversary Sonic Soundtrack’ featuring a selection of tracks handpicked by Sonic Team, and the ‘History of Sonic: Birth of an Icon’ documentary, an exclusive collection of interviews and footage charting Sonic’s life from inception through to becoming one of the most iconic characters in videogame history. Limited edition lenticular packaging and bonus additional downloadable content for the game are the final components that make up this unique collector’s edition for Sonic Generations.

So there it is. A statue, a gold ring, a soundtrack, a documentary DVD, downloadable content and an art book! It looks as though this is going to be Europe only for some reason, at least for the moment anyway, sorry Americans.

Take my money Sega, all of it.

EDIT: It has appeared on Amazon UK now for the price of £85. The retail price is apparently £99.

Jet Set Radio Fruit Machine (and more)

So recently in my eBay hunts for anything and everything Sega I came across this oddity. I had a crack at bidding on it but lost out though it didn't go for any where as much as I thought it would, but it's worth talking about I think.

Finding one of these in the UK is extremely rare as they were only seen in Japanese arcades. It's a jet Set radio fruit machine! The one on auction did not take money but rather tokens. The main draw of this machine the screen at the top of it which, judging from videos, uses in-game graphics from the Dreamcast game. Is this footage pre rendered videos or is this machine running on Naomi/Dreamcast like hardware?

There are a few videos of this neat machine on Youtube, which you can check out after the jump!

The Elusive McDonalds Eggman Toy Appears Once Again!

Regulars to SEGA Memories should know about the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 McDonalds toys and how Japanese fans were treated to a very different looking Eggman toy. Gagaman covered it not too long ago. While Westerners received an Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog design of Robotnik, the Japanese received the original in-game Eggman design. Since 1993, the alternate Eggman toy occasionally appeared in books (as Gagaman mentions in the above link), the Sonic 10th Birthday Pack and online. Most recently, the McDonalds Eggman appeared in an online auction at rinkya.com. The auction also includes Sonic, and both toys are unopened. The only downside, the price is set at over $50 and that doesn't even include whatever shipping is. Still, it's great to see more images of this elusive toy! After the break, check out two more images of Eggman and Sonic.

Classic Tails Can Party Like It's 1992

I'm back with another of the Jazwares Sonic 20th Anniversary figures! This time we're looking at an old favorite: Classic Tails and Grabber from 1992. This has got to be one of my favorite figures yet, as it represents my favorite Sonic game and includes a badnik from my favorite zone, Chemical Plant. Tails looks great. He has that wide-eyed happy Japanese design and looks great next to the classic Sonic figure.

Sonic 20th Anniversary Figures Are Here!

Jazwares has finally shipped the first wave of Sonic the Hedgehog 20th Anniversary figures to stores! I feel like we've been talking about this line forever. Since February, we here at SEGA Memories have been eagerly anticipating this action figure line that promised characters (and enemies) from Sonic's twenty year history. Details were spotty, but thanks to convention photos we were able to piece together what would be the collection. Now that the first wave has hit, and details have leaked about the second wave, we know what figures are out there and what to expect.

After the break we take a look at 1991 Sonic, 1998 Sonic, 2001 Shadow and 2010 Tails!

Awesome Vanquish Action Figure from Square Enix

I had always thought that Square Enix only churned out Final Fantasy action figures. But apparently they do more than just Cloud and Yuffie, they also have produced stunning figures of characters from Metal Gear Solid, Batman: Arkham Asylum and even SEGA's own Vanquish. Revealed at Comic Con is this amazingly detailed Sam Gideon. I mean, just LOOK at that thing! Makes my Ninja Turtles and Ghostbusters figures of the 90's look like crap by comparison. Of course, with great details and articulation comes a great price: figures in the Play Arts Kai line retail for around $40-$50. Thats more than I spent on my copy of Vanquish! Of course, the figure looks great, so I could easily see the price being justified. Just think of it as a statue and the $50 doesn't seem so bad.

At the moment the figure has yet to go on sale, nor have I been able to find a pre-order link, so consider these to be a first look only at the moment.

[source: Kotaku]

Sonic Adventure 2 Era Fan Comic - "Chao Fan World"

Digging through my old image files, I came across these remnants of Sonic fandom past: my old Sonic Adventure 2 chao fan comic "Chao Fan World". Dated August 20th, 2001, these Sonic Adventure 2 inspired comics began when I frequented the forums at The Sonic Foundation . As forum members began to raise their chao, they shared photos and drawings of their weird creations. Thanks to SA2's hero/dark theme, players were able to raise some pretty crazy looking chao. From angels and rabbits with pumpkin heads to legless bat creatures with skull heads. At the time, I had wanted to create a Sonic fan comic, but wanted to create something a bit more offbeat. So, I ignored the main characters of the Sonic universe and instead focused on the chao. After putting out a call for forum members to share their chao, I put together a short lived fan comic called "Chao Fan World".

After the break, check out the four episodes of the comic along with a comic cast page!

Summer of Sonic 2011 - Videos Part 3!

Here's the last of the footage I took on the day. My camcorder batteries ran out so I couldn't get as much as i would have liked but still. here you will see us joining the signing queue for Yuji Naka and Takashi Iizuka, of which we got to watch Never Mind the Buzz Bombers while in it. There is also footage of Frobman Sonic Heroes animation (watch the whole thing here) which I took so he could have video of how well it went down. Finally there some footage of the second Q&A session with Naka, Iizuka and Senour followed by a bit of the birthday cheer that was recorded for Sonic Generations. Enjoy!

Just remember: Even Iizuka, director of Sonic Adventure, hates Big the Cats fishing game.