The Supreme Topic of 'Other' Knowledge.

Random question

Do we know how they made the robotic voice that is used in Metallic Madness Bad Future? I'm assuming it's some kind of feature on an old synth program or something, because I was listening to the Sonic 6290 Mix (one of the tracks you can listen to in the Museum of Sonic Gems Collection) and the voice is in the track with new words.

Follow-up question if we do know where it comes from

I know there are videos on YouTube pointing where samples come from (and WhoSampled is also a thing), but do we have any kind of resource on a website or something that details all these musical quirks (samples, recurring themes, etc.) over the years?

 

It's the text-to-speech software included with Amiga computers.

 

I found this image very interesting: It seems to be Sonic with longer limbs (I wonder if the dancing animation was some kind of Michael Jackson move or something? Or was he later on [Sonic 3 era]?).

It's almost like a precurser to the Sonic Adventure [and onwards] look, but obivously that'd be impossible.

 

In his Sega Mega Drive/Genesis: Collected Works interview, Ohshima said that the originally planned Sonic 1 sound test would have had Sonic performing Michael Jackson style dance moves.

Speaking of which, there's a Dreamcast volume coming out later this year: https://readonlymemory.vg/shop/book/sega-dreamcast-collected-works/

The preview has storyboard art for Sonic Adventure. It plays out a little differently from the final game. Apologies if this has already been posted.

 

That storyboarding of what looks like the first 30 seconds of Sonic's story is way more animated than what we actually got.......

 

So Sonic was going to be a rock star, a singer, a DJ, and a dancer? Damn, they were going all out with the music elements early on. Or perhaps they really wanted to justify Sonic's name, as apparently the "it's derived from the word supersonic" explanation wasn't enough. Well, he still ended up becoming a (break)dancer anyway :v:

On the Dreamcast book, I don't think it was ever posted on these boards. And wow, that storyboard of the first Sonic scene has significant differences, even having Sonic in his original design. I'm guessing they changed the scene in the final version for the sake of simplifying it, and the classic design suggests the storyboard was drawn before they finalized his SA1 design (unless they merely used it because it was easier to draw).
Anyone feel like translating the dialogue? :v:

 

My guess is that his redesign was due to the fact that they couldn't make him look good in 3D at the time. Or maybe they couldn't get him to emote the way they wanted him to and so a more detailed redesign was easier to work with?

I'm pretty surprised by this book news though, first time I'm hearing about it. The presence of that storyboard alone makes me want to chip in. I admit it makes me wish they'd make a 300 page book dedicated entirely to Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 (surely the development stories for those games warrant a book onto themselves rather than one tiny section?) but this is incredibly impressive already. Makes me want to check out the previous book too, assuming it has stuff similar to this. Does it?

The "dialogue" in the boards is nothing special, it just describes what's going in the drawings and Sonic's lines are, "This place sure has changed a lot too," "What!?" and "What the heck is going on!?". His first line sounds quite similar to the idle line he can say in City Hall in the final game though, so make of that what you will.

 

While looking for something completely unrelated:


"Look-In" is a UK children's magazine that I don't remember existing (though apparently it ran from 1971-1994, so it definitely did). Sponsored by ITV if anyone cares.

This is where this scan came from, and while I wouldn't expect there to be much in here other than a few posters, Sonic was never out of the thing

All the issues I've found with Sonic on the cover:
- 1992-07-18
- 1992-11-28
- 1993-01-30
- 1993-04-03
- 1993-07-31
- 1993-09-11

there'll be something of value there I'm sure.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if they redesigned the characters not out of necessity but for the sake of making them more detailed looking, to go along with the perception that 3d games are more detailed than 2d games.

Those were what I was referring to, the Sonic dialogue in the speech bubbles. Thanks for translating them.
Interesting observation. They must have recorded the dialogue before animating the cutscenes, and when they finished the cutscenes, they may have repurposed some of the voice clips intended for the cut parts as idle dialogue so that they wouldn't go to waste. This is backed by all the unused dialogue present in the original Japanese version.

 

Just want to update y'all on the mysterious Sonic statue that's somewhere in a Japanese forest:




I've found it!

After receiving help from someone, I was able to find it's location meaning it's no longer lost.

However, I will not be sharing it's location nor the person who helped me. I will proceed with what was previously agreed upon over on the Stadium forums. I've already got in touch with someone over there about it.

Until any other developments happen, this will be all I'll post about the matter.

 

I don't ever remember you talking about this before.

 

Seems like a moot point to give an "update" and then not be able to disclose any details.

 

Sorry, probably should've worded it better.
Just wanted to say that the search for it is over.

 

The search is over for you and the other guy...

 

I didn't think an abandoned statue of Sonic in the Japanese countryside was akin to a lost historical treasure that needed to be protected from... whoever it is you're protecting it from.

If you're worried about vandalism, I doubt there are many people who would are interested in learning more would hop a flight overseas just to graffiti something that's probably been there for nearly 20 years.

If you're just going to throw stuff out there to gain cred without anything else of archival value, what's the point.

 

Meh. Let them keep the location a secret, there's no need to disclose it and risk the information reaching the wrong ears. I just looked it up and it's unknown how long it has been there (although from photos, it doesn't seem to be anywhere near 20 years old), but it's on a remote area that doesn't seem to have many visitors. So chances are it's seen by very few people (which may be the only thing keeping it undisturbed) and there's nobody protecting it from vandalism. Also, I think you're underestimating the number of Japan residents that surf the web, how far information can propagate, people's pettiness and tendency to vandalize stuff, and the number of Sonic haters on the Internet.

Besides, why would you want to endanger such a sexy landmark?

 

It just needs to be 3D-scanned before anything happens to it.

 

I'm thinking of how heavily Nara Dreamland got beaten up between its closure in 2006 and its demolition in 2016-2017. Then again, that was a public attraction rather than a abandoned statue in a Japanese forest.

 

It looks like someone already got the nose.

Vandalism or not, nature already looks like it's taking its toll on the statue. So it's either let it decay til nothing is left, or let it be known where it is in hopes someone can preserve and restore it. If it's a public place, I imagine anyone could take it, and it'd be great to see it go in the right hands to be restored.

 

The Sonic Stadium staff was informed of its location, and while they're not publicly posting it, they're privately disclosing it with those who are able and willing to visit it and take photos or videos.