If you want to know what’s happening in the world of Sonic the Hedgehog, then you’re in the right place! The Sonic Stadium’s News section is your first stop for all the latest information. Whether it’s news about video games, comics, TV shows or even movies, we have you covered!
We finally have an idea of what Sonic 2’s most infamously named scrapped level, Genocide City (aka Cyber City) would’ve looked like. For the first time ever, some pixel art and the palette from the long lost stage have been released to the public courtesy of video game developer, preservationist and historian Frank Cifaldi. Cifaldi took a photo of documents featuring the art during a meeting with Tom Payne, a Sonic 2 level designer who worked on Genocide City. Take a look:
Cifaldi posted the photo to the discord of Hidden Palace, a game preservation site, and it eventually found its way to Sonic Retro thanks to Sonic Retro user The joebro64. Sonic Retro researcher ICEknight took the palette from the documents and applied it to Metropolis Zone Act 3, known to be a leftover from Genocide City’s development, to give us an idea of what the level might’ve looked like in game. Check out their work below:
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The company shared the news on its official Japanese Sonic Twitter account, pointing to the game’s recent accolades with the “Japan Game Awards 2022 Future Category Winner” and “Famitsu Dengeki Game Awards 2022 Best Action Adventure” award wins.
We crunched some numbers and calculated that Frontiers is just 400k units away from surpassing Sonic Heroes to become one of the best-selling 3D Sonic the Hedgehog games ever. That’s very exciting!
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Did you know that spinoff Mega Drive title Sonic Spinball is going to be 30 years old this November? Well you probably did actually, because you’re a huge Sonic fan just like us. It seems that Sonic Team in Japan has remembered this fact, as they are focusing on an iconic scene in the pinball action game for its latest art piece.
Posted on the official Japanese Sonic Channel Twitter account, the new artwork features the blue blur chilling out in a handy drum barrel as he paddles his way through the game’s first stage, Toxic Caves. He seems rather embarrassed to be there – probably because whoever is controlling him can’t keep him on the pinball table. Still, it beats swimming in all that green gunge, doesn’t it Sonic?
Weirdly, the Twitter post accompanying this art piece mentions that this is a “commemorative illustration of “Sonic Spinball” celebrating its 30th anniversary this month” (via machine translation – emphasis ours). Sonic Spinball’s original release date in the West was actually November 1993, and in Japan it was the following month in December – so unless Sonic’s been using some leftover Time Stones that we’re not aware of, Sonic Channel might be getting a bit excited ahead of time here.
Still, it’s really nice to see some Spinball representation from the Japanese ‘Team, and we’re all here for it.
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The first free content update for Sonic Frontiers will arrive on Thursday March 23, according to a reveal made via SEGA’s official Sonic the Hedgehog newsletter bulletin.
Originally announced in December to promote a slate of upcoming content for 2023, the “Sights, Sounds and Speed” update will include some bonus quality-of-life features for players dashing around the Starfall Islands – including a Jukebox feature, Photo Mode and some additional challenges.
Later in the year, Sonic Frontiers players will be able to enjoy even beefier updates, including a birthday celebration and additional Story chapters involving new playable characters.
Are you looking forward to the imminent update? Let us know in the comments below!
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It is turning into a surprisingly active year for Samba de Amigo. In addition to the brand new game announced last month, the ever-impressive Dreamcast community has released an English conversion for the system’s Japanese-exclusive expanded version, Samba de Amigo Ver. 2000. This conversion was put together and released on Github by dukeblooder. You can find the patch over at Romhacking.net, and find instructions and additional information on the conversion here.
This conversion isn’t a translation, per se. Instead, dukeblooder has simply replaced the Japanese original’s text images with their English equivalents from the US/PAL versions of the 2008 Wii release. This method was able to convert most of the game into English, though it is constrained by some limitations. The internet page is still in Japanese, the results screen for the “Love Love” mini game is still in Japanese, and the Volleyball mini game voiced instructions were removed. Despite that, this game is now fully playable to English speakers for the first time ever. The game is playable on an emulator, and should be playable on Dreamcast hardware, though we haven’t tried that out yet.
CD Romance posted a tweet showing off the patch in action:
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Forget March Madness: the Sonic community’s own utterly inconsequential, completely-for-fun single elimination knockout bracket tournament, “Metallic Madness,” is currently underway over on Twitter. The annual “tournament,” which initially started back in 2016, pits 64 unique entrants across four different categories until only one remains. After going on a one-year hiatus, it was brought back – with last year’s victor being IDW’s Whisper the Wolf, who defeated Agent Stone to become “Queen of the Ring.”
This year’s four categories are: Games, Universe, Comics, and Community. The tournament is set to run until April 3. If you want to vote, head over to Metallic Madness’s Twitter account, here.
This is where the bracket currently stands as of this writing:
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The latest in Just Toy’s line of Craftable Sonic action figures have just popped up on Amazon, with this latest series featuring modern versions of the Sonic cast. Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow, Amy and Tails are all available, complete with their own “scenes” that can be combined into one larger scene once all of the characters are collected and assembled.
However, if these interest you, be forewarned: these are sold in blind boxes, meaning you can’t be sure which ones you’ll get when you order them off of Amazon. The characters are sold for $11 a piece, and you can pre-order them here. They are set to ship next week, on March 23.
Check out images of the toys in the gallery below:
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That Tails statue First4Figures revealed last week is now officially up for pre-order, with a special “Early Bird” discount that will run from today through April 16.
The available models, as well as the early bird and regular pricing, are listed below:
The base model without any bells or whistles, priced at $475/$500.
The Exclusive Edition. Gives Tails second hand with a wrench that can be switched out, and the base glows. Priced at $480/$510
The Definitive Edition. Adds three wisps to the exclusive edition version. Priced at $535/$570.
The pre-order pages also have a lot of photos of the Tails statue. You can catch them all at the pre-order link, but we’ve got a gallery with images of all three statues below:
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As a longtime, adult Sonic fan, I am often jealous of the toys kids get these days. Why couldn’t we get the anthropomorphized Sonic truck hauling a chest full of giant medical supplies?! Or the rideable Sonic car?! Or the Sonic-branded Sonic tool set in a rolling suitcase…?
Wait what?
Right, okay, enough with my schtick. So these things exist:
Sonic if he crossed over with Pixar’s Cars, apparentlySonic’s carsona as a baby.I don’t know who asked for a Sonic toolset, but here it is
These appear to be part of a line of officially licensed Sonic Prime toys, though the use of the license doesn’t seem to extend much beyond “slap Sonic Prime renders on various otherwise unrelated kids toys.” The toys are manufactured by Dede, a Turkish toy company, and as such are currently only available on Turkish websites. The site with the widest selection is Dede’s own online store, Fen Toys.
Now, you may be looking at these and thinking, “wait, did they just take some generic toy truck and slap Sonic’s eyes on it?” and…yes! Yes they did! All of these toys are essentially just variations of existing non-licensed toys, with the Sonic medical tools truck being based on this Medical Set Truck toy. Looking around the website, that’s true for all of these, and they’ve also done this for other licensed characters like Spider-man and Mickey Mouse. Nevertheless, this is Sonic merch, and most importantly weird Sonic merch, so we are obliged to cover it.
So here’s a gallery of every single Sonic toy Dede is selling:
Sonic Medical Set TruckSonic Road SetSonic My First CarMy Sonic Doctor Set SuitcaseMy Sonic Repair Kit LuggageSonic Medical BoxSonic Tool BoxSonic Repair Set Truck
Yeah, I am pretty jealous of the Sonic toys today’s kids get. But I also feel kind of bad for Sonic merch collectors, because there’s more of it then ever, and anyone who wants a truly complete collection needs to buy rebranded stuff like this.
Nevertheless, if anyone has ever wanted a Sonic branded set of medical tools in a little plastic rolling suitcase…it is a good time to be alive.
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May 2023 marks 30 years since the launch of the UK-based Sonic the Comic, and to celebrate this milestone, the Sonic the Comic Online team are crowdfunding to host an event in York, UK.
The Kickstarter has already surpassed more than 200% of it’s original goal, and is set to include a host of events including art classes and tutorials, competions, Q&A sessions with US artists from the IDW comic such as Tracey Yardley and Reggie Graham. There is also an opportunity to meet some of the original team behind the comic such as Nigel Kitching, Richard Elson, Ferran Rodriguez, Debra Tate, Lew Stringer, and Richard Burton. In addition to this, a special convention issue of the comic will be produced as a commemorative item.
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As bad as Sonic 2006 ended up being, I still have fond memories of the lead-up to the game’s release. Among them, I remember sitting at my desktop computer, watching a poor quality video of a “real time day night system” from the game’s TGS 2005 tech demo, recorded off-screen by the now-defunct game website Kikizo. While the feature wouldn’t make it into the final game, seventeen years later we’ve finally been afforded a better look at the game’s alpha footage.
Kikizo founder Adam Doree uploaded the footage, as part of a wider effort to release the website’s footage at a level of quality the internet wasn’t capable of in 2005. The footage give us our best look yet at Sonic 2006’s 2005 build, including the epic E3 2005 trailer.
Unfortunately, as noted earlier, this footage is still offscreen, but this is likely the best we’ll get until the TGS footage is either leaked to the internet or released officially by SEGA.
You can find the footage for Sonic 2006, and for the “SEGA the Future” presentation it was a part of, at Adam Doree’s channel here, or embedded below:
In addition to the Sonic 2006 footage, he also has footage for Fifth Phantom Saga, a canceled Sonic Team first person shooter. We reported on that here.
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The mid-2000s were a wild time for games. Technology was advancing at an amazing pace, developers were playing with unprecedented HD visuals and motion controls, and the idea of Sonic Team making a first person shooter wasn’t absurd, but simple reality. Said FPS, “Fifth Phantom Saga,” was initially shown at Sony’s big PS3 reveal at E3 2005, before eventually getting a more in-depth showing later that year at the Tokyo Game Show.
The game would never see the light of day, and very little media from it has ever been released. That is what makes today’s piece of news so cool: high quality off-screen footage of the game’s TGS trailer and Yuji Naka-presented tech demo has been uploaded by Adam Doree, founder of the now-defunct video game website Kikizo. The footage, which was recorded by Kikizo, has only ever been available in low quality until now, due to the limitations of the internet at the time.
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A few months ago, we reported Sonic toys suddenly arriving in Burger Kings in Spain. At the time the full scope of this promotion was unknown, but we now know this won’t just be confined to Europe: these toys are now available in the US!
Twitter user @TheSpeedSpirit broke the news revealing that he picked up two toys, including an Amy-themed puzzle cube and a miniature Sonic basketball game with Sonic & Knuckles hoops.
The other is more unique, I thought it was frisbee lol 😂 Instead, you flip Sonic over and it’s a game of basketball. You shake the toy to drop the ball (a Chaos Emerald) into a Sonic or Knuckles themed hoop. Gonna keep my eye out for the others (and any promos) pic.twitter.com/2JFbEDbriS
A total of six toys are available. In addition to what SpeedSpirit posted, there’s also an Eggman fidget spinner, and other toys themed around Sonic, Tails and Shadow. Check out an image featuring all of them below:
There’s no telling how long these toys will be available, so if you want them you might want to swing by a Burger King at some point in the next few weeks.
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Model maker First4Figures has revealed that it will be producing a brand new Tails statue from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. The figure will be made of resin, feature a Modern Tails design with a Miles Electric-themed base, and will go live for pre-orders on March 14.
Unveiled via teaser videos and social images on the company’s Twitter channel, F4F is also announcing a special promotion on the upcoming product. Any customer who has already ordered a Sonic product directly from the company will be eligible for a $35 voucher off the price of the Tails statue (although there is currently no price on this new model… we’re bracing our wallets…).
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Shadow fans, rejoice! According to IDW Sonic comics writer and artist Evan Stanley, SEGA has established some revised guidelines on how to work with the moody anti-hero, opening the door for Stanley, Flynn and co to further develop his character arc in the future.
Addressing questions about the “red tape” around writing for Shadow, Stanley revealed on Tumblr that the guidelines have become a lot clearer in recent times, allowing more freedom for writers looking to flesh out his character on paper.
We’ve gotten some clearer, more workable guidelines for how to handle [Shadow]! I had very little trouble writing his part in the upcoming issues, and SEGA’s notes actually feed me up to write him more how I’d like to.
Whereas in the past, SEGA’s strict guidelines surrounding Shadow only left enough room for comic authors to write him in as a rather two-dimensional character, there now seems to be an active interest from the Sonic Brand team to make the Chaos Controller more understood. Stanley recalls a recent situation in a separate Tumblr post about this and how SEGA’s change of heart has opened up doors for the character.
Shadow being more understood is precisely what happened. I’m reminded of a scene in an upcoming issue where in the original draft Shadow acted without explaining himself, only giving an aggressive, confident response to his team-mates. This isn’t how I would have liked him to handle the situation. But in previous issues, this is how I’ve been asked to write him… so that’s what I did.
So you can imagine my delight to get the script back from SEGA with the request to have him instead explain his reasoning when it makes sense to do so and to showcase his intelligence, pragmatism, and capacity for strategy in the future. Not only does this make him much more workable within storylines, it helps make it clear that his “pride” is, from his perspective, a non-judgemental statement of fact and not an ego trip. It’s also an honest reflection of reality– 99 out of 100 times he really IS that good.
It all sounds really promising, and hopefully this will mean Shadow will have the space to grow as a character and not just be some grumpy git without much of a motive anymore.
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Sonic the Hedgehog’s silver screen adventures just keep on winning, as the 2022 Paramount movie sequel ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’ took the prize of ‘Favourite Movie’ at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards 2023.
The live-action movie, which pits Sonic and Tails against Dr. Robotnik and Knuckles, beat out Hollywood rivals such as ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’, ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’, ‘Black Adam’, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ and others to win the award.
It’s no surprise that the movie won the hearts and minds of kids worldwide, with the movie grossing over $400 million at the box office since its premiere last year. Let’s hope the awards keep on rolling for Paramount and the Sonic movie team!
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Today in his first trial, former Sonic Team head Yuji Naka admits to having knowledge of unannounced games prior to buying stock in Square Enix partners.
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The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
The Sonic Stadium may link to retailers and earn a small commission on purchases made from users who click those links. These links will only appear in articles related to the product, in an unobtrusive manner, and do not influence our editorial decisions in any way.
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IDW is set to re-release its popular Sonic 30th Anniversary special book later this year, with a paperback edition titled “Sonic the Hedgehog: Seasons of Chaos”.
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Sonic Forces Mobile will get Prime-flavoured once again next week, as a brand new character event takes place that will see players racing to win a custom “Boscage Maze” Sonic.
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The artwork that has graced the covers of the IDW Sonic the Hedgehog series has been nothing short of spectacular – and the piece to be used for issue 59 is no exception!
Artist Natalie Haines has chosen to put down the digital pen in favour of the brush, to create this spectacular 3′ x 2′ acrylic on canvas piece.
Haines took cues from Renaissance masters, citing on Twitter it had always been a hope to create something in a more academic style.
I took lots of inspiration from classic paintings, and also specifically from “The Fallen Angel” by Alexandre Cabanel for Shadow himself.
Natalie Haines
I think we can all agree this piece is nothing short of spectacular!
IDW Sonic the Hedgehog issue 59 will be available from the 29th of March 2023.
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The next wave of the fantastic JAKKS Pacific Sonic the Hedgehog figure line have already been spotted in the wild!
The 10cm series sees both Super Silver and Jet the Hawk join the lineup, with their first JAKKS incarnations appearing alongside another classic Sonic, and a Modern Tails with the Miles Electric pad.
The wave 12 mini series is also set to continue adding Badniks to the range, including Newton.
Stay tuned for more JAKKS Pacific Sonic news!
Image credit: @Sokosokovia on twitter
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A rare English language version of the sit-in arcade game SEGA Sonic Cosmo Fighter has been dumped and released to the public. It’s not currently playable, but fans can download the ROM in anticipation of the game being operable on the MAME emulator when it is net updated.
The ROM dump was provided by Twitter user “IAMAMAZING100” (which is, actually, an amazing name), who has reportedly been in possession of a legitimate SEGA Sonic Cosmo Fighter arcade cabinet since June 2021.
While there is currently no way to play the ROM once downloaded, eager Sonic fans have taken to run the file through audio software regardless to see what happens… and surprisingly enough you can hear the voices of Sonic and Eggman as the game runs.
SEGA Sonic Cosmo Fighter was already an incredibly rare piece of Sonic (and arcade) history, due to its extremely limited Japan-only run in the early 90s, but the fact that a legitimate English language version exists has been something of a legendary find. The fact that we have a dump that may soon be playable will go a long way for arcade game preservation efforts.
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Solicitations for IDW Sonic Issue 61 has come through the wire, and while it doesn’t give us an awful lot of information to go on, it does suggest that this book will mark the end of the long-running Urban Warfare story arc.
The complete, three-line synopsis can be seen below. Story is being written by Evan Stanley, with lineart by Adam Bryce Thomas.
This is it! The end! (Of the arc, that is)
Everyone is focused on the command tower: if that goes down, the city will fall.
But are 3 teams enough to stop something it seems even Dr. Eggman can’t control?
No cover has yet to be revealed, but we do know that Mauro Fonseca is lined up to handle Cover A duties, with Miles Arq and Nathalie Fourdraine pegged for Covers B and RI respectively.
The release date is currently set for 24 May 2023, but knowing how IDW is with keeping to schedule we should expect that release to be delayed over the next couple weeks.
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