A Peek into Sonic’s History from Old-School Sega

2 Videos Keep the Nostalgia Pouring In

This Memorial Day, Americans are, ideally, reflecting upon the soldiers of today and yesterday, who have made too many sacrifices so the rest of us can enjoy our freedoms. But, since this is a global news site, it would be unfair to stuff our imperialist values on the rest of the world. Instead, let’s reflect on the good old days of Sonic the Hedgehog, in a way only the Japanese can put into perspective.

We managed to find two very old Sonic promotional videos on YouTube from across the Pacific. One heralds the launch of Sonic 2, the other Sonic 3. Remember the simple days of 2D side-scrolling with no boring story and side plot to get in the way? Memory lane awaits. Have your Japanese to English dictionary handy.

First, let’s have a look at the Sonic 3 video, as it does a much better job of explaining the basic statistics of Sonic, Tails (referred to in this video as “Miles Prower” still) and Knuckles. There’s also tons of preliminary artwork from the concept stages of Sonic, and a bouncing soundtrack.

This video was a promo for Sonic 2’s release, and heralds back to the day when Sega did what Nintendon’t. Sonic is seen almost stalking the ripoff getups of the Super Mario Brothers at the very beginning. The film also stops just short of idolizing Yuji Naka, as he explains the new mechanics in Sonic 2.

Oh, to be exicted about Sonic again.