A slight change of priorities

This month has been my most productive ever in terms of blogging, with a total of 23 posts prior to this one split between this blog and my England, Thailand and Other Things blog. However, I need to spend much more time on other projects next month (not least of which is the ongoing development of my websites, including the actual MarioSonicGames.com site) and so I will have to cut back on my blogging a bit for a while. But I will still be posting news and views here as much as possible, including some more Mario and Sonic online game recommendations, so it will still be worth your stopping by once in a while! :-)

"Super Mario Galaxy" for the Nintendo Wii

One of the best-selling games of 2007, despite only being released in November and at the same time as another Mario (& Sonic) game...



I thought it was very strange that the worldwide release of "Super Mario Galaxy" was timed such that it significantly overlapped with the worldwide release of "Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games". To clarify: "Galaxy" was officially released in Japan on November 1st, 2007, in North America on November 12th, in Europe on November 16th and in Australasia on November 27th. Meanwhile, "Olympics" was officially released in North America on November 6th, in Japan and Australasia on November 22nd and in Europe on November 23rd. Still, it doesn't appear to have done either game any harm, going by the December U.S. sales figures.

Having recently played "Galaxy", I can honestly say that I think it is the best video game ever made, and it must surely be set to become one of the best selling games ever because of its all-round brilliance. It is worth buying a Wii just to play it. The fact that "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" will soon also be available for the Wii is just a perfect bonus... So, come on Sega, please get it together and make a Sonic game that's as good as the Mario game (you haven't really managed that since the glorious 16-bit days, let's be honest), then video gaming life will be just absolutely perfect as far as I'm concerned.

Rhia's Sonic Collection is cuddly (and expensive)!

When Smindas posted his collection of Sonic bits and bobs a couple weeks back, the blog managed to catch the eye of Rhia, who has a rather large collection of her own to show off! 'Large' is probably a bit of an underestimate, 'colossal' would be a better term. She has a whole room dedicated to her collection, with shelves filled with Sonic toys, and walls covered with posters that range from original game promotion posters, to Sonic the Comic pull outs. It really is quite a sight to behold, with blue hedgehogs spilling from every corner.I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it. She has been collecting seriously for roughly 2 and a half years. That's a lot of stuff to find in such a short period of time! get ready for a mass of photos of a mass of Sonic stuff after the jump!



Rhia favorite Sonic stuff is clearly the plush toys, which come from from just about everywhere and any time you can imagine. Scoring Ebay regularly, these in total have apparently cost around £1000 to collect alone! For example: that Super Sonic plush sitting in the middle of this row below?

"Yeah, he was £220. I've spent £300 on a Sonic Adventure Amy plush before! £200 on SA2 Rouge plush, £155 for SA2 Sonic plush, £180 for SA2 Hero Chao plush, £100 for Sonic the Fighters Amy plush, £100 for Sonic the Fighters Bean plush, etc. and that's just plushies! and not including shipping costs. I can't imagine how much I've spent on all my Sonic items."

Wow, I don't think I could personally ever spend that kind of money on Sonic merchandise, but each to their own! This is probably one of the most complete collections of Sonic cuddly toys anywhere, even featuring needle-in-a-haystack items such as the Australian Sega World toys of Sally Acorn and a Japanese albino Sonic (see below).

Action figures! A whole ton load. hey look, it's that 15th Anniversary statue I have in the post! Those little figures in the bottom left corner seem to be in slightly different poses to mine..

Pins, so many pins! I lost every pin I have ever owned, including all those Sonic ones I got while I was on holiday in Spain. I think they were fake anyway. Hang on, is that Sonic endorsing another Olympic event? (see bottom left).

So much stuff I once ago had, like that Mountain Quest thing and the skateboard, which I never used and ended up exchanging it in Argos for Sonic & Knuckles. There's that Coca Cola cap that goes with my jacket! I have no idea what has happened to my one, but it's up in the loft somewhere, I just know it.

If anyone else reading has a neat collection of Sega related stuff like this (In other words, anything outside of the usual games and consoles), E-mail me the photos and I'll showcase them here!

Mario & Sonic Online Game Recommendations - Part 6

Here is Part 6 in my ongoing series of Mario and Sonic online game recommendations (see also Part 5, which includes a summary of all my previous recommendations). This is a little bit different to the previous parts, as one of my game recommendations actually runs from within this blog post...

Until the first version of the Nintendo GameBoy was released in 1989, early handheld video games were expensive single-game machines with basic LCD displays and simple gameplay - pretty much like the ones that are sometimes given away as free gifts with fast-food meals nowadays. But they were (and still are) great fun to play, due in large part to that very simplicity - they're perfect for short bursts of "boredom relieving". Here are some Flash online recreations of a few of them for you to try:

1982 Nintendo Game & Watch: Donkey Kong Jr.
(Monochrome LCD "Wide Screen" type, Model No. DJ-101)

1983 Nintendo Game & Watch: Donkey Kong II
(Monochrome LCD "Multi Screen" type, Model No. JR-55)

1983 Nintendo Game & Watch: Mario Bros.
(Monochrome LCD "Multi Screen" type, Model No. MW-56)

1983 Nintendo Game & Watch: Mario's Bombs Away
(8-Colour LCD "Panorama Screen" type, Model No. TB-94)

2003 McDonald's Happy Meal Game: Sonic Speedway
(Monochrome LCD Single Screen - included here as a modern-day comparison)

If you haven't already tried it out (I recommended it in Part 5 of this series), here is a Flash recreation of a handheld game that provides a real modern-day comparison with those early handhelds:
2007 Nintendo DS Game: Sonic Rush Adventure

Enjoy! You can play loads more Mario and Sonic online games by visiting my www.MarioSonicGames.com website. I'll post some more recommendations in the near future...

Sega History Collection

This collection of consoles arrived in the post today. A member of the racketboy forums by the name of GrittyKitty sold me this whole lot for just $20 (about £10 in my money).

But no, I didn't just get the console bundle bargain of the century, as these are not the real consoles. Rather, they are miniature toys of them, about one 50th of the original size! Did I fool you? Nah, you probably already looked at the other photos and know I mainly post about stuff like toys at this blog. If I did get a stash of real consoles like this, though, you would probably hear about it anyway! More photos after the jump.

These are, much like the 'Sega Gals' I showed you all a while ago, toys that were sold in capsule machines in Japan, so when you bought one you would never know which one you're getting until you open it, and you have to build them up from many, many pieces. They were produced by a company called Yujin and 200 yen each. Because these were pre-owned, I did not have to do any fiddly sticker work as it was already done for me! Here is each system all set up in backwards order of their release.

First off, here is Sega's last console the Dreamcast, showed cased here by my Ulala toy.The little console, no bigger than a 2p coin, has a opening disc drive and all four controller ports, of which you can actually plug the tiny little controller into any of these just like the real thing! The set also comes with two VMUs, which even have their lids that can be taken off so you can plug the VMUs into the controller or into each other. If that isn't an insane attention to detail for something so small, I don't know what is. Each little system also comes with a replica game or two. Lucky for Ulala, in the case of the Dreamcast you get a tiny copy of Space Channel 5; both the box and the disc, which can be placed in the console if you wish!

Next up is the Sega Saturn in it's model 1 grey glory (I liked the white 2nd model more, but you can't have it all), shown off here by Fighting Viper's Honey. This console miniature comes with a controller, and a box and disc of Virtua Fighter 2. Like the others, you can plug in the controller and insert the disc. This one seems to come with the least pieces. A mini 4MB RAM cart would of been nice. It's still neat none the less, and a great likeness to the chunky old box of joy.

Now for the biggest behemoth of the collection when plugged together, the Mega Drive with both of it's add ons, the 32X and Mega CD. The Mega Drive, the first design with it's iconic gold '16-BIT' lovenly recreated, came with a Master System converter (see further below), a controller, and two game carts: Sonic 1 and Alien Solider. The 32X and Mega CD (Under the system design) were bundled together along with a six button controller, some Mega-CD game I have never heard of and a Virtua Fighter 32X cart. Above is all of these little toys when you plug them together. The disc drive of the Mega CD can slide out to slip a disc in, and the Mega Drive has it's flap of plastic at the bottom so it can plug into the Mega CD, again just like you would with the real deal. Good thing you don't have to sort out all the plugs for this miniature!

Here is where Sega started for many of us: the Master System (I started to get lazy with the photos here, so no character toy showing it off). This the first design of the 8-bit system we got, but the last in Japan. It came with two joypads, a Phantasy Star cart, and Teddy Boy on a 'Sega My Card'. Now if only I could plug it in and play a built in Alex Kidd game. =)

Now this system won't be familiar to everyone unless you lived in japan in the 80's or are a major console collector, as this is a Japanese equivalent of the Master System, the Sega Mark III. Released a couple years earlier, it is a smaller cuter design much like the Famicom compared to our NES. This system comes with two Joypads, a Fantasy Zone cart, some Ninja 'My Card' game and the FM sound unit which you attach to the top of the system (The FM Sound was built into the Master System, which maybe explains why that console was bulkier). This was the third design of the SG-1000, Sega's 2nd console in Japan after the SC-3000. I really dig the design of it.

GrittyKitty also threw in a spare Mega Drive set, which I have with it's Master system converter sitting on top here. The master system games can plug into that too! They have really thought of everything with these toys!

The obsessive attention to detail is quite amazing. Just look at all the games that come with each of the systems. To the untrained eye this photo below makes it look like I own an actual cartridge of Alien Solider! Even the Master System card games have fully detailed artwork on them despite being the size of a pin.

To get the best gist of the scale of these things, here are some comparisons with the real things. For example, see how the Saturn controller is the size of the real controllers start button, and the Dreamcast controller is smaller than the real VMU's screen! Crazy.

Next time: I just bought a Sonic 15th Anniversary statue from Ebay today, so when that arrives in a week or so I will be posting some photos for that! =)

Official U.S. sales figures for consoles and games, Dec '07

Released at the end of last week, these sets of sales figures for the U.S. gaming market, for December 2007 and also for the whole of that year, make for some very interesting reading indeed (source data from NeoGAF.com):

All Hardware, December 2007
1) Nintendo DS - 2.47 Million
2) Wii - 1.35 Million
3) Xbox 360 - 1.26 Million
4) PlayStation 2 - 1.1 Million
5) PSP - 1.06 Million
6) PlayStation 3 - 797.0 K

Top 10 Software, December 2007
1) 360 Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - 1.47 Million*
2) Wii Super Mario Galaxy - 1.40 Million
3) PS2 Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock - 1.25 Million*
4) Wii Play with Remote - 1.08 Million
5) 360 Assassin's Creed - 893.7 K*
6) 360 Halo 3 - 742.7 K*
7) NDS Brain Age 2: More Training In Minutes A Day - 659.5 K
8) PS2 Madden NFL 08 - 655.2 K
9) 360 Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock - 624.6 K
10) Wii Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games - 613.0 K

*Includes Collector's, Limited, Legendary, Bundles (Guitars) Editions

All Hardware, Full Year 2007 (Life to Date)
1) Nintendo DS - 8.50 Million (17.65 Million)
2) Wii - 6.29 Million (7.38 Million)
3) Xbox 360 - 4.62 Million (9.15 Million)
4) PSP - 3.82 Million (10.47 Million)
5) PlayStation 2 - 3.97 Million (41.12 Million)
6) PlayStation 3 - 2.56 Million (3.25 Million)

Top 10 Software, Full Year 2007
1) 360 Halo 3 (September Release) - 4.82 Million*
2) Wii Play with Remote (February Release) - 4.12 Million
3) 360 Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (November Release) - 3.04 Million*
4) PS2 Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock (October Release) - 2.72 Million*
5) Wii Super Mario Galaxy (November Release) - 2.52 Million
6) NDS Pokemon Diamond (April Release) - 2.48 Million
7) PS2 Madden NFL 08 (August Release) - 1.90 Million
8) PS2 Guitar Hero 2 (November 2006 Release) - 1.89 Million*
9) 360 Assassin's Creed (November Release) - 1.87 Million*
10) Wii Mario Party 8 (May Release) - 1.82 Million

*Includes Collector's, Limited, Legendary, Bundles (Guitars) Editions


What's clear from all of the above is that the Nintendo DS and Wii console systems are doing fantastically well - clearly Nintendo's best hardware year for ages, possibly ever. I wonder how much of that success, if any, is due to former die-hard Sega fans now firmly switching their loyalty to Nintendo, in the light of recent and future Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Team and related releases on the two Nintendo systems.

Meanwhile, Sony's Playstation 3 continues to trail in last place against all of its rivals, including its own predecessor. (And all of Sony's systems are selling less than those of Nintendo and Microsoft.) Oh dear. For me, it's not such sad news, as Sony's earlier consoles helped kill off Sega's superior (to me anyway) Saturn and Dreamcast systems in turn - clearly, what goes around does indeed come around.

What's also clear is that, with combined December sales of the Wii's "Super Mario Galaxy" and "Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games" titles being in excess of 2 million units, Mario and Sonic have a very bright future ahead even after all these years (which so far will be 27 years for Mario and 17 years for Sonic as of this year). Marvellous!

I really, really want one of these...

Since I love the original Super Mario Bros. games and the original Sonic the Hedgehog games above all others, for me this new product seems like it might just be the best games console ever made, far better than any of the newer machines (from an article by John Biggs in the New York Times, January 17, 2008):

A Console Plays the Classics, Like Old-School Sonic and Mario

The holidays are long gone and the bloom is already fading on that hot new game console. What is a gamer to do? The Gen-X Game Console System, which looks like a cross between a sandwich maker and an old-fashioned answering machine, is here to give new life to the games of decades past.

The Gen-X emulates the eight-bit Nintendo Entertainment System and 16-bit Sega Genesis consoles. It plays all of the original cartridges — from Super Mario Brothers to the original Sonic the Hedgehog — and can connect to any TV with standard RCA cables.

The Gen-X, which is available from Game Asylum (www.gameasylum.com) and other online stores for about $50, includes two controllers and also works with old Sega Genesis / Mega Drive controllers.

Nintendo released the NES in 1985 and stopped producing cartridges about 10 years later.

Clearly the Gen-X is aimed at a certain generation of gamers - those who know that eight bits is enough to make a great game, and that if you’re having trouble getting a cartridge to work it always helps to blow into it.

S.T.C Scans: Videos, Yoyo's and Milky Way Bars

I've made a start at scanning anything that people may find interesting (or not) from my collection of Sonic the Comics, starting with the many Sega and Sonic tie ins advertised. These first 4 are all the adverts I could find for the VHS releases of the cartoon Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. Much better box art than the lazy work on the recent DVDs.

More after the jump.

Next up is a scan of a Frosties promotion for Sonic Yoyos. The Yoyo's wen't packed in the cereal box: you had to send off for them with coupons. There's also a competition on here that includes a Multi-Mega. Oooh. I wouldn't really want to see Tony Tiger in a video game, though.

Here's one for another Sonic promotion/competition, this time involving Milky Way chocolate bars, and promoting Sonic & Knuckles. I do remember buying a good few Milky Ways to attempt to win the game.

Finally here's one from a much earlier issue of S.T.C (one of the first, I think) of a Sega Game Gear carry case/ Lunch box type thing that also comes with a neat set of pins. I think the promotion was long over when I finally got my hands on this issue, as I started collecting them around issue 20.

Sega is sending us a Love letter

(See the trailer in better high-res here.)

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Sega make the best FMV trailers for games out there. I swear more often or not the cut scenes are the best things in their games now a days, just look at the intros to Sonic Next-Gen, NiGHTS Journey of Dreams, and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. Even if the games themselves aren't their best (especially in the case of Sonic next-gen, which turned out to be a complete pile of rubbish) but you gotta admit they have clearly hired a brilliant animation studio to do this stuff. Now they've put out a trailer for Sega Superstars Tennis, and inside I cried with joy watching it.

This game has so much going for it it is really difficult to see how it could possible NOT rock my socks off. Check out this info from Eurogamer:

* Playable characters include Beat and Gum from Jet Set Radio, Ulala and Pudding from Space Channel 5, and Alex Kidd. Yes, that's what I said. ALEX KIDD.


* Stages include Green Hill, Scrap Brain, the House of the Dead mansion, and Coconut Beach from OutRun!

* Mini-games based on House of the Dead, Puyo Pop, Space Harrier and Virtua Cop!

* Based directly on the Virtua Tennis 3 engine, and developed by Sumo Digital who have been pretty much the best to happen to Sega for years with their console ports of Outrun 2 and Virtua Tennis 3.

* Unlike those games, this game is going to be on almost every console out there: X-Box 360, PS2, PS3, Wii and even DS! Oddly enough there's no PSP or PC versions, though.

* Legendary Sega musician Richard Jacques has composed the theme music. The game will also feature tons of classic Sega music.

This game is truly Sega giving all us long time fans a great big hug. After all the changes they have gone through in the years since they quit the console market, this shows they haven't forgotten about their roots and what made them so great in the first place. It's coming out in the UK this march, so it's not even that far away! If you're a Sega fan I can't really see there being any excuses not to buy this, seeing as it's on nearly everything and has fan service up the wazoo!

"Super Smash Bros. Brawl" for the Nintendo Wii

If this isn't one of the best-selling games come the end of this year, I'll be very surprised...



Scheduled for a Japanese launch on January 31st and a North American launch on March 9th (European and Australian dates are still to be announced as I write this), this third game in the hugely popular "Super Smash Bros." series will be the first to feature third-party games characters in addition to the usual Nintendo roster. Solid Snake from Konami's ever-popular "Metal Gear" games series will feature, but by far the most eagerly anticipated addition to the list of playable characters in the game is Sega's mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog...

So, at long long last, video game fans will be able to have their very own "Mario vs. Sonic" fights in an official game! Amen to that!

This is only the second official game ever to feature Mario and Sonic together - Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games of course being the first one - and I think that this game will be much more well-received by critics than was the first joint outing of the two characters. You can visit the official site for the game here.

While you're waiting for this epic game to be released, don't forget that you can have some unofficial Mario vs. Sonic battles in these two brilliant fan-produced Flash online games:

Super Smash Brothers: Super Smash Flash

Sonic the Hedgehog: Ultimate Robotnik Duels

A Flash online Super Sonic jigsaw puzzle...

...that you can have a go at solving right here (i.e. the Flash program for the jigsaw will actually open in this blog post) - click on the button with the Japanese for "Start" on it to break up the jigsaw pieces:

You can play some more Flash online Sonic the Hedgehog jigsaw puzzles here.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games

This is the first in a new series of posts in which I'll highlight what's going on in the official Mario and Sonic gaming world...



A truly landmark title, this is the first ever official video game to feature both Mario and Sonic, the one-time rival mascot characters of Nintendo and Sega respectively, together in one game. It is an officially-licenced game for this year's (2008) Summer Olympics being held in Beijing, China, and includes twenty different Olympic events, divided into eight different categories - athletics, gymnastics, shooting, rowing, archery, aquatics, fencing, and table tennis.

In addition to Mario and Sonic, 14 other characters from the two game franchises (7 from each) are available for play: Luigi, Yoshi, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Wario, Waluigi and Bowser on Mario's side, and Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Amy Rose, Blaze, Vector and Dr. Robotnik/Eggman on Sonic's side. Miis can also be used if so desired.

"Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games" was developed jointly by Sega and Nintendo, and was released worldwide by Sega on the Nintendo Wii gaming console in November 2007 (which overlapped with the worldwide release of Nintendo's "Super Mario Galaxy" game for the Wii, also released that month - more on that in a future post).

Despite some reviews only giving it slightly above-average scores, not surprisingly the game has proven to be very popular, reportedly selling almost 1 million copies worldwide as at the end of 2007. A Nintendo DS handheld console version is scheduled for release on February 8th of this year. You can visit the official game site here, and you can watch an official trailer for the game here.

Mario & Sonic Online Game Recommendations - Part 5 (With a Summary of Parts 1 to 4)

This is the continuation of my series of Mario and Sonic online game recommendations that I began over in my personal blog. To start off with, and to save you having to flip back and forth between the two blogs, here is a summary of the previous 4 parts, consisting of 17 different game recommendations for you to try:

Part 1:
Super Mario Brothers: New Super Mario Flash
Play as either Mario or Luigi in this brilliant fan-produced Flash remake of the classic 8-bit and 16-bit Super Mario Bros. platform games. As well as including its own excellent ready-made series of levels for you to play, the game also features a programmable level editor for you to create and play your very own levels (and some example level codes are included for you to try too). This is rapidly becoming one of the most popular Flash games on the web - play it for yourself to see why.

Super Mario Brothers: Super Mario X
An entertaining Super Mario platform game with lovely original Flash graphics and a unique twist in gameplay.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Sonic Xtreme
A fast-paced and challenging Sonic platformer with Super Mario "Wigglers" to defeat in addition to classic Sonic Badniks.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Amy's Whack-A-Nik
Go on, you know you want to - Use your mouse to control Amy Rose's "Piko Piko Hammer" and whack as many SWATBot Badniks as you can in the time limit!


Part 2:
Super Mario Brothers: Super Mario Sunshine 64
A superb fan-produced 2D version of the 2002 Nintendo GameCube game "Super Mario Sunshine", complete with a fully-functioning FLUDD.

Super Mario Brothers: Mario Bros. in Pipe Panic
Play as either Mario or Luigi in this lovely Super Mario Bros. themed homage to the all-time classic "Pac-Man" arcade game.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Ultimate Flash Sonic
One of the most popular Flash games on the web, and it's easy to see why - this incredible fan-produced effort is as close to a perfect game as you will find anywhere. With fast-paced, flawless Sonic platforming fun all the way, this game incorporates the best elements of all the classic 8-bit and 16-bit Sonic games, and includes unlockable extra characters, levels and other fun bonuses too.

And just in case you want it, here is a lovely little cheat password for the Ultimate Flash Sonic game that allows you to level-select the Ice Paradise zone when you play the main game as Tails, and also allows you to have Tails follow you if you want when you play the game as any other character (just like in the 16-bit Sega Mega Drive/Genesis "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" game if you have Tails follow Sonic): 115013101010101

(Additional note: If you use the above cheat password and have Tails follow Cream, he replaces Cheese the Chao who normally follows Cream.)

Sonic the Hedgehog: Sonic Rivals Dash
An official Flash mini-version of Sega's excellent 2006 "Sonic Rivals" game for the Sony PlayStation Portable, this has a 2-player option in addition to the single-player game for some real "Rivals" fun.


Part 3:
Super Mario Brothers: Luigi Gunman
Also known as "Mario World Overrun", this truly unique Mario game offers an exciting and challenging combination of first-person-shooter action and tower-defence strategy, all based in a Super Mario World setting.

Super Mario Brothers: Super Mafia Bros.
The classic original Super Mario Bros. game gets "The Godfather" treatment in this brilliant single-level homage.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Shadow the Hedgehog Flash
An excellent official Flash mini-version of Sega's 2005 "Shadow the Hedgehog" game for the Nintendo GameCube, Sony PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Xbox, complete with the gunplay that is now synonymous with Shadow.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Scene Creator
One of a series of three slightly differing Sonic Scene Creators (click here and here for the other two), this is great fun for Sonic fans who have an artistic side in addition to their gaming side.

Super Smash Flash
The name (almost) says it all - this is an awesome fan-produced version of Nintendo's 2001 GameCube game "Super Smash Bros. Melee", but with the added bonus of being able to play as (or against if you prefer) Sega characters such as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Shadow in addition to the standard Nintendo characters. The game features a host of unlockable extra levels and characters in single-player mode, plus there is a 2-player mode for some serious "VS." brawling action.


Part 4:
Super Mario Brothers: Mario Remix
This clever fan-produced game is actually three different games in one great package - grab hold of Mario and go and play some "Super Mario World" with him, and when you're done with that, go and play some "Megaman" and then some "Gradius" with him too!

Super Mario Brothers: Bullet Bill (and its sequel
Super Mario Brothers: Bullet Bill 2)
Play a version of the classic original "Super Mario Bros." game, but with a quite literally smashing twist - you get to play as a Bullet Bill! Smash blocks, bash Mario, avoid scenery!

Sonic the Hedgehog: Ultimate Robotnik Duels
Take over the controls of one of Dr. Robotnik's (a.k.a. Eggman's) amazingly destructive flying machines for a head-to-head "death match" battle. You can play as any of the main characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog games, or even as Super Mario - so you can have your very own "Mario vs. Sonic" fight if you wish! Features brilliantly entertaining single-player and 2-player modes, and also a neat spectator mode where you can watch your computer play against itself.

(Just in case you want some more "Mario vs. Sonic" action, and just in case you haven't played it yet and haven't found out, you can also have a Mario vs. Sonic fight in the Super Smash Flash game I recommended in Part 3 above... plus you might also want to check this out: Mario vs. Sonic Interactive Flash Movie)

Sonic the Hedgehog: Sonic Boom
Shoot Sonic from a giant cannon and try to get him as far as you can. Hit the bonus items to increase Sonic's flight distance, but avoid the traps and bombs that will slow him down and stop him. Features unlockable extra characters and bunuses.


And now... here is Part 5, with my next four game recommendations for you to try:

Super Mario Brothers: Classic Mario Bros.
In case you didn't know, this year marks the 25th anniversary of the first appearance of the original "Mario Bros." arcade game. When that game was launched way back in 1983, it was actually the first time that a Mario game had the name "Mario" in the title - 1981's "Donkey Kong" being the first ever Mario game. It was also the game that first introduced Mario's brother, Luigi, to the world, and was the game that established the brothers as being plumbers by trade (Mario was a carpenter in Donkey Kong) with pipes being a key feature of gameplay. This was the game that set the scene for all that was to follow...

To celebrate this milestone in video gaming history, why not have a play of this superb fan-produced version of the original game - as well as the great single-player game, there is also a 2-player "VS." mode for added retro-enjoyment.

Super Mario Brothers: New Super Mario Bros.
If you enjoyed the retro-trip provided by the game above, why not play this rather twisted version of the first ever "Super Mario Bros." game from 1985 next? It features some very interesting and amusing variations on the classic original.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Sonic Rush Adventure Flash
This official Flash mini-version of Sega's excellent 2007 "Sonic Rush Adventure" game for the Nintendo DS handheld console actually features a simulation of the DS, complete with a mouse-driven "stylus"! Using the stylus to control the Wave Cyclone waterbike, you must perform stunts, collect rings and avoid obstacles in this race against the clock.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Character Designer
Another great game for all you Sonic fans with an artistic flair (see also the three different Sonic the Hedgehog: Scene Creators I recommended in Part 3 above).

Enjoy! You can play all of the above games, plus loads more, at my www.MarioSonicGames.com website. More recommendations soon...

First Post

Welcome to the MarioSonicGames.com blog.

Rather obviously I hope, this blog is going to be about the Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog video game franchises, my number one video gaming favourites. However, to a lesser degree it is also going to be about other Nintendo and Sega related games series of which I am a fan, such as Super Smash Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Megaman, Super Monkey Ball, Puyo Pop Fever and so on. There is one thing that it isn't going to be though, and that's any kind of "personal" blog - if you would like to read my personal blog, which is about my life and everything in it (including Mario, Sonic et al, of course), please see here: England, Thailand and Other Things

This blog is intended to be a helpful and informative companion to my MarioSonicGames.com website, which contains a huge collection of completely free Mario and Sonic online fun and games. If you are a fan of Mario and Sonic games, you might like all the Flash games, Java games, puzzle games, pictures, animated GIFs and sprites, music, desktop wallpapers and much more that are included in the site. Why not check it out to see for yourself... :-)

My Sonic collection is fairly moderate

Gaga's not the only one who can arrange a decade's worth of Sonic related stuff and take photos of it, clearly. Now, one thing that is obvious is Gaga has far more stuff than I ever will, partly because he's older and was around for slightly more of the stuff, partly because I have lost a handful of things on the way and partly because he has deep issues that have materialised in the form of blue hedgehog memorabilia. Of course, if that's what having issues entails, I'm all for it. Now, I was far less comprehensive about this than Gaga, so I know I've definitely omitted a few things and I've generally just been quite lazy about it. Also, I know there are few things I used to have that have gone walkies, but are ultimately around my house somewhere. I remember specifically having the Sonic pencil cases and two different Sonic rulers(!), the staples to any nerds stationary needs.

More after the jump..

So you know, you've got your expected things. Figures, plushes, lots of games, books, videos and then some random other crap. Displayed are only the Archie comics I have because I have far too many Sonic the Comics to display. As you can see, there are a handful of StC related free gifts in the photo, like stickers, rub on tattoos, some rubbish little space disk flicker thing etc. There's also a Sonic I made out of those... bead things... you arranged them and ironed them together? I've forgotten the name. And the SA style plush talks. It's magical.



I think I have most, if not all my Sonic games in the picture. I'm missing a few that I actually want and I decided not to include the games I only have the cartridges for. Really, most of the stuff in the pictures is fairly self explanatory, however there are a few materialistic red herrings.

Firstly are these guys. I got them off eBay for about a fiver, they came in a nice box (that can be seen in the above photos) which was in scruffy condition when I received it. I think they were a small promotional item for Sonic & Knuckles, although I'm not sure if that's the right game. A nice little promo item, regardless.

Now this, I've never seen anywhere else before. I have cousins who are half Japanese and as a result, live in Japan. Once when they came to visit, they gave me this neat little clock. I think they had it sitting around their house and as a result, weren't really sure where it came from. But no biggie, it's a great clock, although currently out of battery. As far as I'm aware, it's quite the unique thing to have.

Of course, no self-respecting* British Sonic fan doesn't have a disgustingly large collection of Sonic the Comics? Although, rather than take my issues out and spreading them out in a neat display like the Gaga, I've kept mine all neatly filed away in order like the anal bastard I am.

*the term is 'self-respecting' is used rather loosely here

Anyway, so that's the bulk of my Sonic related merchandise acquired over the last 11 years ish. Things have been lost and things have yet to be picked up, because I love to nurture the nostalgic inner child within me, who sits around playing Sonic 3 and eating ice cream. So there we go - an unhealthy obsession with blue hedgehogs leads to a rather big amount of capitalist consumerism. Take that, Communism!

Oh and almost forgot, happy new year you crazy kids.

Sega Fanart Showcase: MechaFetus Special

What the hell is a MechaFetus? It's a group of bloody brilliant artists who just so happen to have produced a whole slew of Sega Fan art that's so badarse it deserves it's own show case here. To see more of there art, check out their blog (just so you know, it's pretty NSFW at times).

More after the jump!



 The above three are by Paul Robertson. Click on that last one to see it animated.

Virtual On's Temjin by Ouendan.


Ulala and NiGHTS by Kinuko.

Metal Sonic by Radrappy.

The above three by Persona.