Sega Arcade Classics book is here!

My copy of Hardcore Gaming Presents: Sega Arcade Classics Volume 1 arrived yesterday morning! The front cover looks even more beautiful in print, and the book itself is larger than I was expecting, larger than a majority of these Japanese Sega books I have anyway. More photos after the jump!

Hardcore Gaming 101 presents Sega Arcade Classics Book!

The English release of the History of Sonic book is due sometime in December, but at the same time we now have another Sega book to look forward to! Hardcore Gaming 101 has revealed Sega Arcade Classics Volume 1, which will contain articles about the best Sega franchises that started in the 80s, including Space Harrier, Alex Kidd, Shinobi, After Burner, Outrun, Wonder Boy and many more. As far as I can tell the book will also go into these games console ports and spin offs.

Of particular note is the beautiful cover art by none over than Jonathan "Persona" Kim, who is most well known for working on the Scott Pilgrim game and Skullgirls, and has done plenty of Sega fan art over the years. Loving the inclusion of Dynamite Dux, the Quartlet gang and even Teddy Boy there!

The book will be available to pre-order on Amazon (no link yet) sometime in December, with a $10 black and white version and a $25 full colour version, as well as a Kindle release for just $5. Hopefully the "volume 1" is an indication they have a 2nd volume in the works if this one sells well, so get on it!

Oh yeah and while you're at it go get Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, which just released here today.  Do it now.

UPDATE: It's out! You can get it from the following:

US Amazon: Color - $25.00
US Amazon: Black & White - $9.99
UK Amazon: Color - £15.99
UK Amazon: Black & White - £6.99
DE Amazon: Color - €21.39
DE Amazon: Black & White - €8.55
PDF Download at Sellfy - $4.99

Grabbed my copy, will show photos and review it when it arrives!

Say this in an angry Batman voice: "Where's Sonic?"

It's rare to see a Sonic book hitting shelves that isn't either the elusive History of Sonic book, or an Archie Comics compilation. So when I saw this, I was very intrigued. “Where’s Sonic?: A Search-And-Find Adventure” is a Where’s Waldo/Wally style book in which fans try and find Sonic as well as other items as they litter recognizable zones and stages from the franchise. Looks like they'll be using CG renders throughout, most likely pre-existing poses, and the book will probably only span Generations and perhaps Colors. However, I would be surprised if Riders, All-Stars Racing and Unleashed get their own pages. Currently the book is only listed in the UK and Australia. Amazon UK is taking pre-orders for £2.99 with free shipping within the UK. The release date is October 11th, so until then try to find Shadow creeping in the shadows in the image above.

The French Edition of The History of Sonic Book Goes to Print

Remember this thing? Back in December it was thought we'd be seeing it in January. Then it was pushed to February, then March. Well now, thanks to an email from publisher Pix'n Love, the book has been confirmed to be approved by SEGA and has now gone to print. The printing process will take four weeks. This all applies to the FRENCH version of the book, though it should be assumed that since an English version has been confirmed, that SEGA's approval covers both languages. The only question is: has the English version also gone to print? Pix'n Love's English site has yet to announce the book, so unfortunately at the moment there is no new news on the English version, but it's good to hear that the French version should be out by late April.

Sonic CD's Secret Strategy Guide

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

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

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

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

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

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

So, there's a new Sonic Sticker Book out in the UK..

If you regular any of the Sonic fan sites you will have heard about this. It actually took me a while to track one down from a WHSmith because it turns out the stores all keep them behind the till because they reckon kids will steal them. Doesn't explain the piles and piles of football stickers all over the stores, but whatever. Basically if you're in the UK still looking for one ask at the till. Not in the UK? Ebay's your best bet.

(Left) 1994 Album (Right) 2010 Album. Like you needed to be told that.

But is the album even any good? I've only just bought one and some stickers today but we'll have a quick look, and unfairly compare it to an almost complete 1994 Sonic sticker book after the jump.

Japanese Sega Art Book of Sheer Beauty Part 2: Scans!

As I promised here are some full scale scans from that wonderful Sega game illustrations book.

Here's a scanned example of one of the pages, which not only contains all that lovely felt-tip pen colored art from Sonic 1, but also talks of the characters' "charming and saucy nature". Hmm. No doubt the PAL Sonic 1 box art was nicer, though. More scans after the jump.

Japanese Sega Art Book of Sheer Beauty

Now, video game art books are by no means a rare thing in Japan, but Sega ones seem to be few and far between. However, I manged to find this one on Ebay some time ago and won it for about £12. The book contains a variety of artwork from many Mega Drive and Game Gear games, starring the main front cover art as full page spends and littered with character art from the lovely full colour manuals they got over there. More after the jump.