Back In Business?! - WB 5:50pm CST, 2-25-99

It looks like Robotnik is really back, check out the preview for Sonic #73 below: SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #73 Written by Karl Bollers, art by Steven Butler and Pam Eklund. "The Truth Is Out There." The madman himself might be gone, but his evil lives on. Robotnik's satellites link to each other in orbit, forming a mega- sized Space Base!!! Meanwhile, back on Mobius, Sonic's parents are about to celebrate their wedding anniversary -- complete with new wedding bands fashioned from power rings. The celebration is cut short by the threat of the space base, and Sonic and the Freedom Fighters are space-bound to investigate. That is, if they can get off the ground -- for just as they are about to leave, they receive a distress signal from Sonic's parents urging them to return at once. What diabolical menace has befallen the heroes now? Click here to view the cover. Also below is the preview for Knuckles #27: KNUCKLES #27 Written by Ken Penders, art by Chris Allan and Andrew Pepoy. Cover by Manny Galan "Who Wrote The Book Of Love, Anyway?" He's faced some of the most dangerous villains the Floating Island has ever seen, but can even Knuckles surmount the hardest task he's ever faced: figuring out how to ask Julie Su out on a date? It's the most heart-wrenching, gut-churning chapter yet in the life of everyone's favorite echidna. Plus - Part 2 of the Mighty The Armadillo/Ray The Squirrel backup.

More On Sabrina/Sonic Crossover! - WB 5:50pm CST, 2-25-99

Here's the preview for Sabrina #28, which will lead straight into Sonic Super Special #10: SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH #28 Written by Mike Gallagher, art by Dave Manak and Dan DeCarlo. Cover by Patrick Spaziante And Dan DeCarlo It's zap versus zip when Sabrina The Teenage Witch battles Sonic The Hedgehog in a special story which leads into Sonic Super Special #10, shipping next month. Enchantra, the cranky Queen of the Other Realm, is furious with Sabrina. She's also discovered a way to explore alternate realities, and when she comes across the planet Mobius, she casts an evil spell on its number one resident, Sonic The Hedgehog -- using him as her pawn of vengeance. Suddenly, the blue blur feels overwhelmingly compelled to attack Sabrina's home town, Westbridge. Sabrina's supernatural powers are stretched to the limit as she tries to fend off the fast-moving invader. Click here to view the cover.

MP3 Shortage Problem! - Zifei 3:09pm CST, 2-25-99

Now we have a really big problem, Team Artail (formerly known as Artail Productions) is forced by Simplenet to take off all their MP3s. That leave us Sonic fans with NO place to download large amounts of MP3 quality files. We'll see how this situations turns out, as I'm sure some sites (us included) will try to provide some MP3s.

Spaz Art! - Zifei 3:56pm CST, 2-24-99

This picture will make (or break) you day! It's drawn by Spaz in his spare time for his fan Rick 2Tails. It's Sonic and Sally's wedding! No, Sega didn't allow it yet, so don't get your hopes up. Also, Ken today said something about Spaz and Manny's spare time drawings: My wife is currently in the process of preparing to sell a full color limited edition print of the illustration Spaz did for Rick. Once we settle on which method of reproduction will be used, we'll be able to establish a cost, and begin taking orders. (She acts as Spaz's and Manny's agent in regards to selling their art.)

Ken On The Future Of Knuckles. - Zifei 3:20pm CST, 2-24-99

Some people (Dan Drazen included) have been complaining about the large incoming of new characters and the relatively low character development for the backup players in the Knuckles comic. Here's what Ken Penders said in reply: Amazingly, after checking with my scripts, EXCEPT for Monk and Hunter [in Knuckles 30-32], there are NO NEW characters planned for the foreseeable future. And when I say that, I'm looking at my story outlines which go up to issue #50, and several of the issues planned beyond that! I would consider the first twenty-five issues of KNUCKLES as the groundwork, the set-up, and now that we have our little universe set-up, it's time to open her up, explore, have fun and share in the adventure. Ken right here is talking about starting around issue #30, not right after Knuckles #25 (a bunch of new character will be introduced between #25-#30).

Another Sonic Crossover? - Zifei 3:10pm CST, 2-24-99

This came from the tSf: It looks like Sonic will be making another crossover soon. In the letters page of Comic Buyers Guide #1320, Mike Gallagher writes about his experiences with the recently departed artist/editor/writer Joe Orlando (EC comics/Mad/DC/Creepy & Eerie /National Lampoon). Anyways, at the end of the letter, he plugs that he's writing a Sonic/Sabrina the Teenage Witch story. He mentioned no date or story details. A Sonic/Sabrina crossover has long been rumored, since Sabrina is Archie Comics' property. But I don't know about this crossover though...the Sabrina comic is extremely...hmm...unSonic.

Prejudging SU - Vector 6:31pm CST, 2-23-99

Someone flamed Alessandro for giving a good review of SU, and got this response: Why don't you believe him? He's never lied to us before. Stop being so cocky about it until you see it. Then say what you like, but until then, surely one can only accept what the people say who HAVE seen it? They say it is a good cartoon, it's just not SatAm, which is, to them, a shame. I don't see why that makes you think it'll be so awful. None of the changes are any greater than the changes they made FOR SatAm, although they are admittedly less plausible. Well actually no, thinking about it; how is an amulet that changes into a musical instrument any more unrealistic than a magic gold ring that comes out of a lake every however many hours? It'll just be different, that's all. --David Bulmer

More Info on SU - Vector 6:27pm CST, 2-23-99

Solly, who lives in France and saw SU, had some more comments about it. Sonic can produce 'blue streaks' in mid-air because he wears anti-gravity sneakers. These songs sounds really stupids.. even for me who understand them... I'm not a singer.. but I'm sure I could sing something better than that... That's why i'm waiting the US Sonic Underground... And hope that someone will make some RA of them... I think only french songs are uncool .. 0.0 But Sonic Underground got something that nor Aosth nor Sth had ... Just the fact Sonic is drawing with all spikes... and not only a line of Spikes .. That's interesting. From the pics I had seen, it seemed that Sonic still just had one line of quills. I guess that's one of those things you can't judge by a few screen grabs.

SA Sales Drop. - Zifei 4:02pm CST, 2-23-99

Sonic Adventure sales in Japan have dropped below 6,000 units for the week of Febuary 1-7th, this caused the game to drop out of the top 30 best selling games list.

NiGHTS 2? - Zifei 3:59pm CST, 2-23-99

Not really related to Sonic except that it's by the Sonic Team, but, for all you NiGHTS fans out there, Sega might pull a surprise at the Tokyo Game Show '99 Spring and show off the NiGHTS sequal in development right now.

Will SU Be Good Or Bad? - Zifei 4:41pm CST, 2-22-99

Ever since the release of the Sonic Undergound images and movies over the net last week, opinions on the cartoon based on the short clips have ranged from pure hatred to "I like it!" Here's a short quote from the person that put up the Sonic Underground media, Alessandro: IMHO the cartoon is _not_ going to suck, and it's definitely not like AoStH or Scooby Doo. In fact it was quite enjoyable, reaching a quality similar to SatAM, with fun, excitement and adventure. I never doubted that it would be good... all I ever said and complained about was that it would have been so much *BETTER* if they had used Tails, Sally and the others, instead of contradicting basically everything the SatAM show had introduced and established. Remember now, this is the same guy who ripped apart AoStH and Archie for being low quality. So a note to everyone out there who's going hate-crazy over it already, at least watch a whole episode before you judge it! Low quality 18 second clips really don't show much.

Who Is This?! - Zifei 3:53pm CST, 2-22-99

Who is this Dark Legion girl from Knuckles issue #22-24? Is she related to Julie-su (as a sister or cousin)? According to Ken Penders: You'll find out in the FEMALE FURRIES SPECIAL, along with other secrets of both Julie-Su and the Dark Legion.

SA/Sega Article! - Anthony email 3:35pm CST, 2-22-99

Here's a news article about Sonic Adventure and Sega Dreamcast on the U.S News Magazine. Very positive writing. Click here to read.

SoA's Sonic Game? - Zifei 3:59pm CST, 2-21-99

Keep this as a rumor for now, but this is a quote from Sonic Zone's messageboard by a person named PerfectChAos: I heard from a friend of mine(he works for SOA) that there is a new Sonic game in the works. It is currently known as Sonic Realms.Sonic will be able to travel time periods. Each time period is called a realm.Again all Sonic characters are playable.This game is just on the drawing board.And some of the Sonic Team members are researching in Redwood(headquarters of SOA, don't ask me why they're researching in Redwood). Sonic Team is working on NiGHTS 2 so Sonic Realms is still on the drawing boards. This game sounds like a remake of Sonic CD + Sonic X-treme. If this is true, the total number of Sonic games to come is up to 4: Sonic Adventure, Sonic Underground, Sonic Neo Geo, and Sonic Realms.

More On Female Furries Special! - Zifei 11:34am CST, 2-21-99

Ken leaked more info on that upcoming special on his board yesterday: You're going to learn quite a bit about about Julie-Su's past and family, along with some very surprising developments for Princess Sally, Bunnie Rab-bot, Lupe and Hershey. Ken went on to say that he'll be inking that whole special.

Ken Talks MegaCon. - Zifei 11:36am CST, 2-20-99

Are you going to the MegaCon coming this March? If so, here's what you might want to know from Ken Penders: As far as I'm aware, only myself and Sonic pin-up artist Colleen Doran will be there. (A word to the wise for anyone showing up, don't forget your copy of SONIC #69 so Colleen can autograph the pin-up for you.) Ken also said that he might have previews of Knuckles #24 and #25 at the show.

SU Media! - Zifei 11:21am CST, 2-20-99

The first batch of Sonic Underground media is on the net thanks to Mary Yamasaki and Alessandro Sanasi. The media includes images and movies. From the look of it, Sonic Underground is at least as good in animation as the SatAM if not better. Click here to visit the page.

Paul Castiglia Speaks... - Zifei 3:49pm CST, 2-19-99

Paul Castiglia, the director of sales at Archie Comics, is also doing the sub story in Sonic #70. Here's what he said about that upcoming story, consider this as an official press release, since it *is* from an pro: Hello, Sonic fans. Paul Castiglia here. Just thought I'd de-lurk to drop a quick note about my story, "Statue Of Limitations", which appears in SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #70. Specifically, I'd like to set the record straight from the very beginning that the story was in no way meant to criticize or make fun of fans. For those of you who are very active in Sonic fandom, you will notice that certain individuals have been either quoted or paraphrased. This was done with the permission of the people in question. Also, the point of the story is basically, "what makes a legend?" Well, for me, part of the answer is that when someone is [transcendant] in their actions -- when someone really strikes a nerve -- they are a lot of things to a lot of people. And certainly, there are many people with many different views on Sonic. As far as I'm concerned, everyone has a right to their opinion, and the right to voice it -- since they are opinions, they're certainly valid -- because I believe that if just one person holds them, they are validated -- even if I or others disagree with a particular opinon. So the point of the story is, no one opinion of Sonic is necessarily "the right one" in lieu of the others; and no one opinion is necessarily "the wrong one". To use cliches, variety is the spice of life; to each his own. I might also point out that Tails reminds Sonic that he's touched people's lives, and that's why they care for him. And while I may not have spelled it out literally, I believe the story also implies the flip side of that -- where would a hero be without fans? It's reciprocal -- you touch our lives and we'll touch yours. So if anything, this story is a celebration of fandom. Another aspect of this, of course, is how the hero feels about fan worship. Some are humble, and some feel they're not worthy, and I've always found that interesting -- when I was writing Conservation Corps, my collaborator and I would do signings and we actually had followers, fans who loved what we were doing and even thought about the characters and stories more than we did, anticipating future developments. And we were just humble -- after all, we were just two regular guys who lucked out and got a chance to have our characters see print, but we weren't "comic book superstars" by any stretch. So we were ultimately thankful that people would actually be that touched by and that involved with our creation. LAST BUT NOT LEAST: on a technical note -- there is a mistake in the credits for this story -- Barry Grossman is credited with lettering while Vicki Williams is credited with coloring. The reverse is actually true. That one just slipped by in production, but I guess that's why they're called "mistakes"... Thanks for listening... Paul Castiglia This came from Ron's Sonic Mailing List.

More On SU! - Zifei 3:39pm CST, 2-19-99

More interesting stuff have poped up over the net on Sonic Underground over the past week. Here's what Solly'n Hedgy said about the cartoon after watching several episodes: Another thing I forgot to say about Sonic Underground... There's some songs in the middle of episodes... It seems each episodes is getting a song... And Most of time, the song has a link with Sonia.... It seems the entire serie is focused on Sonia and not on Sonic... You have to wonder, if most of it focus on Sonia, and SoA hates characters that's not of their own (ie. Sally), then why the heck do they like Sonic Underground?!

Archie SA Crossover?! - Zifei 6:19pm CST, 2-18-99

This is the most interesting thing I have heard this year of the Sonic and Knuckles series from Ken Penders: Regarding THE CHOSEN ONE, that along with everything else, might get pushed back if the Sonic Adventure crossover becomes a reality. The Chosen One storyline was scheduled for issue #40 of Knuckles, if it does get pushed back further, we could see it directly lead into Knuckles #50.

Knuckles #23 Release Date! - Zifei 3:12pm CST, 2-18-99

Archie Comic's Knuckles the Echidna issue #23 will be released in America on the 3rd of March.

Sonic Spins To The PC! - Zifei 3:06pm CST, 2-18-99

Sega will release a PC game called Sega Smash Pack this week. This game is an collection of old games. It will feature a Sonic game, anyone remember Sonic Spinball? Down below is the official press release from Sega: SAN FRANCISCO--Feb. 18, 1999--Sega(R) PC today released "Sega Smash Pack," giving gamers a blast from the past with a powerhouse of eight great classic Sega games, now on PC. In "Sega Smash Pack," PC gamers have access to all their favorite Sega characters, such as Sonic the Hedgehog(TM) and Vectorman(TM), and top-selling games including "Phantasy Star 2(TM)," giving them all the thrill of the arcade -- without the quarters. "Sega Smash Pack" includes: -- "Altered Beast(TM)" Gamers are surrounded by legions of zombies, netherworld swamp creatures and demons which they must defeat to pick up hidden power-ups, increase their strength and become the ultra powered-up beast. -- "Columns(TM)" The pressure is on as gamers line up colored jewels in columns to rack up points and defeat the computer or another gamer in strategic head-to-head play. -- "Golden Axe(TM)" Gamers take on the role of a warrior woman, barbarian or elf in a quest to defeat the evil Death Adder people in this fantastical arcade scrolling fighter. -- "Outrun(TM)" The arcade hit which puts gamers behind the wheel of a souped up Ferrari to race through deserts, ancient ruins and beautiful coastlines in an effort to beat the clock. -- "Phantasy Star 2(TM)" The planet Mota is being oppressed by an unknown evil. Strange, vicious creatures infest the countryside and it is up to brave PC gamers to save the planet in this immersive RPG. -- "Sonic Spinball(TM)" Gamers control Sonic the Hedgehog, one of videogaming's best known characters, as he becomes the ball careening around inside a fast-action pinball game. -- "Super Shinobi(TM)" A classic arcade action game where gamers become a stealthy ninja using ninja stars, magic and nimble moves to defeat the evil Neo Zeed Army, trying to take over the world. -- "Vectorman(TM)" Gamers guide the robot Vectorman through this classic sidescroller to defeat evil robots and morph into specialized characters, such as a bomb, spinning top and even a jet. "Sega Smash Pack" is available in stores this week and operates on Windows 95(R) and 98(R) computers with minimum specifications of a 133 Mhz Intel Pentium(R), AMD K5(R) or Cyrix 6X86(R) processor, 16 MB of memory, with 256 colors and a Sound Blaster(R) compatible soundcard.

Knuckles: Twenty Years Later. - Zifei 3:41pm CST, 2-17-99

Nothing much new is learned, but this is certainly an interesting statement made by Mr. Penders: You're going to learn the definitive future of Knuckles and company, but you're not going to be told HOW it got that way, leaving a lot of stories yet to be told. Also, there wasn't room to fit in everyone, so that'll still leave plenty of readers asking whatever happened to this character or that one. Maybe they'll do something like a Sonic: Fifty Years Later special someday...

More On Sonic Neo Geo! - Zifei 3:31pm CST, 2-17-99

I have found some more information regarding the Sonic the Hedgehog game licensed to SNK by SoJ for the Neo Geo Pocket Color we reported about earlier this week. According to inside sources, this game is already "under development" by a SNK team. Neo Geo Color is scheduled for Japan late Spring and the US later this year.

SA Sales... - Zifei 3:29pm CST, 2-17-99

Sonic Adventure sales have dropped to 8,105 units sold for the week of February 1-7th. This makes the game the 30th best selling game in Japan. A total of 350,132 units are sold up to now.

Archie Being Sexist? - Zifei 3:01pm CST, 2-16-99

This is heating up to be a pretty nasty matter, is Archie being sexist toward Sally when they moved in Elias to take the throne and didn't let Sally have a say on it? Well, Ken Penders answered this question on his forum, he also gave out some more comic information regarding future events in his little statement below: Elias is older than Sally. Even if they were born fraternal twins (which we haven't made up our minds about yet), Elias emerged first. As for the line of succession, it's not a case of first born male, but rather first one born. Elias came first, ergo, he is first. Nothing sexist about it. However, it was presumed for the longest time that he was dead, so the King had any problem with his DAUGHTER becoming ruler. What he has doubts about is whether or not SALLY is up to the task of being a monarch. Incidentally, the very topic of who should succeed King Acorn gets a major-league answer in the FEMALE FURRIES SPECIAL, in the Princess Sally story titled "ASCENSION". Side note here: The woman at Sega who reviewed the story where the King decreed that Sally married Antoine was initially offended by that, until we pointed out that we had neither Sally agreeing to the arrangement or the King geting the last word. We were basically setting up a situation. How it's resolved is what determines whether or not we're being sexist. Now we'll have to wait all the way to the Female Furries special to find out what will happen, and that won't come until around SSS#11 or SSS#13.

Sonic On Neo Geo Color! - Zifei 7:50pm CST, 2-15-99

SNK, the developers of King of the Fighters series, has optained the rights of a Sonic the Hedgehog "action" game on their Neo Geo Pocket Color handheld system from Sega of Japan. You can consider this a confirmation for a new Sonic game. Neo Geo Pockets Color should arrive in the States sometime in this year. A Sonic action title? Anyone thinking a downsized version of Sonic Adventure? More on this when it breaks!

MegaCon. - Zifei 12:30am CST, 2-15-99

The MegaCon '99 is coming to Florida! The show will start on March 5th and will last through March 7th. Sonic/Knuckles artist and writer Ken Penders will be there. The show will be at the Orlando Expo Centre, 500 W. Livingston Street, Downtown Orlando. For more information about this comic con, goto this page.

Sonic Electronic Cards! - Zifei 6:51am CST, 2-14-99

Now you can sen your friends Sonic electronic greeting cards! Sonic Adventure: Total Neon is the place you can send the cards. The site owner, Neon Chaos, told me that: It has lots of Sonic cards, and even 4 Sonic Anime cards! There's no NIGHTS or Burning Rangers cards yet, but they will come later. You can directly access the card sending page by clicking here.

One More SA Review... - Zifei 6:41am CST, 2-14-99

There is a new Dreamcast site in town, and it rocks! With it, came another Sonic Adventure review. Click here to read!

Page News... - Zifei 6:39am CST, 2-14-99

I would like to welcome Vector aboard as a new editor of the Sonic News Press. He was a new reporter, but now, he'll join me to update this page. This means more updates and more news for you all!

SA Music - Vector 1:05am CST, 2-14-99

After going to Sonic Pandemonium to check out the RealVideos page, I downloaded one of the SA videos that was available there - Tails in the Windy Valley Zone. The music was different from the RealAudio file of Windy Valley available at Dimension-S. There are also 2 known versions of Twinkle Park - a Panic Puppet Zone Remix and an original tune available at Dimension-S. In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the second act of each zone had remixed music, but the SA samples seem completely different from each other.

Return of SatAM RealVideo - Soneec email 1:02am CST, 2-14-99

Sonic Pandemonium has put up 2 SatAM videos: Sonic Conversion and Doomsday. More are on the way.

More Sonic Underground... - Zifei 6:44pm CST, 2-11-99

Sonic Underground right now is showing on a channel called TF1 in France. I believe that you could pick it up with a satelite dish via Telecom or some others. More info later.

Sonic Underground... - Zifei 4:54pm CST, 2-11-99

As we reported first last week: Sonic Underground, the new Sonic cartoon is showing in France, yes, FRANCE, right now. Here's what Solly'n Hedgy from France, has to say about it on the Sonic newsgroup: Sonic has a brother Named "Manic" and a sister named "Sonia", They are the children of a royal family, and decided to fight against Robotnik. Each character symbolize an instrument, and each have a magic medal having the figure of their instrument, Sonic is the guitar, Manic the Drums and Sonia the piano. I seen in the episode of this wednesday, that Sonia has the possibility to call a special gun which look like a Synthetizer with the help of this 'necklace . In Sonic Underground, Sonic is a lot more careful and intelligent than in "STH" (the show with Sally)... Manic like to steal (that's somewhat his job)... And Sonia has some stuffs looking like Sally... The heard "Sheriff Robotnik"... At least, is simply the Robotnik we all know from "STH", And there's 2 new characters in the side of Robotnik, one is a robot-wolf called "Louvois" (I'm not sure of the spelling) We pronounce "Louvoaa".. and the other one is a strange big yellow robot-monster .. which can be transformed into "STUFFS"...called "Durdur" For Solly's version of Manic and Sonia, click here.

Spaz... - Zifei 3:19pm CST, 2-11-99

So what has Sonic comic artist Patrick Spaziante being doing lately? Here's what Ken Penders has to say: Spaz is currently work on a couple of really special stories. One is a Julie-Su solo adventure that'll be appearing in the FEMALE FURRIES SPECIAL, though I'm not sure yet what issue of SONIC SUPER SPECIAL this'll be yet. He's also at work on a very special book-length SONIC SUPER SPECIAL story, but I can't say much about it nor do I know which issue yet as it'll be scheduled once it's complete. The Female Special would most likely end up being SSS#11 or SSS#13. Spaz might be working on SSS#10, which probably is the second part of Sonic #75. We don't know much about it right now because everyone's keeping quiet on anything about SSS#10.

Sonic Music CDs! - Ray email 3:14pm CST, 2-11-99

Sonic Team "PowerPlay" and Sonic Adventure- Songs with Attitude are now available in the U.S.! Click here and search under Sonic! The costs of the CDs are $28.99 each.

Simplenet Blunder. - Vector 3:29pm CST, 2-9-99

This was written by SonicBlu, owner of the Sonic Oasis, which was shut down by Simplenet: Many of you might know by now that The Sonic Oasis was temporarily shut down for a little over a week. I got the notion that Simplenet found my Time Machine MP3s, and since they do not like for their customers to place MP3 files in their domain, they thought mine were regular MP3s, but I have made them from scratch myself. I asked them when I'll be getting my website back, and they told me that it was okay for these MP3s to reside here. After I gave them my URL, they checked into it, and found that there is nothing wrong with the site. That's gratitude for ya, eh? So now that everything is coming back to normal, the sounds section might still be broken, but those of you that subscribed will get notified as soon as they're all back. I was wondering if Simplenet would shut down a legal site in the middle of its crackdown. They really should write some kind of official apology to SonicBlu, but I doubt they will...

Sonic #70 Release Date! - Zifei 3:04pm CST, 2-9-99

Archie Comic's Sonic the Hedgehog comic issue #70 will be released in comic stores in America on February 24th, 1999.

SA Sales... - Zifei 3:22pm CST, 2-8-99

For the week of Jan 25 - Jan 31, Sonic Adventure sold 11,816 units. Total sales are at 342,027 units. This placed the game as the 23 best selling game in Japan right now.

European SA. - Zifei 3:16pm CST, 2-8-99

Sonic Adventure is now a confirmed European Dreamcast launch game. The launch date for Europe and North America is 9-9-99 (confirmed by Sega Rep). The Dreamcast symble in Europe would be blue.

Knuckles #30 Preview! - Zifei 3:15pm CST, 2-8-99

Ken has posted some Knuckles #30 preview on his page. Several new characters will be revealed in this issue. Click here to check it out!

Comic Changes. - Zifei 2:15pm CST, 2-7-99

A lot of changes will take place in the Sonic/Knuckles comic crew at Arhcie, Ken Pender wrote a pretty good editorial to explain what the changes will be. You can read it at Archie Comic's site.

Comic Tidbit... - Zifei 1:45pm CST, 2-7-99

Ken Penders posted some information regarding more character design changes on his message board: As for a Bunnie and Sally redesign, all I will say is there weren't any done with any weapons. Sally, Bunnie and company will not be outfitted like Navy Seals. Geoffrey and his squad, on the other hand, are another story. The changes in character design will start to take place around Sonic #71. Hope they don't mess up (remember the early Sally design?).

Fleetway Special! - Anonymous 8:02pm CST, 2-6-99

Sonic HQ News Press acquired this information about the Fleetway Sonic comic management from a very reliable source, which requested to maintain anonymous. We are making this report a special, because we believe it is a must-read. It's about how the editor of the Fleetway comics abused her power that made the once extraordinary Sonic the Comic into a lowly regarded one. Some of the names in the special are changed to protect their identity. Now, I won't hold you any longer, click here to read HQ's exclusive special.

Knuckles Getting New Look! - Zifei 2:16pm CST, 2-6-99

Now that we know Sonic is getting his new look (the model from Sonic Adventure) in Sonic #71, when will Knuckles get his new look? Here's what Ken Penders has to say: I'm drawing Knuckles in the new style for issue #30, probably the first time you'll see the new look. (We consider it so minor we weren't even going to say anything about it.) He didn't say anything about the other characters, such as Tails and Amy, but he did say that: All decisions regarding Sonic's new look were made by Sega, and they're the ones who directed us to use the new look.

SA Sonic Speaks English... - Zifei 10:41am CST, 2-6-99

Well, the English download the Sonic Team provided is aready out, and gamers who have Sonic Adventure can go download it into their VMS. This download will let Sonic speak in English at the menu screen. Click here to hear a sample. Who did Sonic's voice? I have no idea...but for more info about this download, go to this page.

SA On The Monitor... - Zifei 4:05pm CST, 2-5-99

This is Videogames.com's impression of Sonic Adventure running on the monitor with the VGA Box just released by Sega of Japan: Sonic Adventure: Of the three games tested, Sonic Adventure benefits the most from the VGA Box. To say that this was the best looking console game ever was certainly true. Now it's plain fact. With the VGA Box in tow, Sonic and company practically burst off the screen. Super-high-res and, as with VF3TB, the light-sourcing becomes much more obvious. In fact, details that you never noticed before, like the furry textures on Sonic and Knuckles, and even some subtle details in the title screen appear with the use of the VGA Box. Head over into one of the action courses, like the Emerald Coast, and everything moves by at a blinding pace, that also seems to benefit, however, slight, in the frame-rate department. While the VGA Box doesn't help the hardware with this, perhaps it's the high refresh rates of the monitor that irons things out visually. Either way, it's the gamer that benefits. Then hear National Console Support's impression: Sonic Adventure is VGA compatible so we popped that in for a run. The details that are brought out by the VGA Box are evident on the Sonic Adventure logo screen. To the right of the lettering is a faded image of stairs and 'castle' walls. We never noticed that before. The battle with the puddle creature shows off the micro details that one may not notice with a standard video display. As the camera pans around the puddle beast, you'll notice that the water inside of it is in constant motion with mini waves, streaming bubbles and turgid random movement. Even as you dash into Mr. Puddle, it's body continues the watery dance inside, oblivious to the battle outside. Emerald Coast never looked so good with a realistic ocean, a sandy beach, blue skies and brilliantly colored beach umbrellas. It looks warm. The seagulls overhead are crisp and the palm trees appear true to life. One thing that we found ourselves doing was stopping Sonic at various vantage points to rotate him to get a 360 degree view of his surroundings. Just to see how everything looked with new video. The DC does nature scenes exceptionally well. Rock formations look like real rocks while trees, ferns and mosses look like real flora. Sonic is a gorgeous game and the VGA Box brings it all out. Sort of like video makeup. NCS condones S-Video but VGA is nirvana. XRGB upscan fans and purists should absolutely pick one of these up. Nothing is better for DC video at this stage of Dreamcast development. Sounds good to me...

Sonic #72 Cover! - Zifei 3:55pm CST, 2-5-99

The Doctor's back in town! Click here to see.

SA In Top 100 Of 1998! - Zifei 3:54pm CST, 2-5-99

Sonic Adventure made the Weekly Famitsu top 100 games list for 1998. It stayed on at #73. It's really good considering it came out a week before 1998 was over.

Sonic Anime Release Date! - Zifei 7:45pm CST, 2-4-99

It's coming! Check out this quote: AD Vision's picked up this 35-minute video (along with Sonic the Hedgehog and Sakura Taisen) and will be released March 23 to the US. As you can see, Sonic Anime will be released in the US on March 23 of this year! We'll try to find out more about this.

SA Sales... - Zifei 6:45pm CST, 2-4-99

Has dropped again, far enough for it to fall completely out of the Top Ten Chart. But sales for the game is expected to rise during the next two weeks. Sales right now are around 350,000.

Sonic In France! - MerlinPwr email 6:35pm CST, 2-4-99

I just found out Sonic Underground is out in France! It is called "Sonic Le Rebelle" (Sonic the Rebel)! More on this if anyone living in France can confirm this.

Return Of The Eggman... - WB 6:35pm CST, 2-4-99

I walked into the book store today and happened to see a "Previews" book while there. So I picked it up, flipped to the Archie section, and looked at the cover of Sonic #72 AND GUESS WHO'S ON IT? Robotnik!!! The cover had the SA Sonic (green eyes and long spines included) stopping in his tracks as a "HAHAHAHAHAHA" is on the front cover! A HUGE Robotnik face is plastered all over several television screens that are on a store display in the background of the pic! The story is called "I, Robotnik", is written by the usual guys - Bollers and Butler and Eklund - and has to do with the first official inagural broadcast of television in Mobotropolis. But instead of the regular scheduled program, they end up getting the history of "Dr. Robotnik". So it looks like this story will be about his past as well. From what it seems the Doc is NOT back in his tangible form in the book YET, and its unknown if he will posess the new SA design for himself as well - but if the cover with the giant head is any indication. He's baaaacccckkkk.... We'll have a cover for you by tomorrow or Saturday, so stay tuned!

Richard Jacques Talks Music... - WB 3:45pm CST, 2-2-99

This is on the MP3 situation from JD Harding of The Sonic Corner... Hello Sonic fans, I recently recieved an e-mail from Richard Jacques after asking permission to allow me to add his music to my site (The Sonic Corner). This is what he had to say in terms of a response: "Thanks very much for your email. I am glad you like my music. With regards to the state of the internet, this has really been a big issue for me recently. It seems all of the ISP's are cracking doen on EVERYTHING. I have had a lot of email from people exactly like you. The love games music, they love Sega, they want to have the music on their site. The official line from our legal department here at SoE, is that people are in breach of our copyright. There is a clause on the game packaging and in the game itself about not reproducing any part of the game in whole or part, and the soundtrack is quite a large part. OK, annoying but I agree Sega has to protect it's intellectual property. BUT I think the point is that people can't get this music. Sure, people who buy the game can listen to the music, but in the case of Dreamcast and other formats, you can't just put the disc into a regular audio CD player and listen to the music. It's a completely different format. So, Sega really need to provide the fans with dedicated soundtrack CD's. Sure, you can get the odd import from Japan, but often they don't have any remixes on, they're expensive and they may not be popular in the US and Europe. The only thing I can say is for as many people as possible to email me, telling me about this problem. I am going to try and setup a record label to produce quality soundtrack CD's,and to include remixes and bonus tracks, that Sega can sells. I am sure people would pay 10 bucks or something. Let me know what you think, and spread the word and get people to email me. It gives me a good case when I speak to my boss." Sick and tired of Sonic import CDs that cost 30 dollars and you really don't know what you're getting? Richard has the idea to make remixes of his own music, and sell if for 10 dollars each CD! Wouldn't that be better than 30, plus the cost of import mail charges? E-mail him and send him your support on this. Please, if you own a Sonic website, put a copy of this letter on the website. Richard needs lots of support, and I for one would like to see his music on soundtrack covers. Richard's e-mail address is: jacquesr@soepd.sega.co.uk

Knuckles #23 Release Date! - Zifei 3:45pm CST, 2-2-99

Knuckles #23 would be released on the 10th of February in the US.

SA Info. - Zifei 3:40pm CST, 2-2-99

Check out this quote about Sonic Adventure: Sega has put a new Sonic VMS sound data file in the internet, after you downloaded the data into the VMS, the next time you play Sonic Adventure, at the title screen Sonic will give you brief explanations on each menu item in English. To download the sound data, you have to first upload your score to the internet, then fill up the survey, and it will ask if you want to download the sound data. The interesting part is, did Sonic actually speak in English? If he did, then the person doing his sound should also be the person that does his sound in the whole American version game. I'm trying to confirm this right now, might have more info later...

Green Eyes Before SA? - Ray email 3:35pm CST, 2-1-99

I guess everyone was surprised when SOJ decided to have Sonic's eyes green in Sonic Adventure! But I had just received the Sonic R CD from Japan and on the cover of it, Sonic has green eyes (and this was released before Sonic Adventure!) Hmm...