More First4Figures Classic Sonic Goodness!

Oh wow. Chad at DeviantArt just pointed me towards these two sets of photos (Album 1 and Album 2) that were taken at a recent US Toy fair of not only the three upcoming Classic Sonic toys we saw earlier, but also some new even bigger pieces, including a Sonic "Wii Remote Holder" (a large figure that has a slot in his hand to hold a Wii remote) which according to a sign on the display is not due till July 2009 (I hope that's a misprint), and a even higer Sonic statue of some sort. They're all rather beautiful, yet bound to make my wallet cry with agony. Here are the photos, provided by the website Action-Figure.com

First off, the three figures we saw before, but in much clearer photos from many different angles. Sonic and Knuckles seem to have swapped names on the stands, though. Doh! Loads more photos after the jump.




Could these be the best representations of the only Sonic characters that matter (except Robotnik) ever made into plastic? Even a lot of the old toys were pretty wonky looking at times, but these figures are as close to perfection as you can get.

Just look at this Wii Remote holder Sonic! He's laughing his tits off all Felix the Cat like! Maybe he still hasn't gotten over the name of Nintendo's new system, like my dad who insists on making the same "Going for a Wii" joke everytime he goes for his daily round of Wii Sports.

Judging by the size of the tails toy on the shelf above, I take it this Sonic statue is rather HUGE. It also appears to be made out of something far heaver than Vinyl like the others. maybe this is a expensive, limited edition statue much like the Nintendo ones First4Figures has produced in the past. Mind you, it could just be a display only statue, in which case I'd be willing to chop off a limb and send it to china for. Eitherway, I don't think my bank account can take this kind of abuse! I have never seen Sonic merchandise of this quality before, my hat is off to First4Figures for soon giving us these works of art. They can have my PIN number, soul and future babies now, if they like!

Sonic in Smash Bros Brawl, Sega Superstars Tennis, that DS Sonic RPG and this new Classic Sonic range is making 2008 turn into some sort of revival year for Sonic finally back on form. You know why that is, don't you?

(and before anyone makes some smart remark about it actually being the year of the Rat, I can't see Roland rat suddenly making a successful come back, can you?)

A Goldmine of Sega Marketing waffle!

UK: Resistance, the original Sega nutters website and one of the main inspirations behind this blog, have stumbled across a video that pretty much sums up everything that made Sega so huge in the UK back in the 16-bit era, particularly in 1994. This two video spilt into two parts for Youtube and submitted there by Shenmueaddit, gives us a glimpse into all the marketing pies Sega had their fingers in at the time, from TV commercials (Remember the Pirate TV campaign I told you about? You'll see more of it here), radio competitions (Sonic CD music on the radio, folks!), merchandise, that awful Right Said Fred song, the Sega tour buses, the food promotions (Sonic tomato ketchup!), even the sponsorship with Damon Hill!

This, my friends, is why Sega ruled the world (or at least the UK), during my childhood. These videos pretty much sum up what this blog is all about, and the exact kind of content I've been looking for. If anyone can recall and bring up details on any of the stuff seen here (like photos, videos, magazine scans etc), please send it my way and I'll be more than happy to share it here. =)

Super Smash Bros. Brawl - European release update

There still seems to be some uncertainty about when SSBB will be released in Europe (see my earlier post about it here) - this is from an article at Nintendo Life yesterday:

(Quote)
Update: Nintendo Puts Things Straight On European Brawl Release
26th Feb 2008, 09:47am by Anthony Dickens.

It seems that 1up's recent podcast suggesting Brawl has been delayed until Autumn in Europe isn't exactly true.

While recounting some of the info that I learned from Nintendo of America's President & COO, Reggie Fils-Aime, I implied that the European release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl had been moved to the fall of 2008...that's not quite accurate, as neither NOE nor Reggie has announced any official release date at this time. Reggie did tell me (and the other media present) that the release had been pushed out of the winter/spring time frame due to the amount of localization required to get the game up and running all the various European languages. But Reggie did not say WHEN Europeans will get Smash Bros., just that it would be at a later date than the U.S.

So now angry gamers, it seems Brawl might be heading to Europe sooner than we first thought, however Nintendo of Europe haven't confirmed any specific date, all we know is that it won't be released before May.

Reggie also explained that the recent announcements of Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii release dates were to "balance out" the release list. I'm sure these won't please faithful NoE fans of Brawl but perhaps it isn't as bad as we first fear.

Our thanks to NoA for clearing this one up.
(End Quote)

Super Smash Bros. Brawl - European release update

There still seems to be some uncertainty about when SSBB will be released in Europe (see my earlier post about it here) - this is from an article at Nintendo Life yesterday:

(Quote)
Update: Nintendo Puts Things Straight On European Brawl Release
26th Feb 2008, 09:47am by Anthony Dickens.

It seems that 1up's recent podcast suggesting Brawl has been delayed until Autumn in Europe isn't exactly true.

While recounting some of the info that I learned from Nintendo of America's President & COO, Reggie Fils-Aime, I implied that the European release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl had been moved to the fall of 2008...that's not quite accurate, as neither NOE nor Reggie has announced any official release date at this time. Reggie did tell me (and the other media present) that the release had been pushed out of the winter/spring time frame due to the amount of localization required to get the game up and running all the various European languages. But Reggie did not say WHEN Europeans will get Smash Bros., just that it would be at a later date than the U.S.

So now angry gamers, it seems Brawl might be heading to Europe sooner than we first thought, however Nintendo of Europe haven't confirmed any specific date, all we know is that it won't be released before May.

Reggie also explained that the recent announcements of Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii release dates were to "balance out" the release list. I'm sure these won't please faithful NoE fans of Brawl but perhaps it isn't as bad as we first fear.

Our thanks to NoA for clearing this one up.
(End Quote)

Sega Fanart Showcase: gsliverfish Special

Michael Stearns (AKA "gsliverfish") is one of those artists on DeviantArt who is rather brilliant at capturing the atmosphere of the worlds you visted in the original Sonic Mega Drive game, including the obstacles you faced along the way. Each of these images seems to perfectly sum up each zone of the game with a distinctive perspective. Just looking at the art gets that levels' music stuck in my head! Make sure you check out his other works too!

More after the jump!

Mario & Sonic Online Game Recommendations - Part 7

Here is Part 7 in my ongoing series of Mario and Sonic online game recommendations (see also Part 6):

Super Mario Bros.: Monoliths Ultimate Mario World (and its sequel
Super Mario Bros.: Monoliths Ultimate Mario World II)
This is an excellent Flash version of the original "Super Mario World" game, with an even better sequel to play once you've completed it.

Super Mario Bros.: Super Mario World Flash
Another great Flash rendition of Super Mario World, but this time with a slightly altered format that results in a completely new version of the classic game.
(And if you like the above game, you might also want to try Super Mario Bros.: Super Mario World Revived.)

Sonic the Hedgehog: Sonic Blox
Although superficially very similar to the all-time classic "Tetris", this game has some unique Sonic additions that make it even more fun and challenging.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Chaos Crush
A Sonic the Hedgehog version of "Breakout", with the added benefit of Sonic, Shadow and Silver the Hedgehog power-ups.

Enjoy! You can now play over 130 Mario and Sonic online games by visiting my www.MarioSonicGames.com website. More recommendations coming soon...

Mario & Sonic Online Game Recommendations - Part 7

Here is Part 7 in my ongoing series of Mario and Sonic online game recommendations (see also Part 6):

Super Mario Bros.: Monoliths Ultimate Mario World (and its sequel
Super Mario Bros.: Monoliths Ultimate Mario World II)
This is an excellent Flash version of the original "Super Mario World" game, with an even better sequel to play once you've completed it.

Super Mario Bros.: Super Mario World Flash
Another great Flash rendition of Super Mario World, but this time with a slightly altered format that results in a completely new version of the classic game.
(And if you like the above game, you might also want to try Super Mario Bros.: Super Mario World Revived.)

Sonic the Hedgehog: Sonic Blox
Although superficially very similar to the all-time classic "Tetris", this game has some unique Sonic additions that make it even more fun and challenging.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Chaos Crush
A Sonic the Hedgehog version of "Breakout", with the added benefit of Sonic, Shadow and Silver the Hedgehog power-ups.

Enjoy! You can now play over 130 Mario and Sonic online games by visiting my www.MarioSonicGames.com website. More recommendations coming soon...

Expansion of the main MarioSonicGames.com site

I have now added a second main index page to my MarioSonicGames.com site, so there are now even more Mario and Sonic online games for you to try out. I hope you like it...

Expansion of the main MarioSonicGames.com site

I have now added a second main index page to my MarioSonicGames.com site, so there are now even more Mario and Sonic online games for you to try out. I hope you like it...

Sonic 6th Birthday event in Hamleys, 1997

Sonic the Comic were good to me. Hell, Sega in general have been good to me as a fan, but Sonic the Comic really did throw some good stuff my way when I was a wee lad. Not only did I win a Sonic 2 patch from them when I sent in some self drawn Sonic comics, get my artwork in an issues Graphic Zone section which won me a watch, but I also manged to win a competition they held in 1997 for a exclusive 6th Birthday party event in London. Only 100 invites could be won and you could take a mate along with you, so there was a total of 200 of us (excluding parents) going to this one-off party.

Here's the invite they sent me when I won. Yes, I still own it. How sad is that? I also have a letter they sent along with it..

 

Photos of the event after the jump! Whoopie!

Hamleys as you may already know is a huge toy shop in London on Regent Street with floors upon floors of the stuff. On the below ground bottom floor was a gaming section called Metropolis, which was Sega branded and had a bunch of arcade cabinets and a snack bar of some sort. My memory of the place is pretty fuzzy and I don't believe it's still there, and if it is I doubt Sega still has their name plastered everywhere (much like how Segaworld became 'Funland'), but it was further evidence that Sega were huge in the UK. You never saw anything like this run by Nintendo, that's for sure!

Game wise, they had a few Saturn cabinets set up with Sonic R running on them, about a month before the game was due out. There was a raffle to win a couple copies of the game early, along with some other Sonic stuff I can't remember exactly. I also remember there being a contest involving getting best scores on the arcade cabinets they had there, of which I only remember the Scud race machines which i gave a whirl and got no where in. There was goodie bags that came with a bunch of badges of Sonic running about on a Hamley's logo which I still have somewhere) as well as Sonic Jam and Sonic R posters. Neat.

The highlight of the event was a guy wandering about in a rather impressive Sonic costume (far better than the one that stumbled around SegaWorld), who was being helped around by some woman presumably due to not being able to see very well. I remember one moment when she disappeared for a bit and he manged to walk into a wall, causing Sonic 3D posters to fall all over him. How embarrassing. but I kind of wished we got that caught on camera, could of sent that to Who's Been Framed. He practically had to shove his face into the cake to even see it.

Aww, why so sad, Sonic? Maybe he just had a vision from the future of how far his games were to plummet. That or he just played Sonic Labyrinth on his Game Gear.

Haha, he's nicked my mates hat and....what the hell is that?

Oh god, is this really the Sonic fan base of the 90's, or is she just there for the ice cream?

What would a birthday party be without a cake? The cake was plain white with a picture of Sonic's head ala the Sonic 3D artwork that was on posters everywhere that got his spikes all wrong. Not exactly an amazing cake, but big enough to be cut up into 200 pieces for all the guests.

I didn't really want to post this photo as the public domain like nature of the Internet would possibly jump on this like a pack of hyenas, so I hid my face to save the embarrassment of a generally unflattering photo. What I really wanted to show off however was the bad-arse jacket covered in Sonic patches. When I grew out of the original jacket they were on, my nan knitted them onto a new bigger jacket. Oh hey, I just noticed my Tamagotchi watch I'm wearing too. If that doesn't throw you back to 1997 I don't know what will.


Photos not enough for you? Then how about some home video footage? Yeah, that's what I thought. If the kid above wasn't enough to scare the feck out of you just wait till you hear some of them. Watch as a kid goes ape shit mental while Sonic is helped to cut his cake. Feel the urge to punch the annoying twat of a parent giving Sonic instructions on how he wants a photo taken with his kid. Cringe as I honk Sonic's nose, which I'm pretty sure he probably didn't like and worst of all; feel your ears bleed as everyone sings happy birthday. You'll also see Sonic do a little dance then go into a strop for some reason. Maybe he doesn't like the Sonic 3D art on his cake. I blocked out most of the noise at the start with some Sonic R music to save your ears a little.

When the event was over, we popped over to SegaWorld, which you'll also see alittle bit of at the end of the video. This was the second time, and this time instead of paying about £12 each to get in with the rides included, it was only about £5, but you had to pay about £3 for the rides individually. (those photos I showed in an older Segaworld article must of been from a 3rd visit, as they're clearly laterThere was another guy in a Sonic costume walking around there, although that one wasn't quite as convincing: he had the hugest gob that looked like a tumor on his face. The highlight of the whole video, though? Mum filming some huge screen footage of the Spice Girls to show my sister, only for me to shout "Spice Girls, but not for long!" Take note this was a couple months before they split up. Ha ha ha!

The Classic Sonic brand is expanding! Oh god.

My wallet! The pain! It's bad enough I just blew £28 on the new Knuckles plush and set of 3 beanies that Play-Asia have started to sell, but now it has been announced that this Classic Sonic brand is expanding out into a vinyl toy series! A company called First 4 Figures, who have previously made rather nice Zelda and Metroid statues (and have quite possibly the slowest website on the planet right now), are dipping their feet into the Sonic licensing pool with a first wave of three figures of Sonic, Tails and Knuckles that are apparently due out around July. Here's the wonderful photos of them in all their 16-bit old school glory:


Wait, did that say FIRST wave? That's means there will most likely be even more to come! Here's hoping the second wave consists of Dr.Robotnik, Amy Rose and Metal Sonic in classic Sonic CD style. If so, HERE'S MY MONEY, TAKE IT.

This blog really was supposed to be about more than just collecting Sonic stuff, but recently they've made it hard to by putting out some of the best Sonic merchandise in years. You can apparently thank Jetix Europe for licensing out this new range, not Sega, which is kind of surprising as Jetix are the ones who screen Sonic X here in Europe. After years of cheap and tacky Sonic X junk, they seem to be treating us to some nostalgia pimping.

EDIT: The First 4 Figures site is working better now, so I've uploaded the bigger, better photos from there.

A nice little Mario "time-waster" game

I think this little Mario game is great for whiling away the time during coffee breaks, although it does eventually get insanely difficult... see what you think - it runs directly within this blog post:

You can play loads more Mario (and Sonic) online games by visiting my www.MarioSonicGames.com website.

More Sonic related collections

What is it about Sonic fans that seems to inspire this all powerful urge to buy lots of stuff with the hedgehog's mug / general image plastered on it? I don't know, but it sure does lead to owning a glorious amount of spectacular and random goods.

So far we've seen Gagaman's, mine and Rhia's collections of Sega / Sonic spending results. All 3 of us are clearly rather deeply disturbed. However, that's not all we have in common. Thus far, all the collections have been British Sonic ones. So let's mix things up now and check out an American collection. Truth be told, they consist of rather similar things as the other collections but that's not important. Spazz gave me one ginormous composite picture of his collection.


Look at all those Japanese plushes, all those Resaurus figures etc. Of special notice is that 10th Anniversary Sonic statue, which looks rather nice, even though it's trapped in a box. I don't really know what more to write, it's all rather self explanatory. Just scour the photo and revel in Spazz's mighty collection.

A final point though, the majority of this blog now seems to be about the acquisition of Sonic goods. I suggest a rename to 'Sonic Consumer Whores Anonymous'.

...no? Aw.

More from Impact's Classic Sonic range, now on Play Asia

If you've walked into a GAME store in recent months, you have most likely seen the classic style Sonic plush toys, which I featured back in December. You'll also remember that there was supposed to be two more characters to the set which no one has been stocking of Knuckles and Robotnik. Well, Play-Asia has started to stock the classic Sonic range and they have Knuckles!

Not only does this mean we can now grab the Knuckles plush that GAME doesn't appear to be ever stocking, but people outside of the UK can buy these toys for themselves. Still no Robotnik in sight, though. I really want to see how that one turns out. To make up for it though, they have something else...

Classic Sonic beanies! Very similar to the plushes but obviously much smaller and er...full of beans, but they're also only about £4 each, so if you're not willing to part with £8 on the full size ones, you could always get these. That's if you're not a completest who must have both sets like me! First that Sonic statue and now these...my wallet is in pain!

It's like a box full of kittens, only not.

Compared to the butt ugly Sonic X plush toys we have seen in the last few years (which I didn't even buy for collectors' sake, they were so bad) these retro styled plushies are rather ace and just how most fans remember the characters from the good old days. Now where's my Robotnik?

Sonic 15th Anniversary Statue

That Sonic statue I briefly mentioned in the Sega History Collection post arrived in the mail the other day. Hooray! Here's the rather snazzy box it came with. This statue was made by Viz back in 2006 with a limited run of just 2500 of them made. There was a 10th anniversary one back in 2001 as well, but good luck finding that now.

Here's the statue itself, Sonic floating above a sliver stand somehow (Rocket boots? Very high heels?). It's a really nice build, especially when compared to most of the half-arsed Sonic toys they make now for Sonic X. Of course, this isn't really a toy but a proper statue that has quite a bit of weight to it, and wouldn't exactly appreciate being dropped..

More photos after the jump!

The stand has a nice full colour 15th anniversary logo on it.

Seeing as they only made 2500 of these, they are numbered on the bottom. Looks like I got a pretty early one.

The box even contains this certificate with the number on as well. Lovely.

And for the fun of it here's some size comparisons to some other Sonic toys.

If you want one of these, you'll probably want to pick one up soon as they may might not be around much longer. All is not lost, however! The guy on Ebay I bought this from also had around 20 more of them on Buy it now, and there are plenty of others on there selling them for a reasonable price, none of them are any more than £30, after shipping to the UK, but if you live in America it'll obviously be quite a bit cheaper (about $20-25).

Crash Bandicoot, the 3rd platforming hero (after Mario and Sonic)

When the first "Crash Bandicoot" game was launched for the original Sony PlayStation console back in 1996, it seemed to me and many other people at the time that it was mostly an attempt to c(r)ash-in on the popularity of Mario and Sonic in order to create an iconic character for the PlayStation. (Sorry about the pun.) If that was the intention it certainly worked very well, with the game proving to be extremely popular and with "Crash" becoming the PlayStation's unofficial mascot for a while.

I have to say that I actually liked it a lot, it had some original gameplay elements as well as the standard platforming ones, and was great fun to play. I thought the sequel that was released in 1997, "Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back", was even better. The third and final game in the original PlayStation series, 1998's "Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped", was a near-perfect game and is rated as one of the best platform games of all time by many fans and critics, which certainly ended any remaining thoughts about Crash being a derivative and unoriginal character. Crash is now a multi-platform franchise in much the same way that Sonic is, with a variety of games being available for all the modern consoles.

Here is an excellent online version of "Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back" for you to try: Crash Bandicoot Flash

You can find it and hundreds more quality-tested games at my free online games site.