Rare Sonic Games That Never Left Japan

[@TheMentok]

Sonic Eraser is the first game in the Sonic Storybook Series. This is canon

[@destoryah]

Wait, ain't the main bad guy in sonic and the secret rings named Erazor Djinn?

[@P-P-Panda]

@@destoryahit all comes full circle

[@ThootenTootinTabootin]

​@@destoryahmy god

[@penguinomega5672]

Me when i get da Miyoo and pirate all da sonic games

[@JamesChessman]

Tails looks beautiful in the Popcorn Shop sign, all shiny and clean. This is how Tails looks in my heart. He looks like the universal love of all my cats in my life.

[@JamesChessman]

Sonic looks great in the Cotton Candy sign, he is pure aqua blue, and the Tornado etc. is all shiny clean. Flying by a rainbow. The series was originally about such artwork of beautiful characters, not really anymore...

[@tobexomega]

When I was a little kid, I remember I went with my mom to a mall and when we passed the arcade section to go to the bathroom I saw a Sonic Athletics machine there, I didn't play it but I have no idea how a big japanese exclusive arcade game managed to end up in South America.

[@kirbistNoor]

WHAT BUT THATS IN JOYOPOLIS TOKYO ONLY?!,!,!?!,!!!?!??!?!?!?!

[@horacesfamily4799]

Saw that in China too

[@septum_funk]

when the machines are decommissioned they are likely auctioned off for other arcade businesses to pick up

[@blakewatson33]

After finding out about it I’m really into SegaSonic the Hedgehog, and it making a return to the public, maybe on mobile. Glad you represented it, and it was a great video!

[@TheMentok]

I think that's probably the best way to re-release it. Swiping on a mobile screen might be the best way to simulate the trackball controls. A regular controller may make the game a bit too easy

[@poweroffriendship2.0]

When I first heard of "Sonic Eraser", this makes me think of Erazor Djinn from _Sonic and the Seven Rings_ where he got dissed by the blue blur for having fake Jordans. I can see where he got his name from.

[@therealseanw.stewart2071]

Yes, and it also reminds me of a classic romhack of the first game that I remember from way back in the day, called Sonic Erazor. It still slaps.

[@TheMentok]

See? It's canon

[@SonicSony45]

Before we had Robotnik’s Puyo Puyo Machine we had Sonic Eraser

[@SmokeTheHorsehog]

I knew of Tails Sky Patrol for a few years, but I didn't know it was originally Japan-exclusive. And you also missed the bonus fact that Tails Sky Patrol got three different comic adaptations. 1. The anthro Witchcarters (Bearenger, Carrotia and Hauke-Wolf) were villains in Archie's Sonic Universe #83, and all three of them got more modernized redesigns. 2. Witchcart herself was reimagined as Wendy Naugus in Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog #276, obviously related to Ixis Naugus. 3. Tails Sky Patrol was much more accurately adapted, without any radical changes, in IDW's Tails's 30th Anniversary Special, specifically in a story entitled Flying Off the Rails.

[@TheMentok]

I thought about covering those comics but for the sake of time just kept it moving. I still one day want to cover the Archie comics and IDW comics

[@ggbetz]

​@@TheMentokplease do!

[@toastedtoast275]

I see you everywhere how the fu-

[@SmokeTheHorsehog]

@toastedtoast275 shut up I don't want to hear another person say how they see me everywhere. Honest to God, it is annoying.

[@carso1500]

​@@TheMentokyes please

[@andrewfaulconer52]

3:20 That's because Sonic's original Japanese backstory that came with Sonic 1, also takes place in a storybook, so that is probably the reason why, this is a Japanese only game that came out shortly after Sonic 1 after all. Sonic's original Japanese backstory probably inspired the storybook games to be what they are.

[@carso1500]

Man Sonic's original backstories both in the japan and América were wild

[@Zcott1]

I'm a certified Sonic Lorenerd and I had never heard of the cotton candy machine! Neat, thank you for that!

[@juiceala]

Just a correction, SegaSonic Arcade was not Japan exclusive as we did have it here in multiple local arcades, I played it as a kid on real hardware... there's a very common misconception that a game is released exclusive to Japan when many of these games did come to other Asian territories, often with full English support like with Pepsiman, another game infamous for bring Japan exclusive that we did get here.

[@Granditamias]

Neat stuff. I’ve never played any of these games aside from the game gear ones for SADX. It would be cool if SegaSonic the Hedgehog got released with actual joystick controls. But it is cool that Mighty and Ray have taken on lives of their own after Sonic Mania and other media and merch.

[@TheMentok]

An official re-release of SegaSonic the Hedgehog doesn't sound like a bad idea. I think most of the challenge comes from the trackball so they'd probably have to work around that.

[@HEADBOY_PHENOMENON]

​@@TheMentok I might be misremembering, but I could've sworn SegaSonic the Hedgehog was meant to debut internationally with Gems Collection.

[@LordM46]

Most impressive, I learned a lot here, great video mentok.

[@TheMentok]

Thanks! I know some of these games are well-known but some interesting trivia to discuss regardless

[@ShinGoji1987Official]

Great video man, learned a ton. I like how in the Sonic Police game he looks somewhat how he looks today. Also I like how my man Tails unofficially went up against Disney characters lol

[@Sly88Frye]

3:34 don't forget the villain from Sonic and the secret Rings is Erazor Jinn. Combining eraser with razor and the first Storybook game is Sonic Eraser. Wow!

[@tomnuke9122]

The witchcart laugh made me LOL for some reason

[@AsherCrissman-m7i]

Fun fact:sonic 3's blue spears theme was actually one of many songs that Sega could use if a game didn't have a soundtrack yet.and the bike spears theme probably dates back 1991.

[@KittyBackpack]

"Sonic Eraser verses theme sounds like nails on chalkboard" Sonic Spinball options theme: am i a joke to you?

[@amelialonelyfart8848]

I kinda like Spinball's OST for how strange it is tbh

[@KittyBackpack]

@@amelialonelyfart8848 it was lol

[@Its_bloon.yt2011]

9:09 I once played this at a gaming history thing, back in 2019. It was easier with a joystick tbh.

[@Ilyes_jetters]

good thing sonic isnt bomberman and dont have 829289 games exclusive to japan

[@ggbetz]

Donkey Kong too....when you count game and watch!😢

[@gunma747j]

WakuWaku Sonic Patrol Car and CosmoFighter are my first experiences of Sonic Series! there were used to have a lot on them in HongKong but they were gone after renovations in local kids arcades. Thanks to these 2 also with Mushiking and Virtual-on Oratorio Tangram made me a SEGA fan forever

[@Xxblade17]

They need to bring some over

[@therealseanw.stewart2071]

I remember most of these, mainly Tails Sky Patrol when it was released overseas with Sonic Gems Collection. Always thought the popcorn machine was cool too!

[@logancrawley2634]

the sonic pop corn machine is insane! that would have been so cool as a kid in the 90s

[@destoryah]

So Sonic does have a golf game, and another thing he had in common with Mario.

[@raelogan]

Oh man, the SonicCult shout out was such a throwback.

[@Goyxrd3]

This Channel is amazing I’m so glad this showed up in my recommended!

[@gScal]

The Mentok!🎉

[@MATTY110981]

In the mid 90’s Hamleys toy store on London’s Regent Street use to have a Sega Arcade in the basement. They had a copy of SegaSonic The Hedgehog imported from Japan. None of the text in the game or on the cabinet had been translated.

[@TheFoxFromSplashMountain]

I remember playing Sky Patrol as part of the Gems Collection as a kid and never being able to get past the first level, lol. I was always intrigued whenever I looked at the manual in the gallery and read that it was only available in Japanese. Idk why, I guess it made me feel like I was playing this really rare, special game.

[@kellyashfordtrains2642]

I never knew about any of these games, except in a magazine, Sonic the Comic.

[@Danyplaysboblox]

Fun fact: while is there a PC version of Sonic Eraser, it’s only exclusive in Japan, and I’m unsure if someone did find it or not, it’ll be cool to see it internationally

[@Swirlybotiscool]

I like it when jerry just covering his ears because of sonic eraser 😂😂😂

[@Rune6969]

wait you play DDR too?! didnt think i could like you more but here we are :3

[@Leafie1205]

I’ve seen the Sonic athletes game in North America. It just doesn’t have specific character names above it and I think it goes by a different title. You can pick any character from any machine and do an Olympic level. It’s at Dave & Busters

[@MohamedAlhadi-q7u]

Sometimes I still recall the shadow shoot boss theme in my head

[@Groomsman]

You know how Gaming Historian made a video about how Mario characters got their names? You should do one about how Sonic characters got theirs

[@TheMentok]

This would be my shortest video ever lmao. There's some cool trivia behind Amy, Vector, Rouge, and Shadow's names though.

[@spenserbeckerszs]

Not only that, I do believe that one of the DLCs for “Sonic X Shadow Generations” is an old character design for Shadow that serves as a skin for him in the game. In fact, I do believe their was a bit in advertising that explains the origins of it too.

[@massiveprogressive9488]

I live in the UK and we had a game shop that had the Sonic Popcorn Shop machine in it. I was very young, I remember playing the machine, but not how it exactly played, but I assume, now watching this video, it was probably a Japanese imported machine.

[@ggbetz]

I knew about a few of these, but not all! Why does Australia get all the good stuff, Sega? Did they send you a few Koalas back in the 80s?

[@CreatorSlashDarma]

Dude i remember playing that sonic police arcade game when i'm in some arcade thing. I didn't know that game was an japanese exclusive

[@paolaanimator]

I personally would love to see the chao game, cotton candy arcade game, and popcorn arcade game to come back! ❤ Especially the chao game, it would be a perfect mobile game, pet raising simulator, but with modern graphics since smartphones has better tech now.

[@Bee_Boy1]

14:19 it looks like you would move the tornado around clouds to collect it to make Cotten candy which would be cool

[@mbe102]

@13:06 almost spit my freaking out I was laughing so hard!

[@chrisj617]

I'd heard of Sonic Drift before thanks to a preview in a magazine at the time (GamePro and/or EGM), but all of the other games were new to me.

[@F1ghtGam3r]

Briefly speaking of flickys, I used to think Bean the dynamite was a flicky

[@syuhaelailabdad7500]

0:00 Panty & Stocking With Garterbelt : allow us to introduce our selfs

[@maxisenberg9093]

You know youre a big fan of old school sonic when you already knew all of them lol

[@shay3878]

8:10 hey! I've seen that guy before, they call him The Drink right? Whatchu mean "Trunks"?!

[@Mikeyc1111]

I’ve played that Sonic at the Olympics game. At a Dave and Busters that’s close to me🤔

[@TheMentok]

The one in the video specifically? There is a different arcade machine for Mario and Sonic that I've seen before in the US but it is slightly different from Sonic Athletics. It's called "MARIO & SONIC AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES TOKYO ARCADE EDITION". I believe Athletics is exclusive to Joypolis but I could be wrong.

[@Mikeyc1111]

I could’ve sworn I remembered a lack of Mario characters and it threw me off, but I’m maybe mixing it up with the iOS Sonic Olympics game. It’s been a while. You might be right🤔🤔

[@The_Gaming_Bristolian]

I remember playing SegaSonic the Hedgehog as a Kid in a UK Arcade around 94 or 95 (am that Old!). Not sure if it Officially released over here or if the Arcade owner got it on Import. It remained me a lot of Marbel Madness, the old Atari game.

[@JaxRetroGamer]

The song in Sonic Eraser is actually good.

[@pierrelewis6819]

To have a Mii costume for Sonic, within Mario kart 8, and deluxe. It makes sense to me a bit more.

[@Ixapter]

I really like Sonic's spaceship. 😀

[@robbyrobot3303]

Sega kept making popcorn macines at least into the early 2000s. Every day I see the Naomi cart for Anpanman Popcorn Maker on yahoo auctions when I'm looking for arcade hardware.

[@P-P-Panda]

12:53 I snorted way too hard 😭 mans livin’ life

[@TomTheyy]

0:00 Rumours? With Project Sonic they literally mentioned getting letters from NiGHTS players in Japan asking who Sonic was.

[@ExtremeWreck]

Ok, I kinda knew we Americans loved Sonic more than Japan, but HOW THE HECK DOES THAT HAPPEN!?

[@TomTheyy]

@@ExtremeWreck A Japanese character explicitly designed for the West wasn't that big in Japan?

[@l3rvn0]

4:40 Sonic Drift was actually really good, better that 2 in a few ways, people just didn't... drift, its an actual mechanic that makes the game a lot of fun Thinking that this was the problem, they made the drift kind of unnecessary in the sequel, that its a lot more focused on the itens like Mario Kart

[@Celment]

i love the sonic eraser theme!

[@Moneytakerbaby]

God when I saw Sonic Golf I got excited lol. If only.... they made a tennis one but not golf :( But its cool there actually was a mobile sonic golf. gotta see if its playable on pc now!

[@mekman4]

Great Stuff!

[@evan2902]

Betcha the Cotton Candy machine's minigame was some sort of Afterburner clone

[@WaterKirby1994]

Sonic Drift 1 wasn't Japan Exclusive by that logic Gems Collection was GameCube Exclusive because the US never saw the PS2 port. Sonic Drift saw some release in Europe. Also I can only assume the cotton candy was made from clouds.

[@leonoliveira8652]

GBA Shadow sprite with a mcfriggin glock. And it's official. Impressive.

[@bluetarantulaproductions6179]

Sega Mega Net almost sounds like a prototype for Sega Channel

[@Mer.Saloon]

I'm surprised you didn't bring up the hidden SAtam Robotnik sprites in SEGASONIC arcade.

[@YamiyugiXenith]

Cool video!

[@СергейДобровольский-ь4ф]

I just unlocked a core memory with waku waku sonic patrol car, and now i have a question. How the f did it end up in the middle of siberia?

[@Mitsuraga]

Wow, and here I thought Shadow Shoot was just a joke title screen for Shadow the Hedgehog made up by the So This Is Basically guys.

[@Sly88Frye]

12:39 chili popcorn? What the hell? Why not the normal three flavors? Butter, cheese, or caramel.

[@devinsauls3568]

Sonic & Silver are Future Trunks confirmed 😅

[@dravenmartinez6311]

Actually segasonic cosmo fighter did leave japan, it had a Australian version with full on English dub.

[@mscrystalhood]

I’m pretty sure I played Sonic athletics at Dave and Bustes or smth

[@WeOnlyEatSoup]

Sonic over Mario, EVERY DAMN DAY!

[@dshaynietheawesome]

I swear I've seen the sonic olympic machines over here im from australia by the way

[@sinueeplayz2285]

They did the same with eggman the game named eggmans mean bean machine for the Megadrive

[@JaxRetroGamer]

Sonic Cosmo Fighter released in Australia as well.

[@TheMentok]

11:45

[@ExtremeWreck]

Ehhh, to be fair, Australia isn't even in the Western world, they just have a Western culture. They're settled in the far East alongside the rest of Oceania(which includes a bit of Indonesia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, etc. & most countries DO have an Eastern culture to it), so it's still an Eastern exclusive game & I feel that the Aussie release was far more limited in comparison. Fite me. I will die on this hill.

[@amythepandemonium3673]

all of them were new to me

[@HIPHOPHER]

I like how we just hack shit! XD “don’t hold out Japan!”

[@retrobear9367]

Hey now...this was the 90s. He's still Robotnic.

[@minimalbstolerance8113]

Not in Japan. In Japan he was known as Eggman right from the start. He was renamed to Robotnik for the US and Europe releases up until the Dreamcast games semi-retconned the situation as Robotnik being his real name and Eggman being his nickname. Rumour has it that Sega renamed Eggman in Western markets because they were worried that the Beatles might sue because of a character called "the Eggman" mentioned in the lyrics of "I am the Walrus."

[@retrobear9367]

@@minimalbstolerance8113 interesting. that does make total sense though

[@SonicTheFantastic]

SegaSonic Cosmo Fighter was actually given an English version, yet just like some others here, it was never officially released. Look it up online if you want to know more about it and play it.

[@TheMentok]

I believe that version was the one that ended up in Australia and then never officially released anywhere else. Details seem pretty scarce

[@Sly88Frye]

4:24 I still think that the comparison to Super Mario Kart is unfair though. This is coming from somebody who grew up in the 90s and started out with Super Mario Kart when it comes to racing games and I had only found out about Sonic drift thanks to Sonic mega collection on the GameCube in the early to mid 2000s. But honestly I wouldn't even say that Sonic drift is a rip-off or even deserves to be compared to Super Mario Kart in the way that people have been comparing it. It's a racing game yes. But it's nothing like Super Mario kart. The style of the game is more like those classic racing arcades like Pole position except you have a few items from Sonic like red for speed boosting, yellow springboard to bounce up in the air, and blue gives you the invincibility star thing and yeah I guess you can make comparisons to Mario in general with Sonic's invincibility power up being a bunch of stars but still Super Mario Kart besides the fact that it's a racing game which is not a fair comparison

[@dudujencarelli]

Music from Knuckles' Chaotix during popcorn Sonic minigame? Was that track also composed years before the 32X title?

[@rajenthiransanmugam1491]

THEY CALL HIM THE QUILL A DEFENSE OF SORTS?

[@charlesdeliberis239]

why we never gotten the sega modem here in the usa is beyond me

[@F1ghtGam3r]

U should collab w/ GameApologist or Johnny Vector ❤

[@Parker-h6m]

sega got away with only releasing sonic drift 2 in other places but not sonic drift

[@F1ghtGam3r]

Does this make Takashi Kusao, Sonic's first voice actor?

[@TheMentok]

It does! He actually voiced him three times Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car, Cosmo Space Fighter, and SegaSonic the Hedgehog.

[@Natureza09-c2s]

Ok. It's time for Japan release the lost NeoGeo prototypes are already in ROMs up there hidden by Japanese Club Devs.

[@ekdavey]

I enjoyed the video so I checked your channel out... most popular upload was SEVENTEEN years ago!!! My brother, I admire your dedication

[@oldfan4049]

What a neat video))

[@QuantomX64]

Why did you say "ew" to chili flavored popcorn? that sounds amazing!

[@MagillanicaLouM]

Tbh I still don't buy the "Sonic's not popular in Japan" schtick either. Maybe less so compared to elsewhere, sometimes a game series just really blows up in an unexpected area, like Latin America with SNK games. But if the series was never popular at all in Japan i don't think they would've seen it as worth continuing past genesis at all. Especially with the divide between SoJ and SoA in the 90s. I do recall hearing of a Japanese exclusive poll for Sega fans a few years ago for most popular Sega character and the top 3 were Sakura Shinguji of Sakura Wars (makes sense given the series primarily Japan only history) OpaOpa from Fantasy Zone (i got no clue on this one can only assume the game is a much larger cultural hit over there, and that he was another somewhat attempt at a mascot before sonic so respect) and Sonic himself at number 1. Then of course you have the whole thing with Korone being the new series "ambassador" PR person online. When ppl still push this narrative, it really feels like it's just some early 00s statement that got taken as fact cause no one cared to look deeper and the folks who grew up hearing it are the ones running the fandom rn. But that's just me i guess.

[@Christophertheutuber]

Nice

[@AfroRyan]

That is not actually the only Sonic Eraser background song. There is a different song in the puzzle mode...it is not nearly as bad...but it's still quite awful in its own right.

[@spinballpac-man]

Actually, you get Curry flavoured popcorn on the game, not Chilli.

[@Fanof_OSRS]

subbing now!

[@zheta42]

“Tails’ (noun)” is just read as Tails. I’m not sure Tails’s would even be correct since the nickname refers to the multiple tails that Tails has.

[@zariaalhajmoustafa2573]

‏‪0:00‬‏ is that you or some British guy😂😂😂

[@F1ghtGam3r]

What does waku waku mean? I remember playing an SNK fighting game called waku waku 7

[@ghoulchan7525]

From what i know. It means something like Exciting.

[@maxisenberg9093]

Is this video a repost? Only from t days ago and tour disclaimer mentions some games have been released in thr west...but thst was YEARS ago. Sky patrol for example is on gamecube

[@Taydar]

Who says Sonic isn't popular in Japan?

[@lordrealashemtov5818]

segasonic the hedgehog