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The B cover for IDW’s Sonic the Hedgehog #24 has been revealed! Made by  Aaron Hammerstrom!

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Knuckles: Endangered Species #1 is now live! Check out the long anticipated second part of the Endangered Species Saga!

The gang’s all here.

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Public AU Questions: If Snively had reprogrammed the Ultimate Annihilator to only wipe out Doctor Robotnik AND Sonic the Hedgehog (and the One Billionth Power Ring wasn't able to save the blue hedgehog), what would the Freedom Fighters' reactions be if they knew that Sonic and Robotnik were gone? How much would things change now that Mobius' greatest hero and villain are not around anymore? Note: The alternate scenario here is based on the events that happened in StH #50.

he'd probably wipe out knothole but would be way over his head like in issue 30 causing more damage than intended or the very least opening more zones. If Sally survived and realized Sonic's gone, she'd probably be broken up but hellbent on taking on Snively.

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Thoughts on upcoming IDW Sonic comic

As of this post, there still isnt enough info on the page. Hopefully soon, idw will post info on solicts and and subscription info. However we did get some news the past couple weeks.

First was a contest to win original art by Tyson Hesse. Then amazon listed a graphic novel for preorder that contains the first 4 issues. 3rd was the most revealing. Ian Flynn said in the podcast that the characters he created will not be the IDW book. The reason he stated was a new publisher and a new world.

My guess is either A) Sega didnt want them. B) Archie somehow owns the characters but i doubt it. C) Ian wants to keep these characters out till he is able to wrap up the story if he can wrap up PostSGW.

Whatever the reason, it sucks. I already knew its a new universe but the Penders lawsuit removing the old universe was a shot in a gut and now hearing that characters we were just starting to love won't be in the book is a kick to the groin. This makes me think they wont bring back other characters like the Freedom Fighters, Scratch, Grounder, Snivelly, etc but i hope i,m wrong.

I won't boycott the book because of it but its sad that there's a chance the legacy of the Archieverse, AoStH, and SatAM wont go on. I'll remain optimistic and go with a mentality of never say never. Maybe elements from other mythos and former writers will come back. Maybe down the line, we will get reprints. Maybe we will get a 2nd book continuing from the old universes.

No matter what state the book is in, I will read it! Hoping for a good future!

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SONIC THE HEDGEHOG ONLINE #249 The Mecha Sally arc reaches its long-awaited conclusion in “Against the Clock”: Team Fighters has successfully returned to New Mobotropolis with the captured Mecha Sally, but Dr. Eggman still has a few more tricks up his sleeve—namely a new-and-improved Metal Sonic and an ancient war machine!  As the battle rages on in the imperiled city, will Sonic have to make the ultimate sacrifice to save the day?!  It’s the action-packed climax you’ve all been waiting for, with a jaw-dropping ending you can’t afford to miss!  Featuring cover art from Sonic fan artist extraordinaire Drawloverlala! Writer: SonicWindAttack Pencils: CrimDa and Tim “J” Campbell Inks: OohCee Colors: Drawloverlala Letters: Ian PK Cover Artists: Drawloverlala (Pencils and Colors), elisonic12 (Inks) Editor: The Shadow Imperator Art Editor: Tim “J” Campbell Layout Editor: Ian PK StHO Logo: DoNotDelete (Credits are not final and are subject to change)

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After a long wait, Sonic the Hedgehog Online #248, our first full issue, is finally up and available for reading! An early Christmas present from the ASO team to you!

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From the IDW Press Release

New Sonic the Hedgehog™ Series Will Launch in April 2018 with a Four-Week Event

San Diego, CA (October 8, 2017) —  Sonic the Hedgehog™ and IDW Publishing are excited to reveal today that fan favorite scribe, Ian Flynn, has come on board to take the blue blur and his friends in a fresh, exciting direction.

“I’ve been a SEGA® kid for life, and Sonic has been my career for over a decade,” said Flynn. “I’m overjoyed to keep running with the little blue hedgehog, and especially excited to be expanding my relationship with IDW at the same time. I can’t wait to show you what I’m made of as we reach for the stars and explore the endless possibilities!”

“Ian has a strong connection with both the character and the fans so there was no hesitation in bringing him on to launch this new Sonic series,” said Sonic the Hedgehogeditor Joe Hughes. “Not only is he a great writer, but he genuinely loves these characters. His pitches have been nothing short of amazing and we are very excited to get this out to the Sonic community who have been supportive from day one.”

“When we partnered with IDW a couple months back, Ian was undoubtedly our first choice to take the helm and scribe the new comic series,” said Michael Cisneros, Licensing Specialist at SEGA of America. “His uncanny knack for capturing the spirit of Sonic is evident not only in his work, but in the hearts of our very vocal and devoted fan base. We couldn’t be more pleased to have him setting the stage for many years of compelling storytelling.”

A new era of Sonic comics will begin next April with a four-week event. IDW will be moving at Sonic-like speeds to publish the first four issues of the new series in the span of four weeks. Those issues will be written by Flynn with a team of artists joining him to be announced at a later date.

To stay current on Sonic the Hedgehog news, follow Sonic onTwitter and Instagram, like him onFacebook, and subscribe to theTwitch channel and the YouTube channel.

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Here’s the first of several Sonic Forces short comics!

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Finally found first two issues of Sonic!

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Sonic Mania Review

Sonic Mania was the most anticipated Sonic title since Generations due to it not only being in the Classic Sonic style but as well as looking like an old school Genesis game! Is it worth the hype?

Background:  Despite the Adventure, Advance, and Rush series, Sonic games that came out since were mediocre to down right atrocious.  Things seemed to turn around in the main series with Sonic Unleashed (not counting night time stages) and Colors.  The 2.5/3D platforming action proved to be a success and by Sonic's 20th Anniversary came Sonic Generations. This game brought in Classic Sonic along with his gameplay style.  Many say it and Colors are the best Post-Adventure games ever.

Then they changed it up in Sonic Lost World and Sonic Boom trying to fix what wasn't broken.  Both games did not sell very well and the latter was even considered worse than Sonic 06.  Sonic was once again a laughing stock of the video game industry.  SEGA did some rebranding the last couple years and they came back with an announcement of 2 new Sonic games.  Sonic Forces, which has similar gameplay to Generations with a new gimmick and one that fans been asking for many years, Sonic 4!  Well, it's not called Sonic 4 but it's a game that is worthy of that name.  This is Sonic Mania!

Sonic fans turned pro Christian Whitehead and his Retro Engine and Stealth to help create a new Genesis styled game.  Christian and Stealth previously worked on Android/iPhone ports of Sonic 1, 2 & CD and thanks to their success, were hired to work on this game.

Story:  Sonic & Tails return to Angel Island as they sense a big energy reading there.  They encounter Dr Eggman (Robotnik's) new line of robots, the Hard Boiled Heavies and they retrieve a mysterious ruby from underground.  Then the ruby transports them (and Knuckles who encounters the robots shortly after Sonic and Tails) to Green Hill Zone.  I am not sure if they transport to the old zones' timeline or if it's just locations.  The storytelling is light since the gameplay is the focus.  Like Sonic 3, the story advances within the game.

 Graphics/Music:

The direction for the look and sound was to be a lost 32X/Saturn game and they have truly accomplished it!  The animated cutscenes at the opening and ending are wonderful.  Tyson Heese, who drew Archie's Sonic comics, also penciled these and it looks beautiful!  Hyper Potions did the music too for the intro and trailer and is amazing!

The remix zones' look wonderful and even smoother than the Genesis version. The original zones look gorgeous as well! The special stages look like they are from a lost Saturn game.  The animations in the characters, objects, and scenery are flawless!  The frame rate is perfect and having the game in widescreen really makes a difference as it is easier to see what is in front of you.  You can even add a CRT filter to get that nostalgic look of a 90s TV screen! 

Generally, the music in the Sonic franchise is top notch and in Mania, it is no different. As with the visuals of the retro zones, the remix of zone's themes are as you remembered it but has more of a kick to it! The new zones sound great too like the jazzy Studiopolis, the western feel of Mirage Saloon, and the peaceful melody of Press Garden!  They even released the soundtrack on Vinyl!  It's that good!

 Gameplay: If you have played the Classic Sonic games, then you'll feel right what home with Sonic Mania!  The complaints about the games that tried to copy the classic gameplay style fell short of the Genesis days. (Sonic 4's floating physics, Sonic Rush's boost to win, Sonic Advance's bottomless pits, Sonic Generations scripted speed thru certain sections.)  Fear not, all the controls are tight and not only exactly as you remember it, but in my own opinion are more refined.  It has a good balance of speed and platforming.  Playing the remix of the Genesis Zones while in part, are similar to the old games, feel fresh with new mechanics like in Chemical Plant Zone, bouncing off of colored floors to get to new heights or in Green Hill with the fire shield, can burn some bridges to get to new paths below.  The new zones are also among the series' best. Studiopolis is one of my favorites of this game,.

The zones are also non linear so you can take any path you want to get to the end and it is also required to explore if you want to find special rings, hidden items, and shortcuts. Every character plays well thru each zone.  The new move, Drop Dash helps keep your momentum of speed and also makes it easier to avoid enemy attacks.  Knuckles can smash thru walls that Sonic and Tails can't to find more hidden goodies and shortcuts.  What I like about Tails & Knuckles in this game is they can't just glide/fly thru a level with no problem.  Yeah, it helps get you thru a bit faster but the game forces you not to take the cheap way out thru the whole experience.

The bosses are some of the series best.  Mini bosses return at the end of Act 1. Act 2, you fight a hard boiled heavy, Robotnik, or a surprise challenge.  Some of the classic bosses have a new twist as well.  For example, the Death Egg Robot showing up at Green Hill Zone throwing bombs and extending it's arms to try and kill you or using Robotnik's machine from Hydro City in Sonic 3 against him.

 Extras:

The bonus stages are the blue sphere rounds you can access if your have 25+ rings and hit a checkpoint. Half are straight from Sonic 3 and others are completely new.  They aren't required to beat the game or give you the true ending but they give you medals to help unlock extras.  I consider myself really good at these in Sonic 3 but some of the newer rounds were still a challenge.  If you unlock blue sphere mode, if you play the Mania style, you get two new spheres. One is to teleport you to different parts of the round.  A green sphere is like the blue one but you have to run over it twice to turn red.  

The new special stages are found throughout the levels as giant rings like in Sonic 3 but the difference is instead of turning blue spheres into red spheres/rings, you have to chase a UFO by running over the blue objects.  They fill a speed meter and can go up to Mach 3.  Collecting rings increase the time of the stage. The control is a little stiff with the drifting but it isn't impossible though it is easy to bounce off things, fall off course, and run into spikes if you aren't careful.  The trick is to find shortcuts and try to collect as many spheres early on.

You can also play the UFO stages via a level select code and extras menu if you need to practice.  The good news is if you beat the game without getting all of the Chaos Emeralds, you can go back to your save file and keep the emeralds you have and retrieve the rest in the next run.

Other extras you can unlock are playing Mean Bean Machine, Time Attack, sound test, and debug mode. You can also play in different gameplay styles (2, 3, and CD.) You can also use the insta-sheild and super peel out but like debug mode, you have to select no-save mode.  Its unfortunate for the & Knuckles mode but you can have Knuckles as the 2nd player for each player (and that includes Knuckles himself! Make sure you beat the game as Knuckles & Knuckles to get secret ending)

 Spoiler After getting all 7 Chaos Emeralds, you can become Super Sonic, Super Tails (though doesn't have Flickies with him this time), and Super Knuckles.  If you beat Titanic Monarch as Sonic with 7 Chaos Emeralds, you get to fight Eggman and the main Hard Boiled Heavy fighting over the ruby.  You must keep collecting rings to stay alive.  You lose rings if you get attacked or do a boost attack.  It took me a bit to figure out how to play it but it's not too difficult but it is cool being part of an epic battle. Something about that ruby and the pose Sonic makes at the end of the good ending looks familiar.  Hmmmm!

The Positives/Negatives of the Game:

+High replay value with multiple paths, collecting chaos emeralds, unlocking extras, and playing as all 3 characters +Very tight controls with great balance of speed and platforming +New moves like the drop dash are a welcome addition +Old zones feel new again with never before seen sections and challenges +New zones feel right at home with the classic era.  Some of the series best +Music as always is top notch. +The majority of the bosses are some of the best of the classic era +The Easter Eggs +Blue Spheres and Mean Bean Machine are back +Sprite cutscenes and the Opening/Closing Animations are gorgeous

=Oil Ocean is one of my least favorite zones of the classic eras and would have preferred if they chose a different zone but the remix is an excellent rendition of it. =Wish there were more in game cut scenes between zones than what we got but what we got was wonderful. =I was happy with the amount of new zones we got and their quality but I wish there were one or two new zones.  Oh well, maybe next game we can get more new zones.

-You still fall for some cheap deaths.  Thankfully there aren't many bottomless pits like in certain Sonic games but it's very easy to get crushed to death (chemical plant and titanic monarch are the ones where it happened often for me) -While I liked the challenge of the special stages, I felt the controls should feel a bit tighter when turning. -Some of the bosses were tough to figure out how to beat.  Some of it was rewarding when i did find a way to defeat them.  There were a couple I had to look at let's play vids to figure it out.  Like in Sonic & Knuckles, playing as Knux was difficult fighting against the bosses thanks to the height of his jumps.

Closing Thoughts:

Even the negative points of the game didn't really bother me that much and in no way, tarnish the quality of the experience.  Some fans even claim that it is the best Sonic game to date!  I am not sure if I agree with that but I do like it more than Sonic CD which was my #2 favorite Sonic game of all time and can understand why some fans place it #1!  Whether you are a die hard Sonic fan, a causal player, or a noob, this is the game for you!  I have really enjoyed this game and will come back and replay it as often as I can!  

Sonic Mania gets 4 3/4 STARS out of 5!  (9.5 out of 10 for those that score in 10s.  A- that like letter grades.)  See you next game!

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I did a longplay of Shadow the Hedgehog. It's not that bad of a game but it is still below average.

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Hey now, here’s another project that deserves some attention!  Someone has gone and made a fully-playable Archie Sonic card game!  It’s only the .01 version, but it’s been tested to work perfectly fine.  Special thanks goes to GuildMasterDan from YouTube for putting the time into making this!  Tabletop RPGs are their specialty, so you can bet they knew what they were doing when they made this game.  For all you Archie and card game fans out there, please give it a shot!

Link to download game: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9f7ml-cum3wZmVxWF81YnROUVE/view

More info: http://archiesoniconline.com/board/index.php?topic=1372.0

GuildMasterDan’s YouTube Channel:   https://www.youtube.com/user/GuildmasterDan/feed

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25 Years of Sonic Panel coming to Daisho Con

On Friday November 18th, I will be at Daisho Con to host a panel celebrating Sonic’s 25th Anniversary! The panel will be from 7 to 8 p.m. inside panel room 1 Kalahari Resorts & Water Park in Wisconsin Dells

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Looking forward to the next arc!

Celebrate @sonicthehedgehog’s 25th Anniversary with the perfect jumping on point in SONIC #288, out 11/9! Read a preview at @comicsalliance​!

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Welcome to “The Next Level”: The sequel to the hit Sonic: Mega Drive is here! Picking up right where things left off Sonic, Tails, Amy Rose and Knuckles are on the hunt for the Ancient Gears and on the move to stop Dr. Eggman’s latest scheme! But not everything runs like clockwork when Sonic breaks away to do his own thing. And Dr. Eggman has a certain high-speed robot up his sleeve. You can’t miss out on this exciting new installment in the Sonic Mega Drive series! Featuring cover art by mega-talent Tyson Hesse!

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Back in Action

Hey everyone.  I am back after a hiatus though I am not sure if I can post full time but I should be active at least twice a month.  I’ve been busy with freelance projects, work, church, and personal stuff.  At this moment, I am not going forward with putting Sonic BoomTube on YouTube but will still be blogging.  I want to put the show on YT but it’s not a high priority right now so I hope you enjoy reading words with the occasional photographs and clips.

Since I’ve been away for so long, I’ll give you a rundown on some thoughts I’ve had: Sonic Boom is amazing! Or at least the cartoon.  I haven’t read much of the comics and for what it is, it’s alright and I may get the graphic novels once the series is complete.  I have not played the games except for the demo of Shattered Crystal.  From the little bit I have played, it’s ok but nothing special.  I might pick it up for something cheaper and no, I’m not getting Rise of Lyric as I don’t own a Wii U.  Ok, the cartoon.  I did not expect much but I ended up really enjoying it.  I think having the episodes be shorter helps this style.  The action is ok.  The plots can range from bland to excellent.  The biggest selling point is the characters and the humor.  Yeah some jokes are hit and miss but every episode I’ve seen, there’s something that stands out. 

Sonic, Tails, Cubot, and Orbot are more or less the same characters.  Knuckles trades his gliding ability for brute strength and lost some intelligence but I was shocked at how much I liked this version!  Look on YouTube or Cartoon Network for some Knux moments and see what I’ve been talking about.

Out of all the character redesigns, Amy’s is the best.  I always thought the red dress didn’t look good on her but that’s just me.  She’s no longer obsessive about Sonic but hints she has a crush on him.  She’s more of a peace maker of the group.  The new character Sticks is a love her or hate her character for me. Sometimes I get really annoyed at her but there’s other times I get a few chuckles in there.  I did enjoy her in Worlds Unite but I’ll get into that later.

The person that steals the show at every episode he’s in is Eggman!  He’s way goofier than in the games and I thank the writers of Sonic Boom for that!  He’s evil but more of a comedic nuisance for Sonic.  It kind of gets old that they team up in quite a few episodes but other than that, I love this incarnation!  Mike Polluck, as always, does an amazing job voice the Doctor and the performance truly shines in this show.  My favorite Eggman moment was when he was a roomate with Sonic.  He even does an evil laugh when he sleeps.  The side characters Dave the Intern, Fastidious Beaver, Comedy Chimp, Thunderbolt Gang, and many others help bring in the laughs as well and two of them are so popular that they appeared in a Megaman/Sonic crossover.

Comics I think the last issues I looked at were Waves of Change and the Knuckles/Shadow arc.  The Werehog arc was ok.  I wasn’t disapointed nor thrilled.  The new Egg Bosses have some potential and hope to see more of them again.  Champions arc was pretty fun especially introducing Brezzie the Hedgehog in the comics. This version basically replaces Mogul as the Casino Night owner but honestly, that’s a good thing and got some more back story on Sonic 2 for the Game Gear and Sonic Heroes.  Honey was a nice addition and they fights were well written.  Sonic finally met Chip in this story and it looks like they are going to have the Unleashed adaptation last longer which is fine by me,

The Nicole arc was pretty nice.  I wasn’t thrilled that the antaginost in this story was connected to Eggman but it was still nice for Nicole to have her own enemy to face.  The retcon kept some of the elements of Nicole’s evolution from the old universe but also giving her a fresh but tragic backstory as well.  This was the first arc since the Secret Freedom Fighters that centered around a character that never appeared in the games.

I’m hoping the next batch of Sonic Comic Origins are longer as I felt are too short but helps bring the readers to speed on the characters background.  I don’t think I covered the Freedom Fighters but I liked the stories on them.  Sally’s was similar to SatAm and the old Universe but her dad being more supportive on her being the leader of the Freedom Fighters.  Rotor left his home for Mobotropolis because of his abusive father (who maybe an Egg Boss), Antoine was an exchange student, and Bunnie’s was mostly the same but never robotized and she still married Antoine in this timeline.

NIcole’s origin story is basically a preview of her arc, Snively is about his time with Eggman.  They are no longer related and it’s revealed Eggman worked for GUN.  Snively and Eggman started the Great War between the Mobians and Humans.  Snively was also involved during the events of the Genesis games.  Silver’s story was the introduction of the Genesis Portals that are Portals to different worlds replacing the Multiverse Interstate.

Worlds Unite

If you are expecting a deep story, this is not the book for you.  If you wanted mindless fun featuring characters from SEGA and Capcom no matter how big or small are their roles, this is a dream come true for you!  The art in some issues are not my favorite but there are some that stand out.  I have read 10 parts so far and must say it’s been a blast.  Sigma must go back to Villians 101 cause he’s having too much fun toying around to notice that his world will come crashing down.  Two more issues to go!

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Sonic CD Review

Sonic CD was the very first Sonic game I ever played.  I remember getting the PC port when I was 10.  Even though I got the Sonic & Knuckles Collection shortly after, I still considered it my favorite game.  Does it still rank as my number 1 game of all time or is there anything in it that will knock it down from the mountain?

The gameplay and graphics are very similar to Sonic 1 but looks more polished here.  The innovative mechanics in this game are FMV, CD Quality music, Super Peel-Out, and Time Warps.  This game is also the very first to introduce Amy Rose (oddly titled Princess Sally in the original US Manual) and Metal Sonic (in the comics, called Mecha Sonic.)

The game kicks off right away with the awesome FMV with Sonic Boom playing (or Toot Toot Sonic Warrior in Japan.)  The badniks have that classic Genesis feel where they can be really easy to smash but sometimes can be tricky obstacles.  The platforming is still classic Sonic at it's finest.

What sets this gameplay apart from being just a Sonic 1.5 is the time travel.  Traveling to the future brings you to a darker version of the zone with more hazzards and badniks.  That is the Bad Future.  To make a good future happen, go back to the past and destroy a holo projector capturing animals and a robotizier to free the animals and erase all the badniks from the level.

Doing this alone does not make Good Ending however.  You need to collect the 7 time stones in the special stage.  It's a 3D environment with UFOs and obstacles that can help or hinder your progress.  By getting all the time stones, all futures will be turned into Good.  I use to be really good at this stage but other than it being visually impressive, I do not think it's a great special zone as i thought it was. The controls feel kind of awkward and in the GameCube version, I remember making game saves just so I don't have to start a new game to try all the stages again.  While the Sonic 2 stage is iconic, I find this one less frustrating for some reason.

Like in Sonic 1, each zone has 3 acts.  The last one leads to a boss battle with Eggman.  They are classic battles like the Genesis games but they are not as memorable and can be pretty easy.  First boss can be beaten in seconds without a blink.  Second one is a little more challenging due to needing the pinball flippers to reach Eggman.  3rd one is similar to the Metropolis Zone boss but has water bubbles surround him. 

4th one really bites the big one.  One of my favorite zones in the game ends with a very crappy boss fight.  All you do is just run and avoid a mine till Eggman's systems short out.  5th one is way better and fits the theme of the Wacky Workbench.  6th is probably the best boss fight and can be challenging even for a skilled player.  You face Metal Sonic in a race.  You must avoid spikes, walls, Metal Sonic attacks while running from Eggman's beam of doom!  If you don't reach the finish line in time, the door will slam shut on you leaving no choice but to die from Eggman.

The final boss is ok.  Not really a boss people remember when talking about the greatest final bosses of Sonic history.

Let's recap the pros and cons here: +High replay value with the time travel and making good futures +First game to introduce Time Attack +Great level design +Awesome soundtrack +Outstanding Gameplay +Great graphics, animations, and FMVs +Metal Sonic boss fight stands to the test of time +Great port was made in 2011

-Some boss fights leave more to be desired -Special Stages can be a bit of a pain

Sonic CD gets a 4.5 super peel outs out of 5!