Merchandise Am I the only one who wants to see more officially licensed books?

[UberHoax]

I'm currently reading "Sonic and the tales of deception", one of the last Sonic-related books in being released, and despite how cheesy it feels at times, I'm enjoying it.

As a matter of fact, the more I read, the more I want SEGA to start investing in this type of content. Let's imagine for a second the amount of possibilities Sonic literature can easily open for this franchise:

• Prequel books that provide the fans with more context and backstory from the games.
• Short novels based on the IDW comics, or even the Sonic cinematic universe.
• Informative books that give us an inside look of locations, artifacts, and the background story of every character of the series.

Gotta ask, am I the only one who wants to see stuff like these?

[calamityCons]

I love to read Sonic content made by fans in fanfiction or “what if” theory videos. I’d be all for official literature like that! Or at least, I’d be happy to see them do things in Sonic’s world that could expand upon or explain inconsistencies. An encyclopedia-style Sonic Game Canon Overview would be very helpful. 

[Silvereyes]

Are there many Sonic books out there? I mean, ones that are actual stories, not stuff like activity books or just comic re-releases. It's an area of Sonic I know nothing about.

I mean, I'd say yes to the idea of more Sonic media in general. As it stands, IDW Sonic is basically the only Sonic stuff we are getting really at the moment. The idea of a Sonic encyclopedia would certainly be great, and arguably might shed a bit more spotlight into Sega's own thoughts on the Sonic canon. Sonic has so much you could probably do an entire encyclopedia on characters alone, something that I believe Marvel and DC have done in the past.

One idea could be to see game stories directly adapted. Would be a good way to see them in another medium, especially outside the comics which always had their own continuity impacting on the retelling.

[Sega DogTagz]

1 hour ago, Silvereyes said:

Are there many Sonic books out there? I mean, ones that are actual stories, not stuff like activity books or just comic re-releases. It's an area of Sonic I know nothing about.

There were a small handful 

 

Here is one I remember from back when I was a kid.

 https://sonic.fandom.com/wiki/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_3:_Up_Against_the_Wall

Light reading, pictures for every page, that sort of thing. 

 

If Sega goes back down the road of officially licencing "books" then its almost assuredly going to be more stuff like this. Extremely light reading aimed at a very young audience. I think anyone hoping for lore expansion or additional backstory via side stories will be barking up the wrong tree. 

[Eurisko]

I've never read any of the story books but I did play the adventure game books from back in the day. I still own Sonic vs Zonic

They are quite fun and I believe They're still pretty cheap to track down.

 

I'd love to see an updated 'History of Sonic' or even a Sonic encyclopedia.

[SBR2]

I read the second book Penguin Random House put out the Halloween one and it was pretty cute. I wouldn't mind more of that.

[Your Vest Friend]

Not something I'd actively rally for but sure, why not. Can't go wrong with more little character-driven pieces.

[Rabbitearsblog]

I remembered reading some children's books that were based off of Sonic, most of them were from Sonic Satam.  Some of the books that I read were Sonic's Shoes Blues, The Secret Admirer, and Robotnik's Revenge and I thought they were pretty good!

[UberHoax]

Good news, everyone! A new Sonic the hedgehog book has been confirmed! 

 

 

Sauce.

[MetalSkulkBane]

Huh, I wasn't even aware "Tales of Deception" and "Tales of Terror" exist. I will have to track  them down, although I'll have to choose between paying for transport (because there is no way I find in in Poland) and starting to use Kindle.

From what I know most older Sonic books are either
1) adaptation of cartoons
2) simple stories for smaller kids
3) Coloring books or "where is Wally" sorta deals

Without that said I do own all books by Martin Adams. They 150+ pages long, have some basic continuity and it's clear that writers set for certain style. Cheesy, but style. I know that doesn't automatically means they better than "Shoes Blues", but there is s slightly bigger scope to them. I genuinely can recommend Sonic the Hedgehog in the Fourth Dimension. It starts with  Sonic CD-esque "Robotnik is rewriting time" and ends with Dimensional War and Sonic trying prevent Kintobor from becoming Eggman. It's crazy, but in a fun way.

Other three books... eh. "Castle Robotnik" is Eggman turning all Sonic friend (Pocky, Flicky, Joe Sushi, etc) into horror movie parodies, "Robotnik's Laboratory" even worse, into house objects and  "Silicon Warriors" involves Sonic going into computer. Ha ha. But at least he sorta meets Street Fighter years before Smash Bros 4 or Sonic/Megaman Worlds Unite. Anyway, those books just lack mad scope of "Fourth Dimension".

And that's all my knowledge. I never found gamebook books @Eurisko mentioned, but I hope to read them one day.

[SBR2]

6 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

Huh, I wasn't even aware "Tales of Deception" and "Tales of Terror" exist. I will have to track  them down, although I'll have to choose between paying for transport (because there is no way I find in in Poland) and starting to use Kindle.

If you do don't expect anything too substantial they're pretty standard kids books but the Tales of Terror is notable because it has 1. Illustrations by Patrick Spaziante. 2. Features a story about Cream fighting Pod people and 3. Includes the Werehog.

Thinking about this topic while the little short stories are fun I'd honestly not mind seeing some Junior Novels or something get made. I don't see Sonic getting like a YA length novel happening but I wouldn't turn down more books.

[Eurisko]

8 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

I never found gamebook books @Eurisko mentioned, but I hope to read them one day.

Here's a link for you dude for Amazon UK. This page lists the gamebooks on the site. Some have none available but there are a few and at good prices too.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=sonic+adventure+gamebook&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

[MysticCave1084]

That Sonic Encyclopedia looks good, I have a 25-year anniversary Sonic art book from Cook & Becker, I really like this one:

https://www.cookandbecker.com/en/artwork/2768/sonic-the-hedgehog-art-en-design-book-sonic-the-hedgehog-sega.html

 

 

 

[Multikaris]

I feel like reprint collections of the older novels would be a nice addition if possible, especially to get the UK books avaliable in the US. The Gamebook line is especially compelling, especially if we added pull-out character sheets… 

 

Maybe use that system as the basis for future gamebooks or even a full TTRPG of the series? 

[Leebo4]

Does the novelisation of the movie counts as I really like it?