Review – The History of Sonic the Hedgehog
Overview
Type: Art BooksPros:
+ Extensive coverage of everything Sonic
+ Tons of little known facts and trivia
+ Includes a fun history of Sega
Cons:
- Overall design is a tad boring
The History of Sonic the Hedgehog is a hardcover tribute to one of the most beloved video game characters ever. Covering the expansive history of games, characters, spin-offs, and even a few Sonic cameos, this serves as an encyclopedia for any fan of the blue blur.
Cover
The cover of The History of Sonic the Hedgehog is simple and blue, adorned with a giant gold ring and ‘old’ Sonic on the front and ‘new’ Sonic on the back. The inside of the heavy hardbound cover feature outlines of various designs from Sonic’s cast of characters.
Build
The build of this book is nearly perfect. Great quality hardcover and thick stock paper throughout, but the binding itself is visible between most pages and gives you a sense that it’s only a matter of time before it may not want to close cleanly. I may be alone in that skepticism, but it definitely detracts from the sense of quality of the book.
Design
The design of the book is encyclopedia in nature. White backgrounds, filled with pictures or digital images of everything from characters to toys to vending machines, cram the book with 300 pages of content. If there is a flaw to this book, it’s the lack of concept art or sketches which many fans would appreciate. Instead, there’s little to find outside of final renders, print, or physical works.
Content
As mentioned above, this is basically an encyclopedia of Sonic information and history. The book is divided fairly evenly between history, games, and characters. The history covers the inception of Sega as an entertainment entity in the 1940s through the demise of the Dreamcast and beyond. Every Sonic game is given a brief nod through the most recent appearances of the blue blur in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario & Sonic at the 2012 London Olympic Games. Every character is profiled from the tiniest of Chao babies through the Big-gest of cats. There’s even a small section dedicated to small cameos of Sonic characters in other games, such as Shenmue and Phantasy Star Online. Think of this as much as a history of Sonic from a business perspective as anything else. The history of the character itself is limited to a few pages in the front and not mentioned again.
Value
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Being that this is a hardcover title, and that it is done in coordination with Pix’n Love, the suggested retail price of $49.99 makes sense. That’s $10 over the standard softcover books Udon usually releases and in line with the normal hardcover price. This is a one-shot run aimed solely at the biggest fans of Sonic the Hedgehog, so it can easily be justified as a purchase. For general fans and art book collectors in general, the price is a bit steep for such a dedicated content source, but there is little chance of regret once you dive into the wealth of material covered in The History of Sonic the Hedgehog. While we grade on MSRP, The History of Sonic the Hedgehog is currently around $31 at Amazon and that’s well below the must-buy price for this book.
- Related:
- Art Books
- Ash Paulsen
- Udon Entertainment
