JAP Sonic 3D Flickies Island for sale on EBay

Is this really that rare that it would cost $55? I mean, yeah it came out late in the game, but $55 seems a little high for a game that wasn't all that great. I used to deal in the retro game biz, and I don't think I ever sold a game for that much unless it was hard to find or a really good game.

EDIT: Found it cheaper, but there were only 3 auctions in the search I did, so I guess it is a little harder to come by than normal. Clickie Clickie

 

Yeah, that honestly surprises me. Could've sworn it wasn't THAT rare a release.

In fact, this would probably be a better investment...

EDIT: Pffff ninja'd

 

Yeah,I've seen much cheaper japanese sonic 3D saturn around the net. I once saw one for 20 € in an spanish shop, but had no money so I didn't buy it. I regret that.

 

I heard collecting Saturn games is expensive so I'm not suprised at the price.

 

Yes. Yes it is.

I've probably spent around $250-$300 on my games so far.

 

Does the manual come with more illustrations like this one?



I know there's some of the flickies on the wiki, but I'd really like to see more of that. It's like a missing link between the classic and adventure styles.

 

Holy Cow, when I saw the JP Sonic 3D box art I always thought it WAS Sonic Adventure style, but that's actually a mix of classic and adventure, it's the proverbial Big Foot of Sonic legend.

No matter, I'll look into it once I get back to the base.

 

A friend of mine has bought the japanese sonic 3D for Saturn, and I asked him to scan the manual. I don't know if those scans are better than the ones who are already at retro wiki, but at least we have those characther art at hand.

 

The issue with Sonic 3D Saturn JP is that it was one of the last games Sega released for the Saturn in Japan — they would only publish two more after that before launching the Dreamcast. Third party games continued into 2000, but meh. And yes, the demand for Saturn JP games is high + - because the west didn't get them =P   . I for one am looking for "DiscStation Bessatsu I miss you." which seems to remain undumped either for the Saturn or PlayStation and which virtually no info exists on... (to the point it's not even listed in any Saturn list other than Sega of Japan's — all of which is odd given that it's DiscStation)

ash: what dpi are these scans? Can he possibly get scans of the back of the case and the disc as well?

 

I'll ask him about that.

 

Wow how odd that those artworks look like early adventure style. must have been the templates or something.

 

In Japan, Sonic 3D for the Sega Saturn was released after Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast.

 

So wait, feel free to point out if I'm being retarded here, but this artwork was used exclusively for the Japanese Saturn port of Sonic 3D. This art style isn't so much a missing link then - they probably got Uekawa to do these illustrations and he thought he'd use the Adventure-style artwork, having to make concessions for the fact that the Sonic in-game was still very much 'classic'. So that's why it's a mix-up of the two?

 

Already asked. Those scans are at 200 DPI. but he will re-scan them at 600 DPI tomorrow.

I asked him to scan the disk, and backcover. he scaned everything that the game has, incluiding some flyers and spine card. They are at 600 DPI.







this is in the underside of the box, under the CD



Backcover

 

The artwork is indeed exclusive to Japan.

For reasons unknown to man Sega of America (and Europe) thought the idea of pre-rendered 3D artwork would sell games. There was a fascination with the idea of the third dimension from about 1993 onwards, and because it got into mainstream popular culture it ended up expressing itself over game covers, resulting in some of the worst Sonic artwork known to man. I'm fairly certiain the only reason Sonic 3D exists was because of the demand for that extra dimension. Fear that perhaps people wouldn't bother with the Mega Drive (and Saturn) if they knew all it could handle was 2D (when other rival consoles boasted otherwise).

In Japan, however, people were more traditional. 3D wasn't such a big thing for them for whatever reason (and still isn't) so Sega of Japan went with a, frankly, better approach. It's probably something to do with the whole manga/anime side of things, or the fact RPGs don't benefit much from a third dimension... stuff like that. I'd be lying if I said I understood Japanese culture.

But I won't hesitate to say that western art for Sonic 3D (and Sonic Blast... and Sonic's Schoolhouse... and Sonic X-treme) looks like crap. Perhaps by 1998 Sega had realised their blunder, or perhaps because the two halves weren't fans of communication, Sega of Japan didn't have the original artwork.

 

Imagine if they had made another 2D Sonic game instead of 3D Blast?

The unfortunate reality is that, yeah, the pre-rendered artwork is awful, and they switched back to 2D cartoon artwork for the Adventure games, but then went RIGHT BACK TO AWFUL RENDERS.

GOD DAMMIT SEGA.

 

Here are the 600 DPI scans















He will scan the artworks at 1200 DPI later on, too.

 

Here are the artworks, at 2400 DPI