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The community turns 20 years old this year

Discussion in 'General Sonic Discussion' started by Cooljerk, Jan 3, 2017.

  1. Jason

    Jason

    *Results not lab tested. Member
    Been part of one forum or another since 2004. I'm constantly impressed with how our creme de le creme keeps finding new things to do with this blue bastard. Even Sega is finally starting to take notice of it. Honestly, a bit jealous at times for some of the things :v: . You guys are all pretty great.

    Meanwhile outside this bubble we're all Chris-chan.
     
  2. Cooljerk

    Cooljerk

    NotEqual Tech, Inc - VR & Game Dev Oldbie
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    I think less of the people who think like that than I do Chris-chan : :v:/>

    Re:Jealousy - I've never really felt jealous of anybody in this scene, although for sure I've admired the hell out of certain people and accomplishments. Part of the reason I never have felt jealous is because of how open and inviting this scene is. The true hacking spirit runs through the Sonic Community. "Competitive collaboration," as I've always called it. People will blow your mind with some demonstration, but if you hit them up on the side, they're usually more than willing to help you or explain how it all works. One of the best things about this community is the tools people selflessly provide for self-education. Through the sonic community, I picked up m68k microprocessor assembly. I consider myself a better computer scientist because I've hung around here so long.
     
  3. Slingerland

    Slingerland

    Oldbie
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    Sonic Mania
    Someone make a 20th anniversary of the community logo and make Gene put it next to the Sonic 25 logo on the Mania art.

    Maaaarrcccc make the logoooooo
     
  4. Shoemanbundy

    Shoemanbundy

    Researcher
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    selling shoes
    I used to lurk around on the old Sonic 2 Beta Anyboard on my old WebTV back in 1999~2000. By far the moments that have most stood out for the whole Sonic scene has been all of the proto releases, since it was the "Simon Wai" beta that brought everyone together to begin with. I don't think any one series has been as prolific and interesting with protos as Sonic.

    So here's to even more protos to come!
     
  5. Cooljerk

    Cooljerk

    NotEqual Tech, Inc - VR & Game Dev Oldbie
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    Speaking of Simon Wai, anybody still in contact with him?
     
  6. SonKnuck

    SonKnuck

    The Lazy Guy Oldbie
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    DBZ Re-enactment and LPs on Youtube
    Wait... the Sonic community is as old as the moment I got into the Internet world!? (Yup, come this May I will have been on the Internet for 20 years, since 1997). I know I only joined a Sonic community in 19999, when the Simon Wai Beta surfaced, which makes my living among you 18 years with only 2 years in the Shadow... but wow. I didn't expect the community itself to be 20 years old.
     
  7. MarkeyJester

    MarkeyJester

    Original, No substitute Resident Jester
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    I've been here roughly 10 years, one year being merely a lurking. I would have been here sooner, but my family were (and still are due to their selfish ignorance) rather poor, so no internet til 2007.

    But hey! The last 10 years were pretty cool. It's also rather interesting reading the stories of Area 51. It's like a legend or something =S
     
  8. Cooljerk

    Cooljerk

    NotEqual Tech, Inc - VR & Game Dev Oldbie
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    It wasn't the only site, honestly. There was another site that I used to routinely visit -- I believe it was maintained by l0st or maybe LocalH or some other member which I can't remember. It had a really low-key design, it was basically all one hand-coded HTML page that was maybe just one or a handful of pages long, and it had an aesthetic that reminded me of the Japanese Sonic box art.

    You can still find Area 51 online if you look on the internet wayback machine, but they are the later years from the 2000's that are archived. You can also still find Secrets of Sonic Team online, which always reminded me quite a bit of Area 51.

    Back in those days, there wasn't a ton of "hacking" going on, mainly just information documenting; going through magazines and finding prototype pictures, theories flying around, fan recreations in klik n kreate... the first "hacking" stuff was probably the oil palace zone save state hacking stuff, and that came just before the Simon Wai prototype was actually dumped.

    I remember when the Simon Wai prototype actually surfaced online. It felt like it all happened so fast. It was an enormous "WFT" moment - someone actually found a cart with all this prototype shit on it??! And even dumped it?! Even at the time, in the early days of rom dumping and the internet, it was apparent how extremely fortunate and uncommon that was.

    Really good memories.
     
  9. MarkeyJester

    MarkeyJester

    Original, No substitute Resident Jester
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    You know, I think I will do just that~

    Oh yeah, I remember sost, I used to visit there occasionally at school during 2006, downloading a lot of content to my mp3 player like a memory stick device at the time (it was my only way of getting things off the internet dX).
     
  10. Cooljerk

    Cooljerk

    NotEqual Tech, Inc - VR & Game Dev Oldbie
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    SoSTH is my own personal proof that I was there in the old days, communicating before we all organized on various message boards. When the page opened, people would email each other back and forth theories and findings. I have the second submitted finding on the site (under the theories section), because I found some placed time item boxes under the boss in Sonic CD, lol.

    The way I actually came into the scene was because Gamepro had a question and answer section where people could write the editors. One guy asked a question about missing content in some game, and they explained that occasionally games change between when they covered it and when people came to play it. Under the letter, they had a picture of Hidden Palace Zone with a blurb about the zone being cut. I was floored. I was a massive Sonic fan and had never heard of anything like that. I already had the internet for years at that point, and was active in Compuserve Go Sega, but nobody really discussed this stuff there. So I had to take to the actual web to find others talking about it, and I sort of stumbled into everybody else just when it all was coming together.

    It's been really neat to see it evolve so drastically over the years. It definitely felt like the community grew up together. Coming home after high school in the early 2000's and watching Dragon Ball Z while hanging out on IRC and on Sonic Cult and SSRG and SFGHQ was my daily routine for such a formative part of my life. Things are so much more organized now, which is awesome, but the spirit has largely been the same since the beginning. I really like when major events happen and people come out of the wood works that haven't posted in ages.
     
  11. biggestsonicfan

    biggestsonicfan

    Model2wannaB Tech Member
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    ALWAYS Sonic the Fighters
    If you do not miss Amychao and Ask Alice then you are not true CulT family
     
  12. JaxTH

    JaxTH

    Pudding Deity Oldbie
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    Jack shit.
    Don't you mean "Ask Marzipan"? :v:
     
  13. doc eggfan

    doc eggfan

    Are you pondering what I'm pondering? Wiki Sysop
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    GreatMegaLD, GreatSC3k, Great SG1k
    Remember when X-Cult's "Green Egg" project was trying to be a wiki before wiki's really took off. There is an alternative universe where the Cult family creates the Wikimedia foundation.

    Also, for those who never saw it:

    [​IMG]
     
  14. Dark Sonic

    Dark Sonic

    Member
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    I remember Amychao but I do not remember Ask Alice. Keep in mind I was a youngun back then so I don't remember 100%.

    However I'm actually on the website somewhere. Remember that section on the CulT website where he made fun of stupid emails he got? Yea I sent one of those emails :specialed: I wanted to play that Sonic 1 Beta hoax but couldn't figure out IPS patches, so instead of assistance I got my email put on the site with sarcastic responses about lighting candles :eng101:
     
  15. Hez

    Hez

    Oldbie
    Why is that?....You'd think if we all tried, we could find one.
     
  16. Saidian

    Saidian

    Member
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    Blast From The Fast (Fangame)
    I found SFGHQ in 2001, shortly after I first came online. Always wanted to follow in the footsteps of the most well known fangame creators of the day. I was never on the same level of people like Jamie Bailey but I had fun making my own little projects, making an entry to SAGE when I was 12 back in 2003 (a 'finished' version ended up also being an entry into the first RAGE contest some years later).

    Had some less than enjoyable moments, chief amongst them being banned on Sonic Cult for being a general asshole when the Assembler Tech Demo of Xtreme was released. Grown up since thank goodness...

    Enjoyed the years with all ya'll, I'll be looking forward to being a part of the community for many years to come no matter which website I'm on :D
     
  17. XCubed

    XCubed

    Will Someday Own a Rent-A-Center Oldbie
    Time to update my signature again....


    I can't believe I have been participating in this foolery since 2001 at Area 51. I saw the A51 page for the first time in 1998, but avoided the message board as I was already busy at IGN. Silly me, I couldn't handle more than one message board back then. So much has happened since middle school. SO MUCH. To think we are getting a Sonic game that is bringing us back to 1994.....for the 2nd time! A few names a recognize, most I don't, but the key players are still here, which draws me back in every so often.

    My first screen name was MercedesML55...everyone called me "Merc." My how things change....and grow obnoxiously obsolete. I guess I'd be "MercedesGLE63" using present-day semantics XD.

    GET A LOAD OF THIS!


    VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVNEW SIG, CHECK IT OUT IN ALL IT'S GLORY VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

    [​IMG]
     
  18. Neowl

    Neowl

    feels good man Member
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    SAIL HATAN
    I've probably been a lurker in the community for little under 20 years now, I think I started delving into sites like the old SSRG and Area 51 around late 1999. I remember tying out the Wai beta along with several other ROM hacks (sometimes even IPS patches!) on Genecyst DOS, and having several hours of earache due to the computers at school having terrible audio cards and/or drivers (I used to stay after school for an hour to use their computers as at the time I was suffering AOL dial-up at home, and the school network was somewhat swift for the time).

    It's fascinating to think that our community has been around for as long as it has (I daresay even longer depending on if we still have users that frequented Usenet groups back in the infant days of the internet).

    EDIT: My lucky 777th post is somewhat apt for the topic I think.
     
  19. Overlord

    Overlord

    Now playable in Smash Bros Ultimate Moderator
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    As someone who's been running community meetups under the Sonic Retro Barcade (And CulT:UK, further back!) banners since 2003 (christ, how time flies) I couldn't agree more. Everyone who's come to an event has been great to meet and it's always a fantastic time.

    [​IMG]

    A scan of a Vodafone flip-phone (because it had no datacable), that was used to take pictures of Sonic Heroes waaaaaaaaaay back at the first event at PlayStation Live, in 2003. There were 3 of us that day (technically 4, but Sting wasn't really ever in the community) and 2 of us are still around (god knows what happened to Firo).
     
  20. NioZero

    NioZero

    Member
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    Tornado Sky Fighters
    I think I've been in the community for a couple of years before i registered. I don't know what to say because i usually don't write too much but I'd read almost all topics from the general forum and I'm happy to be part of it. Congrats Retro



    A little question: When is the exact date for the 20th anniversary?