As of Tuesday the 2nd of December 2008, Sonic Yoda will have closed. It's a shame it has to come to this because Sonic Yoda has become one of the most detailed and comprehensive Sonic fan-sites on the internet. So why would I make such an alarming decision? Well it's simple; I'm not happy with Sonic anymore. I cannot continue this hobbie of mine knowing what Sonic has become. When I play Sonic games today, I have to force myself to finish them. I don't enjoy them anymore. There's no love in my relationship with the little blue guy. What's made this worse is the release of Sonic Unleashed; another game which promised so much more than it could deliver. I've got to face the fact that Sonic will never be what I loved as a child. Werewolfs, multiple characters, ridiculous speed, guns, the end of the world and Eggman are all things I don't want to see anymore. What annoys me more about this than anything is the excuses that SEGA make. Whenever an interview occurs or a public statement is made, they're always hiding the fact that they don't know what they want Sonic to be anymore. This results in heavy rivalry in the fan community because people are told to like one thing when others grew up with another. The fans are confused and angry and all they want is a classic Sonic game with well designed, platform-based levels with multiple routes, lots of colour, happy music and Sonic as the only playable character going head-to-head with Dr. Robotnik. We can agree that Sonic games have never been perfect. But up until Sonic 3D's release the good outweighed the rubbish. We could deal with the terrible spin-offs when the main series was so great to play. When I saw Sonic in the early-to-mid nineties I was happy, excited and inspired. When I see Sonic today I get a great sense of nostalgia, but it's this nostalgia that clouds my vision and makes me believe there is still some magic left in Sonic's world. In reality I can't deny that Sonic Heroes was awful, Shadow the Hedgehog was embaressing, Sonic Adventure DX and Sonic Adventure 2 Battle were unecessary, Sonic the Hedgehog '06 was one of the worst games ever made and Sonic Unleashed has too many contrasting gameplay styles. It hasen't always been doom and gloom; Dimps almost became the new Sonic Team. The Advance series and Rush games were some of the best Sonic games we've ever played. Sonic Battle was an interesting spin-off and Sonic Pinball Party was actually pretty good. The PS2 and Wii versions of Unleashed are actually better than the X-Box 360 and Playstation 3 versions. A big 'thank you' needs to be directed to Dimps for almost saving Sonic from a shallow grave. But enough of Sonic for a moment. Sonic Yoda is closing but something will replace it. A few of you may have noticed a little site I've been running called MegaDriven. Myself and Roareye Black have been venting our SEGA-love in that little place and we've become quite proud of it. It's also becoming the main inspiration behind my new site; SEGADriven. SEGADriven will be a fusion between my Sonic and SEGA love to create a new site which will feature reviews for the SEGA games of old and the SEGA games of new, fan content, community news, merchandise updates and video features. I want to showcase my ever-growing interest into SEGA and it's brilliant history and really have some fun with it. I want to put all my focus into the positive aspects from SEGA's history and future and bring them together to have a site I will be generally interested in running. I've had enough of being shot down time and time again with every new Sonic release. There are bigger and better things in SEGA's library and I want people to know that. So this is farewell. Sonic Yoda opened in 2002 and became a information warehouse for Sonic the Hedgehog fans. It sailed the seven seas of the internet for 5 years and it made me some fantastic friends. It allowed me to help with the greatest Sonic event ever devised. It will always hold a special place in my heart as my longest running project. The hours I've slaved away making thumbnails and uploading SEGA's massive promotional artwork is quite scary to think about. This is my farewell... for now. Sonic Yoda May the Speed be With You 2002 - 2008 At the time of writing Sonic Yoda had 168, 408 unique hits from 13/04/2003 Special Thanks To... Sonicguy756/JSwage previously of Sonic Planet for helping me in the early years and being a huge inspiration Everyone who's kept Sonic HQ alive for so long. I've always wanted Sonic Yoda to be the size of your site ArchangelUK of Sonic Wrecks for being amazing at his job. I've never taken anything you've given me for granted. I will always be in your debt Dreadknux for being another great inspiration and a brilliant friend. I never thanked you for the Sonic Site Award but at the time, it made me incredibly happy when I heard my name on your radio show. I told all my family that I won that award ;) Also, without Dreadknux I wouldn't have met all the following (and amazing) people: Roareye Black, T-Bird, Violet, Darkspeeds, ArchangelUK, Kablooie!, Siriku, Urtheart and Vger. If there's anyone I missed I'm deeply sorry Everyone who attended Summer of Sonic 2008 and made it the best event of the year. The guy who asked for my autograph ruled. Oh, I was the guy dressed as Sonic :D 
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