Is this a known thing around these parts? I could have sworn that I read about it years ago, but I can't find a single mention of it online. You need to finish Turquoise Hill Zone 1 or 2, then as soon as your km/h has tallied up press pause, whilst paused press UP + LEFT + 1 + 2 simultaneously. A six digit code will then be displayed. This only works if your speed is over 700km/h, and as far as I can tell only works in the JP "Sonic & Tails" version, not Sonic Chaos. The code was for a Sonic & Tails Fastest Technique (ソニック&ティルスかっとび最速テクニック) contest that, according to NDL Online, ran in the December 1993 issues of Shogaku Sannensei, Shogaku Yonensei and Shogaku Rokunensei. It also ran in the "Game Gear 2 Major Software Research!!" (ゲームギア2大ソフト大研究!!) article in the January 1994 issues of Shogaku Sannensei, Shogaku Yonensei and Shogaku Rokunensei. (It's possible it also ran in the 5th Grade magazine, Shogaku Gonensei, but wasn't listed in the contents page.) Contestants had to submit their best time, along with the code as proof. It seems that there were four categories: Turquoise Hill Zone 1 (Sonic), Turquoise Hill Zone 1 (Tails), Turquoise Hill Zone 2 (Sonic) and Turquoise Hill Zone 2 (Tails). Here's a (stolen) image from the Jan 1994 issue of Rokunensei:
Huh. Well I've certainly never heard of that. Presumably this was a contest run by Sega, to make it into the actual game code? Fascinating.
I've heard of this before, but it was LONG ago, and I don't know from where. Never knew if it was real though.
I never knew that, can you crosspost it on smspower? If you don't have an account there, I can do that in your behalf.
For the record I can confirm that this is a Japanese Game Gear-only thing. No versions of Sonic Chaos will do this (including the recently released prototypes). Incidentally I can't hit 700km/h in the May Game Gear prototype. So that's a thing - the speed calculation was changed.
The contest was also in Game Gear News 18: https://twitter.com/YmPXden33UUYCF3/status/1313479740704129027 It also has uncropped art of the second boss (the manual cuts off the bottom sphere). In the comments someone posted a photo of "Kid's Gear Press", which looks to be the successor pamphlet. EDIT: Has anyone tried the code out on a Game Gear Micro?
Interesting... Was there an actual prize or was it just a public bragging rights type of deal, in the form of having your best time publicized?
The same Twitter user as earlier posted some more pages related to this contest. The January issue (same as the first post): https://twitter.com/YmPXden33UUYCF3/status/1317435242941014016 And (presumably) the December issue, with a nice little map: https://twitter.com/YmPXden33UUYCF3/status/1317086804072280070 The top 5 entrants for each of the four categories (Act 1 Sonic, Act 2 Sonic, Act 1 Tails, Act 2 Tails) would win a "Sonic Tails Original Champion Case", 20 available in total. 300 non-winning entrants, drawn at random, would win a Sonic and Tails plush set. Both prizes are pictured in the second link. EDIT: We already knew that the contest ran in Shogaku Sannensei, Shogaku Yonensei and Shogaku Rokunensei, but the text on the right of the prize page indicates that the comtest also ran in Shogaku Gonensei and CoroCoro Comic.
26:42 Sega Video Magazine 1993-11. Confirms the five magazines (Shogaku Sannensei, Shogaku Yonensei, Shogaku Gonensei, Shogaku Rokunensei and CoroCoro Comic) and shows off the prizes in more detail. The case is actually pretty cool, it's designed to hold a Game Gear and four games. Were any similar carry cases ever released commercially? (Seemingly unrelated, 10 Sonic cushions were given away as prizes for sending in a questionnaire that came with the video. Or something.)
Not that I've seen. The closest official case is the one that shipped with the white Game Gear, and by "close" I mean "not close at all". Mind you Japanese Game Gear cases are a rare thing full stop. It's genuinely easier to find cases for the Game Gear Micro, and that unit is small enough to stick in a sock. Google would rather give me pictures of Sonic & Tails curtains.
i know this is a rather sizable bump, but i thought folks would like to have it confirmed that yes, the contest code works perfectly on a game gear micro: shame sega seems to have forgotten about it; it might have made a fun bit of nostalgia for them to re-run the contest all these years later, you know?
