They didn’t buy it off of eBay, Amazon, or from a consignment shop somewhere in South Florida. (Estoy mirando a ti, Valsan.) They bought Sonic 2, new, mint condition, at a store that’s been carrying the prized sequel since it came out one sweet November day in 1992.

Cue detective music.

This odd transaction was discovered Saturday by Mat Piscatella, a video game industry analyst at The NPD Group, a market research company in Port Washington, NY. Piscatella explained that The NPD Group receives point-of-sale (POS) data from different retailers, such as Best Buy and GameStop for example, and he was surprised to see Sonic 2 show up on the sales charts.

The first three questions sound plausible. Since Piscatella’s employer collects sales data from notable retailers, the only theory about the transaction that stands out is that someone found it in a Toy R Us. Everyone’s favorite toy store since 1947 is closing all U.S. stores and liquidation is ongoing. When the signs scream “EVERYTHING MUST GO!” they mean everything, including items that are not as hot as they were when they hit the market many Christmases ago.

As of now, Piscatella has found no relevant information regarding the purchase of the minty Sonic 2 cartridge. Consider this a case gone cold.

The good news is that the service is certainly not dead and SEGA is still committed to bringing its back catalogue of retro goodies to smartphones and tablets, but the team is shifting focus slightly. It looks like SEGA Forever will now concentrate more on games that are natively coded for iOS and Android, rather than emulated, as the team explained in a post on its mobile page:

“Over the past eight months we’ve been observing how SEGA fans have been playing the 18 SEGA Forever titles that have been released so far.

“While we originally intended to focus largely on emulated titles, we have observed that our native ports are the most played games (Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, Sonic CD, Crazy Taxi, and Virtua Tennis Challenge).

“Therefore, we’ve decided to make some changes to appeal even more to the audience that is most interested in this project. While we will continue working on emulated titles – with a surprise or two that you haven’t been expecting – our plan this year is to focus on porting titles natively.

“As a result of these changes, the cadence of releases will reduce. However, the next SEGA Forever title will be rolling out soon!

“The mobile team wants to thank fans from all around the world: in only eight months SEGA Forever titles have been downloaded more than 40 million times. This is only the beginning!”

I think it’s going to be interesting to see where this will take SEGA Forever. On the one hand the idea of emulated games sounded decent enough, as it could allow SEGA to publish games relatively quickly (not needing to code them specifically for the devices), but in practice SEGA Forever’s emulation hasn’t always been well received, with several issues particularly in the early weeks/months of its launch.

So, perhaps concentrating on native ports of retro titles could be the best thing for the service. From what’s been said, it looks like we won’t be seeing any Saturn or Dreamcast titles in the near future (sadly), but I’m sure looking forward to the “surprises” mentioned above.

What’s really exciting is that the game will be using the same engine as Overbound Games’ absolutely brilliant Sonic fan-game, Sonic Time Twisted – which you can check out more of in our 30min play video, here.

And ‘Sonic Triple Trouble 16-bit’ looks like it’s going to be just as good as Time Twisted, so I’m definitely excited for it. Noah has also given a brief overview of some of the game’s features:

• All levels from Sonic Triple Trouble faithfully recreated in 16-Bit Style!
• Accurate 360 Sonic Physics!
• Play as Sonic and Tails!
• Gamepad Support!
• New mixes of Triple Trouble Songs by Noah Copeland!

There’s currently no release date given, but Noah has stated in the trailer description: “This is a fan game you can expect to be completed… soon!”

If you want to know more about the game, including updates, you can do so by:

• Following @NoahCopeland on Twitter
• Visiting the GameJolt Sonic Triple Trouble 16-Bit Remake Page, here.

On a personal note, I used to love Sonic Triple Trouble, when I first played it on my Game Gear back in the day. However, playing it more recently, the game does feel rather ‘janky’ compared to other Sonic titles of the era. So the chance to play it in a smoother, more detailed 16-bit version sounds awesome to me!

All SEGA Forever titles are free to download (with ad-support), but you can also purchase the game to remove adverts. If you had previously bought the game on iOS, you can simply restore your purchase from within the game, to remove adverts.

The VMU-boy is the work of Giles Burgess (aka Kite). Running off the RetroPie system, the device is able to play tons of retro games, though it is (obviously) limited to some older games, or titles like Sonic that require few controls, due to the fact it only has two gameplay buttons – so don’t go expecting to play Dreamcast games, or most of the Mega Drive’s catalogue.

But still, it’s an incredibly impressive piece of kit by all accounts, a proper pocket gaming device that every SEGA Nerd needs. What’s more, Kite has confirmed that he will be selling the VMU-boy around early/mid 2018, he just needs to work out some kinks and refine the model. Check out the video above for a quick look at the VMU-boy prototype in action – the model in the video doesn’t have sound, but Kite has confirmed that sound does work on his latest model.

If you’re interested, he has setup a Pre-order Sign Up page, here. There’s no commitment, just a way for him to gauge how many people want it and for him to be able to reach out to those who do want it. You can also find out more technical details on the VMU-boy, here.

The Genesis Flashback will ship to retailers on Nov. 10 with a $79.99 price tag. The Flashback looks like a Model 1 Genesis and will have 85 pre-installed games, 2.4ghz wireless controllers, a cartridge slot, controller ports compatible with legacy Genesis controllers, scan-line filtering and a save/pause/rewind feature.

AtGames has sent us the latest version to review, and while we can’t give our final opinion until mid-October when the embargo is lifted, we can say this is a much higher quality system than previous AtGames products. We’re hoping to begin sharing live-stream footage in the next week but are awaiting confirmation from AtGames.

You can see the full list of pre-installed games below:

SEGA GENESIS

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
Alien Storm
Altered Beast
Arrow Flash
Bonanza Bros.
Chakan: The Forever Man
Columns
Columns III
Comix Zone
Crack Down
Decap Attack
Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
ESWAT: City Under Seige
Eternal Champions
Fatal Labyrinth
Flicky
Gain Ground
Golden Axe
Golden Axe II
Golden Axe III
Jewel Master
Kid Chameleon
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat 3
Mortal Kombat II
Phantasy Star 3: Generations Of Doom
Phantasy Star II
Phantasy Star IV
Ristar
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
Shining Force II: The Ancient Seal
Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention
Shining in the Darkness
Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
Sonic & Knuckles
Sonic 3D Blast
Sonic Spinball
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Super Thunder Blade
Sword Of Vermilion
The Ooze
Vectorman
Vectorman 2
Virtua Fighter II

SEGA MASTER SYSTEM

Alex Kidd in High Tech World
Alex Kidd in Miracle World
Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars
Assault City
Astro Warrior
Dragon Crystal
Fantasy Zone
Fantasy Zone The Maze
Kenseiden
Kung Fu Kid
Ninja, The
Phantasy Star
Psycho Fox
Snail Maze

GAME GEAR

Baku Baku Animal
Defenders of Oasis
Sonic Chaos
Sonic Drift 2
Sonic Triple Trouble
Super Columns
Tails Adventure

BONUS GAMES

Adventure in the Park
Air Hockey
Bomber
Bubbles Master
Cannon
Checker
Cross the road
Curling 2010
Fight or Lose
Hexagonos
Jack’s Pea
Jewel Magic
Memory
Mr. Balls
Naval Power
Plumbing Contest
Snake
Spider
Wall-Breaking

Along with key artworks, both editions include:

• Written history of the origins and evolution of Sonic the Hedgehog as a pop culture icon.
• Detailed history by Sonic Team members such as  Yuji Naka,Takashi Iizuka, Kazuyuki Hoshino & Yuji Uekawa where they explain key design decisions.

The Collector’s Edition contains exclusive features such as:

• A separate dust-jacket.
• Comes in a lavish outer box with a modernized version of the ‘classic 90’s’ Sonic design.
• Special inner sleeve that folds the book into a display stand
• Exclusive hand-numbered and newly drawn 12-color screen print by Sonic Team lead artist Yuji Uekawa.

Additionally, Cook & Becker has confirmed that the Collector’s Edition is limited to 2,500 copies. The ‘Official Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary Art Book’ Collector’s Edition in full color with 248 pages and dimensions of 310 H x 275 W mm / 12 H x 11 W inch.

The book can currently be purchased for either $120 (Collector’s Edition) or $47 (Standard Edition).

source: Cook & Becker

For those who aren’t familiar with the game, it’s a 2D platformer and you play as Ristar, an anthropomorphic star with stretchy arms (used for attacking enemies and grabbing ledges/poles/ladders). The story varies slightly between the Western and Japanese versions of the game (though it looks like SEGA Forever’s release is just the Western one). Essentially an evil space pirate, Kaiser Greedy, has used mind control to make different planets’ leaders obey him. In the English version Ristar’s father is a Legendary Hero, who is kidnapped by Greedy and Ristar goes on a quest to restore peace to the galaxy and save his father.

The slightly more exciting news is that, with the release of Ristar, it looks like SEGA has spent time updating the emulator. Gameplay/frame rates seem to be smoother than other SEGA Forever releases and there’s also some new features, such as customisable controls. plus the option to switch between original and smooth graphics (see gallery below).

I know things like the customisable controls are something that SEGA fans have been asking for, so it’s good to see that SEGA is missing and rolling out regular updates like this.

You can buy Ristar on the AppStore and GooglePlay now.

Ristar was first released on the Sega Genesis and Sega Game Gear in 1995 towards the end of the 16-bit life cycle. It stars—no pun intended, a stylized cartoon star that uses its stretchable arms to move and defeat enemies as the player explores the lush levels of Planet Neer.

His comments come off the back of a statement made by Swedish singer-song writer and record producer, Max Martin, who said that Lorde’s ‘Green Light’ track is “incorrect song-writing.” So what does that have to do with Sonic? Well Keith has taken Max’s philosophy and applied it to our favourite speedster.

After reading his column, I can’t say that I fully agree with him, but I can see where he is coming from, especially with modern Sonic games:

If you take a classic platform game design, such as Super Mario Bros – the player is always given the chance to read the level: to look ahead and assess every new piece of scenery or patrolling enemy. Then you get a series of neatly placed hazards that present discrete challenges.

In his excellent book on game design, A Theory of Fun, Raph Koster, says the essence of good game design is teaching – a well constructed level slowly introduces you to its themes, and shows you how to beat them. Learn, test, master.

Sonic doesn’t do this – all it establishes at the beginning is that speed is important. In a single playthrough, you only ever get a passing feel for the levels; you miss vast areas – all the rules are broken. As in Green Light, the melody and the maths are wrong; new players always find it hard to read the screen, because it’s not working like a good game.

…Even the influences behind Sonic are incorrect. Designer Naoto Ohshima, who sketched all the zones out by hand, was influenced by pinball table design, filling each stage with flippers and bumpers to project Sonic in new directions like a ball-bearing. But pinball doesn’t work like video games.

But don’t take this be a true insult, Keith does round off his piece clarifying that Sonic does indeed work as a game.

Sonic is incorrect game design and yet, like Green Light, it’s a masterpiece. As Lorde sings, you want to just let go, but you can’t – you’re not really free. Yet sometimes in Sonic, when you get better, or through sheer luck, things take off, every jump is right, every loop-the-loop is perfect, and you’re in the flow, sailing above the game’s strange structure. Like the bridge in a brilliant pop song, it’s an exhilarating rush. It’s incorrect, but holy crap, when it works, it works.

It’s quite an interesting read – because I don’t necessarily agree with the theory on classic Sonic titles, but I do agree somewhat with regards to modern Sonic. I find that classic Sonic is not all about speed and players can take their time to learn the levels, once they do, they can find the route through the level that favours their play style and you can deliver blistering gameplay speeds.

However, in modern Sonic, I feel too much emphasis is on speed – you barely have any chance to look at the level as you rocket through it these days and the levels are designed to only have one main route through them – there’s no exploration or tricky platforming segments anymore.

What do you think? I’ve obviously taken a few sample snippets here, so be sure to check out the full article before you fully agree or dismiss his view.