I think most of Sonic's success came from the games kicking ass. (And bundling it with consoles, I suppose.) The supplementary material was successful, sure, and much of it left a big imprint on the early fanbase. But I still feel like those things get way too much credit. No one would've cared about them if the games weren't good, and the games wouldn't have done any worse without them either (after all, S1&2's mass popularity precede basically all the TV shows, comics etc). And if the games were promoted using the JP art/character designs, it wouldn't have been any less appealing, or else people wouldn't have liked the games' visuals. But people adored how those games looked, so... yeah. Not even to mention that the JP art was often mixed in with the western art all over magazines anyways. That's not to say old western Sonic art doesn't have it's appeal. It definitely does, I have quite a bit of nostalgia over it. But was it necessary? Not really. I think it's importance is overblown to make the SoA staff of the time feel like they played a large role in it's success.
Reminder that SoA's marketing team initially thought that Sonic was a complete disaster with no chance of success.
It's possible it came from Archie. The first mention of chili dogs in Sonic comes from Issue 0 of the comic where Sonic worked as a chili dog delivery boy for uncle chuck, who developed his power sneakers as a way for him to not burn up his shoes when he delivered the chili dogs. This backstory is not mentioned in either satAM nor AoStH. That first issue was developed jointly by Sega of America, Archie, and DiC. The comic came before either of the cartoon series. The comic appears in the Official Sega of America Sonic the Hedgehog 1 & 2 Strategy Guide, which wasn't published by Archie.
The early comics really are such a strange blend of AoStH and SatAM; you get the humor of the former and the characters of the latter.
It seems like the comic was supposed to be a soft-pitch for the Sonic TV show, before it was split in two. Kinda wish they stayed one thing, because the pilot ep and the early Archie comics were a lot of fun. I'd probably be a bigger fan of "American Sonic" today if it did. lol
I was trying to figure out if that was one of the things Dean Sitton claimed credit for while posting here, but I couldn't find anything specific about it and must have been misremembering -- it's been over a decade. I'm not sure I ever read the contents of the US story bible, for that matter.
Uncle Chuck's chili dog stand is mentioned in the DIC Sonic TV series bible (pages 4-5), with a first revision date of 18 February 1992 and a second revision date of 11 March 1992: https://info.sonicretro.org/images/6/6d/SonicTH-SatAM_Revised_Bible_1992-03-11.pdf Michael Gallagher said he was offered the writing gig for Archie's Sonic mini-series on 23 July 1992. He was then sent model sheets, character descriptions, locations and a back story for the DIC TV series: https://info.sonicretro.org/index.php?title=File:SonicTheBeginning_Archie.pdf&page=6
Sonic Retro may have committed a grave sin. I was looking at the SegaSonic Cosmo Fighter page and noticed it had a release date of April 25, 1993 with no source that was originally put there in 2018. I then decided to go to that other Sonic wiki and they only added that information in 2022 with a link to the...Sonic the Hedgehog Encyclo-speed-ia? Even TCRF is citing this date! I'm reminding you all that Sonic Retro has "Special Thanks" in that book, which means that our potential mistake was published in official material. I'm personally going to remove it for no source unless it can be proved that that date is official. We removed an exact date from Patrol Car for this same reason years ago. So if it's official, find it for me.
given that we still don't have a proper date for Zyuuouki's distribution except for a vague official inkling i think it's safe to assume that dates bogus. sega definitely wouldve posted one in a buried corner of their japanese websites
Found this video of a kid who made Wing Fortress Zone in Minecraft. I thought it was pretty cute. At the end, they show off the entire level from far away, and to be honest I'm impressed with it.
Wow, I don’t really watch Minecraft videos but I’m surprised I haven’t seen more people attempt this. It never even crossed my mind back when I played regularly. Also, assuming the creator is under 12, his little logo with the Sonic Mania elements is cute. If he’s older… not so much lol.
This take me back to when Sonic Mania was announced. I took screenshots of everything they revealed so I could make my own Sonic texture pack and use it to create my own Sonic map inspired by SonicCraft, it didn't really amount to anything since I was just a dumb kid with no real foresight or specific goal, but it's a nice memory
I was never dedicated enough to do a project like that. Best I did was a relatively small "death egg" that was really just a slightly beveled big cube with a vaguely Eggman face on the front. Interior wasn't much better.
Hope this is the right place for this - didn't want to start a new topic. Is anyone able to help me identify the font used for Chao-related stuff in SA2? As in the one seen in the header of the image below. I'm cooking up some stuff inspired by that 2000's HUD aesthetic. Thanks! (If that's not sufficient for 'other knowledge' - here's one: Do people ever talk about how SA2 uses Tie Fighter textures for the ARK levels? Always thought that was weird.)
Yeah, the Space Colony Ark (I.e Mad Space, Meteor Herd) has a bunch of what appear to be Tie Fighter cockpit windows dotted along the texture of the Space Station. You can wall climb all over them. I always found these neat but I’m not certain whether they’re exactly Tie Fighter or just very very similar. I always assumed they made them to mimic the Death Star II’s throne room window, but in hindsight they may actually just be a photo of a Tie Fighter edited. You can see them in this video around the 43 second mark:
The more I think about Mad Space, the more I realise it was basically 2001 Mario Galaxy Mario Galaxy ripped off Sonic Adventure 2 confirmed??? Did Sonic Lost World rip off a rip off??? Did Sonic rip off itself???
