Sally Acorn a official Sega character?

[-Mark-]

Also, hang on... Sonic Spinball shouldn't even have an 'E' rating, should it? Weren't they using 'K-A' until the late 90s?

[Aquaslash]

Finally, some rare western art would actually be more-or-less consistent with Eggman's Japanese design, keeping his glasses and original outfit:

[Dr. Mechano]

I am 99.9% positive that this is in fact Japanese art for Sonic 3D Blast.

[Vertekins]

Not to mention that in the Mega Drive version at least (Don't know about the Saturn/PC version), there's a giant statue of Eggman in Panic Puppet. And it's the Japanese classic design including what clearly are his glasses.

[Aquaslash]

TBH, I kinda wish they used the JPN Eggman design in at least one of the shows. It's always nice to see it in animation.

[Shawn7]

he was in the sonic OVA

[Dr. Mechano]

he was in the sonic OVA

Yeah, but that was a Japanese production.

I think what Aquaslash is saying is that he'd like it if an on-model classic Eggman was in one of the western cartoons, and I agree with that sentiment.

I think Japanese Eggman would've lent himself well to AoStH especially; AoStH Robotnik's personality is decently close to what I imagine classic Eggman being like, and would have benefited from being on model. SatAM Robotnik is such a different character from game Eggman that- if any of the cartoons had to have a drastically different design from the games- it would make sense for it to be that one, so I couldn't see game Eggman in that context.

[Skull Leader]

I think the closest thing to seeing Classic Eggman animated in the western cartoon styel is the

short that was featured in Sonic Jam.

[SonikkuForever]

The fact of course is that Sega of America didnt really keep track of any actuall Sonic "canon" in the true sense of the word. So with this in mind, i think Sonic Spinball could be considered as "valid" a representation of Sega of Americas vision of Sonic as anything else.

That's probably because they were just writing little stories to put in the game manuals, which kids don't usually read anyway. I mean, who would have thought that people would be arguing over them 20 years later? Besides, it's my understanding that the different divisions of Sega (SOA, SOJ, SOE, etc.) had poor communication and thus the stories didn't always sync exactly. Also, we have to remember that this was the early 90s. The internet wasn't as widespread, and there was no Ebay, so it was unlikely that kids would come across another region's games unless they traveled there or found an import. Thus, the overlapping and changes between the storylines didn't really matter, because nobody would know. And really, is a ten-year old kid going to care about the names of the little squirrels that come out of the badniks? No, he's going to play the game.

It also makes more business sense to slightly alter some aspects of the story if it will promote something or use names that are familiar to the intended audience, like calling Amy Sally Acorn in the US version of Sonic CD, and using the cartoon version of Robotnik/Eggman to promote the cartoons.

And in the end, the only thing that matters is the game itself, not the little story that was typed in the beginning of the manual. Sonic is Sonic, no matter what universe he's in. There's a very well-written (except for the semi-frequent f-words) essay on Sonic Cult. It comes to the conclusion that SONIC HAS NO STORYLINE. It was built to be a generic series of games which could then be remarked on all shores with storylines and names and artwork specifically designed to appeal to the market of that country.

[Tornado]

Yeah, but that was a Japanese production.

I think what Aquaslash is saying is that he'd like it if an on-model classic Eggman was in one of the western cartoons, and I agree with that sentiment.

I think Japanese Eggman would've lent himself well to AoStH especially; AoStH Robotnik's personality is decently close to what I imagine classic Eggman being like, and would have benefited from being on model.

I dunno. It's hard to imagine how forcing everything to be on model would have done anything but hurt a lot of the humor in AoStH. Especially when SoJ Eggman was... I don't want to say dry, but he was certainly less expressive than AoStH Robotnik.

[Your Vest Friend]

OW! That article SonikkuForever posted made me head-desk, and now my brain's all dizzy. :<

*shakes it off* Basically, the crux of the article is that there is no storyline. Certainly in the past this wasn't the case, but good fucking God that hasn't been true since 1999. As we've seen in the recent past MANY times, there clearly is a backbone of a storyline in the games now, and it just so happens that it directly retcons at least some of the localisation stuff (I believe the origin of Tails meeting Sonic is one of the most prominent of these).

[SonikkuForever]

OW! That article SonikkuForever posted made me head-desk, and now my brain's all dizzy. :<

*shakes it off* Basically, the crux of the article is that there is no storyline. Certainly in the past this wasn't the case, but good fucking God that hasn't been true since 1999. As we've seen in the recent past MANY times, there clearly is a backbone of a storyline in the games now, and it just so happens that it directly retcons at least some of the localisation stuff (I believe the origin of Tails meeting Sonic is one of the most prominent of these).

I don't think Sonic Cult really cares too much about anything Adventure-onwards, and that article isn't supposed to pertain to much past Sonic Adventure, since all regions got the same game storylines from 1999-on. The message I'm getting from the article is:

-Game backstories varied by region, and because all are official, none are any more or less "real" than the others. So individual games did have storylines, but the series as a whole didn't have to have one.

What we know as the classic canon was mainly created by fans, in my opinion. Sure, there are some things that are obvious sequels, like the Death Egg Saga, but how do we know that Sonic CD took place between Sonic 1 and 2? Absence of Tails isn't convincing enough for me. Perhaps he was on vacation, or had a cold or something. And when you take into account the Game Gear games, it gets even more confusing. When did Sonic Labyrinth happen? And because the characters haven't aged, does that mean that all of the games happened within a year? Sonic's world must be a busy place.

Edited August 21, 2011 by SonikkuForever

[Unknown User]

Guys, I found the answer.

"Nope. Sally is approved of as a character owned partly by SEGA: SEGA own Ricky - Sally's original design. DIC actually own modern Sally, and has given the rights to Archie. But SEGA also has part in it becasue they own all Sonic based ideas and themes."

Can we go home now?