The GHZ Forum

The tales of Traveller’s Tales
Burton speaks about Sonic 3D & Sonic R

Jon Burton, co-founder of Traveller’s Tales, recently appeared on Gamastura’s Catch Up column. The weekly column seeks to uncover interesting development anecdotes for both old and new games. In the column, Burton discusses both Sonic 3D and Sonic R.

According to Burton, Sonic 3D was completely designed by Sega’s Japanese studios. Impressed with their work on previous games, Sega approached Traveller’s Tales to turn the design into a reality.

Burton’s team used every programming trick to create a pseudo-3D engine that would run on the modest hardware specifications of the Mega Drive. Although Burton is impressed with the end result, he admits that the engine couldn’t scroll the levels fast enough to deliver Sonic’s trademark speed.

Sonic R originally started out as Formula One racing game. Converting it into a Sonic title took six months, which is why the final game has only five courses.

Burton has nothing else to say about Sonic R, but does reveal a small item of trivia. As a Christian, Burton enjoys placing Christian-themed Easter Egg in his games. The village in Resort Island contains one of these Easter Eggs in the form of the Christian Ichthus, which adorns the first hut.

Sonic the Hedgehog Vocal Tracks
Jun Senoue recently confirmed that the official soundtrack for Sonic the Hedgehog will feature at least two bonus remixes. These include a remix of ‘His World’ by Senoue’s band Crush 40, and a remix of ‘Dreams Of An Absolution’ by Senoue and Lee Brotherton (from Remix Factory).
More details about other tracks on the disc can be found here

No Rivals for Japan

Iizuka has confirmed that Sonic Rivals will not be released in Japan. The statement was made in the Sonic Channel USA column. Iizuka does not explain why the game will not be released, but describes the situation as ‘regrettable’.

Although the title was first unveiled last summer, it has never appeared on Sega’s Japanese release schedules. As SoJ never commented on the title, there was a slim chance that it still might be released. Iizuka confirms that this will not be the case, but invites Japanese fans to purchase the US version.

Iizuka states that he is pleased with the western sales figures and takes comfort in its success, as the game had a “hurried scheduledâ€￾ in order to be released in time for Christmas.

No Japanese Sonic Rivals!?

The PSP is really getting raped in Japan, eh?

The game was successful in the West?

Man, Puggsy! That game was awesome. Where did you go wrong, Travelers Tales?

big_smile wrote:Iizuka states that he is pleased with the western sales figures and takes comfort in its success, as the game had a “hurried scheduledâ€￾ in order to be released in time for Christmas.

Anyone else find this line greatly depressing? I read that as "hurray, rushing out crap works and quality/reviews be damned!" :(

A similar thing happened to Super Monkey Ball Adventure, It'll never see a Japanese release either.

Whats going on with the world lately? everything is starting to suck!

Ngangbius wrote:The game was successful in the West?

As far as I'm aware its European sales so far are barely decent, I'm not sure about the US thought. I think it's probably successful considering that it's selling about as well as the 360 game, which obviously had a far higher budget.

For example in the current UK charts, Sonic Rush is at 30th place in the overall all console charts, where 360 and Rivals both aren't touching the all console charts at all and are 10th and 5th in their respective system charts, which is pretty weak considering Sonic's popularity in the UK and how recent their releases were.

As far as I'm aware its European sales so far are barely decent, I'm not sure about the US thought. I think it's probably successful considering that it's selling about as well as the 360 game, which obviously had a far higher budget.

Moving 38K units? I wouldn't be surprised if it moved that much at least due to the holiday season. Generally though PSP software sales in this country at least is down right pathetic. I mean we are talking about where the majority of PSP games sold under 20,000 units in it's release month then only move a few thousand or hundreds in the following months.

Most of the 3rd party DS sales are just as bad, but I have a feeling that it is cheaper to produce a DS game, making it faster to for a company to recoup for than a PSP game.

On the subject of 'behind-the-scenes' stories, 'biggestsonicfan' recently found a number of unused objects in the Sonic the Fighters code. Highlights include Pengo models, Chaos Emerald themed Pockys and Flickys and lost character moves.

Full details have been posted at Sonic Cult and can be found in this Sonic Cult thread.

The message board thread includes Sonic-related findings from Fighting Vipers and a link to a 1-up interview with Hiroshi Kataoka (from AM2), which explores the origins of Sonic's fighting debut.

The "Several Wills" Sonic vocal tracks CD has been leaked online, if anyone is interested. It's kicking around at mfzb.com (a Zebrahead fanboard) and probably the Cult too. I've also got it in a zip file if someone has a place to host it.

The three non-game tracks are remix of Dreams of Absolution, and the Zebrahead and Crush 40 versions of His World.

The Crush 40 version is similar to all the previous versions, in that it's layered on top of the same base strings sample. It has the same chorus lyrics as the game version (because Gioeli wrote those lyrics), but with a slightly different tune. The verses are new lyrics and are delivered in a kind of angsty spoken word style. There's lots of low, sludgy guitars and synths. Stylistically, the song sounds quite similar to Crush 40's work on the Shadow game.

The Zebrahead version is a much bigger departure. It chucks all the instruments from the game version and completely re-records the song as a much faster punk/pop number. It has the same lyrics during the rap segments but it changes the second half of the chorus... I guess Matty wanted to do his own lyrics instead of using Gioeli's. Anyhow, the guitar parts don't especially resemble the tune of the old song in any particular way. If it wasn't for the lyrics it could pass as a different song altogether.

All in all, I think they probably chose the best version for the game. Crush 40's version is just... such a downer, compared to the other versions. I like Zebrahead's version OK but it would really sound out of place in a Sonic game. (It has a swear word in it!) I'd have missed that cool string part, too. I just wish they'd used the Zebrahead version's chorus lyrics in the game version, though... the words are better and the singing is a lot less nasal.

(It has a swear word in it!)

Some of the Knuckles raps in Sonic Adventure 2 use "damn", though I would never have known if I hadn't read the lyric sheets. And remember the PSO demo with "what the hell?!" And of course:

<img src="/sonic/battle/spoony_02.gif">

I actually really like the theme song even though I guess I'm not supposed to.

I like it too!

But keep in mind that at one point I was actually once a member of the Zebrahead fanclub.

I am a Zebrahead fan (even with their new singer, but not as much), but I think their new Sonic song is roundly terrible.

Crush 40's "His World" is pretty gross, I think. It feels like a rejected theme song for Shadow the Hedgehog. Between this and their laughable rendition of "All Hail Shadow", I'm wondering if they've lost their touch or if they're simply out of their element.

The Zebrahead remix for "His World" is interesting, but that's about it. I really dig the Dreams of Absolution remix, though.

big_smile wrote: The message board thread includes Sonic-related findings from Fighting Vipers and a link to a 1-up interview with Hiroshi Kataoka (from AM2), which explores the origins of Sonic's fighting debut.

Hey, Heidi Kemps aka Zero-Chan! She's fighting the good fight! I'm glad she got another chance after her excellent Naka interview a year or so ago.

BlazeHedgehog wrote:Crush 40's "His World" is pretty gross, I think. It feels like a rejected theme song for Shadow the Hedgehog. Between this and their laughable rendition of "All Hail Shadow", I'm wondering if they've lost their touch or if they're simply out of their element.

Eh, I like the remix of All HAil Shadow better than the original. That said, I pretty much agree with you on His World. I don't think they've lost their touch, though. so much as they're just better at making their own songs, not remixing others.

That's true.

Actually, I really like "I Am" from the Shadow soundtrack. I'd probably rank it as their third best song, after Open Your Heart and Live and Learn.

I dunno, I thought that "I Am" lacked the usual punch that a Crush 40 track brings to the table. Sounds like they were trying to hard to make a "dark, serious" song and ended up with... well... ":|" It's got potential lurking in there, but other than that, it's probably my least fav of all the Crush 40 songs that they've made for a Sonic game, including the remix of "All Hail Shadow". (Although, we shall see just how strange this "His World" remix turns out.)

On a side-note, I always liked the lyrics in "What I'm Made Of".

<b>Edit:</b> Just heard the remixes. The new "Dreams of an Absolution" is fantastic, and proves that Jun Senoue still kicks ass.

I don't think that the Zebrahead cover of "His World" is that great of a departure from the original song or the usual Sonic style. Lyrics aside, you can still hear the source material that it's derived from, and the faster tempo suits Sonic. The only thing that I don't care for is the chorus, which sounds off for me.

I expected for the Crush 40 cover of "His World" to suck immensely, but I actually like it. The changes that're made suit Crush 40's style, although I can't say that I really care for some of the lyrical changes (which weren't too great as is). The chorus is the only thing that I had to adjust to, because Gioeli's voice is... unique, and the pitch is different from the original song. That, and aside from the intro and outro, I didn't have any problems with the song.