Nice! Thanks for answering, Dean. As you can see from the avatar I got, I was pretty gung ho for Sega Channel and like hearing of the going-ons, particularly of all the material made for it that may have been lost in time and gone uncredited. Hm... I recall seeing something similar to what I interpreted as palm tree leaves in the "Sega Channel Memories" video line... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMRLZcBiN-k...feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bvC6RwA88Y...feature=related but most of the graphics featured here are not in the demo ROM (The demo has Toejam and Earl-esque crude drawings that change palettes.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_o4A6i4MvU It's interesting to hear about that Flintstones game as well - in a way, that was lucky, as many games did not see cartridge distribution in the US at all. We're all still looking for "Garfield: The Lost Levels", and wonder if the US version of "Mega Man: The Wily Wars" is going around.
Hi Dean, what about the name "Egg-O-Matic". The boss ship. I first heard than name in a UK Sonic magazine. I know that the Sonic 2 Japanese manual call the ship "Eggman's mobile". Just wonder if you had anything to do with the name Egg-O-Matic?
Nothing comes to mind/nothing written down or remembered/Nope Kiddo, Yes! @ the squiggle line Toejam&Earl-esque font. That was a hot look in the 90's in a saved by the bell kinda way.
Dean how do you feel after so much time that names you created back then, will be used again after so much years in Sonic 4? And considering the fact that Sega wanted to introduce the original name "Eggman" outside Japan, how do you feel about the fact the Doctor name suffered an kind of merge, being Robotnik some times referenced indirectly in Adventure Series and games after (Including Japan) as his Real name (as in Name-in-law kind), like the Robotnik Family, or the company that makes boards in Sonic Riders "Robotnik Corp." Sonic X JP version, Sonic Chronicles and games manuals including recent ones, instead like forgeting 100% the name itself and being only Dr. Eggman? And it's an honor to meet you, being you someone that worked actively in the marketing of the game, that influenced my greatly childhood.
Aww shucks. I've been thinking about it more. Each version of any Sonic property can have its own naming conventions - I think the problem is when an attempt is made to tie all sonic properties together. I think there has been an effort for some time to phase out Robotnik as I think it was a fluke that it stuck - I know the Japanese werent happy about the US taking the creative ball and running with it. Im just happy I got to carry the ball for a bit. Initially, the sonic fiction in Japan is targeted at a slightly older group than in the US. I think this was the divide. Sonics human love interest Madonna VS a fellow woodland creature: a rock star DJ VS an everyday joe turned hero - The (re)launch of the system/software needed tailoring to its market. Over time this market (US) grew up. I think this explains the wonky direction the series took, ever adapting to state of latest hardware to define the property VS takin (s0me) time developing the character outside of gamespace. in the eyes of the player, the game experience shaped sonics history and backstory more so than any preface in an instruction manual. back on tangent. :o eggman might have US copyright issues with apple records? or dc comics? or capitol records? most other characters in the series are identified by their species or function - so it makes sense to have him have a title (mister/doctor)..along the way the name has been frankensteined also as many games are created by contractors for publisher - if the publisher doesnt catch "it" then something is called whatever the developer says it is. then they play catch up/damage control/fix it on subsequent versions. I love the fact that I did it, but at the end of the day it doesnt count for anything as I struggle to get work/get paid and have since then. Its like I painted/washed someone elses car, its still their car. the accomplishment might count for something sometime - no print magazine would touch the story as ads are their bread and butter. you guys and tss were the only ones listening/asking questions. as far as mainstream media, you don't bite the hand that feeds - and its not cool to say sometimes people get exploited or mistakes could have been made if the conditions havent changed in 20 years. theres still lots of temp workers doing solid creative/development work without benefits and offering ideas in hopes of advancement that won't come. once you assist in the making of multi-millions of dollars and then don't get to share in the reward about a hundred times, you start to question your career path. thats where im at/have been for 15-20 years. basically why I cant work for a major company - what we do (make games) is of too much value to try and start at the bottom and work my way up the corporate ladder. wow I sound bitter. :o. . . its not as sour as it reads but you get the idea. thx again...sorry to rant. . .:o
Wait a minute. I thought the inumerous ladies Sonic fell for in AOSTH were a DIC idea, independent from SOA. As was Sally being promoted to a love interest for SatAM and Archie adapted it. It ties in nicely with Europe having Amy in the primary role and Sally being close to her small animal depiction and what is said in the bible? So what you say is that any/all of these love interests were a SOA/SOE idea?
You mean like this? :v: Joking aside, I just want to say once more that it's a pleasure to meet you, Dean - as far as the internet goes, anyway. I do have a question, however. Please forgive me if this has been asked already (lots of pages), but did you have any other names in your head for Robotnik during the naming process?
theres the original doc with the names written on it...posted someplace :o but all have been mentioned except (perhaps) professor junkpile. in 1988 prior to joining sega I sent a proposal to nec with a guy in red that floated about and built robots out of junk to try and stop the player. he was thin and bald with glasses VS fat and bald with glasses. the idea was player collected disks that were dropped as the villain escaped at game start. I had probably passed this name along as well in an effort to get it out.
I've always loved that snapshot for the sole shot of Knuckles' dumb expression. I can't explain why it's funny, it just it.
Hmm... Well damn, I wish I would have been here earlier...If I knew you had gone to E3 last year we could have probably met there....
You were already gone during the days I used to sit on the 800 line and call Sega (93 or 94 I believe), but I think it's really cool that you almost had a rapport with frequent callers :P I also remember being sent some kind of Sonic & Knuckles photocopied help guide. I wish I still had it, other people here would have appreciated the fact that it actually mentioned "Sonic & Crackers" and "Sonic 4" for whatever games they had in development at the time the animator for the AoStH cartoon, Milton Knight, is responsible for that design of Robotnik. I'm surprised more people don't know this. I realize it's a little silly to jump back into this thread now, but I really like some of the revelations... Seems stupid to clink to the old Sonic games so much after all this time, but they were a big part of my time when I was younger, so it's always neat to find new information Thanks for taking the time and effort to communicate with everyone, Dean.
the phone lines were a lot of fun really - getting to play games and read and draw while "working". there were regular callers though this was sort of frowned upon - don't want people having too much fun. people called from all over the world to hear "hit em on the head three times - thanks for calling" :o re: look of robotnik/eggman - I like the eggy one best visually - but the mk character gave more mythos I made a new viddy. what say you? TINTIT Game ROM
