Challenge Kanemaru-san! Can you read this kanji?

News from 2019.04.24
Archived on 2019.4.26

A challenge for you: Can you read this kanji?

Kanemaru-san was watching a TV program and saw this kanji on screen.

蝟

Do you know what this character means in Japanese?

蝟をハリネズミと読めた人はスゴい✨
テレビを観ていて。

— 金丸淳一 かねまる じゅんいち 声の演じ手、歌い手。Kanemaru Jun-ichi (@junichisonic) April 24, 2019

The answer is...

Hedgehog!


"Well done to those who could read it as hari-nezumi (hedgehog)!
While watching TV."
- Jinichi Kanemaru


Yes, you can write 'hedgehog' with just one character.
But this is not a commonly used kanji, so it's not a surprise if Japanese people don't know it either.

I couldn't read it, so...


Other more commonly used kanji set for hedgehog is 針鼠, pronounced hari-nezumi, literary 'needle mouse'.
Does that remind you of something? Yes, the code name for Sonic while it was in development, Mr. Needlemouse!

The more you know～☆

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Virtua Racing for SEGA AGES released today!

News from 2019.04.25
Archived on 2019.04.26

Virtua Racing for SEGA AGES released today!

本日発売『SEGA AGES バーチャレーシング』の追加要素はこちら！

🎮60fpsでの描写！ ※2人同時プレイまで
🏆ノーマルレースとグランプリの2モードを選択可能！
⚔オンライン2P対戦／オフライン最大8P対戦！
📹自身のプレイのリプレイ保存／再生！

詳細⇒ https://t.co/JgDQ6hf0Vj pic.twitter.com/pEMcVWyfcT

— セガ公式アカウント (@SEGA_OFFICIAL) April 25, 2019

60 fps for gameplay up to two players
Normal race and Grand Prix modes
 Online 2P battle, Offline max. 8P battle!
Save and replay own gameplay!

バーチャレーシングのサウンドは光吉だね。若かりし頃の光吉の声が聴ける。SEGA AGES版は光吉ファンにも必須アイテムだ！！ https://t.co/A7L7UNH0WQ

— Hiro@SEGA 大崎！ (@Hiro_H10th) April 25, 2019

"Virtua Racing's sound is by Mitsuyoshi. You can listen to the voice when he was young. SEGA AGES version is a must-have for Mitsuyoshi-fans too!!"
- Hiroshi Kawaguchi
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Old SEGA HQ in Ohtorii will be taken down from mid-May

News from 2019.04.24
Archived on 2019.04.26

Naka-san's sorrow over dismantlement of old SEGA HQ building, now decided to start after the long national holiday week of Japan.

セガの本社ビル解体工事がゴールデンウィーク明けの5月10日から始まるんですね。そのままどこかの会社さんが使ってくれると良いなあと思っていたのですが、完全に更地にして新たに何か建てるんですね。 https://t.co/unpOHBQDkI

— Yuji Naka / 中　裕司 (@nakayuji) April 24, 2019

🔵Naka-san:
"Dismantlement of SEGA's old HQ building is going to start on May 10th. I wished it would be used by other companies, but it seems like they are going to take it down completely to build something new."
RT⬇

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) April 24, 2019

Goodbye, SEGA HQ in Ohtorii. I wish I could have visited you at least once.

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Puyo Puyo eSports (Champions) coming to the West!

News from 2019.04.23
Archived on 2019.04.26

Puyo Puyo eSports is coming to the west with the name Puyo Puyo Champions!

Take on the world in the thrilling puzzle game Puyo Puyo Champions (known in Asia as Puyo Puyo eSports), coming to PS4, XB1, Nintendo Switch and Steam on May 7th!https://t.co/ngnMnCcYkz pic.twitter.com/qx5qdWS0GW

— SEGA (@SEGA) April 23, 2019

Puyo Puyo Champions is coming to the PlayStation4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Steam for PC on May 7, 2019!

国民的アクションパズル「#ぷよぷよ」シリーズ最新作の PC版『Puyo Puyo Champions / #ぷよぷよeスポーツ』を5月8日（水）に Steamにて配信します！https://t.co/ifC2r7RNbl pic.twitter.com/P46ExwinSq

— セガ公式アカウント (@SEGA_OFFICIAL) April 24, 2019

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NDW's direct interview with TSR teams #1: Team Sonic

News from 2019.04.23
Archived on 2019.04.23

Nintendo Dreams conducted an interview with each team of Team Sonic Racing!
The full article can be found on their vol. 302 issued this month.

But they are also releasing a part of each interview online! How nice.
From today, each interview-part will be released on Nintendo Dreams Web (NDW) every Tuesday towards game release on May 21st.

🏁本日から発売日まで毎週火曜日更新🏁#チームソニックレーシング に出場する5チームへの直撃インタビューがNintendo DREAM WEBで公開中！ 好きなコースやウィスプなど、発売中の「ニンドリ6月号」誌面とはちょっと違う内容がご覧いただけます！
🚗三🚗三🚗三https://t.co/AOtVrBYOxe#ニンドリ pic.twitter.com/OE0xjEqRN8

— ソニック委員会「R」 (@sonic20th) April 23, 2019

🔵 NINTENDO DREAMS conducted interviews to each team in Team Sonic Racing!
A part of the Q&As will be released online on NDW too on every Tuesday from today on. To read the full interview, buy NINTENDO DREAMS vol. 302 available now!
⬇

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) April 23, 2019

『チームソニックレーシング』に参戦するソニックたちに“直接”インタビュー！

NDWにて毎週火曜日に更新、全５回をお送りします。
発売中のニンドリ６月号とあわせてお楽しみください！

第１回「チームソニック」公開です！　#チームソニックレーシングhttps://t.co/n9a2z8T5Fh pic.twitter.com/tsmSJsOaXu

— ニンテンドードリーム編集部（ニンドリ） (@nindori) April 23, 2019

And I will translate all of them and collect them here on my archive blog!

Alright, let's get going!
The first team they interviewed is... Team Sonic!

【特別企画】『チームソニックレーシング』レーサー直撃インタビュー！ その1「チーム ソニック」

https://www.ndw.jp/teamsonicracing-interview_sonic/

↑↑↑↑　As usual, check out the original article first!   ↑↑↑↑

(c) SEGA, NDW

Translation

Senoue-san's insights to TSR music!

News from 2019.04.23-07.20
Archived on 2019.08.15

As development of Team Sonic Racing started, Jun Senoue-san was appointed as the lead composer of the game by Sonic series director Takashi Iizuka-san. Using his longtime experience as a composer for Sonic series and various racing games, he created new sounds by combining elements of both. And that's not all! This time he added a special topping - the keyword "team" from the game's theme and tagged with many various composers for many of the tracks!

As the music productions were being finished very much ahead of the game release, the US's Sonic the Hedgehog official account released music vides of TSR sounds one by one, and Senoue-san gave us further behind-the-scenes talks and his thoughts on composing music for the game together with many other talented musicians on Twitter!

Here is a summary of Senoue-san's insights, comments and questions to you on the music of Team Sonic Racing!

Senoue-san is also excited for Team Sonic Racing!

News from 2019.04.22
Archived on 2019.04.26

Senoue-san is also hyped for Team Sonic Racing!
Have you already pre-ordered it?
On which platform are you going to play it?

発売まで1ヶ月を切りましたね！
皆さん、予約はお済みですか～！？ https://t.co/57ZrF94Cvn

— crush40 (@crush40) April 22, 2019

"Less than one month to the release!
Everyone, have you pre-ordered it!?"
- Jun Senoue

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Hisashi Eguchi-san considers release of Sonic CD animation art book!

News from 2019.04.21
Archived on 2019.04.26

Another Sonic art by Hisashi Eguchi-san!

《ＤＡＹ ＯＦＦ》(￣＜￣)🚬
『ＳＯＮＩＣ／ソニック』↓ pic.twitter.com/V8d6HotYhU

— 江口 寿志 (@eguchi_1203) April 21, 2019

And then he tweeted:

《呟き》
私が参加した『ソニックＣＤ』のＯＰ／ＥＤアニメは国内外でそこそこファンが居るようなのでフィルム画像とキャラ表とイラストにＤＶＤを付けた本を出しても良いのかなぁ〰と思う今日この頃・・新作イラスト描きますよ〰！w

— 江口 寿志 (@eguchi_1203) April 22, 2019

"It seems like there are quite a number of fans both inland and overseas for Sonic CD's OP/ED animation I took part of, and I'm recently thinking that it might be a good idea to release a book with film images, character boards and illustration plus DVD... I'll draw new illustration if it happens! (laugh)"
- Hisashi Eguchi

This would be an amazing art book of the iconic Sonic CD animation!
Anybody there to support him with his idea?
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Happy Easter from SEGA of America & SEGA HARDlight!

News from 2019.04.21
Archived on 2019.04.26

SoA celebrates Easter with Chao Egg Hunt!

Happy Easter! How many Chao Eggs can you find? pic.twitter.com/8Pr9K8xcNw

— Sonic the Hedgehog (@sonic_hedgehog) April 21, 2019

I wish this becomes a mini game in Chao app they must release at some point...

And also a greetings from SEGA HARDlight:

Happy Easter from all of us here at SEGA HARDlight!

To celebrate, we're giving away a FREE chest full of special character cards in Sonic Forces! Find your gift in the store now!

We hope you have an egg-cellent day! pic.twitter.com/pAcmOrfaar

— SEGA HARDlight (@SEGAHARDlight) April 21, 2019

This Cream is really cute! And Cheese with butterfly wings, that's funny.
Oh I want those Sonic character eggs.

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Naka-san on re-discovered Sonic 2 data by a fan

News from 2019.04.20
Archived on 2019.04.26

Naka-san on Sonic 2 Development Data being revealed by a fan who reverse-engineered Digitizer code to extract data from old disks.

ソニック2の開発データがかなり公開されているのですが、これってセガが出したものでしょうか？サンフランシスコのPalo Altoで作っていた頃が懐かしいです。シリコンバレーで仕事をしていると言うのがとても良かったです。 https://t.co/QjXF1Su1jm

— Yuji Naka / 中　裕司 (@nakayuji) April 20, 2019

🔵Naka-san:
"A bunch of development data of Sonic 2 is being released, but was it done by SEGA? The time I was developing it in Palo Alto of San Francisco is nostalgic. It was a good feeling to know I was working in the Silicon Valley."

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) April 20, 2019

このソニック2の画像データは久しぶりに見ましたが、懐かしいのと、デジタル化されて残ったと言うのが良い感じですね。僕も持ってないですからね。約30年前に良く考えて作ってますよね。ソニックチーム楽しかったなあ https://t.co/tYOzGSzPmT

— Yuji Naka / 中　裕司 (@nakayuji) April 20, 2019

🔵Naka-san:
"It's been a while since I saw these image data of Sonic 2 for the last time. It's nostalgic, and I also find it good that they remain as digital data. Even I don't have them, you know. It's really well made for them being from ca. 30 yrs ago. Sonic Team was so fun."

— ●SonicJPNews● (@SonicJPNews) April 20, 2019

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