Check out these Sonic Adventure 2 demo tracks! What does Jun Senoue think about them?

News from 2020.12.17 
Archived on 2021.01.24

For reaching set charity goals in ExtraLife4Kids charity stream by SEGA of America last month, Jun Senoue released some of his demo tracks for SA2! He revived them extra from his tapes.

During our charity stream last month, we shared some old SA2 demo tracks courtesy of @crush40.

All four tracks are available on our YouTube channel now! 🎵

Check them out: https://t.co/akPBCdXVtc pic.twitter.com/TYbhnsgaWL

— Sonic the Hedgehog (@sonic_hedgehog) December 17, 2020

1. Metal Harbor demo ver.

20年ほど前に担当していたプロジェクトのデモを先日テープから起こしたりしてみた件、そのいち。

この曲は自分が入ったときに作られていたステージだったので、まずデモを作った曲だった記憶が。

From the vault. The early demo of "Metal Harbor" music from SA2. Enjoy!https://t.co/7cKQt2mCwt

— crush40 (@crush40) December 19, 2020

2. Radical Highway demo ver.

20年ほど前に担当していたプロジェクトのデモを先日テープから起こした件、そのに。

初めてこのステージをみたときに頭に鳴っていた無機質なイメージのリズムとギターリフをカタチにしたもの。

From the vault #2. The early demo of "Radical HWY" music from SA2. Enjoy!https://t.co/UGVKIGW29Z

— crush40 (@crush40) December 19, 2020

3. Mission Street demo ver.

20年ほど前に担当していたプロジェクトのデモを先日テープから起こしてみた件、そのさん。

テイルスのステージは、覚えやすく、口ずさめるようなものを。流れるようなメロディでまとめました。

From the vault. The early demo of "Mission Street" music from SA2. Enjoy!https://t.co/kzb2FuNkZQ

— crush40 (@crush40) December 19, 2020

4. City Escape demo ver.

20年前に担当していたプロジェクトのデモを先日テープから起こした件、そのよん。

みんな大好きシティエスケープ。最初のデモから冒頭のベースはこんな感じでしたが、インストなところが新鮮かな？

From the vault. The early demo of "City Escape" music from SA2. Enjoy!https://t.co/KCBVBw3doy

— crush40 (@crush40) December 19, 2020

Tweet Collection by Tabiki

Text by Knuttunk

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Early concept art of Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes

News from 2020.11.15. 
Archived on 2021.01.24

 
This year again, Sonic Team of the US took part to the ExtraLife4Kids livestream event and promised some special contents for reaching set goals.

Roger Craig Smith was among many guests who joined the stream, and just in time, Aaron Webber's name suddenly popped up with the ring SFX, informing about the donation he made. How cool!

Exhausted but so insanely grateful.

Thank you all for helping us raise $𝟲,𝟯𝟬𝟬 for @ExtraLife4Kids today! Forever thankful for your generosity. 💖

Plus we now have fanart of Katie the Alpaca and my OC army is growing. ☺️ https://t.co/qrYVvgJYqi

— Katie - MiniKitty (@KatieChrz) November 15, 2020

🔵Join the livestream of Sonic team of US raising money for Extra Life 2020! Right now, Roger Craig Smith is the guest!https://t.co/i40qQvva5U

Aaron Webber donated just before I did, it was a pleasant surprise for everyone!

And Hyper Potions joined the chat too! pic.twitter.com/8L61bTLJjf

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) November 14, 2020

Thank you all so much for your generosity this weekend in helping us smash our donation goal for @ExtraLife4Kids!

And so we reached the donation goals all together, getting early concept art of Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes! 

We were able to share several never-before-seen pieces of concept art from some of our older titles courtesy of Sonic Team. As promised, here they are! pic.twitter.com/e6ttBWMqUP

— Sonic the Hedgehog (@sonic_hedgehog) November 17, 2020

Sonic Adventure (1998) - Early Concept Art pic.twitter.com/00X0ZWuH3r

— Sonic the Hedgehog (@sonic_hedgehog) November 17, 2020

Sonic Adventure 2 (2001) - Early Concept Art pic.twitter.com/atgc43ReQM

— Sonic the Hedgehog (@sonic_hedgehog) November 17, 2020

Sonic Heroes (2003) - Early Concept Art pic.twitter.com/ZJ37mgN0q0

— Sonic the Hedgehog (@sonic_hedgehog) November 17, 2020

Sonic Heroes (2003) - Early Concept Art Pt. 2 pic.twitter.com/6RcxPORJTn

— Sonic the Hedgehog (@sonic_hedgehog) November 17, 2020

Tweet collection by Tabiki

Text by Knuttunk

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Happy 20th anniversary, Dreamcast!

News from 2019.09.09
Archived on 2019.09.09

Today marks the 20 th anniversary of Dreamcast!
Fans and SEGA members celebrated the day altogether.
What's your Dreamcast story?

20 years ago, the Sega Dreamcast launched in North America. With games like Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio and Shenmue, it's considered well ahead of its time.

Peter Moore, former Sega of America president during the system's launch, reminisces about the Dreamcast on its anniversary. pic.twitter.com/M8F3pXLqxN

— SEGA (@SEGA) September 9, 2019

Let's celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Dreamcast!

We have a collection of classic titles to play on stream, including Sonic Adventure 2, Power Stone, Soulcalibur, and Seaman, so come join us at 10am PT:https://t.co/ECE8g1N3uV pic.twitter.com/0ZVrd62Gdz

— SEGA (@SEGA) September 9, 2019

Released in North America 20 years ago today, how will you be celebrating the SEGA Dreamcast’s birthday?#SEGAForever #Dreamcast pic.twitter.com/nJVfS4zmjF

— SEGA Forever (@SEGAForever) September 9, 2019

Happy 20th anniversary to the #Dreamcast

2 big games I’m proud of from #SegaDreamcast era

アメリカでは、9.9.99がドリームキャストの発売日でしたので。 pic.twitter.com/rkw21FWxK8

— crush40 (@crush40) September 9, 2019

Wakey wakey pic.twitter.com/K22ZFdqM2L

— Christian Whitehead (@CFWhitehead) September 9, 2019

Happy 20th anniversary to the Dreamcast (*´∇｀*)✨🎮🎂 pic.twitter.com/zzfLikxWDh

— Hyper Potions (@HyperPotions) September 9, 2019

Hello from Tokyo!

I've been taking some time off social media, but had to come back to say:

Happy 20th Anniversary, Dreamcast. pic.twitter.com/BWGEiddOMi

— Aaron Webber (@RubyEclipse) September 9, 2019

Here's to the epic adventures, the city escapes, the missing Master Emerald pieces, and the friends we made along the way.

Happy 20th Anniversary, Dreamcast! pic.twitter.com/hkKpLQvIwc

— Katie - MiniKitty (@KatieChrz) September 10, 2019

🎈🎈🎈HAPPY 20TH ANNIVERSARY TO THE 🌀DREAMCAST!!! 🎉🎉🎉 pic.twitter.com/pgU1HpZwLY

— HIDEKI NAGANUMA｜長沼 英樹 (@Hideki_Naganuma) September 10, 2019

When everyone is celebrating the Dreamcast's birthday and your PAL version came out later that year. pic.twitter.com/Ivhv6vOuAH

— SEGA Europe (@SEGA_Europe) September 10, 2019

Oops. Seems like we, the non-US gamers still need to wait.

Also, a series of interview was conducted with various members who contributed to Dreamcast! Japanese members such as Satoshi Okano-san and Hirokazu Yasuhara-san answered the interview too!

私は海外からインタビューされました。ここには錚々たるメンバーが載っています。...私でいいの！？でも私は嬉しい。ありがとう！

I was interviewed from the foreign countries. Eminent members appear here....I am all right! ? But I am glad. Thank you very much 😊 https://t.co/YMlj6FQrQ3

— OKN/Satoshi Okano (@okanotion) September 10, 2019

I did a huge article for the 20th anniversary of the Dreamcast, interviewing many American and Japanese devs from the era, some of whom haven't spoken in ages. Here's a thread of interesting info! https://t.co/3Kk7YceF3t pic.twitter.com/gG0Ft7uGSG

— brandon sheffield (@necrosofty) September 9, 2019

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Naka-san on Sonic Adventure Production Presentation from 1998!

News from 2019.05.08
Archived on 2019.05.12

A few days ago, Kanemaru-san and Naka-san looked back on the unique advertisement for Sonic Adventure with Sonic plush.

Today, Naka-san recalled on the Sonic Adventure Production Presentation, which I also mentioned in the post above.

This exciting Presentation event was held in Tokyo International Forum on August 22nd, 1998.
Official announcement from back then...: http://sonic.sega.jp/sonicadv/info/happyoukai.html

SEGA invited fans and press to this once-in-a-life opportunity to have a sneak-peek into the latest work to Sonic series presented by Yuji Naka-san, the head of Sonic Team himself.

This event was initially planned to have two shows on this day, but since the number of people gathered to join the presentation exceeded the expectation of SEGA greatly, they had to add the third show on spot.
(from a report by MAYON)

The event included real-time gameplay of the product on Dreamcast with Naka-san's explanations, a video documentary on Sonic Team's business trip to mid-south America for collecting materials for ideas and aesthetics of the game, recording of 'Sonic!' call by the audience together with Segata Sanshiro, and live performance of 'Open Your Heart' with Jun Senoue-san.

What does Naka-san remember from the preparation for this memorable event?

ソニックアドベンチャー制作発表会懐かしいです。この時のドリームキャストってチップの開発タイミングの途中だったので実際の50％位しかパフォーマンスが出ていなかったのになんとか実機デモをお見せしたくてみんなかなり頑張っていました。南米の取材旅行楽しかったなあhttps://t.co/eGiog3h3G8

— Yuji Naka / 中　裕司 (@nakayuji) May 8, 2019

🔵Naka-san:
"Sonic Adventure Production Presentation, how nostalgic. Back then Dreamcast was still in development of its chip and had only 50% performance, but we definitely wanted to demonstrate the gameplay so everyone worked very hard. The trip to mid-south America was fun."RT

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) May 8, 2019

Oh wow, so despite the hardware not having full memory. the Sonic Team did their very best to fit everything in to make the live-demo of the game happen! Hats off to them.

You can watch the summary of this presentation event including 'Sonic Team Story' (documentary of Sonic Team's business trip to mid-south America) in this VHS of the event which was distributed for the members of "SEGA Partners" back then.

Here is one Naka-san mentioned in his tweet & the one you can watch with English subtitles which I helped out a little bit.
Enjoy!




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Kanemaru-san and Naka-san on unique TV commercial of Sonic Adventure!

News from 2019.05.04-06
Archived on 2019.05.06
It looks like it's a Look-back day on Sonic Adventure!

Kanemaru-san and Naka-san talk about their memories on Sonic Adventure's unique TV commercial!

Kanemaru-san recalled the bizzare but fun TV ad which was aired in Japan for promoting Sonic Adventure before its release.

何度観てもシュールな感じがスキ。#ソニックアドベンチャー#Dreamcasthttps://t.co/1STh5OeIBK

— 金丸淳一VoiceActor&Vocalist Kanemaru Jun-ichi (@junichisonic) May 5, 2019

🔵 Kanemaru-san on Sonic Adventure's ad with Sonic Plush:
"I like the surreal way of this commercial every time I watch it."
RT⬇

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) May 5, 2019

Sonic really seems to have fun in the CM, and Kanemaru-san's voice acting is perfect for its comedic touch! I can't stop smiling while watching this one.

Then Naka-san found his tweet and responded to it too!

ソニックアドベンチャーのCM懐かしいですね。確かこのCMの撮影場所ってオーストラリアで撮影だったと思うのですが、僕は忙しくて連れて行ってもらえなかったんですよ。飛行機から飛んだソニックは何体か飛んだそうですよ。だれか回収してあげて下さい(^^) https://t.co/mesKEsM6XJ

— Yuji Naka / 中　裕司 (@nakayuji) May 5, 2019

🔵Naka-san on Kanemaru-san's tweet on SA ad w/ Sonic Plush:
"This commercial for Sonic Adventure is nostalgic. If I recall correctly, they filmed this in Australia - I was too busy so I couldn't go. I heard that many Sonic flew from the airplane. Somebody, please collect them!"↓

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) May 5, 2019

Oh wow, so they really did throw several Sonic plushies out of the plane, it's no CG at all...! I wonder what kind of adventures those Sonic are having in Australia now...


And Kanemaru-san replied Naka-san's comment!

ソニックを探せツアー in Australia～！

一緒に行きたかったですね、中さん！

— 金丸淳一VoiceActor&Vocalist Kanemaru Jun-ichi (@junichisonic) May 5, 2019

"Find Sonic Tour in Australia!
I wish we could go there together, Naka-san!"
- Junichi Kanemaru


That would be another opportunity for cool documentrary!
I really love the Sonic Adventure Production Presentation event they had back then including 'Sonic Adventure Story', a documentary video on Sonic Team travelling to mid-south America for collecting materials for game development. It's really cool!

Here is a video with Japanese and English captions. (I helped out a little with Japanese one.)
Have a look!



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Satoshi Okano-san is the artist behind Sonic Jam and Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island!

News from 2019.04.30
Archived on 2019.05.01

Long-time confusion over artist behind Sonic Jam and Sonic 3D solved!
Upon a post by a fan who credited the Sonic art for Sonic Jam as Uekawa-san, Satoshi Okano-san, the actual artist who created this cover art, corrected the misunderstandings.

According to him, SEGA held an art competition with participants from public to decide a new style for Sonic as the series was transitioning to a 3D game, and Okano-sanös design was the second best choice - the winner was Uekawa-san.

🔵Satoshi Okano-san cleared up the confusion over the artist behind Sonic art for Sonic Jam and Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island. Okano-san is the one who drew these Sonic, not Uekawa-san.

He explains that SEGA back then held a public competition to decide the artist for -

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) April 30, 2019

- new Sonic art for SEGA Saturn Magazine cover and for Sonic Adventure, and Uekawa-san won this contest; Okano-san was the second place.

RTs ⬇⬇⬇

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) April 30, 2019

これは上川祐司さんの仕事じゃなくて私、岡野聡の仕事です。３Ｄのコピーもね。背景の青い３Ｄを作ったのは川村幸子さんです。
This isn't Mr. Yuji Uekawa's work. This work is Satoshi Okano's work. and then,Ms. Sachiko Kawamura was making blue/3D background :) https://t.co/l3dSfNmLbl

— OKN/Satoshi Okano (@okanotion) April 30, 2019

グッジョブです 👍✨ https://t.co/39qnWkL4NN

— 大谷 智哉 Tomoya Ohtani (@Ohtanitter) April 30, 2019

"Good Job!" says Ohtani-san to Okano-san.

これも上川さんじゃなくてぼくなのよね＾＾This is my creation too. It's not Yuji Uekawa-san :) Everyone like him...I Know.I Know ;D　　https://t.co/WUNVbYMpL7

— OKN/Satoshi Okano (@okanotion) April 30, 2019

Thank you very much. I drew this sonic too.'Sonic 3D: Flickies’ Island ' It's a very nostalgic job. I understand you and all. I don't mind. Yes,Uekawa-san is a super cool creator ;D https://t.co/amwReJ9WEo

— OKN/Satoshi Okano (@okanotion) April 30, 2019

There was competition in those days, Sega where a sonic team made "sonic adventure".
The beginning was the argument, "Who did this Sonic of Sega Saturn Magazine draw?" A company invited public participation for new sonic. As for the result, I was the 2nd , and Uekawa-san won :) https://t.co/L3WrVny2yc

— OKN/Satoshi Okano (@okanotion) April 30, 2019

If my memory is correct, I drew it around May 1997. Its the instruction of Kazuyuki Hoshino/Sonicteam's Art Director. https://t.co/iEHkdhZ8fS

— OKN/Satoshi Okano (@okanotion) April 30, 2019

A left illust drew by Uekawa -san,right illust drew by me.Can you understand these difference?The character of SANBA DE AMIGO is drown by two artist😊 pic.twitter.com/FsLux36vIJ

— OKN/Satoshi Okano (@okanotion) April 30, 2019

Otani-san of Sega still uses my illust. SAMBA's characters were designed me & Uekawa-san too.He is a light still now.Then Ｉwas a shadow.But one body. Please understand,I still love sonic teams with Naka-san & Ohshima -san❤️ https://t.co/dvgAyfSFvv

— OKN/Satoshi Okano (@okanotion) April 30, 2019

This is my good comment. "I drew the sonic with a wish to say to want him to be always the provocative image that seems to open up the tip of the Ages". The background made "S" of the initial a mark like a hero. Designer Okano " : ) https://t.co/46FdTjCzwS

— OKN/Satoshi Okano (@okanotion) May 1, 2019

Both of them have unique and easily recognizable styles!
I can see why they chose Uekawa-san's design for the new Sonic, but both styles are cool in their own ways.

Okano-san describes him as the shadow and Uekawa-san as the light - the two worked together and lead to the birth of the iconic style of Modern Sonic. Okano-san appreciates his former co-workers using his art until today, and he still loves Sonic Team!


Okano-san's website
http://www.okanotion.com/about.html

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Hiroshi Nishiyama-san re-joined SEGA!

News from 2019.04.11-12
Archived on 2019.04.23

News to Sonic Team in America!
Hiroshi Nishiyama-san, an artist who mainly worked on Sonic series as concept artist and Field Art Director, has re-joined SEGA!

Hiroshi Nishiyama has re-joined SEGA as Art Director, Creative Services and Product Development pic.twitter.com/4300HjN7B4

— Alex Ventrella (@indigorush101) April 12, 2019

*crickets*

*ahem*

He worked on the Sonic Adventure series

— Alex Ventrella (@indigorush101) April 12, 2019

He also joined the official Sonic Streaming and showed his sketchbook filled with concept arts of Sonic Adventure series we know very well!! So cool!!



Let's hope him joining SEGA again will be another good influence to direct Sonic series in new and better way!

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Senoue-san and Maekawa-san on Sky Deck, SA

News from 2019.04.05
Archived on 2019.04.22

Senoue-san and Maekawa-san talk on Twitter about NiGHTS and Sonic Adventure!

One day, Senoue-san found this tweet by a fan...

@mizuhano とのことです。 https://t.co/OnJRJwNnfc

— crush40 (@crush40) April 5, 2019

"I died (woke up from dream) over few hundred times in NiGHTS, but in Sonic Adventure (DC), I think I dies over ten thounsand times because I suck at it (mainly in Sky Deck).
I really like Senoue-san's edgy SA music, but because of this, 'Sky Deck a Go! Go!' is sort of a traumatic piece for me *lol*"
- NOS

"(to Maekawa-san) ...Did you hear that?"
- Jun Senoue

And Maekawa-san replied...

イヤイヤ一万回は言い過ぎでしょ😅

— 前川司郎 (@mizuhano) April 5, 2019

"Oh come on, ten thousand times is exaggerating!"
- Shiro Maewaka


So fun to see them talking on Twitter.
Was Sky Deck also this traumatising for you?
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Maekawa-san and the EGGMAN password in Sonic Adventure

News from 2019.03.25
Archived on 2019.04.15

Maekawa-san saw an fanart of Team Sonic Racing + Sonic Adventure addressing Eggman's love for Chao (he even made Chao Garden inside Egg Carrier, so yes, he is a Chao lover too), and recalls his contribution to the game...

このガバガバパスワードはワシが作った。
この頃はセキュリティーに対するリテラシー低かったからなあ…🙄 https://t.co/rKO3TXd3nw

— 前川司郎 (@mizuhano) March 25, 2019

"I made this sloppy password.
I'd say that the literacy for security back then was low..."

Yep it was Eggman being sloppy with writing out his password in big letters in the middle of a hallway, yeah, totally not us making the gameplay very easy for young players. Not at all.

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Senoue-san at LP Listening Room of Technics

News from 2019.03.19
Archived on 2019.03.20

It's the Day of Music in Japan and SEGA official tweeted about Panasonic's Technics Listening Room once again!

Ohtani-san have been here with Aoi Yuuki-san, bringing his Sonic Forces LPs to have an interview.

This time, Senoue-san came here with his Sonic Adventure & Sonic Adventure 2 LPs and had interview!

#ミュージックの日

みなさん音に抱かれたことありますか？

Panasonic／Technicsリスニングルームではお手持ちのレコードを最高の音質で聴けますので音に抱かれたい方はぜひ。もちろん『ソニックアドベンチャー』のレコードもOK！

瀬上サウンドD：Technicsインタビュー
⇒https://t.co/1Ku6KHxjtW pic.twitter.com/GzEZTzjJkk

— セガ公式アカウント (@SEGA_OFFICIAL) March 19, 2019

"The Day of Music.
Have you ever been 'cuddled' in sounds?
If you come to Panasonic's Technics Listening Room with your LPs, you can experience it with the highest quality of sounds! Of course you can bring 'Sonic Adventure's LP!"

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