Sonic in old SPEC Magazine

Mercury · Sep 15, 2009

I was checking in on the scene for my other favourite game series, Phantasy Star (as I will do occasionally), and I came across this wonderful site, Gazeta de Algol (it's in Portugese, BTW).

Wonder of wonders, they had scans of three issues of SPEC magazine (Sega Players' Enjoy Club, a newsletter drawn by actual Sega developers, like Pheonix Rie and Judy Totoya) up. Obviously the Phantasy Star related articles were the main point of interest, but there were also a few pages that were about Sonic, and Dreams Come True.

Sonic pages:
page 1
page 2
page 3

If anyone can translate them easily, it would be really nice to know what they say. If no one here wants to take up the task, I'll take a crack at it myself. I can blunder my way through a fair bit of Japanese, armed with a dictionary, but it's been ages since I've practised so I'm probably rusty.

DCT pages:
page 1
page 2
page 3
page 4

I find the final page particularly interesting, because it lists the tour dates of the Wonder 3 concert tour at which Sonic was premiered. People usually list Sonic's birthday as the date Sonic 1 was released in the USA, but when I went to the DCT article here at Sonic Retro's wiki, it listed the first tour date as November 6th (which happens to be my birthday).

Later that year, on November 6, Sonic was revealed for the first time by being painted on the side of the band's tour bus.
Click to expand...

This would be another candidate for Sonic's birthday, and I was going to use it in my canon (in which I am purposely perverse on many points). Later, however, I noticed that the first date of the tour was listed as November 7th in the History section of Sonic Jam. So who was right? Sonic Retro, or Sonic Jam? This scan shows the first date as November 7th as well, so I can safely assume it really was the 7th. Oh, well - so much for the amazing coincidence! (Maybe I can invoke the international date line?... ;P )

Adamis · Sep 15, 2009

I love those little drawings from the first 3 pages you posted. The third page has a cute Sonic.

ICEknight · Sep 15, 2009

How cool, those drawings still show Sonic in his next-to-last design (also featured in the SegaSonic prototype title screen).

Thanks for sharing!

Mercury · Sep 15, 2009

Adamis said:

I love those little drawings from the first 3 pages you posted. The third page has a cute Sonic.
Click to expand...

Yeah! It's even signed Big Island!

Why doesn't Sega have a newsletter this cool anymore?

Diablohead · Sep 15, 2009

Expect much of next!

Pyro · Sep 15, 2009

Yay! Portuguese!

I'll translate them tonight, don't worry.

edit: Oh shit. I thought it was to translate the Portuguese part.

Sik · Sep 15, 2009

Mercury said:

I find the final page particularly interesting, because it lists the tour dates of the Wonder 3 concert tour at which Sonic was premiered. People usually list Sonic's birthday as the date Sonic 1 was released in the USA, but when I went to the DCT article here at Sonic Retro's wiki, it listed the first tour date as November 6th (which happens to be my birthday).

Later that year, on November 6, Sonic was revealed for the first time by being painted on the side of the band's tour bus.
Click to expand...

This would be another candidate for Sonic's birthday, and I was going to use it in my canon (in which I am purposely perverse on many points). Later, however, I noticed that the first date of the tour was listed as November 7th in the History section of Sonic Jam. So who was right? Sonic Retro, or Sonic Jam? This scan shows the first date as November 7th as well, so I can safely assume it really was the 7th. Oh, well - so much for the amazing coincidence! (Maybe I can invoke the international date line?... ;P )
Click to expand...

What about the racing game from 1990 in which he makes a cameo? Isn't that even earlier?

AnimatedAF · Sep 15, 2009

Love those illustrations, I couldn't help but av one of them up.

LOst · Sep 15, 2009

Awesome! *saves in his Sonic 1 dev folder*

Overlord · Sep 15, 2009

Sik said:

Mercury said:

I find the final page particularly interesting, because it lists the tour dates of the Wonder 3 concert tour at which Sonic was premiered. People usually list Sonic's birthday as the date Sonic 1 was released in the USA, but when I went to the DCT article here at Sonic Retro's wiki, it listed the first tour date as November 6th (which happens to be my birthday).

Later that year, on November 6, Sonic was revealed for the first time by being painted on the side of the band's tour bus.
Click to expand...

This would be another candidate for Sonic's birthday, and I was going to use it in my canon (in which I am purposely perverse on many points). Later, however, I noticed that the first date of the tour was listed as November 7th in the History section of Sonic Jam. So who was right? Sonic Retro, or Sonic Jam? This scan shows the first date as November 7th as well, so I can safely assume it really was the 7th. Oh, well - so much for the amazing coincidence! (Maybe I can invoke the international date line?... ;P )
Click to expand...

What about the racing game from 1990 in which he makes a cameo? Isn't that even earlier?
Click to expand...

That would be Rad Mobile, released in the arcades in 1990.

OSM · Sep 15, 2009

The artwork in the Sonic pages are really, really nice. Thank you for scanning these.

Mercury · Sep 16, 2009

OSM said:

The artwork in the Sonic pages are really, really nice. Thank you for scanning these.
Click to expand...

I did not mean to suggest that I had scanned them. All thanks, of course, belongs to Orakio Rob, the webmaster of the great Gazeta de Algol site.

Also, does anyone else think that the art of Green Hill at the top of the first two pages is significantly more reminiscent of this screenshot:

...than the finished game? Specifically, Sonic's stance, and the square shapes in the background.

EDIT: And about Rad Mobile, it would depend on the month it was released. But it's irrelevant, anyway, because Nov 7th, 1990 can't be the first public appearance of Sonic; this issue of SPEC - necessarily - is from before then!

Heran Bago · Sep 16, 2009

The interview with Sonic is interesting. Almost as much English as modern Japanese Sonic. The interviewer asks Sonic where he was born and he says "Christmas Island." Sonic apparently likes ROCK BAND and DREAM COME TRUE.

OSM · Sep 16, 2009

Mercury said:

OSM said:

The artwork in the Sonic pages are really, really nice. Thank you for scanning these.
Click to expand...

I did not mean to suggest that I had scanned them. All thanks, of course, belongs to Orakio Rob, the webmaster of the great Gazeta de Algol site.
Click to expand...

Oh you didn't scan them? My apologies, I should have read your post more carefully.

Mercury said:

Also, does anyone else think that the art of Green Hill at the top of the first two pages is significantly more reminiscent of this screenshot:

...than the finished game? Specifically, Sonic's stance, and the square shapes in the background.
Click to expand...

Oh wow, the resemblence of that screenshot and the artwork is uncanny. Very nice eye, I've always liked Sonic's sprite in that screenshot.

ICEknight · Sep 16, 2009

Those "square shapes" in the drawing also look like the final version, with the waterfalls, bushes and all...

To me, the blue stuff in the early background is a bit more reminiscent of the buildings in the Madonna concept art.

It's interesting to see again those palmtrees in front of the foreground, by the way. I wonder if they ever got to implement them in a similar way to the metal posts in Star Light.

XCubed · Sep 18, 2009

Adamis said:

I love those little drawings from the first 3 pages you posted. The third page has a cute Sonic.
Click to expand...

Goddamn that 3rd Page Sonic is sooooooooooo fucking cute! I think I just fell in love all over again. I could just squeeze him until he loses a life! I've never felt so emotional about a drawing before...sheesh.

I wonder if that rock/boulder in the foreground would have the Star Light metal post effect too.

MathUser · Sep 18, 2009

Page 2 even has those palm trees that appear in the foreground. There's no doubt the artwork was based on a early version of Sonic.

What is the date on the issues anyway?

GT Koopa · Sep 18, 2009

Mercury said:

Click to expand...

So...how would that rock work. Would it repeat in the super foreground like the girder in Starlight Zone or be like the plants in Angel Island zone act 1?

Sik · Sep 18, 2009

No half-assed theories about it being an even earlier version due to the walls lacking the checkerboard pattern yet? (although the background is actually more similar to the final version so I'd say that it was just the artist)

EDIT: actually comparing, the bottom mountains DO look like in that screenshot. They don't have color in the magazine pic after all, so how do we know that they aren't the same thing as in the screenshot?

Screw it, now I'm making the theories myself >_<

Mercury · Sep 19, 2009

MathUser said:

Page 2 even has those palm trees that appear in the foreground. There's no doubt the artwork was based on a early version of Sonic.

What is the date on the issues anyway?
Click to expand...

All of the scans are from Vol 7, except the third Sonic page with the Big Island drawing, which is from Vol 7.5. The cover of Vol 7 says "1990 - 11", but the inside just says "1990 - Winter". If it's the Nov issue, we can assume it was actually released in Oct, or even before. Vol 7.5 lists no month on the cover, and just says "Summer 1991", but from the contents page I'd guess it has to be from July or a little earlier.

Sonic in old SPEC Magazine

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