Sega Fan Art of the Year 2010

Now that the Sega Memories DeviantArt group has been around for about a year, here are some of my personal favorites that are featured at the gallery and were submitted to DeviantArt throughout this year.

Depths of South Island by gsliverfish

Outrun by JustinZiarko

More after the jump!

Must read Yu Suzuki Interview at 1UP

Yu Suzuki is the man. He has unfortunately been rather inactive in the gaming world ever since Shenmue tanked, but he is truly the king of arcade gaming, innovating the field time and time again during the 80's and 90's. James Mielke, who works at Q Entertainment has interviewed Yu Suzuki for 1UP and the first part, talking about the early days of his career amongst other things, is up right now with further installments coming up later in the week. It's defiantly worth checking out.

EDIT: Part two is up now. in this part we get a lot of info on the production of Shenmue, why Suzuki has been so quiet lately, and some rather fascinating insights into the production of Space Harrier.

Sonic Colours Pre-Order Figure...with Wisps!

If you are reading this blog, own a Wii and have not played Sonic Colours yet, why are you reading this blog? Go grab this game because it's actually rather good. Not even just rather good but rather brilliant. I know, I was shocked too. I haven't enjoyed a Sonic game this much from beginning to end since probably Sonic & Knuckles, and somehow even the writing and voice acting is light years ahead of "Watch out you're going to crash ahh!" of the Dreamcast days. Blimey.

As many may recall there was a pre-order bonus for this game in America was that now infamous Sonic hat (so much so that there was a whole ice rink of Sonic mad hatters tripping about for the games' launch), but elsewhere in the world we got this figure (above) instead. In Australia and possible some other countries the game came in a special edition box of the game with the figure, but here in the UK it was given in a little bag stapled together by some cardboard and was only available from the catalog store Argos. More after the bump..

10" Sonic and the Sonic PVC 6-pack!

 As 2010 comes to an end, so too does a great year for Sonic toys! This year we saw toymaker Jazwares make a huge step up in quality and number of new figures. Meanwhile, First 4 Figures covered the collectible side of things with an awesome Super Sonic statue and a great collection of PVC figures. Today I thought I'd highlight two recent acquisitions: Jazware's 10" Sonic and First 4 Figures PVC 6-pack!

The Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love Premium Pack!

While SEGA's Sakura Taisen franchise is insanely popular in Japan, having a number of main series games and spin-offs spanning the Saturn era through to the Dreamcast and Playstation 2, it has had little presence in English speaking regions. The fifth game in the series, Sakura Taisen V: Farewell, My Love, hit the Japanese PS2 in 2005. It wasn't until 5 years later that the game received a very unexpected English language version. The PS2 received a handsome special edition box (America only from what I can tell) while the Wii received a standard version (which hit both America and Europe). While the game released back in March, it wasn't until this weekend that I got around to picking up a copy for $30 at GameStop, marked down $10.

So what does this awesome box contain? Let's take a look!

Happy Halloweekend from SEGA Memories!

Check out the consoles Eggman pumpkin I carved! I considered doing one more accurate to his game appearance, but in the end I free styled and gave him AoStH eyes and a totally goofy smile. I'd imagine he's saying "I hate that Hedgehog! Hurdurrr!". Doctor Eggpumpnik, as I've named him, is currently shriveling on our balcony, becoming more and more rotten as the days go by. I'm sure it's what he would have wanted. Happy Halloween!

Sonic NBA Jam!

a plaid couch doesn't make for a great backdrop

I'd like to say that I have a nostalgic tale to tell about the above t-shirt, but truthfully I recently bought it in an eBay impulse buy. Now usually I try not to go for stuff like children's clothing and plushies, mainly because I have to retain a shred of manliness. However this shirt is an exception. Why? Read more to find out!

A SegaWorld Coin, and a rather jammy story.

Here's an interesting story sent in to me via e-mail by a reader called Daniel recently.

"Back when I was about 9 I was invited to Sega World by my friend. His dad was the manager of it back then so I could spend the day there as the official ride and game tester! I was given lots of these Sega World gold coins that let me play anything I wanted for free. From time crisis to a trackball version of sonic (in Japanese) to a bobsleigh game played in bobsleighs I spent all of these coins. Except one. This one..."

"As I couldn't find any info about them on the net I thought I would share with you this rare piece of sonic memorabilia!"

Thanks Daniel! Now I'm just a bit jealous of that Sega related moment of your childhood.

Sonic OVERLOAD: 74 Happy Meal Toys

There are eBay auctions, and then there are Totally X-Treme eBay Auctionz! This one is the latter. Just look at that! I have no idea who would need that many Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Happy Meal toys, nor would I have any idea how one came across that many. The price is actually decent: between $20 and $40 depending on bidding or buy it now. Unless you plan to resell the toys to make a profit, or are some crazy conceptual artist who wants to make a sculpture out of these, I see no reason for one to place a bid. Still, they make for a great photo.

Note: despite there being 74 toys, it still is not a complete set. Tails is M.I.A.

Original auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/74-Vintage-SONIC-HEDGEHOG-1994-McDonalds-Lot-TOYS-NR-/380278726473?pt=Fast_Food_Cereal_Premiums&hash=item588a60df49

Sonic Topps Trading Cards: The Best and the Weirdest Stickers

Back in 1993 when Sonic ruled the merchandising world, a major trading card company called Topps joined in the fun and released a sixty-six card set of Sonic cards. While I only just recently picked up a complete set off eBay, I remember vividly buying as many packs as I could when the cards released. Sadly, I was only able to obtain half the set and since then the little case holding the cards was lost in the shuffle of growing up. However the cards do still exist somewhere in my parents house, perhaps in the same box that contains my Sonic 1 and 2 strategy guides and official Sonic Archie comics art. But enough crying about my misplaced SEGA treasures, lets take a look at the cards!