Refuge for Sonic freaks and Drano addicts since 1997

February 14, 2004
It's pure coincidence (I think) that the new "whenever" updates have been occuring weekly... I hadn't intended to update this weekend except that I've encountered a big problem with my current animation project and I'm kind of stuck until I can ask someone for help. Which won't be till Tuesday. Which is bad, because the animation is due Thursday. I figure they'll never let me graduate and I'll have to drop out after which the only honorable thing left to do will be to commit seppuku. Being drummed out of ULL is the lowest possible humiliation a human being can suffer.

Being a self-proclaimed Sonic historian, I like to think I know everything there is to know about the entire series. It's quite disconcerting, then, when I hear about a whole game I never knew existed. It's like discovering a 27th letter in the alphabet. The first time this happened was when I got Sonic Jam and saw Tails' Skypatrol. It happened again a couple years later when all this information on Sonic Patrol Car and Galaxy Patrol surfaced. And it just happened to me again today when Reala of Sonic Cult showed us video of Sonic Eraser. I did some research and it turns out that Sonic Eraser was only available in Sega's short-lived Mega Modem service circa 1991. It's a simple puzzle game that looks like a Columns/Puyo hybrid. The only Sonic connection are the sprites that seem to battle with each other in the 2-player game. I still think it's important because this would technically be the first Sonic spinoff ever, it's super obscure which makes it très chic, and they even went so far as to put Sonic's name in the title. I'd like to give it a museum page, but I need to play it first. Apparently it runs on Gens, so there must be a rom floating around somewhere (which is a surprise to me, as I didn't think it would even be possible to dump a Mega Modem game). My first-born daughter goes to the first person to help me find it.

It looks like Eraser will soon be offered through Sega's B-Club download service. More information about the game can be found here and here.

Here's a funny story that has nothing to do with Sonic. A couple years ago, I purchased a Mai Shiranui figure from Blue Box Toys. It's about 10" tall and is like a giant, extremely buxom Barbie doll with a separate cloth replica of Mai's famous red & white garment. I was a bit disappointed with the thing when it arrived, although it was difficult to pinpoint exactly what I didn't like about it. Plus it would never stand up on its own, so rather than display it, I put it back in its box and stuffed it in my closet. For two years I didn't touch it or think about it much, then the other day while slacking off from my studies, I was proudly surveying the vast collection of geek gold in my closet and my eyes happened across the forgotten figure. I studied it for a moment then finally realized what I hated about it: the head. The body was cool in an exaggerated anime kind of way, but the head was too small and didn't fit right on the neck. Assuming the figure had no collector's value, I pulled it out and promptly popped Mai's noggin off. Sure enough, the body looked ten times better without the offending appendage. But something else curious caught my attention. In the struggle to remove the Shiranui cranium, her torso had shifted a bit, revealing a belly button under her clothes. I was quite impressed that they'd have bothered to include that much detail on a part that was meant to be covered, and of course that roused my curiosity. Now, I had been tempted to do this before, but I figured it would be a fruitless search and I'd feel silly afterward. Quickly glancing around to make sure nobody was looking, I pulled Mai's loose-fitting garment aside to expose a breast. Sure as the sun rises, there was a perfectly molded plastic nipple. I don't mean just the tip, either, the whole pepperoni is upraised and colored a pretty pink. Needless to say, the figure immediately went from being that $20 mistake in my closet to my new favorite toy. The only problem is that now I've undressed and redressed her so many times, her clothes don't fit right anymore. (It's also interesting to note that in the second grade, I got in big trouble for swiping the bra off a girl's Barbie doll.)

Next update I'll post the results to the "where the hell are you from" poll. It's kind of interesting, if not really surprising. -- Green Gibbon!

Not a major update today, I just feel like typing. Some recent releases: Triple Threat, the Sonic Heroes vocal CD, is out. It's available at CD Japan. While it's shipping, you should have time to figure out how to set your CD player to skip the crappy songs (leaving you with "This Machine" and "What I'm Made Of"). Also, the PS2 version of Puyo Puyo Fever is scampering gleefully about the shelves of Japanese software retailers. I'm a big, gooey, sentimental pussy, so I'm waiting for the DC version, although I'm curious to hear any impressions. (I hate to say it, but if anyone can screw up Puyo, it would be Sonic Team.) Also, NCS is carrying the second series of Sonic X UFO catcher plushies, which is worth noting because it features, as far as I am aware, the first widely-available Eggman plush. While the fuzzy Doc is round and huggable, he does not, sadly, say "yosh!" when you squeeze him.

A couple of people have asked about the status of the glossary, as I haven't added anything in over a month. It's in the process of being upgraded to a sort of version 1.2, but first I want to get the Sonic Battle and Heroes museum pages up. It's a slow process... I've discovered that, even at a third-rate university, 400 level classes aren't to be trifled with. Next they'll have me presenting a 30-second animation in three different languages while standing on my shaven head, and I have to do it, 'cause I just want to get my damn BFA and move on with my life. Jumping through the hoops, that's all it is at this point...

SSSSCCCCHHHLLLUUUURRRRPPPYYYYY!!!!! Jesus God, what the hell was that?! -- Green Gibbon!

I think I've finally pinpointed Vector's accent. Apparently the rolled R's and over emphasized syllables are traits of a hardcore Tokyo dialect. To my understanding, he's got a New York accent in the English version, so it makes sense. Not that there are crocodiles either in Tokyo or New York. (An interesting tidbit about the school I make it a point to bash for one paragraph every update: there are live alligators on campus. There's a swamp-esque pond behind the student union which is stocked with small gators. The only thing standing between them and the rest of the university is a small brick rail, about knee-height. There are signs around the pond telling us that it's okay to feed the fish, but not the gators.)

And now for something we hope you'll really like: Big Smile discovered this interview with Takashi Yuda. Takashi Yuda, for the uninitiated, was the character designer for Sonic 3, and hence the creator of series mainstay Knuckles the Echidna. Yuda, it seems, has been in the industry as far back as 1981, where he worked at Konami on the archaic arcade shooter Scramble. In the late 80's he became involved with Sega, where he worked on Super Shinobi and Mickey's Castle of Illusion for the Megadrive. He eventually became part of United Game Artists and did work on Space Channel 5. Since UGA was devoured by Sonic Team, the father of Knuckles is back home and is currently working on Puyo Puyo Fever.

In the interview, Yuda mentions some interesting tidbits regarding the design of Sonic's rowdy red rival. For starters, he wasn't supposed to be red at all, but green. There were 10 different designs, and the final red version was chosen after a feedback session with a group of children. Yuda also has some interesting comments to make about the stripe on Knuckles' chest. He apparently got the idea from the Nike swish logo, remnant of a collaboration with an unspecified shoe manufacturer. The shoe deal evidently fell through, but how fortunate it is that one of the staple characters of the Sonic universe isn't today parading around with a corporate logo emblazoned across his pecs.

Here's something that's become a bit of a curiosity for me. I think very little of the GHZ readership is actually from the US. So I thought I'd take a poll for all who care to participate: where the hell are you from? Please choose one of the following and mail me to confirm your whereabouts:

• I'm from the USA. Fuck the metric system.
• I'm from Canada. Damn, but it's cold up here.
• I'm from the UK. You bloody arse-wiping wankers.
• I'm from Australia. Ever boinked a kangaroo?
• I'm from somewhere else (please specify). English sucks.

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