Sonic Colors is out now on the Nintendo Wii and DS

"Sonic Colors" for the Nintendo Wii and DS is out in North America today. (It was released in Europe on November 12th.)

It is a platform game in the classic Sonic style, with a mix of 2D side-scrolling and 3D third-person action in the Wii version (a little like, although much better than, 2008's "Sonic Unleashed").

Both the Wii and DS versions have received very good reviews, with Metacritic giving around 80% to both, and IGN giving 8.5/10 to both, for example. In particular, IGN gave it an Editor's Choice Award and called it "the best Sonic game in 18 years". High praise indeed!

It's been a very good time for new high quality Sonic games just recently, what with the release of "Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - Episode 1" last month and "Sonic Free Riders" two weeks ago. Happy days! :-)

Sonic Free Riders is released in North America today

"Sonic Free Riders" for the Xbox 360 is out in the USA and Canada today. (It will be released in Europe on November 10th and Japan on November 20th.)

It is the third installment in the Sonic Riders series, following Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity (which is a favourite game of mine), and it makes use of Microsoft's new "Kinect" Xbox 360 motion-sensor control peripheral. Sounds like it could be good fun to me!

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - Episode 1 is out today

It's finally here - Episode 1 of the eagerly anticipated "Sonic the Hedgehog 4" game from Sega is now available for purchase and download via PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, WiiWare and iPhone OS (iOS).

It has received some very good reviews, scoring 9/10 from GamesRadar and 8/10 from IGN for example. Hooray! All true Sonic fans have waited years for a decent new traditional-style Sonic game to be released, and it looks like one has finally been produced!

(This is a follow-on post to my previous post about Sonic the Hedgehog 4.)

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - Episode 1 is out today

It's finally here - Episode 1 of the eagerly anticipated "Sonic the Hedgehog 4" game from Sega is now available for purchase and download via PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, WiiWare and iPhone OS (iOS).

It has received some very good reviews, scoring 9/10 from GamesRadar and 8/10 from IGN for example. Hooray! All true Sonic fans have waited years for a decent new traditional-style Sonic game to be released, and it looks like one has finally been produced!

(This is a follow-on post to my previous post about Sonic the Hedgehog 4.)

Project Needlemouse is Sonic the Hedgehog 4!

Sega yesterday announced that the forthcoming Sonic game previously given the codename Project Needlemouse (see my previous post about new game releases for this year) is in fact going to be Sonic the Hedgehog 4:

(Quote from an article in Yahoo! yeaterday)

Sega has announced that the game formerly known by the codename ‘Project Needlemouse’ is actually Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

Sonic 4, we’re pleased to report, heralds a return to his two-dimensional roots. In other words it’s a side-scrolling, high-speed, gold ring-collecting action/platform game, just like the good days of the Genesis/Mega Drive. That’s certainly no bad thing in our book – especially given the travesties of recent outings. Furthermore, being a bit, y’know, old school the new game doesn’t require the large storage capacities offered by DVDs or Blu-Ray discs. Instead it’s bound for download via Xbox LIVE Arcade, WiiWare and the PlayStation Network this summer.

The other significant component of Sega’s announcement is the new name – ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1’. Sega doesn’t illuminate on the implications of this, but it certainly looks like there will be other episodes in the pipeline. Let’s just hope that this is more than a means to pick our pockets several times over.

And that’s pretty much all there is to know at the moment, save to inform you that Sega has just launched an Official Sonic 4 website that boasts a number of countdown clocks, each ticking away towards the unveiling of new gameplay information, concept art and so on. In short there are plenty of reasons to be checking the site over the next few days and weeks.

(End quote)

Personally, I think it's fantastic that at long, long, long, long, long, long last (it's been 16 years in fact since Sonic 3!) Sega are producing a brand new proper style Sonic the Hedgehog game. It's about time! Hoorah!!

You can watch two trailer videos for the new game in my main YouTube channel here:

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - First Teaser Trailer

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - Second Teaser Trailer

While we're all eagerly wating for this milestone game to be released, here are five great proper style Sonic the Hedgehog online games to play for free:

  Ultimate Flash Sonic the Hedgehog

  Sonic on Angel Island

  Sonic Mega Collection Mini

  Sonic Xtreme 2

  Sonic Sky Chase Zone

And if Mario is also "you're thing", here are two proper style Super Mario online games too:

  New Super Mario Bros. Flash

  Ultimate Super Mario World

You can find all the above games, plus 150 more great free Sonic and Mario games, in the Dan-Dare.info and MarioSonicGames.com sites.

Project Needlemouse is Sonic the Hedgehog 4!

Sega yesterday announced that the forthcoming Sonic game previously given the codename Project Needlemouse (see my previous post about new game releases for this year) is in fact going to be Sonic the Hedgehog 4:

(Quote from an article in Yahoo! yeaterday)

Sega has announced that the game formerly known by the codename ‘Project Needlemouse’ is actually Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

Sonic 4, we’re pleased to report, heralds a return to his two-dimensional roots. In other words it’s a side-scrolling, high-speed, gold ring-collecting action/platform game, just like the good days of the Genesis/Mega Drive. That’s certainly no bad thing in our book – especially given the travesties of recent outings. Furthermore, being a bit, y’know, old school the new game doesn’t require the large storage capacities offered by DVDs or Blu-Ray discs. Instead it’s bound for download via Xbox LIVE Arcade, WiiWare and the PlayStation Network this summer.

The other significant component of Sega’s announcement is the new name – ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1’. Sega doesn’t illuminate on the implications of this, but it certainly looks like there will be other episodes in the pipeline. Let’s just hope that this is more than a means to pick our pockets several times over.

And that’s pretty much all there is to know at the moment, save to inform you that Sega has just launched an Official Sonic 4 website that boasts a number of countdown clocks, each ticking away towards the unveiling of new gameplay information, concept art and so on. In short there are plenty of reasons to be checking the site over the next few days and weeks.

(End quote)

Personally, I think it's fantastic that at long, long, long, long, long, long last (it's been 16 years in fact since Sonic 3!) Sega are producing a brand new proper style Sonic the Hedgehog game. It's about time! Hoorah!!

You can watch two trailer videos for the new game in my main YouTube channel here:

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - First Teaser Trailer

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - Second Teaser Trailer

While we're all eagerly wating for this milestone game to be released, here are five great proper style Sonic the Hedgehog online games to play for free:

  Ultimate Flash Sonic the Hedgehog

  Sonic on Angel Island

  Sonic Mega Collection Mini

  Sonic Xtreme 2

  Sonic Sky Chase Zone

And if Mario is also "you're thing", here are two proper style Super Mario online games too:

  New Super Mario Bros. Flash

  Ultimate Super Mario World

You can find all the above games, plus 150 more great free Sonic and Mario games, in the Dan-Dare.info and MarioSonicGames.com sites.

Mario and Sonic game releases due in 2010

Looking through the official Mario and Sonic video game release schedules for this coming year, the first thing that stands out is that there aren't very many releases scheduled! However, the second thing that stands out is that these few releases do look to be of the very highest quality indeed! This is a really good thing, trust me - quality is way better than quantity, every time!

There is only one new Mario game currently scheduled for a 2010 release, but given that it is Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the Wii, I think we can all forgive Nintendo for that, lol!

Nintendo promise that it will be an even better Mario experience than the first game, which will take some doing in my opinion - it's not easy to improve on virtual perfection! Nintendo also promise that this game will be a lot more challenging than the previous one. Not so sure that's such a good thing myself, but whatever - the "Big N" know what they're doing. The release date is still to be confirmed.

Update 24/02/10: Nintendo announced today that Super Mario Galaxy 2 will be released on May 23rd.

There are three new Sonic games currently scheduled for release in 2010, and they are:

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing - A Kart racing game featuring Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Amy Rose, Big the Cat and Dr. Eggman plus Alex Kidd, Billy Hatcher, Ai Ai from Super Monkey Ball, Amigo from Samba de Amigo, Ryo Hazuki from Shenmue, Beat from Jet Set Radio and Zobio and Zobiko, the zombie couple from The House of the Dead EX plus Banjo and Kazooie from Banjo-Kazooie! Due for release on the Xbox and PS3 on February 10th, and on the Wii and DS in early March;

Sonic Classic Collection - For the DS only, this promises to be a little gem, containing the first four ever Sega Genesis / Mega Drive "Sonic the Hedgehog" games, namely: Sonic the Hedgehog from 1991, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 from 1992, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 from 1994 and Sonic & Knuckles from 1994, complete with reportedly enhanced Sonic & Knuckles "lock-on" features for the earlier games. Due for release on March 10th;

And finally, an as-yet unnamed Sonic main-series game currently referred to as Project Needlemouse - All that is currently known is that this will be a 2D side-scrolling platformer very much in the style of the classic original Sonic games, with an emphasis on speed! Yes, Yes, YES!! It's been far too long since Sega made a "proper" Sonic game! I want it NOW!!

Anyway, here are some totally awesome free Mario and Sonic online games for you to play while you're waiting for the above games to come out, all courtesy of the famous MarioSonicGames.com site:

  New Super Mario Bros. Flash

  Super Mario Sunshine 64

  Ultimate Flash Sonic the Hedgehog

  Sonic the Hedgehog Rivals Dash

  Super Mario Kart Racing

  Super Mario Kart Xtreme

(See also here)

Mario and Sonic game releases due in 2010

Looking through the official Mario and Sonic video game release schedules for this coming year, the first thing that stands out is that there aren't very many releases scheduled! However, the second thing that stands out is that these few releases do look to be of the very highest quality indeed! This is a really good thing, trust me - quality is way better than quantity, every time!

There is only one new Mario game currently scheduled for a 2010 release, but given that it is Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the Wii, I think we can all forgive Nintendo for that, lol!

Nintendo promise that it will be an even better Mario experience than the first game, which will take some doing in my opinion - it's not easy to improve on virtual perfection! Nintendo also promise that this game will be a lot more challenging than the previous one. Not so sure that's such a good thing myself, but whatever - the "Big N" know what they're doing. The release date is still to be confirmed.

Update 24/02/10: Nintendo announced today that Super Mario Galaxy 2 will be released on May 23rd.

There are three new Sonic games currently scheduled for release in 2010, and they are:

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing - A Kart racing game featuring Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Amy Rose, Big the Cat and Dr. Eggman plus Alex Kidd, Billy Hatcher, Ai Ai from Super Monkey Ball, Amigo from Samba de Amigo, Ryo Hazuki from Shenmue, Beat from Jet Set Radio and Zobio and Zobiko, the zombie couple from The House of the Dead EX plus Banjo and Kazooie from Banjo-Kazooie! Due for release on the Xbox and PS3 on February 10th, and on the Wii and DS in early March;

Sonic Classic Collection - For the DS only, this promises to be a little gem, containing the first four ever Sega Genesis / Mega Drive "Sonic the Hedgehog" games, namely: Sonic the Hedgehog from 1991, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 from 1992, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 from 1994 and Sonic & Knuckles from 1994, complete with reportedly enhanced Sonic & Knuckles "lock-on" features for the earlier games. Due for release on March 10th;

And finally, an as-yet unnamed Sonic main-series game currently referred to as Project Needlemouse - All that is currently known is that this will be a 2D side-scrolling platformer very much in the style of the classic original Sonic games, with an emphasis on speed! Yes, Yes, YES!! It's been far too long since Sega made a "proper" Sonic game! I want it NOW!!

Anyway, here are some totally awesome free Mario and Sonic online games for you to play while you're waiting for the above games to come out, all courtesy of the famous MarioSonicGames.com site:

  New Super Mario Bros. Flash

  Super Mario Sunshine 64

  Ultimate Flash Sonic the Hedgehog

  Sonic the Hedgehog Rivals Dash

  Super Mario Kart Racing

  Super Mario Kart Xtreme

(See also here)

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

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

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.

Classic Sonic games - Sonic Heroes

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!

You can play a proper classic Sonic the Hedgehog game online for free here: Ultimate Flash Sonic Online Game

Classic Sonic games - Sonic Heroes

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!

You can play a proper classic Sonic the Hedgehog game online for free here: Ultimate Flash Sonic Online Game

Flash online games that run directly within this blog

Don't know if you've ever seen them, but there are three Mario and Sonic online games that actually run directly within this blog, so you can enjoy them here without having to go to another site and mess about with clicking through loads of links, trying to avoid pop-ups, and so on.

You can either go to the home page of this blog, if you aren't already there, and jump to the bottom of the page (hint: press the "End" key to do that in one quick and easy step) - you'll find the three games in posts from January and February 2008.

Or you can go directly to the relevant blog posts here:

A nice little Mario "time-waster" game

Mario & Sonic Online Game Recommendations - Part 6
(This post is about the classic 1980's Nintendo "Game & Watch" LCD handheld games, and includes links to a number of Flash recreations of those lovely little games, as well as the "in-blog" one)

A Flash online Super Sonic jigsaw puzzle...

You can find these games plus 150 more free Mario and Sonic online games in MarioSonicGames.com, a site with no annoying pop-ups, no click-thru links, no tricks, no gimmicks - just loads of lovely free online games for you to enjoy!

PS. There's also an "in-blog" game over in the England, Thailand and Other Things blog if you're interested in that too..... A great little Scooby-Doo web-browser game

Flash online games that run directly within this blog

Don't know if you've ever seen them, but there are three Mario and Sonic online games that actually run directly within this blog, so you can enjoy them here without having to go to another site and mess about with clicking through loads of links, trying to avoid pop-ups, and so on.

You can either go to the home page of this blog, if you aren't already there, and jump to the bottom of the page (hint: press the "End" key to do that in one quick and easy step) - you'll find the three games in posts from January and February 2008.

Or you can go directly to the relevant blog posts here:

A nice little Mario "time-waster" game

Mario & Sonic Online Game Recommendations - Part 6
(This post is about the classic 1980's Nintendo "Game & Watch" LCD handheld games, and includes links to a number of Flash recreations of those lovely little games, as well as the "in-blog" one)

A Flash online Super Sonic jigsaw puzzle...

You can find these games plus 150 more free Mario and Sonic online games in MarioSonicGames.com, a site with no annoying pop-ups, no click-thru links, no tricks, no gimmicks - just loads of lovely free online games for you to enjoy!

PS. There's also an "in-blog" game over in the England, Thailand and Other Things blog if you're interested in that too..... A great little Scooby-Doo web-browser game

Master password cheat for the Ultimate Flash Sonic online game

The best Sonic the Hedgehog online game ever - Ulitmate Flash Sonic - is very much like the classic original 16-bit Sonic games from the 1990's in terms of graphics, sound and most importantly gameplay. It is utterly brilliant, and includes multiple levels, multiple playable characters, a password save system and unlockable bonuses and cheats. If you haven't ever played it, try it out for free now at any of these locations:

Sonic the Hedgehog: Ultimate Flash Sonic (US Chicago server)

Sonic the Hedgehog: Ultimate Flash Sonic (US Houston server)

Sonic the Hedgehog: Ultimate Flash Sonic (UK server)


There is an elusive master password for the game that unlocks all levels, all characters and all cheats, and I am pleased to be able to give it to you here:

595313131313131

Try it out for yourself using the links above, you'll be ever so glad you did! :-)

Master password cheat for the Ultimate Flash Sonic online game

The best Sonic the Hedgehog online game ever - Ulitmate Flash Sonic - is very much like the classic original 16-bit Sonic games from the 1990's in terms of graphics, sound and most importantly gameplay. It is utterly brilliant, and includes multiple levels, multiple playable characters, a password save system and unlockable bonuses and cheats. If you haven't ever played it, try it out for free now at any of these locations:

Sonic the Hedgehog: Ultimate Flash Sonic (US Chicago server)

Sonic the Hedgehog: Ultimate Flash Sonic (US Houston server)

Sonic the Hedgehog: Ultimate Flash Sonic (UK server)


There is an elusive master password for the game that unlocks all levels, all characters and all cheats, and I am pleased to be able to give it to you here:

595313131313131

Try it out for yourself using the links above, you'll be ever so glad you did! :-)

Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comic reaches 200 issues

This month sees the publication of the 200th issue of Archie's excellent "Sonic the Hedgehog" comic. To put that into a more meaningful perspective, that means it's been running continuously now for 16 years and 3 months, which is a very long time indeed for a single character-derived comic. Well done to everyone at Archie Comics!

Here is a wonderfully detailed article all about this happy milestone which I thoroughly recommend you to read: Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog Celebrates 200 Issues

Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comic reaches 200 issues

This month sees the publication of the 200th issue of Archie's excellent "Sonic the Hedgehog" comic. To put that into a more meaningful perspective, that means it's been running continuously now for 16 years and 3 months, which is a very long time indeed for a single character-derived comic. Well done to everyone at Archie Comics!

Here is a wonderfully detailed article all about this happy milestone which I thoroughly recommend you to read: Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog Celebrates 200 Issues

Mario and Sonic animated GIFs / sprites

I love animated GIFs, they're great fun to watch if they're properly made. Here are some of my favourite Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog game sprites and other images made into animated GIFs:






















You are welcome to use any or all of these Mario and Sonic animated GIFs in your own website if you wish, but please copy them and upload them to your personal webspace - don't "hotlink" to the ones here. And please also include a link back to this blog by way of a credit to me. Thanks. :-)

You can find them all, plus loads more, on the following pages in my group of Mario, Sonic and general fun and games sites:

Super Mario Bros. Images, Music and Games

Sonic the Hedgehog Images, Music and Games

More Mario and Sonic Images and Games

And just in case you're interested, here are a few pages containing animated GIFs of some other famous fun characters:

Megaman Images, Music and Games

The Simpsons Images, Music and Games

Complete List of Wacky Races Cars and Drivers

More Games-Related Images and Music