SONIC’S 23rd ON THE 23rd OF JUNE!!!!

Wow, so it’s Sonic’s 23^rd on the 23^rd of June!  How does that happen?!  It’s happening.  As I’m writing this I am listening to Sonic Radio on iTunes.  As long as I am home on the 23^rd of June, each time I will celebrate part of the day by listening to Sonic Radio on iTunes to some favorite remixes, favorite OST tracks, and new ones I’ve never heard before that make the experience such a treat.  I get so many smiles from this pastime.

I did this last year too.  Last year it was an event called Project 24, where several SEGA online radio stations were scheduled to host a radio show each hour playing specifically remixes of music from Sonic video games.  I was able to listen to a lot of Sonic music remixes that I’ve never heard before.  It was an amazing experience, so amazing that I tried to find some Sonic-related podcasts that contained a lot of those remixes.  I was on a crazy search for really cool Sonic remixes.

I am still collecting remixes. Mostly from iTunes podcasts, OC Remix and the Sonic Stadium Music Depository of remix albums.

Lately I’ve been distracted with another fandom: Transformers.  I have been neglecting my Sonic games for the last few months.  But seeing as it is Sonic’s 23^rd, I am brought back to appreciating my favorite childhood video game character again.  Sonic the Hedgehog has been a big part of my childhood and I don’t want him to stop being a part of my life.

Last year I was playing Sonic Rivals 2 at least two times a week.  I always played as either the three hedgehogs Sonic, Shadow and Silver, or Espio the Chameleon.  It is a nice escape.  But I haven’t touched my PSP for quite a few months now.

Ah…!   Gamma E102's theme song is playing now!!! Yay!!!

Sorry, I had to say that.  I love that robot.

I’ve tried to get back to Sonic Unleashed.  I didn’t earn any new medals for daytime or nighttime.  I played “Dragon Road—Day” a few times and had fun, but didn’t improve score by too much.  The music track for this Day Stage always makes me smile through my fails.  Hah hah. 

I’m listening to Sonic Radio now, and then I’ve got other things to do, then later in the day I’ll log in and listen to it again.  And I may visit some of the Sonic websites to see what other people say about Sonic’s 23^rd.

Oh, "Symphonic Ruin" is playing now!!  This is the remix that made me want to collect more Sonic remixes!! (see post here to read more...)

Well Sonic, it’s your 23^rd birthday/anniversary today, so Happy Birthday, I love you, and keep on runnin’!

After thought: a link to the post about my first true encounter with the Sonic the Hedgehog video game.

1991—Sonic the Hedgehog
http://cyborghaven.blogspot.com/2013/09/my-sonic-fan-girl-chronicles-chapter-1.html

My Sonic Fan-Girl Chronicles, Bonus Chapter: Espio the Chameleon—The reason I like chameleons

So….purple is my favorite color.  Yep.  And I guess in 1995 it helped me notice this chameleon character from Knuckles Chaotix, a purple chameleon named Espio.  Eventually I learned that his name is part of the word “espionage”, spying.  Makes sense; chameleons blend in with their immediate surroundings, so that name totally goes with him, and nowadays, he’s been portrayed as a ninja character, sporting ninja stars and ninja leave-blades and others of the sort.  But I think it makes him cooler than before.

See…way back in 1995 I thought he was a girl.  I was reading a video game magazine and found a description for the Knuckles Chaotix video game for the SEGA 32X system.  When it mentioned controlling the characters, it used the pronouns “ him/her.”  It must have confused me, because if all the other characters were male then it must mean that the purple character is a female.  (Really it doesn’t matter, there’s nothing wrong with males wearing purple at all).  The peach-colored area of this chameleon’s chest was heart-shaped like a female character in the Sonic universe might have (think Sally Acorn of Sonic SAT AM fame).  So for a while, yeah, I thought Espio was a girl.  A very kinda naked, very cranky-looking girl.

I used to give him a nickname, because I’d get nervous (shy, blush) whenever I said his name, so for a while I called him “Metrio.”  It rhymed with “Espio” didn’t it? Around then I’ve heard of the word “metro” before but I didn’t understand what it meant.  I was…lessee, 1996…I was around 10 or 11 years old.

I made up a song about the Chaotix Team too, or was it just Espio?  (Actually a lot of Sonic-related characters or stuff had inspired original music from Sis and me…all of which we now both agree is stupid, but hey, we were kids and had fun with it.)

Years later when he makes an appearance in Sonic Heroes, his voice sounds pretty masculine.  Maybe it helps.   What is his actual age, anyways?   I was sort of disappointed that his voice sounded as deep as it did, but over time I got used to it.  Even now I like his voice in Sonic Rivals 2 and then Sonic Generations when Sonic has to shine searchlights on him and do a homing attack to progress through the challenge. 

It’s funny…ever since I was fascinated with Espio, it became apparent over time that the chameleon turned out to be my favorite lizard, really my favorite reptile.  In fact, if someone asked me if I had a favorite dinosaur, I’d say mine is a triceratops—because it reminds me of the chameleon.  Hey…maybe the chameleon might be a distant descendant of the triceratops, but I dunno.  That is a job for research at a later time, I suppose.  They certainly didn’t have skin that blended with their surroundings.  I thought it was  so interesting that chameleons can do that.  Heh.   Sort of makes me want to read up on chameleons now.  How they do dat?  How do they change the color of their skin to match the color on the thing they stand on?  Didn’t a couple of TV ads this year feature chameleons?  (A paint commercial and one other company.)

So…that’s my history on how I became a fan of Espio the Chameleon.  Pretty cool, huh? …  Or weird.  Whichever is closer.

I guess I’m not playing Sonic: Lost World for the Wii-U

I’m not even totally devastated that Sonic: Lost World is only for Nintendo consoles.  I mean, it’s still a downer for me cuz I’m not getting a Wii-U, but I don’t know of any titles I’d be interested in getting for it anyway.  I’m still digging away at Sonic Generations (the Act 1 and Act 2 challenges).  I could go to the third BOSS but I feel like I have to complete most of the challenges first, plus to unlock goodies like music and art.  And in Sonic Unleashed it’s the same thing; there are stage challenges and even Stages to still visit there too.  So yeah, I’ve got enough Sonic the Hedgehog video game stuff that I can play in the meanwhile.  And Sonic Rivals 2!!! I have so much fun with that game and I play it at least once each week.

            Sorta makes me think about getting the first Sonic Rivals.

Am I Playing Sonic Generations Too Much?

Sigh.  I haven’t touched Dissidia Duodecim: Final Fantasy for maybe a month and a half.  The video games I am playing currently (returning to the most) are Sonic Generations and Sonic Rivals 2.  I should have finished Sonic Generations last year but other things got in the way (my cat’s surgery was a big part of it, but I was also doing some volunteering for work experience).    I lost interest in playing video games for several months.  I actually, lost interest in a log of other things at that time.  Now that life is looking up, some of that “life” in my interests has returned.

When in late March I visited one of my favorite websites, the fan-art galore that is DeviantArt, I came across some interesting Sonic the Hedgehog fan-art, along with fan-art of my other two favorite hedgehogs Shadow and Silver.  Some of the fan-art sparked story ideas in my head that I wanted to write as fan-fiction.  But then soon, I thought, Well I haven’t played Sonic Rivals 2 for a while, and Sonic Rivals 2 is the only Sonic game I have where I could play as Silver. (I don’t have SONIC ’06 and I probably won’t get it or play it ever.  Sad, huh?).  I tried it again and I forgot how much fun it was; I liked the music (it’s not bad, not spectacular like in Sonic Generations), and it can get frustrating but then I laugh when I lose a race or battle.  It’s good light fun.  I can play it in my bedroom or in the living room because it’s on the PSP.  I really enjoy the Acts for the Haunted Mystic Zone, especially the music for Act 2, the battle against Shadow and Silver (that was the story I was playing when I first got to it).

For Sonic Generations, I didn’t touch it since March last year and then once more in November.  Now I’m trying to play it maybe twice a week, when I ‘m not training for my new job and the TV in the den is available.

AT this point I visited both Acts of all the Stages in the game and still need to finish many Challenge games for Act 1 and Act 2.  I defeated Metal Sonic, Shadow, and last week was Silver in their respective Rival Battles.  I beat Silver Rival Battle in Hard Mode on my first try, because by that time I went through so many trial-and-error runs with Normal Mode and got to know Silver’s attack pattern.  So many trial-and-error runs.  So many.

I still need the 3^rd Key to unlock the third Boss, but also in the meantime I will complete the other challenges in order to gain some new Skills for both Sonics.  I gotta say something: I love the music for Planet Wisp Act 2.  It’s been stuck in my head for the last several days.  Now Act 2 (and yes, Act 1 also) are very frustrating, but its music helps me to deal with it.  I also really like the song for Crisis City Act 2 from SONIC '06; I fell in love with that one almost a month ago.  I went to iTunes and had to get the original version from the SONIC ‘06 soundtrack.

How awesome would it be if Sonic could race against either Shadow or Silver in what would be the “Doppelganger” races?  Well, Shadow, yes…but Silver can fly, and that might be cheating :3 so maybe it wouldn’t make sense, but at least with Shadow it would be neat!  Oh well, I guess that is only possible in Sonic Rivals or Sonic Rivals 2.  At least on their feet, unlike in Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing/Transformed their they drive vehicles.  That is...what it is.

 

Below is a link to the YouTube video of the music track "Planet Wisp Act 1" from the original Sonic Colors.  I love the version in Sonic Gererations as well, but the guitar bass for this original version is boss.  (I tried to embed the video here but the HTML can't be accepted for some reason).

 

http://youtu.be/eODArFqHbf0     (Sonic Colors "Planet Wisp Act 1" Music)

It's been in constant repeat in my head for the past week!!  I whistle the melody on occasion.  O3O

 

Sonic Rivals 2 on March 31st

Ha ha haaahh...I wondered why I didn’t get back to this game for a while, and then I realized it’s because this game made me temporarily hate Sonic the Hedgehog.  After reading the Sonic the Hedgehog comic books from Archie Comics Publications, Inc, I was in a SEGA mood.  Issues 215 and 216 have a lot of Silver the Hedgehog, so I felt like playing the only video game I have that contains Silver: Sonic Rivals 2.

I warmed up by playing a singular player race and then a free play to get used to the controls and the setting of the game.  Then I wanted to continue Silver’s story in the game, which is next to Espio the Chameleon.  It was right where I left off; Silver and Sonic were going to compete in a challenge where the one who captures and collects the most Chao wins.  Well, Sonic knew what he was doing, but Silver/I didn’t.  Whenever I stole Sonic’s Chao, it didn’t count because I had to have Silver take back his own Chao from Sonic.  In all, Silver had to have collected six Chao; three of his own and three of Sonic's Chao.  It took a few more losses to learn that was what I had to do.  I can't believe I didn't learn that last time I got to the game, which was how long ago, exactly....?  Maybe at least four months ago?

What happened after that, what next, what next…Shadow had to compete against Sonic to beat the boss, Dr. Eggman, with the most hits. After a couple of times I got it.  Next, Espio wanted to get info from Tails, but Tails said, “I don’t know. I gotta run and catch up with Sonic.  See ya!” Espio had to race against Tails and win the race, or, beat Tails to the end of the race so he can ask Sonic more questions.  Espio is not really a fast runner :( and I got fed up so I stopped the story and chose Silver to search for Chao in Act 1 of Zone 1.

I got a Mephiles card at some point during my playing session.  I know he’s from Sonic ’06. Hah, I dunno if I am ever going to play that game after all.

Silver's growing on me, though.  It's more because of the comic books, not the video game.

Sonic Rivals 2 on November 8th

     At 11:07pm Sunday I started playing Sonic Rivals 2 and wanted to get through that annoying level that made me mad at Knuckles.   I started at where I left off in  the Shadow/Metal Sonic story: Sunset Forest Boss 2.  The game asked me after confirming the advance to this level whether I wanted to play as Shadow or Metal Sonic.  "I said I'd be playing as Shadow, so it's going to be Shadow, right?  Why are you asking me again?!"  Lol.
     I started that boss stage, and like last time, I was having problems because of Knuckles.  That, and even Shadow has his own problems to worry about.  I exclaimed "Ah, argh, aaargh!!  Stupid Shadow!  Not knowing when to move!"   >:(
     I gotta tell ya, many of the comments I listened to myself say from my mini-cassette audio recorder are things I rather not post on this blog.  I didn't realize how many times I said the words  "Godd----t" and "f*** you!" whenever Knuckles sabotages Shadow's chance of winning.   It's funny, though, because I even say Ow!  even though "I'm not the one getting hurt, it's Shadow." 
     "Godd----t!  Knuckles has 3 hits!  I have 0."
     Eventually I found out that if I push the O button instead of the X button like I always have, Shadow can attack the bomb to make it drop onto Eggman's machine.  It was more efficient to use the O button because the bomb can't see right away that Shadow is in the air and would hit it.  Hey, it worked sometimes with hitting Knuckles back after he hit Shadow without my permission, I  mean...without warning.  To shorten the story, I cleared that boss stage.  Yayyy, Shadow wins!!
     Of course there is the possiblilty of being mad at another character.  This time, it's Sonic the Hedgehog.  Why?  Because...^.^;; for the second act of the next Stage Neon Palace, he's not nice to Shadow.  I cleared act 1, but in act 2, it turns out to be a Shadow versus Sonic Knock-Out match.  The thing is, Neon Palace is a casino-themed location.  "There always has to be some sort of Casino-like level in these Sonic games."  So, like I feared, Sonic and Shadow have to be mean to each other again.  I lost several times on this level and said, "Not nice, Sonic, not nice." 
     At one point I decided to just have Shadow wait for Sonic to come up to him so that when he is on screen, I can attack him, steal his rings, and  beat the crap outta him.  But for a few minutes, Sonic didn't return on-screen.  He was doing something off-screen and said the occasional "Yeah, sweet!...Yeah, sweet! Alright!"  So I wonder, what the hell is Sonic doing off-screen??  "Check it out!  Yes!"  Again, what is it that Sonic is doing that Shadow can see, but I can't??

 @,@

     Well, it just so happens that the game throws random stuff that the characters can say once they get a power-up of some kind.  Sometimes the voices overlap or come one after another.  It makes them sound like something else is happening.  My brain is weird.