10 Speedy facts about Sonic The Hedgehog

 Gotta go fast! From the idea behind the hedgehog himself to things left on the cutting room floor, here are 10 interesting facts about Sega's rival to Mario.

#10: Sonic and Eggman's designs came from a contest

Some characters are just too good to go unused!

At the start of the 16-bit era, Sega held an internal contest where employees would pitch various characters to see who would be their mascot. Besides Sonic himself, some of the more interesting designs include a Jester-like creature, a Bart Simpson-like man in overalls, a rabbit that could throw things with his ears and a Theodore Roosevelt looking man in pajamas who would become Sonic's nemesis Dr. Eggman.

#9: Sonic almost had a band and a human girlfriend!

This would've been pretty cool to see!

The first game had a few interesting scrapped concepts. One such concept was a band that Sonic was gonna play in alongside a rabbit named Mach, a parakeet named Sharps, a monkey named Max, and a crocodile named Vector who would later be introduced in Knuckles Khaotix. Another unused concept was Madonna, a blonde haired, red dress wearing human who would've served as a love interest to Sonic.

#8: Bugs. Bugs everywhere

Viewer, meet Ashura!

While some games are worse in this regard (ie Sonic 06 and Sonic Boom), the Sonic games are known for being pretty glitchy. In fact, the manual for Sonic Three and Knuckles references these glitches, telling players to watch out for traps set by Robotnik and advising they restart the console should they fall into an area they can't escape. The first game can't even get past the title screen with out a glitch. The words "Press start to play" were supposed to appear on the start screen, but they don't because they take up the same set of memory as the "Sonic Team Presents" screen.

#7: When misinformation becomes game mechanics

Character better suited to the ground than the water exhibit A!

You ever wonder why Sonic couldn't swim? This was because the game designers incorrectly thought that real world hedgehogs couldn't swim.

#6: Interesting inspiration

Remember when these two were rivals?

Whilst Sonic's character design comes from classic cartoon characters like Felix the cat and Mickey Mouse and his shoe design came from Michael Jackson and Santa Claus (yes really), the inspiration for the game play ironically comes from Sonic's old rival, Mario. Specifically, it came from Yuji Naka's memories of getting through Super Mario Bros.' first level as fast as possible.

#5: Totally Different

Imagine if this was the route the series went with.

The story for the first game was almost completely different. Originally, it was gonna feature Sonic travelling through a nightmare world fending off weird creatures. Before Robotnik was chosen, the antagonist was originally a ghost-like entity named Thirteen.

#4: The secrets to his speed

Run Sonic, run!

According to the first game's instruction manual, Sonic's speed comes from his sneakers. Also according to Sonic's creator Yuji Naka, Sonic needs eight hours of sleep a night to maintain his speed.

#3: Very humble beginnings

Now that's a rad cameo!

A few years before Sonic became one of the big names in gaming, he made a cameo appearance in Sega's own Rad Mobile. Specifically, an air freshener modeled after him is visible during game play, hanging from the car's mirror. Additionally, the skid sound he makes when stopping comes from Sega's own Outrun. 

#2: Michael Jackson composed for Sonic Three

This was cool back then, but it's kinda creepy nowadays.

During his lifetime, pop singer Michael Jackson was a huge fan of the Sonic series. In fact, he was allowed to compose portions of the soundtrack to Sonic's third game. However, he remains uncredited because he wasn't satisfied with the Sega Genesis' music capabilities. The child abuse allegations that occurred around that time probably didn't help either.

#1: Some speedy records

I bet he's thankful to get this before Mario did!

During it's over 20 year lifetime the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise has set more than a few records. For one, he was the first video game character in history to get a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, which first appeared in 1993. Additionally, the Archie Sonic comic series is the longest running video game comic series in history, spawning 290 issues from 1992 to 2016.

You know what they say: Sega does what Nintendon't! If you know of any other interesting tidbits or think I fudged something up, please say something in the comment section. Thanks for viewing and keep on running!

Sources

• DidYouKnowGaming
  
• The Cutting Room Floor
  
• Radio Times
  
• The Gamer
  
• Mental Floss
  
• Wikipedia
  
• Screenrant
• Sonic Wiki Zone
  

10 Military Grade facts about Team Fortress 2

 Poot facts about TF2 here! From scrapped concepts to gags involving old games, here are 10 note worthy facts about Team Fortress 2.

#10: It started from Quake

If it weren't for Quake, there would be no TF2!

Over a decade before making this game, Robin Walker and John Cook made a free mod for Quake simply called Team Fortress. After they were hired by Valve, they would go on to make Team Fortress Classic before finally making this game.

#9: The game went through 2 redesigns during development

Talk about getting a makeover!

Before becoming the cartoony FPS we all know and love, this game went through 2 different ideas during development. The first idea, given the subtitle Brotherhood of Arms, was a realistic military shooter kind of like Call of Duty. The next iteration was a game that pitted humans against alien invaders, somewhat like Valve's own Half-Life series.

#8: The Spy came about because of a glitch

Proof that some bugs are worth keeping around!

The inspiration for the Spy was a glitch that happened in older versions of the original Team Fortress Quake mod. In the old versions of the game which didn't have the Spy class, there was a glitch where players would see other players with the wrong team colors. 

#7: The supplementary stuff retcons a few things

What else are these mercenaries hiding?

This game is known for having lore held within other sources like official videos and web comics. What you might not know is that some of this lore contradicts the original bios of the playable characters. For example: The Medic's bio implies that he never had a medical license, while in his Meet the Team video he tells the Heavy the story of how he lost it. Meanwhile, the Demoman's bio states that his eye was lost during an attempt at killing the Loch Ness Monster, while the comic released with the Very Scary Halloween Special reveals that it was actually taken and turned into a monster by an evil spell book.

#6: A lot of the items were community made

A Smissmas miracle!

A surprising amount of the game's items were made by fans and submitted to Valve either through the Steam Workshop or the old contribution page on the TF2 website. These include several weapons like the Southern Hospitality, the Wrap Assassin, the Scotsman's Skullcutter and the Dalokoh's Bar.

#5: Some of the scrapped content made it in after all

Sometimes you just can't get rid of a good idea!

Throughout its development, there have been plenty of weapons that went unused for one reason or another. However, some of them have made it into the game in vastly different forms. For example: The Instant Teleport became the secondary feature to the Eureka Effect, the Flame-Retardant Suit was reworked into the current incarnation of the Darwin's Danger Shield (plus some of its function became part of the Spycicle), and the Walkabout's main gimmick (being able to move at full speed while zoomed in) was added as a feature to the Classic.

#4: There was almost a TV show

This would've been freaking sweet!

At one point in time, Adult Swim commissioned Valve to make a Team Fortress 2 cartoon for them. Sadly, Valve never got around to finishing it and before long the project was cancelled.

#3: It started off as part of a bundle

That's a damn good deal!

This game was first released in 2007 as part of The Orange Box, a video game compilation that also included Portal and both episodes of Half-Life 2. It got its own standalone release the following year.

#2: Marriage on the set

Well, ain't that sweet!

The voice actors for the Sniper and Administrator, John Patrick Lowrie and Ellen McLain, are married in real life. Speaking of the Administrator, her voice actress also voices GLaDOS from Portal, the Combine Overwatch AI from Half-Life 2, and the Witch from Left 4 Dead 2.

#1: There's a lot of scrapped content

Read all about it here! 

As mentioned before, this game has had quite a few concepts that didn't make it off the cutting room floor. Some of the more interesting unused content includes holdovers from TFC (throwable grenades, an actual flag for capture the flag, the Civilian class etc.), a camera model, some PDAs for the Demoman and Spy, animations of every character besides Pyro seemingly burning to death and concept art featuring female versions of the classes.

You're welcome fans of Valve's iconic shooter! If you can think of any facts I missed or feel that I got something incorrect, feel free to deploy some comments. Thanks for reading and keep those SFM videos a going!

Sources

• The official TF2 wiki
• Did you know gaming?
  
• Wikipedia
  
• Shark Guy
  
• TheWhat Show
  

10 Super facts about Super Mario Bros

 Welcome to my new blog. Here I talk about various interesting facts about various games, movies, tv shows and more. What better way to ring in this new blog than with an old favorite? From unused concepts to various ways the developers saved on memory, here are 10 interesting facts about the original Super Mario Bros.

#10: The clouds and bushes are the same

In all fairness, this was back before video games could afford millions of assets.

To save on memory since this was a very early NES game, the clouds and bushes have the same sprite as each other. The only difference is that the clouds are white and the bushes are green.

#9: The story's "dark secret" isn't as dark as we thought

Turns out Mario isn't a psycho, regardless of what Dorkly or MatPat may tell you!

According to the manual, Bowser's army turned the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom into blocks and other things. However this isn't as dark as it sounds, as the manual actually clarifies that only the blocks containing powerups are transformed citizens and those blocks are indestructible.

#8: There's a reason for Mario's build

Evidently Mario hasn't changed much in his 30+ years of existence.

Mario's slightly chubby figure came about because it made coding his hit detection in this game easier. Likewise, Mario has his iconic hat because Miyamoto wasn't good at drawing hair.

#7: This game has it's own inspirations

Thank God for Pac-Man!

While this game is known as one of the most influential games of all time, it was in turn inspired by the 1984's Pac-Land. Likewise according Miyamoto, the idea of growing big by eating mushrooms came from enchanted food of mythology and not from Alice in Wonderland.

#6: Bowser was originally an ox

Talk about getting a makeover!

Miyamoto original envisioned Bowser to be a huge ox-like monster. However, Yoichi Kotabe misinterpreted the original artwork and made him into a giant turtle. That being said, Miyamoto liked the new design so much that it became Bowser's default design to this day.

#5: Mario almost had a gun and a dinosaur

Yoshi goes waaaay back!

Originally there was gonna be a shoot em up level in the game, complete with Mario sporting a gun. Not only that, Mario originally would've had a dinosaur companion in some levels, but that feature couldn't be implemented due to technical limitations. Fortunately, the dinosaur would later come to the series in Super Mario World in the form of Yoshi.

#4: There is more than one Minus World

Part of Mario's believe it or not!

We all know the Minus World, the glitch world that never ends. What you might not have known, however, was that it held more than one level. By hacking a flag into the first level, players could explore the other Minus World levels.

#3: The Bowsers turning into enemies was a glitch

The princess isn't the only thing that's in another castle.

Speaking of glitches, the Bowsers in levels 1 through 7 turning into enemies when killed by fireballs was a glitch that the developers liked so much that they not only left it in, they put it in the lore claiming that those Bowsers were enemies in disguise.

#2: The theme song has lyrics

Some time after the game's release, a Japanese radio station had a little contest for fans to give lyric to the game's iconic first song. One of these submissions caught the ear of Nintendo, who liked it so much that they released it on vinyl.

#1: It helped end the Video Game Crash of 1983

A legacy that may never die!

Before this game came out, the USA was going through a video game recession thanks to the oversaturation of video game consoles and poor quality video games. This recession ended around the time the Nintendo Entertainment System came out in 1985, meaning Nintendo and it's mascot Mario are responsible for saving the video game market!

And those were some interesting facts about the original Super Mario Bros. If can think of any more facts about this legendary classic, feel free to share them in the comments section. Thanks for viewing and keep on gaming!

Sources

• TV Tropes
  
• Video Game Vault
  
• Did You Know Gaming
• The Guardian
  
• Mental Floss