tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75702272535170211552024-02-20T17:39:15.633-08:00Sega MemoriesA blog made by nostalgic Sega nutters who miss the good old days of when Sega supposedly ruled the world in our childhood eyes.Animated AFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550837973910959680noreply@blogger.comBlogger313125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-66229792407357657162013-03-29T06:01:00.000-07:002013-03-29T06:01:51.768-07:00Presenting @SEGAJunkyard - All the SEGA Memories & SEGA Junkyard articles in one Twitter feed!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZZjFybOKlH8iBJF0_Yajm-_G8cVNGevqZVM3U_0p8iA6X6QAr9pXTSKxgoZeeEeijzfIbfrePI2jcBDUc8D0fEsLFn5ghL1nNjeYQ3XOwvzaKfOBz9dKdG-Td9QDTVq6YWjXoRzYi4mDH/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-03-29+at+8.38.11+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZZjFybOKlH8iBJF0_Yajm-_G8cVNGevqZVM3U_0p8iA6X6QAr9pXTSKxgoZeeEeijzfIbfrePI2jcBDUc8D0fEsLFn5ghL1nNjeYQ3XOwvzaKfOBz9dKdG-Td9QDTVq6YWjXoRzYi4mDH/s400/Screen+Shot+2013-03-29+at+8.38.11+AM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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The SEGA Junkyard blogs have had a long history on the interwebs. In 2005, Tomleecee created <a href="http://the-dreamcast-junkyard.blogspot.com/">The Dreamcast Junkyard</a>, a blogger.com shrine to SEGA's final consumer console. The blog was such a hit, that in 2006 Dreamcast Junkyard writer Father Krishna spun-off his own SEGA console blog entitled <a href="http://thesaturnjunkyard.blogspot.com/">The Saturn Junkyard</a>. 2007 brought about two more blogs: <a href="http://segams.blogspot.com/">The SEGA Master System Junkyard</a> from Saturn Junkyard writer gnome, and <a href="http://segacdjunkyard.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">The SEGA CD Junkyard</a> from Dreamcast Junkyard writer Caleb. Also created in 2007 was this very blog, SEGA Memories, by Dreamcast and Saturn Junkyard writer The Gagaman. Finally, 2008 saw the creation of <a href="http://the-nomad-junkyard.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">The Nomad Junkyard</a>, my own blog devoted to mobile and handheld SEGA games from the past and present.<br />
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In 2010, <a href="http://segabits.com/" target="_blank">SEGAbits</a> was launched following the demise of SEGA Nerds. I was brought onboard as a writer (now an admin) and I went about creating the SEGA Network. The SEGA Network, seen on the sidebar of this very site, was an attempt to tie together the many SEGA Junkyard blogs, as well as SEGA Memories and various other SEGA news sites. Basically, if you have a good site, keep it updated, and are able to add the shared links bar to your main page's sidebar, you're in. <i>GET TO THE POINT!</i> To push this concept of rounding up the various Junkyard blogs and SEGA Memories further, I've created a handy shared Twitter feed entitled <a href="https://twitter.com/segajunkyard" target="_blank">SEGA Junkyard</a>. SEGA Junkyard collects the feeds for the many Junkyard blogs and SEGA Memories and automatically notifies followers when a new article is posted. Sure on the technical side of things this isn't anything new, but for us its a cool way to get our articles out there! We also plan to occasionally post classic articles as well as classic SEGA Memories and Dreamcast Junkyard YouTube videos.<br />
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TL;DR - If you like SEGA Memories and the SEGA Junkyard blogs, follow <a href="https://twitter.com/segajunkyard" target="_blank">@SEGAJunkyard</a> on twitter!Barry the Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00793590481970367478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-45756188006705763602013-03-11T13:44:00.002-07:002013-03-11T13:44:52.424-07:00Sonic appearance at old Toyland ride at Alton Towers!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Dfgppq7XRbHEiyDKDeMV8j6LPyf8WVuM4oEFQ0PIxm2RGH-QWlzgAudtLjdxa3YrTsW48H3swAw2geEo_BAeMrJrVcBTD-Bk4PDtGO9EsfU72miJq6q90SlBwKoesMBIs9iQmISs3os/s1600/tumblr_mjigvtb30H1rtr7mwo1_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Dfgppq7XRbHEiyDKDeMV8j6LPyf8WVuM4oEFQ0PIxm2RGH-QWlzgAudtLjdxa3YrTsW48H3swAw2geEo_BAeMrJrVcBTD-Bk4PDtGO9EsfU72miJq6q90SlBwKoesMBIs9iQmISs3os/s400/tumblr_mjigvtb30H1rtr7mwo1_1280.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The Sonic Spinball ride currently residing at Alton Towers here in England is <i>not </i>the first time Sonic has appeared in a ride at the theme park! As brought to my attention by <a href="http://trackertheblog.tumblr.com/">Tracker on Tumblr</a>, there was a ride called Toyland Tours which had a Sonic dedicated section! He posted this photo above and shared his fuzzy memories of the discovery from ten years ago:<br />
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Sonic was at Alton Towers BEFORE Sonic Spinball! The Willy Wonka ride used to be called ‘Toyland Tours,’ and in one part this charismatic animatronic of Classic Sonic showed up! Thankfully my mum caught it on camera-this photo is around 10 years old! *and it still sits beneath my desk, next to my Game Gear and MDII and with my Sonic comics*</blockquote>
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Also the game in the background is Sonic CD, the Special Stages particularly. I thought it was SA2 when I first saw it, but that was effectively the only Sonic game I’d played! No idea what happened to the animatronic after the ride was converted, sadly.</blockquote>
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We found more of this ride cameo, including more photos, a video and even music after the jump!<br />
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A video of the ride is on Youtube via a channel dedicated to Alton Towers, and you can see the Sonic section at the 3:10 mark. Sure enough there is Sonic CD footage playing and the Sonic animatronic appears to have two mouths? Maybe you're only supposed to see one at a time? Either way it is an odd design choice. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEdoaX_FC9w">There is another video here</a> which is better quality but the Sonic section is darker and a bit harder to see.</div>
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According to all the sites that have info on the ride, it opened in 1994 and was open until 2005 when it was replaced with a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ride. I has never been to Alton Towers until 2010 so I never got to see this! Below are some more photos of the Sonic statue sourced from other sites (which you can go to if you click em):</div>
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<a href="http://www.themeparkjunkies.co.uk/Ride.aspx?Ride=322"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCFPX4cvFc9EhAexKqcAgEaXPkL4dLF7D-qsnbdnaH-cdI8XRyQ17OGAhRR9r0HqWK4ZG6_9G1bmuamZkPR9lZIGR222CrsjJvS6Op1e2a09oo7YOeOu6h5n5no5raE535Cjpmv-FYKE8/s400/normal_Alton_Towers_Toyland_Tours_1.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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This one is from the site <a href="http://www.themeparkjunkies.co.uk/Ride.aspx?Ride=322">Theme Park Junkies</a>.</div>
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Yep, he has two mouths alright..weird!</div>
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<a href="http://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?showtopic=15710"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLXqvbCbAXFR2UrCsV7cYzBeUYNyQbo8DXxhI5i0B7QGQH6b1fFVj_KHclvQUQTOKnpgEXBhSEntZMSAdYZIHMPUDGxYvsRFJjANLFP5vcQ_4-g0fvkZIbdzOgR_-M2W9gDmeLGQqlwWY/s400/normal_toylandtours09.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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This one from <a href="http://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?showtopic=15710">a topic on Sonic Retro</a>. How did I miss this again?</div>
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<a href="http://forums.towersalmanac.com/index.php?showtopic=9186"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD9A8KKrR1VofmmbHmEsLSvP792kEvEqQh-JwxNi4mYURysWESdgQVdbL5cL7zDqaDVZW74UIo5NpyvoBNhOLDhTis789mad4JbvuRx-VzlSqi-Vj8HA9a6InVIc4JHW-tWo7vzsEakIA/s400/Sonic.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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This one from a <a href="http://forums.towersalmanac.com/index.php?showtopic=9186">Alton Towers fan site forum.</a></div>
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Notice in some of these pics how he appears to be standing on top of a large Master System controller, of all things!</div>
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The real diamond of the content on this online however is at a fan site called <a href="http://towersnerd.com/">Towers Nerd</a>, who have somehow got their hands on the music from the section of the ride and put it up as an MP3 download! I have uploaded it to Tumblr so I don't link you to their download and trash their bandwidth. It's a unique remix of Green Hill zone! <b><a href="http://gagamanbiscuittin.tumblr.com/post/45129246084/uploading-this-from-the-website-towersnerd-so-i">Go have a listen!</a></b></div>
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I feel a bit gutted for missing out on this as a kid, as small of a thing in part of a ride as this is. Sonic was there for 11 years and after vanishing with Toyland Tours returned there five years later! Pretty crazy. If anyone else has even better photos or videos of this, please send them over!</div>
Animated AFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550837973910959680noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-52966927849654689862013-02-19T06:02:00.000-08:002013-02-19T06:02:30.412-08:00New Sonic toys revealed at New York Toy Fair 2013<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5XxwchagdY6KYjBVSaM_IxPtHDarpYGZVq140gaG6lne9NeoujskTg0gHfLhOHYNB-l3xdy32kCKfLMERi1WoJL_dXso0bhC36zHa_Txloiy4z_qCgbC0gSuyDLe4IKEVigjq61aASxet/s1600/jazwarestoys2013.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5XxwchagdY6KYjBVSaM_IxPtHDarpYGZVq140gaG6lne9NeoujskTg0gHfLhOHYNB-l3xdy32kCKfLMERi1WoJL_dXso0bhC36zHa_Txloiy4z_qCgbC0gSuyDLe4IKEVigjq61aASxet/s400/jazwarestoys2013.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;">The super Sonic fans over at </span><a data-mce-href="http://www.sonicstadium.org/2013/02/jazwares-toy-fair-2013-booth-new-toys-confirmed/" href="http://www.sonicstadium.org/2013/02/jazwares-toy-fair-2013-booth-new-toys-confirmed/" style="line-height: 19px;">The Sonic Stadium</a><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"> have come across a bevy of photos from the Jazwares booth at the 2013 New York Toy Fair. Jazwares, who has the license for Sonic toys, has a few new items planned for release this year. While nowhere near as big as </span><a data-mce-href="http://sega-memories.blogspot.com/search/label/jazwares" href="http://sega-memories.blogspot.com/search/label/jazwares" style="line-height: 19px;">the 20th anniversary line of toys</a><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;">, some of the new toys are pretty cool. Spotted in the photos are Sonic branded disc shooters, Sonic and Shadow masks, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed figures of Shadow and Sonic with their vehicles in jet form, mini-figures of various All-Stars Racing Transformed vehicles, a life-size ring that lights up when held, and plushes of Metal Sonic, Silver and Super Sonic. </span><a data-mce-href="http://www.sonicstadium.org/2013/02/jazwares-toy-fair-2013-booth-new-toys-confirmed/" href="http://www.sonicstadium.org/2013/02/jazwares-toy-fair-2013-booth-new-toys-confirmed/" style="line-height: 19px;">To see more images, check out the article over at The Sonic Stadium!</a></span>Barry the Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00793590481970367478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-35123930542325725192012-12-26T06:15:00.002-08:002012-12-26T06:15:48.687-08:00Sega Fan Art Showcase 2012<a href="http://sega-memories.blogspot.com/search/label/fanart%20showcase" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5145374683831771330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjisr6cnVAyc0_a9CG2JDFHLHuqX-Bh42ZFJuoINZq2V0W0-ccP3H5KjjU13GlqPgvejCBB5JujfnUYuPakY4chDH66FTHl_I4Ce1odeOah3S8pKY6kVimxBRcnlLOK3PIXidH6g2vWCGg/s400/segafanart.png" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" /></a><br />
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There was some stunning fan art submitted to the<a href="http://segamemories.deviantart.com/" target="_blank"> Sega Memories DeviantArt group</a> throughout 2012, so many it's hard to just pick a handful, but are just some of the highlights from the past year of the amazing talent who love these Sega games, covering a whole range of different franchises including some real surprises. Enjoy!<br />
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<span style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="http://fav.me/d58x764" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFeABZb2TobD3muzTEEE289uzQuL-TnB1wHEgBI7oN-Vor43lBuzw5vQAhARUHByRJELxzUl8EwjzhFgS9wwm7Fz31VmUzdCrv6geg7v1vlzO4RABl64Y9NN_goIcAdzUPtMqucwYcO_w/s400/2012_rgkc_08_alexkidd_by_vandrell-d58x764.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<a href="http://fav.me/d58x764" target="_blank">Alex Kidd</a> by <a href="http://vandrell.deviantart.com/" target="_blank">Vandrell</a><br />
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<span style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="http://fav.me/d5ixv47" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF1Kzezo4udW6ThyphenhyphenGZ0jSWkfC4asSF4I1JuQuikEJXg-5-YYc2S0whdVzoAlkSmQ4CusFLFB1imo5Z4q88v7AARFjOEQKgdqsQ8MDkJ9MtwM54DjnUBVV_xIlamp9x6fG44K0tUNfYn2Q/s400/sonic_adventure___total_chaos_by_stephenb19-d5ixv47.png" width="382" /></a></span></div>
<a href="http://fav.me/d5ixv47" target="_blank">Sonic Advemture - Total Chaos</a> by <a href="http://stephenb19.deviantart.com/" target="_blank">Stephenb19</a><br />
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many more after the jump!<br />
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<span style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="http://fav.me/d4obink" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtosofsPlMMmLuTWO2B2Mox6deqnVUp3PjhKXs0jkaMLo24Rn4CSy3sJDff0qCgfKeZmHoJvp0tg5KoFE2GSMXumEFm9S2bmMk4IwBQGhriEGxbWB6DkVX2lT6BPhEZceFhWcf18WT4VQ/s400/dreamcast_music_game_plush_by_lithe_fider-d4obink.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<a href="http://fav.me/d4obink" target="_blank">Dreamcast Music Game Plush</a> by <a href="http://lithe-fider.deviantart.com/" target="_blank">Lithe-Fider</a><br />
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<span style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="http://fav.me/d4nbaph"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIIk8Qpza3xh3fpiB8-81nAMr4VXHlD3grdBewmlRi5xtGz7MMjfuRlOiUa84id6ajrMC1du6VGUgPrwM3LqZcLo5TkMbJe6NcZILtLeWzYCV_0Hi4iuEpyw81IAETSaIcjVgULturtY8/s400/a_for_aika_by_tsuaii-d4nbaph.jpg" width="257" /></a></span></div>
<a href="http://fav.me/d4nbaph">A for Aika</a> by <a href="http://tsuaii.deviantart.com/">Tsuaii</a></div>
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<span style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="http://fav.me/d5escvi" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv4QEyNRSlfgaqYuPbQXwHdp6No1JSjE7nyBWB7_qwip7LVfI0Zw4tIvQ9Tvbf1VFs7_ZmuzUmKco0EtCGA_iHkrOLPn2DhzT2iJSa8IKqo0iUao70Mq4CY4iW8jVriW_I_wXJbPPELns/s400/__pirate_stc___by_professorfandango-d5escvi.png" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<a href="http://fav.me/d5escvi" target="_blank">Pirate STC</a> by <a href="http://professorfandango.deviantart.com/" target="_blank">Professorfandango</a></div>
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<span style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="http://fav.me/d5h597f" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM2mz7AvUL3gdBHrjpNO0ePzvj85_LHJH3jiDBtjnSbFGAEzKA98erO2Olie32gZbrjz5Gl4Xpr0cSKNw1nfFIk0X5Oi-B_lqiqLYpiekVxg-wnllgLfQTA1H2YSlD2T00IVWOiFOz-og/s400/virtual_on_operation_moongate_by_q_arts-d5h597f.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<a href="http://fav.me/d5h597f" target="_blank">Virtual On Operation Moongate</a> by <a href="http://q-arts.deviantart.com/" target="_blank">Q-arts</a></div>
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<span style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="http://fav.me/d4spgda" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgox-4nH0K70Ilj2XeYMk3hz5XeVOPt2dlw8J9ZvXQgLISDJGEfRtyx1v5ekChJoFp9Q0NZnyoBAI909PJFwq-u0MMWNwjTJgEVWV_AKbN9YO7Zkc0nSW-rjLJ52kVg21t9Lt_EVMNFRVQ/s400/red_and_blue_by_delya-d4spgda.jpg" width="332" /></a></span></div>
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<a href="http://fav.me/d4spgda" target="_blank">Red and Blue</a> by <a href="http://noseshark.deviantart.com/">NoseShark</a><br />
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<span style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="http://fav.me/d5biyrb" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQOsY40YWbn0pK2Y5M_6r78gKrfo1tB63tOt9gVnC_xFUfOp05hRxjMHLtjequOgOgYCTxxUhd5wDhIhCQuU692WRAAQlFUSJHUNtGRi4D9prNgpmYL5VySkwNygb0sG0P1j0n4CaEBFk/s400/welcome_to_the_machine___by_megatruh-d5biyrb.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<a href="http://fav.me/d5biyrb" target="_blank">Welcome to the Machine</a> by <a href="http://megatruh.deviantart.com/" target="_blank">Megatruh</a></div>
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<span style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="http://fav.me/d34uotj" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5kA0-8IdW8msGI_DScUM3W661lTKkfP_TIXtfd9QjDwtbVMs1rSfvM_tp_7wGkkmhbY0g0kUbIVw4RXwRNfjMfXTn5irOsxcF5fLNd5g8WY7D5aUCCX44vW7WvniZ47vy4mAhHOfDdVY/s400/d7ab5dd02254ebb6db1f3d4e6af7a244-d34uotj.jpg" width="317" /></a></span></div>
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<a href="http://fav.me/d34uotj" target="_blank">Shining Force 2</a> by <a href="http://bisart.deviantart.com/" target="_blank">Bisart</a><br />
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<a href="http://fav.me/d4xhsh3" target="_blank">Nights: Descent into Dreams Page 1</a> by <a href="http://imagni.deviantart.com/" target="_blank">imagni</a><br />
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<a href="http://fav.me/d5kukq1" target="_blank">Grace</a> by <a href="http://toviorogers.deviantart.com/" target="_blank">TovioRogers</a></div>
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<a href="http://fav.me/d58mvop" target="_blank">Knuckles - The Guardian</a> by <a href="http://wandger.deviantart.com/" target="_blank">Wandger</a><br />
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<a href="http://fav.me/d4yjhwy" target="_blank">Shadow Dancer</a> by <a href="http://basil81.deviantart.com/" target="_blank">Basil81</a></div>
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<a href="http://fav.me/d4o6vix" target="_blank">Golden Axe Devilman</a> by <a href="http://casemax.deviantart.com/" target="_blank">CaseMax</a><br />
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<a href="http://fav.me/d5177w2" target="_blank">Vectorman 2012</a> by <a href="http://polyraspad.deviantart.com/" target="_blank">Polyraspad</a><br />
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<a href="http://fav.me/d4mh4g2" target="_blank">The Last Guardian -Hero-</a> by <a href="http://vonkoz.deviantart.com/" target="_blank">Vonkoz</a></div>
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Animated AFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550837973910959680noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-4686687087496258402012-12-25T12:22:00.000-08:002012-12-25T12:22:01.793-08:00First4figures latest statue announcement is...well..How this for a Christmas present? First4Figures have today put out a preview of an upcoming statue. However, it is NOT a Sonic character. I have put the image after the jump because, well... it's a biggun.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP_f4v2BUfvTGnvCeLgdIpUu21O-_mpSmk3K5F0cRMiFAl8FwOyjs3Y7peFk2qtLND3MzG2d2C8OJUHQmfKJSfkHcg7OoENxhKIcPPNKi28dj3t8Y6ps5hRRywH6fdheFkvWM3unfV0lk/s1600/revealj.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP_f4v2BUfvTGnvCeLgdIpUu21O-_mpSmk3K5F0cRMiFAl8FwOyjs3Y7peFk2qtLND3MzG2d2C8OJUHQmfKJSfkHcg7OoENxhKIcPPNKi28dj3t8Y6ps5hRRywH6fdheFkvWM3unfV0lk/s640/revealj.jpg" width="424" /></a></div>
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Yeah. Didn't see that one coming, did you? I sure didn't. If I had a drink when I saw this just a moment ago it will have probably have got spat all over my monitor. I had never expected them to move on to other Sega franchises, let alone Shenmue.</div>
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First4figures also revealed a new photo of the upcoming Shadow statue, for those who dig the hog in black and red. Still not the entire thing, but I'm betting the base is designed to look like Radical Highway, which would be rather nice.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWVoIuCKfrN-ka6evv5TL6OB0kaghVGhDFRjSWrOLIYFh2pP-0lVeA_ozJW6oBh3Z2NjTlHnrZDTe-xTdynAng8_v_thvZNfS9MhRGR_S9Oi7AN8wlxl3Ss6X4davwNaz57p6NyMkiiog/s1600/shadowteaser.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWVoIuCKfrN-ka6evv5TL6OB0kaghVGhDFRjSWrOLIYFh2pP-0lVeA_ozJW6oBh3Z2NjTlHnrZDTe-xTdynAng8_v_thvZNfS9MhRGR_S9Oi7AN8wlxl3Ss6X4davwNaz57p6NyMkiiog/s400/shadowteaser.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Classic Knuckles and Classic Tails are in the wild now. I don't have either of them myself as I had to resist pre-ordering those and will get the regular non-light up editions sometime down the line.</div>
Animated AFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550837973910959680noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-15133628992148064392012-12-19T07:05:00.001-08:002012-12-19T07:05:22.559-08:00Sonic UK Christmas Cracker toys<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8287860774/" title="DSCF8971 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF8971" height="640" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8072/8287860774_3a6ed0fd63_c.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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I've been sitting on this article idea since I had it back in the summer, because obviously it makes sense to write about Christmas related Sega merch near the actual time, right? We're not like a TV channel that repeats xmas specials at random times of the year! Either way, while these toys are not particularly Christmassy, they were sold in Christmas crackers here in the UK back in the heydays of early 90s Sonic mania. Take note the palm tree thing in the above photo was just some souvenir from a holiday we had lying about and not part of the set, in case you were wondering. Check out more photos after the break!</div>
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Christmas crackers usually have pretty basic gifts inside them: a paper crown hat, a lame joke and if you're lucky a little toy bowling pin set. But then there are the pricier deluxe sets. These were normally based on popular brands and had proper little figures inside as well as other goodies. For some reason they don't do cracker sets quite as nice as this anymore, as even the branded sets only have cheap basic toys in them. As kids it was one of our favorite Christmas treats: one year we had Aladdin ones, the next Lion King, and one year we had this Sonic set.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmYw7I_ILdenGqistrXhkzSOydL8kAWCBqlztBEp5pGH9zYmCdIQfeFJpsWDhGnduCuUo5BKM01rwhHB9quhHcunDnWOb5A7LlhQCBVcPEIP1JCV1QkmpTXayFOoYm9QiIlfJbRasegb0/s1600/xmascrackers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmYw7I_ILdenGqistrXhkzSOydL8kAWCBqlztBEp5pGH9zYmCdIQfeFJpsWDhGnduCuUo5BKM01rwhHB9quhHcunDnWOb5A7LlhQCBVcPEIP1JCV1QkmpTXayFOoYm9QiIlfJbRasegb0/s640/xmascrackers.jpg" width="568" /></a><br />
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It was sold in Boots for £10 (although taken inflation into account they would more likely be around £15-20 if released today) as you can see from this scan from their catalog that was posted on the Sonic Retro forums which reminded me of where these figures came from in the first place. Also included were Sonic stickers, which i don't own any of anymore, and badges, some of which I do have. But the real prize of this set were the figures, which as far as I know were only sold in this cracker set.</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8286801373/" title="DSCF8972 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF8972" height="158" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8061/8286801373_9021b98281_c.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">There were six in all: two designs of Sonic, Tails and Robotnik. My parents reckon we had friends around when these were given out, as in my personal childhood collection I had one of each character left and I lost the Tails one at some point. Recently I acquired the rest of the set so here are the lot. As you can see the different designs are only slight variants.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8286801181/" title="DSCF8974 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF8974" height="300" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8078/8286801181_2b369d19ed_c.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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The two Sonic's main difference is the arms: one with them up and one down. Also one of them has blue arms, and I had two of this one and they were both like that so this might of been a mistake on the whole line, I'm not sure. Saying that it is a really nice little figure of Sonic. It looks more like the Japanese art than most other figures from that time that tried to emulate the extra tude that that gave to western artwork, some of which even had one eye bigger than the other to fake the angle of his face, for some reason. As far as small Sonic figures go only the recent First4Figures mini figure is better really.</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8287860290/" title="DSCF8975 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF8975" height="300" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8364/8287860290_31692ceb1f_c.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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Speaking of painting errors the Tails pair have an even more obvious flaw. Where their fur should be white...it's pink! In the catalog photo it shows what I assume are prototypes of these toys and the Tails one has brown fur there instead, so even after a revision they didn't get it right! Ignoring that the toy is a pretty decent cute design, though he also has a pretty weird gob which can either be interpreted as a cute shock on his face or a terrifying inwards lump where his mouth should be. Depends on the angle, I guess. There is barely any difference between the two again, just their arms and tilt of his head.</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8286800907/" title="DSCF8976 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF8976" height="300" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8071/8286800907_0e014bd9ec_c.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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For me, the Robotink figures are the highlight of the set. These must of been made in that short period before Adventures of Sonic was released, which led to all merch of Robotnik becoming based on that cone headed Milton Knight creation here in the UK (and the SATAM design in America, sometimes but not always). There are barely any toys from the 90s outside of Japan of him in his original game design so these are a real treat. They actually end up being a bit shorter than Sonic and Tails which is odd, but i suppose they had to fit in the crackers so height accuracy went out the window. they got the likeness down very well though. One had his arm up in the air so they kind of look like increasing degrees of anger. here they're having a scrap, because there can only be one Dr. Ivo Robotnik!</div>
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Animated AFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550837973910959680noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-68824522342438907242012-12-12T07:05:00.002-08:002012-12-19T07:06:08.199-08:00Sega Arcade Classics book is here!<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8267294796/" title="DSCF1541 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF1541" height="265" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8496/8267294796_668514cc9d_z.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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My copy of <a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/segabook.htm" target="_blank">Hardcore Gaming Presents: Sega Arcade Classics Volume 1</a> arrived yesterday morning! The front cover looks even more beautiful in print, and the book itself is larger than I was expecting, larger than a majority of these Japanese Sega books I have anyway. More photos after the jump!<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8266226835/" title="DSCF1543 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF1543" height="242" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8213/8266226835_2d61d068d6_z.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Here is some of my Sega book collection all piled up together. Arcade Classics is not a super thick book at 168 pages but the copy I got is the full colour edition which is really quite stunning, full to the brink with screenshots and artwork from the games. Also unlike most of the books in this pile I can actually read this one!<br />
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<a align:="align:" center="center" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8267294574/" title="DSCF1542 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF1542" height="266" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8347/8267294574_d038afdee0_z.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The articles are taken directly from the website, just as additive to read as before and to have them in book form is fantastic.Each series that is represented is a series that debuted in the arcades in the 80's and early 90's (excluding Alex Kidd), and every game form said series is covered, even some fan games, unreleased and mobile releases. Opa Opa and his twin here are really impressed that even Space Fantasy Zone got a page!<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8266227453/" title="DSCF1544 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF1544" height="400" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8491/8266227453_d2c293ef1d_c.jpg" width="266" /></a>
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More or less every port of the games are covered too, including sections like this above with comparison screenshots. The back of the book contains a list of collections that the games were bundled on as well as a list of soundtrack CDs, and a bonus comic which was featured on this blog some years ago starring Harrier and Opa Opa! :)<br />
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If you haven't grabbed this book yet what are you waiting for? It's $25/£16 which is an absolute bargain and it's nice to have a book in English not about Sonic for a change (even if the upcoming Udon release of History of Sonic is a much bigger book). I really hope more volumes are in the pipeline!Animated AFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550837973910959680noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-35436116488762409852012-12-11T08:55:00.002-08:002012-12-11T08:56:00.375-08:00Buy Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed at Gamestop, get a new car!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpZl3NS0zbH1y71OfaOI-Ddg1ifoFppdxxipE8OoyfRq0bVFFWSCE1JRonDkRyUDoFYWqiQFFA9X-xmkRlWjBYQ-uOyyXBuQjAjz1m2Iv_0vn1jdbPIFmEIxJIjbvy_XAYTZo65vlYdJQm/s1600/danicar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpZl3NS0zbH1y71OfaOI-Ddg1ifoFppdxxipE8OoyfRq0bVFFWSCE1JRonDkRyUDoFYWqiQFFA9X-xmkRlWjBYQ-uOyyXBuQjAjz1m2Iv_0vn1jdbPIFmEIxJIjbvy_XAYTZo65vlYdJQm/s400/danicar.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Those who follow SEGA news over at <a href="http://www.segabits.com/" target="_blank">SEGAbits</a> (plug plug) may have read about the marketing tie-in Hot Wheels and Danica Patrick had with SEGA. The team up has been a long and winding road, filled with complaining fans, happy fans, stupid moments and cool moments. Danica Patrick may have been an odd addition to Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed's roster, but I think most SEGA fans can agree that the car she raced at Texas Motor Speedway in November looked awesome. Okay, so that explains why Danica was in the game. Her SEGA connection was racing with SEGA as a sponsor in real life. But why in the world was she driving a Hot Wheels branded car in the game? Well, back in October 2012, SEGA revealed a Hot Wheels Danicar (a toy car designed by Danica Patrick back in 2011) with SEGA branding. The car was to be given out at select retailers to those who bought the game. Awesome! Free merch, and a reason for a Hot Wheels car being in the game. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrtpxYLriVZ_faPgmR8U6zDQPsznCwiNhq0XCFQaqx1jEgNzfusePKG0_SDKCiVRPGCsNrIe604seyF8dqSKy05_QrEaBmUs0HMrQHEuoSb925P4cod5cMHtEOGOspv-eCUBqnbEhytxcp/s1600/IMG_1242.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrtpxYLriVZ_faPgmR8U6zDQPsznCwiNhq0XCFQaqx1jEgNzfusePKG0_SDKCiVRPGCsNrIe604seyF8dqSKy05_QrEaBmUs0HMrQHEuoSb925P4cod5cMHtEOGOspv-eCUBqnbEhytxcp/s400/IMG_1242.jpg" width="298" /></a></div>
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But then November came and went, and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed released to 360, PS3 and Wii U. No SEGA branded Danicar in sight. Then, a month later (just this past weekend) Gamestop employees reported to Sonic fan sites that the Danicar had appeared in their stores as a Gamestop Exclusive. Fans who had their eyes on the toy car were rightly peeved. Most SEGA fans have already bought the game, and at best those who buy the Vita version next week may get the car. But those who intended to get the 3DS version were out of luck, as that version was pushed to early 2013. As such, we had a cool giveaway that released a month late, and in turn the fans who actually wanted one had most likely already bought the game. I complained about this a bit in <a href="http://segabits.com/blog/2012/12/10/buy-any-version-of-sonic-all-stars-racing-transformed-at-gamestop-get-a-free-hot-wheels-danicar/" target="_blank">my SEGAbits news post</a>, but have since updated the post to reflect my little adventure:</div>
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I visited a local Gamestop to learn more about the offer. Since I had my heart set on the 3DS version, I asked to pre-order the game. I was told the game was set for a February 12th, 2013 release date and that I could put down anywhere from $5 to the total cost of the game to pre-order. I put down $5 and then asked for the Danicar. The cashier was surprised I knew they existed, and asked the manager if I could have one. It was then that I learned stores were told that only those buying the game would get a car, but it wasn’t made clear if pre-ordering also meant the customer gets a car. Since, in the managers words “they had a lot” of the Danicar, I could have one. In short, buying the game now for the 360, PS3 or Wii U will get you a car (if they have them in stock). Pre-ordering for Vita may or may not get you the car, but given the game releases next week, you’ll just have to ask nicely and perhaps putting down the full amount for the pre-order will sweeten the deal. Same goes for the 3DS version.</blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoWrOjtp4brV61T232MPMPnoN1uaoGEteMTgUR0AZj_QA3aqzUaHnM69uc8n65UrybU120TPMcC7JFdHM27QITRakNJE0erDstDkGdHhYzz94UCWHlTLdKNbyC-1wrTLtYY5Ig-pZtr8MU/s1600/IMG_1243.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoWrOjtp4brV61T232MPMPnoN1uaoGEteMTgUR0AZj_QA3aqzUaHnM69uc8n65UrybU120TPMcC7JFdHM27QITRakNJE0erDstDkGdHhYzz94UCWHlTLdKNbyC-1wrTLtYY5Ig-pZtr8MU/s400/IMG_1243.jpg" width="298" /></a></div>
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Alright, so I've complained, I've told my story and I got my little toy car (baby got his bottle). So how is the actual car? It's pretty cool! I love the branded packaging. Very much an exclusive, as no other Hot Wheels car that I've seen has packaging like this. The car itself, while simply a repaint, does look very cool. I like the touch of the Sonic logo and the SEGA logo, the car also has Hot Wheels and Go Daddy logos. Overall it's a cool piece of merch that should look nice on a shelf, especially if you have the other SEGA Hot Wheels cars from 2003.Barry the Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00793590481970367478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-89720321972962502602012-12-06T04:56:00.001-08:002012-12-06T05:01:40.351-08:00Max Overload! UK Sega Comics beyond S.T.C!What a cool thing to stumble upon. Toejam & Earl along with it's sequel Panic on Funkotron were re-released on the Playstation network and Xbox Live Arcade, and you should grab them, because they are excellent ports much like the other recent Sega Vintage Collection games, with awesome remix music on the menus, online co-op and challenges with leaderboards.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitE5EIPvSYFjsffwIRSpZs-K1MXnTkmm1XjZLIZlcNZsa_BjZ8X8mbc2ev0xpfsFQXkOkSQJ6zADImKulwPUq49_ff58acdYwvrtzl_zjitk3naD8eWEKtQd8FMrl7h8T2vNSuPQpAqak/s1600/Max+Overload!+Cover!.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitE5EIPvSYFjsffwIRSpZs-K1MXnTkmm1XjZLIZlcNZsa_BjZ8X8mbc2ev0xpfsFQXkOkSQJ6zADImKulwPUq49_ff58acdYwvrtzl_zjitk3naD8eWEKtQd8FMrl7h8T2vNSuPQpAqak/s640/Max+Overload!+Cover!.jpg" width="482" /></a></div>
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Anyway, these re-releases made me go do a search on Ebay for any Toejam and earl stuff I can find. I already have a rather awesome large badge of them, and own the two original Mega Drive games of course, but I also saw this magazine called Max Overload.<br />
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Apparently this Dark Horse joint only lasted for two issues in 1994, and so far no one has obtained a copy of the second issue. Thankfully, excellent comic book blog <a href="http://twoheadedthingies.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">TwoHeaded Thingies</a> has the first issue and has scanned the juiciest parts of the magazine...comic strips!<br />
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This was a a video game magazine with bonus comics, so like Sonic the Comic but with more magazine-y stuff like reviews. It was not strictly a Sega magazine, but two out of the four comics featured were based on Sega franchises, and the other two were also based on games well known on the Sega systems. Check out what those were after the jump!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFknGLGNSxJ-RGRudaycZscAgqNscXnzFBZTGafGkugAtc6mGZT_8eXUJCh5g45jrvbNW2f9B2F69kvhwI7D5iQrYAalWilFtEOy8ndMDk7NfE6YbWymkP0aCVUYWq8mnwVPUbwkY25D8/s1600/IMG_0003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFknGLGNSxJ-RGRudaycZscAgqNscXnzFBZTGafGkugAtc6mGZT_8eXUJCh5g45jrvbNW2f9B2F69kvhwI7D5iQrYAalWilFtEOy8ndMDk7NfE6YbWymkP0aCVUYWq8mnwVPUbwkY25D8/s640/IMG_0003.jpg" width="456" /></a></div>
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...and one of them is <b>Toejam & Earl</b>! See where I was going with this now? Of course you probably could tell on the front cover at the top of the article but pfffft. Illustrated by Woodrow Phoneix, who was also responsible for the art in S.T.C's <b>Ecco the Dolphin</b> comic and written by Anne Caulfield, this 8 page strip is a real treat! Check out the whole story <a href="http://twoheadedthingies.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/max-overload-part-2.html" target="_blank">at TwoHeaded Thingies article about it</a>! It includes a lot of the enemies/humans/whatnot that were in the first game, and they even put game hints and cheats on the edges of the pages! So what was the other Sega franchise that got the comic treatment?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTMgZ8ZHoOBjkuAf2yHnQCCbWv3-tCh8Ayq6HrVWcl_mncxE69ugLc2DGzrcUf0_bLdwLH-oWSBmjKzsr_9v7MQPK0gpC3-N7bKSLFpoCnca4GcXjUULi_BJVeRRyWDMZm0eUTb4ZKM4w/s1600/IMG_0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTMgZ8ZHoOBjkuAf2yHnQCCbWv3-tCh8Ayq6HrVWcl_mncxE69ugLc2DGzrcUf0_bLdwLH-oWSBmjKzsr_9v7MQPK0gpC3-N7bKSLFpoCnca4GcXjUULi_BJVeRRyWDMZm0eUTb4ZKM4w/s640/IMG_0001.jpg" width="456" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: justify;">Erm...</span><b style="text-align: justify;">Greendog</b><span style="text-align: justify;">. Yeah, remember that dud? It was not a particularly brilliant or memorable game was it? Still, </span><b style="text-align: justify;">Decap Attack</b><span style="text-align: justify;"> was hardly a classic game either (despite it's amazing soundtrack) yet that games comic was fantastic. The same applies to this one: the comic is much better than the game really! This one is funnily enough also illustrated by someone that worked on Sonic the Comic: Ed Hillyer, who was one of the </span><a href="http://stc.wikia.com/wiki/Ed_Hillyer" style="text-align: justify;" target="_blank">earliest artists on the Sonic strips</a><span style="text-align: justify;">, including the </span><span style="text-align: justify;">infamous</span><span style="text-align: justify;"> '</span><span style="text-align: justify;">Sonic the Human</span><span style="text-align: justify;">' s</span><span style="text-align: justify;">tory. This story was written by Ian Carney. </span><a href="http://twoheadedthingies.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/max-overload-part-4-and-last-part-for.html" style="text-align: justify;" target="_blank">Check out this comic in it's entirely here</a><span style="text-align: justify;">.</span><br />
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The other two strips included in the first issue are based on <a href="http://twoheadedthingies.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/max-overload-part-3.html" target="_blank">Chuck Rock</a>, the caveman platformer by series that was more or less every Sega system at the time, and <a href="http://twoheadedthingies.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/max-overload-part-1.html" target="_blank">Lemmings</a>, the classic puzzle game which of course we all know was on EVERYTHING. The art is these stories are stunning so even if they are not 100% Sega you should defiantly check them both out.</div>
Animated AFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550837973910959680noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-70475123392676358852012-11-16T01:27:00.001-08:002012-12-06T04:59:38.282-08:00Hardcore Gaming 101 presents Sega Arcade Classics Book!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/segabook.htm" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ_jVQ3GdgBln902gO3M9sTj-DvUxibEWYRWsfLRO9aKtggkGIwPDE_WKG8WMXHm_0WTqLqvtXIhdUpIFoDpKkAq3TPE8-SiZa1h7x0V116kWYwq1LqicCGk8lmmH9F7sy9GwZeTTIggI/s640/tumblr_mdkjoeAlMZ1qis82bo1_1280.jpg" width="448" /></a></div>
The English release of the History of Sonic book is due sometime in December, but at the same time we now have another Sega book to look forward to! <a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/" target="_blank">Hardcore Gaming 101</a> has revealed <a href="http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/segabook.htm" target="_blank">Sega Arcade Classics Volume 1</a>, which will contain articles about the best Sega franchises that started in the 80s, including Space Harrier, Alex Kidd, Shinobi, After Burner, Outrun, Wonder Boy and many more. As far as I can tell the book will also go into these games console ports and spin offs.<br />
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Of particular note is the beautiful cover art by none over than <a href="http://personasama.tumblr.com/">Jonathan "Persona" Kim</a>, who is most well known for working on the Scott Pilgrim game and Skullgirls, and has done plenty of Sega fan art over the years. Loving the inclusion of Dynamite Dux, the Quartlet gang and even Teddy Boy there!<br />
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The book will be available to pre-order on Amazon (no link yet) sometime in December, with a $10 black and white version and a $25 full colour version, as well as a Kindle release for just $5. Hopefully the "volume 1" is an indication they have a 2nd volume in the works if this one sells well, so get on it!<br />
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Oh yeah and while you're at it go get Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, which just released here today. Do it now.<br />
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<b>UPDATE</b>: It's out! You can get it from the following:<br />
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<a href="http://amzn.to/TBnU1M">US Amazon: Color</a> - $25.00<br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/UA487N">US Amazon: Black & White</a> - $9.99
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<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1479309753/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1479309753&linkCode=as2&tag=hardgami101-21">UK Amazon: Color</a> - £15.99<br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/YIPG0c">UK Amazon: Black & White</a> - £6.99<br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/11Jj714">DE Amazon: Color</a> - €21.39<br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/YIPYnS">DE Amazon: Black & White</a> - €8.55
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<a href="http://sellfy.com/p/dW3z">PDF Download at Sellfy</a> - $4.99<br />
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Grabbed my copy, will show photos and review it when it arrives!Animated AFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550837973910959680noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-10643574301172083062012-11-11T08:45:00.001-08:002012-11-11T08:46:01.448-08:00Shadow the Hedgehog statue announced by First 4 Figures<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY-1jW9EGz__TX3dkRrSY6Ka3YjRfR_nmRo1qUKZfNyptMm-Ed-pvwt7ZAnbqKY22Dhrgotyf712r5IpUZmB4vIx5SFZtuQ8XcYjukg1pyNsw-jpm36Sov7I7f06MouZfQIM8z_sc86Oux/s1600/void(null).jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY-1jW9EGz__TX3dkRrSY6Ka3YjRfR_nmRo1qUKZfNyptMm-Ed-pvwt7ZAnbqKY22Dhrgotyf712r5IpUZmB4vIx5SFZtuQ8XcYjukg1pyNsw-jpm36Sov7I7f06MouZfQIM8z_sc86Oux/s400/void(null).jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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First 4 Figures have announced another one of their Sonic the Hedgehog statues. This time, the company are adding Shadow to their line of modern era statues, which began with Sonic the Hedgehog. The Sonic statue as well as the Shadow statue have yet to release. But both are available for pre-order, with Sonic slated for a Q1 2013 release, and Shadow slated for an unspecified date. First 4 Figures, however, has revealed the pre-order date, which begins November 11th. Those who have been collecting all of these statues as well as the Shadow fans out there should be very happy to hear the news.Barry the Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00793590481970367478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-58782569035684174192012-10-16T12:52:00.001-07:002012-10-21T03:52:03.171-07:00Where's Sonic? He might be in any of these four books.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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What goes around comes around. A new book has just been released in the UK called <b>Where's Sonic? A search and find adventure</b>. Funnily enough, this idea, right down to the title, was already done back in Sonic's heyday in the early 90's, both with a pair of books in the UK and also with the different titled Search & Find Sonic the Hedgehog in America. To think there are now four books based on this same exact premise, inspired by the Where's wally/Waldo books. How do they all compare to one another? We'll check them all out after the jump!</div>
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Seems appropriate to start with the two books I grew up with. Where's Sonic and Where's Sonic Now were released in 1994 and 1996 by Ladybird. These were merely two of a whole help of fully illustrated Sonic books Ladybird put out over those two years, which also included Adventure Gamebooks, puzzle books, a joke book and various story books. The first wave were based around Sonic 2 and the second wave on Sonic 3. In the case of these books, every 2 page spread is based on the zones from those games.<br />
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Imagine all those zones in debug mode, if the Mega Drive could handle every badnik you placed on the stage staying there permanently. That what every page in these books look like. Look at that, they are bloody everywhere! Of course the reason for this is to hide the various characters and items you need to find on each page. To make the zones even more deadly even the rings are tucked away with only a select few about. No wonder Sonic and tails are hiding.</div>
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In the first book, some of the zones are illustrated from a 3D perspective while others, like Casino Night above, are drawn up to look just like the 2D levels they are based on. Except of course that small little difference being AAAHHHH BADNIKS EVERYWHERE.<br />
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As every game in Sonic 2 had two acts barring Metropolis Zone, that zone gets an extra pair of pages to recreate that feeling of god, this zone just keeps going. The above really would be a nightmare, wouldn't it? Oh well, at least the next page shouldn't be so bad. Sky Chase zone has that peaceful music and is quite a sedate, calming level..<br />
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Sonic, I think there may be some turbulence on this flight.</div>
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But surely you can get away from the badniks in the special stage right? The only threat there is the odd bomb? ....right?</div>
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I should have seen that coming. Sod this I can't even get a Chaos Emerald. Let's just go to the Death Egg and get this over with.</div>
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Silver Sonic, the Final Robotnik Robot AND a heap of Badniks? Ok you know what? I'm just gonna hide up here and drink a soda. maybe they won't notice me and go home.</div>
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Several hours later, Robotnik gets bored of waiting for Sonic to show himself and releases all the animals he captured. All that work and money for nothing. I love his gangly little legs hopping about in the right corner there. On to Where's Sonic Now, based on Sonic 3!</div>
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Both books start with a one page 'Test Zone' and this one rather neatly uses the bonus stage as it's practice area. Very nice. Knuckles is of course introduced at this point so he is hiding about too. Just a note there is no pages based on the "Get Blue Spheres!", probably because it wouldn't be very interesting scenery, with only Spheres to hide behind! The items boxes are item T-shirts this time for some reason. That seems like another decent merch idea actually. Electric shield T-shirt anyone?</div>
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The artwork is even nicer this time around. while the first book's art was very sharp and on model I also think they may of been tracing over the same three or four angles of each badnik over and over again. In this book however all the badniks individual and beaming with character. Another bonus is that this book not only covers every zone from the 1 player mode, but also the versus mode zones! Check out Azure lake above, now filled with badniks from the regular levels!</div>
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Form an orderly queue, everyone! You'll ALL get a chance to maul on that foxes flesh, don't worry! Hey, no pushing! One thing I forgot to mention is that Robotnik on every page is sitting in his end-of-zone appropriate egg-o-matic! </div>
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This might be one of my favorite pages. There are several badniks sinking in the quicksand, including Jaws at the bottom right there, and many others falling to their doom from the falling rock bridge! Silly Bubbles, don't panic you can hover about!</div>
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I take that last sentence back, <b>this </b>is my favorite page, the one for Ice Cap! It is full to the brink with Penguinators! I particularly love the four doing the conga and the one near by pointing out Sonic for us! They even put those freezing gun badniks in! </div>
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The book ends on four pages of Launch Base zone, and no celebration Zone this time so maybe the animals were never saved! I love that they have put both the bosses in here, and what I haven't shown here is the massive rocket blasting off taking up one and a half pages! What a wonderful little book.</div>
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Next up is another book from 1994, except this time from the other side of the pond. I only picked this book up a few years ago so I don;t have the same nostalgia for this as i do the UK pair, but I am sure there are a lot of you reading that grew up with this book instead. This one has a different name: <i>Sonic the Hedgehog: Search and Find</i>, which is just as well as if it was called Where's Sonic it would be the easiest search book ever as Sonic is seen at least a dozen times on every two pages as he is zooming about leaving a huge trail behind him. </div>
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One thing's for sure, this book is a lot bigger than the UK books, though maybe less pages too. It is also hardback, which is always a nice thing. Instead of looking for the same main characters or game items on every page this one has you looking for very specific unique items on each page. Did I mention the pages are crammed to the gills with different characters, badniks, and bizarre visual gags? It looks very much like the kind of art you would of also seen in early Archie Sonic comics. Might even be one of the same artists, I believe.</div>
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There are characters from SATAM all over, including Sally Acorn, Bunnie Rabbot, Boomer and the rest along with lots of other random animals in those freedom fighter belt things, mostly all scrapping with swat bots and most of the badniks from Sonic 1 and 2. It even has appearances of the SSSSS Squad from AOSTH, though they tend to be quite off model and miscoloured, though to be fair in Gronder's case he is in his Sonic 2 badnik colours.</div>
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Speaking of which, there's Coconuts, looking pretty off model but still cool to see him there. There is also a swat bot here wearing a dress. Yep. It gets weirder though, look who shows up on this page..</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVwuJfhXyfvMvPiOtlsCWszTMODmvLWmQrXO7xRlCchKWwb2q1xcIkCoQ8bzmvvrCCgoid-DarMMfW4KlaBRxydIwtN2WaHRvBS2IBDwC_2Q5L2KNtll9g3dhMwaqj4bBGjC0nl7V2FsI/s1600/DSCF0770.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVwuJfhXyfvMvPiOtlsCWszTMODmvLWmQrXO7xRlCchKWwb2q1xcIkCoQ8bzmvvrCCgoid-DarMMfW4KlaBRxydIwtN2WaHRvBS2IBDwC_2Q5L2KNtll9g3dhMwaqj4bBGjC0nl7V2FsI/s400/DSCF0770.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The Little Mermaid. Ok. The book is crammed with little daft gags like this, and is full of energy with so much to look at. Even if the TV cartoon characters are not to your liking this is a very nice book and most resembles how the actual Where's Wally books look like.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit9U5EYEKyp5o8a0jJfkFW0Vshn6ZGipi1dLzu8Z1SzeXX0NR6b1Dz7zdrcs5hjjcRef4WFXUxaMsBmG2IBkv1-YZiA-7kAg3BIQhDxV-ECmDu7ZQdZpCh-agPNpfIdw1SSgEhyPpBsiY/s1600/DSCF0782.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit9U5EYEKyp5o8a0jJfkFW0Vshn6ZGipi1dLzu8Z1SzeXX0NR6b1Dz7zdrcs5hjjcRef4WFXUxaMsBmG2IBkv1-YZiA-7kAg3BIQhDxV-ECmDu7ZQdZpCh-agPNpfIdw1SSgEhyPpBsiY/s400/DSCF0782.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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As a bonus it even has a couple pages dedicated to Sonic Spinball, which makes sense as that was the game that had cameos by SATAM and AOSTH characters. It has a full pinball table, the minecart ride, the barrels you had to row in, and even what kind of looks like one of the bosses from the game (the four Robotnik heads that vomited all over the place), although it also doubles as a Wizard of Oz reference here.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMXnhjjEGTwK7AmrroRX0i4Xq93PaldTWt7RrtXoP3OJSb4nwE16ki9NOLCcOWGdOiMxo8xNrL9ZNQcQK4Gh51sb6XzLXA_0Nzw0HNXiUkCpfiYg46CHv5hOIzVUGPmjo2s0Ao_ZoafYU/s1600/DSCF0783.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMXnhjjEGTwK7AmrroRX0i4Xq93PaldTWt7RrtXoP3OJSb4nwE16ki9NOLCcOWGdOiMxo8xNrL9ZNQcQK4Gh51sb6XzLXA_0Nzw0HNXiUkCpfiYg46CHv5hOIzVUGPmjo2s0Ao_ZoafYU/s400/DSCF0783.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Yeah, you show that Robuttnik, random squirrel! Keep holding that get lost sign in that picture of his face's direction while a crabmeat trims a bush into a portrait of itself. </div>
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Finally we fast forward about 17 years to this newly released UK book under the same name as the old UK books, only this time it is published by Macmillan and is not part of a large range of Sonic books but for the moment just a one off. I won't be taking too many photos of this because well..you'll see I guess. The book is much thinner with less pages. The front cover is nice and colourful enough, with renders from Sonic Generations, Colours and Free Riders all over the place. is this any indication of what the inside of the book is like?<br />
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Yes. That is exactly what it is like. Rather than illustrated pages they have gone for a copy-and-paste pre-existing artwork approach, which could be decent if enough effort and variety is put in. Here lies the problem: they use the same renders over and over and over again, sometimes right next to each other. The same two Amy rose poses, the same one Charmy Bee etc. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitovjiTdnzkCipD0LEYf5i3406CwnIIHbrrNW4u8nsLMsbEJFWSBwKiZbvNhlLph1p3C1f-lgHdIChUSFQiwnNZIsFiBES1VREDVRhlZE5aX38GJi2kEcn7-0l-nPoJG6bKIhQGZLlAtQ/s1600/DSCF0761.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitovjiTdnzkCipD0LEYf5i3406CwnIIHbrrNW4u8nsLMsbEJFWSBwKiZbvNhlLph1p3C1f-lgHdIChUSFQiwnNZIsFiBES1VREDVRhlZE5aX38GJi2kEcn7-0l-nPoJG6bKIhQGZLlAtQ/s400/DSCF0761.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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They are also very sloppily placed about. The flying characters are in the air and the ones that are standing are standing on things but there has been so little effort put into to keeping anything to scale with each other. It's as if Dougal from Father Ted learnt how to use Photoshop but still never figured out that some cows are small, but some are just<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vbd3E6tK2U" target="_blank"> far away</a>.<br />
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The book mainly uses zones from generations for reference, with the single exception being a two page spread of Sylvania Castle Zone from Sonic 4 Episode II. I thought those blue lines were printing errors at first but they are in fact the webs of Crawler badinks. What are they hanging down from? Also look at that huge Eggman with his legs stuck deep in the ground!</div>
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Every page has a large render of a character on one side too, and take note how Metal Sonic was in Green Hill, because who is better to represent a page based on Stardust Speedway, a page that even describes it as "the perfect place for Sonic and metal Sonic to have a race"..</div>
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..That's right, Big the cat! Safe to say this book was a bit of a disappointment compared to old books. It is only £3 on Amazon (funnily enough the same exact price the old UK ones were when they came out), and if you are after large, nicely printed renders of all the characters and the Generations zones i guess you can't go too wrong with this, and I'm sure the kids it's aimed at will still like it. It's just a shame more effort wasn't put in really.</div>
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After all, nothing beats Penguinators doing the conga.</div>
Animated AFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550837973910959680noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-88429090857011392582012-10-03T17:14:00.001-07:002012-10-03T17:14:42.727-07:00Sonic the Hedgehog Monopoly - Unboxing<iframe width="600" height="338" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/j80sVjisxmA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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My Sonic the Hedgehog Monopoly arrived from Amazon today, so I thought I'd do a quick unboxing. I've yet to play it, but I'd assume it's like playing Monopoly, but a lot more fun thanks to the Sonic theme. There are a few fun nods to past games in the cards, but nothing mind blowing. Still, a very well put together set that I definitely recommend.Barry the Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00793590481970367478noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-58489856081573975132012-10-01T11:13:00.002-07:002012-10-01T13:23:11.099-07:00'The best Sega Fanboy video ever. Recorded in 1992'<div style="text-align: center;">
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I've just today been emailed over this huge 2 hour archive of Sega footage from UK TV in 1992, recorded on video back in the day and compiled now 20 years later by Youtube user <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/dodgykebaab" target="_blank">DodgyKebaab</a>. He wrote:<br />
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Hello, I used to be a huge Sega Fanboy back in the early 90's and I used to make VHS tapes of anything Sega related that I saw on TV. Video game shows, TV adverts, promo tapes I managed to get my hands on, etc. All the footage is from British TV because that's where I live, anyway you can see the whole 2 hours worth of Sega rare footage here.</blockquote>
Included is clips from TV shows like Gamesmaster, Bad Influence and High Five, an ITV news report about the lanuch of Sonic 2, Chris Evans and the puppets Zig and Zag on the Big Breakfast show talking about the Mega CD and other games, promotional videos of games (one of which I recall owning), an episode of Adventures of Sonic and more. It's quite a mess, some adverts are featured several times in a row, and some are of Lego and other things, but well worth watching.<br />
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This right here is my childhood. List of highlights after the jump.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>0:00:00 - Gamesmaster shows people who beat Sonic 2 the soonest after release.<br />
0:00:57 - Gamesmaster Sonic 1 challenge, then a Sonic 2 special stage one (with a Bubsy advert in between)<br />
0:05:29 - a Midland Bank credit card commercial with Mega Drive games in it, and a Road Rash II ad.<br />
0:05:59 - Big Breakfast gaming segment, talking about the Mega CD. Includes classic collection, Wolfchild and Jaguar XJ220.<br />
0:10:43 - The Cyber Razor cut commercial and Sonic 2 beta footage from a promotional video I remember having from one of the many Sega mags at the time.<br />
0:23:15 - ITV news reporting the launch of Sonic 2. You see Hamleys gaming floor back when sega had a dedicated area in there, with staff wearing the Sonic blue jacket, and the Sonic 2 cardboard display both of which I own.<br />
0:25:55 - Big Breakfast show off Aladdin. Notice the whole rooms wallpaper is Labyrinth Zone!<br />
0:28:59 - Bad Influence shows the Mega CD off, including a karaoke add on that's not official. After that some kids review Shinobi III....badly.<br />
0:30:57 - Gamesmaster slag off Sonic CD. The special stages a rip off of Mario Kart, what, because of the floor?<br />
0:32:06 - The Pirate TV mega CD commercial, which is here about 4 times! Also a Pirate TV ad for a sale of Mega Drive games at long gone store Ritz.<br />
0:34:13 - Zig and Zag (Big Breakfast puppets) talk about Ecco! After some more repeated pirate TV ads it goes back to Zig and Zag talking about Boxing games with guest star boxers! Craig Charles also shows up to check out street Fighter II on mega Drive and there is a Gamesmaster Jungle Book challenge.<br />
0:41:11 - Pirate TV Street Fighter II commercial. Also Street Fighter toys...and some Lego?<br />
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0:43:03 - Commercial for the Sonic Burger King set. I only have one of these toys now :(<br />
0: 43:22 - Big Breakfast footage, judging from the music, must be a beta version of Sonic Spinball (a month before UK release). After that they look at James Pond 3.<br />
0:44:18 - Channel 4 commercial for Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.<br />
0:46:35 - A Sugar Puffs Commercial for some kind of Master System promotion! Scratch off books based on various Master System games. Fuller version at<br />
0:47:07 - Bad Influence review Thunderhawk on Mega CD.<br />
1:09:37 - Bad Influence review the make my Video games. haha it was even considered as rubbish then.<br />
1:10:38 - A gameplay challenge of Batman Returns on Mega CD.<br />
1:12:36 - Big Breakfast shows Jurassic Park on Mega Drive (again an early build) followed by Jungle Strike.<br />
1:16:35 - Big Breakfast: Jungle Book and Road Runner on Game Gear. Sega wired up the Game Gear to a TV just for them, awww!<br />
1:17:48 - Now bad Influence review Jungle Book on Game Gear, followed by Cosmic Spacehead.<br />
1:20: 39 - Gamesmaster Bubsy challenge.<br />
1:22:43 - Gamesmaster review the first Fifa game, on Mega Drive.<br />
1:23:03 - Fecking bonkers (and expensive looking) Mega Drive II commercial, with...<br />
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1:23:52 - Gamesmaster Sonic 2 tip: "It's not the animals you want to be collecting, it's the rings" "Thanks Gamesmaster!" followed by a Jungle Strike challenge.</div>
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1:26:11 - Sonic custome guy on Children in Need! Also better version of that Suger Puffs ad.</div>
1:27:35 - Bad Influence on rubbish mega CD game Microcosm. 4 out of 5? hahaha what. After that Sensible soccer vs Fifa. Gamesmaster review of Sensible Soccer, then back to Fifa with Vinny Jones haha!<br />
1:32:36 - Commercial for the Telstar Sega game double packs. Hang on what is Mr. Blobby doing on here ahhhhhhhh.<br />
1:36:38 - Toejam and Earl Panic and mean Bean Machine on Funkotron on Big Breakfast, with Terry Wogan sounded very uninterested!<br />
1:40:33 - Pirate TV Aladdin Commercial. Bonkers as always.<br />
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1:41:51 -Official costumes of Sonic, Sparkster of Rocket Knight Adventures) Cool Spot and a Lemming! Followed by a game Gear Micro machines review.<br />
1:45:14 - Gamesmaster Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters review.<br />
The rest of the video is some sketch show which loses sound. Ok..Animated AFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550837973910959680noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-8430954493938042312012-09-25T09:24:00.001-07:002012-09-25T09:25:21.635-07:00Virtua Fighter 1 Bandai keychain figures<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8023569652/" title="DSCF0014 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF0014" height="333" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8456/8023569652_d635992505.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div>
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At the same as I bought all those keychain Sega girls some time back I also got this set of six Virtua Fighter keychains. Judging by the auction they were produced by Bandai around the time the first Virtua Fighter game was released. I assume this is not a complete set either as Pai and Lau Chan are missing from the original roster of 8 here, or 9 if you count Dural but they rarely make toys of her. This is unless they just forgot those two for some reason, I guess I won't know unless I see some kind of packaging that these did not have. Either way check after the jump for more photos!<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8023569970/" title="DSCF0004 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF0004" height="333" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8175/8023569970_f85224e0ab.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div>
This set are all about the same size as the Sega Girls set, though these ones are not so much in a chibi style nor do they have little stands to keep them upright, so a majority of them are not really made for displaying. These also had little keychain holding rings stuck in their heads which I carefully twisted out so they would look better in photos. If you look at them from the top they have holes in their heads now, some of which have an odd red paint around them. Aaah, blood! I killed them! That's of course except they are lumps of plastic, so never mind.<br />
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Here is every character next to their manual art, because I'm weird like that..</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8023570522/" title="DSCF0005 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF0005" height="432" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8458/8023570522_4c2240fe0a.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
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Akira, the Ryu of the worlds first polygon based fighting game series, doesn't really even look that ready for a fight in this little figure. In fact he looks a bit bored. He can stand at the very least so he has that going for him, and the pose is decent enough it's just that face...he really doesn't care if he wins or loses does he?</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8023570702/" title="DSCF0012 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF0012" height="429" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8316/8023570702_fb1d80e607.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
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Jacky is in a mid jump pose punching, as you can see in the photo obviously..not sure why I needed to type that out. His face is a bit odd looking, with an expression like he needs to take a good dump plus he is impossible to stand up right. Then again these things were made for dangling alongside your keys so with that in mind the pose is neat, especially if you hooked one of the other characters onto the same chain so it looks like they are scrapping. Also his hair isn't quite as spikey as I would have liked, oh well.</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8023570146/" title="DSCF0011 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF0011" height="427" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8311/8023570146_b7acb50379.jpg" width="500" /></a><br />
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Sarah is in a kind of an awkward looking kick pose that actually looks more like she is copying Chun-Li's spinning bird kick than it does one of her own attacks. The sculptors seem to put more attention to detail into her legs than they did her face, which is a little off looking. Still,not too bad, but there are much better figures of her out there.</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8023570362/" title="DSCF0010 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF0010" height="434" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8182/8023570362_ff6fa80501.jpg" width="500" /></a>
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Kage looks pretty cool in his miniture keychain form. They got all the little details down well, for how few he has in that ninja get up. He is also able to stand up pretty well by himself, so well done lad.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8023572861/" title="DSCF0006 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF0006" height="418" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8175/8023572861_91c68c3b8e.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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Wolf is a pretty good design, although he is another one in a pose that is impossible to stand up without the aid of some blu-tac. The pose is kind of funny though, like he is having a bit of a bratty tiff, stomping about the place because he ringed out, which is why he ended up getting big gates installed on his stage in the next game. That or he is just avoiding a punch from Jacky, if you were to put those two together..</div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8023573051/" title="DSCF0007 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF0007" height="458" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8031/8023573051_541a591b11.jpg" width="500" /></a>
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I have saved the best for last, the main reason I bought the set was for this Jeffery one. He stands out a lot from the others, firstly because he looks a bit more chibi than the others with his big head, but he is also possibly the most well designed and most appealing. He has a great expression on his face and is blocky all over, much like the game. He also stands up perfectly by himself and doesn't look out of place next to the much later Sega produced sets with the stands. He is also..<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8023571288/" title="DSCF0003 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF0003" height="640" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8456/8023571288_48dd27572c_z.jpg" width="426" /></a><br />
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...nicking the game disc! Oi! Akira and Kage are ready to battle for it, but to be honest it's wasn't the best port of the game anyway.</div>
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Animated AFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550837973910959680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-35710885485233152642012-09-22T05:14:00.002-07:002012-09-22T05:14:57.477-07:00Sega Gals Keychain figures<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBl9qB2FtF5AY2eLZNr8RJ6aOcJJsEAuaJqJcOZYyvLi0J2v8IPoTuNyX4ctiuvoz5RwL9FYo622jIQUP5c7vbTdPyyROCLS_aJcxdoBJFRcqfTS4lQRKKtTQSFtnD3Hl3f-BejLyfgxU/s1600/DSCF9964.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBl9qB2FtF5AY2eLZNr8RJ6aOcJJsEAuaJqJcOZYyvLi0J2v8IPoTuNyX4ctiuvoz5RwL9FYo622jIQUP5c7vbTdPyyROCLS_aJcxdoBJFRcqfTS4lQRKKtTQSFtnD3Hl3f-BejLyfgxU/s400/DSCF9964.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
I bought these two small keychain figures of Rage (from Virtua Cop) and Bahn (from Fighting Vipers) back at Summer of Sonic 2011, and ever since they have been waiting for some company from the same set..<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcbBvG38PPDoxMGQNXl45o5quBDWxmRrfffvjg8riQhBPRSOaJzPDJuUhKBH65oXh0JsL0bU-ftOxh4rsKJQDWtxmuxb7dIczneDzq9t5E3SQtqFG6aKJG37YClEWfF81TE5OGtX56RKw/s1600/DSCF9965-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcbBvG38PPDoxMGQNXl45o5quBDWxmRrfffvjg8riQhBPRSOaJzPDJuUhKBH65oXh0JsL0bU-ftOxh4rsKJQDWtxmuxb7dIczneDzq9t5E3SQtqFG6aKJG37YClEWfF81TE5OGtX56RKw/s400/DSCF9965-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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..until now! Recently I bought this small collection of Sega keychain figures that are exactly like these two, right down to the little blue stands with their names on. These however are from a different set released at the same time (1998) of Sega's many ladies! Hit the jump for photos galore and more info on the (almost) complete set.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8011735554/" title="DSCF9966 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF9966" height="177" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8317/8011735554_b03033a557.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
I have picked up six in all, though the series has a total of nine. They are all from Sega's Saturn-era fighting games Last Bronx and Virtua Fighter, with the exception of one from Virtua Cop though she also showed up as a playable fighter in Fighters Megamix.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8011736288/" title="DSCF9980 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF9980" height="500" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8321/8011736288_27b22e6dfa.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>
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Virtua Fighter was, as we all know, massive in Japan. The characters available here are all but one of the woman in the series as of Virtua Fighter 3 in 1996, which was later ported to the Dreamcast. All that's missing here is a toy of the mysterious boss character Dural. There has since been quite a few new ladies in the series since these were made, though Pai and Sarah are still the most iconic for having been there from the very first game, and they are even going to be playable alongside Akira in Dead or Alive 5.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8011730087/" title="DSCF9978 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF9978" height="500" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8181/8011730087_193a715d09.jpg" width="396" /></a></div>
Last Bronx was hardly the run away hit I think Sega was hoping for it to be as their premiere weapons based fighting game, but it has a cult following and a rather decent port on the Saturn and much later in Japan only on the Playstation 2. The characters were also pretty memorable with the three girls from the game in this set, of which I am only missing Lisa.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo-jlN1d1FAkekLRnh_DbNdargdR1ULe7lsyVfNZs_ljc7W8Eqc5Y-c81DdVfVgl4UPRhQqdqxQoF2D1B2zdKnAIYM4bcogdawXHnflLQWljFv9ppA7ZQpbL_76AdFYPhnYVKmbEnEylw/s1600/DSCF9981.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo-jlN1d1FAkekLRnh_DbNdargdR1ULe7lsyVfNZs_ljc7W8Eqc5Y-c81DdVfVgl4UPRhQqdqxQoF2D1B2zdKnAIYM4bcogdawXHnflLQWljFv9ppA7ZQpbL_76AdFYPhnYVKmbEnEylw/s400/DSCF9981.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Then we have Janet from Virtua Cop 2. Looks like Rage has found his partner in justice! As mentioned Janet was also playable in Fighter Megamix, where she was one of only three characters with weapons. Funnily enough she also had similar fighting moves to Virtua Fighter 3's Aoi, also in this set! Maybe they spared together in the same dojo.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2diE_oqETNaTliNztkqcohp-MN83WfSO1a53GkTL7ZtPLCOPnR0zksd_-dOXT9zwLfzRdnM3upJzfcxNgaTDhuNSmVo_SF7R4jAVoLPZsTlDCM3FmFQxrPZYkGtqNCqoD-ogtPfR1lo0/s1600/DSCF9993.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2diE_oqETNaTliNztkqcohp-MN83WfSO1a53GkTL7ZtPLCOPnR0zksd_-dOXT9zwLfzRdnM3upJzfcxNgaTDhuNSmVo_SF7R4jAVoLPZsTlDCM3FmFQxrPZYkGtqNCqoD-ogtPfR1lo0/s400/DSCF9993.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
So out of this collection I am only missing three: Lisa from Last Bronx, Amy Rose from Sonic CD and, much to Bahn's dismay: Honey from Fighting Vipers. Seems a shame they didn't make any of the other ladies from Vipers such as Grace and Jane. If someone can find me these three to buy somewhere that'd be great, if just to stop Bahn sulking..<br />
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Here are some close up shots of each figure next to their instruction manual renders. These did have metal rings in their heads for using them as key chains which I twisted out. Despite their chibi stylings, the Virtua Fighter figures are not based on how they looked in Virtua Fighter Kids, which I believe there was a whole set of key chains made just for those. I have more Virtua Fighter keychains to show you another time.<br />
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8011729531/" title="DSCF9992 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF9992" height="500" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8311/8011729531_b8f724785d.jpg" width="333" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8011734846/" title="DSCF9990 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF9990" height="500" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8299/8011734846_f6542c2dc5.jpg" width="371" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8011738288/" title="DSCF9989 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF9989" height="500" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8030/8011738288_51d829f019.jpg" width="364" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8011730837/" title="DSCF9985 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF9985" height="500" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8300/8011730837_d068aed69a.jpg" width="333" /></a> </div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8011731251/" title="DSCF9987 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF9987" height="500" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8441/8011731251_f673edc3fb.jpg" width="298" /></a> </div>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/segamemories/8011731913/" title="DSCF9988 by segamemories, on Flickr"><img alt="DSCF9988" height="500" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8451/8011731913_4c7e4f3807.jpg" width="350" /></a></div>
Animated AFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550837973910959680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-87878723837257057672012-09-12T07:29:00.002-07:002012-09-12T07:31:18.235-07:00Say this in an angry Batman voice: "Where's Sonic?"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDXfNVlVNi2aUDzb21JCw_dwoBaU9QpaaG6ABhUVqgcl5MN17bzsOqGKP_fSYKhHMfeAETf29i8Iy5jDGmVMRwdw2tG-MBumKDCO5qqKFkeQt03xRzNUdHCDiJ1eWT5IlZv06yYO5fpJQV/s1600/wheres-sonic-book.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDXfNVlVNi2aUDzb21JCw_dwoBaU9QpaaG6ABhUVqgcl5MN17bzsOqGKP_fSYKhHMfeAETf29i8Iy5jDGmVMRwdw2tG-MBumKDCO5qqKFkeQt03xRzNUdHCDiJ1eWT5IlZv06yYO5fpJQV/s400/wheres-sonic-book.png" width="312" /></a></div>
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It's rare to see a Sonic book hitting shelves that isn't either the elusive History of Sonic book, or an Archie Comics compilation. So when I saw this, I was very intrigued. “Where’s Sonic?: A Search-And-Find Adventure” is a Where’s Waldo/Wally style book in which fans try and find Sonic as well as other items as they litter recognizable zones and stages from the franchise. Looks like they'll be using CG renders throughout, most likely pre-existing poses, and the book will probably only span Generations and perhaps Colors. However, I would be surprised if Riders, All-Stars Racing and Unleashed get their own pages. Currently the book is only listed in the UK and Australia. <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wheres-Sonic-Search---find-Adventure/dp/1447227050/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347419634&sr=1-1?tag=ssmb-footer-21" target="_blank">Amazon UK is taking pre-orders for £2.99</a> with free shipping within the UK. The release date is October 11th, so until then try to find Shadow creeping in the shadows in the image above.</div>
<br />Barry the Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00793590481970367478noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-46096079760941453782012-09-04T12:34:00.001-07:002012-09-06T14:14:58.705-07:00Aoi Sekai no Chuushin de: An anime with Sega characters, sort of.Well this is the weirdest thing I have seen in some time. There is going to be an anime airing from next month in Japan called <b>Aoi Sekai no Chuushin de </b>that, according to<a href="http://myanimelist.net/anime/15133/Aoi_Sekai_no_Chuushin_de" target="_blank"> MyAnimeList</a> is:<br />
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<i>Segua Kingdom has been losing the war against Ninterdo Empire but the tables are turned by the appearance of a boy called Gear. All the characters are parodies of Nintendo or Sega games such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda etc.</i></blockquote>
and they included an image:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhijf3Agq6GGIxhjdKFA1O3BuaEncQabTRT9dUsb4c9UqybjjtfuZXm6i1hP3hxSRF1HeiAo5i1UV8uNvJarbCiEBEpRbQJMlGL4Mk0Z1MH7crJGM0ktRhFUUnkNj6_QZ7Z5m-GhihV7Vc/s1600/41109l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhijf3Agq6GGIxhjdKFA1O3BuaEncQabTRT9dUsb4c9UqybjjtfuZXm6i1hP3hxSRF1HeiAo5i1UV8uNvJarbCiEBEpRbQJMlGL4Mk0Z1MH7crJGM0ktRhFUUnkNj6_QZ7Z5m-GhihV7Vc/s400/41109l.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Not terribly obvious from that artwork but the guy with the blue hair is a parody of Sonic. Not clear enough? This image from the <a href="http://aoisekai.net/" target="_blank">already existing manga</a> probably will..<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV0J2W_bKygX80ddXOHowapSdNOxF9YKPMWQuJFg-12GiOhI0Ddnt0nIzmC-TW70sW81x-tPp8xfjnvBKNmWjZjwBn9yzv32jkD1Tvoz4tFNxauc48-AwhEuvwHv9dIiyJryxdVGdsRjg/s1600/gear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV0J2W_bKygX80ddXOHowapSdNOxF9YKPMWQuJFg-12GiOhI0Ddnt0nIzmC-TW70sW81x-tPp8xfjnvBKNmWjZjwBn9yzv32jkD1Tvoz4tFNxauc48-AwhEuvwHv9dIiyJryxdVGdsRjg/s400/gear.jpg" width="325" /></a></div>
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More info (what info there is so far) after the jump.<br />
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This of course is not the first time this kind of thing has happened. There has also been the PS3 series of games called <b>Hyperdimension Neptunia</b>, which somehow managed to get released here, that was about a bunch of loli girls presenting different consoles and game companies, including at some point one based on the Mega Drive and one based on a "what if" of a later Sega console called the Neptune. It was an interesting-ish concept, spoiled by not only being uncomfortably pandering to the loli fetish but also by the fact that the games were pretty average RPGs over all.<br />
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This however is representing something all the more specific: the Sega Vs Nintendo console wars, in particular the early 90s as far as I can tell. All the characters are based on those from Sega and Nintendo's games from the time. After doing some rummaging on Japanese sites about the manga I found some <a href="http://oab.sakura.ne.jp/gia/cha/chara.htm" target="_blank">character profiles</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi55ZBhuLZYDB_GEVddDqBA6voiopDOJfVz2Ss0NZnQC90YNLdZCQjFDi9Eoct01Rs7SEgPPPkHr3khyphenhyphenp6A9EugRy-qlAQvTC5Xhp829TIh03ajq7jLzLzyGuEPv0z7A72dVLwSktdnQcY/s1600/neru.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi55ZBhuLZYDB_GEVddDqBA6voiopDOJfVz2Ss0NZnQC90YNLdZCQjFDi9Eoct01Rs7SEgPPPkHr3khyphenhyphenp6A9EugRy-qlAQvTC5Xhp829TIh03ajq7jLzLzyGuEPv0z7A72dVLwSktdnQcY/s400/neru.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Can you guess who they all are? In the top row is Gear (based on Sonic), Opa-ru (Opa Opa from Fantasy zone), Neru (nei from Phantasy Star II), Thiru (I'm guessing Tails based on the name and description), not sure on this one yet, and the last from one of the other character bio pages is what I think might be a parody of Arle from Puyo Puyo, the the translation suggests that character is a boy so they gender swapped her for whatever reason. Ok. The Nintendo page has Mario, Luigi, Samus, Link, Kirby and there are also Sqaure, namco and other game developers characters in there.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7faedWqbo5wxAxBEOT4GhFCt2KXAFi3IjX2F95Jj7S_uwFjBG9t3oTfXoTj4f64OtKkgFMzZnoswNaDmt04yVyyo2Q8-uNgLGzDuPRa2WYkXcdEzvB9kBP4DIakfURp02spxzyOh1HfA/s1600/aoi_pc01_1600x1200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7faedWqbo5wxAxBEOT4GhFCt2KXAFi3IjX2F95Jj7S_uwFjBG9t3oTfXoTj4f64OtKkgFMzZnoswNaDmt04yVyyo2Q8-uNgLGzDuPRa2WYkXcdEzvB9kBP4DIakfURp02spxzyOh1HfA/s400/aoi_pc01_1600x1200.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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This is very, very strange. The characters are so loosely based on what they are parodying that they must be able to get away with it, yet you can't help but wonder what Sega and Nintendo think of this getting an anime soon. I mean look at that very slightly different Sega 'S' logo in the above image. For all we know this anime might be complete rubbish, but I guess we will find out in due time with trailers and the very close-upon-us airing and I assume fansubbing. Either way it is er...interesting, to say the least.<br />
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Source: <a href="http://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?showtopic=29749" target="_blank">Sonic Retro forums.</a><br />
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Update: Found pretty much the <a href="http://oab.sakura.ne.jp/gia/story/0/page1a.htm" target="_blank">whole manga comic of it here</a>. From what I can gather (<b>spoilers ahead</b>):<br />
(just using the names of who they are based on to keep track of who is who).<br />
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<ul>
<li>Nei is Sonic's sister, Tails maybe his brother.</li>
<li>Their parents and other people from their small sea side village were killed when they were kids by Nintendo.</li>
<li>Sonic can't swim in this either.</li>
<li>Tails DIES. Again to Nintendo solders. Sonic goes berserk and beats them to a bloody pulp.</li>
<li>Mario is seen looming like a bad guy with a lizard pet (maybe Yoshi?).</li>
<li>Sonic teams up with the Opa Opa lady, who is an archer.</li>
<li>There is the odd cheesecake ecchi, but at least it's not loli hahaha.</li>
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Animated AFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550837973910959680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-92183830991318062932012-08-24T10:24:00.000-07:002012-08-24T10:25:30.187-07:00An infamous Sonic Says in 3D<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9mRKSRY88Zs" width="560"></iframe>
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Regulars to SEGA Memories should know of our love for all things "The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog". Even those who aren't steeped in the series know of the many memes to come from it, as well as <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ0zTFo3X5g&feature=related" target="_blank">the infamous Sonic <strike>Sez</strike> Says segment</a> in which Sonic warns of molestation. In what is one of the most creative remixes of the original, a fan animated a 3D model of classic Sonic in Source Filmmaker and created this 3D recreation. If anything, it's the first believable video I've seen of Jaleel White voicing a Sonic Generations classic Sonic. I have to say, it works really well!Barry the Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00793590481970367478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-13807603193360246032012-08-21T06:29:00.000-07:002012-08-21T06:29:01.111-07:00USAopoly reveals the Sonic Monopoly board!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNt62t8SNrDBLSwfGYUwTX38tl0GizE2V6i_TukJ8mO1SOfiCh7a9aTZ_7zABX41UOd4H432epkD-H-2531Nmdk2nMNbeOJ6ilE04OofstHzXKpMYcQah2h2MgAya7sq7FOv6gLNl-92ba/s1600/sonicmonopoly.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNt62t8SNrDBLSwfGYUwTX38tl0GizE2V6i_TukJ8mO1SOfiCh7a9aTZ_7zABX41UOd4H432epkD-H-2531Nmdk2nMNbeOJ6ilE04OofstHzXKpMYcQah2h2MgAya7sq7FOv6gLNl-92ba/s400/sonicmonopoly.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/usaopoly?ref=ts" target="_blank">The USAopoly Facebook page</a> has revealed the upcoming Sonic Monopoly game board. Just standing back and looking at it, it’s a really great looking board! The design looks nice, a ton of zones and stages are represented. And unlike the Nintendo Monopoly game, thought has been put into the renaming of the chance and community chest cards. Seriously, the Nintendo Monopoly was garbage compared to this beauty. Players bought characters like property and built houses on them. How does that work? Gives a whole new meaning to Hotel Mario. Fans have taken note that the Genesis/Mega Drive games really get the shaft with only three properties representing the classics, and all three are from Sonic Generations. Meanwhile, Sonic 4 receives three properties and Sonic Riders, a spin-off title, receives two. If you’re really bothered by the property selection, <a href="http://i.imgur.com/2RV3G.jpg" target="_blank">just use my custom Sonic Hogopoly board</a>.</span></div>
Barry the Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00793590481970367478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-77361965738213490282012-07-16T12:34:00.001-07:002012-07-16T12:34:24.972-07:00Summer of Sonic 2012 - Cosplay Contest<div style="text-align: center;">
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Sorry for the delay, here is some more video footage of Summer of Sonic 2012, this time of the cosplay contest! This time they did things differently: in previous years they had every single cosplayer go up on stage to be picked based on everyones cheering, which is kind of a hard thing to judge I would imagine, so this time they had a panel of judges give each cosplayer points throughout the day and the top 10 of those went up on the stage in the afternoon. This meant the contest on stage was a lot shorter than previous years.</div>
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The pair dressed as banjo and Kazooie are friends of mine who did it for a laugh, and despite being only very loosey related to anything Sonic (having been in the X-box 360 version of All-Stars Racing) still managed to get 4th place! As for the top winner, I'll give you a WILD guess (heh heh) but even if you don't like the character you got to admit that is a stunning costume. I asked the woman who wore it how long it took her to make, and she said about 4 or 5 months. Not surprised! I still don't get how the eyes seem to look forwards no matter what way the head turns, it's kinda spooky!</div>Animated AFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550837973910959680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-37936971479002584482012-07-10T15:58:00.000-07:002012-07-10T15:58:31.573-07:00Summer of Sonic 2012 - Video Tour<div style="text-align: center;">
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The Summer of Sonic 2012 coverage here at Sega Memories begins here! In this first video you will see the queue outside the Brighton Centre early on, us walking into the venue, checking out the free goodie bag, watching some All-Stars Transformed gameplay, watching the event introduction on the screens and stage, and a tour of the 2nd floor, including what is in the merch booth this year! I have other videos coming soon, including the cosplay contest, the Jun Senoue jam session and I also have lots of photos to share, so stay tuned!</div>Animated AFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550837973910959680noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-69854832118318707422012-05-22T10:41:00.000-07:002012-05-22T12:42:52.970-07:00New Sega t shirts from Meatbun are magical.<a href="http://meatbun.us/" target="_blank">Meatbun </a>have some crazy talent designing their gaming related tees, and I get the feeling they may have a bit of a Sega fan streak in them judging by how 3 out 4 of their latest designs are Sega inspired. Many are quite surprising mash ups too!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip0N_DOHWryBe0vnM5EjRZflLMPLsuPQIM6ivDIDGrW5BhmO3n3r9m6Ba70GUhiFKhYgZPH-o-Ed8ogNwZgsqyom6OSQB-xGQXslTcb1tr78P_z_Pb894Vz5M3JGrNxywvQFGfKSsNM7E/s1600/passing+breeze.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip0N_DOHWryBe0vnM5EjRZflLMPLsuPQIM6ivDIDGrW5BhmO3n3r9m6Ba70GUhiFKhYgZPH-o-Ed8ogNwZgsqyom6OSQB-xGQXslTcb1tr78P_z_Pb894Vz5M3JGrNxywvQFGfKSsNM7E/s400/passing+breeze.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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First up, <a href="http://meatbun.us/store/products/passing-breeze-sunshine" target="_blank"><b>Passing Breeze</b></a>. This looks like it could have come directly out of a mid to late 80s Japanese indie fan magazine, right down to the manga like toning. A gorgeous illustration that nails the vibe of the classic Outrun.<br />
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The other two designs after the jump!<br />
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The next design is pure genius. We all knew the Hornet car from Daytona USA was more than just a car, but now it is more than meets the eye! <a href="http://meatbun.us/store/products/daytonabot-blue" target="_blank">DaytonaBot</a> takes the Hornet's bizzare appearance in Fighters Megamix and takes it to the next radical level. Wow, I don't get to use the word 'radical' very often, though you could probably use it to describe the next design even more..<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE9zJ0xmNj4ddftUFBxn3_kKknmymE63cZYv9rUeEtWRSNocP58j4hZwNzAcgILf_m_TY4Iy700ZI8TAm2kJxq_SqOMm5nRof6w4bSN4MbNGQN5t2_7jmos0SJbr7KT7csoHwnmTpNn_M/s1600/shinobi720.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE9zJ0xmNj4ddftUFBxn3_kKknmymE63cZYv9rUeEtWRSNocP58j4hZwNzAcgILf_m_TY4Iy700ZI8TAm2kJxq_SqOMm5nRof6w4bSN4MbNGQN5t2_7jmos0SJbr7KT7csoHwnmTpNn_M/s400/shinobi720.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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With <a href="http://meatbun.us/store/products/ninja-magic-black" target="_blank">Ninja magic</a> we get another unexpected mash up. Joe Musashi is now a skateboarding ninja! But what is this image also referencing? Why, it's a parody of the artwork for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/720%C2%B0" target="_blank">Atari arcade game 720°</a>, of all things! Never thought you would see that combination, did you?<br />
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Each design is available in two colours and are up for $24 each. They still have the Mickey/Sonic mash up and the Alex Kidd designs too.<br />
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EDIT: Only just now have I noticed the Daytona bot is holding a Master System light phaser and has a Virtual On head. Wow.Animated AFhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04550837973910959680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-3246998836529879142012-05-11T10:57:00.002-07:002012-05-11T10:57:53.230-07:00Modern Sonic F4F Statue Revealed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWfU49R8cMenIgvyeOxRrnC9FSYcS2Z8GZCXzU6B0vq_iM9XutMzsfl9jtIZu9NMiRw6VGs9gfEbAiMcpi1bkMkXYo_W-aswwF7lgMXcT4NHY4qzKDSJ4nro4QKAZs7NIy2WjITiCyQboM/s1600/472699_10150804113176732_129298161731_9881254_896403479_o.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWfU49R8cMenIgvyeOxRrnC9FSYcS2Z8GZCXzU6B0vq_iM9XutMzsfl9jtIZu9NMiRw6VGs9gfEbAiMcpi1bkMkXYo_W-aswwF7lgMXcT4NHY4qzKDSJ4nro4QKAZs7NIy2WjITiCyQboM/s400/472699_10150804113176732_129298161731_9881254_896403479_o.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Via their Facebook page, First4Figures have revealed the first in their modern line of Sonic statues: Sonic the Hedgehog. Like the photo says, pre-orders start May 15th, 2012 and there will be a very limited number of statues available. I have to say, when I heard of a modern line I was iffy, but this statue looks great! While I won't be getting it, the F4F statues are too rich for my blood, I do love looking at photos of them.Barry the Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00793590481970367478noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7570227253517021155.post-10580546893973676662012-05-07T11:16:00.000-07:002012-05-07T11:16:50.333-07:00Video game adaptations return in Sonic Super Special Magazine #3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Here at SEGA Memories we usually don't cover the Archie Sonic comics, except for <a href="http://sega-memories.blogspot.com/2011/06/lets-take-look-at-sonic-226-genesis.html" target="_blank">special occasions</a> and <a href="http://sega-memories.blogspot.com/2010/06/my-big-fat-sonic-comic-book-collection.html" target="_blank">collection posts</a>. Main reason is, I don't follow the series anymore and neither does Gagaman. However I did want to highlight the latest issue of the Sonic Super Special Magazine. Taking its title from the 48 page specials of the '90's, Sonic Super Special Magazines collect old materials and usually adds in a few new bits via short comics and articles. The magazines consist of harder covers, but inside is a softer newspaper-like paper. So despite the larger than comic book size, they are pretty light. The previous issue of the magazine collected the Archie adaptation of Sonic Adventure from the late '90's, which was quite a bizarre story arc at the time. Imagine the SatAM universe suddenly having to incorporate humans, Station Square, Chaos and massively contradictory Knuckles backstory. Suffice to say, it was a mess, but it was a fun mess. In this third issue, Archie decided to do a little marketing tie-in with the soon to be released Sonic 4 Episode 2. Since I'm a sucker for game adaptations and marketing tie-ins, I picked this issue up.</div>
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Sonic 4 Episode 2 actually takes up a small part of the magazine, despite the cover being all about the event. After a few unrelated articles and a letters page, the story kicks off with a brief synopsis of Sonic 4 Episode 1, and then the adaptation begins.<br />
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The story is simple, and takes place at the conclusion of Episode 1. It's actually a bridge between the two episodes. I'd imagine if Episode 2 was a physical release, this is the sort of thing we'd see printed in the manual and touted on the game box as being a "Special Sonic Comic Book Inside!". The artwork is excellent, makes me wish issues released in the early 2000's looked this good. Maybe I would have kept my subscription going.</div>
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It should be noted that the story takes place outside the Archie continuity, in a place I wish a main series of Sonic comics would go: the video game universe. Yeah, I admit to not being a huge fan of the current Archie comics. Princess Sally and the gang served their purpose in the early 90's, acting as much needed additional characters and as a way to promote the Saturday morning cartoon series. However, after twenty years of Sonic games, I think there are more than enough SEGA characters, locations and stories to fill a comic series. Thus why I like these sorts of adaptations, despite how short they are. Why not adapt a game when it releases, treat it as a really special event, and in between games tell original stories with the characters and locations provided by SEGA? Oh well, at least I have Archie's Mega Man series.</div>
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The story ends on a cliffhanger that will be resolved in Episode 2 and the Episode 1 lock-on Episode Metal. Considering that the game has already leaked on Steam, most Sonic fans know where this leads. I've been avoiding spoilers, despite how tempting the YouTube videos are.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJmJ3_KxDrHa_1rcQQMeBtpSc9g2BTlDXSx_Y0pqOoenPmJEIBw0y_hgqikZPvFC9OdolSdqSTssV2OTa_UmBaYitVZ26cGpXeQImQRuuXUQCZHGrmsHFGcEQyuW48Ghn-L3H5sQuHqoiM/s1600/IMG_0117.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJmJ3_KxDrHa_1rcQQMeBtpSc9g2BTlDXSx_Y0pqOoenPmJEIBw0y_hgqikZPvFC9OdolSdqSTssV2OTa_UmBaYitVZ26cGpXeQImQRuuXUQCZHGrmsHFGcEQyuW48Ghn-L3H5sQuHqoiM/s320/IMG_0117.JPG" width="238" /></a></div>
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Oh yeah! Before the Sonic 4 story, theres a fun little box highlighting the three non-Japanese Sonic cartoons. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYP1HdHpUzb6IY9LU9asdtJXq5p6Nqb74Lq8Zy3latcYLZzDbK3CroR54c7N3fsrXAiNwXjjtATcFkGY0rNUye0PqjRT43tZdIKf-dXSAbxnVi_cmjRgBmqA1UHuVCX598piHkO4B2NfQB/s1600/IMG_0125.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYP1HdHpUzb6IY9LU9asdtJXq5p6Nqb74Lq8Zy3latcYLZzDbK3CroR54c7N3fsrXAiNwXjjtATcFkGY0rNUye0PqjRT43tZdIKf-dXSAbxnVi_cmjRgBmqA1UHuVCX598piHkO4B2NfQB/s320/IMG_0125.JPG" width="259" /></a></div>
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The issue continues with a reprint of Sonic the Hedgehog #25, which was the Sonic CD adaptation. <a href="http://www.sonicretro.org/2011/03/how-archie-played-the-games-part-three-of-pink-and-metal-hedgehogs/" target="_blank">Sonic Retro has a great article series that highlights this issue</a>. I recall getting this issue when it released and being so excited. It had a silver cover (oooh!). Since I didn't own a SEGA CD at the time, this was the only way I could see the story. Unfortunately, Archie went with a loose adaptation, so Little Planet and time travel are absent. Also SatAM characters and Tails are brought into the story. Still, it's a nice bit of nostalgia and the artwork is beyond awesome. One of the best drawn issues of the series, in my opinion.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl-D5n_4k34GX0Alv7FeXizFLlX8aqmitCYkGQD7Skto-NWquG0b3eLpFGRkA_u1AodqrW6H-a_RsKW4MRmBOf4YO7EAAz54087ve3JbvtnxpONW0eT-71N9t30ackOZ8vyihRNZAoeQE-/s1600/IMG_0127.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl-D5n_4k34GX0Alv7FeXizFLlX8aqmitCYkGQD7Skto-NWquG0b3eLpFGRkA_u1AodqrW6H-a_RsKW4MRmBOf4YO7EAAz54087ve3JbvtnxpONW0eT-71N9t30ackOZ8vyihRNZAoeQE-/s320/IMG_0127.JPG" width="218" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLv9o2Lvm6LOMdbuddHiSO_xH0OUq3CtJq2H3ZG9gy85Aqnd4iZzJlQ9Y-k2EVtLMIKYxTzXTtYoDPzWNJ4TN5fOAoTeuE-I6gGE987dGM0qcb8XBq3-k_EYOffkuKBY1vOCvnQ4sFnLI-/s1600/IMG_0129.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLv9o2Lvm6LOMdbuddHiSO_xH0OUq3CtJq2H3ZG9gy85Aqnd4iZzJlQ9Y-k2EVtLMIKYxTzXTtYoDPzWNJ4TN5fOAoTeuE-I6gGE987dGM0qcb8XBq3-k_EYOffkuKBY1vOCvnQ4sFnLI-/s320/IMG_0129.JPG" width="243" /></a></div>
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Hey look! A SEGA Saturn reference complete with a logo and Akira of Virtua Fighter. </div>
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The issue concludes with three more recent issues of the comic. None are Metal Sonic stories, which I think would have made for a much better issue, but they're decent. A two-parter features Big the Cat, Sonic, Sally and a bunch of oddly out of place wolfs who look like furry fan art. The final story left me really confused, it definitely isn't a stand-alone story as it appears to be the finale of some story arc. </div>
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Overall, SSSM #3 is worth picking up for those who remember the good ol' days of shameless marketing tie-ins. We can't find Sonic in our Happy Meals anymore, but at least we get the occasional comic adaptation.</div>
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<br />Barry the Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00793590481970367478noreply@blogger.com3