Just a small update: Got the rest of the Background/LCD pics that I was missing for ones I owned (Sonic Wrist Game, Sonic 3D Blast, Amazing Sonic, Sonic Underground). Still need to record footage for those last two. Also, could potentially have found someone who can get me a scanned copy of the Sonic Adventure manual, so that's exciting! Anywho, that's all from me for now.
Continue to enjoy your break, Itizso!
I appreciate the support and the eagerness to contribute! However, for everything that says "Pending" in my list, I am already working on getting good quality pictures/videos myself because I know I am able to. For the wrist game in particular, I'm planning to take the battery out to get a good picture of the artwork, since there's no way to shut it off on its own. I'm worried that a simple screenshot from one of my videos wouldn't be a clear enough picture for use in a virtual simulation, so I try to get pics separate from the videos.
That said, there are still quite a few things I'm not able to provide, like the Sonic Adventure Tiger Manual, or literally anything on Sonic Blast that isn't the manual lol.
I'll update my list and add the word "STILL NEEDED" to anything that I can't already provide myself. If you ever find a resource for something "STILL NEEDED," let me know! Thanks! :)
Heyo, it's me again! I just have a small, personal request I've been meaning to ask: sometime, would you be able to add the Gold/Red shell to the Hasbro Yahtzee? That was my favorite handheld as a kid, and it's how I found RetroFab in the first place. I had the gold version, so it would be cool if that could be an option to select.
Heyo! Just wanted to get an update out there on the collection and what I have available, and I figure I'd just make a comprehensive list that I can periodically edit as needed (for organization's sake + it just makes me happy to see a big list like this tbh).
All Sonic LCD Games:
Sonic the Hedgehog LCD Wrist Game - Tiger (1991) - I own this one!
- Manual: Available
- Background & LCD Art: Done
- Gameplay: Done
Sonic the Hedgehog - Tiger (1992) - COMPLETE!
- It's here on RetroFab :)
SegaSonic the Hedgehog Mini LCD Game - SEGA (1991, 1992) - COMPLETE!
- It's here on RetroFab :)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Tiger (1993)
- All resources already available elsewhere online
- Manual: Available
- Background Art: Done
- LCD Art & Gameplay: Done
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 - Tiger (1994, 2020)
- Manual: Available
- Background Art: Available
- LCD Art: Available
- Gameplay: Done
Amazing Sonic - Tiger / Tomy (1994) - I own this one!
- Manual: Available
- Background & LCD Art: Done
- Gameplay: Pending
Sonic Blast - Tiger / Tomy (1994)
- Manual: Available
- Background/LCD Art: STILL NEEDED
- Gameplay: STILL NEEDED
- This is probably the rarest one out of the bunch. The only recorded evidence of anyone even owning this game that I could find online is this YouTube video by RollingWithKevin, an electronic handheld collector.
- Manual: Provided here and here courtesy of RinShiro AKA Rin-Dev
- Background Art: Done
- LCD Art: Done
- Gameplay: Done
Sonic LCD Keychain - Tiger (1998)
- Manual: Available
- Background/LCD Art: STILL NEEDED
- Gameplay: STILL NEEDED
- I currently do not own this one
- Manual: Available
- Background Art: Done
- LCD Art: Done
- Gameplay: Done
Sonic Underground - Tiger (2000) - I own this one!
- Manual: Available
- Background & LCD Art: Done
- Gameplay: Pending
Sonic Adventure - Tiger (2000)
- Manual: STILL NEEDED
- Sr101 owns this one and has offered to contribute toward its inclusion in RetroFab.
McDonalds LCD Games (2003 - 2005)
- All resources already available elsewhere online
And that is every single existing Sonic LCD game. It's really cool to see that all of them, with the exception of only two (Sonic Blast, Sonic Keychain) are accounted for in one way or another and could be available at some point in the future if everything goes according to plan.
If I have any major updates on any of this info, I will make a brief new post in this thread so that Itizso can be notified, but otherwise I'll just edit this post as needed.
I've also gotten a hold of a couple other LCD games that aren't Sonic related --- some of which are pretty rare in their own right :) But I'll make a new thread for those when the time is right, I'm thinking.
Yeah!! I was so excited when I finally got it working! I even found a way to get a picture of all the lcd segments lit! Good pics of the packaging are here on SonicRetro, and there is no separate manual that comes with this game - the instructions are on the back of the packaging. So I guess that's everything for this game, too, whenever you have time to get around to it. I was going to wait to mention it because I didn't want to overwhelm you with requests since you're doing this all non-profit (and mostly on your own I'm guessing...?).
On that note, let me know if you ever need to get a patreon or something like that; I'd love to support you in more ways than just putting more work in your lap if possible. Thanks for all you do. I have more rare LCD games still to record that I'd love to be preserved, but I can wait if you need some time for other things first. Just let me know.
Whoah, looks great! Here is a video of me turning the LCD segments on a couple times at different angles. My Sonic R game has a decent number of scratches, so hopefully one of these comes out cleanly enough. (Maybe the page in the manual can help provide reference for areas that are obscured by scratches on mine...?) At any rate, if these aren't sufficient, let me know and I'll see if I can get anything better.
Also, for additional reference I am planning to make another video where I playtest the game and describe some of the details that might be hard to notice just by watching. I can let you know when I have that uploaded if you'd like.
Awesome work on Sonic for Tiger! I do have one small bit of feedback: in addition to moving forward by holding the "right" button down, normally you're also able to just tap it to instantly move forward one step, which comes in handy when they introduce lava in later levels. (Pretty sure movement by mashing "right" is still speed-capped the same way holding the button down is, though.)
Good to know! In that case, I just uploaded a video of Sonic Spinball gameplay, and made sure to record the music loop at least twice on its own with no other sound effects at the beginning.
As far as my current Sonic LCD collection, then, that's all the resources I have to share right now. If you ever need any specific extra footage / playtesting / sound samples for any of these in the future, just let me know.
In the meantime, thanks for all your hard work on this super cool project. Happy I've been able to contribute in my own little way so far.
Heyo again! Just a couple updates:
I have a new YouTube channel now for LCD gameplay footage! So far I have footage for Sonic 3, 3D Blast, and R.
I also have a manual for 3D Blast now, courtesy of RinShiro on Reddit ("Rin-Dev" on the Internet Archive).
In other news, I'm having some technical difficulties with two other LCD's... First, I got a hold of the Tiger Sonic Spinball one you were looking for. It turns on just fine, however, there are some errors with the lcd display --- when certain elements are lit, it will also light other unrelated elements. So I can still playtest the game for you and capture footage, but it will have these occasional errors. Good news is at least every one of these graphical errors is consistent and therefore predictable. If this already-existing video isn't enough footage, I can playtest any additional scenarios you might need --- just let me know.
Second, I have two new-condition LCDs of SegaSonic the Hedgehog, both of which don't work, and I'm looking for advice on what to do to see if they're repairable. They're very rare, so I'd love to capture footage of them if possible. I replaced the batteries in both, but neither will turn on aside from some beeping sounds to indicate that at least something is working. I took one to a guy who knew a guy who was willing to look at the circuit board, and he said he could get it working just fine except the lcd screen wouldn't display anything. So I don't think it's screen rot since I can't get anything to light up in the first place, right? Is this a known issue with LCDs? If you have any advice, please let me know. Thanks!
Heyo! So turns out there are a lot of Sonic LCD games out there, so I've decided to try and collect as many as I can! Instead of making a new topic for each game individually, I figured it would probably be easier to pool all the resources I am able to contribute into this one. I'm especially trying to gather resources that I currently cannot find anywhere else on the internet. Hoping this helps!
So far I own...
Sonic 3 (Tiger) (The 2020 Hasbro re-release)
https://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_3_(LCD_game)
Sonic 3D Blast (Tiger 1997) (The original and not the pocket arcade version)
https://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_3D_Blast_(LCD_game)
Sonic R (Tiger 1998)
https://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_R_(LCD_game)
SEGA Sonic the Hedgehog (SEGA 1992)
https://info.sonicretro.org/SegaSonic_the_Hedgehog_(LCD_game)
I'm currently working on capturing gameplay footage for these four. Manuals already exist on sonicretro.org, except for 3D Blast, but unfortunately I don't own the manual for that one. Hoping to track one down.
I'm also having trouble getting good enough quality scans of the background art, since there are imperfections in the clear plastic window that get in the way. Would you recommend taking the handheld apart, taking the art out and scanning that individually? If I can't find a better way, that's the next thing I will probably try.
At any rate, here's where I will post my resources. So far, I only have things I've found elsewhere on the internet.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1AjNdy9dd9TB8NZv0jnRKL4PTdZ73C550?usp=dri...
OK, the most useful resourceful reference then (aside from the manual) would be enough gameplay footage. That makes sense. It's nice that these two videos you posted cover the majority of the game. However, I'm guessing most of the remaining useful gameplay footage would involve trying all sorts of things in the different levels/menus. For example: What happens if you don't jump over this ledge? What happens if you die to this boss? Do boss attack patterns have any consistent pattern to them (or is it all random)? What do those password codes do? What do all the menus look like? All that sort of stuff that doesn't typically all happen within one single playthrough of the game unless you had these things in mind while playing.
One other thing that might prove an issue is that in every video I can find, the footage doesn't show what buttons are being pressed. So without another reference, I feel like a lot of guesswork would be needed.
I have been reaching out to some people who might be able to help provide more reference material, so far with little luck. I know scans of the manual would be an amazing place to start. Aside from that, let me know if there's any other necessary material you think you might need so I can pass that along to anyone I end up reaching out to. Here's hoping we can get this amazing game preserved before it becomes lost media!
Are you at all open to simulating any dot-matrix LCD games? Specifically, the incredibly rare Sonic Adventure LCD game by Tiger --- I would see if I can reach out to someone who has it and ask if they can provide reference material. It would be amazing to see that game preserved in this way.
At any rate, this has got to be one of the coolest and highest quality game preservation projects out there. There is so much respect for this important part of video game history that can be found here. You have my full support.
