Sega to demonstrate Blast Processing on GBA

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Jun 26th 2006 at 4:25PM }

The anthropomorphically inclined folks at Sega sent out a press release over the weekend reminding us of the great things their spiky blue mascot has accomplished in the 15 years since his debut (quite a lot, actually). Though much of the celebratory confetti is being heaped upon Sonic's forthcoming PS3 and Xbox 360 adventure, Sega is also busting out the nostalgia champagne and pouring the original blast processed game into the GBA's tiny frame. It was this bit of news that implanted a rather disturbing image in our minds -- that of Sonic standing on a dimly lit street corner, slowly inhaling the ill effects of a cigarette and inappropriately adjusting a pair of fishnet stockings that, if we're being completely honest, were never a very good fit to begin with.

The $20 GBA version of Sonic the Hedgehog will no doubt be quite alluring to avid hedgehog fans, but we're very interested in seeing how many gamers will actually approach the game with a clean slate. Not having played the game in some form by now is quite a feat, one that requires either an uncanny ability to avoid consoles or an untimely death approximately 20 years ago. If you've been keeping track at all, you would realize that Sonic the Hedgehog is already (and officially) playable on the Genesis, Sega Saturn (via Sonic Jam), Playstation 2, Xbox, Gamecube and PC. Within a few months, you can add the Wii and the Xbox 360 to that list.

It's only fair that the GBA gets its share of an absolutely fantastic game, but with an excellent string of Sonic Advance titles under its cap and the excellent Sonic Rush available for its dual-screen sibling, it seems like the least necessary piece. Just like Sega's decision to add Sonic's Spin Dash (from Sonic 2) into the game. That one's going to upset a lot of people (see: "Let's give Mega Man 1 his floor slide!"), though at least they can all take comfort in the fact that Sega resisted the urge to give a hedgehog some Magnums, a controllable vehicle and an Urkel-powered in-your-face attitude.

Oh, wait.

[Thanks to everyone that sent this in.]

Tags: GameTap, Sega, Sonic 2, Sonic Jam, Sonic Mega Collection, Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic2, SonicJam, SonicMegaCollection, SonicTheHedgehog

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

moofree @ Jun 26th 2006 4:34PM

"Let's give Mega Man 1 his floor slide"
Or even better yet, give him the chargable mega buster!

Andy @ Jun 26th 2006 4:43PM

dont forget Ultimate Flash Sonic
http://www.insanecentral.com/arcade/game/36/Ultimate-Flash-Sonic.html

lacking cleverness @ Jun 26th 2006 4:56PM

Also playable on Dreamcast, as part of the Sega Smash Pack Volume One.

Steve @ Jun 26th 2006 4:58PM

Hey, you forgot to mention Sonic available on that little-console-that-could, the Sega Dreamcast, in the form of Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Shuffle. Okay, you can be forgiven for overlooking that last one... but Sonic Adventure? Come on... that was the basis for all the Sonic games since on PS2, Xbox, Gamecube and now 360, PS3, and Wii. ;)

Steve @ Jun 26th 2006 5:00PM

Okay, -lacking cleverness- is right, if it's the original Sonic the Hedgehog we're talking about, then it was through the Sega Smash Pack that the seminal form of Sonic made his way to Sega's final console, and not through Sonic Adventure.

moofree @ Jun 26th 2006 5:01PM

#3 - "playable" if you can deal with slowdowns and terrible sound emulation. (I thought Sonic Mega Collection's sound was bad until i played the smash pack)

Blink @ Jun 26th 2006 5:09PM

If it's on PS2, that means it's on PS3 as well, as long as BC works, no?

Andrew @ Jun 26th 2006 5:14PM

what the hell is blast processing?

Exick @ Jun 26th 2006 5:23PM

I'm one of the few people that hasn't played much Sonic in my life. I don't think I've ever owned a Sonic game and I've only played bits and pieces here and there. One of the reasons is that I was a huge Nintendo fanboy as a kid and did everything I could not to betray that. I have an absolute-zero nostalgia factor and only faint memories of playing Sonic games, so I could be one of those people that could approach it with a clean slate.

I could be, but not for $20.

Pheonix Gamma @ Jun 26th 2006 5:31PM

gimme new graphics. I'm tired of seeing the same game over and over. And new levels. Otherwise, I've played this a million times.

moofree @ Jun 26th 2006 5:34PM

#10: That's what new games are for. New graphics, and new levels.

Covarr @ Jun 26th 2006 5:46PM

"excellent string of Sonic Advance titles under its cap"

The problem is that the Sonic Advance games were not excellent. They were the most lackluster games in the series, with the possible exceptions of Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog. They were riddled with ridiculous levels that made it virtually impossible for Sonic to go at his full speeds without either falling or suddenly stopping at a wall.

On topic, though, I'll be glad to see this game on GBA. Now if only it'd get Sonic 2, 3, Knuckles. In fact, Sega could make Sonic and Knuckles for the GBA with its original lock-on technology redone for the GBA.

saboola @ Jun 26th 2006 6:13PM

Andrew #8 is making me feel old

32_footsteps @ Jun 26th 2006 6:23PM

Saboola, I'm sure he's making us all feel old. But at least that's what YouTube is for.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlulSyBI2aY

Also, given how well the Sonic games on the current generation have gone over, I wouldn't be bragging too hard about Sonic Adventure. If I've ever seen any company mascot hurt by the jump to 3D, it's Sonic.

Also, considering that it wasn't until 1998 that I finally owned a non-Nintendo console, I also didn't touch much Sonic growing up. But I have a Genesis and the first three Sonic games now, because I have to make up for lost time as a fanboy.

1up_clock @ Jun 26th 2006 6:27PM

"take comfort in the fact that Sega resisted the urge to give a hedgehog some Magnums, a controllable vehicle and an Urkel-powered in-your-face attitude."

You know, I think Urkel would be a much better actor than anyone who does any of the voices for Sega's games nowadays.

Andrew @ Jun 26th 2006 6:48PM

come to think of it, after reading http://www.answers.com/topic/blast-processing and it mentioning sonic 2 i think i remember hearing about this so called blast processing when i was younger. i remember reserving sonic 2 and i also remember the day i got it. even the commercial that was like an infomercial using the case to process food. i don't really remember too much about blast processing though. should've googled first :-p

Jesse 3rd @ Jun 26th 2006 6:48PM

"You know, I think Urkel would be a much better actor than anyone who does any of the voices for Sega's games nowadays."

Well, to be fair, "Urkel" DID technically play Sonic at one point:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0924918/

Should I say, many points?

Rootbeer @ Jun 26th 2006 6:50PM

"Blast Processing" was basically Sega's way of marketing the fact that the Genesis's CPU had a higher clock speed than the SNES's.

And really, marketing was all it was. The actual difference in CPU performance between Sega' 8MHz 68000 and Nintendo's 3.58MHz 65c816 was almost negligible.

Andrew @ Jun 26th 2006 6:51PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQtYaTi6G6k&search=sonic%202%20commercial

BPM? @ Jun 26th 2006 8:03PM

moofree:
""Let's give Mega Man 1 his floor slide"
Or even better yet, give him the chargable mega buster!"

Megaman Powered Up (PSP), anyone? :)

In Sonic Jam, Sonic could do the Spindash in Sonic 1, as well. But it was an option you could turn on/off. Too bad they didn't do that for Sonic Mega Collection...

As much as I like Sonic, Sonic 2 and 3(& Knuckles) are far better games in the series. $20 is too much for a single game released 15 ago. Especially when you can use that same $20 for SMC on GameCube (or SMC+ on PS2/Xbox) and get a whole bunch of Sonic games!

Philip Wesley @ Jun 26th 2006 8:27PM

The reason they added Sonic's spin charge move and the save feature is because they can't just "emulate" the original title. So, the title is getting reworked slightly ala Super Mario Bros. Deluxe for the GBC. I personally hope they go one step further and add the ability to go Super Sonic into the first one as an added bonus once you collected all the Chaos Emeralds.

Because that's the one thing they've never done.

That and something that saves your best times through each level would be rather sweet. Admit it, you and I both wanna know how fast we could beat the original Green Hill Zone 1.1 after nabbing 50 rings. He he he.

I like that they are reworking it slightly for this port. This means that the big issues like screen resolution and such should be ironed out. This is one point where the GBA's inability to emulate the Genesis works to its advantage. Now, I just hope they nab a company that knows what they are doing when it comes to music on the GBA.

Robert @ Jun 26th 2006 10:14PM

Rootbeer, "blast processing" was made up by a SEGA producer. It is total fiction and is not based on anything. I was there...

V1L3 @ Jun 26th 2006 10:29PM

12: Here here.

The Sonic Advance games were good, but not even remotely in the same league as the orignals. Even Sonic Rush, excellent though it is, still doesn't reach that plateau of exellence provided by the original trilogy of 4 Genesis titles or Sonic CD.

Everyone keeps saying that Sonic is about speed. So the faster the game the better, right? Wrong. A lot of what made the original games so fun to play wasn't the speed, but the physics involved. Running down a hill and then curling into a ball and jumping back off at JUST the right moment to take out an enemy or pass through a line of rings.

In Sonic Rush, they basically eliminated the spin element altogether... why curl into a ball (increasing safety and gaining momentum down slopes, but losing momentum on flats, and possibly leaving yourself unguarded and stationary if you lose it at the wrong moment) when you can just blast through everything while you're running? For that matter, why even have him be a hedgehog, if his spikes don't come into play?

Nic @ Jun 27th 2006 1:34AM

You're absolutely right 6. The Mega Collection has terrible sound. Not hearing half the rings in the Blue Sphere special stage?! Gah.

I can't seem to find the news release around (the link just goes to the Sonic City site), but that does sound interesting. It's too bad (as bad as it would be) they didn't update it back when they still made carts for Genesis. I always grandly envisioned playing the original Sonic with Knuckles.

After replaying the games this past weekend, there was a certain allure to the difficulty of playing the original game (PS - apparently they removed the feature where you touch the spikes and they instantly get you, flashing or not, in Mega Collection. Bah). Adding the Spin Dash would make a lot of things easier (imagine if they added the Instashield) but not good.

I really wish Sega would get back on target with its smart sidescrollers. 12 said it best, really. And I need to get my Genesis back in action. Sonic marathons and [sigh] Tecmo Super Bowl. I might fall for Wii after all if they have a good Virtual Console.

PS - 17. That animated series was awesome and I always wondered why Sally and Rotor were never integrated into the games.

Kasumi-Astra @ Jun 27th 2006 3:58AM

Fools. Blast Processing was used for the first time in Sonic 2!

Blast Processing was only taken to mean an advantage in processing power because of the way they named it. There's no way Sega could suggest that the Genesis was more powerful than the SNES, because the SNES had considerably greater potential.
Blast Processing is a fancy name for the Genesis' ability for the CPU to be working on one part of the map while the graphics processor displays another. This was something that the SNES was not able to do, and greatly increased the distance that the map could scroll from one frame to the next. Of course, this was not clear from the way it was marketed with Sonic 2.

The spin dash could be added to Sonic 1 in the Saturn's Sonic Jam, although it only serves to make certain parts of the game easier. There are several secrets in the game that require the player to build up as much speed as possible to spin attack through walls, and using the spin dash only helps you on occasions

fluff-the-tiger @ Jun 27th 2006 9:40AM

"And really, marketing was all it was. The actual difference in CPU performance between Sega' 8MHz 68000 and Nintendo's 3.58MHz 65c816 was almost negligible."

Were you actually alive when both these systems were out?
The Genesis' processor was a LOT faster, however the SNES was loaded with custom graphics and sound processors which, once developers got to grips with them after a couple of years, allowed SNES games to be more technically impressive.

(see the constant slowdown of the first SNES games released, e.g. R-type)

Rootbeer @ Jun 27th 2006 11:09AM

"Blast Processing is a fancy name for the Genesis' ability for the CPU to be working on one part of the map while the graphics processor displays another. This was something that the SNES was not able to do"

I don't think the Answers.com explanation is quite accurate here. Both 16-bit consoles, and most other consoles for that matter, had the ability to store and process map data other than what was currently displayed on screen. To achieve faster scrolling, a system simply needs to have the memory bandwidth available to keep feeding fresh map tile data from ROM to the video memory.

"(see the constant slowdown of the first SNES games released, e.g. R-type)"

If you cite R-Type, I'll counter-cite F-Zero. Where was the slowdown in THAT SNES launch title?