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SEGA Fan Chronicles Mk. III: Chapter 2: TrackerTD

I know it's been away a while; ready to kick some butt down in Wild Canyon? ...Yeeeeah well before you do that why not read up on the newest SFC, with SEGA Bits' own TrackerTD!

Hello and welcome back to another edition of the SEGA Fan Chronicles, where YOU, yes YOU are the Feature. I know it's been a little while, after all something called E3 got in the way. Oh and life. Pesky little thing. Anyway, we're back for another edition of the SFC; this time we have TrackerTD with us. Lifelong SEGA Fan and creator of the This is Saturn retrospective series that is hosted at our pals over on SEGA Bits. We'll be discussing his hopes, dreams, innermost Vocaloid secrets...ok well not like that entirely but you got the gist of it! 

So then...without any further ado...GET READY

SEGA FAN CHRONICLES MK. III, CHAPTER 2: TRACKERTD

QUICK FACTS 

  • Name: Liam 'TrackerTD' Ashcroft
  • Favorite SEGA Console: SEGA Saturn
  • Favorite SEGA Game(s): Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Fighting Vipers, Jet Set Radio, Streets of Rage II...(he has quite the list hahaha)

CONTACT INFO

  • Main Site: https://trackertd.wordpress.com/
  • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TrackerTDGaming
  • Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tracker_TD

As customary of this series, how were you introduced to SEGA for the first time?

My first SEGA experience was unsurprisingly Sonic; specifically, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle on Gamecube. I'd pretty much missed SEGA's era of consoles, with my parents buying me a PS1 as my first console and Gamecube as my second; whoops! Anywho, I adored SA2:B, and from there it spiralled into a long-time love of the Sonic franchise, and later SEGA as a whole.

As mentioned briefly above, you have a a series called 'This is Saturn', a retrospective video series where you discuss and/or play some of your favorite SEGA titles, peripherals, etc. How did that all come about and what spurred you on to make this series?

This is a fun story; a few years back, SEGABits were celebrating their 3rd anniversary, and they held a contest to win some nifty stuff like a SEGA Genesis. I decided to enter the contest by reviewing some SEGA tat, and so I reviewed the Master System Converter for Mega Drive. I ended up winning the contest, and from there it sort of went like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; I got invited to produce reviews for the site! Since A.J. Rosa's superb series My Life With SEGA already acts as a general SEGA review show, it was suggested I should have a specific focus; there were a few ideas, I almost did a show focused on the SEGA Model 2 arcade board, for example! Eventually I conceptualised "Life on Saturn;" then since the title sounded too close to A.J's show, we went with This is Saturn, after the whole "This is Cool" slogan the Saturn had in Japan.

As for what spurs me on, it's honestly my love of SEGA, and all the feedback and support I get. SEGABits has really given me a platform to share my thoughts with the SEGA community, and I have an absolute blast reading all the comments, recommendations and feedback on each episode. It's a great feeling to be producing something so many people enjoy, and I hope to keep it going for as long as I can!

I'm sure you have quite the collection of SEGA games and consoles (I've seen a few pictures myself hahaha), so let me ask you this: out of your collection what game/console/peripheal/assessory you treasure the most and why?

I'll have to go for my copy of Sonic Adventure 2; on Dreamcast this time! I actually donated my copy of SA2:B to charity a few years ago, so I got the Dreamcast version in its place. What really makes it special is the autograph on it; that of Mr. Yuji Naka himself! Meeting Mr. Naka was literally a childhood dream come true, and it's always a moment I'll treasure. Having my copy of SA2 signed by him really is quite special to me. 

My Model 1 Japanese Saturn comes very close however! And I do love my modded SEGA Mega Drive... oof, so many choices!

What is your fondest memory of being a SEGA fan? 

Another tough choice; Summer of Sonic 2011, when I met Mr. Naka would be an obvious one, but the rest of that day was... a bit pants, actually. I think it may well be Summer of Sonic 2008 though, the year I won the art contest; it was technically the first time I met many considerable figures in the Sonic community, such as Kevin Eva\AAUK, and it was also the first time I got to meet other people, in the flesh, who cared as much about Sonic and SEGA as I did; my hometown is almost entirely devoid of SEGA fans, apparently. I've had so many memories as a SEGA fan though, so it's a tough choice!

What is that one sought-after piece of SEGA merch you want to get your hands on?

One thing I'd love is the skeletal "This is Cool!" SEGA Saturn. Such a beautiful variant, with that classic slogan emblazoned over the top; shame it's so expensive!

Knowing how much you are a fan of the various IPs SEGA has created, which out of those you're dying to see a sequel/reboot of?

I think Jet Set Radio has the most potential for a sequel, much as I love the likes of Space Harrier. Jet Set Radio's my favourite Dreamcast game, and to see something with that kind of style again would be magical; hey, Splatoon managed it, and that's doing pretty damn well, so I'd be down for more of the GGs!

How did you first jump into/ get your start the online SEGA community? 

I suppose I can consider my time with Sonic Wrecks my proper start; when I was younger I was on a ton of websites, most of them shite, but I feel like Wrecks was when I really began integrating with the SEGA community frequently; and it was sure as hell more fun than those other sites. Again, I can't thank AAUK enough for the opportunities Wrecks/Last Minute Continue provided, it's such a great site and I owe it a lot.

You're a BIG Vocaloid fan from your Twitter alone hahaha. So obviously I'm going to ask; favorite Vocaloid(s) and respective song(s) from him/her/each of them?

This question's just harsh! I'd say Miku's a kind of obvious choice, much as I like her, so I'll go with Luka; as for favourite song, Just Be Friends is engraved into my brain ever since I played it in Project Diva Extend.

...Electric Angel by Miku too though - This is too hard, argh! 

Do you ever think you would want to attend one of those Vocaloid live concerts if you had the chance?

Oh aye, definitely; alas, the guys behind them seemingly hate Europe, so I doubt we'll ever get them. Maybe I can travel out to one someday...

Ok this one is a little more personal, but I'm dying to know. I want to ask you about how you made those SEGA 3D diaromas, if you're gonna make any more, & how you came up with that idea? *By the way, the Streets of Rage one is my favorite!

The dioramas were an idea I had upon finding Crocotile 3D ( http://crocotile3d.com/) and just thinking "oh shit, Green Hill Zone." I was only going to do Sonic at first, but then I was just like "ah sod it, I'm on a roll." Streets of Rage was really fun to work on in particular! I'll have to upload more pictures of the models sometime... as for any more, I'm tempted; I was thinking Shinobi personally! May also do Space Harrier, but that one seems a wee bit obvious for something like the dioramas given it was impressively 3D-like already!

As I said, the models - basically the backgrounds - were made in Crocotile, then I added characters, logos and so forth in with Photoshop. 

To send us off, anything else you want to mention that we didn't discuss already?

I have but one thing to say; if anyone wants to donate Rockman 8 to This is Saturn, get in touch, haha! 

~~~~~~

Another SFC is in the books; thank you so much for reading. Please, if you have the time, go check out his This Is Saturn series at this link, while you can see his newest video on Puyo Puyo Sun below. For the next edition I want to change it up. Instead of having a well-known/semi-known personality I want to make it more grounded. That's right; the next couple of SFC features will be from the RS community itself. If you are interested drop a comment in the appropiate section below or let us know on the forums. Until next time.

21st June, 2015 - 00:16 GMT TCB Article viewed 7894 times 0 Comments

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