Sega Memories

Metal Sonic statue is here! Photos galore!

2012-01-12T12:38:00.000-08:00

Came home this afternoon to find this sitting in my corridor! As you could probably guess I couldn't wait to tear this box open (well, tear it open in a very careful nerdy manner anyway) to see! I don't have time for an unboxing video so I took a truck load of photos instead! Just play this music in the background while looking at the pics and will get a similar impression!

Lots (and lots and lots) more photos after the jump!

Here's the box that was in the box! Nice and colourful as always, though no little touches like the hidden chaos emeralds that the Super Sonic box had. Still very nice tough.

The back of the box, with a lengthy blurb about the character and the statue. Of course he's cold hearted, he's a sodding robot! Hang on a minute, what product number does that say? Number 64? Blimey! You see with the Super Sonic statue I got number 198, and forgot all about sending them the code on the card to get the same number next time. Looks like it's a good thing I didn't!

Last photo of packaging I swear! There's a nice laser cut image of the statue on the foam bit, much like last time! Anyway let's pop this open!

The statue is packed in three parts: the Stardust Speedway inspired stand, Metal himself and oddly enough one of his feet, which had to be attached to his leg which was a little fiddly. Unlike Super the light up elements are in the statue itself so it has a big connector that plugs into the stand. Only snag I found with this is when turned on the slightest movement in the statue would make it flicker on and off a bit, so making sure it's plugged in nice and snug at just the right angle is needed, at least with my one anyway.

Now finally, photos of the statue complete, some from arty farty angles!

But you know, one of this statues biggest draws is how it lights up! Not only does it have the same flashing speed spike things that Super sonic had, but he also has menacing red glowing eyes and his engine lights up too! I took a chunk of photos in the dark, which this camera is not best at but should give you a good idea how badass it looks.

One thing you might notice is one of Metal's eyes seems to be brighter than the other. I've heard others that got this statue say the same so it's not just mine. To be honest it's only really noticeable in these photos, not so much to the naked eye unless you're looking really close, in which case you are in Metal's personal space and should maybe back off..

So how does it stack up the other statues? Well before I get to that here's a photo of my entire Metal Sonic collection. Well, all but one: the little Sonic & Knuckles Tomy one that's in the loft at the moment. Funny to think that until a couple years ago that toy was the only Metal Sonic figure you could buy (that and an ultra rare plush toy) and thanks to Jazwares and First4figures we now have all these! Seeing as Metal is my all time favourite Sonic character, I had to have them all!

Now howabout those other statues? Well height wise Metal is taller than the Sonic statue but shorter than the Super Sonic one. Stand wise the Chemical Plant one is still the most impressive. In fact I'd say the Stardust Speedway stand is a little bit bland compared to the other two, I think it's the lack of much detail especially on the top of it. Character design wise however Metal is my favourite but I may be a little bias.

Good thing about the height of Metal is it can sit just inbetween the other two on my game shelf's. Notice how each character has their matching mini figures with them too, like cute little mini mes. Awww.

Hang on, just wanna set up a dream event that never happened in the games..

There we go.

Jazwares Sonic Generations Statue Hits the Ground Running!

2012-01-12T06:07:00.000-08:00

The 2013 Guinness Book of Records Gamer Edition better give Sonic the award for most statues produced for a video game mascot's anniversary. The latest commemorative statue, released by Jazwares in the United States (more territories have yet to be confirmed), may not stack up against the fancy First4Figures release or what was offered in the Sonic Generations Collector's Edition. The scale is smaller than the other statues released and the paint job is typical Jazwares quality. However, there are a lot of good things to say about the statue, and it is a great addition to any Sonic collector's shelf!

The best aspect of the statue is the pose. Unlike the Japanese arcade prize, the Generations collector's edition statue, the Wii charger and the F4F limited edition statue, Sonic isn't standing around. Jazwares have smartly put classic and modern Sonic in iconic running poses, very much influenced by the game's box art.

Another great bit is the base. While plastic, the ring is a nice shiny gold. The bit beneath the Sonics appeared to be cardboard in early photos, but it is actually a sticker covering the plastic base. The figures are permanently attached to the base, so they are purely statues. The box says 7+, but really this is just for teenage and adult collectors. Kids aren't going to have any fun with this.

The paint job isn't the best. You're bound to find flaws on the statue. Mine had a bit beneath modern Sonic's arm which went unpainted, a couple of spots on both hedgehogs and modern's right pupil was a little off center. Still, given the size and the fact that it's meant to be placed on a shelf, I don't really notice these imperfections. That isn't to say I let Jazwares off the hook, but overall they look good. The sculpts are great, the base is shiny and I'm not one to go gaga over packaging but the box is really nice.

Like past Jazwares boxes, figures can be removed with out damaging the box, so if you want to open it up, look at the figures and place them back in the box you can easily do so. You'll note the "exclusive game codes inside!", these are actually statue codes for Generations secret statue room. All the codes may have been leaked thanks to crafty hackers, but those legitimately collecting codes will find an 8.5x11 sheet of paper inside giving a whopping 14 codes! I won't spoil the virtual statues included, but I will say there are a handful of secondary characters, a few iconic objects and all the enemies that Jazwares previously featured as 3" action figure accessories.

Given the minor flaws and the size, Jazwares Sonic Generations statue isn't a must have but it is the most affordable 20th Anniversary statue out there and offers up unique poses. Plus, it's only the second Generations statue to feature classic Sonic. The statue retails for $24.99 (I'd prefer that the price be below $20) and is slowly hitting stores. It can be found at BigBadToyStore.com for $21.99 and they ship internationally. For a small fee, you can pay for a special service where they play anal retentive collector and find the best looking figure for you, free of most painting flaws. I didn't go for the service, but still got a figure that looks good in my eyes.

First4figures teases new Tails statue.

2012-01-02T05:34:00.000-08:00

So First4Figures have just stuck this picture up recently on their Facebook of yet another statue in their classic Sonic range, this time of Tails flying on what appearers to be a stand based on the Mushroom Hill zone.

I have to say though, "Coming in 2012" seems very unlikely to me, seeing as we are only just now getting our orders for the Metal Sonic statue, which was revealed in 2010, and there is a Knuckles statue due before this one as well, so judging by how each statue has eventually shown up one per year around Jan/Feb, a more realistic date for this one may be something like 2014. Fine by me, to be honest: I wouldn't be able to afford more than one of these a year and to be honest I might not pre-order the Knuckles and wait till the regular version is in shops like Forbidden Planet. My wallet can only take so much punishment!

15th Anniversary Duet of Dreams Dreams!

2011-12-31T04:18:00.000-08:00

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

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

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

Thanks for keeping NiGHTS alive!

-Cameron Strother

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

Metal Sonic Statue is almost here! Production photos!

2011-12-28T08:59:00.000-08:00

Eeek! It's the brotherhood of Metallix!

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

Sonic CD's Secret Strategy Guide

2011-12-18T07:34:00.000-08:00

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

I had this guide as a kid, and the fact that the thing is still in near mint condition says a lot about the quality of the guide. Unlike the awesome Sonic 1&2 strategy guide (which I'll cover here soon), the Sonic 3 and CD guide offered very little assistance, so I rarely used it. Images were poorly captured, there were no stage maps and images and text were randomly tilted and out of sequence. It was and is the worst laid out game guide I've ever seen. Still, it had a great deal of codes and cheats, and in the days of pre-internet that alone made the guide a worthwhile buy. You'll note that the cover does not mention Sonic CD's inclusion, and the back of the book simply states that the guide offers the "SEGA CD version". However, the way this is worded makes it appear that Sonic 3 had an enhanced SEGA CD release.

Here's the first pages of the Sonic CD section. You'll note that they talk about Princess Sally (Amy Rose's name in the US version) and let players know that Tails is not in the game... despite having stock art of him on the same page and throughout the rest of the guide.

The walkthrough kicks off by telling players that the first few zones are easy and straghtforward, and so the guide itself will not cover the first THREE zones of the game. I have never seen a guide do this before! The first stages deserve to be covered, thats the whole point of a guide! In the case of Sonic CD, players would want to know the locations of signs and generators. But instead, the guide assures players that the game is easy enough that help isn't needed. So it immediately starts with Quartz Quadrant, the fourth zone in the game.

Above are examples of how the guide is laid out. As I mentioned earlier, there is no real flow to the walkthrough. They just sort of highlight moments in the game, but don't tell players where key elements like power ups and sign posts can be found. Despite not being in the game, Tails appears some more. I guess they knew that seventeen years later, Tails would appear in Sonic CD.

My favorite moment of the guide is when the writer infuses a bit of opinion, by insulting the theme song "Sonic Boom" and comparing it to Barney the Dinosaur's theme. What?! The two couldn't be more different, and yet they went ahead and approved that little comment. The guide can't be bothered to cover the first three zones, but providing a music review is important enough to make it to print. At least the writer thought the animation was "pretty cool". Ha!

The guide ends with this page. Again, Tails reminds us that he isn't in the game by appearing and the guide refers to Amy as a princess. Overall, Sonic CD's "guide" is a bizarre experience. It appears as a secret surprise in a Sonic 3 guide, the guide itself is not helpful, the writers could have eased up on the commentary and instead should have made a proper guide. It's a shame Sonic CD never got a proper guide, as the way the game is played really calls for a guide filled with maps pointing out the best places to reach full time travel speeds and locations of all the key items. To end this on a positive note, Brady Games has gotten much better with their Sonic guides, as their recent Sonic Generations guide was a lot of help. Also, despite not being a great guide, the Sonic 3 and CD guide is a fun read, if only for the funny moments in which the writers offer unnecessary opinion.

My Sonic CD Art Contest Entry

2011-12-15T06:45:00.000-08:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sonic CD is my life.

2011-12-14T11:47:00.000-08:00

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

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

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

The game's art style was a huge influence on me when I started to draw Sonic as a kid. Going through all these doodles from when I was 8 a huge majority of them are inspired by the locals of Sonic CD, especially Palmtree Panic and there are also loads based on that wonderful animated intro, although the latter influenced me even more years later when I saw it in much better quality on Sonic Jam on the Saturn.

One of my favourite discoveries was finding cheat codes for the debug mode and sound test in magazines, and inputting the sound test orders to reveal all those bizarre hidden artworks. I even made up a character for my comic strips of Sonic I doodled based on the really creepy image of the gang of human faced hedgehogs.

He was named 'Jeffahog' after the lollipop man from primary school who's name was Jeffry and had similar facial hair to this creature. In my comics he started as a Wes Wealsy like salesman, and when I dipped my foot into the world of Sonic fan gaming he became Robotnik's lackey/some kind of lawyer in a point and click adventure I was making (but sadly never finished) called Sonic Switch, which if you are a veteran of the SFHQ you may vaguely remember. I still like to draw him now and then, here's my most recent from a couple months ago.

I even made up equally weird "hidden art". Pancake Zone with Ray the Squirrel tied up to a sauce pan anyone? Check out the crazy moon speak text that's supposed to be Japanese. i think even the artists behind the original hidden art would be a bit disturbed by some of the stuff I was drawing, haha!

I still remember the story behind this one. The official UK Sega magzine had a competition once (which was obviously an April fools joke) in which they'd give £1 million to whoever could find Rankles, a photoshopped Green Knuckles with spiky feet. This drawing is supposed to be him found in some hidden artwork on Sonic CD, and the reason he's beheaded is I had a Knuckles toy (the one from the Tomy Sonic & Knuckles collection) that's head fell off. Yep.

Oddly enough I rarely ever drew Metal Sonic as a kid, even though he has always been one of my favourite characters in the entire series. Maybe it was because he was difficult to draw. I did draw up a comic where Sonic became half metal, and that just so happened to be one of the first comics with Jeffahog in too.

The soundtrack was the other major draw for me. When I discovered you could listen to most of the music (barring the past versions) simply by playing the game disc on a CD player, the first thing I did back then, due to not owning a CD player of my own, was record the CD to cassette. With every new music playing device I got, that soundtrack was always the first that'd be played on it. I think the Sonic CD soundtrack may even be the single disc I have listened to the most in my entire life. I have never got bored of it in 17 years.

Below is my personal top 20 of both of the soundtracks (but excluding the vocal tracks):

I have one last Sonic CD article to post, but it will have to wait till a certain post by the official Sega blog is made!

Today is 'Buy Sonic CD' day.

2011-12-14T08:25:00.000-08:00

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

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

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

New shirt designs from Meat Bun: including Alex Kidd!

2011-12-13T02:20:00.000-08:00

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

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

Sonic CD Developer Diary with Kazuyuki Hoshino!

2011-12-13T01:52:00.000-08:00

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

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

2011-12-09T13:22:00.000-08:00

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

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

See more examples after the jump!

I think my favourites might be the collection of photos called 'Marble Zone act 2' which are subtle but rather neat.

See that? A balloon and a bit of smoke. Or is it...Sonic spin dashing? Ahaha, get it?

..and there's a bit of Robotniks' missing chain ball. He was wondering where that had got to, he was. There's two more of these, one with a spring and one with with just some more smoke.

Some may consider some of this stuff maybe even a little pretentious, in particular these two pieces below which are...pretty vague. Can you figure them out?

Answers on a postcard please, or in the comments which would be a lot quicker and cheaper for you. Either way there is a few more you can check out at the Amusement magazine website.

Another Sonic Generations Statue is Coming, This Time from Jazwares

2011-12-08T05:19:00.001-08:00

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

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

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

2011-12-05T16:05:00.001-08:00

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

Probably the most talked about piece, in the world of Sonic sites at least, is Glen Brogan's "Robotnik" featuring Eggman aka Robotnik in a style not unlike the early airbrushed looking official Sonic art. Eggman holds a Sonic hat and wears a Tails scarf in this imaginative portrait. The framed print was actually up for sale, for $80. I considered it, but considering I need to save my pennies for the holiday season I passed. I hope a Sonic fan snags this one, it was the star of the show!

My second favorite were a set of prints featuring Sonic and Tails in a 1930's American cartoon style by Chris Beaumont. A "what if" Sonic was a contemporary of Felix and Mickey. These were $30 each framed, and $10 per print, so I left with a print of Sonic. Can't wait to add that to the wall of my SEGA room.

A closer look at 1930's Sonic

This cool print was made by Simpsons Comics artist Edwin Vazquez. A very cool and very freaky imagining of Sonic. Shame it was sitting on the floor. Maybe it fell?

This paper craft, by David Landis, was not for sale. Instead it is available for download on his site!

"The Study" by Nelson Diaz features Sonic reflecting on his 20 year history. Another favorite of online fans. I like how Sonic has encased the Chaos emeralds in glass.

This deformed Sonic figure, by Kasey Tararuj, had a Tails counterpart, but I guess it sold. Shame they can't keep things on display to the end of the show before passing them off to buyers.

This one, titled "Duchess of Rings" by Daisy Church, is oddly similar to "Robotnik" However, she seems to value the lives of hedgehogs and foxes.

Matt Robinson's "The Fastest Thing Alive" features a crazy long Sonic running through Green Hill. I wonder if this one was displayed correctly? It could easily be seen from almost any angle.

I wish I met Mark Fionda. His "I Hate That Hedgehog" is hilarious. I love his depictions of AoStH's baddies.

Reminding us we're in Philly is Todd Spence's "It's Always Sunny on South Island". I love this one. You've got classic Eggman, DiVito, Always Sunny AND a South Island reference. Also, the bits of toilet paper are genius.

The show even featured a Tails sprite in post-it notes, seen above, on the opposite wall! And there you have the "Sonic Generation" art show! Yeah, it was a small show in a smaller space, but it was really cool to see Sonic getting some recognition. A few pieces have prints for sale, from between $10 and $25, and all the pieces are for sale (original paintings go for $200+). But you don't have to buy anything to enjoy the show. The show runs through the end of December, so if you are in Philly or are nearby check it out!

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

2011-12-01T17:38:00.000-08:00

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

Jazwares Roundup: Classic Amy, Super Hedgehogs & Flocked Sonic

2011-11-30T05:53:00.000-08:00

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

Amy Rose arrives in her classic style, bundled with a classic Sonic figure and issue 226 of the Archie Sonic comic (part 1 of the Genesis saga). While only $12.99 in stores, a fair price considering the comic is $3 and single figures are $6.99, the comic pack has quickly sold out online and in stores. Being very hard to find, a fan's best bet is to check the stock at the Toys R Us website daily for the possibility of a short "in stock" window (that's what I did) or hit up ebay to find it for the inflated price of $25 to $40.

While Amy is a great figure, I'd have to say that the pack is worth no more than the retail price. Classic Sonic is easily available in two other packs (standard with badnik and packed with a tin box), and the comic book is the same as the one found in stores. Only difference is the comic in the pack has "Special Collector's Edition" on the cover.

Amy is very much like the smaller PVC figure of her released by First4Figures, right down to the pose. However, the Jazwares Amy has quite a bit of movement in the arms, allowing her to pull off a few fun poses.

Amy is a must have for any classic fan. She goes great with the other classic figures and it is quite rare to find merch featuring Amy in her classic design. Just don't waste $25+ on the figure, it's not worth it.

Next up is actually a rather old figure pack. The Sonic Super Pack was released last year. The highlight is a 3" Super Sonic and the seven Chaos emeralds. This is a Toys R Us exclusive and is the only way to get Super Sonic. Also included are super forms of Shadow and Silver. Shadow's alright, I just imagine him being his Sonic Adventure 2 incarnation and not the Shadow from his titular game. Silver is pretty lame, just a recolor. Considering he's my least favorite character, I didn't expect to like his super form any more than his regular form. The emeralds are pretty great, they look nice when scattered about a display of Sonic figures. Now Jazwares just needs to release rings, though I'll bet they don't due to choking hazards. I don't blame kids for trying to eat rings, Sonic does it and he seems fine.

The original release featured black lines along the outside of Sonic's eyes, which many fans referred to as mascara. Thankfully in later releases Jazwares nixed the goth eye liner, and Sonic is much better without it.

The final figure in this roundup is actually a figure that I do not own. I bought this for a UK fan who paid me to order and ship it out to him. Flocked 10" Sonic is a rerelease of the 10" Sonic, only this time his body is covered with a fine blue fur called "flock". This fur gives Sonic a less plasticy, more realistic skin. However from what I've read, flocked figures can shed if touched too much and are dust magnets. So this figure is best left mint in box.

The figure is a Toys R Us exclusive, and is only available online for $30. The Comic Con sticker on the box is due to the fact that the figure debuted at this year's Comic Con, just as the Jazwares Juvi Metal Sonic figure was a Comic Con exclusive in 2009.

Every time I end a Jazwares post I act like that's it for now, but I know it's not. Jazwares is always surprising us with more new cool Sonic toys. In fact, they've just started releasing more Sonic Free Riders figures. Though don't expect me to cover those, as I have to draw the line somewhere. Perhaps once classic Knuckles and Metal arrive I'll give Jazwares more of my money. In the meantime, I'll enjoy my overcrowded 20th Anniversary shelf.

Sonic Generations Art Show in Philadelphia from December 2nd!

2011-11-27T04:50:00.000-08:00

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

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

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

Summer of Sonic 2011 Documentary

2011-11-24T03:50:00.000-08:00

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

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

Official Sonic Merchandise website now open!

2011-11-22T03:53:00.000-08:00

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

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

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

2011-11-17T13:39:00.000-08:00

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

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

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

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

Sonic: History of an Icon Documentary now online.

2011-11-14T12:45:00.000-08:00

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

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

Sonic Generations Press Pack

2011-11-10T07:15:00.000-08:00

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

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

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

One of the more unique items inside the shoebox is a Image3D device. This device makes it possible to view a slide-show of images in 3D. Those old enough will fondly remember this item to be very popular back in the nineties. Obviously Sonic was at the top of his game back then so it makes sense to connect him to another retro item. The slide-show show a time-line of Sonic's key games from the original Sonic the Hedgehog and right up to Sonic Generations.

The DVD might seem like it contains music from the game and other media. But it actually consists of media assets such as images that are meant to help members of the press. The cover art though is very nice with different promotional images of Sonic on both sides.

Hiding behind the DVD case is a special booklet that showcases some of the Sonic history and key facts about the new Sonic Generation games. The side with Sonic history has concept art from the Sonic games and uncovers some new facts about Sonic.

The final item in the box is a pin with the twentieth logo design on it. Overall it is a really nice collection of items that any Sonic fan would be proud to own.

An additional item which is not in the shoebox is the promotional Sonic Generations t-shirt. This t-shirt comes in a Mega Drive box. What is so unique about it is that even the artwork for it is based around the original Sonic the Hedgehog Mega Drive box.

Thanks Diogo! Love that Mega Drive box with the t-shirt in, and apparently some HMV stores were giving that part of this set away with copies of the game in very limited 9and un-advertised) quantities. Don't forget if you want to be a guest writer get in touch!

Japan's Sonic Generations Box is Crystal and Classy

2011-11-10T05:53:00.000-08:00

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

How much will all this cost? 10,479 yen for the HD version, 8,379 yen for the 3DS version. Or around $130 for the HD version and $110 for the 3DS version. The HD price is equal to the European box, but in my opinion has less goodies. The crystal cube is pretty cool, but I prefer the statue. The soundtracks have been said to be sold separately from this special release, and have less tracks than the European CD. In fact, in comparing the two edition's CDs with the one found in Gagaman's unboxing, I found that the European CD is actually a combination of the two CDs. So really, you get both Japanese edition's music in one box with the European release. The cloth, seen below, is exclusive to the Japanese edition, but really, what do you do with a cloth? Clean your crystal cube?

Still, it's a pretty sweet edition, and I noticed that the 20th Anniversary cube box is the same as the 10th Anniversary cube box. So if you have the old one, this would be a nice companion. There are, however, only 500 of the older cube:

[Source: The Sonic Stadium]

Sonic Generations Collector's Edition: Unboxing video

2011-11-04T08:45:00.000-07:00

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

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

2011-11-04T04:55:00.000-07:00

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

Some more photos after the break!

Here is it all out of the box. Excluding the art book, I forgot to include it in the photo oops.

Close ups of the figure (above) and the ring (below).

Quick unboxing video coming later today!

Ever wanted to cuddle Seaman?

2011-11-02T07:14:00.000-07:00

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

More photos of this thing after the jump..

These were made, I assume based on the year written on the tag of 2002, around the time Japan got a Playstation 2 port, and there was quite a few of them up for auction on eBay a little while ago, but this was the only one I wasn't outbid on. Would of liked the main fully grown fish, but never mind. Can;'t remember what stage of the seaman development this is (boy does that sound weird) but I presume it's a baby one, maybe the baby ones your first set of fish give birth too before they all die. Yeah.

Now look into it's eyes!

It's vacant, non caring, soulless eyes. Boy is this thing ugly, which is accurate I suppose. Simplified sure, but still pretty ugly. He has a big, Popeye like nose and the lips...I'm not sure how to comment on those other than it looks like it's after a smiley kiss. Eeewww.

This is most likely the smallest (or second from smallest) of the set of toys that were up for auction, but thanks to it's tail it's still pretty long. It's surface has a very well done impressions of scales, and it's sort of shiny. The frankly disturbing antenna/sucker thing on it's head doesn't flop about, it's wired to stand so it's exactly how it looks on the creature from the game. Just don't let it stick it's sucker on you, it'll suck your life away.

Seaman wants to talk to the Seaman in the game, but it has no hands!

So compared to some other cheaply made Sega plush toys from Japan this one is at least accurate to the creature it represents, wherever that is a good thing or not depends on how much you liked the bizarre game it's from. Personally it was one of my favourite games on the Dreamcast, just because there really is nothing quite like it anywhere else, so I'm glad I managed to pick up one of these ugly little bastards for pretty cheap, even if it means I'll get some weird looks for owning it.

Reading up on the history of it's species..

To finish off here's a bit of artwork my girlfriend drew some time last year inspired by the game which she got just as fascinated with it as I did.

Sonic Tomy Gacha Capsules: Russian Roulette with Toys

2011-10-22T16:10:00.000-07:00

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

*POP!* goes the first one! Let's see inside... Can you guess from the arm?

It's Sonic, in three parts! Great way to kick off the capsule toys! Even if I get two crap figures next, I'll be happy that I got the titular star of the series in capsule toy form. Shame it isn't as awesome as the ones found in Shenmue. The neck is a bit long, and his feet are uneven. Also, they failed to paint his buckles yellow. I guess "quality" does not exist in Tomy's dojo. Next figure! *POP!*

SUPAH SONIC! I considered changing up the real life order so that it appeared that I opened this one last, but I hate lying to my readers. Super Sonic is clearly one of the top two toys in the collection, the other being Metal Sonic. Unlike regular Sonic, his arm will not stay on. Blue poster tack to the rescue. The pose, seen at the end of this post, is very much like Silver using his telekinesis. Okay, third and final figure. Please be Metal, please be Metal, don't be Shadow... *POP!*

It's knucklehead! Long time no see. Knuckles comes in five pieces, and is a bitch to put together and to keep together. Should call him Fuckles. Well, once again, I goo'd him up with poster tack and he stays together rather well. Knuckles looks really creepy without the top of his head. Just check out the extreme close-up:

What's with Knuckles toys looking freaky? Compare the above photo with the photo below. Which is scarier?

And so ends our Sonic capsule toy opening fun. Are these worth $4 each? Well, it's fun taking a chance for good figures, but the quality is quite low on these so I can't really recommend them. I say if you're a thrill seeker and really want a Super Sonic or Metal Sonic figure, go for it. But don't buy too many. three or four should be enough.

¡Samba de los Muertos!

2011-10-20T11:26:00.000-07:00

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

Daytona USA is finally getting the console port it deserves.

2011-10-13T04:16:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

First4figures Knuckles officially revealed! Here we go again!

2011-10-11T12:25:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

Rollerblades with ATTITUDE.

2011-10-10T14:17:00.000-07:00

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

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

These are not my original pair, they were gone years ago, probably when I got bored of them/the roller-blade park shut down/they started to stink etc etc. I picked up this pair earlier this year from a car boot sale. I'm not sure why, I obviously wouldn't fit in them (or dare wear them even if they did fit) but I think it was just the sheer curiosity of seeing them again. That and they make a sort of interesting article here, do they not? Don't answer that.

Oh roller-BOOTS. I'm sorry, these things go by no many names!

I think the main draw was the fact they were boxed and were in rather good condition, unlike the skateboards I've seen from time to time which have always been wreaked. The box espcially caught my eye because of the unique artwork on it, I thought it looked familar and sure enough...

..it appaers they copied the art from this panel of Richard Elson's art from Sonic the Comic issue 10! well, the pose is the same although it not a direct trace of it. Elson drew this pose several times in these early issues, but the only thing that tips me off on it being from this panel in particular is that curve at the end of the spike on top of his head.

So that's the roller-blades. Not a lot to say about those except they have Sonic's face on them and this little quote on the sides, and the box art is kind of interesting. The early 90's were a time where you could buy just about anything with Sonic's mug on it. The same is almost happening again now, but no sign of a modern Sonic skateboard just yet.

Belgium gets Sonic 20th Anniversary stamps!

2011-10-10T11:58:00.000-07:00

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

Knuckles statue from First4figures is next!

2011-10-09T06:48:00.000-07:00

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

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

10" Classic Sonic = Best Sonic Figure Ever

2011-10-04T12:43:00.000-07:00

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

Picked this up from Toys R Us for $19.99, labeled a store exclusive. I have very few negatives regarding the figure. I've never been a fan of the waist pivot point cutting the belly circle in two, and I wish they would have included extra hands (thumbs up, peace sign, pointer finger) so fans can replicate the box art poses. Aside from that, everything else is perfect! The likeness is spot on, the articulation is great and Sonic stands well on his own.

Thanks to the many joints, Sonic can pull off a running pose! Even though he is leaning against the cabinet.

When stood next to all the other classic Sonic figures released over the past few years, you can really get a sense of just how important it is to nail down the likeness of Sonic. I'd say the most perfect of the bunch would have to be 10". However the tiny PVC figure and the vinyl figure, both from First4Figures (the people behind those pricey statues), went with more of a Japanese design.

So if you're a Sonic fan, pick up 10" classic Sonic. It really is a great figure. Other notable must haves? The classic Eggman and Eggrobo pack and the Super Sonic two pack. What's next from Jazwares? A Sonic and Amy classic 3" figure comic pack! Stay tuned.

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

2011-09-29T10:03:00.000-07:00

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

After the break, check out three old ads!

This ad is for the SEGA arcade game Carnival for home consoles. Even back in the early '80's, SEGA was producing odd and kooky ads. The only thing missing is one of the old men yelling "SEGA!".

Up next, a very strange Congo Bongo ad featuring the voice of English-born American comedian Henny Youngman, creator of the line "Take my wife—please". Wow. I especially like the audience reaction, as though his comments are hilarious. Ok, I did sort of chuckle at "Hey lady! This is a one way street!"

FROM THE MASTER DESIGN ENGINEERS OF SEGA. I love how the narrator first says "Zaxxon". I might just answer my phone that way from here on out.

Even More Jazwares Sonic 20th Anniversary Figures!

2011-09-12T11:28:00.000-07:00

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

First up is the awesome Super Sonic 2-pack, containing 5" figures of both classic and modern Sonic in their super forms. This pack came as a huge surprise to fans, as it was never mentioned at any trade show or in any form of social networking from Jazwares. It just sort of appeared in Toys R Us stores as an exclusive and fans were quick to flock to stores to grab one (or two or three). In fact, during the first week of the figure's release, nitwits tried flogging these on ebay for insane amounts of money. The 2-pack retails for $20, but auction prices went as high as $50 to $60! Thankfully, the figures soon became quite easy to find in stores and is now readily available at Toys R Us's website (and that goes for all the other figures mentioned here).Both figures are awesome, featuring hollow heads that make for easy standing and a large amount of articulation. If you had to buy ONE Jazwares item, I'd say go for this two pack.

Up next are the 5" counterparts to the Super Sonic pack, individually sold classic and modern Sonic figures. Oddly enough, while Toys R Us carries these, both of which are new sculpts and are in their correct shades of blue, Target stores are carrying a different pair of figures. Target's pair seem to be earlier versions of the two, as Target's classic Sonic is in the darker modern Sonic shade of blue and modern Sonic appears as the old Unleashed 5" figure complete with heavy head and goofy hands. If you intend to pick these up, go to Toys R Us (either in store or online), at least until Target catches up and offers the revised figures. Both are just as great as the super versions and are two of the best figures Jazwares has to offer in the 5" line. Definitely pick these up.

Returning to the 3" figure line that I covered in previous articles (the first wave of figures and classic Tails), we have Knuckles and Egg Pawn representing 2003's Sonic Heroes. While Knuckles is a repackage, the figure is relatively new so most fans might not have picked one up yet. The figure is awesome, far better than 3" Sonic and on the same level as 3" Tails. The Egg Pawn is one of the best enemy accessories of the set, as it is basically a second figure complete with movable arms. Of all the modern figures, I'd say 2003 Knuckles is the best!

On the other end of the spectrum is the Silver figure. There are so many things wrong with this one: it represents an awful game, features an awful character, the figure has color flaws that have yet to be corrected despite being a rerelease (his gloves should be white), Silver is much smaller than any other character (next to Espio he is itty bitty), the enemy is cheaply made and is not to scale PLUS the name "Iblis" is misspelled as "Lblis" on the package. The only real positive I can say about this pack is that Silver can do some cool poses with his psychokinetic hands. Unless you are going for a full set, or love Silver, skip this.

Here comes 3" classic Super Sonic to wash the bad taste of Silver out of my mouth! I was apprehensive at first to pay an inflated price for a figure because of a tin case being included, but having opened it up: I like the tin. It makes for a great centerpiece to the collection. If one opens all their figures like I do, it's nice to have something with the 20th logo to place amongst the collection. Super Sonic has the same body as regular Sonic, and a brand new super angry head. There is another tin pack for sale, but it features the same tin with the regular classic Sonic which can also be found in the 1991 moto bug pack. Best thing to do is to grab the 1991 pack and this one.

Now THIS is what I'm talking about! Perhaps the best figure of the collection is classic Dr. Eggman. While Sonic merch of the 90's featured a number of characters, Eggman very rarely, if ever, received a figurine or doll. When he did, western fans would receive the english Robotnik design. As such, it's great to finally have a figure in the Japanese design. Both arms are very articulated, the legs only move at the hip but hold Eggman's bulky body well. Neither the waist nor head pivot, which is the same as the modern Eggman figure. I'll admit, the Egg Robos aren't as great as they could have been, but it's nice to have a representation of them. I think what they need are a bit of white paint on their gloves and the ability to be in a hovering pose, rather than uncharacteristically standing. Still, for $15 the Eggman alone is worth it.

Keeping the spotlight on Eggman, we jump from 1994 to 2008. This time modern Eggman is packaged with two Egg Fighters, the main badnik of Sonic Unleashed. Modern Eggman has been released before, with Metal Sonic, so the two Egg Fighters are the main draw here for those who already own an Eggman. They're well detailed, and look great flanking Eggman.

Or... making pyramids.

Thus concludes my write up on the Sonic 20th Anniversary Jazwares figures, at least until they release more. Classic Knuckles, classic Metal Sonic and classic Amy are rumored. A 10 inch classic Sonic is confirmed, but has yet to release. So until next time, Sonic figure fans!

Dreamroom UK 2011 is Today!

2011-09-08T04:40:00.001-07:00

Watch live streaming video from gagaman at livestream.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

2011-09-07T08:44:00.000-07:00

...

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

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

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

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

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

Take my money Sega, all of it.

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

Jet Set Radio Fruit Machine (and more)

2011-09-05T09:13:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

It's very slick, is it not? You wanna see it busting some Hideki Naganuma tunes though, right?

Here you go! There is a website for the machine still online here.It was developed by a company called Rodeo in 2003, so I'm surprised it's not jet Set Radio Future themed machine considering that game was released the year before.

On further investigation of the Rodeo website it appaers there made more Sega themed machines much like this one! First off, two cabinets based on Virtua Fighter from 2007, and these ones have an even more elaborate screens that wrap around the reels with graphics from Virtua Fighter 4. If this running on Naomi like hardware, is that was VF4 could have looked like on Dreamcast?

Last but not least there is 'Sonic Live!' from 2008. Don't worry, it has nothing in common with that infamous Archive comic special with the same name. Irt clearly uses assets and graphics from Sonic Adventure 2, but unlike the other two slot machines, does quite a lot of new things with them including having Sonic and his mates perform as a band with instruments! There are a few videos on the website, which show game play elements like racing against Shadow, UFO Catcher machines and even a Chao Garden feature!

There are only a handful of videos of this about, but boy does it look like a stunner. Who doesn't want to gamble to the beat of City Escapes annoying catchy theme? I would pay a high price for this, one day. Cor!

By the way if you were the lucky Brit who won the Jet Set Radio machine on eBay last week for such a cheap price, could you get in contact with us? We'd love to see some photos and videos of it! :D

The Elusive McDonalds Eggman Toy Appears Once Again!

2011-08-21T09:41:00.000-07:00

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

The toys in their protective baggies:

The inserts complete with goofy drawings of the toys:

As online auctions don't last forever, and some crazy Sonic fan will soon drop $50+ on two McDonalds toys, consider this post as archival proof of the elusive Bigfoot- er, I mean Eggman.

Classic Tails Can Party Like It's 1992

2011-08-13T12:30:00.000-07:00

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

Like Moto Bug, Grabber matches his Sonic Generations redesign. I would have liked some metallic paint on him, but the black and yellow looks fine. I only wish there was a way to hang him from above so he could drop down onto the heroes. Maybe I'll find some thread and beeswax (if people still use beeswax in 2011). Until then, he will be a ground dwelling spider.

Overall, Tails is a must own figure from the collection. Not perfect, but it's the best (and only) Tails action figure in the classic design. This is one of the toys I would have loved to have back in the early 90's. Unfortunately, Sonic just didn't have figures in the Genesis era. Despite being 20 years late, I'm still very happy to finally see the original Sonic stars in action figure form. I can't wait to see what else Jazwares has planned for the classic line. We know there will be Eggman, but how about Knuckles, Amy and Metal? We shall see...

Sonic 20th Anniversary Figures Are Here!

2011-07-30T15:08:00.000-07:00

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

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

Showing off the best figure first: it's classic Sonic with Motobug! Jazwares has really nailed the classic look, with a brand new figure that looks just as great as First4Figures releases. Sure he doesn't have as much joint movement, but when he's stuck in the box it's really not an issue. Yes, I've decided to not open 1991 Sonic. I figure he is the best looking figure of the bunch, and coupled with the Green Hill Zone background he looks great on the shelf. Motobug (incorrectly called Moto Bug) looks decent, though it clearly follows the Sonic Generations design. So it's technically a 2011 Motobug and a 1991 Sonic. From what I can tell, the wheel does not spin and there is no sign of him being able to stand on his own. So again, best left unopened. If you're going to get one figure from the line, make it this one.

We jump ahead 7 years to the Dreamcast classic Sonic Adventure! Correctly labeled with the 1998 Japanese release date, this 2-pack features the redesigned modern Sonic and the Spinner badnik standing in front of Speed Highway. Sonic nerds would probably note that the badnik was actually called "Spina" in Sonic Adventure and received the Spinner name and redesign in 2008's Sonic Unleashed. The figurine seems to have design traits of both Adventure and Unleashed, with Adventure's color and eyes and Unleashed's mouth and blades and looks the most like the sprite of Spinner as seen in Sonic Colors DS. Alright, enough geeky talk. Overall spinner looks great with silver and gold paint, and looks quite cool sat next to Sonic (I assembled a plastic base out of remnants from the figure package). Modern Sonic is the same 3" Sonic found in previous Jazwares releases, and as such isn't as great looking as more recent figures. Still, if you have yet to pick up a 3" Sonic, this is a good one to pick up thanks to the badnik.

Sonic fans should instantly notice that the big "2000" above Shadow's head is incorrect. There was never a game released in 2000 featuring Shadow, as Shadow debuted in 2001's Sonic Adventure 2. The figure itself is, like Sonic, a repackaging of the old Shadow figure. Still, he looks great and stands up well. He and a GUN Mono Beetle are sat in front of City Escape. While the Mono Beetle is quite a boring enemy robot, I'd have preferred Kiki the monkey, it is instantly recognizable as a Sonic Adventure 2 enemy and will be appearing in Sonic Generations. Like Spinner, I had to construct a little base for the Beetle. Otherwise, he'd look like he's taking a nap on the ground next to Shadow. Like Sonic, this isn't a very exciting figure thanks to the odd enemy and repacked figure, but if you've yet to pick up a Shadow and want one this is the one to get.

The fourth figure comes from Sonic's most recent game: 2010's well received Sonic Colors. This figure surprised me! Tails, while previously released without the badnik, is a really nice figure. He doesn't topple over and I prefer his open hands to Sonic and Shadow's always-ready-to-punch fists. The badnik is pretty cool, despite a limited color scheme and limited movement. Sandworm originally appeared in Sonic & Knuckles Sandopolis stage and received a redesign for his appearance in Sonic Colors. So, in a sense, you could say you're getting both a classic and a modern badnik. I like how he appears to be popping out of a hole in the ground. Next to classic Sonic, 2010 Tails is the best of the bunch.

So what's next for Jazwares? Well, early ebay sales point towards the release of classic Tails & Grabber, modern Knuckles & Egg Pawn, Silver & Iblis Biter and modern Eggman with two Egg Fighters. After that, we can most likely expect classic Eggman & Eggrobos, classic Knuckles and (fingers crossed) classic Metal Sonic.

Awesome Vanquish Action Figure from Square Enix

2011-07-22T05:35:00.000-07:00

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

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

[source: Kotaku]

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

2011-07-15T05:39:00.000-07:00

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

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

click to enlarge

This page introduces the stars of the comic, including a Sonic cameo. The nerd at the top named "EatMyDust" is me, "EatMyDust" was my forum name.

What happened next? Who knows! I never finished it. But I'd like to think I could have finished the story after three or four more episodes. I'm glad I finally got to share this strange artifact of my Sonic fandom and I hope you all enjoyed reading it!

Summer of Sonic 2011 - Videos Part 3!

2011-07-07T03:39:00.000-07:00

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

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

Summer of Sonic 2011 - The Cosplay Contest

2011-07-05T13:46:00.000-07:00

So here is (most) of the cosplay contest in a huge 22 minute video! I didn't get all of it because one of my camcorder batteries ran out half way through and at one point I thought I was recording and it turns out I wasn't, oops! Either way you can see most of the people that went up on stage to compete for the prize of the 20th Anniversary statue, including quite a few of my mates dressed up as Eggman Nega, Tails and Professor Pickle! The contest was on quite early in the day compared to previous years (about 2:30 in the afternoon) so i think a few cosplayers didn't make it in time to the contest, and there were many others that didn't go up on stage like Ulala and the SegaGaga guy. One more short video to go, coming soon!

NiGHTS into Dreams is 15 Years old today.

2011-07-05T04:53:00.000-07:00

Funny how NiGHTS anniversary is so close to Sonic's really: only 5 years and 11 days between them. Both were the defining games for their respective Sega consoles though while one went on to become one of the biggest franchises in the industry the other has barely been seen of in it's entire existence with only two games (and Christmas NiGHTS which was sort of an expansion to the original) under it's belt, yet NiGHTS continues to have a large passionate fan base.NiGHTS had quite a big presence at Summer of Sonic which I would like to think pleased Yuji Naka and co greatly.

Now would be a great time to join in on the NiGHTS 15th Anniversary campaign if you haven't already, in the hopes that Sega may be convinced into porting the original Saturn game to the downloadable serviced. All you have to do is click button, simples! Also check out this interview with Naka and Iizuka over at nightsintodreams.com and this old Sega Memories article about a cute toy of the character I own!

UPDATE: As promised the OC Remix NiGHTS album was released today, go download it for free here! Also, Sega is asking on facebook if people would like to see NiGHTS re-released and where, so now is the time to be heard!

Summer of Sonic 2011 - Videos Part 1!

2011-07-04T13:56:00.000-07:00

So here's the first of three videos of the day itself! Here you will see where we arrived at about 9:30 to join the huge queue! That was just the queue for those who had reserved, the other queue for those who had not was even longer and some people were waiting outside until well into the afternoon, eep!

As we walk in I check out the merchandise stands just as Naka, Iizuka and Senoue took the stage for a Q&A (the first of two they did on the day), plus I have a quick chat with the Sonic the Comic Online guys and some cosplayers. You'll also get to see some karaoke including Darren Indeed from Sega Shiro's friend Daryl singing quite possibly the most miscellaneous Sonic song they could have picked! Plus there was an awesome Sonic the Comic inspired animation, which you can see in it entirely on Youtube here.

The next video will be the cosplay competition!

Summer of Sonic 2011 - The Party the Night Before

2011-06-30T14:53:00.000-07:00

There was a party about 10 minutes away from Camden Center from 6pm that me and Stacey headed to the evening before. It was £15 to get in and all food and drink was included (until the tab ran out anyway) including Sonic and Shadow themed shots! Didn't try the Shadow one but the Sonic one was extremely minty and lovely, had a few of those. I had a big bacon cheese burger and Stacey had a Japanese dish called a Gyoza which she almost squirted all over a guy sitting beside us..

..who just so happened to be Mike Pollock, AKA the current voice actor of Dr. Robotnik! He was playing it very low key, chatting to people who came along knowing who he was, but we had been sitting next to him for ages not realizing who he was!

Soon after a Wii with Gamecube games was set up on a the big projection screen, and everyone took turns playing versus modes in Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, Sonic 3, Sonic 2, Sonic the Fighters and Sonic R. I had a go three times and won two of them: My round in battle was luck I think, and I still remember the track layouts in Sonic R too well, but had no idea how to play Fighters well haha. The video above mainly shows random gameplay throughout the night with me (maybe a little tipsy) rambling, shouting and even singing to some of the tunes, oh boy

The guys from Sega Shiro were also there, check out their big post on the night too, where they have a video of me playing Sonic R amongst and lots of photos!

Summer of Sonic coverage continues next week!

Summer of Sonic 2011 - The Cosplayers!

2011-06-30T12:49:00.000-07:00

The cosplayers really outdone them selfs at this years Summer of Sonic. There were lots of them and many were of amazing quality and there was a lot of variety in the characters they chose to dress as (no army of Shadow the Hedgehogs this time) including some really unusual ones! I suspect there was so many because they found out that the winner of the cosplay contest would take home of the those not-for-sale 20th Anniversary statues! Mind you, not all of them went up onto the stage, there was just so many! I will be posting a video of the cosplay contest eventually, though it was quite difficult to film this year.

I have dozens of photos I took on the day. I didn't get photos of everyone but to start off here was one of my favorites:

How are ya how are ya how are ya! It's only Wes Weasley from the Adventures of Sonic cartoon! How cool is that? More after the jump!

Here's an excellent Sonic costume that we also saw at the MCM Expo back in May. he had a brown backpack with contained a huge ring that he proudly showed off on stage for the cosplay contest, SATAM style!

Maybe not the most flattering photo (no she's not crying!) but this Tails cosplayer had some crazy dedication, namely because of the incredibly detailed hand made Tornado bi-plane back pack which I got a closer shot of..

Look at that! She kept pointing out all the tiny flaws in the stitching! Shut up, it's brilliant!

Knuckles! The gloves were actual boxing gloves that have been painted white and the spike on the end of them were...tiny party hats, apparently. The magic is ruined! Also check out those shoes!

Metal Sonic, if he was a lady, though who knows it's a robot! Using shades with painted on red eyes, clever!

Amy rose, but not just any Amy Rose: classic Sonic CD/Fighters Amy Rose! That mallet is massive, and made of foam apparently.

A friend from DeviantArt who helped set up that party we went to the night before dressed as Cream the Rabbit, complete with Chao!

..and the winner for most unexpected and probably not recognized by most cosplayer of the day had to be thus guy dressed as taro from SegaGaga! I hope I wasn't the only one there who knew what he was from!

In a close second for that prize however has to be this girl I spotted while queuing up to get my Dreamcast signed by Yuji and Iizuka. It took me a moment but then I realized what she is wearing.. Sonic's "favorite clothes" from the OVA anime! Apparently barely anyone knew what her costume was from and to be honest it took me a moment to figure it out too! Strannnge, isn't it?

Continuing the 15th Anniversary celebrations of NiGHTS we also had not one but a total of three NiGHTS cosplays, including this one of Claris from the first game! There was also a Reala and the girl from the Wii sequel somewhere.

The Ulala cosplayer from last year was also back with a new pink outfit and amazing guitar straight out of Space Channel 5 Part 2, but I didn't get the chance to get a photo of her this time around.

Back to the Sonic characters, here's another friend from DeviantArt in a fantastic costume of professor Pickle from Sonic Unleashed! he even had a tiny sandwich which he clearly disapproves of, and had the voice down to a tee!

Another friend, the one who won last year for his Eggman costume (and magnificent role play of the character in general), came back this year as Eggman Nega from Sonic Rush. Again with the unfortunately named modern characters! First Cream the rabbit now this..

Another DA friend, what do you know? Her first time cosplaying and blimey, it's a full on Tails costume! All hand made and the head was huge and very soft!

You could say this was her rival: another fully suited up Tails costume! This Tails brought along a chopper/masher badnik!

The last cosplay photo I got was of this guy in a subtle Black Knight related costume with a hand made sword and iron glove! I wish I could of got more photos: there was not one but TWO Bark the Polar Bears (from Sonic the Fighters), two Mighty the Armadillos, Black Doom from Shadow the Hedgehog, and many, many more! In the end the winner was a girl dressed up as Sliver the Hedgehog. Well done of her, the competition was crazy this year but it was the crowds cheering that did the judging!

This Sonic collection is AMAZING.

2011-06-30T11:33:00.000-07:00

Sonic Collectibles is rapidly becoming one of the best websites to check out for videos and updates about Sonic bits and bobs, updating far more often than we get to and with videos of individual pieces of rare merch popping up on the youtube account semi regularly as of late.

The owner of the site and channel Pete has just recently uploaded a 20th Anniversary video showing of his entire collection (I assume) that is all set up in a room full of glass boxes that honestly makes the one at Summer of Sonic look a bit feeble in comparison because they are just so cram,med full of ultra rare and exciting stuff!

I've been watching the Youtube account for some time and figured Pete's collection must be rather large but I could have never expected this! Almost anything you can think of is here: one of those 10th Anniversary wine glasses, the Super Sonic plush, loads of the Australian Sega World stuff, and many things that are one (or two) of a kind like an original SATAM group shot cel painting, a commissioned painting of Sonic by Milton Knight, and a statue that was owned by Tom Kalinske, CEO of Sega of America during the 90s!

Of everything on show here I think one of the main things I truly envy and adore is the Japanese classic Eggman statues and smaller toy he owns (see from about 10:55 in the video). Those are simply outstanding.

Summer of Sonic 2011 - The Glass box of Merchandise!

2011-06-29T15:04:00.000-07:00

Now it wouldn't be Sega Memories coverage about Summer of Sonic without an in depth look at the 'rare merchandise' glass box that has been there every year, now would it? That is what we are all about after all! That and it also wouldn't be Summer of Sonic without me trying to steal said glass box, with the help of Ruben once again!

Hit the jump for photos galore of what was contained inside this year!

Up on the top shelf (ooh naughty) there's a collection of British Sonic books including the Sonic 2 guide book, Where's Sonic and Stay Sonic: one I've been after for some time as I only read it in a library when I was a kid but never found it to buy. Can't really remember what it was about. There is also the first issues of both Archie Sonic and Sonic the Comic up here, a small old Japanese plush (the one with string arms and legs), an album on CD and a Sonic 2 t-shirt. The right corner of this cabinet had that Sonic & Knuckles denim jacket again and another plush.

One thing you will notice from this years lot is there is a lot of NiGHTS stuff in here, due to it being that games 15th anniversary this year too, a majority of which are owned by TRiPPY, AKA the biggest NiGHTS fan in the world. Maybe. Issue 3 of the archie Knuckles comic and both the PAL and Japanese versions of Chaotix for the 32X are here, as well a NiGHTS Tiger LCD game and hat!

Right in the center of this shelf was the special edition Metal Sonic statue from First4Figures! Oh boy, I want this now. Look at those menacing glowing red eyes! Fantastic.

To the right of Metal Sonic we have tons of NiGHTS stuff including the games, a soundtrack, that Playstation 2 remakes box set, two extremely rare plushes, what looks like a t-shirt, some cards and that little Journey of Dreams pre-order toy I featured here once. you also have Sonic the Comic issues 50 and 100 sitting here.

A bit quiet in this corner isn't it? Mostly games here including a Brazilian Master System copy of Sonic Blast and SegaGaga, which that Sonic plush appaers to be very interested in! A shame really that there was no notes in the cabinets detailing things this time around, plus the layout isn't the best they've had but never mind.

here we have that Shadow PS2 controller again, the very last issue of Sonic the Comic (with a free generic non-sonic-themed watch!), a NiGHTS mouse pad and probably two of the most sought after Sonic plushes ever: Sonic and Rouge released when Sonic Adventure 2 came out. They're huge and very nicely made so it's no wonder they are sought after but I don't think I'd want to pay a four digit sum for them myself!

More NiGHTS bits and bobs including a promotional video and a Journey of Dreams soundtrack that appaers to be signed. There's also a pair of Converse sneakers with the Sonic Rush logo on them, some Sonic Chronicles...things and Richard Jacques Sega retrospective.

Lots of promo bits here including the Rivals t-shirt and cap I featured once, that rare Sonic cross bones shirt and a Chronicles shirts similar in style to my Riders one. Not sure what the Sonic 2006 things are, and there's a VIP pass for a hard Rock Cafe event called Sega Rocks. At the back is a Chronicles DS case, a 2006 mug (I think) and a Mario & Sonic Olympics box set that according to Hogfather are from Australia.

Bottom shelf now! The Secret Rings framed pictures from last year are back, and there's a Black Knight sword, the pre-order from All Star Racing on Wii (they sell these in CEX for 50p, come on now) and a Wisp plush. The photo i took of the right side of this shelf was rubbish but it was all the freebies from previous Summer of Sonics including the 2008 t-shirt and last years orange goodie bag.

BUT WAIT. THERE'S MORE!

You see to the left of this glass box was gasp! Another thinner one! This is where they kept the ultra rare stuff, including..

The 10th Anniversary wine glass that was only given to staff at Sonic Team, so there are barely any of these anywhere! If you want one of these it may cost you an arm, a leg, and your soul to the devil..

Another 10th anniversary piece, the Sonic sliver ring! Imagine proposing to your partner with that! Actually, don't do that. Next to it is a SegaWorld London little statue that I've seen on ebay once. Just once. On the other side was the 15th anniversary Sonic statue which I didn't take a photo of because I don't have to, haha!

Finally here's a rather cute Chritsmas NiGHTS plush, of which I presume is mega rare like all the other NiGHTS plushes, even not even rareer than the rest for it to be in here. On the shelf below was the Black Knight script and next to this plush some box that I didn't get a proper look at, and to be honest I don't think anyone knew what it even was. Answers on a postcard please if you were there and know something about it.

So there we are! One thing I did like about this years Summer of Sonic is they were selling rare merchandise also, as you can see if my video of my swag i picked a couple things up but they also had some NiGHTS plushes for sale and other crazy rare things! If you were one of those that picked up some of the rare goodies on sale please send us photos and gloat.

Summer of Sonic 2011 - Video of Swag & Signed Things!

2011-06-29T13:54:00.000-07:00

Sega Memories' Summer of Sonic coverage starts here! Here's a video I put together today showing what I bought back from the event, as well as what I took with me to get scribbled on by famous Sonic type people! Next video will be of the party we went to the evening before!

GamesMaster Presents Sonic Magazine - Video Preview

2011-06-27T14:20:00.000-07:00

GamesMaster Presents Sonic finally arrived in the mail! So I picked up the camera and put this preview video together. Enjoy!

A response to Sonic Retro's 20th Anniversary Photos..

2011-06-23T12:40:00.000-07:00

Sonic Retro posted photos both here and here of games laid out in a "20" and seeing as retro is all about the games and we're all about (mostly) the merchandise, here's my response to it with toys and statues! More angles of this on the photostream.

Check out the latest S.T.C Online!

2011-06-23T07:09:00.000-07:00

For Sonic's Anniversary Sonic the Comic Online have released a new issue featuring a fantastic story where Sonics and Robotniks from the past, present and future clash! It's full of fan service to both the original S.T.C run as well as the games series too: take note of what Kintobor is wearing in it for example, if you get that reference then you know your stuff! There is also another chapter in the House of the Dead series: it's great to see more sega franchises represented on this fan created comic, it's harkens back to the earlier days of the Fleetway comic. :)

Happy 20th Birthday Sonic! Exclusive wallpapers!

2011-06-22T16:07:00.000-07:00

Sonic is officially 20 as of today! Sega has a genuine treat in store today on X-Box Live and Playstation Store with a demo of Sonic Generations, long before the games release! It's only going to be availble for 20 days though, so make sure you get a lot of play time in! There will also be sales on all the Sonic games available on XBLA and PSN, so you can buy Sonic 2, Sonic Adventure and more yet again, but cheaper!

As for us here at Sega Memories, I've cooked up these wallpapers for you all to enjoy! There are three unique illustrations in total, each in three different resolutions including 1080 HD TV size, so hopefully I have most bases covered in that department.

1280 X 1024
1920 X 1080
2560 X 1600

This Saturday is all about Summer of Sonic and throughout next week I will be bringing you all the coverage of it I can muster including plenty of photos and videos!

Let's Take a Look at Sonic #226 - The Genesis Saga Part 1!

2011-06-22T12:21:00.000-07:00

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

The staff of Archie have yet to reveal if this reboot is permanent, or if we are to expect a more SEGA Sonic video game world inhabited by both the game characters and SatAM characters who have been stripped of more than two hundred pages of back story. When Sally, Boomer (Rotor's original name in the Archie comics) and Antoine appear in the issue, they act and look like their earliest counterparts as seen in the cartoons and first twenty issues of the comics. Could this be Archie's goal? Personally, I would love a Sonic comic more rooted in the game world, but would welcome the SatAM characters returning in their original less complicated forms.

Even Snively appears in the issue, though this time he refers to himself as Dr. Eggman's nephew. No longer the nephew of the overly complicated Dr. Ivo Robotnik. Seriously, not to rag on the old Archie comics, but Robotnik was a human named Kintobor who was corrupted and then became Robotnik and then died and then was replaced by an alternate universe Robo-Robotnik who took over and then was destroyed and then downloaded his consciousness into a robot body that looked like modern Eggman and then was de-roboticized and became human. Ugh! I'd much prefer an Eggman who was born a human and simply does what he does because he wants to create his own robotic paradise. Thankfully thats what the Genesis saga gives us and I hope it sticks. Even better, the comic gives us Eggman in his classic costume! Way past cool!

All this talk about continuity and I forgot to mention the great art of Patrick Spaziante. Spaz is known best for his many cover art contributions to the series, though he has also done an occasional story and was the artist behind the NiGHTS into Dreams mini-series which I covered over at the Saturn Junkyard. Spaz does an awesome job on pencils and nails the classic badniks and environments.

The comic moves from Green Hill to Marble Zone, skips Spring Yard and concludes at Labyrinth Zone. The next issue hints at the arrival of Tails and based on interviews, the series will cover the first two Sonic games. Overall, I found Genesis part one to be a breath of fresh air! As somebody who got out of the comics due to them being overcomplicated and relying too much on SatAM characters and locations, I was happy to see game environments and simplified characters. That isn't to say that I don't enjoy deep characterization, but I'd prefer a fresh start and would like to see characters like Sonic, Tails and Eggman develop in a fresh continuity. Here's hoping part two is even better than the first, and that Archie sticks with this plan. I'd hate to see issue #230 tell us that it was all a dream.

Sonic Merchindise: an official Sega website

2011-06-20T04:42:00.000-07:00

So this website has just popped up. It's owned by Sega so it's possibly an official shop for (or just a website linking to where to get) Sonic bits and bobs, with any luck some exclusive stuff like soundtracks. So far there is nothing there but a e-mail subscribe form to be sent e-mails when the site updates including offers, and links to both a twitter and Facebook page for it. It states it's a UK website though who knows yet if it will be UK only or wordwide. I guess we'll know in due time.

F4F Reveals Sonic 20th Anniversary Statue, And Now the Bad News...

2011-06-16T07:47:00.000-07:00

... it looks to be a contest giveaway prize, to be handed out by SEGA of Europe. Per the F4F website: "These are incredibly limited and will not be available for purchase so if you manage to snag one, you’ll be very lucky! He stands at about 10 inches tall." Hey SEGA, why not send us two? One for us to keep, and one for us to give away? Heh heh.

You can see more views of the statue here. F4F has also announced that they have renewed the Sonic license worldwide, so those in Europe and in the States will have little problem ordering statues and figures. F4F is also teasing a new statue, the teaser pic can be seen on their facebook wall and it looks to be Knuckles punching/digging rock.

GamesMaster Sonic 20th Anniversary Magazine Special

2011-06-09T15:40:00.000-07:00

Well didn't this pop up out of the blue! To celebrate Sonic's 20th Anniversary (I suspect you'll be hearing that a lot in the next few months but especially this month), GamesMaster has just released a special 130 page magazine dedicated to nothing but Sonic! I only heard about it today via twitter and pretty much ran over to WHSmith to see if they had and sure enough they had a whole pile of copies. It's £8 but trust me it's worth it. Hit the jump to see more..

For starters, the mag comes with a bunch of nice freebies: a set of four badges, a sheet of stickers and a huge double sided poster. The stickers are all sprites from the first game, some even from the 8-bit version. The poster is one side Sonic generations, and on the other a collage of almost every rendition of Sonic from every game in his history!

As for the magazine itself, there are tons of articles, including my personal favorite that features loads of the early Sonic concept art. yes even the "Madonna" and sonic the rabbit art! I don't want to spoil too much but it really is a wonderful tribute to the series, I've been flicking through it all afternoon! This very much makes up for the lack of the chess collection mag, ta very much!

As I said the mag is £8 and out right now so if you're in the UK grab this while you can. Once again the Sonic fandom gods are glowing down on us Brits for some reason, haha. For you non UKers though, this website will let you order the magazine from anywhere in the world (for the most part) if you're willing to pay a little extra. Wouldn't be shocked if this sold out due to imports in fact! :P

Long Overdue Plug: Fuck Yeah Sonic the Comic

2011-06-08T15:00:00.000-07:00

Sometime late last month I joined Tumblr and along with my personal tumblr blog for my art and junk, I decided to set up a blog dedicated to Sonic the Comic. In true 'fuck yeah' tumblr blog tradition, there won't be long articles like you get here but rather regular single image updates of random panels, art, letters and more from the history of the comic. Everything from Decap Attack references Richard and Judy, a love letter to Amy by a kid in Graphic Zone (of whom has grown up and found the blog, stating he hid it under his bed and his mum must of sent it in!), a scratch and sniff STC sticker I found in my shed, STC mistaking Sally Acorn for Tails in a wig and much more daft stuff like that.

The site has only been up a few weeks but it has already got it's fans, including Sonic Retro who gave it a glowing review. By the way I have a big Sonic the Comic related post coming here soon!

Sonic Chess set Magazine is cancelled! :(

2011-05-24T04:28:00.000-07:00

Oh bum. Look what showed up in the post this morning..

So yeah, looks like the Chess set magazine that was up for subscription some time back has been flat out canceled. All we get is a LED light key-chain? It doesn't even have Sonic on it, it's not even Sonic blue! Oddly enough the website along with the subscription form is still online so unsuspecting new visitors will think it's still available.

Boo! I was looking forward to this although I guess on the bright side it's a relief on my wallet as if they did ever get around to making the whole set it would have cost a pretty penny and they never took any money in advance, but I would of liked to of had at least one issue and some of those freebies out of it before they quit the idea. :(

UPDATE: Well this odd. According to peeps on Sonic Retro a couple copies of the first issue of the magazine were found and bought in random locations, presumably a test run though it seems silly to release them at all if they have no intention of doing any more, and so few copies of said issue at that. :T

Archie's Sonic Genesis Part 3 Cover Revealed

2011-05-22T05:36:00.000-07:00

While Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis arc has yet to begin, with the prelude issue #225 just hitting stands, the cover for the third part of the saga has just been revealed! Issue #228 is inspired by the American cover art for Sonic the Hedgehog 3, just as the pervious two issues were inspired by Sonic 1 and 2. Here is the official description:

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #228
"Genesis" Part Three:
The most talked-about story in Sonic comic history continues as Sonic brings a curious new face into his adventures: Miles Prower, the boy genius! As Sonic and his friends continue the good fight against the evil Dr. Robotnik, the perils get more perilous, old memories begin to resurface, and the Death Egg orbits. Don't miss the penultimate issue to this anniversary special event!
SCRIPT: Ian Flynn
ARTIST: Tracy Yardley!, Terry Austin, John Workman and Matt Herms
COVER: Patrick "Spaz" Spaziante
Shipping Date: 8/17/2011
On Sale at Comic Shops: 8/31/2011
Newsstands: Week of 9/6/2011
Comic, 32 pgs, 40 lb. glossy stock, Full-Color

I've just started up a subscription to get my hands on these, so stay tuned to SEGA Memories as I delve into each issue as it releases.

Tiny Tomy Sonic Duel Toys

2011-05-10T06:04:00.000-07:00

What's this mysterious purple box that I found recently in a retro toy store for a few quid, and what does it contain? Find out after the jump!

Well here you go. I have honestly never seen this toy before, but I looked it up and found one on Ebay and it turns out to be a Tomy set called 'Sonic Duel', released at the same time as toys i had as a kid such as the Mountain Quest, Pinball machine and many others. It's copyrighted 1987 on the back, presumably because like many of the other toys Tomy had just taken a toy they created back then and gave it a Sonic make over.

They are a pair of little spinning tops that you insert into the odd gun things, twist about and then shoot which should make them spin into each other. You get one of Sonic and one of Robotnik with their own designs on each gun.

The spinning tops themselves are absolutely tiny, and rather cute evn though they are a little beaten up from *shock* a kid and/or grown up saddo like me playing with them. Not sure if Sonic had a longer nose and it broke off or if the paint just came off, but the one on ebay is excatly the same so who knows.

Robotnik is particular seems to have scrapped the skin off of his knuckles from sliding on the concrete too much, the naughty scamp. Sonic has really gained weight too, possibly even passed Robotnik in the flab department. Maybe they were in an episode of Supersize vs Superskinny that I missed? Or perhaps by 'Sonic Duel' they mean 'Sumo Duel'?

Either way they are so tiny I think they might even be the smallest sculpts of the characters I have seen to date. Just look how the Sonic stacks up to the 2" First4figures Sonic, for example. If it wasn't for the gold spinning top part it wouldn't even be half it's height, as it measures at 1 inch.

Because this is the only other 'classic Sega' Robotnik toy I have (not counting the AOSTH cartoon Robotnik) here it is standing tall above the spinning top toy.

Finally to wrap things up, let's feed tiny Tomy Sonic to the badniks. Don't worry he'll do fine, Sonic has been in this situation before.

Japanese Magazine Weekly Famitsu Goes SEGA Crazy

2011-04-28T06:06:00.000-07:00

Weekly Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu is giving SEGA an awesome cover spread and 88 pages of coverage! Check out all the characters crammed on that cover! I see Ryo, Beat, Ristar, Waldo...

The issue is said to be chock full of interviews and new bits of info regarding future releases. Tsuyoshi Sawada, the man behind the Shining Force games, hints at a new title that is said to contain elements from the originals. The new Platinum Games title, Binary Domain, is also going to get a good deal of coverage. The issue will also contain a Yakuza series retrospective, featuring interviews with the development team. Of course, all of this will be in Japanese, so the best non-Japanese speakers/readers can hope for is a lot of pretty pictures.

UPDATE: The magazine was available to by at Play-Asia, but it appears to be sold out because I bought the last copy. Sorry!

The Sonic 1994 Panini Sticker Album

2011-04-21T15:48:00.000-07:00

You may recall me bringing up the 1993 Sonic sticker album when a new album was released some time last year. In that article I talked briefly about it but recently I've gone on a bit of a mission. You see as a kid I never managed to complete the album. I could of saved up to just order the numbers I was missing back then but I guess I was putting my pocket money elsewhere. Either way I did get a good majority stuck in there.

A friend of mine had got much further along with only a select few (about 16) left to go. He had the shiny sticker poster pull out on his wall for some time so it got a bit torn in places, but after a while he didn't want the album anymore so gave it to me. Then just recently for a few quid a bought a third album from ebay which is in the best condition of the three but also had the least stickers, about half complete, maybe more.

Now I was determined to finish at least one of these albums off, so I got looking for the stickers themselves, which are obviously not as easy to get a hold of now. See how I did after the jump..

First off I picked up a bundle of about 30 random stickers for a few quid but then soon after I found a buy it now or best offer for 20 unopened packets. I put in an offer and got them, but then the seller e-mailed me saying they had another 79 packets for sale. In the end i made an offer for the lot. Each packet has six stickers so in the end I had around 600 stickers to rummage through. Eep.

They all came in one of the original boxes they'd have in shops, though the box is rather beaten up which is understandable considering it's age I guess.

The back of the box says 100 packets, so one packet must of gone missing or was taken out at some point.

Yet another photo of mass sticker packets just before I worked on ripping them all open.

...and its done.

So after ripping open every single one of these packets, putting them in order and seeing excatly what i ended up with, did I manage to complete any of my three albums?

Nope!

One of the albums (the one my friend gave me) is now only missing ONE sticker. My own childhood one is now missing just six and the other album I bought recently needs 17.

See that missing Tails? That one is missing from all three albums! Bah!

The reason I didn't end up completing any of the albums is because a very small few of the stickers numbers did not show up once, while most showed up three times and others showed up four or five times. The collection has three types of stickers..

The regular ones: Mostly consist of Sonic 3 screenshots, some scenes from an episode of AOSTH, a few Sonic CD screenshots, and a couple random cartoon ones at the end. These are all naturally the common ones that show up a lot.

The shiny ones: These ones all feature random promo art on shiny sliver patterns. Most of them go in the very middle of the book in a fold out poster though some others go in random places in the book. there are only 24 of these and as you might of gussed, they rarely show up in packets at all.

Finally, the vinyl 'complete the scene' ones: This lot also consisting of 24 are shaped and go on the four pages somewhere near the middle of the book. Most of these are of badniks from Sonic 1 and 2, with a couple of tails and Robotnik too. These show even less often than the shiny ones.

Despite not finishing any books, I have ended up with a huge pile of spares left over. So here's where you hopefully come in! I know this is probably very unlikely, but is anyone else out there trying to complete a set of these and also has some spare? Because I only have a small amount to find and they are all shiny and vinyl ones, I would be willing to trade 3 of the more common stickers for any one of those. Here's a list of what I'm after:

Shiny: 106, 109 (X2), 112, 113, 118, 120, 121, 125

Vinyl: 90 (X3), 92, 93, 130 (X2), 131, 133 (X2), 136, 138, 140

As for what I have to trade, I have a select few shiny and vinyl ones but mostly common ones. If i have any here you need but don't have any I need just send me some you don't need if you have them in exchange. At the moment I'm not willing to sell any until I get the ones I'm after, because even if I did take money for them the chance of even finding more to buy is pretty silm.

So here's what I have. Highlighted in blue are Shiny ones and red are Vinyl. This is gonna take a while..

1 (X4), 2, 3 (X4), 4 (X3), 5 (X2), 6, 7 (X2), 8 (X4), 9 (X3), 10 (X4)

12, 13 (X3), 14 (X2), 15, 16 (X3), 17 (X2), 18 (X2), 19 (X3), 20, 21 (X2)

22 (X3) 23, 24 (X3), 25 (X2), 26 (X4), 27 (X2), 28, 29 (X2) 31 (X2) 32 (X3)

33 (X2), 34 (X4), 35, 36, 37 (X2), 38 (X4), 39 (X3), 40, 41 (X3), 42 (X2)

43 (X3), 44 (X2), 45 (X2), 46 (X3), 47 (X3), 49 (X2), 50, 51 (X4), 52, 53 (X4)

54, 55 (X3), 56 (X2), 57 (X4), 59 (X3), 60, 61, 62, 63 (X3), 64, 65 (X3), 66 (X3)

67 (X2), 68 (X2), 69 (X3), 70, 71, 72 (X3), 73, 74 (X2), 76 (X5), 77 (X3)

78, 79 (X3), 80, 81 (X3), 82 (X4), 83 (X2), 84 (X2), 86 (X2), 88 (X2) 92

97 (X3), 98, 99 (X2), 100, 101 (X2) 102 (X3), 103, 107 (X2), 110 (X2), 119 (X2)

122 (X2), 123, 124 (X3), 126 (X2), 127, 128 (X2), 132, 137, 142 (X2), 143

144 (X3), 145 (X3), 146 (X2), 147 (X4), 148 (X2), 149 (X3), 151, 152 (X3), 153 (X3), 154 (X4)
155 (X2), 156, 157 (X3), 158 (X3), 159 (X2), 160 (X2), 161 (X4), 163 (X3), 164 (X3), 165 (X2)
166 (X2), 167 (X3), 168 (X2), 169 (X2), 170, 171 (X2), 172 (X3), 173 (X3), 174 (X2), 175 (X3)
176 (X3), 177 (X3), 178 (X3), 179 (X4), 180 (X2), 181 (X2), 182 (X2), 183 (X5), 184 (X3), 185
186 (X2), 187 (X2), 188 (X3), 189 (X2), 190 (X3), 191 (X3), 192 (X4), 193 (X3), 194 (X3), 195 (X4)
197 (X2), 198 (X3), 199, 200 (X2), 202 (X4), 203 (X2), 205 (X2), 206, 207 (X2), 208 (X3)
209 (X2), 210, 211, 212 (X2), 213 (X2), 214 (X2), 215 (X4), 216, 217 (X2), 218 (x2)
219 (X2), 220, 221 (X3), 222 (X4), 223 (X2), 224 (X2), 225, 226 (X4), 227 (X3), 228 (X3)

Phew! So yeah, if anyone can help out let me know in the comments! Otherwise that was a lot of time spent typing all that up for nothing...heh heh.

Sonic Generations gameplay and fan art

2011-04-18T12:27:00.000-07:00

I know this blog isn't really all about the new games as such but this new Sonic trailer is just too good to not post here. Compared to how Nintendo celebrated Mario's 25th Anniversary (by er..re-releasing a SNES ROM on a Wii disc) this sure does get me excited and looks like it may even make up for the horrific 15th anniversary that consisted of the two worst releases in the franchises history. After the teaser revealed to us that classic Sonic will be running side by side with the current Sonic design, now we have gameplay of both running through a beautifully rendered Green hill.

Why they even made Sonic 4 the way they did at this point I don't know as unlike that game this has really nailed the look, and it looks mega fun to play too, much closer to the originals, plus as a compromise to the newer fans you get Colours style gameplay too (which I also enjoyed). Really looking forward to this, and so are many others as ever since the first trailer I have been flooded with fan art relating to the game, here are just a few of them..

Old VS New by EvilQueenie

Sonic 20th - The Union by Elesis-Knight

Sonic Generations by Fantasiia

Sonic: Generations by MOG17

Ebay Hunt: Sonic & Knuckles Camera

2011-04-12T13:02:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post about something I stumbled across on Ebay. I didn't buy it as it went a bit high for my liking but it did bring a small dose of nostalgia flooding back as i had forgotten all about this little disposable camera I once had. The seller says they reckon it was given away as prizes and I'm pretty sure Sonic the Comic gave these away but I recall my one being bought from a shop.

I obviously now don't own it now due to it being a disposable camera and being a kid at the time but I do recall hoping to get my hands on a second one when mine ran out only for them to have already vanished from shops. i think it came from somewhere like Boots and was released in 1994 or 95, when Sonic & Knuckles was being plugged.

Got a longer and more interesting article on the way!

Explore the World of Jet Set Radio Future!

2011-04-12T06:18:00.000-07:00

Here at SEGA Memories we're all about anything outside the games (as detailed way back in the very first post), but sometimes there is something game related that is just too cool not to share. In my regular internet browsing, I came across a blog entitled JSRF Inside. The blog is dedicated to ripping models, textures and environments from the XBOX classic Jet Set Radio Future. What is so insanely cool about the blog is that the owner and model ripper provides a number of amazing images and files detailing every character, NPC, animal and piece of graffiti that litters the world of Tokyo-to.

One might consider it a "digital collection", as one can download every character icon (perfect for avatars), high res logos and listen to a number of sounds. Really awesome stuff! If you're a JSRF fan, make sure to add this to your favorites and download as many bits as you want.

So, that new Sonic trailer on Sega's Facebook..

2011-04-07T06:13:00.000-07:00

Nuff.

Said.

EDIT: Trailer is now on Youtube:

Kotaku: Meet The Four Americans Who Built Sega

2011-04-04T08:31:00.000-07:00

From Kataku comes a short but informative write up of the founding and forming of SEGA, originally known as Standard Games. While many hardcore SEGA fans know the history, and it is readily available on Wikipedia, it's nice to read it all in a well written article.

Check out Kotaku's article here and in the comments section, feel free to share your thoughts on SEGA's founding. I'll kick it off with a topic for discussion: SEGA or STGA? SEGA pros: more readable, it's the one we're used to. STGA pros: reminds me of a stegosaurus, dinosaurs are cool.

Archie's Sonic #227 Cover Revealed

2011-03-20T07:10:00.000-07:00

While the Genesis Saga has yet to kick off in Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog series, the cover for the second part of the arc has been revealed! The mini-series will kick off with issue 225, check out the cover here, followed by part one with issue 226 and part two in issue 227. The four part arc, continuing in issues 228 and 229, looks to be paying homage to the four original Genesis games. However how Sonic and friends enter those classics has yet to be revealed. All that has been said is that somebody's life (probably a SatAM character) depends on the outcome of the Genesis arc. I could care less who dies, as long as we're getting more awesome artwork from Spaz!

After the beak, check out a preview page from Sonic: Genesis!

[source: SEGASHIRO]

Sonic Chess Set magazine in the UK!

2011-03-14T04:43:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it is rather awesome being a UK based Sonic fan. In the last few years especially, what with Summer of Sonic, the Sonic Spinball ride at Alton Towers amongst other things. Now not long after we got a new sticker collection, we have one of those subscription based collectors magazines of Sonic, of a new chess set not to be confused with the chess set released some time ago, in fact I would say this set looks more interesting! See more after the jump!

While this is modern style Sonic characters as opposed to classic ones in that £35 set, you get a lot more characters here when the set is over. In the classic set you get Sonic, Tails, Knuckles Amy and a bunch of rings and emeralds. I mean they are nice sculpts and that but at least put some bad guys on the other side or something!

The new set, judging by this image above showing the whole collection in card form, is far more characters including a whole bunch of unique badniks and chaos! You also get a Super Sonic, Metal Sonic, Robotnik, Rouge and Shadow. The badniks appear to be their Sonic 4 looks which makes sense. The more badniks the better if you ask me!

Of course the snag is you cannot just buy this collection, you need to buy each piece one by one with the magazine. As with these kinds of magazines the first issue is cheap but the rest are about £7 each which means this will finish at quite a bit more money than what the classic set will cost you. Still, with each piece you are getting a magazine with some Archie Sonic comic strips and other info plus on the website you get some freebies with your subscription including a keychain, a clock and a shoulder bag.

This is currently a UK and Ireland only offer, sorry other Sonic fans! We got lucky once again bahaha! Safe to say I've subscribed and will post photos of the first delivery once it shows up! You know, to ind you non-UKers up a bit.

Jazwares Sonic 20th Anniversary Checklist

2011-03-03T06:24:00.000-08:00

While Jazwares have yet to release a press release detailing what we'll get in the Sonic 20th Anniversary figure line, thanks to ToyWiz.com we can finally stop clicking through toy fair photos to figure out what the line will consist of. ToyWiz.com has all the upcoming figures listed here, however there are no photos yet. They say the tentative release date is June and have priced the items, though be aware that they price far higher than Toys R Us and other stores (a $7 figure sells for $11 on their site, and that isn't including shipping).

After the break, check out the checklist!

The following are listed at TowWiz.com. The classic Eggman was not listed, but I included him as we saw package photos from Toy Fair. There is also an exclusive Toys R Us Sonic Through Time figure rumored. 2001 seems the most plausable era to cover.

[ ] 5 Inch Sonic Through Time Action Figure 1991 Sonic
[ ] Rumored Toys R Us Exclusive 5 Inch Sonic Through Time Action Figure Sonic (2001?)
[ ] 5 Inch Sonic Through Time Action Figure 2011 Sonic
[ ] 3.5 Inch Action Figure 3-Pack Dr. Eggman and 2x Eggfighters
[ ] 3.5 Inch Action Figure 3-Pack Dr. Robotnik and 2x EggRobos
[ ] 3.5 Inch Action Figure with Comic Book 2-Pack Sonic and Amy
[ ] 3.5 Inch Action Figure with Comic Book 2-Pack Shadow and Silver
[ ] 3.5 Inch Action Figure Classic Sonic with Badnik
[ ] 3.5 Inch Action Figure Modern Sonic with Badnik
[ ] 3.5 Inch Action Figure Classic Tails with Badnik
[ ] 3.5 Inch Action Figure Modern Tails with Badnik
[ ] 3.5 Inch Action Figure Knuckles with Badnik (classic model?)
[ ] 3.5 Inch Action Figure Shadow with Badnik
[ ] 3.5 Inch Action Figure Silver with Badnik
[ ] 12 Inch Deluxe Plush Figure Sonic
[ ] 12 Inch Deluxe Plush Figure Shadow
[ ] 15 Inch Deluxe Plush Figure Classic Sonic

UPDATE: Apparently, ToyWiz.com has awful customer service and are poorly rated online. So I wouldn't advise ordering through them, however the list is legit.

Super Sonic Statue Unboxing Video!

2011-02-24T14:39:00.000-08:00

Will post some more photos and impressions soon!

Super Sonic Arrived!

2011-02-24T14:22:00.000-08:00

Nuff.

Said.

Unboxing video coming up tonight!

UPDATED: More Sonic 20th action figure photos from a Nuremberg toy expo!

2011-02-12T13:10:00.000-08:00

click to enlarge

Hey, more photos of the previously revealed Jazwares Sonic 20th Anniversary action figure line! This time, Jazwares had mock ups of the packaging on display at Spielwarenmesse 2011, a German toy expo that took place last week. Revealed are a number of new hero/badnik packs including: a 90's Sonic and Amy comic book 2-pack, 1992 Tails with Sonic 2's Grabber, 2000 Shadow with a G.U.N. robot, 1994 Knuckles with a badnik (temporary photo shows 2003 Knuckles with an Egg Pawn), the previously seen 2010 Tails with Sandworm from Sonic Colors, 1991 Sonic with Sonic 1's Moto Bug, 2008 Sonic with Sonic Unleashed's Spinner robot and Silver with a fire monster dog thing from Sonic 2006. You can also see the previously revealed Eggman and Robotnik packs, the 10 inch Sonic figure repack plus an obscured Sonic combo pack (probably combining all the "Sonic Through The Years" figures).

After the break, check out the ~~consoles~~ photos, courtesy of spindash.de! And make sure to check out their original post for more photos of already released figures and a lot of German text.

So it looks like we can expect a full set of the '90's era main cast (awesome) as well as repacks of the 2000 era main cast (pretty cool, but the robots and badniks that make them even cooler).

Ha! I already bought a new wall shelf today in anticipation for these.

UPDATE: New York Toy Fair photos can be found here: http://toyfair2011.figures.com/showgallery.php?cat=545&page=1
Nothing new really, however the photos are of much higher quality. Thanks to the pics, I've been able to detail the 3.5" line. What follows are the featured game followed by the figures representing the game. Looks like Jazwares is covering every main series game:

Sonic 1 - classic Sonic & Moto Bug
Sonic CD - classic Amy (2 pack with Sonic)
Sonic 2 - classic Tails & Grabber
Sonic 3 - classic Knuckles & ???
Sonic & Knuckles - classic Robotnik & EggRobo
Sonic Adventure - modern Sonic and Spinner
Sonic Adventure 2 - Shadow and GUN Beetle
Sonic Heroes - modern Knuckles and Egg Pawn
Sonic '06 - Silver and Iblis Biter (fire dog)
Sonic Unleashed - modern Eggman and Egg Fighter
Sonic Colors - modern Tails and Sandworm

Thanks to The Sonic Stadium for giving us a shout out!

Early 90's Japanese Sonic Puzzle

2011-02-07T04:32:00.000-08:00

This rather nice ebay purchase from Japan showed up this weekend. It was one of those "heck, why not" moments as I've wanted to get some stuff to hang up on my wall, and the puzzle was already built and framed, though the frame doesn't have glass in it but it is sealed up like so much stuff bought from Japan tends to be so that was a bonus. A couple more photos after the jump.

It had no box so I don't know when exactly this was released but judging by the artwork I would say it was an early 1991 or 92 piece. The animals and Robotnik are just like those on the PAL box art for the first game except in colour, and the art of Sonic is not one I have seen that often. I'm not exactly sure what he is doing other than a rather awkward looking pose and they forgot to colour in his shoe buckle but it's about as retro as Sonic merchandise can get, really.

It wasn't particularly cheap but it didn't break the (Paypal) bank and it's defiantly a nice piece to have in my collection. The seller also had some other Japanese Sonic bits including a Yoyo and a Mug but those were far too expensive for my taste and not as neat as this. I have not seen pictures of this puzzle before anywhere like Sonic Gear so there you go. Exciting stuff!

This Action Figure is BIG!

2011-02-05T08:27:00.000-08:00

Silver, Rouge, Cream, Marine, Blaze and Shadow? Forget them! All I wanted was a Big the Cat action figure, and Jazwares delivered. Big the Cat was the star of Sonic Adventure, and the puppet master pulling the strings in Sonic Adventure 2 (as evidenced by his many background cameos). It wasn't until Sonic Heroes that SEGA came to their senses and created Team Big (the game incorrectly refers to it as "Team Rose"). Now, after all those successes, Big has been given the deluxe treatment by way of a Big and Froggy double figure pack.

I knew you'd keep reading, after all, this is BIG! Okay, joking aside, this is actually a great figure. Big looks almost identical to his in-game model, and is the best Big yet. Compared to past figures, this one makes those look like bootlegs. Check out this comparison pic from Sonic Gear:

The left is nightmare fuel, and the right looks like Big's dad.

Big has a lot of articulation, despite his girth. His arms move all about, his head pivots and his legs and ankles can be moved into a variety of positions. His waist doesn't pivot, but his tail can turn about. All this articulation can lead to some pretty wild poses:

Balancing on one foot!

Attempting the Sonic Adventure cover art pose

Lifting a Dreamcast game with ease.

The Froggy figure is more of an accessory, as he does nothing but sit about. You'll notice that Froggy seems to be sticking to Big. That's thanks to a tiny big of blue tack that I stuck to Froggy's belly, which allows him to sit comfortably on Big's head. Unfortunately for me, while I did pick the best looking Big at the store, I failed to notice that my Froggy had a wonky eye:

DERP DERP

Like the Eggman and Metal Sonic two pack, the Big pack features a cool scene. This time of Big's home from Sonic Adventure. Definitely not throwing this away:

Overall, the Big and Froggy figures are one of Jazwares best. Up to par with the Vector and Espio pack. Solid likeness, great articulation and well built. If you're a fan of Big, pick this up. If you're not a fan of Big, I pity you (but understand your hatred).

My cat approves of Big.

Former SEGA Employee Selling Awesome Swag On Ebay

2011-02-04T06:49:00.000-08:00

Posted by nuckles87 of SEGAbits

A former SEGA employee is selling a load of awesome things he acquired during the Saturn/Dreamcast era. It’s mostly T-Shirts, but it’s all stuff only a SEGA employee could get, so don’t blow it off! Among things currently on sale is a promotional Jet Grind Radio shirt, a “Bernie’s Rangers” Burning Rangers shirt referring to SEGA of America president Bernie Stolar, and a Rent a Hero shirt with logos for every single piece of SEGA hardware ever made, and a Jet Grind Radio Music Sampler promo disc.

You can check it out here.

Barry says: This former employee has a load of awesome items, though I doubt I'll be winning any. Most shirt sizes are XL, and some rather rabid fans are buying up the good stuff for high prices. Still, I've craftily saved every item photo to a folder, so at least SEGA Memories will have these rare items on file.

Sonic 20th Anniversary Action Figure Collection Revealed! (drools)

2011-02-01T07:02:00.000-08:00

Just when I thought Jazwares has taken all the money they could take from me, they reveal this epic collection! Jazwares is celebrating Sonic's 20th in style by producing figures that span his 20 year career. These photos found online were snapped at JazWares' booth at the 2011 UK Toy Fair. One collection revealed is "Sonic Through Time", which will depict the various designs of Sonic over the years. Photos reveal a 1991 Sonic and a 2008 Sonic, but I'm sure we'll also see a 1999 and perhaps 2011 model as well. Very cool. After the jump, Eggman takes center stage.

Even more exciting than Sonic is the reveal that classic Eggman will get a figure, along with two EggRobos from Sonic and Knuckles! Also revealed is a modern Eggman with two robots from the Sonic Unleashed intro movie. Off to the left is, I'm assuming, a Sonic Colors Tails figure (the design and box background look like they come from Colors) however packaged with Tails is a retro badnik. Badnik figures! No clue if that badnik appeared in Colors. No official announcement has been made on details and release date, but as soon as I come across them I'll be sure to post them here at SEGA Memories.

EDIT: As pointed out by Gagaman, the badnik packaged with Tails did appear in Sonic Colors, he's Sandworm from the Asteroid Coaster stage. He was originally seen in Sonic & Knuckles Sandopolis Zone. The image on the figure card is his Colors redesign.

UPDATE: More figure pics have been found (I just searched "Toy Fair 2011" on FLickr). Also revealed is an awesome 12" classic Sonic!

While this photo below seems to feature a lot of already released figures from 2010, off to the right is a Archie comic 2-pack with Shadow and another figure as well as a mystery box with a classic Sonic logo and from what I can tell an image of Sonic. What the heck is that image? Thanks for the obscured photo, random dude on Flickr! :P

Any superfans know what that mystery box to the right is?

[source: The Sonic Stadium Forums]

Archie's Sonic #225 feeds of our SEGA memories

2011-01-27T07:36:00.000-08:00

I'm on to you Archie! After losing me as a reader by not doing a Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation, you try to reel me back in with fancy double sized covers, anniversary logos and the promise of a return of the Death Egg. Well guess what, it's working. Recently revealed over at IGN is the super sweet cover art for Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog #225, which shows the current cast (what happened to Rotor?!) running from the (DUM-DUM-DUMMM!) Death Egg. My guess is that the cover was done by longtime Sonic artist extraordinaire Patrick Spaziante. The story arc is titled the Genesis saga and will play out over the summer during Sonic's 20th anniversary.

Looks like I'll be picking up a few Sonic comics over the summer! And then come winter they'll lose me again by starting a story arc involving Julie-su and Mina the Mongoose creating a girl band.

[source: Sonic Stadium]

Phantasy Star Online’s Elenor action figure is awesome

2011-01-26T16:48:00.000-08:00

While the ladies of PSO have received figures in the past via the SEGA Gals capsule toy collections, Japanese action figure company Kotobukiya has upped the ante with this awesome 5.3" figure of Elenor from Phantasy Star Online. The figure is currently available to pre-order from amiami for ¥2,530 ($31). Per the product description, the figure was initially sold in 2003 at Wonder Festival as a garage kit (I assume a build glue vinyl model kit?). Kotobukiya has reproduced the mold as a poseable plastic model kit rather than a PVC figure. The figure will be pre-colored, so no need to break out any paint. I assume you'd have to put it together, but it should be simple.

Check out the product page for a ton of photos and some very cool poses.

[source: SEGAbits]

SegaWorld Sydney had a Sonic Puppet Show!

2011-01-14T13:03:00.000-08:00

Yes you read that correctly. In possibly one of the most bizarre but brilliant discoveries about Sonic in a very long time, SonnikuForever on the Sonic Retro forums (see the thread here) was sourcing the net for information on Sydney's SegaWorld park which was open between 1997 and 2000, particularly about that supposed live show of which a soundtrack CD was released to the Internet some years back. Barely anyone online could even recollect what the show was like but SonnikuForever found the website of the shows creator Phillip Einfield of whom he got in contact with and the puppeteer was kind enough to send over scans of photos of the show along with a full detailing on what the show was like, how it was made and more! Hit the jump for the full scoop:

Here's what Philip sent SonnikuForever about the show:

The Sonic the Hedgehog Puppet Show performed 3-4 half hour shows daily in Sega World Sydney throughout 1998-99.

It was performed on center stage, pretty much in the middle of Sega World next to the food court. People could dine at their tables while watching the show.
The show was designed, written, produced and performed by Phillip Einfeld Puppetoons. It involved 2 puppeteers and a live hostess.

Dr. Robotnik had devised a plan to finally defeat his arch enemy Sonic. He has concocted a robot making machine that would build the ultimate, evil, robot with every device needed to catch Sonic. With the help of his buddies Tails and Princess Sally, Sonic defeats the robot (Grounder) who turns out to be a bit slow physically and mentally. Robotnik blasts off back to his secret laboratory in anger and everyone lives happily ever after.

Originally, a show with dancers and costumed characters performed on the stage. The soundtrack you have heard is from that show. I think I may have the puppet show sound track in my files somewhere but it could take some time to find it.
When Sega decided to disband the original stage show, due to it not being very dynamic, late 1997, I was brought in to replace it with the puppetshow and some animatronic displays.

I redesigned the stage to represent planet Mobius, on either end were magic mountains, every 15mins except during show times, audio animatronic Sonic and Tails characters rose out of top of mountains and spoke to each other and audience, anouncing show times and upcoming events in Sega World. In center of stage stood the large, fully sculpted puppet theatre. Perched above the theatre was a big ,purple, animatronic bird that spoke to the audience. Above the stage was a large vid screen. Segments of the puppet show where filmed and appeared on the screen I.e when Robotnik blasts off in his space ship he is seen flying across a planet strewn sky above the audience (on the screen).

The puppets were large, muppet style creations, Sonic, Tails, Princess Sally, Dr. Robotnik and Grounder the Robot. A large 'Robot making Machine' prop was made along with special Sonic hats for children chosen from audience to wear. The show included much audience participation. I had 3 original songs recorded (I attached the lyrics).
I used all my own people for the voices (all approved by Sega) From memory I voiced Grounder, Dennis White voiced Dr.Robotnik, and Sonic, Tails and Sally were voiced by Alexis Nagy. The original music and songs were written and produced by myself and Mark Rosenberg.

The photos are just something else. It's almost like when Woody found out about his old cowboy puppet show in Toy Story 2. The puppets are huge and a little bit freaky but in a charming way. Sonic and Tails are adorable, Robotnik looks awesome and Sally is a bit of a ugly wreak, kind of like those plush toys of her that were sold at the park. There is also a puppet of Gronder from AOSTH, though his a bit off-model to say the least, but still neat.

The set is also inspired by the Adventures cartoon, and there are Sonic and Tails animatronics that popped out of the Dr.Seuss like scenery. The expression on Tails face is quite frankly hilarious. As a child though I would of love this to pieces, seeing as I loved puppet shows and Sonic. What a find! How many video game franchises can say they even had a puppet show based on them?

Btw this is just a good time as any of ask this: Sega Memories wants photos, memories and write ups about anything visitors of SegaWorld Sydney may have. If you went there back when it was open and something to say about it, we would love to hear from you!

Dreamcast Doujinshi Manga Comic

2011-01-11T16:05:00.000-08:00

Cross posting this from the Dreamcast Junkyard, seeing as it is a Sega related comic though not an official one, and may be considered a not very common collectible to find on Ebay.

Probably the weirdest thing you'll ever see me feature for DCJY InsideOut, and actually a bit NSFW although unlike most Doujinshi (fan comics) it's not a flat out hentai porn comic, but it is in places a tad perverted with quite a few er..well you'll see. You have been warned.

The comic features short stories based on Shenmue, Space Channel 5, Code Veronica, Soul Calibur and many others, but they're pretty much all resort to rubbish and just plain weird jokes. The art is mixed, sometimes pretty decent and other times wonky.

Because Maken X features in the Doujinshi I also decided to show off a Official Maken X manga I bought years ago, which is just a tad more gory than I recall the game being. So yeah, this one is defiantly not for the younger lot or easily offended this vid. :P

Stuff things into Sonic's Stomach and Carry Him About!

2011-01-11T08:17:00.000-08:00

During my Birthday in late November and Christmas I was given a lot of Sonic gifts, many brought back from America. Of course being known for collecting just about anything with Sonic on it (within reason) does help in that case. One of my Xmas presents this time around was this rather large Sonic plush back-pack. Apparently these cost a small fortune in Sega's Gameworks park in Las Vegas (around $70!) but this one was found for a much less insulting $25 at a Fye's store. More photos after the jump.

This is made by the same manufacturer who made those Classic Sonic plush dolls including the rather neat Amy Rose one that I posted about a while back, and this back pack is a lot like the Sonic from that set, only much bigger of course and with more details. Unlike the plush toy the hands are not stitched to it's body in a waggling finger pose; instead they are quite thick and a bit bendy so it can give you a big hug, if you're into that sort of thing.

Here's some size comparing with the plush toy and one of those 3" figures to give you a gist of how big it really is. Of course it needs to be this big if it's supposed to be a back pack, and his belly is also quite big so stuff can be stored into it. As Stacey put it, this Sonic needs to lay off the chilli dogs, though I've seen fatter Sonic plushies funnily enough.

"Find the Computer Room!"

But that's the thing; you just can't store much in this. The storage is only the stomach part so you'd be lucky to even get a small book in here let alone your whole school supplies or something. Everything else is stuffed with fluff like Winnie the Pooh so his arms can't be used as pencil cases etc. As far as actually carrying anything around in it goes it's pretty useless.

Then again this was purchased for me knowing that'll it'll be sitting on a shelf with the other Plush toys as it is. So if you're after a large Sonic plush that just so happened to have a zipper on his belly and doesn't look like a lanky abomination like this one then you can do worse. As for storing stuff to carry around in a classic Sonic themed thing, you would do much better with one of these messenger bags which you may only look a bit of a tit carrying around instead of a complete tit. One thing I did notice with that bag however is at Summer of Sonic everybody had one. Yep...

Sonic Mega Mix DVD Provides an Uneven Animation Sampling

2011-01-10T08:14:00.000-08:00

While SEGA Memories hasn't written about a Sonic cartoon DVD in quite a while, mainly because everything has already been released to DVD, an interesting single disc release of Sonic cartoons caught my attention. Single disc releases of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) and Sonic Underground are nothing new. The studio which owns the English language Sonic cartoons have been making an number of these budget releases, either giving a random selection of SatAM episodes or collecting story arcs into a single disc set, such as AoStH's time travel story arc (well worth the $6 in my opinion) and Sonic Underground Secrets of the Chaos Emerald (collecting all the Knuckles episodes).

Unlike those releases however, which stick to a single series, the Sonic Mega Mix DVD collects episodes from all three DIC Entertainment shows. Since the set arrives on Sonic's 20th anniversary and features all three series, I thought I'd look into it and see just what exactly makes up a "Mega Mix" of Sonic cartoons. The disc kicks off with Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, featuring three episodes from the series: Spaceman Sonic, The Little Merhog and Fast and Easy. While these may appear to be a random sampling of episodes, after a little thinking I realized that all three episodes have a connection. Spaceman Sonic features Sonic and Tails chasing Scratch and Grounder through the Starlight Zone, The Little Merhog features Sonic saving an underground city located within the Labyrinth Zone and Fast and Easy features Robotnik going after the Chaos Emerald Ring in the Secret Zone of Mobius (think Special Stage). A collection of episodes featuring connections to the games, nice!

Edit: I realized that I confused The Little Merhog with the episode Submerged Sonic. Submerged Sonic has Sonic and a merman saving an underground city located within the Labyrinth Zone, while The Little Merhog has Sonic helping a merhog named Merna save her underwater city. It's almost the same plot! So you can see why I'd get confused.

Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) is represented by two episodes: Ultra Sonic and Super Sonic. While both are good episodes, I can't help but think that those charged with selecting the episodes simply chose them due to their similar sounding names. Unlike the selected AoStH episodes, Ultra Sonic and Super Sonic do not dip into the game universe for inspiration. Instead, Ultra Sonic features Sonic discovering that his Uncle Chuck is alive and is a robot while the episode Super Sonic has Sonic stripped of his speed ability while having to race Robotnik to a magic crystal.

As I said, these are good episodes but I found them to be poor choices for the collection. Why not have the SatAM episodes Heads or Tails (the series pilot which Sonic and Tails ward off an invasion of Buzzbombers) and Game Guy (Sonic is lured into a deadly game of pinball by Robotnik).

Believe it or not, this is a Sonic cartoon!

Two episodes of Sonic Underground round out the set with Underground Masquerade and Sonic Tonic. Underground Masquerade is an odd choice, as it focuses on Sonic's brother Manic joining a gang of theives. Meanwhile ~~Scratch and Grounder~~ Sleet and Dingo attempt to steal taxes from Robotnik. Sonic plays a part in the episode, but this is hardly a good representation of the series. Sonic Tonic is a better choice as the focus is on Sonic's speed ability. Robotnik develops a potion which allows his henchmen to run at speeds rivaling Sonic. Once Sonic and his siblings get a hold of the potion, Sonia and Manic resist the temptation of taking the potion themselves. Why resist? Just drink the stuff!

Like the SatAM selections, the Underground episodes could have been better. Friend or Foe would have been an excellent choice, as it introduced Knuckles and the floating island. Another good choice would have been Virtual Danger, the final episode of the series. Despite not being a finale, the episode has Sonic, Sonia and Manic getting sucked into a video game of Robotnik's invention.

So is the Sonic Mega Mix DVD really the Mega Mix that the 90's Sonic cartoons deserved? No. If you're looking to relive the best that the three series has to offer, I suggest picking up the season sets of your favorites or getting the single disc story arc releases. The Mega Mix disc would have been much better had the creators decided on a theme, such as Sonic Team game inspired episodes. As it is, Sonic the Hedgehog Mega Mix is best left for the casuals and the future Sonic fans who spot this in the bargain section and decide to give it a look.

Until next time, I'm up over and gone!

Streets of Rage Fleetway Comic Original Artwork

2011-01-10T06:39:00.000-08:00

Hogfather on Youtube has got to be one of the most hardcore Sonic collectors on Youtube, it's a real shame he doesn't have a blog with photos of his stuff too. Not only does he own a massive collection of Nigel Dobbyn's Sonic the Comic artwork, but just recently he has uploaded a video of a collection of original artwork from S.T.C's Street of Rage comics, and had a chat with the artist Peter Richardson about them too! Jammy sod. Anyway, here's the video:

Make sure you check out Hogfather's Youtube for many more videos of rare and one-of-a-kind Sonic and Sega stuff.

First4Figures Statues: good news and bad news.

2011-01-07T06:22:00.000-08:00

I'm aware I forgot to post the full set of new Metal Sonic statue photos here but if you haven't seen them yet you can check them out at First4Figures website. meanwhile, there's been some news about it. Some good, some bad. See after the jump.

May as well get the bad news out of the way first. I was e-mailed by First4Figures recently with news that there may be issues with metal Sonic statues being ordered from anywhere outside of the USA and Canada. To quote what they said:

"Thank you for your order for the Metal Sonic collectible statue. Unfortunately our license for Sonic the Hedgehog has expired in Europe and the rest of the world apart from USA and Canada. We wish to extend our resin license with SEGA so that we can fulfill your Metal Sonic order and we should get a reply from SEGA in early January. Please kindly bear with us until we have further information, we will keep you posted.

In the meantime, we have your order on file and will keep your product number/statue secure until we have an update from SEGA. If we can extend our license, your order will be fulfilled. If not, we will have to cancel your order. Please note, we have not charged your card and that your order is under pending status for now."

Well poop. The exclusive light-up Metal Sonic statue is only limited to 350 so the chances of me getting one of those now might be slim, but maybe I'll be lucky and they'll hold on to my order with an iron grip. I guess at the worst I could order the cheaper non-light-up one if they let me or if a shop like Forbidden Planet ends up stocking it (where I got the first Sonic one).

The good news this will not affect orders for the Super Sonic statues as they have finished production and will start shipping between the end of January or sometime in February. Of course we know the Super Sonic's have been produced because they posted lots of photos of them over at their facebook account. If you haven't seen these pics yet go have a look: it's a whole army of Super Sonics!

McDonald's Collectibles book Sonic set insights

2011-01-06T06:40:00.000-08:00

So I found a book lying in the loft about McDonald's Collectibles (this one to be specific) and found a couple pages in there about the Sonic set of toys made in 1994 to promote Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and there is a few interesting bits of info in it along with scans. Above is the American promo art for it and below is the British one.

Check after the jump for scans and info taken from the book about all the different international releases and the toy variants.

The set first appeared in America between February 4th till March 3rd of 1994, later showing up in Canada and Puerto Rico later that year. The UK got the set from January 27th to February 24th 1995, Germany and Belgium in March, and in June both New Zealand and Japan finally caught up.

The American set and the European set have some differences. Firstly the US set had a little Sonic ball as an option for younger kids which was only available there. Also the Tails toy was completely different. In America, the toy was in two parts and flew off when you pulled the handle on a string. This version was recalled during the last week of the promotion according to the book due to problems with the pull string.

US Version (left) Euro version (right)

The European Tails toy has the same flat base of Tails himself but the toy itself was changed because they were worried kids would get hurt by a flying lump of plastic. On this one Tails is on base I presume is based on those floaty UFO things from marble Garden zone, and this one has a plastic zip pull thing that when pulled through the little holes makes the Tails (and er...his tails) spin about, but he doesn't fly off the base.

But even more interesting is the Japanese set. They didn't get the tails toy at all, and the Sonic and Knuckles were identical but the Robotnik toy got re-designed to match Japan's original Eggman design as opposed to the Adventures of Sonic cartoon one we got. ~~I haven't seen this variant in particular mentioned or photographed anywhere online though I could be mistaken~~. EDIT: I was mistaken, there is a photo of it over at the Eggman Empire. If anyone owns this toy we'd love to see some more proper photos of it! Check out this cute artwork of the Eggman toy!

Thanks go to the authors of the book Ray and Ruby Richardson and David and Lesley Irving for these bits of Sonic toy info.

Oh christ, another Sonic staute from First4Figures..

2010-12-24T07:45:00.000-08:00

First4Figures have just revealed on facebook that they have another large Sonic statue in the works which will be ready for pre-order on the 28th of December, and it's none other than Metal Sonic, with glowing eyes! We haven't seen what level the stand will be based on, Now hold on guys, what about the Super Sonic? They still haven't even charged me for it yet let alone sent it out. The wait is becoming unbearable. With that in mind expect this new statue to be shipped out by 2015. Maybe.

These things cost so much, but really: if I was only allowed to own a few pieces of Sonic merchandise, a set of these statues would be them. Plus Metal Sonic is personally my all time favorite character from the series so resisting this will be very difficult. My poor wallet!