People have been crying for years about how Tails is an extraneous character, and if this sighting at Wal-Mart is any indication, Sega may have let him go. You see, in the Genesis era, he was shopping exclusively on Fifth Avenue. When his people weren’t shopping for him.

No matter how long I look at this picture, I just can’t make sense of it. Was he in costume for something, and forgot to take it off? Is it a prank, to see if anyone notices?

Source: People of Wal-Mart

A tiny sale that actually seemed to have more people watching it than items for sale had some cheap video games, and I only grabbed one of them: a complete and excellent copy of an obscure Interplay PS1 game called Heart of Darkness. I took a chance on it, never having heard of it, because it *looked* like the kind of game that might be worth something, and it looks like my gamble paid off. Completed auctions on eBay show it selling for as much as $20, a nice figure when I spent $2 on it, to be sure.

As someone who pays closer attention to Nintendo than Microsoft, I’m a lot better at gauging value of the former’s products. One house had a couple of Gamecubes for sale, one of which was stacked atop a Game Boy Player for $30. I chose the other, and here’s why: the Game Boy Player is a great device, but is utterly worthless. Instead, I talked them down from $20 to $15 for the platinum Gamecube with two controllers. eBay’s advice tells me these sell for an average of $35, so I could stand to do pretty well when the hammer falls.

Lastly, I spotted and grabbed a rather large stuffed Sonic the Hedgehog toy for my daughter, which she seems undecided on. Personally I wish it were softer, but it appears to be stuffed with styrofoam beads, meaning it’s not much fun to hug at all. Maybe some surgery is in order.

I went to a flea market today, and came back with a number of great deals, which I really didn’t expect. I’ve got games here for NES, Super NES, Sega Genesis, Windows (that was an accident), Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance. I even managed to find the unthinkable: an original Nintendo NES system for a mere ten dollars. I expected it to be broken, since these usually are, but planned to fix it an resell it for a lot more on eBay. I was surprised to find that no, it’s not broken after all. I’ll still refurbish it before reselling of course, but what a deal!

The NES games were everywhere at this flea market, and that’s great for me. I have a working NES for myself and any I find for cheap I can bundle with refurbished systems and make bank on eBay. A Game Genie and Solar Jetman came with the $10 NES, I threw down another $2 for Top Gun: Second Mission. Another table sold me Double Dragon II and two copies of Blaster Master for a dollar each. For the Super NES, I grabbled an exellent boxed copy of Gradius III (alas, no manual) for $5 and an excellent cartridge-only copy of Starfox for $3. I paid $10 for the box of ten Genesis games, which was the six Sonic the Hedgehog titles, Frogger, Mortal Kombat, Taz in Escape from Mars, and Tom & Jerry. For Game Boy Color and Advance, I paid a combined $10 for Rocket Bomberman, Pokémon Puzzle Challenge, and Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku. Thinking it was the rare PS1 version, I bought The Next Tetris for Windows for $2. Oops.

How was your weekend shopping?

Sega’s got another upcoming Genesis game compilation with more than forty titles confirmed, including all of the Genesis Phantasy Star games. Phantasy Star I was on Master System, and that appears to be the only reason it was omitted from this collection. Assuming it’s not one of the unlockable titles (last month’s press release mentioned unlockable Master System Games) I would have to call that an oversight. Rename the collection if you have to. Why? Because I would pay this compilation’s asking price of $30 just to be able to play a compilation of the four Phantasy Star games on my Nintendo DS or PSP. Check below for a list of games in this compilation.

Then ponder the fact that Wii owners can get many of these games on Virtual Console at eight dollars a pop against the fact that this compilation has only been announced for PS3 and 360. If they put Phantasy Star on here, I’m selling Sonic Mega Collection and grabbing this for PS3.

Source: Sega

SAN FRANCISCO & LONDON (November 6, 2008) – SEGA® Corporation today announced the development of Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. This compilation will feature the best first-party games from SEGA’s venerable 16-bit Genesis years as well as feature bonus content from its 8-bit Master System and 1980’s arcade era games library. Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection is slated to ship to retailers in North America in Spring of 2009.

“Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection is a must-have for any die-hard SEGA fan,” says Sean Ratcliffe, Vice President of Marketing for SEGA of America, Inc “Fans have been chomping at the bit to get a chance to relive fond memories from these classic games, that time has come and it’s being presented this time in HD.”

Developed by Backbone Entertainment, Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection contains over 40 classic SEGA games in one package; making it the largest collection of SEGA first party games ever offered. Featured games include Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2 and 3, Columns, Ecco the Dolphin, Shinobi III, Space Harrier, and fan favorite Streets of Rage. The games in the collection have been reproduced with the utmost detail and accuracy to the original games. In addition, Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection can output the games in 720p with higher resolution graphics for HD televisions, bringing a new visual richness to playing these classic titles.

Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection™ for Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 system is set for release in the spring of 2009.

THE LARGEST SEGA GENESIS COLLECTION TO DATE!

Take a trip back in time with over 40 titles from the SEGA Genesis™ era, including your Sonic The Hedgehog favorites, for only $29.95! In classic single-player and multiplayer battles, you’ll take down a huge variety of enemies, including Sonic’s nemesis Dr. Eggman (AKA Dr. Robotnik), shuriken-flinging ninjas, hordes of altered beasts and the world’s greatest fighting champions.

FEATURES:

• THE LARGEST COLLECTION OF CLASSIC SEGA TITLES. All the favorites are here including Sonic The Hedgehog, titles from the Phantasy Star™ series, as well as three titles from the Streets of Rage™ series, to name a few.

• UNLOCKABLE CONTENT. Unlock arcade games and interviews with the original game developers as you earn Achievements on the Xbox 360® and Trophies on the PLAYSTATION®3.

• ALL TITLES UPGRADED TO HI-DEF. The classic 2D style never looked so good! Each of the titles has been converted to hi-def (720p) and will be a blast to play using the intuitive controls of the Xbox 360® and PLAYSTATION®3 systems.

• MASSIVE MULTIPLAYER OPTIONS. Play these classics together with a friend from the same console at home.

GAMES INCLUDE:

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
Alien Storm
Altered Beast
Beyond Oasis
Bonanza Bros.
Columns
Comix Zone
Decap Attack starring Chuck D. Head
Dr. Robotnik’s MBM
Dynamite Headdy
Ecco the Dolphin
Ecco II: The Tides of Time
E-SWAT
Fatal Labyrinth
Flicky
Gain Ground
Golden Axe I
Golden Axe II
Golden Axe III
Kid Chameleon
Phantasy Star II
Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium
Ristar
Shining in the Darkness
Shining Force
Shining Force 2
Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
Sonic 3D Blast
Sonic and Knuckles
Sonic Spinball
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Streets of Rage
Streets of Rage 2
Streets of Rage 3
Super Thunder Blade
Vectorman
Vectorman 2

*Unlockable games to be revealed soon!

Sadly, the story of Sonic the Hedgehog isn’t all adrenaline and red shoes. There’s a lot of disappointment and frustration now over the fact that Sonic’s had a hard time adjusting to the more nuanced console generations that followed the Genesis. The reason for this is pretty simple: the driving force behind Sonic is speed, and speed is shallow. When Sega’s various teams try to do something more than speed, Sonic hits a wall. Not one of those breaking walls that he’s supposed to hit, either.

Art: Sega via Creative Uncut

Sonic hasn’t adjusted well to 3D worlds because his speed does not lend itself to shifting perspectives and cameras and things. He’s a two-dimensional character, and even when rendered in 3D, he’s at his very best when running through 2D environments, as in Sonic Rush. In fact, I thought Sonic Rush was better than Sonic the Hedgehog 3 on Genesis… though I can’t imagine anything topping Sonic 2.

So here we have a very important character who seems to be at odds with Sega’s goals. You see, Sega has said they won’t do a Sonic game unless it has a “hook” or “gimmick” to it, which is why in Sonic Unleashed, he turns into an elastic werewolf at night. In Sonic and the Black Knight, he’s got a sword. But this isn’t what makes a good Sonic game. What if Sega went with some deeper gimmicks?

What if they took the confusingly-implemented time travel concept in Sonic CD and ran with it… so to speak? How about a Sonic game where Sonic can manipulate time by running really fast? Break the game into stages, and start each world where Sonic drops in, sees the place is a mess, runs fast to travel back in time and prevent the bad thing from happening, then fast-forwards and runs through a more traditional Sonic-type stage and then fights an elaborate boss as the angry bad guy who did all the damage in the first place drops in?

How about a Sonic game where you have a fixed amount of time to complete the game, because really bad things happen at specific times, like sections of the world being destroyed?

All I’m saying is the developers need to take Sonic speed and come up with a hook that makes sense with it. Swords? No. Elastic werewolves? No. 3D adventure games? No. RPGs? For heaven’s sake, no. Let’s break down what we love about Sonic.

• Speed. Sonic needs to move very, very fast. Make it ridiculous. When Sonic the Hedgehog came out for Sega Genesis, it defined the generation because we’d never seen anything so fast. This means we don’t need massive worlds or incredible detail in the backgrounds, we just want Sonic to go so fast we can’t even see the grass. Then push it over the line: when Sonic gets to top speed, he needs to run off the screen as if the technology in our game systems just can’t keep up with the little bugger. The Genesis and GBA games did this, and it added a lot to the sense of barely-in-control velocity.

• Digital control. Sonic does not sneak anywhere. He’s either running or he just smacked into an enemy and dropped all his rings. Analog control so he can stroll along all casually is just stupid.

• Rings you can catch. Why is it that now when we take damage, we lose our rings and then they vanish instantly in thin air? Make them scatter everywhere so we have to scramble to pick them up. We don’t care if the game drops to four frames per second when that happens. That’s part of the excitement. It’s like bullet time by accident and we love it.

• Enemies you can plow through. I like crouching down, winding up some momentum, and shattering a robot into thousands of pieces at a million miles per hour. It makes me feel like a hedgehog. Don’t make me jump first, then lock on and press a button to attack.

• Two dimensional worlds. Sonic doesn’t work in 3D, that’s all there is to it. You can use all the 3D you want, just lock the camera alongside Sonic and let him run left and right, rolling and jumping happily. I never want to see the back of Sonic’s head again, because it just doesn’t look right. Make the worlds big, but not so big we can’t get lots of different ones. Make them colorful and bright, except where appropriate. Don’t make big brown ugly walls just because you didn’t make anything in that direction.

• Knuckles. Now that Shadow the Hedgehog has been ruined by that turd Sega laid last generation, Knuckles remains as the franchise’s only NPC who doesn’t suck. We hate Tails, we hate Amy Rose, and we don’t even know where the hell “Big the Cat” came from. What do we want from Knuckles? We want him to be the only supporting character in the franchise. He’s the guy Player 2 plays as. You can play as him and take a different path through the game.

• Crazy robot bosses. In my experience, all the best bosses in the Sonic games are crammed into one title: Sonic Rush on DS. These bosses are elaborate, complex machines that move in and out of the screen while you run left and right, creating a more open feel and a less predictable battle experience without ripping you out of your left-right-jump controls. More of this, less of the giant flying-away airplane garbage from Sonic Heroes.

• Awesome music. Bring back the guy who did all the music for Sonic 2 and pay him whatever he wants. The music in that game remains the best in the series, hands down. This is part of what brings us back to a game again and again, and it also sells soundtrack albums.

• No extreme sports. Finally, keep Sonic a platformer. We don’t want to surf, skate, play hockey, race, or anything else like that. We just want to run and jump and smash the crap out of robots. Is that too much to ask?

Sonic the Hedgehog for Master System is one of the three games that arrived today on the Wii Shop Channel, but it’s nothing to write home about. The rarity, of course, is lost when it’s a download.

Beyond that, the Game Gear version was on Sonic Mega Collection Plus, so it’s a much better value to buy that than to download this… less than excellent game. It’s unfortunate the game isn’t on either of the Gamecube Sonic compilations. The game’s Wikipedia entry says there are some differences between the Master System and Game Gear versions. If you really must play a Sonic game, play the best one. That’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for Sega Megadrive/Genesis.

Also appearing today is Splatterhouse 2 for Megadrive/Genesis, which is an episode in that venerable franchise which, notably, is rated M for mature. Is this the first M-rated game on Virtual Console? I think so. And Wild West Guns is new for WiiWare. That one’s a light gun shooter set, predictably, in the American west.

OK, so… hey! Wait a second. WHERE THE HELL IS MEGA MAN?!

Image source: Smash Bros Dojo

WII-KLY UPDATE: ONE WIIWARE GAME AND TWO VIRTUAL CONSOLE GAMES ADDED TO WII SHOP CHANNEL
Aug. 4, 2008

The list of available games for Wii™ owners just keeps on growing as we add another trio of titles to the Wii™ Shop Channel. This week’s lineup features Old West thrills, supernatural chills and a little blue hedgehog whose name you’re sure to recognize. Thanks to Nintendo’s WiiWare™ downloadable game service and the classic-filled Virtual Console™, building your own blockbuster video game library has never been easier.

Nintendo adds new and classic games to the Wii Shop Channel at 9 a.m. Pacific time every Monday. Wii owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week’s new games are:

WiiWare

Wild West Guns (Gameloft, 1-2 players, Rated T for Teen—Violence, 1,000 Wii Points): Draw your revolver to see if you’re the fastest gun in the West. Adjust your speed and precision as targets or enemies appear in front of you. Point and shoot to earn more points. You can aim at anything, so be sure to explore the environment for elements that will earn you more shooting points. Identify your enemies among the characters you encounter, but don’t shoot at innocent citizens. Take part in an Old West-style train attack, or challenge your skills in a variety of increasingly difficult shooting challenges in other beautiful, classic and lively Western environments. As you progress through challenges, you’ll earn medals and rewards, making for nonstop, addictive action. Play in a two-player multiplayer mode where you and your partner can combine points, or play against each other to find out who’s the fastest gun in the West.

Virtual Console

Sonic The Hedgehog™ (Sega Master System, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone, 500 Wii Points): Based on the original Sega Genesis version, Sonic The Hedgehog was re-created as the first Sonic game for the Sega Master System. Not just a straight port, this version includes new stages, bosses, some different zones and a level map. The most noticeable difference, however, is that the Chaos Emeralds have to be found within certain stages other than the Special Stages. Dash through six Zones (including special zones that were only available for the Sega Master System version) and face Dr. Eggman (a.k.a. Dr. Robotnik) at the end of every Zone.

SPLATTERHOUSE™ 2 (Sega Genesis, 1 player, Rated M for Mature—Blood and Gore, Violence, 800 Wii Points): SPLATTERHOUSE 2 is the sequel to SPLATTERHOUSE, released only on the Sega Genesis. A few months after escaping from the first mansion in SPLATTERHOUSE, the main character, Rick, once again encounters the Terror Mask and must use its powers to rescue his beloved Jennifer. Rick will need to punch, slash, smash and even chainsaw his way through a haunted mansion against unspeakable horrors and terrifying bosses to make it out alive.

And when I say sick, I mean, as in, “holy crap man, that is sick.”

I don’t think I can remember the last time I saw a trailer for a game that was all in-game footage and that’s it. No text. No voice-overs, no menus, just Sonic the Hedgehog doing what Sonic should always be doing. Running very, very fast. Can you believe the way this game looks? I wonder what the Wii version looks like… I think this will much more likely be a PS3 buy for me.

While it’s not even the slightest bit of a surprise to me, today it was announced that Sonic the Hedgehog will be a playable fighter in the new Super Smash Bros Brawl. Nintendo claims that there was a significant amount of fan request for him as a fighter, and the wording on the Brawl site seems to imply that this wasn’t a decision the developer made themselves…. like online play.

“There’s still a little more development to be done… I’m hoping to complete it without incident.”

Note the hesitance, similar to when talking about lag in the online play function of the game. Also take the time to watch the video introducing him on the site. You’ll laugh at the awesomely bad 80s rock, something which has become somewhat of a signature of his recent games. Click through to watch it here.

Source: Smash Bros Dojo.

Porting the 360/PS3 Sonic the Hedgehog would have taken too long, since they would have had to wait until that game was done before starting the Wii port. So the fact that the Wii version is different is as much due to time constraints as it is to do something original for the Wii control system.

Sega was working on a collection of minigames (see: much of the Wii library) starring Sonic but changed their mind and did Rings instead. There are 40 minigames in Rings, but none were part of that original minigame collection.

It was very challenging to code the game’s responses to the controller’s input for a shaking or thrusting motion, because everyone does that motion a little differently, and the controller sees that slight variation. Eventually they had to settle for having the controller held sideways.

The director claims more of an influence from God of War (which he loves), Shadow of the Colossus, and Prince of Persia than the original Sonic the Hedgehog games that people like me are so inclined to relate the game to in a hopeful way. He explains how he wanted to have a scene where Sonic leaps onto a bird in flight and actually tears the feathers out of it but Sega would not allow such a violent act in the game. He’s hoping to be able to channel some of that into a new Golden Axe game.

If Rings is well-received, it could define a new way for the team to approach future Sonic games. No shock there I guess.

He feels that they couldn’t stop making Sonic games even if they wanted to, because the fans keep buying the games and they would be too upset. Uh… really? I guess that depends on how well-received these new games are. I hear the PS3/360 versions are already a bigger train wreck than Shadow the Hedgehog was.

Via IGN Wii.

“The research demonstrates that Sonic Hedgehog plays a surprising role in the brain’s control of body movement,” says Dr. Jonathan Brotchie, senior scientist with Toronto Western Research Institute, the research arm of Toronto Western Hospital.”

“Scientists at Toronto Western Hospital have discovered the function of a long-mysterious brain chemical — which might help them prevent Parkinson’s Disease. It’s a neurotransmitter, something that helps to manage communication between brain and nerve cells; Parkinson’s patients don’t have enough of this chemical in their brains. This finding is considered to be quite a significant breakthrough.”

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via Collision Detection