Hey again everyone, how’s your week going? Today is April first, but the merch we’re about to show off is 100% real – albeit pretty rare. (This time around, all you Sonic and Panzer Dragoon fans should prep yourselves!) Let’s take another look into the Box of Awesome and see what we find…

One for all the Sonic fans – this shirt skips werehogs, swords, and secret rings, and reminds us of a simpler time in Sonic’s history. I still remember spending hours with my younger brother to get all 14 emeralds in Sonic 3 & Knuckles…

Another shirt, this time for… Panzer Dragoon! (This one goes out to all you guys who asked to see merch from Japan) This is another girl’s shirt, with an almost mosaic-style image on the back that portrays the heroine of Panzer Dragoon Orta flying into battle. (Currently sideways to show off the art. The front is black and has the Panzer Dragoon Orta Logo on it.) Clumsy also recalls hearing that this design was done by a Japanese Tattoo artist, though we aren’t for sure which artist it was.

Now for what may be the best of the day – and probably among the coolest Panzer Dragoon merch I’ve seen – a collectible, highly detailed pewter figurine from Orta:

Tomorrow we continue our look at some of the nifty merchandise that’s going around the office – and maybe, even, out to some of our favorite fan sites…

Oh, and if you happen to be a member of the undead who loved the SEGA Saturn and also plays the blues (That’s pretty much everyone, right?), you’ll be sure to get a kick out of one of tomorrow’s pieces. I think that should be more than enough of a hint…

See you then!

Sometimes SEGA fans go above and beyond simply enjoying a game – and in some cases, they actually go so far that it both scares and impresses you at the same time. But between the two, we were definitely more impressed than anything else when SEGA forum user MrTaco shared his Overkill masterpiece with us – it is, by far, the coolest way to burn an Overkill soundtrack that we’ve ever seen.

Check it out:

“Just because [A soundtrack] doesn’t officially exist doesn’t mean you have to go without. Somewhat inspired by the ice cream truck scene, I decided it would be cool to put some of the music onto a tape, which I could then take and play in my car whenever I was out driving.

I decided wanted something that looked old. A nice black cassette. Which was actually quite hard to find, surprisingly. Somewhere along the line, someone decided that it would be totally rad if all tapes went transparent. I disagree.”

“Next…The case. Screw using the cardboard insert for the tape I found, especially the generic one from a blank tape. I want to make my own cover for it. In fact, I want to go all out. Make the whole thing like an official creation. Why the hell not?”

“Next was collecting the last of the music. Dug around inside the game disc hoping to find the music just floating around on its own, but no such luck. That meant having to do it the dirty way. Turn down the SFX and Movie volume, then play the level. First knife-throwing mutant I get to, just sit there. Shoot his knives. Again. And again. And again. Clip after clip plucking his projectiles from their path. Constantly wondering if I’d caught it all yet. Thinking it would have been a whole lot easier if I’d moved the TV back out of my room already so it was near the computer…

With my ideas collected, it was off to delve into Paint Shop Pro to rig a rough idea of how it should look. Then putting a proper thing together, refining it all. Several days and a bunch of printouts later, and it was done.”

You, sir, get the gold star of the week award. (And a free copy of the Overkill Pre-order Novel.) You can also read his original topic about how he put the tape together here.

Awesome work!