Interview Suggestions... - Zifei/Vector 7:06pm CST, 10-30-98

We're currently getting ready to do our next interview. But if you have any one you wish us to interview, please email Zifei and tell him. Also, if you want us to interview you, email Zifei and tell him a reason. And please don't ask for the impossible: Can you do an interview with Yuji Naka...

Sonic Newsgroup Summary. - Swifty 7:06pm CST, 10-30-98

Swifty just got back from a vacation. So he didn't have much time to go through the newsgroup. But he still wrote a hurry up report for this weekend. Everthing from reaction to SSS#7 to a future wedding can be found in the report. Click here and read on...

SA: Most Wanted Game! - Zifei 4:37pm CST, 10-29-98

According to Game Weekly of Hong Kong, Sonic Adventure is now the most wanted game in Asia. This is great news! Rounding out this top five in order are D2, FFVII, Dragon Quest VII, and Virtua Fighter 3tb. A important side note...Zelda: Toot didn't even make the top ten, and it's coming out in a month!

Macy's Thanksgiving Parade... - Zifei 3:55pm CST, 10-29-98

This info came from tSf newsboard, the other major Sonic news source on the net besides this page: In my travels upon the Internet, I stumbled onto this article about New York City's annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Well, according to the NY Times, there will be a Sonic balloon there. Here's the excerpt from the article concerning that: The largest [balloon] is Dexter, the boy mad scientist cartoon character. At 36 feet tall, Dexter is shorter than, say, the 64-foot-high Sonic the Hedgehog, but his volume is a behemoth 21,700 cubic feet, compared with Sonic's 18,900 cubic feet. See, Sonic's still pretty popular, popular enough to be in a major parade...unlike some other "popular video character" wannabes...

Site News! - Zifei 3:47pm CST, 10-29-98

Sonic HQ will go through a series of major changes leading up to this Christmas. All the subpages will be changed in format. This does include the main page and the menu bar. This page and the fan-fic page are already changed. So you can basicly see the format we're trying to go at.

The Lost Sonic Games... - Vector 3:32pm CST, 10-28-98

The author of Secrets of Sonic the Hedgehog has pages of new screenshots from the numerous hidden levels of Sonic 2. He claims that his friend bought a Beta version of Sonic 2 in Singapore. This Beta includes the Hidden Palace Zone, the Wood Zone, an alternate version of the Casino Night Zone, the original title screen seen in magazines before Sonic 2's release, and more. According to the page, every zone in the Beta is different from the final version in some way. This is apparently the same version that was sent to gaming magazines months before the release of Sonic 2, leading to countless "Lost Zone" rumors. After the game's release, fans discovered numerous changes and removed features, including the removal of the Hidden Palace Zone. You might also remember that several magazines used inaccurate names for some of the zones. Those names were taken from this Beta.

The Dreamcast Page! - Zifei 3:27pm CST, 10-28-98

Sega of Japan has made the page exclusive to the Dreamcast at www.dricas.com. This should be the page Japanese Dreamcast users log on to when they surf the Internet with the machine. On this page are previews and news about games and hardware. Here's the Sonic Adventure preview. From the look of it, Sonic Adventure will sell for 5,800 Y on the date of release in Japan (Dec 17). Now putting that on the exchange rate of today...well, about $40. Cheap for a killer game, huh?

Super High Res SA Shots! - Zifei 4:15pm CST, 10-27-98

Sega of Europe just posted some super high resolution images of Sonic Adventure. These pictures are about 700+KB in size each. So if you have a slow modem, it'll take a while to download. Image 1, Image 2, Image 3, Image 4.

Sonic SSS7 Sales Are High! - Zifei 4:15pm CST, 10-26-98

Direct sales for Sonic Super Special #7 right now is projected at 8,800 copies. This place the comic at 188th in the direct comic sales. This number is a lot lower than I expected...oh well. Whole sales should be much higher.

Sonic Comic Sales Go Up! - WB 3:58pm CST, 10-26-98

Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog comic issue #65 direct sales are at 7,500 copies. That's a 2.9% increase over issue #64 direct sales. This place Sonic as the #200 in the direct sales market. Again, like always, Sonic #65 is the best selling comic for Archie. In total sales, Sonic is up around 950,000 copies per month. Nearing that 100,000 mark.

Note From The Webmaster! - Zifei 3:48pm CST, 10-25-98

The webmaster (that's me) of Sonic HQ: Hello, visitors of Sonic HQ and fans of Sonic the Hedgehog. I have a request for you. See the banner right under the Vote The Best Sonic Sites Ever on the main page? If you will please click that banner once every time you visit this page if you have time, it'll help us earn cash. The money will be given to the Sonic HQ members that work hard to bring you this site and saved for the future fan contests we have in mind for you. Thank you for your time. End of message.

Sonic Newsgroup Report. - Vector 3:42pm CST, 10-25-98

Swifty is busy with his page so he didn't have time to write one, so Vector wrote this one. Anyway, it's a bit too long to post on the main page, so you'll have to click here to view it. One interesting thing in the report...Ken Penders went to the Sonic Newsgroup?! Quoting Knuckles from Super Sonic Special #1: Battle Royal: You have lost it! You have totally lost it --- niether that, or you have got one big death wish!

Knuckles #20 Release Date! - Zifei 3:12pm CST, 10-24-98

Archie Comic's Knuckles the Echidna issue #20 will be released in comic stores across America on November 4th, 1998.

SA Videos... - Zifei 3:36pm CST, 10-21-98

SegaX have put up a few exclusive Sonic Adventure videos taken from the Tokyo Game Show. So click here to view them.

SA To Have 1.5 Play?! - Zifei 3:14pm CST, 10-21-98

Chinshan, one who had resources at the Tokyo Game Show, is reporting that his resources told him that Yuji Naka, creator of Sonic and executive producer on Sonic Adventure is saying that the Sonic Team is experimenting with adding 1.5 play to Sonic Adventure. If you remember the gameplay of Sonic 2 (where Tails follow along and could be played by another player), you'll know what 1.5 play is. But to have 1.5 game play, somethings got to give. This time around, it might be the speed of the game. To this, Yuji Naka said with a smile that network play might be an alternative.

SA BBS! - Zifei 6:32pm CST, 10-20-98

Sega of Japan put up a new Sonic Adventure message board. This board is in Japanese, but check it out anyway.

Ken Penders On SSS7... - Zifei 5:55pm CST, 10-20-98

Here's what Ken Penders said about the continuity and characters of Sonic Super Special #7: I didn't nail down a specific time in regards to continuity because if readers wanted it to place it around #57, they could, but I saw it as more in line with what's coming up. The other reason I didn't get bogged down in continuity was in consideration of all the new readers the book is picking up. I didn't want to convey a sense that they had to pick up a ton of back issues in order to understand what's going on. The villain was meant to be more tied in with the hand in the satellite in Sonic. Without giving the game away, he was an essential clue to what's going on. However, because of scheduling, Karl hadn't defined where he was going with the stories yet, so I ended up making Dr. Ian Droid more my character than part of the Sonic continuity, though he will be allowed to be used as such in future issues. Dimitri is hinting about Knuckles' future, of which he presumes takes place in the context he is aware of. I was working out the game plan for the first hundred issues of KNUCKLES when I decided to throw that bit in. The "villain" Ken talked about should be Bot-Botnik (he hinted at this in our exclusive San Deigo Comic Con report).

Knuckles' Future Artists. - Zifei 5:42pm CST, 10-20-98

Ken Penders had this to say about the future Knuckles and Sonic artists: Although Manny's last full-issue is #25, he will continue working on the book as both the regular back-up story artist and the cover artist starting with KNUCKLES #26, so you're at least guaranteed 6-pages of story art plus a cover from Manny for the foreseeable future. (As for Spaz, he will continue to do covers for both SONIC and SONIC SUPER SPECIALS, but now that he's going to be doing more freelance work - he's currently at work on some projects for Marvel - something had to give, so his last KNUCKLES cover for now will be issue #25. I'll still provide layouts and inks, but the baton now passes to Manny as far as pencilling covers goes.) As for who's going to be drawing the main stories, the line-up goes like this: Jim Valentino is pencilling the DARK ALLIANCE storyline in issues #22 through 24. Chris Allen, who used to work on TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES when Archie published it, is handling the pencilling on THE FIRST DATE storyline scheduled for issues #26 through #28. Art Mawhinney steps in for a one-issue story entitled MY SPECIAL FRIEND which will run in KNUCKLES #29. And finally, let me welcome aboard Steven Butler as the new regular artist on KNUCKLES commencing with issue #30 and the KING OF THE HILL storyline. Steven will conclude his run on SONIC with issue #75, after which new SONIC regular artist James Fry teams up with Karl Bollers to continue bringing the adventures of everyone's favorite hedgehog. James Fry will work on Sonic? From what I see on the Pro-Art section done by him, he's not that good. And everyone, please hope that Spaziante will not completely leave the Sonic comic...for all I know, Archie isn't the best paying comic company out there. And other companies will do what ever it takes to get talents like Spaz.

I'm Back! - Zifei 5:39pm CST, 10-20-98

Yes, you can jump in joy now, the web-master of this news page have returned. Expect news reports to come earlier now that I get out of school a lot earlier. Well, back to normal for everything...

More On SA! - Zifei 6:19pm CST, 10-15-98

Seganet's J.M. Vargas got a chance to go to a Sega focus group. There, he played Sonic Adventure for about two hours. Here's his impression of the game. Also more information about the game were reveiled by his report, too.

No News For The Weekend! - Zifei 10:10pm CST, 10-14-98

I'm moving to Memphis, TN (BTW, anyone happen to live there? Give me a email! I love to meet other Sonic fans!) this weekend. So no updates to this page at all. But I should be back next week.

SSS#7 Impressions... - Zifei 9:10pm CST, 10-14-98

Since I get the comics earlier than almost everyone, a few of you asked me to post some spoilers once I get it. So I agreed. Super Sonic Special #7 came out today. And the thing that stands out is great artwork by Spaziante, and great coloring by Spaziante. This issue is, by far, the best colored Sonic issue ever. Spaz also proved that he could draw the "super heros" very well. The storyline is a bit weird, but not too bad. Here's a conversation from the issue: Great costumes, by the way! Costumes? I have played the games and watched the Saturday morning cartoon! Way cool stuff! As for the art, well, Jim Valentino is not the best Sonic artist, but he's as good as Ken Penders. Click below for the first SSS#7 scans on the net (well, not counting the ones Penders put up)! Image 1, Image 2, Image 3.

Sonic #66 - New Date! - Zifei 4:45pm CST, 10-13-98

I made a mistake last week (actually I didn't, Diamond Previews did). Sonic #66 will not be released on October 21, it'll be released in comic shops on the 28th.

More SA Pictures! - Zifei 7:35pm CST, 10-12-98

These pictures are taken at the Tokyo Game Show. The Show ended yesterday. All the people that played Sonic were impressed to say the least. Image 1, Image 2, Image 3, Image 4, Image 5.

The Prince's Got A Name! - Zifei 7:35pm CST, 10-12-98

According to Dan Drazen: Ladies and gentlemen, meet "the boy": Sally's long-lost brother, Prince Elias. Karl Bollers, BTW, came up with the name "Elias" according to Ken Penders. Though the name is a Hellenized (Greek) form of the Hebrew name Elijah, this isn't another case of the Alicia/Elisha screw-up that occurred in Sonic #49. Most likely Karl came up with the name for a far more prosaic reason: it was Walt Disney's middle name. Hmmm...interesting. So be it, Prince Elias.

SA #1 On DC Wanted List! - Zifei 5:03pm CST, 10-12-98

Sega Zone did a pretty good report about Sonic Adventure, they said that: People were eager to get their eyes and hands on Sonic. And that: The game is in full gorgeous 3D. Bright colours, varied textures, and brilliant light sourcing rounds out the visuals. Also, they put up some exclusive Sonic Adventure AVI videos for you to download, click here to download them.

SA #1 On DC Wanted List! - Zifei 5:03pm CST, 10-12-98

On a survey done by Dreamcast magazine (formerly Sega Saturn Magzine), Sonic Adventure is the most wanted Dreamcast game right now. Not really a big surprise...

SA 90% Complete! - Zifei 2:22pm CST, 10-11-98

According to a new report by Gaming-Age, Sonic Adventure is now 90% complete. This would make a lot more sence than the 55% reported by a bunch of other sites. The report also says that the camera is a problem in the game. It can be moved only horizontally, so it becomes a problem when you run up or down. Chances are, this problem will be fixed by the finish game.

Sonic R PC Images! - Zifei 12:22pm CST, 10-11-98

Some Sonic R PC images have showed up on the net. They're really bad compared to the Saturn version. The release date of the game as of now is set for October 16. Hey! That's just a few days away... Image 1, Image 2, Image 3, Image 4.

Sonic Underground Stuff. - Zifei 11:15pm CST, 10-10-98

As we told you last week, Sonic and he's brother Manic and sister Sonia from the new cartoon Sonic Underground appeared on the cover of Hollywood Insider. Well, here's a scan thanks to Alessandro. Now if the coloring for this cartoon is as good as shown, then it might have a chance.

Sonic HQ Exclusive! - Vector 10:15pm CST, 10-10-98

Vector just completed the Sonic HQ News exclusive interview with Mettle Sonic, the developer of the fan game, Sonic RPG. We learned a lot from Mettle. Such as the game's bases and characters. This game have a lot of promise, click here to visit the game's homepage. Click over on the left for the interview.

One More SA Video! - Zifei 2:50pm CST, 10-10-98

Another Sonic Adventure video was released today. This time, by Sega of America (surprise?). The video is high-res and is about 14MB in size. Click here to download. SoA's Dreamcast marketing push have started!

More SA Shots! - Zifei 2:38pm CST, 10-10-98

Right now, Sonic Adventure is the most attractive game at the Sega booth in the Tokyo Game Show. People formed long lines to just play the game demo for a short time. Mean while, check out thes new shots of Sonic talking with Amy: Image 1, Image 2, Image 3, Image 4.

No Parents? - Zifei 9:29am CST, 10-10-98

Guess what Ken said about Robotnik's past... I'm developing a couple of ideas about Robotnik's past, and both hint at the possibility of establishing that he has no parents like you and I do. Hmm...no parents huh? Maybe he was born from a test tube. We'll keep you in check on this one.

Next-Generation's View Of SA. - Zifei 9:29pm CST, 10-9-98

Check out Next-Generation's view of Sonic Adventure! They played the game and think it's a bona fide blockbuster. click here to view the article!

Sonic Adventure At TGS! - Zifei 9:08pm CST, 10-9-98

So far, I found only one picture of Sonic Adventure at the Tokyo Game Show. I'm sure more will surface later. Check it out!

Sonic Adventure Casing! - Zifei 8:37pm CST, 10-9-98

At least this is what the Japanese Sonic Adventure game casing looks like. Expect the American and European ones to change. The game will most likely sale for $45 in N. America. Click here to view the Japanese casing.

SA Not At 60fps Follow Up! - Zifei 7:37pm CST, 10-9-98

According to Game Spot, the playable game of Sonic Adventure at the Tokyo Game Show is running at way more than 30 frames per second. Here's what they said: It's Sonic. What can you say? I've never been a huge Sonic fan, but even I had a hard time staying away from the extremely impressive Sonic Adventure. The control is tight (that analog stick is too close to the top of the controller, though), the frame rate is ridiculous (it's soooooo fast), and the gameplay seems totally solid, even though it's supposedly only 55 percent complete. This'll be the must-own DC game of 1998, it seems. Well, I tend to believe this report better than the one from Gaming Age. Now something else is new, Sonic Adventure is only 55% complete?! Last time I checked, Sonic Adventure was 60% complete on August 22. Hmmm... something's not right here. Maybe the Sonic Team made the game a bit bigger...

SA Not At 60fps?! - Zifei 5:00pm CST, 10-9-98

According to Gaming-Age, the playable game of Sonic Adventure at the Tokyo Game Show is only running at 30 frames per second instead of 60fps. They also say that there are slow downs in the game. I don't think this is true at all for the final version of the game. Remember the videos of Sonic Adventure? They seemed to be running very smoothly to me. I'll keep you posted on this development.

Another SA Movie! - Zifei 4:34pm CST, 10-8-98

As we near the start of the Tokyo Game Show, Sega of Japan released yet another Sonic video. This one's a must get. It shows a lot of places inside the game. Click here and start downloading! If the link's too slow, try this one.

Jeff Read Quits! - Vector 5:47pm CST, 10-7-98

A post on the Sonic Newsgroup from popular MIDI composer and Sonic Power Ring founder Jeff Read, you can take this as an official press release from the much respected man: Well, I haven't made a Sonic MIDI in like almost a year. I haven't worked on Sonic Doom recently 'cause hey, who plays Doom anymore? And no, I'm too busy to even think about taking on something like Sonic the Hedgehog Quake... so don't ask. I've been around almost since the beginnings of Sonic fandom on the Net. I've seen mailing lists and newsgroups and Web pages, and met furries and freedom fighters galore. I've supplied you with MIDIs and even the Sonic Power Ring. But I think it's time for this tired old Sonic fan to hang up his red sneaks and move on to other things. However, I need someone's help. I need someone to assume the managerial position of the Sonic Power Ring...Sonic PR probably has upwards of 300 members by now..If you have a lot of time on your hands to devote to updating and maintaining the Ring, are a real diehard Sonic fan, and don't mind doing a little bit of babysitting (the average age of Sonic PR members is probably 12 or 13, maybe less), then E-mail me and we'll talk. Don't bother if I haven't known you for a while. I'm too busy and too tired to manage such a beast anymore. Jeff Read Someone on the newsgroup already replied with an offer to take over Sonic Power Ring.

Sonic RPG! - Zifei 5:40pm CST, 10-7-98

Yes, there is a Sonic RPG now. But it's a fan made game. It looks pretty good up to now. I have not played it, so I don't know about the game play. But click here for more info and a demo. Also, we might have an interview with the developer Mettle Sonic as soon as this weekend about this RPG.

New SA Movie! - Zifei 4:32pm CST, 10-7-98

A new high quality Sonic Adventure movie poped up on the net today. Actually, it's more about the Sonic Conference back on August 22 than Sonic Adventure the game. Still, you do get to view about five seconds of in game footage. It's about 5 MBs. Recommended if you have a super fast modem or if you're bored. Click here to download.

Dreamcast Price! - Zifei 4:52pm CST, 10-6-98

Sega revealed the price of the Dreamcast for Japan's launch today. It is set to be 29,800 YEN, or $222. This is a very resonable price considering that you get a 33.6 modem, network playing, Internet, and email. This price will drop for the American and Europe launches. Most likely it'll be $199.99 or less when the DC launches here. Dreamcast games will sell at $45 at launch in Japan, which means they'll be dirt cheap (that include Sonic Adventure) when retailed over here.

Sonic Adventure Delayed! - Zifei 4:47pm CST, 10-6-98

Sega of Japan at the Sega's Second New Challenge Conference announced that Sonic Adventure will not be a Dreamcast launch game. The new release date is now set for December 17th. This is bad news for whoever that wants to import or living in Japan, but good news for everyone else. Why? Well, if you give the Sonic Team one extra month to perfect any game, you can bet that the game will be really really really good.

SA To Be Shown On... - Zifei 5:33pm CST, 10-5-98

Sonic Adventure will show up again on October 6 at the Second New Challenge Conference held by Sega of Japan. Then on October 15th, it will show up at the Tokyo Game Show 98 in playable form. Many Sonic related trinkets will be given away by Sega at the show. We will have a full report by the time.

Sonic #66 Release Date! - Zifei 5:26pm CST, 10-5-98

Archie Comic's Sonic the Hedgehog #66 will be released in comic stores across America on October 21.

SSS#7 Delayed! - Zifei 5:03pm CST, 10-5-98

Sonic Super Special #7's release date is delayed to October 14 from September 30th. The delay was most likely to be caused by the Archie and Friends Halloween Special (which is in stores now). Sonic and Knuckles do make an appearance in this 12 page comic book. Spaz penciled the cover and Sonic and Knuckles while Dan DeCarlo penciled the Archie characters. Ken Penders wrote and inked the small and funny comic.

Sonic Underground News... - Zifei 9:33pm CST, 10-3-98

Sonic Underground news doesn't come that easy nowadays. But I found some, this if from a Sega BBS: Sonic on the cover of "The Hollywood Reporter". It is a cartoon of Sonic, Amy, and some unknown green guy on the cover. Also the name of the cartoon coming out is "Sonic Underground". One problem with the magazine though is that Sonic is on the Cover and that is it, no mention of him in the Magazine. Also on the cover it mentions that " Sega is planning the biggest video game console launch in history with technological and business partners NEC, Microsoft, Hitachi, and Yamaha. Sonic the Hedgehog will be part of that launch in a new video game." But I doesn't even mention the name Dreamcast. Oh yeah the issue was about Some television industry cartoon convention. Well, since I can't find the magazine anywhere at my local stores, I can't get a scan. But we learn that Sonic's sister, Sonia (mistaken for Amy), is pink and looks like Amy Rose; and Manic, Sonic's brother, is green. Anyone that could find the magazine, could you email me a scan of the cover to post up?

Happy Birthday Mr.Penders! - Zifei 10:57am CST, 10-3-98

Ken Penders birthday was on September 28th (oops, hehe, sorry about the no-report), so if you have time, give him an email and say happy B-day.

Antoine's Map. - Zifei 5:56pm CST, 10-2-98

Someone asked Ken about when "The Map" storyline from Battle Royal, also known as Sonic Super Special #1, will be resolved. The answer: This will eventually be resolved, but as to when and how has yet to be worked out. More than likely we wouldn't address this plotline until around issue #80. More than that I really can't discuss at the moment. Let's see, issue #80...a long way off. Nothing to worry about now.

Sonic Newsgroup Summary - Swifty 5:23pm CST, 10-2-98

Swifty here. I may be one, or two days late, (sorry, but homework's becoming a b****!) but I still have the news! "HELP SAVE MOBIUS!!!" You all know the all big graphical page "Mobius?" Well, those who do know how cool it is, with the graphics and all. Now, I'm not saying it's WAY better than HQ, especially news wise, but as a Sonic fan, I will help fellow Sonic webmasters/web creators/whatever do what it takes to help! Unfortunately, "MOBIUS" is in a deep heep of $#!&! (Can I say that here?) It seems the owner of the site has gotten their past due notice on the site. Ashé needs at least $10 bucks to pay off the Simplenet bill. So far, ashé already has $3 bucks. Yet still, he needs your help. Here's what Ashé asked for us all... I am in the middle of revamping my site, MOBIUS (http://multimag.simplenet.com/mobius/) and Simplenet sent me a past due notice. My site is dangerously close from being shut down, so I ask you, the Sonic fan community, to please help? If you have visited my site before, I do advertize via E-Ads, and get 5 cents per click. I need 140 clicks to save my site (already have 3 bucks, need enough for 10 bucks...) I replied by stating: Weak dude. That site kicks a**...Hmm... what the h***. It's not like I'm wasting my money anyway. 20 CLICKS FROM ME! (hmm...that's gonna get annoying) **clik clik clik clik clik clik...** Chronic pains in his index finger. Ashé gets my 20 clicks. Will you help? "Genocide City Zone" What's this? A hidden level from Sonic 1? Or was it the original name of "Scrap Brain Zone?" (With a name like "Scrap Brain" I prefer Genocide City, if it doesn't already sound bad.) Yes, that's right. David Bulmer writes: We all know by now (or those of us that have been here long enough at any rate,) that in the original Sonic 1 in Japan (although very few were made,) there was an extra level if you let Eggman live called Genocide City. ?Er?....nooooooo. Not that I've heard of, (and I can tell you I'm a real hardcore Sonic fan.) Then again, I never knew about Sonic Fighters or Sonic Arcade, or that SegaSonic game... (maybe because before I had a cheapy computer with no modem, no CD, and my parents were too cheap, [and still are] to buy me any system with their money on holidays!) I'd like to know anything any of you know about it. Any information whatsoever. I'm wondering whether to put it in the Sonic Ideal adaptation of the game - it sounds like it would make a better ending than smashing some pump things. I'm with him. If I don't know diddly squat, well...I'm sure someone in the HQ knows something about this...right? Zifei: right, I heard about it from a friend before, but never seen it. Anyone have a screen shot of this zone? Email me.