Visualshock! Speedshock! Soundshock! The Mega Drive is 20 today.

On this day in 1988 the Mega Drive was released in Japan. It was actually about 2 and a half years from this point before Sonic The Hedgehog debuted on the system. Just take that into perspective for a moment: 2 and a half years was very much the Dreamcast's entire life span (if you don't count all those shmups released here and there afterwards, but I'll be going into the Dreamcast more next month for the Dreamcast's 10th Birthday) and yet in this time the Mega Drive had barely even started and would only get stronger and stronger from there on. It was Sega's most successful console in Europe and America, and longest living on the market worldwide. It was also the only console that managed to shake up Nintendo's stranglehold on the gaming market at the time and force them to push themselves to make their own 16-bit console. If it wasn't for the Mega Drive, Nintendo would of most likely of sat on the NES for much longer and wouldn't have felt pressured to make even better games which to the most heated and most exciting console "war" in it's history to date.

The Mega Drive still lives in many forms. The games are available on the Wii's Virtual console, on many Sega collection discs released, and in dozens of TV plug in and handheld devices, like this recently released tiny console that has 20 games built in and even a cartridge slot for the original. Mega Drive systems and games are also still sold in Brazil, where it even got some brand new games like a suprisenly well done port of Duke Nukem 3D.
Still, there is nothing quite like playing these games on the original hardware and you don't as much classy than the original model. The Mega Drive looked and feeled like a truly powerful and slick piece of hardware at the time, especially compared to the plastic lump that was the NES. It was also dark and not very toy-like at all, which was quite unusual for a console. There were many different kinds of Mega Drive models released in later years (The Wondermega, MegaJet, Mega Drive II and 3, the list goes on) but this will always be the most iconic.

Saying that, this is what I currently own and is my favorite model of the lot: The Multi Mega. At about half the size, with both the Mega Drive cart slot and a Mega CD disc drive, it is a wonderfully small but robust system. Combine this with a good scart cable for my LCD telly and a extra Master System converter makes it the ultimate retro system for me. The CD drive actually conked out on it a little while ago but I made sure to get it fixed, mainly because I'll never find one of these cheap again, I reckon. Did I mention it came from a car boot sale for £6.50? I probably did, because it's probably the best gaming related purchase I have ever made.

One of my other favorite things about the Mega Drive has to be it's controller. It's possibly one of the most comfortable to hold ever made, has a fantastic d-pad and great feeling buttons. Every thing about it just comes together beautifully. The six button controller they released later was a bit small for my tastes, but many claim it to be their favorite controller of all time.

Some things I can never say i liked was how Sega of America handled the Mega Drive. Simply put, the "Genesis" is a pretty dumb name, and the advertising, while very effective, was pretty obnoxious, often making up utter codswallop like "blast processing". I guess in that case I can see Nintendo fans who grew up in the US of A found Sega to be quite annoying and quite difficult to take seriously. Sega Europe were far more clever with their advertising (if a little batshit at times, see my Pirate TV articles), which is probably why is was even bigger over here still, although it also helps that Nintendo of Europe always were and always will be incompetent.

But in the end for me it was the games that really made the Mega Drive for me. The variety and quantity on offer was just something else. The excellent video above by youtube user Alianger does a very nice job at summing up what the Mega Drive was all about. If you don't have time to dust off your Mega Drive today to give it a play, at least watch this 10 minute epic.

Halloween Pics: Sonic X (continued...)

Just as the title says, I've got a few more Sonic X Halloween themed pics to add. Unfortunately, I only have two more to show you for now. In my opinion, these are my two favorites out of all of them, especially the Sonic one. So again, enjoy! And remember, no art critics please!

Shadow the Vampire ^

Sonic the Werehog ^

Halloween Pics: Sonic X

So I unfortunately don't know how to add pics to the slide show. (Ya, I'm that stupid...) So until I figure out how to do that, I'll just post some pictures on my blog like this.

Halloween is coming up, so I've edited a few Sonic X screenshots that i found on http://www.teamartail.com/sonicx/ss.html. I hope you enjoy them! And please, no art critics... Some of these took forever to do...

Amy Rose the Devil^

Cream the Angel ^

Tails the Pirate ^


Knuckles the Zombie ^

Rouge the Witch ^

I will add a few more soon... So again, be patient.

Soon I'll Add More to This Blog, I Promise!

I know I don't really have much on this blog, but I promise, I will add more soon! I'm in 8th grade and school is only getting harder. I have projects due and tests every week, just like many other students. So I promise, either tomorrow, or over the weekend, I WILL add more to this blog! I'm actually planning on adding a slide show. So you can all look forward to that. So for those of you that are wondering why I haven't been updating this blog, BE PATIENT!!! I'll get to it very soon.

P.S: I just love adding images to things, don't you?

Sonic the Hedgehog voted favourite computer game star

According to an article in yesterday's English Daily Telegraph newspaper, in a recent poll to find out who is the most popular video game character, UK gamers handed victory to Sonic (with 24% of the vote) over Mario (21%) and Lara Croft (16%). Other favourites were Donkey Kong (11%), Pac Man (10%), Link (5%), Max Payne (4%) and Pikachu (3%).

I am surprised, but happy, that Sonic won. Too often the professional game critics claim Sonic games aren't as good as Mario ones. Even though at times that also seems to be true to me, clearly the game-playing public disagree. Hoorah for that, then! The biggest surprise to me from this poll was the very poor showing for Pikachu, given the overall global popularity of Pokemon. Perhaps Charizard would have polled higher.

Sonic the Hedgehog voted favourite computer game star

According to an article in yesterday's English Daily Telegraph newspaper, in a recent poll to find out who is the most popular video game character, UK gamers handed victory to Sonic (with 24% of the vote) over Mario (21%) and Lara Croft (16%). Other favourites were Donkey Kong (11%), Pac Man (10%), Link (5%), Max Payne (4%) and Pikachu (3%).

I am surprised, but happy, that Sonic won. Too often the professional game critics claim Sonic games aren't as good as Mario ones. Even though at times that also seems to be true to me, clearly the game-playing public disagree. Hoorah for that, then! The biggest surprise to me from this poll was the very poor showing for Pikachu, given the overall global popularity of Pokemon. Perhaps Charizard would have polled higher.

Sorry, Wrong Information...

Hey, if you read my post about Sonic Unleashed on my other blog, then I sorta gave you the wrong info about one of the levels. Remember how I said that one of the levels was New York City? Well, this probably won't make that much of a difference, but I found out that New York City isn't a level. However, there still is a level in New York. Instead of New York City, it's actually Empire City. Two different cities, same state. So Empire City is the real level, and I promise you, I will tell you about any other changes in the info I gave before. Sorry about the confusion!

Sonic Unleashed Info

Ok, so again, it's been a while. But I'm brain-dead right now. I have no idea what to talk about anymore. And this post is gonna be very short because I only have one thing to say about the game. I learned this at http://www.sega.com/games/?g=231. Sonic Unleashed is out now! But before you all try to run to the store to buy it or order it online, let me just warn you: IT'S ONLY OUT FOR THE PLAY STATION 3 CONSOLE! So if you have Play Station 3 and you want to get Sonic Unleashed, then lucky you! You are the lucky ones who can buy it right now! Unfortunately, for those of you who don't have the Play Station 3, (and this is including me. I have Play Station 2 and the Wii, so I still gotta wait like the rest of you) we gotta wait until November 18. If you don't believe me, than go on the SEGA website and find out for yourself! And speaking of SEGA websites and Sonic Unleashed, the Sonic Unleashed website was updated a few days ago, so check it out! It looks way better than the way it was before. And for those of you who don't know the website, here it is: www.sega.com/sonicunleashed. So for those of you that have the Play Station 3 console and decide to buy the game, I hope ya have fun playing it! Tell us "poor souls who still have to wait" about it after you play it, ok? Leave a comment about it, or anything else that's Sonic or Shadow related. I'll accept ideas for new posts as well, (because like I said, I have no idea what to talk about anymore.) So thanks!
(P.S: Wow! What do ya know! This post was actually longer than I expected!)

New Blog!

Ok, so first of all, this is my new blog for Sonic and Shadow fans ONLY! Because I really don't want any Sonic and Shadow haters leaving anti-Sonic and/or Shadow comments, ok? So this will be the blog that I post Sonic and Shadow stuff on from now on, so don't expect any more Sonic or Shadow posts on my other blog, Sucky Losers Not Allowed, ok? From now on, come here for Sonic and Shadow stuff, ok? Well I'll officially start posting sometime soon, so I hope you like this blog!