HAPPY
BIRTHDAY,
SONIC
Robin Wilde
8
Sega's 25th birthday show for Sonic
at SDCC was weirdly glorious and
gloriously weird.
it's an experience that needs to be
seen to be believed...
F
rom
fans
of
fan-translated Japanese visual novels
to the most hardcore
of Dwarf Fortress obsessives, the one thing
that binds dedicated
gamers together is their
inability to interact with
the real world.
Perhaps that’s an
unfair generalisation
- in fact, it definitely is
- but it’s hard to deny
there’s been an at best
patchy history of major
gaming events over the
past few decades. Who
can forget Reggie’s
body being ready, or
every time an E3 demo
has messed up?
This
summer,
it
was time for Sonic,
once Sega’s meal
ticket, to shine once
again.
Somewhat
frighteningly, it’s been
25 years since the Blue
Blur first appeared on
our screens, and the
years have not been
kind.
As Chris Olewicz
discussed in our last
issue, the history of
Sonic games into
the 3D era is a sad
story,
filled
with
poorly thought out
spin offs, glitches and
commercial
failures.
Combined with an
easily mocked fanbase
with a tendency for
furridom, you have the
recipe for a laughing
stock.
So it comes as some
surprise that Sega
thought the best way
to celebrate a quarter
of a century of speedy
woodland mammals
was to hold a big
live show at the end
of July to celebrate,
featuring appearances