As part of the latest Nintendo Direct, SEGA has revealed our first look at Sonic Frontiers’ linear ‘cyberspace’ levels.
Via SEGA PR:
Entrances to Cyber Space made by the ancient civilization of Starfall Islands can be found all throughout the map. Sonic fans will solve puzzles and complete challenges to earn Portal Gears to unlock these entrances access Cyber Space levels featuring the traditional, fast-paced, speed running action platforming. They’ll need to complete the challenges in each Cyber Space level to receive Vault Keys to progress further in the game.
To the joy of probably very few people, one of the cyberspace levels has Sonic revisiting Green Hill Zone for the umpteenth time. Thankfully the other cyberspace level shown seems a lot less derivative, showing a suspended highway branching off in a multitude of directions. (more…)
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
SEGA aren’t exactly strangers to wheeling out the Classic Sonic games now. It’s a running joke amongst the fanbase that every Sonic fan owns at least 30 different copies of the original game across just about every gaming platform known to man. Hell – I had Sonic the Hedgehog on my chunky old iPod Classic! But after the rather staggering way SEGA stuffed up Sonic Colours Ultimate last year, I don’t think it’s unreasonable that some people were even more wary of Sonic Origins than they’d usually be. The good news is that this isn’t the mess that Sonic’s Wii outing got turned into. The bad news is that Sonic Origins is still a very flawed package, full of glaring errors and mistakes that are made more aggravating knowing they could’ve been very easily fixed.
Grind Stormer by Toaplan is a vertically scrolling shoot-em-up that seems very traditional on the surface, but it hides an extra gameplay style that drastically alters the main mechanics. Join us as we take a look at Grind Stormer for the Mega Drive!
Ivan “Ironman” Stewart’s Super Off Road is a fixed angle racing game where you can see the entire circuit without scrolling. When it made its way to the Mega Drive in 1992, the game lost the Ivan Stewart endorsement and it’s 3 player multiplayer. But is it still worth playing? Let’s find out together!
The first episode of “Sonic Origins: Speed Strats” has been released, a new series of trailers that offers a deeper look into the upcoming Sonic compilation coming to modern platforms.
This edition includes a look at the various modes and options on offer across the entire package, as detailed below (via SEGA PR)
Classic Mode – For a trip down memory lane, Classic Mode features the original game presentation in 4×3 with remastered visuals, finite lives and game overs. Classic Mode is available for all four titles and is unlocked from the start.
Anniversary Mode – If you are looking for something new, Anniversary Mode features a full 16×9 screen display and an infinite number of lives to keep the fun going without any game overs. Anniversary Mode is available for all four titles and is unlocked from the start.
Story Mode – Combines all four games into one adventure. Start with Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and end with Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles.
Animations / Cutscenes – Sonic Origins includes all-new animated opening and ending cutscenes for each game, connecting all of Sonic’s classic adventures.
Boss Rush Mode – Battle Dr. Eggman, Metal Sonic and other challenging foes in Boss Rush Mode.
Mission Mode – Take on various missions in all four games. The better you perform the higher your rank will be.
Mirror Mode – Once unlocked, experience classic levels in a brand new way – backwards.
Coins – Enjoy new rewards by collecting coins in Anniversary Mode or completing missions in Mission Mode. If players fail a special stage in Anniversary Mode, coins can be used to retry the stage instantly. Coins can also be used to redeem content in the museum.
Museum – Check out a ton of exciting music, concept art, videos and never-before-seen content found in the Premium Collection Vault.
Notable points in the trailer include a look at a new intro for Tails in Sonic 3 & Knuckles (we actually see him land the plane this time!), and re-iterating that Sonic CD will retains its original intro and outro cutscenes, fully remastered – in addition to the brand new cutscenes made for the game’s Story Mode.
As a cool aside, this trailer was produced by Strategy Guide PR, and as a result the narration was provided by Evan from our friends over at TailsChannel. It’s nice to see SEGA finding ways to bring fans into the fold, especially given the remasters in Origins started out as a simple pitch from a fan that then exploded into something more as the years went by.
Sonic Origins launches June 23rd on PS4, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.
When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.
In an interview composed with Brad Buxer back in May, Brad Buxer confirms that the majority of the music composed for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was actually done by him and not Michael Jackson.
Buxer confirms that Michael Jackson had signed on to compose music for the soundtrack, but the actual writing duties fell to Buxer as he was Jackson’s main songwriting collaborator at the time. Buxer confirms he wrote 41 audio cues for Sonic 3 and Jackson only had input on one of them. He does not specify which song Jackson had input on and he does not specify which of the 41 audio cues ended up in the final game. We know for a fact that Ice Cap Zone was written by Brad Buxer because the melodies line-up with Buxer’s own song Hard Times that he recorded with the band The Jetzons.
Buxer also confirms that writing for the song Stranger in Moscow also came from the same sessions that produced the 41 audio cues for Sonic 3. Stranger in Moscow is often compared to the Sonic 3 credits theme as the songs share a similar chord progression. As this song was written separately from the Sonic 3 audio cues, it is more likely a coincidence that the songs sound similar.
5 other composers are credited for Sonic 3’s music: Bobby Brooks, Darryl Ross, Geoff Grace, Doug Grigsby III and C. Cirocco Jones. This means it is highly unlikely that all of Buxer’s 41 audio cues were used in the final game. You can watch an isolated segment of Brad Buxer’s May 2022 interview with Abbey Road Institute Paris below:
SEGA have revealed the home video release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will feature a brand new animated short film voiced by Ben Schwartz that will follow the events directly after the movie.
Alongside the reveal of the new animated short film, a whole host of additional content has been revealed. The blu-ray and digital release of the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 movie will feature deleted scenes, bloopers, behind-the-scenes content and some additional featurettes called Rapid Fire Responses, Robotnik Reimagined, Finding Your Team, A Sibling For Sonic: Tails and The Powerful Puncher: Knuckles.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will release on blu-ray and digital on August 9th 2022.
Remember the Sonic 30th Anniversary Symphony concert that debuted online last year? The concert will be returning as a live event starting in October 2022 at the Brazil Game Show in October.
While the show is promised to be similar in scope to the online version, SEGA have promised some “new surprises” for the live event. This news was revealed in the most recent Sonic Central presentation. Further dates have yet to be announced outside the Brazil Game Show, but they are promised to be “coming soon”.
You can watch the original Sonic 30th Anniversary Symphony concert via the embed below:
In the most recent Sonic Central presentation, SEGA have revealed that Shadow the Hedgehog will make an appearance in the upcoming Netflix show, Sonic Prime. Check it out via the embed below:
Sonic Prime is promised to be “coming soon” to Netflix and will mark the first animated Sonic the Hedgehog show since ended in November 2017.
We’ve got a double dose of Sonic Frontiers gameplay footage to look at today. IGN have uploaded an 8 minute gameplay video full of hands-on impressions from Mitchell Saltzman of IGN who’s been given 4 hours of play time with an early build of the game. You can watch this via the embed below:
IGN share a lot of new information about the game in this hands-on. Sonic and friends are transported to the game’s new location through a wormhole and Sonic quickly gets separated from the crew and has to explore the new world himself. Sonic also earns XP which can be spent on new abilities. Areas in the game are also called Open Zones which seems to suggest that the game isn’t entirely open world – focusing more on larger, self-contained areas.
We also get more in-game footage of Sonic Frontiers in action via the most recent Sonic Central video which you can also see via the embed below:
As you can see, more larger enemies are showcased in this footage, as well as different times of day.
We also get the news that Sonic Frontiers will receive a short animated prequel film called Sonic Frontiers Prologue. Sonic Frontiers Prologue will launch before the game’s release later this year.
Sonic Frontiers will launch on PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC in “Holiday 2022”.
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