is it time to go fast, or time to chill? GameChops, a video game cover album publisher mostly known for their “& Chill” series, has introduced a new one. Sonic & Chill adapts 14 tracks from across the franchise’s history into jazz, funk, hip-hop and more, and it’s available digitally as of today.
There may not be a lot of movie news coming out of SDCC this year…but there will be plenty of comics! The likes of Disney and Universal panels will be replaced by panels showcasing what the convention was meant to be about in the first place. Comics publisher IDW has a lot planned, and they laid it all out for us today.
Imagine co-creating one of the most iconic video game characters of all time and then, thirty years later, being sentenced to jail. Those are the highs and lows of Yuji Naka’s life — the man responsible for developing Sonic the Hedgehog for Sega, and then caught participating in insider trading while at Square Enix.
Today during Summer Game Fest, Sega revealed the first old-school Sonic the Hedgehog game since 2017’s Sonic Mania. Contrary to the open-world game released last year, Sonic Superstars will be entirely 2D and a return to the gameplay that made the ‘hog famous.
Sonic has had plenty of TV shows (the latest one, Sonic Prime, is running right now on Netflix). But he has a tendency to (hedge)hog the spotlight. We’re sure other people in his circle of contacts would appreciate breaking out into shows of their own. It took thirty years, but after making his debut in Sonic 3 for Genesis, Knuckles the Echidna will finally receive his own star vehicle, which for now is just appropriately called “Knuckles.”
Over the weekend the rumor sprouted up that Sega was looking to buy out mobile developer Rovio for a billion dollars. We were skeptical because (a) the only thing Rovio is known for is Angry Birds and that property hit its peak ages ago, and (b) there’s no way Sega has a billion dollars.
It’s interesting how Nintendo and Sega, despite coming from the same region of Japan, have polar opposite approaches to treating their fans. Nintendo can be very strict about fan works, striking down free games made in earnest by people just wanting to express their love for the company’s characters. Then there’s Sega, who not only fully allows Sonic fan games but will sometimes officially endorse them.
Did you purchase Sonic Origins when it came out last year? If the answer is “no,” you’re in luck — Sega just announced an upgraded version, Sonic Origins Plus, that contains more content. It’s one of those moments that’s aggravating for one consumer but a blessing for another.
Sonic has been a star of American comics for almost as long as he’s been a star of video games. He first appeared in a comic in late 1992 and stayed with Archie Comics for over 20 years, until an incident with one of their ex-writers drove Sega to pull the license. Basically Archie was bad at holding onto contracts, Ken Penders found out and used the loophole to file ownership of characters he’d invented, breaking the continuity and eventually ending the series.
Sonic Frontiers, the first real new Sonic game in years, is about to hit all consoles. The story of your average Sonic title is rarely that deep, and with the open-world gameplay this new title promises, the narrative will likely be lighter than ever…but it never hurts to get ahead. Two prologue stories to the game have been released by Sega that are free to enjoy.
Everyone wants to copy Breath of the Wild…soon it’ll be Sega’s turn with Sonic Frontiers, coming this fall. The best thing about Sonic games is going as fast as you can, but will the vast, open meadows of Sonic’s new Hyrulian world and lack of real direction kill any true sense of momentum? Early footage seemed to suggest “yes,” but we’ll withhold judgment until the game is actually out.
Sonic got a gigantic celebratory party when he turned 30 last year, as everyone expected he would. His faithful sidekick, however, was introduced a year later and rarely ever gets any recognition. Would Tails get his own party, after everything he’s done for Sonic? IDW finally decided to answer “YES” to that question and put together the ultimate tribute to everyone’s favorite Player 2.