Gotta go Faster Faster Fasterfasterfasterrrr

[cjmcray]

So, a Sonic-themed roller coaster is in the works for a UK theme park. And a hint at a possible relaunch of the franchise?

For UK theme park enthusiasts and Sonic fans, we have some exclusive news coming our way from tipster Jon D. A UK theme park, Alton Towers, will be re-branding one of their roller coasters for 2010, the “Spinball Whizzer,” as “Sonic’s Spinball.” Jon cites that a fan e-mailed the park after hearing murmurs about the change and received the following response:

Dear ….

Happy New Year

Apologies for the delay in getting back to you but I have been on holiday. I am sure that you will have picked up press reports by now relating to Spinball Whizzer and the fact that we are in partnership with Sega resulting in a retheme to the ride to coincide with the relaunch of Sonic. We hope that the retheme will be complete for our February half-term opening.

Kind regards

The “Spinball Whizzer” is known as a “spinning wild mouse” coaster, which cars rotate freely as the car moves along the track. There is pinball bumpers and flippers everywhere to simulate the choatic nature of being inside a pinball ta… wait… what was that? Let’s re-read that e-mail…

a retheme to the ride to coincide with the relaunch of Sonic

Uh… what?! The relaunch of Sonic? That’s… a very interesting thing to say…

Anyway, Jon has also included a picture of the ride being converted to its new Sonic theme. The teal color of the “Whizzer” is being replaced with a vibrant, Sonic blue:

http://sonicstadium.org/wp-content/uplo ... inball.jpg

Source: http://sonicstadium.org/news/exclusive- ... n-february

[MiraiTails]

I guess by now we've heard them talk about "relaunching Sonic" too many times to take it seriously.
Having said that, if they did some sort of "retro relaunch" for the entire series, to coincide with Project Needlemouse, it wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.
Timed nicely perhaps with 16-bit nostalgia, which still hasn't quite picked up the way 8-bit did.

[P.P.A.]

Sonic Advance 2, Rush & Unleashed: Real Life Edition.

[Kogen]

Autism: High Functioning Edition

Also they have been making these things everywhere. A recent one in Dubai gets on average 0 [zero] people per day. If SEGA Hi-Tech Land cannot survive, then I doubt this can.

[Forza Johnman]

Its a ride that's being repainted in Alton Towers. So its not going to go bust.

There is a rumour kicking around that there is going to be a new Sonic Spinball on the Wii.

[j-man]

Oh Jesus God no why oh why death of Sonic etc.

Also I hate rollercoasters. Yes, it's because I'm a sopping wet vagina, don't trip over yourselves to point that out.

[Crazy Penguin]

This is the only "grown-up" ride I've not been on at Alton Towers. It looked cool, but after Rita, Air, Oblivion, Rapids, Log Flume etc there was never any time for it. "Spinball" always did remind me of the Sonic game.

Also, a new Sonic Spinball game could be awesome. The original suffered from some clunky controls in the platforming sections, too few levels, dreary graphics, sub-par music and being generally off-model, but the concept was pretty damn solid. It's still the only pinball based video game I can think of that really opened the genre up to the advantages of the video game medium, rather than trying to emulate the look and mechanics of an actual pinball table.