Roger Craig Smith’s tenure voicing SEGA’s beloved mascot Sonic the Hedgehog has come to a somewhat abrupt end, as he’s announced through Twitter that after 10 years, he’s moving “onward to new zones.”
It’s certainly a surprise; for the past decade, Smith’s voice has become synonymous with the hedgehog for an entire generation of young fans. The older generations couldn’t seem to agree, but for our money he was probably the most consistently solid English voice Sonic’s had to date.
Should this mean we won’t be hearing Smith in the next Sonic game, it’d mean his final role as Sonic wasn’t actually a Sonic game; he recently voiced the blue blur in Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, as part of a recent content update.
It goes without saying, but we wish Smith all the best in whatever’s next for him. For many Sonic fans, now the question is – who’s next? Unsurprisingly, Ben Schwartz is a name popping up quite a lot on Twitter right now, after his stellar perfomance as Sonic’s movie counterpart – but only time will tell.
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.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Sonic Cafe line of mobile games they were a series of i-Mode titles released exclusively in Japan between 2001 and 2007. The service is due to be discontinued which has sparked Japanese YouTuber Ruwa into action. Ruwa is currently capturing as many i-Mode games as possible and among them are direct feed captures of various Sonic Cafe titles like Sonic Darts, Sonic Golf, Sonic Jump and Sonic Kart 3DX. It makes for some truly fascinating viewing for Western SEGA fans as these games never made their way across the pond.
There’s also a number of SEGA i-Mode games like Out Run, Pengo and Monaco GP in there. Here’s an incomplete list of SEGA i-Mode games captured by Ruwa. I would list them all but there’s honestly just too many for me to list here. Check out the channel to browse more of his i-Mode captures by clicking here:
— みどりぷよ（ぷよぷよシリーズ公式）『ぷよぷよテトリス２』好評発売中！ (@puyopuyo20th) January 14, 2021
Puyo Puyo Tetris 2’s first major update has been released, and it brings along with it 4 new characters. Alongside fan-favourite characters such as Lidelle, Ms Accord and Ocean Prince from the Puyo Puyo Fever titles, Sonic the Hedgehog himself has joined the Puyo Tetris battlefield – and it’s not a mod this time!
Other additions include a raid-style boss battle mode, inspired by a similar feature in Puyo Puyo Chronicle. You can earn Skill Battle cards not available through Adventure Mode by teaming up with other players to take on boss characters. Speaking of Skill Battle, the Sonic-themed cards have now been added into the main game, too.
There’s also four new music tracks, to go along with the new characters; including Tropical Resort, from Sonic Colours.
This… certainly came out of nowhere. We suspect this is what SEGA Europe were teasing for tomorrow’s stream, in which case they weren’t kidding about it being special. Currently only the Japanese announcement is available, but our Playstation 4 downloaded the new update, and Sonic and company are indeed present and accounted for.
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.
The lovely people at SEGA Europe have kindly sent us the new 11″ Sonic the Hedgehog statue from First 4 Figures. In this video we share our own opinions on this statue and see how it compares to similar statues in the First 4 Figures range:
You may have seen the various unused gameplay elements and alternate artwork from this prototype in pre-release footage or the various magazine coverage from the time. This includes the UFOs in Marble Garden Zone, the different neon signs in Spring Yard Zone, the checkerboard ball that Sonic can run on in Green Hill Zone and the different stage titles for Spring Yard Zone and Scrap Brain Zone. Well, they’re all in this prototype and it makes for a fascinating insight into the game’s development.
Rings? Check. Sneakers? Check. Speed? SONIC. SEGA’s legendary video game icon Sonic the Hedgehog races onto Netflix in a new 3D animated series from @SEGA, @WildBrainHQ and @ManOfActionEnt premiering in 2022. pic.twitter.com/JQYTYU6uPo
Netflix have announced a new 3D animated series based on Sonic the Hedgehog will be coming to the service in 2022.
The series will be produced by Man of Action Entertainment (Ben 10, Mega Man: Fully Charged) and WildBrain (The Aquabats Super Show!). SEGA will also be involved, and going off the teaser image, it seems it’ll be based on the video game series rather than the movie.
A new Sonic animated series has been rumoured for a while, so it’s exciting to see one finally happening! Now how do we pass the time until 2022…
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 has launched two new combo packs for the Nintendo Switch in North America, both including a selection of Sonic games – or at the very least, games featuring Sonic.
One pack gives you the sublime Sonic Mania (seemingly without the Plus DLC, oddly) and Team Sonic Racing. There’s also a pack that pairs up Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD (which featured Classic Sonic as an unlockable character) and Sonic Forces.
The packs are available for $39.99 each. The PR we received doesn’t mention a European release (seeing as this comes straight from SEGA of America’s Sonic PR), but given previous packs have released on our shores we’d expect these will be showing up too.
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.
The European SEGA Shop has kindly sent us some items from their Halloween Sonic the Hedgehog range and in our latest video we take a look at them. Check it out below:
The Sonic the Hedgehog Halloween merch line is available to order from the European SEGA Shop now. Click here to see the full line which includes a beanie hat, mug, enamel pin badges and the t-shirt and scented candle featured in our video.
If you enjoyed this video then why not subscribe to the SEGADriven YouTube channel for more visual SEGA fun!
Sonic has found his way into yet another game, and this time it’s the summer’s smash-hit battle royale – Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, from British studio Mediatonic.
Revealed via a Mediatonic vs SEGA Europe livestream to mark SEGA’s 60th Anniversary, from this Wednesday you’ll be able to buy a costume of Sonic for your adorable Fall Guy bean. It doesn’t come in cheap though; you need 10 crowns for both halves of the costume (5 crowns for each half), and the main way of getting crowns is by being the last Fall Guy standing in a set of matches – which is far, far easier said than done. Fortunately Fall Guys’s recent Season 2 update has made it easier to accrue crowns by just playing the game, regardless of your victory tally, so any Sonic fans after this should probably get started on levelling up sooner rather than later.
The official PR is as follows:
Get ready for a supersonic brawl! SEGA® has teamed up with Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout developer Mediatonic to bring a Sonic the Hedgehog-inspired costume to the highly popular battle royale platformer’s Season 2 content.
Available starting Wednesday, October 14, Sonic fans can get their Fall Guys beans prepared for battle with a look modeled after the iconic hedgehog himself. The Sonic the Hedgehog costume is available for purchase in Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout Season 2 for 10 crowns.
Fall Guys is currently available on PC via Steam and Playstation 4.
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.
Merchandise plans have been revealed to celebrate Sonic’s 30th Anniversary, via BleedingCool. In addition, we also have the rather snazzy 30th Anniversary logo.
A range of partners will be taking part in the festivities, including Funko, Jakks Pacific, Dark Horse Comics, FiGPiN, and G Fuel. Perhaps most notably, IDW Comics will be releasing a new comic series featuring an all new adventure from Sonic’s Classic counterpart; perhaps akin to Archie’s wildly popular Sonic Mega Drive series.
A full list is after the jump, again via Bleeding Cool: (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.
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