Good way to start the new month, another decent update at Sonic's japanese hangout. It's way better now it's in html, IMO. Latest person added to the characters section was Super Sonic. I was longing for Metal Sonic myself (new non-CG artwork!), but still, cool - finally some official Super Sonic art outside of the tiny icons in Shuffle.
Something interesting that's also new is what appears to be a poll that asks about, presumably, your favourite and least favourite characters. There's a lot of chars there, including Fang, Bean, Bark, Mighty and even Ray. No Metal Knuckles or Tails Doll, though.
I can only read katakana, which means I can only pick up the words 'character', 'comment' and the names of everyone included in the poll. It'd be good if we had someone good in japanese to translate so that the rest of us could participate. It might contribute to character inclusion/exclusion in the games, or it may affect the order of new character profiles on Sonic Channel (good good, for Metal and 'rare' characters). Anyone able to help or know someone else that could?
Oh, some decent new artwork in the fanart section, as well.
I can't seem to find anything on Super Sonic. The latest addition seems to be the Chao. Have they taken it off?
Oh. Cyberknux's link brought me to the non HTML site. Thanks, SH.
The original link works now too.
Wooo!! Finally a full-body artwork of Super Sonic by Uekawa. I see it's based on his Heroes form, judging from the spikes. Awesome stuff.
Is there a difference between all the Super Sonic's? I haven't noticed to be honest.
In Heroes, Super's spikes all go up, as opposed to the previous two SA games, where the top and botttom middle spikes stay in place.
Between SA2 and Heroes, they changed Super Sonic's spine configuration because it used to be identical to regular Shadow's spines, albeit a little more rounded.
Where's Fang?
They update with a new Character every month, so they may show Fang sometime. I'd say they'd do Characters that have recently appeared before they get round to him though.
Any Japanese speakers that can translate the profiles for us?
Oh, wait. That was a poll they were talking about. How do you vote for Fang?
That's what we're trying to figure out. Seeing as it's all in japanese, only someone who can understand the language can help us understand it. See, when you go to the site and launch the poll thing's window (by clicking where you see a whole heap of characters' faces in boxes), there's a series of six questions to answer - the first question is likely "Who are your top three fave characters?" as there's three boxes labelled 1, 2 and 3. I suspect another question is "Who is your least favourite character?", but as for the other four, who knows? Well, japanese speakers, obviously.
I do just now recognise the word 'sports' in question six, though.. perhaps it's "What character would you like to see playing more sports?" or "What character do you think would spend the most time playing sports?", and I'm guessing they're counting on people specifying what kind of sports in the comment box. Sonic Football? Sonic Golf (heheh..)? If the poll results actually had any effect on the games the developer makes, that could mean we see Sonic 'Do the Mario'. Erm, so to speak. Or it could possibly help determine who appears in the next Riders game - See? This is why this poll thing could be of some use, we could actually tell them that we wanted Fang's purple ass getting some air alongside Sonic, Babylon and the likes.
And you know, if we did manage to get a translation and fill in the poll, and they didn't count on getting english responses and had didn't bother having an english speaker translate, we could always just spam the comment box with "t@O! t@O! t@-----------O!!!" 
EDIT: Damn. That was the katakana for "Fang", but the board don't like it.
Translations of the text from the poll couretesy of Google Language Tools:
Sonic character popularity poll
Sonic, Dr. Eggman, Shadow, Rouge, Cream, Big, Chao, Vector, Charmy, Metal Sonic, Omega, Gamma, Chaos, Blaze, Jet, Wave, Storm, Fang, Bark, Bean, Mighty, Ray
Q1: Favorite as for character? If (in order) 1 rank & necessary 2 rank & necessary 3 rank * necessity comment (it is to 1 rank - 3 rank, entry)
* the Q2 within the full size 200 letter: When we assume by his becomes, which character?
* If necessity comment (it is, entry)
* the Q3 within the full size 200 letter: As for the character which is wanted increasing turn more?
* If necessity comment (it is, entry)
* the Q4 within the full size 200 letter: When venturing, if it makes the partner, which character?
* If necessity comment (it is, entry)
* the Q5 within the full size 200 letter: If it goes to play together, which character?
* If necessity comment (it is, entry)
* the Q6 within the full size 200 letter: If sport is done together, which character?
* If necessity comment (it is, the fact that it duplicates and reprints entry)
* regardless of everything such as area & necessary sex & necessary age & the document * illustration * photograph of the your house within the full size 200 letter which is published to the necessary this sight is prohibited, (C) the SEGA
It's not completely translated, and the grammar isn't fixed, but it's the most I could do.
Sonic Golf: The object is to keep Sonic quiet and still while the other players are hitting. LOL!! Also the thrilling extra feature of stopping Knuckles from breaking his clubs.
Thanks, Masked Dragon Mirage. I never knew there was a Google tool that could even translate images (which the green "Q1", "Q2" etc bars are). Good job 
Okay, so this seems to be what we have [this is just my guesses based on what we have - I also ran the thing through a translator which helped with the bottom stuff]:
Sonic Popularity Poll
[Grey intro box, as of yet untranslated]
[Character roster]
Q1: Who is your favourite character? Put your top three in order, with #1 being your very favourite.
Comment box (Write a comment on each char, in descending order of 1-3)
Q2: ???
Comment box
Q3: Who do you prefer to play as the most? / Who would you like to be able to play as more? (Unsure which it means)
Comment box
Q4: If teaming up with another character becomes relevant (on an adventure), what character would you most like to see partnering up with another character?
Comment box
Q5: If just going off to play together, who would you most like to see having fun with another character?
Comment box
Q5: If playing sport together, who would you most like to see taking part in the action?
Comment box
Series of three drop-down menu boxes as follows...
What area do you live in? (The very bottom option is "outside of japan")
What gender are you?
Please select
Male
Female
To which age bracket do you belong?
Please select
0-10 years old
11-15 years old
16-20 years old
21-25 years old
26-30 years old
31-40 years old
41-50 years old
51-60 years old
61 years or over
---END---
The comment boxes don't need to be filled in if you don't want to, but you must choose a selection from each of the drop-down menus. I think it's saying that you should try to limit your comments to under 200 letters (because you can still type more than that if you try it out).
Hmm.. anyone in contact with Manaita these days?
Koivo: Lolzors, I want to see Knuckles getting pissed off and flinging already-bent clubs at the ground 
Hey, there's Vector artwork this month. Check it out.
Its Charmy this month. That artwork almost justifies his voice.
Espio Next Month. Safe bet that one. Then I think its going to be Blaze, Jet, Wave, Storm, Silver, Lord Eggman Nega, Omega to see out the year to next.
I don't care what anyone says, I like Charmy. Can't wait for Espy's next month. And Blaze after that, awesome.
I was guessing Blaze. But it would kinda make sense seeing as Rush was released before Riders
Is the character poll still up somewhere? *&?% comuter issues.
Nope, Tis gone. Replaced by something.
Big Update Today. Not Sure Why. >_>
Big Smile's GHZ Post
Everything shamelessly copied from there.
Results of Poll: (Its not good for Fang fans and Shadow haters)
Favourite character?
1. Sonic
2. Shadow
3. Tails
Which character do you prefer to play as the most?
1. Sonic
2. Shadow
3. Tails
4. Knuckles
5. Amy
5. Chao (tie with Amy)
7. Eggman
8. Metal Sonic
9. Chaos
10. Rouge
Which character should appear more often?
1. Shadow
2. Metal Sonic
3. Knuckles
4. Amy
4. Chao (tie with Amy)
6. Tails
7. Chaos
8. Sonic
9. Tikal
10. Mighty
Which characters form the best team?
1. Tails
2. Sonic
3. Shadow
4. Knuckles
5. Amy
5. Chao (tie with Amy)
7. Eggman
8. Rouge
9. Metal Sonic
10. Espio
Which characters are most suited to sport?
1. Tails
2. Sonic
3. Amy
3. Chao (tie with Amy)
5. Cream & Cheese
6. Shadow
7. Knuckles
8. Charmy
9. Big
10. Rouge
Also TEE SHIRTS.
More popular opinion with the potential to drive things in the wrong direction? Bollocks. I hate our fanbase.
On the other hand, Metal Sonic made #2. Hopefully if this impacts future releases he won't get the treatment he got in Heroes.
Edit:
Which characters are most suited to sport?
I suppose this means we can expect sports spinoffs like Mario's?
It has to be said really, If Shadow wasn't there it wouldn't be that bad. Looks like they are planning a sport game.
I can't understand how Chaos got so high in the Which character you enjoy playing as? He was only in SA2:B and Sonic Battle.
Perhaps it's due to masses of people frantically voting for their favorite no matter what the poll question is.
Anwyays, I guess this goes here:
- - -
Mr Creosote (1:48 pm): http://sonic.sega.jp/
Mr Creosote (1:48 pm): 😀 @ the little sonic 15th flash
GT the Magikoopa (1:48 pm): There are 32 days left until the MoFo's 9th anniversary!
Mr Creosote (1:49 pm): it has him running past all his games :O
AmyFan01 cant read japanese...
GT the Magikoopa (1:49 pm): '/daysleft
Mr Creosote (1:50 pm): if you hover over url links you can sometime get an idea of what it's contents might be
AmyFan01 plays Zone 2 music.
Mr Creosote (1:50 pm): lol no japanese urls for U
Hot Sexual Water (1:50 pm): that little flash is the best official sonic related thing in a long time >_>
Mr Creosote (1:51 pm): Sega should've just stuck that flash on a gamecube disk, and then they would've sold millions from that alone
AmyFan01 goes to Sunset Hill.
Mr Creosote (1:51 pm): http://www.c-player.com/ac38141/message?sp=SEGA :O @ the riders board
- - -
Search the page for ソニックチームのエントランスに、さりげなくこんなものが！！ if you have JP language support to find the board instantly, along with..er..whatever they say about it.
Quote:
More popular opinion with the potential to drive things in the wrong direction? Bollocks. I hate our fanbase.
Get ready for more Shadow-like gameplay in future Sonic games complete with guns, vehichles, and smoldering rage. =D
Happy 15th Anniversary, Sonic! =)
Quote:
Which character should appear more often?
1. Shadow
2. Metal Sonic
3. Knuckles
4. Amy
4. Chao (tie with Amy)
6. Tails
7. Chaos
8. Sonic
9. Tikal
10. Mighty
WTH?? Mighty made the top 10? Good to see the fans havent fortgotten him.
XD Didn't even notice that.
So for anyone who made the GHZ paper craft, how did you do? Regular A4 paper? Cardboard? A4 paper glued onto cardboard?
Yay, Espy! ^_^
More Shadow gunplay? That might not be so bad if they do it properly (and, since ST never learn their lesson, they won't).
This poll saddens me. Apparently public opinion says less Sonic, more Sonic's friends. Isn't that exactly what we don't want?
-Jake
Small update.
Espio spines were the same colour as his body when he was put out on the website now they are the colour they are meant to be.
So if anyone has the old art/wallpaper you have some intarnet wins there.
I win! =D
On a related note, they made the same mistake with Shadow's CG art, I guess nobody noticed, though. 😛
EspioCG
EDIT:
Manaita translated Espio's profile page:
Quote:
"A trend spotter of Chaotix detective office. Always calmly and quietly, although sometimes too prudent, he is an important person to restrain upbeat team Chaotix that always easily rushes like "Go! Go!".
He is a type that feels it burn against more dangerous duty, and walks tall to his Ninja ability. But his aesthetics is to act in the shadow inconspicuously to be Ninja.
He can vanish his body by becoming translucent, but sometimes he has a careless mistake, when sneezing, he becomes visible inadvertently.
A horn that jutted forward and a long tail curled up roundly are the trademark of him."
Oh, I love the sneeze thing, that's awesome
Something else cool (for a nerd like me) is that in this new art he has the heart shape thingy going on again (you know, on his chest).
WOW he looks kinda cuddly all Uekewa-ised (He has been using tracing paper!). So thats everyone from Heroes done except for Metal Sonic.
So its obviously going to be Blaze next month. Maybe.
^'Cept that Metal Sonic hasn't been featured yet.
Fang wasn't even in the results! WHAHHHHHHHH! >_<
More Shadow gunplay? That might not be so bad if they do it properly (and, since ST never learn their lesson, they won't).
This poll saddens me. Apparently public opinion says less Sonic, more Sonic's friends. Isn't that exactly what we don't want?
Speaking for myself: since Sonic's always been my least favourite character in the continuity and still - in his lack of background or skills other than speed - is the blandest of the cast in my eyes, no.
Particularly since games've been very linear since the DC came out and not particularly given you a great deal of choice about who to play and when, I'd be fine with less Sonic.
But only if it was a generally more even spread. That doesn't mean I want to buy into the sort of repetitive Shadow-worshipping we've had for the last few years, either.
But the rest of the cast've been pushed into the background. And I'd quite like to see them back again.
I'll LOVE to see another sonic game - WITHOUT SONIC. We been workshipping Sonic for 15 years AND THE BUM GOT THE NERVE NOT TO BRING BACK BEAN AND BARK! Sorry, but Sonic buddys (old and new) need more info. So Im not mad that half the people voted for 'Sonic's pals', IM GLAD.
Quote:
Since Sonic's always been my least favourite character in the continuity and still - in his lack of background or skills other than speed - is the blandest of the cast in my eyes, no.
Of course. The main character generally IS the least interesting, but the supporting characters are usually lost without them. I don't think Jerry Seinfeld is at all worth watching... I watched his show for Kramer, mostly, and George and the quirky guests (the Soup Nazi, Jimmy, etc.).
Harry Potter isn't my favorite Harry Potter character. Frodo isn't my favorite LotR character. I doubt anyone watches Grey's Anatomy on this board, but Meredith Grey isn't the most interesting character on the show by any means.
Main characters like Sonic I think are the glue that hold a franchise together. Much as I love Knuckles, I think a Knuckles solo game would lack the charm of Sonic games, because the more you get used to a character the more bland they become, and generally you get used to the main character the most.
For that reason alone, I think it's worth seeing more Sonic. Plus I happen to like the gameplay associated with him, but that's just personal preference.
-Jake
I was expecting Blaze to be next, not Jet. He seems to be the same age as her, though.
Wicked Smile.
I have to admit I thought it would be Blaze next. Mind you Blaze did have two bits of Uekewa promo art for Sonic Rush whilst Babylon Rogues had one each.
I think on my predictions for the next month I'm 0-2. 
Wave next month then Storm.
I bet they will do Storm next just userp me. DARN YOU SEGA!
Nice picture of Jet. I thought he was 15. Oh well.
When are we gettin' a Metal profile, ST?
Thats a multiple choice answer:
1) When Uekewa wants to draw a robot again (didn't I read somewhere a while back he doesn't like drawing them?)
2) After Lord Eggman Nega
3) When Heck freezes over.
Mind you do you want CD Metal Sonic or Heroes Metal Sonic?
Ahhhhh.
Classic Metal Sonic. I mean even reverted to that design after you beat SH's last story.
True. But you never got a good long and proper look at Heroes Metal Sonic. I suppose it could be a double update? Like Sonic and Super Sonic.
Heck yes Heroes' Metal owned. But nothing can beat the original though.
