Yeah, new Sonic racing game.

I never fully grasped the first Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing.  Only tested the demo, and yeah, it seems like a proper Mario Kart clone.

Inc Donkey Kong Racing clone?  (Or was it Diddy?)  Anyway, I've been looking forward to this knowing there were some confirmed rumors of a new game which wasn't so far from when the first one caught my eye.  Since Sonic Unleashed/Generations, I truly felt that playing racing sims was pointless.  I mean, every time I play Sonic now, it's always a race against time, and on top of that, the sense of speed is better in Sonic.  If it wasn't for Sonic, I'd have other lamer/slower reasons for liking speed.  In fact, everything (aside from some fighter jets) come off as slow to me now.  Damn you, Sonic.

Okay, I'm ranting off topic.  This game looks fun.  It may not be a day 1 purchase for me (or maybe it will be, who knows?) but it's got my attention and unlike Episode 2, it has my anticipation that it will turn out to be fun.  Seeing Sonic in a fighter jet seems so proper.  Those are two things that I'd imagine combined better than say, Sonic + F1 racing car (and don't get me wrong, I LOVE F1 racing).  Sonic, Sonic, Sonic.  This is a *Sega* racing game with Sonic's face on it until motobug pilots a vehicle.  But are there any other Sega (or even Sonic) characters I'd like to see in this game?  If I'm honest, if Sonic was the only Sonic character in this racing game, awesome.  However, there are other Sega characters I'd like to see.  Bayonetta.  Blaze (not the cat, I'm talking about Streets of Rage).  ... hmmm.  Blaze The Cat.  Huehuehuehue.  I realize my love for Sega games doesn't nearly amount to my love for Sonic.  For the record, Sega games I've always wanted to play would be the Phantasy Star series and NiGHTS.  However, my favorite non-Sonic Sega game will probably be Streets of Rage 1.  I can play that game almost endlessly.

What more does this year hold for Sonic?  Another console main series game would be nice.  One that's preferably not on the Wii.

Stuff, lots of stuff.

Wanted to do this last night, but no time!

Where to start... well... I was thinking about going into further comparison about Sonic 4: Episode 2's "all-new physics engine" that the PR manager so proudly announced weeks ago as something closer to the classics, but I'm not going to say anything about it.  Sega's PR speaks for itself, and though it may be the PR's words or he's just told something to relay... the whole customer relationship with Sega with their promotion of this game is about as solid as wearing clothes made of red vines in 100 degree weather.

Now, with that out of the way, we can get on to some of the good stuff.

(Take a gander inside.)

Some details I found worth pasting:

• # of pages: 296
• Size: 21 x 23 centimeters
• Quality: Carboard cover with hot foil – 170 grams paper – 100% color print

Exclusive “Collector” version Available on pre-orders only!

• Cardbroad cover with an exclusive illustration
• Gold hot foil typography
• Blue thread linking the pages, as Sonic’s colors
• Numbered

Attention, this limited print is exclusively resevered for pre-orders!

One of a kind official 300 pages book in colors realized in partnership with SEGA Japan, it relates the adventures of one of the most appreciated characters in all the video-games story. Born in 1991 with ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ on Mega Drive, the blue hedgehog has immediately been adopted by millions of players and has been propeled in a spark to the ‘Superstar’ rank.

June 23rd, sooner this year, SEGA’s blue mascot celebrated it’s 20 years. 20 years of history, 20 years of glory, during which Sonic excited every player whom tried vainly to tame him! 20 years of joy and pleasure, but with technological innovations and creativity as well.

‘The Story of Sonic’ describes this fifth of a century from it’s early begginings on Mega Drive to his Aniversary game – Sonic Generations – which is a really vibrating tribute. Through some anecdotes, interviews, artworks, and never-seen-before artworks, this book will unveil a hidden face of the hedgehog and will open the doors of his uncommon universe and boundless imagination.

Problem?  This book as you can see has been translated from Japanese to French.  They have made it in English, but is looking for more demand from their non-bilingual English speaking Sonic fans so they can publish it.  I mean, come on, Sonic fans.  Europe and Japan always gets the coolest shit.  Sometimes, Australia!  If you like this, give yourself a chance to support this book to be published.  How can you do that, readers?  Easy.

You can:

1. Like/Share this YouTube video

2. E-mail them (http://www.pixnlovepublishing.com/contacts/contact.html)

3. Like/Express your sentiments on their Facebook page

4. Spread the word to Sonic fans!

5. Show it off!

Whew, okay.  Now for the last bit of fun.

sobatsuyu100 is at it again, but this time in Generations instead of Unleashed.  So far, I believe he has the fastest skilled Green Hill 2 run and the fastest Planet Wisp 2 run.  However, the run that nearly blew my mind was this.

I had no idea you could drift up the incline in the barrel area.  How good can this run get, seriously?

And, that's all folks!

So I have a confession to make.

I LOVE this song.  I'm gonna play it all the while I speed run now.

Speed runs tend to exploit a lot about a game.

(Or look at this run that's 8 seconds faster.)

In this case... Episode 2.  This speed run exploits Sonic & Tails team attack the Rolling Combo in the Beta 8 version which:

• Provides a lot of speed - pretty much max speed
• Is completely invincible
• Stops time
• Creates a lot of forward momentum
• Doesn't uncurl
• Scales walls
• Involves no directional input

So when you see something like this in the level...

You just go...

All I can say is...

Oh, this...

I'm really not a fan of Episode 1, but I like this player.  He's done some of the fastest 2D Sonic runs so, honorable mention to MilesTailsProwerFox for setting a new world record in Splash Hill as he preps for Ep2.

That's really all for tonight... or should I say the morning?  I did get to bed a lil... too early last night.... so... see you later, alligator? :3

A Sonic The Hedgehog Q&A

Oh, I love these guys for their Sonic reviews.  It had just dawned on me that the people behind the youtube name SomecallmeJohnny had been making some pretty nice animations and they are (to say the least) pretty entertaining, especially if you're a fan of the cast.  Recently they released a belated part 2 of them interviewing the cast, so I'll be posting both for anyone's enjoyment.

I cannot find part 2 through blogspot's youtube search, so you can just click these underlined words which will send you to it.

So, I suck at Sonic Unleashed HD...

This game is so hard but so rewarding to speed run in.  I can't say that I take the game too seriously (though I am currently aiming for 100% achievements for the challenge - Werehog speed run challenges x3?) but speed running this game to it's limit is really hard - harder than Generations, though at times it is generally faster than Generations.  There are soooooooooooo many things to take advantage of to keep Sonic going fast in Unleashed and so many... variables.

So, Arid Sands Act 1 is probably the stage I run through the most.  Why is that?  A long time ago, when I first started paying attention to speed runs in this game, Kakipi1000's Arid Sands Act 1-2 run was, and still is my favorite stage to see Sonic tear through.  I didn't have that DLC level at the time, so I focused on the original act which for the most part was just as nice.

The level itself when speed running, doesn't require a lot of drifting, but what caught my eye was how cool it is to hop->stomp->slide over speed boosters and after forever and a day I finally got it down.  Performing it isn't hard, just getting the timing down for the jumps at speeds excelling the speed cap is ridiculous and I managed to pull it off 4 times in a row.  Then there's the side-step area where Sonic has to dodge walls, pillars and people by jumping over them, sliding under them (not people, lol) and side stepping.  Lastly, the next quick slide area where there are pillars and rocks falling around where you have to get through ASAP or risk getting squashed. Doing boosted quick slide steps there is just awesome to watch.

1:57:01 is a pretty good time.  My previous time was 2:05 something for the longest and tonight I was just fooling around.  Not too long ago, I played around with the 2nd level skip shortcut by doing a 3D->2D glitch after the sidestep area I was idolizing at the end of the previous paragraph and I finally understand the success and fails around it (it was actually pretty fun seeing what you can do in 3D there, though it isn't much).  By accident tonight, I found myself pulling it off during a casual speed run and I saw that I was way ahead of my record, but I made so many mistakes in the end, by the time I got to the goal ring, I was still at 2:05 LOL.  I had beaten my old record by less than half a second... so then I got serious and got a 1:57.  I'm going to try working on the 1st level shortcut next time now that I've got the 2nd one down.

1st level shortcut: @0:45
2nd level shortcut: @1:04

I doubt I'll break into 1:40s in this stage, but time will tell!  I think there might be some more tricks in Kakipi's full Unleashed speed run.  Hmmm....

My Sonic Generations times.

Though I wish I could play the PC version, I play on XBL.

I only speed run modern stages and I've only taken a few stages seriously.

Green Hill Modern: 1:41:70 - When I started, I tried super hard to break into 1:40 without any glitches.  My biggest pet peeve about this stage is the trick pad you hit that sends you into the cave.  If Sonic does not land IMMEDIATELY after making it through the waterfall, you lose some precious seconds and IDK how to do it consistently.

Chemical Plant Modern: 1:45:44 - Not a stage I've dedicated myself to playing.  The stage seems to only have one real challenging part.

Speed Highway Modern: 1:38:73 - IMO, the easiest stage in the game (unless you're trying to go for that crazy shortcut).  I think this time is pretty average without doing anything extravagant, but this stage really doesn't require you do anything drastic at all.  It is fun, though.

City Escape Modern: 2:07:04 - Aside from an occasional annoyance while boarding, and one well placed jump on a slope (oh, and TREES UGH), this stage isn't really that hard.  I really think I can do this time faster.

Seaside Hill Modern: 2:17:25 - Again, not a stage I've taken very seriously.

Crisis City Modern: 1:41:10 - I would've been content if I made it to 1:40.  This stage is really hard, but it is super fun to speed run because it's designed to stop you from going fast, so every time you take a risk and you get rewarded, it's like omg.  I haven't tried any of the glitches, however I get pretty annoyed at the part where you transition from 3D->2D because it glitches and I wind up missing the orange trick ring I have to boost in to.  This stage is full of all sorts of challenges...

Rooftop Run Modern: 2:13:78 - Not a stage I've taken seriously, though I don't find it too hard.  Still have a lot to learn about it.  Seems like the most popular stage in the game.

Planet Wisp Modern: 4:19:88 - Yeah, another stage I've obviously played but not really played hard.  MUCH to learn about the longest stage in the game.  I don't think it's as hard as Crisis City, I just think it's long.


Oh, did I forget a stage?

I just got this not too long ago and I noticed the rank # got cut out lol.  That is 7th place.  Sky Sanctuary Modern is pretty fun.  At first I didn't think I'd like it, but it is as fun to speed run as it looks.  No glitches were performed in my time (obviously).  Will I go for a better time?  Perhaps.  There's just... ONE thing about this stage that I've yet to master.  Might have to pull out a recording device to understand it.

And we're done for the night!  Take care!

EDIT:

So after watching Kakipi1000's 3 hour Unleashed run...

It was brought to my attention again (for the third time now) how simply amazing the soundtrack is to listen to.  For me, it's one of those soundtracks that works very good in game, but somehow sounds MUCH better on it's own outside of the scenery it attaches itself to.  The most remarkable tracks for me tend to be the night time stage/hub tracks.  I'm not sure exactly who was in charge of this group of music, but I can at least give credit to the person who was in charge of the OST, which is Kenichi Tokoi - a man who has done some amazing work with Sonic games dating all the way back to Sonic Adventure 2, I believe.  His most popular track is possibly Planet Wisp Act 1 from Sonic Colors.

This is without a doubt, my favorite track in the game.  It's incredibly beautiful.  I could listen to it all day.

Wow, there's so much going on today with Sonic...

When he landed on that rail, my jaw dropped.  That was soooooo godlike!

Pretty entertaining video. :)

I knew it.

Confirmed by Polygon Jim, Beta8 is clearly close to the final build, the physics are the same from Ep1, thus the PR has again, "mislead" the people while Sega is 2 for 2 for Sonic 4 leaks.  I knew that this game wasn't worth following during it's pre-release and thanks to SonicRetro, it's been confirmed.  The lesson?  A good Sonic game doesn't need such an "outstanding" PR.  All the talk about the physics and being what classic fans wanted as far as gameplay was concerned was poppycock.  Seeing that I've seen just about everything in Sonic 4 Episode 2 (and more), I most likely won't be following it or talking about it until post release maybe.  It's a sad day for classic fans.

Dude...

So apparently, Kakipi1000 has posted his 101st video.  ... well, what happened to the 100th?

But before I get to that, I want to post a video by the youtube user, Craigolette.

And I'm definitely referring to his Arid Sands 1-2 run which is the second speed run in this video.  First of all, props to him for actually doing this hellish level while taking full advantage of the shortcut.  There were a few mistakes, but at least he didn't run into the spikes on the last side-step section.  Too awesome.

As for Kakipi... dude... did you just... SPEED RUN ALL OF UNLEASHED?  Talk about unexpected.  Yeah, it's no secret that he prefers this game over Generations, but wow.  He did it in 3 hours.  When I first played Unleashed, it took me... half that time, just to get beyond Crimson Carnival and that's just one stage lol.  Well, there's no questioning his love for this game, whereas mine for it... is clearly half-hearted. :)

Beta 8 again.

So... by now, just about everything from Episode 2's Beta 8 (which is supposedly an early Beta) has been unveiled, (aside from the credits).  You'd think they'd make room for a decent ending.

Well, there's not much else for me to say aside from liking the 1st Sky Fortress Act (with the Tornado), the final boss fight and the small fact Sonic gets to deactivate from Super Sonic by doing a team technique with Tails, which I found nice.  Ep2 just looks so damn uninvolved.  I'm actually glad that this beta was leaked, even if the PR manager for the game says it's early.  Why?  Because I don't believe Ken's words thanks to his tendency to doublespeak, lie, and be outright condescending over the forum.  But I'm glad it was leaked because it puts the game into the hands of the consumers who love Sonic who will bring Sonic Team/Dimps ideas to the eyes of the world before they impulsively purchase this game (which will happen anyway).  It really is as if they took the worse aspects of the game and add more.

If I were to ponder why, I'd start off by thinking about Sega's focus here with Sonic 4 and their company goals, which to my understanding is to primarily market towards mobile devices.  I'm sure it's not as simple as what I'm about to say (or maybe it is), but it seems as if this game is simply being made for people who plain and simple: like Sonic and if they've played past Sonic games and loved them, good.  If they barely touched them, great.  Never touched them?  Awesome!  This game... regardless of it's name, is not aimed at the core fanbase even if the PR says it is, it's not.  Sonic 4 Episode 2 seems like it's simply for the most casual of casual gamers, but is it really necessary to take such a risk with the consumers who've been loyal all this time?  I guess so.

Generations was made for people who actually like Sonic The Hedgehog and the effort went in it shows.  It's just somewhat pathetic that Sega would take the roots of their franchise and uproot it just to pawn it for it's name.  That pawn shop is probably called Dimps.

/rant/rant/rant

How about that Sonic 4 Episode 2 leak?

Oh well?  Well... almost.

While I type this, videos of Episode 2's gameplay are spawning ALL OVER YOUTUBE (yeah, maybe not) and let me just get to the point.  I have watched every zone up to the conclusion of Sky Fortress Act 1.  This game... uploaded in 480p quality, looks rather nice, however... the gameplay... like Episode 1... is so zzzzzzzzz.  I am literally about ready to take a nap and come on now.  Should a Sonic game be this uninteresting to watch?  It seems like there's so much of what people hated in the first game where the level design is profusely planted with springs, bubble chains and speed pads.  It's really ugly and I don't think I'm getting this game.

... but then, something unexpected occurred...

After I had finished watching the boss battle of the new aged Oil Ocean zone  (dunno it's official name, too lazy to find it), I saw that the uploader had upped the next stage where players are greeted with a cutscene.  Now, I won't go into detail about what is included in this cutscene, but... WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?  All of a sudden, I came to the realization that for one point in this game, you can play through a full first act with NO springs, speed pads and... okay, there were bubble chains, but you cannot complain here, seriously.  Sonic Team just may have done something right.  They brought back Sonic 2's Sky Chase and it not only looks amazing but it actually looks fun.

And I'm thinking to myself... why couldn't the game just start off as cool as this?  Though I haven't changed my mind about getting Ep2... the game officially has something I can legitimately... like.

Sonic 2 HD Cancelled?

Oh well.

I really wasn't a fan of this game.  Why? Firstly, I love Sonic 2, but... Idk, out of the 4 classics, it's probably my least favorite.  It's not a bad game, but I don't really find it interesting for someone to pretty much redraw a game with such an outdated appearance.

However, I sorta sympathize with the people who were looking forward to it, especially considering it had received a decent amount of attention.  Even Gamespot.uk had acknowledged it. Other than that, a lot of fans on tssz seem to impulsively blame this LOst person, but if the person in charge of the project couldn't get the source code from him before all of this, then surely he deserves to take some responsibility, right?  This type of insurance would have at least been in favor for the customers, but instead, it was given to the very person who was centered around all the drama and thus everyone who wanted this to work out, loses.

Oh, and speaking of not failing at failures, if there was one thing I didn't like was Alvin Earthworm's official announcement (again) that he was done with SMBZ.  Well, it was fun while it lasted.  He did take great advantage of the extensive spritework from the games he used.  It's kind of sad that this is just another case of losing motivation among having real-world issues.

Fan projects?  Meh... I guess when it comes to Sonic, we're in need of completionists.

Missions.

mis·sion

   [mish-uhn] noun - 16. an assigned or self-imposed duty or task; calling; vocation.


After watching a playthrough of Final Fantasy X-2 and not watching a playthrough of Sonic The Hedgehog 06... I hate the word.


And I was really hoping to add some more Sonic Generations speed runs to my collection of speed runs.  Fortunately, I stumbled (again) upon the YT user Millernusgaming who has been on an effortless mission to posting his effort of speed running the missions of SG.

And he has a ton of them.  He also appears to be the fastest at a lot of them.  Sorta wish I subscribed to him sooner, but better late than never.




I also came across what appears a newly discovered exploit in Unleashed by Romanemul.  Apparently, he's got his eyes set on showing just how far he can take his newfound way of doing level shortcuts.  It's almost like the Genesis era shortcuts have returned!  If you check his channel, the guy's no slouch at speed runs, either.


So that is all.  Must get back to my mission of playlisting and sorting all these... missions.

"Wooo...!"

Thanks to my love for speedruns, I've grown an appreciation for the enthusiasm found in Sonic's Japanese voice actor.  Strangely enough... it reminds me of Jaleel White's work, though unlike some fans, I don't think he is the end-all to Sonic voice actors.  STILL - *switches voices to Japanese in his Unleashed/Generations games*  Personally, I find a lot of the other languages for Generations more interesting during gameplay than English.  4Kids?  No comment~

Lately, people have been breaking Kakipi1000's Unleashed Records (not the above video, though this particular play did beat his Savannah Citadel 4 record).  It makes me wonder if Kakipi will go back to Unleashed?  I've been doing my best to keep track of the fastest Unleashed and Generations speedruns on youtube and just recently it's been like these monster speed runners are taking the top spots.  Even Kakipi himself seemed shocked.

For those of you who may not know, Kakipi1000 is probably the most popular youtube Sonic Unleashed/Generations speed runner for his ability to execute some of the fastest times in some of the latest Sonic games.  Though he has performed some outrageous exploits, at times it's usually not him who finds them (he'll credit those who have). He will however do his best to take advantage of such exploit in a speed run.  Right now, there is no other player (that I've found) who has proven to be as precise with combining the two.  Not to mention, he's also pretty good with providing his own soundtrack to mesh with his gameplay.  One wonders what he was doing to Sonic games before YouTube... if he was playing them.

On a side note, I think it's really cool that people have become quite creative with their own speed run ideas in Generations to challenge others.  Seriously, you guys are awesome for finding alternative ways to enjoy the game instead of just following the story/missions and be done.

That's all for now~

*goes back to school*

JUST TO USE THESE.

... then again, it would've probably had 06 artwork... nvm.

Where you can feel my heart just raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace~

Just need a starter post to know what blog posts will look like, but I might as well make the first post somewhat captivating, right?

Firstly, if you're curious - what kind of Sonic fan am I?  To answer that, it would probably be a good idea to make a list of some random things within the Sonic franchise and give a brief answer about them stating whether I favor it or not.  Ready?

• Big The Cat - don't care
• Classic Sonic games (main series) - love
• Storylines - don't care (there's never been any good ones)
• Archie Comics - I can appreciate these, though I haven't read them in forever
• Black/Green Eyes, shoe buckle/no shoe buckle, soles, etc - GTFO
• Fan games - depends... don't really care for something like Sonic 2 HD or something unfinished
• Fanfics - don't really read them
• Shadow The Hedgehog - don't care
• Riders series - sure
• Takashi Iizuka - sure
• Amy Rose - sure
• Speed runs - looooooooooooooooooooooove
• Adventure games - yes
• Sonic Heroes - no
• Sonic 06 - no - though, "His World" is a really nice song.
• Silver The Hedgehog - I like this theme w/o vocals.
• Labyrinth Zone - *trollface*
• Game mods - not really
• Sonic 4 Episode 1 - terrible, just no.  If Yuji Naka played this, he must've demanded for an oxygen tank so he could laugh
• Sonic 4 Episode 2 - not saying anything until I've touched it
• SatAM/The Adventures of... - Yes
• Miles "Tails" Prower - can't say no to Tails
• Sonic R -Richard Jacques and TJ Davis's contributions are the only thing that matter in R.
• Team Chaotix - bleh
• Chao - seeing that Sachiko Kawamura created them... oh, yes.
• Storybook series games - eh...
• Blaze The Cat - another purple cat?  Well, at least this one's pretty fast and isn't silly.  I approve.
• Fanart - of course, though it's not something I seek.  No furry-love plx
• Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing - sure
• Knuckles - Out of the original 4, Knuckles is my least favorite but I don't dislike him.
• Planet Wisp Act 1 - proof that Sega has a never-ending river of talent for finding talented music composers
• Metal Sonic - neutral
• Advance series - 1, yes. 2, yes. 3, okay
• "Modern" gameplay - yes
• Solo Sonica - yes
• Playable friends - waiting for them to get it right
• Classic physics - yes, they matter, but...
• Music - looooooooooooooooooooove, Jun Senoue is amazing... ! (Except in Sonic 4, but he's still the best!)  Kenichi Tokoi... and other composers whose names I haven't memorized yet.

So, yes.  If I were to sum up my top 3 favorite things about Sonic The Hedgehog it would be

1. Sonic
2. Sonic music
3. Sonic running

That's all there is to it, really.  I play the games for the gameplay, and even though it's a platformer where you currently run, jump, drift, air dash, slide, stomp, homing attack, wall jump, grind rails, destroy enemies, collect rings and bounce off springs, I just want to see who can do it the fastest.

Time to stop here and doll up the blog a bit~