Thursday, December 31, 2009

Happy New Year!

It's just after midnight here in Thailand, so all the very best for 2010 (or 2553 as it is in the Thai Buddhist calendar)!

Happy New Year!

It's just after midnight here in Thailand, so all the very best for 2010 (or 2553 as it is in the Thai Buddhist calendar)!

Sunday, December 27, 2009

My wife has a proper web presence now

Further to my post in my personal blog earlier this year listing all my different places on the web, I am pleased to say that my wife Su is now on Facebook, plus she has a Blog and a YouTube channel of her own too. Top girl!

My wife has a proper web presence now

Further to my post in my personal blog earlier this year listing all my different places on the web, I am pleased to say that my wife Su is now on Facebook, plus she has a Blog and a YouTube channel of her own too. Top girl!

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas!

It's one minute past midnight here in Thailand, so it's officially Christmas Day here now! On that basis, even though it's probably not quite actually Christmas Day yet wherever you are reading this, MERRY CHRISTMAS to you!!

I hope you've enjoyed my blogging this year - check out the rest of this blog here and my other blog here to make sure you haven't missed anything, because there are loads and loads of lovely free online games and wallpaper backgrounds listed throughout both blogs.

Merry Christmas!

It's one minute past midnight here in Thailand, so it's officially Christmas Day here now! On that basis, even though it's probably not quite actually Christmas Day yet wherever you are reading this, MERRY CHRISTMAS to you!!

I hope you've enjoyed my blogging this year - check out the rest of this blog here and my other blog here to make sure you haven't missed anything, because there are loads and loads of lovely free online games and wallpaper backgrounds listed throughout both blogs.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Sega Memories DeviantArt Group

Where have I been then? Not writing Sega memories articles that's for sure, poor Barry has been doing all the work lately! To sort of make up for it, today I set up a group on DeviantArt to collect all the best fan art I can find on the website, much like what I've done here before with the Sega Fan Art Showcase articles. If you're signed up to the website you can send in suggestions to add to the collection too. I still haven't got quite my head around every element of this newly made feature of DeviantArt, so bear with me, but there's already a small lump of art collected up to see.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

The Top 10 Video Games of 2009

The Daily Telegraph newspaper recently published its idea of what the top 10 video games of 2009 were, and you can read a summary of their list here:

1. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

2. Street Fighter IV

3. Batman: Arkham Asylum

4. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

5. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

6. Wii Sports Resort

7. Assassin's Creed II

8. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

9. Left 4 Dead 2

10. DJ Hero



TIME Magazine also recently published their version of the list (which you can check out in full detail via my other blog here), and it is quite different because it includes only 5 out of the 10 games in the Telegraph's list, and places the Telegraph's number 1 game at number 10:

1. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

2. Batman: Arkham Asylum

3. DJ Hero

4. Borderlands

5. New Super Mario Bros. Wii

6. Geo-Defense Swarm

7. Scribblenauts

8. Halo 3: ODST

9. Assassin's Creed 2

10. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves



To my way of thinking when comparing these two lists, "Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" must really be the best game of 2009 because it is number 1 in TIME's list and number 4 in the Telegraph's list, with the runner-up being "Batman: Arkham Asylum" because it is number 2 in TIME's list and number 3 in the Telegraph's list. What do you think? :-)

The Top 10 Video Games of 2009

The Daily Telegraph newspaper recently published its idea of what the top 10 video games of 2009 were, and you can read a summary of their list here:

1. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

2. Street Fighter IV

3. Batman: Arkham Asylum

4. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

5. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

6. Wii Sports Resort

7. Assassin's Creed II

8. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

9. Left 4 Dead 2

10. DJ Hero



TIME Magazine also recently published their version of the list (which you can check out in full detail via my other blog here), and it is quite different because it includes only 5 out of the 10 games in the Telegraph's list, and places the Telegraph's number 1 game at number 10:

1. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

2. Batman: Arkham Asylum

3. DJ Hero

4. Borderlands

5. New Super Mario Bros. Wii

6. Geo-Defense Swarm

7. Scribblenauts

8. Halo 3: ODST

9. Assassin's Creed 2

10. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves



To my way of thinking when comparing these two lists, "Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" must really be the best game of 2009 because it is number 1 in TIME's list and number 4 in the Telegraph's list, with the runner-up being "Batman: Arkham Asylum" because it is number 2 in TIME's list and number 3 in the Telegraph's list. What do you think? :-)

Friday, December 11, 2009

AoStH Volume 3 DVD Spindashes into Early 2010

TVShowsonDVD.com has recently reported that the long awaited third and final volume of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog will be released sometime in early 2010. Unlike the previous volumes, volume 3 will be exclusive to the Shout Factory online store. The reason for this exclusivity is that previous volumes did not sell well in retail, so to save some pennies the set will only be available in one place.

DVD producer Brian Ward assures fans that this will still be a factory produced DVD and not a DVD-R like the on-demand shows coming from Amazon.com. As for the packaging and extras, nothing has been revealed just yet. There is a chance that in cutting costs, the set might be reduced to being in a simpler DVD case, but the menus and video quality will remain the same. I've e-mailed Milton Knight to see if another drawing lesson or the recently released pilot footage will appear. If he writes back, I'll post it here.

Edit: Milton wrote back! There is a possibility that volume 3 will contain an additional bonus feature! I won't spoil it here as I don't want to overstep anything between Shout Factory and Milton. ;)

Volume 3 will be the final batch of 90's era non-Japanese Sonic cartoons on DVD

European AoStH fans who have the region free complete series are probably wondering why us Yanks won't just import that. Well, the Americans who already own two-thirds of the series probably would prefer to just get those final 21 episodes online within the country rather than rely on international ebay auctions.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

The Old Sonic Adventure Website is Still Awesome

In terms of advertising, today's games share much in common with the games of ten years ago. Print, video and web are all heavily utilized methods of getting a game's name to the masses. While television and print adverts of the past stand up well to (and in some cases exceed) today's tv and print ads, one form of advertising has greatly evolved; website advertising.

Web advertising of today features streaming HD trailers, interactive interfaces, mini-games, countless connections to social networks and in-depth development diaries. Compared to gaming websites of the past, today's gaming websites technically blow them out of the water. But don't let flashy interfaces and slick buttons turn you completely off to old school gaming websites. Today I want to share a real gem of a website: the Japanese Sonic Adventure website!

Okay, it doesn't look like much. But that list of links feature a treasure trove of low resolution images, tiny video clips and hilarious Sonic Team snapshots of the golden years. Rather than go on and on about the website, I invite you to check it out yourself. After you check it out (or before, your choice) I will present:

Eleven Awesome Things on the Japanese Sonic Adventure Website!

1. The Recording Diary is hidden within one of the links and features photos from the New York, LA and Tokyo recording sessions of the soundtracks. Unfortunately, only the New York sessions were documented, with the LA and Tokyo sections "under construction".

Real life inspiration for Station Square?

Okay, this is more disturbing than awesome.


2. The Japanese Launch looked to be a blast! Check out the many photos taken of the event.


The Dream Team


3. Big Blue Painting. Not too much context for this, as I can't read the descriptive text. It looks to be a massive blue SA logo and Sonic painted outside on a wall.


4. Character Adverts. while all of these can be found on youtube, it's fun to see them in their original form. Remember when tiny mpeg videos were awesome? Here's my favorite:




5. Low Res Screenshots.
Ah, the days when we'd move within inches of our screen and squint at tiny gameplay images.

Compare this (already full size):

To this (click for full size):


6. Chao Tossing

Sonic Team weren't shy with showing what sorts of abuse were possible


7. Sonic Reveal. Imagine that it's 1998 and up until then the only Sonic you knew was the short pudgy speedster of the Genesis days. One day Sonic Team teases you with this:



Then eventually all is revealed with this:



It must have been really exciting to see the brand new Sonic. Oh wait, I was there and it was exciting! Although, I was rather concerned that the in-game model would be a contorted freak. Thankfully, the artist renderings took many more liberties than the in-game models did.

8. The Yuji Naka Morning Show wasn't a reality. Rather, Naka posed for this picture while recording a radio spot for the game. Give it a listen. Isn't he adorable?


9. The Sonic Adventure Theme download was a straight forward mp3 download. No flash player, no restrictive access. Simply the full tune in three formats.

Rock it, Naka!

10. Dozens of vacation photos! That link was just a sampling of the many many pages of photos taken during Sonic Team's trip to South America to research Mayan temples as reference for the Mystic Ruins. If you ask me they just wanted a free vacation.

Llama racing never made it into the final build of the game.

11. Subway adverts. Before the logo and character art were revealed, this simple campaign was seen throughout the Japanese transit system. Compared to the cluttered adverts usually found on trains, this was eye catching in its simplicity.

Wish I could have been there... to pull one down and stuff it under my shirt.

There are many more treasures to be found on the Sonic Adventure website, and once you're through with that there are a number of other older sites on Sega of Japan's Sonic Channel. Happy hunting!

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!



There's also this video, not for the feint of heart. For the full story of Sonic's Thanksgiving Parade debut (and pop), check out this awesome article from X-Entertainment.

Gobble gobble!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

New Classic Sonic 2" figures



Just spotted these on play.com, with a pre-order date of the 20th of this month. Classic styled and just 2 inches tall (still bigger than the Sonic & Knuckles set I have) , they cost £4 each at the moment though I should imagine a box set of all three will show up at some point too. Wouldn't it be nice if they made a whole collection of these with Robotnik, Amy, Metal Sonic etc? For now though we just have the usual Sonic, Tails and Knuckles. Still, they look nice enough, decent Christmas gifts at least.

They also have the RC Racers and Track set that I showed you before up on the site for under a tenner. I wouldn't really recommended the track set unless you really must have the little figures that come with it: I got my set for much cheaper as it was faulty, the track is nothing special. The RC Racers however are quite nice.

Oh, and the 12" statue? Good luck getting that now, it's price is shooting upwards!

New Super Mario Bros. Wii is out now

Further to my post last month (see here), today sees the release of the New Super Mario Bros. Wii game in North America, following on from its launch in Australasia three days ago. It will be launched in Europe in five days time, and in Japan on December 3rd.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii is out now

Further to my post last month (see here), today sees the release of the New Super Mario Bros. Wii game in North America, following on from its launch in Australasia three days ago. It will be launched in Europe in five days time, and in Japan on December 3rd.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

New First4Figures Sneak Peek

It hasn't even been six months since series 1 of the Sonic the Hedgehog vinyl toys hit stores, and yet First4Figures (F4F for the sake of brevity) is now revealing what may come next! The F4F Facebook group has revealed sneak peeks at an upcoming figure, and all signs point to Metal Sonic... again!

While F4F has yet to dip their toes in the evil robotic hedgehog waters, Jazwares has already released the awesome 10" Metal Sonic as well as the chibi-kawaii Juvi Metal Sonic. Is too much Metal a bad thing? Of course not! The F4F Metal Sonic could be one of two things: a large $100+ statue, or one of thee figures to appear in series 2 of the vinyl series. My hopes go towards series 2, as that would also mean two more figures. A Sonic CD reunion perhaps, complete with pink tutu Amy and a jolly Eggman. The figure would also have to be unique, in a dynamic pose, possibly sporting purple-pink flames shooting out from his behind.
Wouldn't this pose make an awesome vinyl toy?

I, and the fans, could also be completely wrong and we are in fact getting the little known Hyper Metal Piggy:

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Problems with www.Dan-Dare.org

My sincere apologies to everyone who likes to visit my www.Dan-Dare.org site for the fact that it has been rather unreliable over the past 3 days or so.

The outages were a result of my hosting company (Fasthosts.co.uk) suffering a major server failure in the second half of last week, which has only just now been fully resolved. Not good! Sorry.

Everything should be fine now, at last - hoorah! Thanks for your patience, you can fully enjoy the site once more.....

Problems with www.Dan-Dare.org

My sincere apologies to everyone who likes to visit my www.Dan-Dare.org site for the fact that it has been rather unreliable over the past 3 days or so.

The outages were a result of my hosting company (Fasthosts.co.uk) suffering a major server failure in the second half of last week, which has only just now been fully resolved. Not good! Sorry.

Everything should be fine now, at last - hoorah! Thanks for your patience, you can fully enjoy the site once more.....

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Beat in the Box - JSRF Merch

When it comes to SmileBit's Jet Set Radio franchise, I guess I'd say I'm a fan...

Okay... I own five discs when there are essentially two games. I'm a BIG fan. While I have yet to snag the holy grail of JSR merch, the De La Jet Set Radio Dreamcast Direct box, I was able to find another JSR item that has been on my want list for a while:

It's the GamePro Beat figure! I found this bad boy (or is that Rudie?) on ebay for $20, quite a good price considering how infrequently the figure appears and how high the starting price usually is. For those interested, a "buy it now" auction with a quantity of three figures has appeard on ebay, the cost per figure is just under $40. For those with deep pockets, a limited edition run of 500 "prototype" figures are out there, but when you do find one look to spend between $250 to $400. WAY too much for essentially an unpainted version of the same figure.



Big Go!

The figure itself is not too bad. A true Beat can never be captured in figure form, as JSR never look quite looks right when not cel shaded. Just look at Beat and Gum in Sega Superstars Tennis. While I'll probably never open the box, it doesn't look like many more poses are possible than the one already seen. Beat also comes with a nifty character card, the requisite spray can and a section of street which, according to the box, can hang on the wall for gravity-defying poses. Ooh!

The package opens to reveal a glowing review from GamePro. It took me forever to realize that the background is a huge squashed picture of Professor K. Can you see him?

I know Gagaman has one of those Crazy Taxi cabs.

The back advertises some more figures that I'd like to own as well as a game that I already have two of. Besides the Beat figure, there is very little in terms of Jet Set Radio merchandise. Hot Wheels released an easy to aquire Cougar Tuner car with a JSRF paintjob (premonitions of Beat's cameo in All-Stars Racing?). Also available are two soundtracks of the respective games, although bootlegs of these are plentiful and ebay can't always be trusted. Another piece, which I hope to share here someday if I ever find it, is a big JSRF poster that I bought back in the day. I'm unsure if it was legit, but it featured huge high res in-game models of Beat, Gum and Corn and featured a swirly blue background.

Oh, and I need to add this to my collection as well:

Apologies to ~camilliette on deviantART

Friday, October 23, 2009

It's almost time for New Super Mario Bros. Wii

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

The latest game in the main Mario series, the 2-D side-scrolling "New Super Mario Bros. Wii", is due to be released in Australasia on November 12th, North America on November 15th, Europe on November 20th and Japan on December 3rd.

For the first time ever in a Mario game, it includes simultaneous multiplayer capability for up to 4 players. It is a further development of the "New Super Mario Bros." game on the Nintendo DS. See this excellent article in Wikipedia for more information.

If you would like to play a free online version of a classic Super Mario Bros. game, then check out the brilliant New Super Mario Bros. Flash Online Game, which includes a level editor that you can use to design, build and save your own levels!

There are hundreds more fantastic free Super Mario Bros. online games for you to enjoy in the MarioSonicGames.com website.

It's almost time for New Super Mario Bros. Wii

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

The latest game in the main Mario series, the 2-D side-scrolling "New Super Mario Bros. Wii", is due to be released in Australasia on November 12th, North America on November 15th, Europe on November 20th and Japan on December 3rd.

For the first time ever in a Mario game, it includes simultaneous multiplayer capability for up to 4 players. It is a further development of the "New Super Mario Bros." game on the Nintendo DS. See this excellent article in Wikipedia for more information.

If you would like to play a free online version of a classic Super Mario Bros. game, then check out the brilliant New Super Mario Bros. Flash Online Game, which includes a level editor that you can use to design, build and save your own levels!

There are hundreds more fantastic free Super Mario Bros. online games for you to enjoy in the MarioSonicGames.com website.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Sonic's Mystery Box

This past weekend my parents came to visit, and along with a fun-filled weekend came all of my Sega games, accessories and consoles that I had left at their house. After quietly sneaking six boxes past my girlfriend, I came to the last box. Inside was an odd assortment of items from my Sonic collection. My parents craftily snuck in a bit of things that I didn't ask to be brought. Rather than being a little brat, I thanked them for this random selection of Sonic items and now I'd like to share Sonic's mystery box with all of you!




The first item is this oversized Sonic Shuffle display box, for in-store use to advertise Sonic's so-so party game. The box even includes an over sized image of the back of the case (not pictured). I believe I saw this at a GameStop back in '01 and asked if I could have it, obviously I got it. Guess it wasn't doing it's job of pushing copies of the game.


Up next is one of my favorite items, the Sonic child's necktie. I've always been a fan of red ties, and Sonic with his line of rings only makes this BETTER than any other red necktie. The downside: it's too small for me to wear. Also in the box was a Game Gear bubble gum container with one Sonic Spinball trading card inside. I remember having many more of these, including pink Sonic & Knuckles branded containers. The Sonic 3 Tiger Pocket Arcade is mint in box and was sold for $4.79, if only I had the courage to open it and play it. Damn my collector sensibilities!


One of the coolest box items was my Sonic lunchbox! I wisely never used this, as evidenced by the cleaning instructions card found inside of the thermos. I always love American Sonic merch featuring the game design of Eggman, very uncommon to find the yellow collared version. Usually he was swapped out for the AoStH Robotnik. Speaking of AoStH Robotnik...


he appears inside the lunchbox on an unopened box of Sonic Valentines! Also inside are a mini Sonic plush and the McDonald's Billy Hatcher handheld. Isn't that head on view of Sonic winking wild?? Let's take a look at the back:


Sonic missed sawing through Robotnik by inches! I guess even Sonic and his nemesis feel love for eachother on Valentine's Day.


Here is an unopened Sonic Adventure bendy 4 PAK. I remember having another variation of this box, including Eggman I believe. Note the orange Dreamcast arrow to the left. Moving on to...


Denny's Sonic Underground plushies! One of the only positives to come out of that awful show was the Denny's Knuckles plush. Love the little rivets on the shoes. ^_^ Kawaii!


Strewn about the bottom of the box were my Sonic Adventure action figures. The stands and floating rings were nice touches, the Tails figure is an excellent sculpt! On top of the smaller figures was my giant Sonic figure, finally a match for 10 inch Metal.


The scraps on the bottom included McDonald's handheld baggies, instruction cards and instruction guides to my Sonic 2 and Sonic 3D Blast Tiger Games (the games themselves weren't in this box).

So there you have it! A random sampling of my Sonic collection, as selected by my mother (hence the randomness). This is only a fraction of my Sonic collection, a collection that I hope to show in full one day here at Sega Memories. As a parting gift, a shot of all the Sonic games I own:

Friday, October 16, 2009

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games 2010 is out now

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games 2010

The second title in the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games series - this one designed to tie-in with the Winter Olympics being held in Vancouver, Canada early next year - is released on the Nintendo Wii and DS in Europe today, following on from its recent releases in North America and Australasia. (It is due for release in Japan early next month.)

So far "Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games 2010" has received excellent reviews, based on the fact that it features 21 playable characters (10 each from the Mario and Sonic franchises plus a Mii) and 27 winter sports events to compete in. Some events in the Wii version can be played with the Wii Balance Board, and the snowboarding events have been highlighted as being especially good fun when played that way.

You can watch an official trailer for the game, showing a short clip of the snowboarding, here.

And you can play a free Sonic Snowboarding online game here.

There are hundreds of fantastic free Mario and Sonic online games for you to enjoy in the MarioSonicGames.com website.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games 2010 is out now

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games 2010

The second title in the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games series - this one designed to tie-in with the Winter Olympics being held in Vancouver, Canada early next year - is released on the Nintendo Wii and DS in Europe today, following on from its recent releases in North America and Australasia. (It is due for release in Japan early next month.)

So far "Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games 2010" has received excellent reviews, based on the fact that it features 21 playable characters (10 each from the Mario and Sonic franchises plus a Mii) and 27 winter sports events to compete in. Some events in the Wii version can be played with the Wii Balance Board, and the snowboarding events have been highlighted as being especially good fun when played that way.

You can watch an official trailer for the game, showing a short clip of the snowboarding, here.

And you can play a free Sonic Snowboarding online game here.

There are hundreds of fantastic free Mario and Sonic online games for you to enjoy in the MarioSonicGames.com website.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Mega Drive Complete Japanese game Library



I did one of these for the Dreamcast once, so why not the Mega Drive? I've been on a bit of a high for Mega Drive Japanese games lately, so for those collecting them here is every game released in Japan for the system in chronological order (according to the database over at Guardiana), with their front covers featured which I found from various sources (some games were hard to find the covers of, so the quality of the pictures varies) and some OC Remixes of Ristar and Streets of Rage for good measure.

Funny to think of how many games they got over there that we didn't, yet their game line up is actually missing quite a lot too, such as Vectorman. Many Japanese versions of the games are much rarer, especially most of the games from 1995. Maximum Carnage and Bart's Nightmare can be found here easily and aren't even very good games, yet the Japanese version fetch hundreds upon hundreds of quid. A bit silly, really.

There's something to be said about the boxart from Japan though: there is a lot of nice artwork to be found. Compare the likes of Jewel Master, Alisha Dragon, Strider and others to their Western counterparts, you have to wonder what was going through their heads. Still, there are some odd choices like the cover to the The Ooze, which try to stand out as some sort of newspaper article with no artwork or screenshots, and Bio Hazard Battle goes by the name 'Crying' for some reason. These kind of differences from the west and east don't tend to happen so much now.

A blog you'll want to check out if you're looking to start collecting Japanese Mega Drives would be Mega Drive Memories by Ian Wilson.

Friday, October 9, 2009

More Juvi-nile Delinquents

As promised on the back of the SDCC Metal Sonic Juvi figure, the Juvi figures of Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow and the Werehog have hit stores!

Photo lovingly ripped from ebay

Like Metal Sonic, the first series are Toyr R Us exclusives. Unlike Metal Sonic, they can be found in stores and have yet to hit the online shop. Each figure goes for a reasonable $9.99 each. My take: I think they look alright, but I don't think I'll be buying them. The face sculpts look a bit too extreme and "Sonic X"-ish. I also don't like that they all look like they spotted a penny on the floor. You'll notice Sonic has a "shine" on the top of his head, like a light blue paint roller ran across his forehead. Besides the wonky look to their faces, the paint/print job itself is lovely and they look to be just as quality a product as the Metal Sonic.


The prototypes clearly had more of a neck and were looking upwards.

Internet rumors speculate that Series 2 will contain Amy, Silver, and Metal Sonic. I'd take this with a grain of salt, as Metal Sonic has already been released. Unless a variaton is made, or the exclusiveness of the SDCC figure is to be dissolved, I suspect we'll be seeing Tails and Blaze rounding out the four. I'll admit, when I read "Silver" I got excited for the Sonic 2 boss, only to realize they were talking about the Sonic '06 Silver the Hedgehog. C'est la vie!

In other news: Metal Sonic has returned to the Toys R Us online store! Get him while you can!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

10 Inch Metal Sonic... ACTIVATE!


10 Inch Metal Sonic has arrived! And as quickly as he arrived, he is now sold out from the Toys R Us online store. It's no wonder that this figure went so fast, just look at him! A near perfect figure of a Sonic fan favorite who has been sorely underrepresented in the merchandising world. Figures may still be available in stores, though they are going fast. One's best bet to obtain one would be to call local Toys R Us stores or search eBay, though avid Sonic fans should avoid auctions going for more than $40.

"shh... When Sonis turns around he is going to freak the hell out." 



The figure is awesome, no question, but the price to quality ratio does not make this a figure worth a $50 eBay auction. The paint has a lovely metallic shine, but can be a little sloppy in spots. My figure looks great on a shelf, but looking a bit closer you'll see a few small splatters of paint and areas that aren't completely filled in. For example, unlike the in-game model, Metal's silver chin stops short. Still, the paint job is great for a figure of this price.


The rear engine is my favorite part. He has SEGA printed on his ass, which I'm a bit envious of.

As you can see, bigger IS better.

Even rarely seen areas, like the bottoms of Metal's shoes, are finely detailed. You'll find some parts that are so detailed, you'll swear it's a joint. The silver hinge of Metal's foot is only sculpted, and is not an actual point of articulation. Speaking of articulation, Metal has 18 points. The arms, head and hands move about brilliantly, with the Thumbs even able to swivel for "thumbs up" poses. The legs aren't as wonky as the Werehog figure, so you can do a variety of standing poses without fear of Metal tipping over.

Father and Son


"If only more people actually finished this game to see my epic return... who am I kidding. I wore a cape... that is so not me. I hate capes!"

A great figure of a great character. What more can I say? Metal has returned!