Ok, so I’m talking to James today and he sends me some Japanese text in gaim. Since I’m on Windows, I didn’t have the Japanese font installed, so I figured.. hey, IE likes to bother me with annoying messages, lets make that japanese language pack box pop up! So I browse over to http://www.sega.co.jp and ….. THERE’S A NEW SONIC GAME COMING OUT AT THE END OF THE MONTH!!!
Ok. So I’m a little behind in gaming news. I haven’t read a gaming mag since the last issue of ODCM (Official Dreamcast Magazine, for the uninformed). So anyway, Sonic Heros brings back some of the characters from Knuckles’ Chaotix: Espio the chameleon (the bestest, coolest character), Charmey Bee (the smallest, annoyingest character), and Vector the Alligator (Gil calls him Lizardo).
So anyway, to ease my excitement, I busted out the Genesis + 32x and played Knuckles Chaotix as Espio, teamed with Heavy, Lizardo, and finally Knuckles. After a few hours I finally beat the game, but couldn’t get all the Chaos Rings. Those special stages get incredibly hard, and Game Genie isn’t compatible with 32X, so I can’t even cheat 🙁
Anyway, back to James. I’m chatting with him, and I blurt out:
welco
metot
henex
tlevel
and he’s all like “wtf? that’s gibberish!” and I’m all like “Hello!? Sega slogan!”. For the uninformed, or those of you too young to remember, Welco Metot Henex Tlevel, or spaced correctly: welcome to the next level, was Sega’s marketing campaign for the SegaCD, an addon for the Sega Genesis. You know, the thing before the Saturn, which is the thing before the Dreamcast. Yes, it’s a sad state of affairs, but some of the youngins out there aren’t familiar with the Genesis.
Anyway, while trying to prove my case to James, I took this pretty little picture with my phone:
It’s Sonic CD, with WELCO METOT HENEX TLEVEL proudly displayed on the front. I also found the most amazing livejournal entry ever while searching google for said phrase:
WELCO METOT HENEX TLEVEL
Google only turns up 9 pages that match Sega’s old advertising phrase. I want to be the tenth one. =)
Amazing. If google manages to find this, I suppose I’ll be number 14 or so!
-Sam