Sonic X Shadow Generations: Fighters Have Generations, Too
Sonic X Shadow Generations: Fighters Have Generations, Too
A progress report on a sibling release.
Things are moving along nicely with our overhauled Sonic X Shadow Generations statue now that the final production sample has arrived (it looks great!) and current sits on the other side of the country within the well-fortified walls of Sega of America HQ. We’ll have more to report on that front very soon, but for the moment, why not give Sonic and Shadow a breather (even the world’s fastest hedgehogs need the occasional rest) by checking in on a sibling release: Virtua Fighter 5.
The Collector’s Edition of our physical release for Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown includes a great-looking statue of Akira and... Akira? Yes, riffing on the “generations” concept that’s baked into Sonic X Shadow Generations right there in the title, our VF5 statue pays tribute to the legendary fighting series’ evolution and history by putting Akira side by side with himself. One Akira is the guy who headlines Virtua Fighter 5, while the other is the blocky polygon Akira who featured in the original Virtua Fighter more than 30 years ago.
The old-school Akira looks pretty retro, right? But this statue is a testament to the fact that Virtua Fighter was cutting-edge fare in 1993: No one had ever seen martial artists move so fluidly in full, immersive 3D before. The game’s graphics may have been made up of obvious polygons, but watching them move around in high resolution at a silky-smooth 60fps (even during gameplay!) was mind-blowing. Pair that with Virtua Fighter’s intricate yet intuitive combat and great roster of characters and it’s pretty easy to see why this series immediately established itself as a premier fighting franchise.
And the production sample that recently arrived at the LRG offices (and has already motored along on its way to Sega for review) does both fighters justice. The sculpts, proportions, and surface details look fantastic. The colors are perfect. And the paint details are... well, they’re almost there. We’ve requested a few minor tweaks to the statue that should be super easy for the manufacturer to sort out. Retro Akira needs the placement of his eyes shifted slightly, while modern Akira needs to have his eyebrows threaded (making this straighter and less shaggy), and the text characters on his belt aren’t quite in the correct font. That’s all, though! Once those adjustments have been made—assuming Sega doesn’t spot any other problems—the VF5 statue should be good to go into full manufacturing, which means it will be in hand in time for its estimated shipping date... and compromise-free. Don’t you love it when a plan comes together?