July 2002

Friday, July 26 2002 Sonic Bowling Posted by Segaholic2 at 2:52 PM CT Hurrah, more inane cell phone games that we who don't live in Japan can't get. This time Sonic and Co. take on bowling...

Sonic Bowling. Yay. Sonic... Tails... Knux... AAAAAAAGGHH!!!


WHAT'S THIS, WHAT'S THIS??! Shadow the Faghog makes an appearance here? NOOOOOOOOooooooo... Let's hope and pray that this isn't any indication as to future game appearances of everyone's least favorite SonicVerse character...

Check out the official page (in Japanese) here.
Monday, July 22 2002 New GBA NiGHTS Screens Posted by Segaholic2 at 7:10 PM CT XenGamers has seven new screenshots from the GBA NiGHTS game/mini-game/thing. Check out the article here.
New PSO Demo Posted by Segaholic2 at 10:11 AM CT ...For PC. Apparently you can get online with this version. I'm downloading this at the moment, and will let you know how it is.

The file is 86.4MB in size. You can download it here.


EDIT: I played it for a bit, and it's pretty cool. All the options from the full PC version of PSO are in there. However, you can only be online for a certain amount of time... 10 minutes is what I heard from others. If you get killed, you are automatically revived, since everyone is under Level 5 anyway. Right now I am not sure how many levels, weapons, items, and spells are available in the demo.
Thursday, July 18 2002 Interview With Yuji Naka Posted by Segaholic2 at 10:28 PM CT Yeah. XenGamers has an interview up regarding some recent revelations concerning Sonic the Hedgehog and such.

A major snippet:

XenGamers: Will future Sonic games be platform exclusive (e.g. GameCube only, etc)?

Naka: No, we're not thinking in those terms. There is a good chance that Sonic will appear on a number of platforms.


Check out the full interview here.
Saturday, July 13 2002 "Amy Rose is here!" Posted by Bakari at 9:10 PM CT Introducing the new Amy Rose Chao! – Sure to be a hit with young girls and sick Chao paedophiles alike!

Don’t you just want to kill…er hug it?

Just one question - Where's our Eggman Chao?
PSO's New Look Posted by Bakari at 8:03 AM CT IGN has the scoop on the new and improved graphical look of the GC rev of PSO, and it looks like the environments are going to be a little prettier this time around.

The article includes side-by-side comparisons of the Pioneer of old, and the snazzy new GC Version, where you’ll be spending many sleepless nights pawning rares, getting drunk on TriFluids, and making obscene passes at the hunters guild chick (Just keep your hands of the nurse, she’s mine!) So Enjoy!
Friday, July 12 2002 Sonic Mega Collection Games... Posted by Segaholic2 at 8:59 AM CT Sonic Team has spilled the beans according to most of their plans for the Sonic Mega Collection for GameCube... The titles loosely translated from the Japanese page are as follows:



Release is scheduled for the end of 2002, with an as-of-yet un-announced price. Check the Japanese page right here.

I'm actually a bit disappointed here... Only Genesis titles. :\ But hey, I'm still going to buy it... Eventually...
Sonic Team Reveals Sonic Advance 2 Posted by Segaholic2 at 8:45 AM CT Peppy has no faith in this game, but I say it's looking pretty snazzy. Sonic Team's official preliminary preview page can be found right here, with new screenshots that 0wnz0r those lame quality ones IGN has...

Speaking of which, those images at IGN are NOT Insider content. Peppy is just a little out of things; you're only allowed to download something like 5 movies and images a day before they start harassing you to buy their lame Insider access.
Thursday, July 11 2002 GC PSO Delayed...Again Posted by Bakari at 10:53 PM CT From Gamespot --

"Sonic Team has announced that it will delay the Japanese release of Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II for the Nintendo GameCube. Citing reasons for the delay, the company commented that it would like to spend more time adding new modes and ensuring that gameplay is as polished as possible."

Hmmm...Well, at least you might be able to actually see what you’re kicking in Go Go Ball this time!
Sonic Advance 2 Revealed! Posted by Bakari at 9:17 PM CT ...And it looks like it's shaping up to be a real doozy! Three new stages have been revealed, including Leaf Forest , Hot Crater , and an unnamed musical-themed Tails stage, all sporting crisp, psychedelic style graphics. Swish!

Thanks to IGN Pocket (And Popcorn who I assume wasn’t planning on posting it here!).

Here’s hoping a little more development time will pay off for Sonic & Co’s second GBA outing...

Append by Pepperidge -- It's most likely being done by DIMPS. Screw it.
Thursday, July 4 2002 Sonic Mega Collection - What games will we get to play over again this time? Posted by Pepperidge at 3:26 AM CT It seems the good people at Intensity Magazine were able to strangle a few details about the upcoming Sonic Mega Collection from a source at SoJ. Apparantly the games known to be included in the package right now include:

Sonic The Hedgehog (Genesis - 1991)
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (Genesis - 1992)
Sonic CD (Sega CD - 1993)
Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (Genesis - 1994)
Sonic & Knuckles (Genesis 1994)
Sonic 3D Blast (Saturn - 1996)
Sonic R (Saturn - 1997)
Sonic Shuffle (Dreamcast - 2000)
UNCONFIRMED: Sonic Drift (Gamegear - 1995)

The cannon Mega Drive games and CD shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, nor should Sonic 3D or Sonic R (which Sonic Team found a few minutes here and there to stick their hands into). No word on whether Chaotix will be thrown into the mix or not, but it looks doubtful. I find it strange that it wouldn't be included though: the game's suckage may be well known, but it WOULD be the only console platform game left out. Also, there are a lot of people out there who would be willing to trade in a plethora of various bodily organs to have the opportunity to play the game just for the characters. Even if it was crap.

Then again, Sonic Shuffle was more crap and it seems they're including that, of all things.

Those who had their hopes up about seeing a ported version of SegaSonic Arcade or Sonic the Fighters should probably start discovering the wonderful world of skepticism. It's done wonders for me.

And as for Sonic Drift, the source, it seems, had said something about it, but was not able to confirm or deny it. In any case, I think it's safe to say we all share the same opinion on the mere suggestion of it being included: WTF?
Monday, July 1 2002 Faith Restored - It WILL be a new game Posted by Pepperidge at 11:10 PM CT It was revealed eariler today by an SoA representative that the new Sonic title for GameCube will NOT be a port of Sonic Adventure 1 as SoJ had reported last night; it will, indeed, be a brand new game in the Sonic series.

For the first time in a while, bad news has actually turned into hope. With a new GameCube title (which will hopefully be for X-Box or PS2 as well), a GBA title (Sonic Advance 2) and a compilation disc of classic Sonic games (Sonic Mega Collection), something good will have to come of the show on the 13th. Then again, faith can be turned into anger very easily...


Edit by Green Gibbon!: This is actually not true. It is, as originally reported, a remake of Sonic Adventure 1. On a side note, Pepperidge is in the market for some Florida swampland...
Will it never end? - SA1 and classic Sonic games to be ported to GameCube Posted by Pepperidge at 2:30 PM CT I was going to report this last night, but it was 3:00 am, and I was having trouble stringing sentences together coherently.

For a while there I was getting pretty optimistic that Sonic Team was going to announce a brand new title next month. Which, of course, is never a good sign. But now, my hopes have been riddled with just a touch of skepticism that certainly wasn't there before.

Last night it was announced on Sega of Japan's website that there will be three Sonic games revealed at the World Hobby Fair: Sonic Mega Collection (basically, a new Sonic Jam containing classic Sonic games) and a port of Sonic Adventure 1 have been announced for the GameCube. It also mentioned that Sonic Advance 2 will be coming to the GBA. Sonic Advance 2 and Sonic Mega Collection should be released by the end of the year in Japan. No date was given for SA1.

Not that this is bad news, really. I think the Sonic Mega Collection is a great idea, especially if it has Sonic CD and Chaotix (two games people commonly complain about missing out on); and I guess even the idea for a port of Sonic Adventure 1 isn't THAT bad. It's just that if these are indeed the 'new' Sonic game that we've been promised for a few months now, there is going to be quite a lot of dissapointment.

Unless of course it turns out that Sonic Team have been putting lots of time, energy and devotion into Sonic Advance 2, making sure it would be a truly kick-ass game. Which I sincerely doubt.

In any case, news of neither possible X-Box or PS2 versions nor release dates outside Japan were mentioned.
2002 Summer Festival Posted by Bakari at 2:04 AM CT On the 4th of August, the Sonic Team is holding the Sonic Party 2002 Summer Festival in Tokyo. So if you live in Japan (And if you do, then I hate you!), swing by and you can play SA2 Battle, download Chao, and have sex with the cute Japanese booth girls.

Heheh…Just kidding about SA2! You don’t really wanna play that, do you?