A Really Bizarre Commercial

[azoo]

I remember back in the day searching for information about the arcade game "SegaSonic the Hedgehog", and then one of those days I stumbled upon a commercial from Sonic Jam; a japanese one, advertising a game with the same name..

..But the weird part is that it's Sonic 1! I've always known that Sonic merchandise was sold in the Japanese market under the "SegaSonic" title, but I had no idea they were actually planning the game to be named that! However, the most intriguing parts are yet to come..

First of all, the game commercial contains some very charming animations (I <3 that art style) and some weird concepts, which were never seen in-game. Sonic never went through a desert level, nor did he ever climb a clock tower ( that is, until then ) and last time I checked, Sonic couldn't swim and there wasn't a boss like that. Pretty bizarre, huh? Also note the Looney Tunes music about 14 seconds into it.

The weirdest part though is the whole rocket-scene. Note that Sonic is driving a machine that looks quite similar to the Tornado II (but in space)... and wait, not just that, but seemingly there's the Death Egg as well! Could this commercial be traces of concepts that were lost in production? Who knows..

And last but not least, we can't exactly be sure if this video can be taken as the first sight of some sort of the Death Egg and Tornado. The thing is, it makes you guess what it really is advertising. Sure, it shows clips of Sonic 1, but is it aiming for an ad of that? After all, it does show the "SEGA" thing at the end, which contains the clay-figure Sonic from another Sonic 1 ad. The reason why this bugs me is because the other commercial called the game just "Sonic the Hedgehog". Also the fact that the "SegaSonic" brand was sold most around 1992, when Sonic 2 came out. This could just be an ad for the merchandise, or something, I dunno.

Can someone translate what Sonic's saying in the ad? Maybe it would help some. I'm highly confused, and I would like to solve the puzzle that is this ad.

[Rusty Spy]

One thing that's intersting to note is that the gameplay footage looks a bit faster than the final version of the game. If you saw Gametap's Retrospective of Sonic, in one part, one of the developers stated that the original build of Sonic 1 was way to fast too keep up with, and made him feel nausious from playing it, leading to them slowing him down a bit to make it more controlable.

Looking back at the commercial, Sonic does move quite fast, so could the gameplay be from some of the more early builds of the game? It could explain the odd animations which do bare resemblences to scrapped level ideas.

e.g Clock Work Zone:

Edited June 28, 2009 by VirgoTheCougar

[Annie-Mae]

That's actually a really cute ad. One of my favs has been this one >

Kinda wish we got more animated ads like that now a days.

[azoo]

One thing that's intersting to note is that the gameplay footage looks a bit faster than the final version of the game. If you saw Gametap's Retrospective of Sonic, in one part, one of the developers stated that the original build of Sonic 1 was way to fast too keep up with, and made him feel nausious from playing it, leading to them slowing him down a bit to make it more controlable.

Looking back at the commercial, Sonic does move quite fast, so could the gameplay be from some of the more early builds of the game? It could explain the odd animations which do bare resemblences to scrapped level ideas.

e.g Clock Work Zone:

I completely forgot about Clock Work Zone. So maybe there is small evidence there? (Well, there isn't really any evidence; as we never saw all of the prototype SBZ.)

That's actually a really cute ad. Kinda wish we got more animated ads like that now a days.

I wish we'd get animated shows like that nowadays. =)

Edited June 28, 2009 by Azukara

[-Mark-]

Isn't that little spaceship that Sonic's in there from one of the little kiddy arcade machine rides they had in Japan? Can't for the life of me remember what it was called...

[azoo]

Isn't that little spaceship that Sonic's in there from one of the little kiddy arcade machine rides they had in Japan? Can't for the life of me remember what it was called...

Well, nope. This came out in 1993, and looks nothing like the other design.

Did remind me of that, though.

[Tombi]

Anyone else get the "opening montage" vibe from most of this, like it would be used to open an animated show? The whole random collection of out-of-context clips reminds me a lot of Ducktales, Goof Troop and all those type of shows. All it needs on top of it is a catchy theme song.

Well, I don't know where it came from or what exactly it's supposed to be advertising - could it possibly be just Sonic in general? Maybe there were several games out at once and they just wanted to get his name and the developers' out there. At least the one thing we can confirm from this is Sonic's hatred toward cacti; that was completely uncalled for!

[azoo]

Anyone else get the "opening montage" vibe from most of this, like it would be used to open an animated show? The whole random collection of out-of-context clips reminds me a lot of Ducktales, Goof Troop and all those type of shows. All it needs on top of it is a catchy theme song.

Boy, did I as well. I've always wanted a Sonic show to look like this; it's the exact reason I was hyped back in 2003 when they mentioned a japanese Sonic show in the works (which became Sonic X ).

Well, I don't know where it came from or what exactly it's supposed to be advertising - could it possibly be just Sonic in general? Maybe there were several games out at once and they just wanted to get his name and the developers' out there.

I could see the latter of what you said, but at the time Sonic's only game was, well, Sonic 1.

At least the one thing we can confirm from this is Sonic's hatred toward cacti; that was completely uncalled for!

Wait, wait, you don't understand. Sonic noticed the cacti too late, since hedgehogs don't have good eyesight. Because of that, Sonic jumped through instinct, shredding through the cacti by accident. Sonic, noticing what he had done, turned back around and picked up the peices. Angrily, cacti tried to fight back, by consistently poking Sonic. They argued for a bit, but then noticed what they had in common (being spiky and all), so Sonic invited him for a drink at the bar. They've played poker every Wednesday since.

Edited June 28, 2009 by Azukara

[Jix Hedgehog]

Well, nope. This came out in 1993, and looks nothing like the other design.

Did remind me of that, though.

The ship in the game is different from the cabinet, pretty sure he's right

[-Mark-]

Yeah, I remember seeing something like that in screenshots from the game, which is what made me think of it.

[Crystal Kingfisher]

Also note the Looney Tunes music about 14 seconds into it.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da-daaaaaaaa! That's all, folks!

This commercial is pretty strange though, but nowhere near as strange as the USA advert for Sonic R. The commercial showed some guys flying inside a building and then one runs into a wall, and then a robotic voice mentions the game and the Sega motto "Hard Stuff".

[BlitzChris]

All japanese sonic adverts were weird.

This one takes the cake.

[MizukiMoon]

I've seen this advert before. It's pretty cool, I love the art style they used, Japanese Sonic art style has always been my favourite. It's a hell of a lot better than that other creepy Sonic 1 ad, all I can think is it scared people so much they had to make this new one to replace it. XD

[BakingBluePotatoe]

All japanese sonic adverts were weird.

This one takes the cake.

"Sonikku da pinbaaaal, Sonikku da pinbaaaal, Sonikku da pinbaaaal~!"

LULWUT? xD

[Gatestormer]

Just browsing through YouTube when I came across this:

The 2nd commercial shows that these animations shown in the OP were clearly around when and probably made for Sonic 1 on the Megadrive.

Just a tidbit

[edge.]

I've seen this advert before. It's pretty cool, I love the art style they used, Japanese Sonic art style has always been my favourite. It's a hell of a lot better than that other creepy Sonic 1 ad, all I can think is it scared people so much they had to make this new one to replace it. XD

What creepy Sonic 1 ad?

[Detective Shadzter]

No Sonic ads are creepier or more bizarre than the ones for

or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh4s3pQKm24.

[edge.]

No Sonic ads are creepier or more bizarre than the ones for

or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh4s3pQKm24.

The pasta one isn't that creepy.

[Indigo Rush]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSMUTsxSD68

Since this seems to be the general commercial topic.

Thanks to Frokenok for sharing this!

inb4 Sonic doesn't drive a car

Edited January 7, 2012 by Indigo Rush

[HeroMystic]

Hah...

Now that's just priceless.

[Voyant]

I think we just got a hint on what humans will look life in future games....XD

[Soniman]

All of my nightmares......

[Rinzler]

I laughed way harder than I should have.

I hope the humans look like that in the next game.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Metalriders

[Komodin]

... I honestly don't know whether to laugh or simply stare in a mix of amusement and confusion.

[SonikkuForever]

I hope Sonic has insurance, with all the collateral damage he causes. And what game was the background music from? I know it's invincibility music from something, but I'm too tired to remember...