Mike Arcade

So, been a long time, but I think it’s about time to get back in the swing of things here. Recently, I found this unused concept, that may be taken with a lot of grains of salt. https://sonichq.net/article/news/the-future-of-sonic-comics/ For this unused concept, you ever heard of the show Fringe? Imagine that, but with Tails. According to this old source circa 2001, via Ken Penders, an idea came about that the Tails we knew in the comic actually came from another zone as a baby, one which didn’t have Sonic. Mind the glaring plot holes in this, but it sounds too wild to not be a fabrication. Especially coming from him. Hopefully, we can talk about unused concepts and use other forum topics like before.

So, it's been like forever since I posted here, but needless to say Sonic Prime is not good. I can do more, but I think that time has passed. Maybe I should make a video review of it though? At least, gotta make it entertaining if I do so.

https://sagexpo.org/games.html Christmas SAGE! That's right, we have a Christmas SAGE this year, with a lot of cool stuff on hand! Even a 16-bit Sonic Drift! Check it out.

Hi everyone, this is for any sort of offical spin-offs and approved content by friends and fans alike, thank you all so much for the support. PRESS START

[Coming Soon, eventually...yeah. XP]

https://shc.zone/entries/contest2023 https://shc.zone/entries/expo2023 SHC 2023 folks! It's got some really neat stuff this year, including a Sonic 3 AIR character expansion with Mighty, Ray, and Amy. Not to mention 0.9 of Sonic Megamix Mania, giving me those good ol' 2007 vibes of Rom Hacks back in the day. Why am I so old? So I'd suggest you guys check it out, it's well worth it.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nnOjrAPad6L7Bvi_wKMcVJqD_ql8MLjH/view?usp=sharing Someone made a cool list of recommended Mods for across the series, check them out!

To celebrate it, the long awaited Sonic Rejuiced has finally come out! Check it as one of my favorite episodes gets a reanimated treatment.

It’s the 30th Anniversary everyone! Share some of your favorite moments, scenes, characters, let’s do it to it!

To quote a wise man, “TRUXTON, TRUXTON, WE WANT TRUXTON!” I kinda heard they we’re heading a revival, but it’s nice to see it’s finally happening. …yes, I am old. XP

https://sagexpo.org/index.html Another year, another SAGE! They've got some pretty cool stuff this year, so check it out.

We're a little over a month away, and man this was a brief, but awesome trailer. We're getting a Battle Mode, each with us being able to play as a Metal type of character with customizable features. Then, we got news on what some of the Digital Deluxe Edition stuff we'll get, for one that includes a Mecha Sonic Mk. I skin for Battle Mode, AND we got a Rabbit Skin for Sonic, as in the Beta Concept Art design that got passed up for the Hedgehog. Indeed, Dash the Rabbit is real.

https://www.sonicstadium.org/news/games/christian-whitehead-reveals-early-sonic-mania-story-concept-r1488/ Hey long time no see! Looks like we get a brief snip it of what Mania's original story was. While the detail of a Mad group of Egg Robos was always known, the detail of them actually being a separate faction from Eggman is a neat detail that I find really cool. Considering that the Mania Devs didn't end up working on a follow up, considering that Sonic Superstars is, in spirit it continues the trend of what Mania did. A follow up to the Genesis Classics we all know, almost as a sort of sub-series similar to that of how the Mega Man Series is handled (Classic Mega Man, Mega Man X, etc.).

"The Heart of the Marvel Universe." If she's the heart of Marvel Comics, then that heart must have been pumping embalming fluid. All this seems to me is that they're just trying to have Kamala Khan be more relevant before the movie comes out. So let me get this right, she died as an Inhuman, but now comes back as Mutant. If that's not a course correction for how badly they screwed up the Inhumans and to further bury them by not having her be associated with them, then I don't know what is. If anything, this shows how cheap and transparent the character is, like all the Silver Age Jimmy Olsen stories where he gets powers every week, except this is meant to be played straight. There's no unique identity to Kamala Khan, she takes the name Ms. Marvel, was based around the Inhumans, and is now riding the X-Men train which already has a massive cast of characters. At least Miles Morales was meant to be a 2nd Spider-Man in an alternate continuity, what's her excuse for being so derivative, doubly so since she's just jumping so many different groups and hero books. Because now I'm just not seeing a point to her at all. Should have been the character to help the Inhumans become more of a thing, and see what sort of plotlines that could lead to. But no, instead they've gone the obvious route.

All Emerald Powers revealed! It’s Honestly been long overdue for each Emerald to have unique properties. Granted, a lot of them feel to game-y from a lore perspective, but functionality they look pretty good.

Just thought I’d post about some KOF stuff and lore. Both of which are detailed recounts of the first 4 games in the series from 94 to 97. Contrary to popular belief, fighting games DO have stories. XP Although of course, any of them could be heavily expanded in say a novel or show. At least with SNK, they heavily thought it over before it became more of a thing in the genre. Heck, if we don’t count Samurai Shodown, The Last Blade, and ADK games like World Heroes there’s like 2 Main Timelines SNK has. Not counting spinoffs like KOF EX or Maximum Impact, and the Metal Slug series.

...I stand corrected! They are not only doing well, but are still making slow and steady progress with their pet projects. Yes, the video starts with a team up of Rosie and Espio, and no, this is not a fever dream. XP Glad to see there's still progress after all these years.

https://ironrind.angelfire.com/ I've been wondering about this guy's site! This site, which STILL functions by the way, has several older fan games from back in the day. That being a few concept games, and both Sonic Nebulous 1 and 2. Now I can't say if the 2nd game is finished, but I'd presume that the first one is anyway. These games play similar to Sonic, with one major difference... It's the SatAM inspired setting! Not only that, but every Knothole Freedom Fighter is playable, even Rotor! It's even got some characters in a SatAM-like style as well that you can play as. As in, characters that I can guarantee that have never been playable in any sort of fan game, mod, or rom hack. Ever wanted to play as Fiona Fox or Mina Mongoose? They're in the first game! How about Nicole, or even Uncle Chuck? Yes, you can. It's not exactly the best fan game series in the world, but the custom art and sheer number of playable characters certainly makes it a pair of fan games I highly recommend any SatAM and Archie fan to play. Apparently the creator of these games, Ironrind, was working on something else or even an update for Nebulous 2, but has not been heard of since 2020. Whoever they are, I hope he's well and in good health.

DYKG recently revealed some exclusive details to Sister Sonic and Sonic Chronicles 2, along with a dropped mobile game called Sonic Day! It goes into details as to exactly what was going on with Sister Sonic, along with the details as to why we instead got a straight forward port of Popful Mail. Simply put, it makes a LOT of sense to me now after all these years, as the fan mail to Sega regarding the distain for turning Popful Mail into Sister Sonic came from Japan! Honestly, I don't know why I didn't think of that. Also, really nice to finally get some Chronicles 2 news as to what would have happened. Had it happened, it really could have possibly changed the landscape of Sonic with Shade in the series. Anyway, check it out guys.

So, on the Hedgehog's Birthday I re-downloaded Origins once again and got the Plus update. Which includes all 12 Game Gear Games, Knuckles in Sonic CD, and of course, Amy Rose playable on all 4/5 mainline games. Yes, I'm counting Sonic CD as a mainline game. XP To start off, the lack of every technical quality of life stuff I talked about last year still applies. They still use lower quality music for the main games, no Original S3&K tracks, so yeah that's still a downer. However, I have no experience ANY major glitches that would have hindered my playthroughs of any of the games, so yes the games are fixed to my knowledge like with the Carnival Night loop working properly. There could have been a much earlier update that fixed it, but still. What I'm saying is the main games function as they should, and that's great! While more could be done with Origins, it's still a great collection, only made better now that it's functional in all aspects. Still have that crap pixel filter, but if you have the game on PC then the Modding Scene can just about fix every issue from Music Quality to Screen Filter an lives/coins. Those of you who have the Console versions however, as far as I know are out of luck, sorry. Regarding the Game Gear games, it is great to have them in. I enjoy and love a majority of them, and having a legal way to obtain them on modern consoles and PC is awesome. Although I have noticed that some games do run a bit slower? If not, at the very least the Audio isn't in the best quality. You at least get a save state with it automatically for each game, as a standard for any emulator. Not sure what they're using to emulate these games, but it could be better. At the very least, if you hadn't already, you now legally own all the Game Gear Sonic games, so emulate them elsewhere if you wish and there you go. 😛 One positive however is easy access to play the multiplayer for some of the games like Drift 1 & 2 and Mean Bean Machine is a simple game selection, so if you have a friend that's just as much of a mad lad as you are then that's good news for you. But overall the emulation could be a LOT better. On that note, while that one Genesis Collection on Steam still has Spinball and 3D Blast, shame that those weren't thrown in there. I mean Mount Mobius and Flickies' Island is IN Origins' menu screen, you'd think that'd count for something. But really, that's just a petty nitpick on my part. It's because Sally is in Sonic Spinball isn't it? Knuckles is FINALLY in Sonic CD, this was overdue a year ago, but we finally got our Rad Red Officially in this Time Travelling Adventure. Yeah, it's Knuckles and he don't chuckle. It's really fun to play as him and the Sonic CD sprites made for Knux are well done, not much else can be said. The only negative is that this really should have been in the collection a year ago, honestly I think his inclusion should have been part of a free update as an apology to fans. But I digress, it is still well worth it to play Sonic CD with the Echidna, even if you are spoiled by previous Sonic CD 2011 Mods. Then again, I'm also pretty bias with Sonic CD so your milage may vary. I'm just happy to see him, an obvious but personal high point in Origins Plus. But that's now what a good chunk of fans have been excited about, what they were really talking about for months on end since it was announced as the inclusion of the lil' Pink Hedgehog. Amy Rose is indeed playable in every Classic Sonic game. I've been very curious as to how she'd play, how the character was imagined throughout the Advanced Series and if that would translate to her Classic version. Long story short, underwhelming first impression but very fun. Amy is great for Beginners. Short story long, Amy Rose like all three Sonic characters throughout Origins only uses one button. This limits her whereas Amy in other games works perfectly with a two button set up. If you are expecting her to play as in SA1 and Advanced 1, you will be disappointed. Her move set also isn't like say the Mania Mod with Amy where she has a Hover Hammer Twirl in the air, nor does she have a Hammer Jump, or using her Hammer to bounce higher on springs. So, what does Amy have? For one, she has a Hammer Spin in the air that you can activate by pressing the button again in the air. You hold that, and once she lands on the ground she'll do a Hammer Rush Dash. Not sure what it's called, but she'll run at a set speed and swing her hammer toward the ground a few times before stopping, unless you are running which in that case you'll keep going without the Hammer. At first, yeah it's like Amy is a watered down Sonic. I had that impression too, and maybe gameplay wise she is overall. However, as I tried her out and played several levels, if you know what you're doing... While she can't fly or glide, Amy can bust the game open with her crazy offense, especially in bosses. That Hammer Spin? It works like the Insta-Shield, except it always stays active until you land. It won't protect you from projectiles to my knowledge, but for bosses like Mecha Sonic (Sonic 2) and the Death Egg Robot? You're not gonna have a problem with them anymore as Amy. Best comparison as to how it works is like the rom hack The S-Factor with Sonia's Axe Kick. Any enemy with spikes is almost a non factor with the Hammer Spin, it's great. Also, you can jump out of the Hammer Dash any time you want, and if you go off a cliff it'll still act like a big hit box (I just hope you aren't flying off to a pit). Then we have Super Amy, and yes she exists and is as fast and jumps as high as every Super form. Shines a light pink, similar to how other Super forms that aren't Sonic, Shadow, and Silver. Naturally, she is effective, and in Sonic 1 she has a screen shake effect with her Hammer Rush, it's neat. However, if you play S3&K and collect the Super Emeralds, you get...Super Amy! ...yes really. All jokes aside, you do get something if you press the Super button while in her Super form with the Super Emeralds. Let's just say it makes the game far easier, and breaks the game in a hilarious way. Not as much as Hyper Tails' Super Flickies, but far funnier if you mash the button. XD The best way to describe Amy in Sonic Origins Plus is that she's like the equitant of Cream in the Advanced Series. If you know how to play as Sonic in Anniversary Mode, you can smash and bash your way throughout the games. She may not have a Chao or a Flicky of Death, but she is someone I'd recommend for beginners or who just want to have an easier time. I can't exactly be mad at the Devs on how she turned out, how do you make a one button gameplay style for Amy, yet also make it simple enough for any player to have fun with? There are ways I can think of that I'd prefer her to play like, but that would make her more complicated to play as. Overall, yeah she's fun, and I'm sure Amy fans are glad to finally have her in. Now never ask for anything ever again, especially her getting together with Sonic XP You also get a Surprise picture by completing very simple, Achievement like conditions to celebrate Sonic's Birthday, which can net you a few bonus coins that may or may not help you out if haven't unlocked everything in the gallery. They're not difficult at all if you've beaten all the games though, so you can breeze through them, except maybe the Wacky Workbench 1 Eggman Stature as I had to look that one up, I don't go to that spot often. Also, if you don't have the pre-order stuff, you'll get them by just buying the Origins Plus upgrade, just a heads up. Overall...these bonuses are pretty nice, but we could have had a bit more. Like an unlockable Metal Sonic, or Mighty and Ray. Is that too greedy? I'm not sure, but with those QoL issues still present it's still a flawed collection that been polished to be really presentable. If you haven't gotten Origins already, I would still say wait for a sale to get it with Plus, but at least now I'm more confident when I say it is now worth it to get to play the Retro Engine port of Sonic 3. So check it out whenever you can.

Like it or not, the trailer dropped for the new episodes. Gotta say, other than Sonic and Shadow teaming up, and this new Sonic Robot at the end, these next few episodes seem to be going exactly how I thought they’d go. But hey, it’s not like the writing in this show is that predictable, right? XP I wonder if this new robot will go by Metal or Mecha Sonic. Hey, it’d be crazy if that’s a modified Rusty Rose. XD

It’s the Birthday Hedgie! They gave him the stuff you’d expect from this update, challenges, the usual. They gave Sonic back his Spin Dash, which was long overdue in a real 3D Sonic game.