Well, the site used to have a warning about its content and made it clear that it was targeting an older demographic (even if it sorta failed at that goal). I was only twelve when I found the site through an affiliate link on a random Sonic fanpage. The site's darker tone threw me off at the time, but I was a pretty sheltered kid.
Yeah that was like the first Sonic site I ever joined, I think it was where I got my first couple of commissions, I even did some art they used on the game pages, like Sonic the Fighters XD
Cult & SonicHQ were my first sonic sites too, so fond memories... maybe Cult was mostly visited by kids, but it was undoubtedly more adult feeling, with the crude humor, technical stuff, and harsher treatment for members. I remember feeling more "grown up" just visiting Cult. Im 31 right now so I was a kid back then...
Ya, I get why people say that, I'm just saying I think the warning upon entering the site was, ironically, pretty immature. I personally never felt like Sonic Cult was more technical than SSRG. It's just that Sonic Cult came at a time when people had started moving beyond save state hacking. It's more about the timeline of the community than Sonic Cult specifically. There was plenty of technical talk elsewhere. I always felt the claims of maturity were basically just an OK to swear like a sailor, personally. I actually remember members whom I considered actual adults, like KojiChao, being really critical of Cult back in the day. She pretty much stopped posting there as soon as she started her career, because she was worried people at her job would find out she posted there.
I grew up with CulT and have been logging in the old forums for some of my older notes recently. I am kinda heartbroken.
CulT is legendary and elemental to the genesis of the Sonic scene so sad to see it disappear. I agree that it hasn't been relevant in well over a decade but the site was infamous and prolific during the early SFGHQ days when the Dreamcast was still alive and kicking. I know there's alternative Sonic places to Retro but it does feel like with CulT's demise Retro is the last active stronghold of the Sonic community. So may we take the candle and live on forever. Pour one out for CulT I guess. It's a youthful memory we all share and will be missed.
Eh. I'm surprised the site has been up to this day. Even though I frequented it for information back in the early noughties, I can't say I'm the biggest fan of it or its founder. But it's a big part of the community's history, and many obviously have nostalgia for it, so it should be preserved. Is there any archive of it outside of Internet Archive? If not, surely Sazpaimon would be willing to share an archive so that others can host it. Heh, I've always seen Sonic Cult as the face of the community's teen edgelord phase
That's.. pretty accurate, being honest. Maybe it wasent the most thechnical site like Cooljerk said, but it was that "edgy tsk tsk only cool dudes research and hack roms 'tude' that got many of us interested on it in the first place. As an adult, now I see it wasnt the best way to do, and maybe its one of the reasons of its fall, but back then it really felt magical
CulT was the first Sonic site that I started viewing regularly.. Geez, it must've been around ‘07-‘08. Definitely before Unleashed was a thing. That site and X-CulT opened my eyes to the fascinating development of games, prototypes and whatever. I went through every game they had on those sites, just being gripped by all this new info. I spent a good couple of years lurking around the forums too. Oh, dear God, those forums.
Wow. I left CulT a decade ago, but it still prickles a bit to see it gone. I met lots of good people through that site, and we did some good work in terms of furthering Sonic knowledge. Not gonna lie though, I'm glad it's not the "big site" when it comes to the technical stuff these days - we were pretty obnoxious (myself included) and we probably put a lot of good people off making contributions. Still, that happy little carrot will probably always carry some CulT pride. I was reminiscing about Ecks Dee the other day, weirdly enough. Anyone still got a copy of that kicking about? AJ187 was mirroring it at one point… I know, right? And now I'm writing about games we played on that day, that still weren't out at the time, for Retro Gamer. We old.
I distinctly remember finding Sonic CulT and SWS2B about the same time nearly 15 years ago. There's a good chance I found Sonic CulT first because I could barely figure out how forums worked when I was younger, so I never found my way into their community, instead finding my way to SWS2B later on. The image of Shadow with a scythe and the Link toy fucking the Knuckles toy are forever burned in my head (please tell me someone saved the latter, I need a good laugh).
No surprise due to not being really active for years but is still sad knowing one of the earliest online sonic communities. RIP.
I haven't gone to the site in a while so I assumed it was already gone, or was at least sitting abandoned and collecting dust. Sucks... RIP to one of the first Sonic communities I was part of.
It been dead in the water for years now, so it gonna happen sooner or later. Anyways, thanks for the info Sonic-Cult.
[pours out drink in libation] RIP, Sonic Cult/X-cult. Found a lot of cool stuff on that site. Geez, it was ages ago. I remember lurking round the forums when they had some sort of music player they had going at one point. Definitely NSFW, but hella funny.
Oh, last year I posted this in the Oldbie Lounge, but it belongs in this topic, I think: I stumbled across this bonafide CulT classic while digging through an old hard drive. Some random guy wanted to show off his Sonic and Doom crossover comic on Sonic CulT. It's... interesting. I figured I'd repost it here for future generations. Someone in that CulT topic recorded an audiobook version, so listen along! https://filedump.hinchy.co/secrets/memories/after-keep-n-doom/PANDA OF HAVING SHITTED.mp3
