Just when you thought it was safe to go back to Toys R Us... Metal Sonic RETURNS!
Checking up on the Toys R Us website for Metal Sonic has become a weekly routine for me. As usual, I entered the site this morning expecting nothing. But I was struck by THIS:
He's not for pre-order either, he's for sale right now! No Sonic fan should pass this figure up for the low, low price of $16.99. Heck, it gets even better! The Exclusive San Diego Comic-Con 2009 Metal Sonic the Hedgehog has been discounted to the odd price of $10.48, about $5 off the original price.
The 10 inch Metal Sonic is available both in stores and online. As I live minutes away from a Toys R Us, I'm holding off until the store opens to call them and (hopefully) reserve a figure. If all goes well, I could have a review this very evening. If not, then I'll have this shiny little faker in my clutches as early as next week.
I found this package shot on ebay. The figure looks much nicer in a 3/4 view.
Update: Metal appears to be very popular, as he is sold out at five of the closest stores. Thankfully he is on his way from ToysRUs.com. Holy crap! He weighs 2 pounds??
Further to my post yesterday about classic Sonic games, the set of secondhand PS2 games I bought recently also included a disc with a Super Nintendo (SNES) emulator and 500 SNES games on it. I was quite surprised to see such a thing, and I was rather doubtful it would work properly. But when I tried it on my PS2 all but a very few of the games worked perfectly. And to my joy, all the classic Super Mario Bros. games worked fine, including Super Mario All-Stars, both Super Mario Worlds and Super Mario Kart. In particular, the first Super Mario World is still a wonderful game to play - even after all these years it stands up well against the more modern 3D versions of Mario.
You can play a superb free online version of a classic Mario game here: New Super Mario Flash
If you ever see one of these emulator discs for sale anywhere, I thoroughly recommend buying it - also included on the disc I got were all the SNES classics such as Zelda, Kirby, Donkey Kong, Mega Man, Metroid, Street Fighter, Mortal Combat, Starfox, F-Zero and so on. Wicked!
Further to my post yesterday about classic Sonic games, the set of secondhand PS2 games I bought recently also included a disc with a Super Nintendo (SNES) emulator and 500 SNES games on it. I was quite surprised to see such a thing, and I was rather doubtful it would work properly. But when I tried it on my PS2 all but a very few of the games worked perfectly. And to my joy, all the classic Super Mario Bros. games worked fine, including Super Mario All-Stars, both Super Mario Worlds and Super Mario Kart. In particular, the first Super Mario World is still a wonderful game to play - even after all these years it stands up well against the more modern 3D versions of Mario.
You can play a superb free online version of a classic Mario game here: New Super Mario Flash
If you ever see one of these emulator discs for sale anywhere, I thoroughly recommend buying it - also included on the disc I got were all the SNES classics such as Zelda, Kirby, Donkey Kong, Mega Man, Metroid, Street Fighter, Mortal Combat, Starfox, F-Zero and so on. Wicked!
I bought some secondhand games for my Sony PS2 a few weeks back, including a number of Sonic the Hedgehog discs, and I haven't been able to stop playing the classic Sonic Heroes game from 2004 since - it's still utterly brilliant!!
If you haven't got it even after all this time, you must go and get yourself a copy. It's the way a Sonic game should be - fast and furious fun. Why oh why can't Sega go back to that classic style instead of all these sad "pseudo" Sonic games they've been churning out over the past few years? Oh dear!
I bought some secondhand games for my Sony PS2 a few weeks back, including a number of Sonic the Hedgehog discs, and I haven't been able to stop playing the classic Sonic Heroes game from 2004 since - it's still utterly brilliant!!
If you haven't got it even after all this time, you must go and get yourself a copy. It's the way a Sonic game should be - fast and furious fun. Why oh why can't Sega go back to that classic style instead of all these sad "pseudo" Sonic games they've been churning out over the past few years? Oh dear!
Put this together over the last couple of days. The mega Drive in the right hands pumped out some brilliant music, and this video is a sample of some of my personal favorites. I might make another one of these at some point if I get time, or maybe videos of the music from certain games like Decap Attack and Battle Mania 2.
Educated Sega fans know what the image to left is of. It's the Sega Vision, the portable media player from Sega which began as a rumored return to consumer gaming hardware but ended up being a so-so MP3 player with photo and video capabilities. What educated Sega fans may not know is that the Sega Vision isn't the first Sega product to bear that name.
From Sega's early days in the 1940's (as Standard Games) up to the 1970's, Sega mainly produced coin-operated amusements including photo booths, UFO Catchers, slot and pinball machines. In 1977 Sega introduced a big screen TV called the Sega-Vision. What made the Sega-Vision different from other Sega products at the time was that it was intended for home use. This possibly makes the Sega-Vision the first Sega home video system! While it couldn't play games, it did bear the Sega name and provided visual entertainment.
Patent drawings of what the Sega-Vision may have looked like
The Sega-Vision's technology was invented by a man known as Madman Muntz. I'm not kidding! Earl "Madman" Muntz was an American businessman and engineer known for his television commercials in which he played an oddball "Madman" who generated publicity with his wacky costumes, stunts, and outrageous claims. Muntz has many claims to fame including coining the phrase "TV" and inventing the earliest functional widescreen projection television. Muntz was not a Sega employee, but rather licensed his invention to Sega for use in manufacturing. The projection television patent listing mentions not only the Sega-Vision, but also a Sony Projection Television, both are listed as being sold in the spring of 1977. Could this have been the first Sega/Sony war?
Madman Muntz could join the ranks of Yukawa and Segata!
While little information of the Sega-Vision exists outside of the United States Patent listing, it's an interesting moment in Sega history and a unique entry into the Sega home entertainment family. I wonder if one could hook a Master System up to the Sega-Vision?
If Gagaman gets his hands on a Sega-Vision TV, I'll eat a shoe.
The third title in the Mario & Luigi RPG game series, "Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story", is due to be released on the Nintendo DS and DSi in North America tomorrow (and in Europe on October 9th and Australasia on October 22nd).
The game's new features compared to the previous title in the series include lots more mini-games, plus the ability to play as Bowser and use his own unique battle system, which allows players to hold the DS sideways and use the touchscreen and microphone to perform special moves (such as blowing on the microphone to make Bowser breathe fire). Additionally, Bros. Points (BP) have been brought back from the first game in the series, only this time they are called Special Points (SP) because of Bowser's playability.
The third title in the Mario & Luigi RPG game series, "Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story", is due to be released on the Nintendo DS and DSi in North America tomorrow (and in Europe on October 9th and Australasia on October 22nd).
The game's new features compared to the previous title in the series include lots more mini-games, plus the ability to play as Bowser and use his own unique battle system, which allows players to hold the DS sideways and use the touchscreen and microphone to perform special moves (such as blowing on the microphone to make Bowser breathe fire). Additionally, Bros. Points (BP) have been brought back from the first game in the series, only this time they are called Special Points (SP) because of Bowser's playability.
Remember this early concept art found on Impact Innovations website ages ago? Well it turns out two more projects from that lot have been released as I found them in Debenhams, who had a 25% off sale on them. They also had some of those classic Sonic carrying bags that you may of seen on GAME. I picked them up figuring they were even cheaper at the moment and if they're anything like that track set they'll all be gone by Christmas. The remote controlled 'racers' look far better than in those old prototypes, thankfully.
Both are in a running pose and are attached to big black lumps of plastic with wheels on them. I can understand that designing Sonic toys like this is more difficult than Mario kart, but why not make the wheels their legs like in the artwork? Oh well.
The Sonic one is really nice. The face is a great design especially. I'd almost go as far as to say it looks even better than the First4Figures vinyl toy that was in the same pose, though the paint work isn't as good, but then this is a toy first and foremost, unlike the vinyl toy collectible.
The Tails one looks a little off. I think it's mainly to do with his eyes, they appear to be far too small and give the impression that he has a large cranium. Also, was it really wise to paint the part that connects the figure to the base in-between his legs like that? Er...no comment. XD
The remote control is interesting: they've gone for a Sonic & Knuckles like silhouette of the characters with two simple buttons. A re-creation of the Mega Drive controller would have been awesome, but this is still a decent design.
These toys are £12 RRP, though due to the sale I got them a bit cheaper, so they're not bad at all. The quality of Sonic toys and figures in the last year or two has been far better than we've been used to I think: after years of wonky Sonic X rubbish and even a lot of the old 90's merchandise wasn't all that well designed. I remember the Sonic RC car just being a cruddy purple car with Sonic stickers on it, for example. Perhaps this is all in preparation for project Needlemouse? I doubt it, but wouldn't that be ace?
If you encounter anybody with bloodshot sleep-deprived eyes today, chances are they're a Dreamcast fan coming off of last nights festivities. Yesterday was a wonderful mix of Dreamcast tribute videos, top games lists, historical articles and memories. As we here at SEGA memories are all about remembering the good old days, I thought I'd share a few memories found at SEGA Nerds as well as share a report on my own 10th anniversary festivities.
I downloaded all of the commercials for the console I could find (on dial-up, no less), and watched them all at least a million times. When I would find kiosks of the console I would go to the store on a weekend and literally play it all day, believe it or not the stores would allow this! -SEGA Uranus
Prior to the system’s release I was heavily involved on Sega.com and their message boards. I actually won a contest in which I won a Dreamcast shirt and other cool memorabilia. -Segamon
That legendary QTE in Shenmue II at a barber shop. I was mesmerized when I figured it out. Also, I ditched a girl to play the game. I may have mentioned this here before. haha -ORTA
My 9-9-09 began with a post at my own SEGA blog announcing The Dreamroom, a ten hour Dreamcast marathon which included streaming video and a gathering of friends. I read and watched every Dreamcast tribute that I could find, including Gagaman's excellent top 100 and IHaveADreamcast's video feed, and then headed home to set up for my own event.
The party room consisted of two Dreamcasts running on an HDTV and good old tube TV. I had my library of 80+ games and controllers at the ready and kicked off the feed with some Sonic Adventure.
The main stage. The PS2 was rightfully stuck in the back room to make space for the Dreamcast games.
After a playthrough of some Sonic stages, I put on the Shenmue the Movie DVD. While the DVD was included with the XBOX version of Shenmue II and was being played on the 360, the footage itself was captured on a Dreamcast, so it still stayed true to the day. As the movie played, I set up the living room and chatted with Dreamcast fans watching the feed. Props to Justin.TV users Gagaman, Atmeyer, IHaveADreamcast, OatBob and snume for watching and commenting throughout the day! You guys truly made the event.
The webcam setup. I acutally ran a DV camera out from my laptop and it worked perfectly.
After the first half of Shenmue the Movie, Gagaman joined the party and things really kicked off! I played through a good amount of Space Channel 5, only to fail at the fourth level. However, Space Michael was rescued and that's all that matters. Tokyo-to was bombed with some custom graffiti in Jet Grind Radio followed by a conversation with Seaman, who was still a cheeky child at the time and could only reply with smartass dismissive remarks. He received a good tickling for being naughty on the webcam and was dubbed a "fat little fish".
Jason (left) being the true Dreamcast fan he is, came dressed in his Dreamcast football jersey and brought a matching red controller. He won the costume contest.
After feeding the fish, MDK2 was booted up and the less said about that play session the better. Next came a game delievered the day of the party, Rent A Hero No.1! While viewers were dubious as to what was going on, once the intro kicked in we were hooked. The Creamcaststartup screen and SegataSanshiro's cameo were highlights of the day. Gagaman, you MUST do a video of this game. Truly a Dreamcast classic. Er, or is that Creamcast classic?
Part 2 of Shenmue the Movie followed as I ordered pizza and set up some more. Guests Jason and Nick arrived and the multiplayer gaming began. Per Gagaman's request, we played Dynamite Cop 2 on the tube TV, as the VGA box was not compatible with the sheer awesomeness of Bruno Delinger. More guests arrived, Scott and Isabel, and we were really cooking! Ten rounds of Power Stone 2 and some Soul Calibur put our skills to the test.
Ten rounds of Power Stone 2 will do this to you.
The party dipped its collective toes into the weird as we played through YukawaSenmu No OtakaraSagashi and What's Shenmue?, both Japanese giveaway games that featured SEGA's then-Executive Director EiichiYukawa. Digging up Dreamcast treasures was a joy, just watch:
Watch live video from Dreamroom on Justin.tv As the party wound down, we returned to Seaman via the magic of time travel. Pushing the internal clock ahead a day, seaman was now an adult. Speaking in his famous voice, he queried my birthday and whether I was male or female. More fish tickling ensued and Nick and Jason bowed out (I'd leave a party too if it resorted to fish tickling). Before our last two guests left, the maracas came out and it was samba time. Samba de Amigo Ver. 2000 time to be exact!
With the guests gone, the Dreamcast shutoff and the web stream concluded I realized that there was a LOAD of Dreamcast games that we had yet to play! Despite having a good ten hours, classic 2D fighters, a number of racers, Sonic Adventure 2, Shenmue 2, Rez, Bangai-O, Tokyo Bus Guide, Cool Cool Toon, Segagaga and many more had yet to be played! Just a testament to how strong the Dreamcast library is.
I hope everyone had a great 9-9-09 and enjoyed good games and good memories. Now on to the anticipation of 10-14-09!
STRIKE A POSE!
Special thanks to my girlfriend Marlena for taking photos. :)
If, like me, you like Super Mario games and shooting games, here's a treat for you because there are a number of such games available online for free. First up, here are 3 awesome Super Mario first-person shooter (FPS) games:
If, like me, you like Super Mario games and shooting games, here's a treat for you because there are a number of such games available online for free. First up, here are 3 awesome Super Mario first-person shooter (FPS) games:
This trailer just recently appeared on the internet and seems to be touting a new 2D / HD Sonic game. Now, considering how brief and uninformative the trailer is, it'd be ridiculous to make any predictions about how this release could turn out. However, that sillohuette at the end does look an awful lot like...
Well a lot of the video footage I took was pretty pants but here's a bit of it showing what I filmed just as I entered the building, having a quick look about, and then it cuts to the introduction up on the stage, which continues into the second video. I just missed the very start of that animation in which a windows blue screen popped up (getting huge laughs as everyone presumed the computers set up to the telly's crashed) but then that tails Doll from Sonic R popped up all evil like. Otherwise very little is cut out.
Sega Nerds already has a great video of the Sumo Digital Q&A session as well as a interview they did with them, so I probably won't be uploading my filming of that, but I do also have the Q&A session with the S.T.C artists which i will be uploading soon.
