UPDATE 5: RianaLD has posted a new journal entry at her devianART detailing Steve Lycett’s apology on behalf of a level artist and how the mistake happened. Steve reports that Sonia appears in both disc and Steam PC versions under low detail track settings.
Thanks again Silva Rymes for the heads up!
/UPDATE 5 END

UPDATE 4: Executive Producer at Sumo Digital Steve Lycett has just commented on the situation in a post at the SSMB :

Wow, I have a night off – and I miss all this

We take these things seriously at Sumo and will be contacting the original artist directly to offer our sincere apologies to her, this was entirely unintentional.

Not much else I can really add!

—
S0L
—

/UPDATE 4 END

UPDATE 3: After some research we’ve discovered the Sonia card only appears in the Steam edition of the PC version with the disc release displaying Amy. RianaLD the owner of the artwork has the PC version and confirmed the artwork is in that version. RianaLA lives in the U.S. where only the Steam version is available so we’re pretty confident its the Steam version with the Sonia artwork while the EU only disc release displaying Amy.
At 0:52 -
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At 0:45
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bzdrte5 has also helped 100% confirm it is in the Steam version in a post with a screenshot at the SEGA Forums. Thanks bzdrte5!
/UPDATE 3 END

UPDATE 2: RianaLD has posted a follow up statement at her deviantART.
Thanks Silva Rymes for the heads up!
/UPDATE 2 END

UPDATE: Lightning_Duchess now known as RianaLD has made a statement regarding her Sonia art being in Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing. You can check it out at her devianART page.
Thanks Silva Rymes for the heads up!
/UPDATE END

SSMB Member Yuluga has just brought to our attention a cameo appearance from Sonic Underground’s Sonia in Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing’s Roulette Road course discovered by members of Sonic Reikai forums. The appearance was spotted in a YouTube gameplay video but we have just checked it out ourselves in the Wii version and snapped the above photo of the cameo and can confirm this is the real deal. The cameo has also been noticed by fans in the PC version but as for the other 3 versions we’ve checked them out and it is nowhere to be found.

The above picture of the card has apparently been extracted from the game and the Sonia artwork on the card look’s very similar to a piece of fan artwork by deviantArt user lightning_duchess which you can check out below.

We’ll query this with Sumo Digital’s Steve Lycett and report any information we can obtain here.

Thanks to Yuluga for the heads up!

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74 Responses

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Brocky_Christ says:
11 March, 2010 at 3:03 pm

i have to agree,

RianaLD took this in a very mature way and to be honest, im rather impressed

rafthehay says:
11 March, 2010 at 3:43 pm

Yep, I guess this is a happy ending. It’s just as she said, it’s not as if she owned the character anyway. She does have the copyright of the picture itself, but, well, not only RianaLD but everybody here, i guess, would be pretty proud to see their own artwork in the game. It’s a minor cameo, probably a misunderstanding, as they said, but still it’s good to see it there. Of course, SEGA should act in a mature way and apologize for that in a official way. It IS fanart, but even fanart is something created by someone, so it contains effort and intellectual property.

I think I’m writing too much.

HiFiHedgehog says:
11 March, 2010 at 4:13 pm

Is there a way to patch the disc version so I can have Sonia? I actually avoided getting the Steam version by importing the disc, and now I’m missing out. Could someone please MegaUpload the Steam Sonia file for me?

Thanks…
-HiFi

PS: I’d be happy if my artwork was featured in a game. I call this mistake a big win for both parties!

T-Bird says:
11 March, 2010 at 4:40 pm

I think it’s nice to have this little unintentional easter egg in there – again I’m amazed with the hawk eyes of some of the people in this community. I think we all we we could have our art in a Sonic game! (Oh wait, I do! :3)

sonictoast says:
11 March, 2010 at 4:41 pm

@Jayfoxfire

I’m pretty sure Sonia is a SEGA character. On all Sonic products it reads “Sonic the Hedgehog and all related characters are the property of SEGA”.

Sonia is a related character therefore i believe SEGA owns her.

BTW I liked your “so much more” video.

Pauinho says:
11 March, 2010 at 5:23 pm

Wrong.
I Own the Disc Version, I’m from europe, and Sonia is in my game too! (Bought the disc at Worten’s Store in Portugal)
As far as i saw, it’s in Wii and ALL PC Versions, not only in Steams version.

If you need, i post screen shots to prove it.
But eh, she must be proud, after all, her work is in a super great name, and if Sumo’s is going to apologize, that means that her work isn’t bad! (and it isn’t at all).

Shadzter says:
11 March, 2010 at 5:43 pm

@ sonictoast
“Sonia is a related character therefore i believe SEGA owns her.”

I see what you did there lol!

HiFiHedgehog says:
11 March, 2010 at 5:50 pm

I just read the involved person’s dA journal. Maybe she’ll get a job from Sega out of all of this… lol

Secretchaos1 says:
11 March, 2010 at 6:14 pm

My bro noticed this when he first played the track XD I found it kinda odd that there would be a cameo to something like Sonic Underground, so I’m not surprised that this was a mistake.

slam422 says:
11 March, 2010 at 7:08 pm

I, er, must be missing something entirely, because I cannot see it in either video. It’s Amy on the card, Sonia.

rafthehay says:
11 March, 2010 at 7:13 pm

@slam422
Not the card on the background, but the one on the racetrack, where Sonic’s car is.

JayFoxFire says:
11 March, 2010 at 7:34 pm

@sonictoast

O_o Sega owns Sonia? And not Sally Acorn? <__< she was in that Sega World in Australia before it was closed down.

Thank you XD Glad you like it

D00dlebug says:
11 March, 2010 at 8:36 pm

Hey anyone ever wondered how they make Sonic toys? Go to: http://blogs.sega.com/usa/2010/03/11/qa-with-joe-amaro-from-jazwares/ to find out lol

D00dlebug says:
11 March, 2010 at 8:38 pm

Is this Sonia’s first ever mention in a Sonic Video Game? (Not including the LCD Sonic Underground of course)

Dakota Jones says:
11 March, 2010 at 11:13 pm

@D00dlebug

Yeah, basically lol

TheWax says:
11 March, 2010 at 11:16 pm

@Shadzter
I have the Steam version. Also yes, I went to Roulette Road. Its Amy on the floor.

Shadzter says:
11 March, 2010 at 11:22 pm

@ TheWax

Hmm… I’ve had 1 report from someone who has found it in the PC disc version too. I wonder if this is a case of it happening in most but not all PC copies regardless of wether it is the Steam or disc version? Maybe there’s a coding error that triggers it in certain PC set ups? It’s very weird, it’s definitely in all Wii copies though.

Silva Rymes says:
12 March, 2010 at 2:34 am

Final thoughts on the situation by Riana.

http://rianald.deviantart.com/journal/30845710/

Includes an explanation she’s been given by Sumo.

HiFiHedgehog AKA Sonichedgehog360 says:
12 March, 2010 at 3:19 pm

@The Wax: From Riana’s journal…

“Somehow they missed it on the Wii version and the ‘low detail tracks’ of the PC version.”

So if you have the low detail settings on (is this automatic or user controlled?), then you’ll end up with Sonia on the floor. It’s NOT Steam or disc specific, then.

slam422 says:
12 March, 2010 at 7:25 pm

@rafthehay: I was looking at the one on the track. I tried looking again and it still looked like Amy to me.

Maybe it’s just the quality of the video making it so I can’t see it outside of a screenshot. Since I’ll end up getting the Wii version anyway, I may as well wait to see it in-game.

Angel C. says:
12 March, 2010 at 7:31 pm

Well, all’s well that ends well.

That’s one interesting story, right there.

Shadzter says:
12 March, 2010 at 7:41 pm

@ slam422
If you’re looking for it in the videos they are comparisons, the Shadow one shows Amy and the Aiai video shows Sonia.

Sam says:
13 March, 2010 at 7:38 pm

I don’t understand how it’s theft when it’s not her friggin’ character.

Dakota Jones says:
14 March, 2010 at 5:21 pm

@Sam

Its not the character that their complaining about dude, Its Riana’s PICTURE of the character that she owns and has copyright of, that they used unintentionally in the game

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