The same argument can be made of Sonic’s other outings as well (tennis and the Olympics), having Sonic do anything at a slow pace seems ridiculous. Maybe that’s why Mario is so much better than Sonic. If you start with a fat plumber, anything he does will seem terrific! Start with a super-fast hedgehog, and everything else is a letdown. That’s why everyone likes Batman more than Superman, Donald more than Mickey, Strong Bad more than Homestar, etc. It’s all about expectations!
Say what you want, but I’d be pretty thrilled if I was sitting next to Superman on a plane.
Good one!
Until he coughs and blows the wall out, sending you and all the rest of the passengers in your area to a chaotic free fall followed by a sudden stop.
And you land on an island and get attacked by a polar bear.
why the hell would superman cough? he is quite imune to any disease on earth
Great comic! Loved all the background monitors in panel Three (when did you steel my copy of Programming for dummies?) all those VGA Cables would cost a Swimming pool of money!
And Tim, why are you Riding a Ride at disneyland without your Family?
NCG,
Harley
You should be asking: Why did Tim take somebody else’s child with him to Disneyland? I always knew there was something strange about Tim.
It is more along the lines of “Tim wanted to ride this ride while Sarah and Lily rode the Teacups, and Tim just happened to be placed near that kid”
Oh, I see you were there.
You can’t split up for Teacups and Haunted Mansion……that’s two compeltely different sides of the park (based on Disney WORLD — I’ve never been to Disney LAND). Maybe they were exploring the Swiss Family Robinson’s tree house?
So wait, if Tim is on the haunted house, Sarah and Lily are on the teacups… where’s Ray?
O_o
Ray is in tomorrow land where the new sonic game is actually
gooddecenta little better then the last onebearable.Not tomorrowland, Neverland.
Sorry Ray…
Question: Would Superman actually fit in a seat in coach? Cause I always imagine him just being huge.
And wow…Tim’s beanie mutated.
Tim is not wearing his beanie, it’s a mickey mouse hat.
lol it has the disney disease
Donald better than Mickey?! These words obviously come from someone who has never played a Kingdom Hearts game. Which coincidentally have the “Sixth Sense” kid (Haley Joel Osment) as the voice of the main protagonist.
Indeed, Donald > Mickey. Similarly, Daffy > Bugs.
Also, the scene with the two of them in Roger Rabbit = pure gold
Spot on. They should have bitten the bullet and made Sonic the only character to race without a car.
It’s like playing Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games and seeing Wario beat Sonic in a sprint. If it doesn’t make any sense whatsoever then don’t just shoehorn characters into a game.
Actually, that’s probably my biggest bugbear with Nintendo – they make some great games, but at some point in the design process they just shuffle a pack of cards with pictures of their existing characters and pick a few to fill the roles. How about some creativity in the character design process for once? They’ve been living off Mario, Link and Samus for far too long.
And yes, that includes Brawl.
Forgot to add – NCG.
Tim, if the writing was all you then you can be particularly proud of this one. Lovely delivery.
I completely disagree regarding Brawl. That’s one of the main points of the Smash Bros. series–all of Nintendo’s series together at once with homages/fanservice/whatever you want to call it for all of them. If they made Smash Bros. with generic characters (say, if there were only the wireframes), it would probably suck. Also, if they were milking the franchise I might agree, but one per console isn’t at those levels.
Beyond that, I don’t think they really milk anybody besides Mario. Yes, there was Link’s Crossbow Training, but that’s so pathetic it’s not even worth mentioning.
Funny you should mention that. This interview explains how the N64 game was originally called “Dragon King: The Fighting Game.” Screenshots can even be seen of it on the page!
Also, this was definitely my favorite comic of a while. I just love Tim’s expression against his mouse ears! Plus, an insight into Ray’s browsing history?
I just think that Nintendo have enough creativity in the game design area that it kind of sucks that they don’t turn some of it over to creating new primary characters. That’s especially true where they stick characters into games that don’t actually fit those characters.
I’d rather have a new game with new characters than something that takes a character I like and makes me wonder what the hell he’s doing. But of course if you take the Mario name out of the baseball / karting / basketball / board game / whatever then it stops selling, even if it’s exactly as good but with a different 3d model.
Mario has whored himself out to every game type imaginable by now so he kind of gets a pass – there’s nothing left that would make you think “huh? Mario really doesn’t fit in here.” Let’s face it, he hardly fitted in any of his games in the first place 🙂
For one, they do have at least ONE fairly new series (Pikmin), and I am anxiously awaiting Pikmin 3. And I don’t know of any games other than Smash Brothers in which characters other than Mario characters are outside their original genre. Except for the recent “Mario & Sonic at the Olympics” games for Wii, which I don’t take even remotely seriously.
I have to agree with CKcheeseboy on this on, well except that I believe that Link’s Crossbow Training was good for what and am thankful that Nintendo chose to make that rather than bundling the zapper with another WiiPlay type game. While Nintendo does rely on their franchises a lot you can’t complain about Smash Brothers for it as the inclusion of peoples favourite Nintendo characters has been the main point of the game from the beginning. Also would you not complaining that the SASASR made less sense if Sonic was the only one out of a car and didn’t get crushed when hit? We all know hedgehogs have a bad history with traffic and if were apply logic to the game playing as Robotnik in his monster truck would have a completely new goal.
Just have him throw a few rings in the air when he gets hit 🙂
The tortise *DID* beat the hare……..
Wait a minute…
third panel…
second screen down from the top rightmost…
is that…
Lace?
ZOMG! PIXEL VISION IS RETURNING!!!!!11!!1one
I’d love to know whose pictures were used in the last panel. It looks like there are actual photographs used in the effect.
Also loved Tim’s line. Made the comic that much funnier for me.
NCG, guys.
Ha ha!! Great job guys, this comic was hilarious! Quick side note though, Tim’s head in the last panel looks a bit odd; was it photoshopped from another comic?
Last panel is officialy better than sliced bread. NCG!
I just realized, Tim is in a comic while Ray is not! Surely this will cause the space/time continuum to blow up-
Hey comic 284 looks good!
Or likes Ray better than Tim.
JUST KIDDING!
While I was not a fan of the previous comics despite the fact that you guys and the rest of the internet thought they were great, you finally got me back with the ‘Neo surfing the internet’ panel. I don’t know why, but him saying, “Woah,” is so perfect. It made me, dare I say, LOL.
Tombi!
Who likes Strong Bad more than Homestar?! *takes out gun*
I like Homestar.
But I like Strong Sad and Homsar better.
Wow, just wow. Is that kid at the hunted mansion a teenager?
your picture is by far the best my favorite comic meets my favorite videogame
Sorry, guys. The comic itself is still pretty good, but you’re a few weeks late to make a Sonic-in-a-Car joke. Picture a few years back upon the announcement of the Wii’s name. Within weeks, certainly before the system came out, everyone had already questioned Nintendo’s reasoning and made every possible pun involving male anatomy that could be made in the English language.
We’ve already had months to laugh about Sonic in a car. The game is out and over a week old. I think it’s time to move on.
Though admittedly, you draw a good Superman, sir.
Ha, wow. Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing has only been out for ten days – only the internet could consider that untimely. Well, that and a rabbid Sonic fan, but surely you’re not… oh wait…
I appear to have missed the passing craze that is the “Sonic in a car joke”. Possibly I don’t read the right websites?
Now I feel all uncool for finding it funny.
Damn you 2pstart! How dare you expose my lack of Sonic-cred!
Must do something to recover……
ROUGE! That’s still in, right? Right?
*tumbleweed*
Damn it
Wait, wait ray. I gotta know….are there bonus raving rabbits in this game? You know I won’t play unless there are at least 3 bonus characters, all of which must be raving rabbits. If there aren’t I’m protesting the game and demanding that they make another version with raving rabbits everywhere.
Yeah, thanks to intense petitions from fans like yourself, one Rabbid is the flagman, one holds the “Go” lights (a la Lakitu), and one just kind of stands there in the background on one track.
Topical comics are generally released either when we get important news about a game (Sonic 4 screenshots) or when the game is released (Sonic Racing). Doing a joke just after a game is released has the added benefit of appealing more to people that don’t follow gaming news but still enjoy the latest games.
While I don’t agree with this entirely, I personally didn’t love this one that much. I do think that the basic “Sonic can run faster than a car” joke is too obvious to be good on it’s own, but I don’t feel like the other jokes are good enough to make up for it in this case. I’m apparently in the huge minority, but I just didn’t feel like it was as good as you guys usually do.
Okay, who is going to be the super-fan who names all the little screens in the third panel?
Anyways, NCG!
Love Tim’s face in the last panel. XD SCG.
NCG. The joke may be a little late but its still funny. I especially like Neo looking at not one but TWO 2pStart monitors, at least by my count, and frustrated Tim is hilarious.
And if I’m not mistaken Ray, that seems to be a Bruce Timm-styled Superman.
Good job guys, a solid laugh.
LOL NICE COMIC GUYS YEAHHH!!!!!
I’ve actually heard Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing is pretty good. I’ve yet to play it, but I for one am willing to give it a shot.
One of your best comics of the year so far. The general joke about Sonic driving might be old, but you expanded on and presented it extremely well. Awesome comic guys!
haha. You guys are on a roll.
Also I have to agree with Bowie. Sitting next to supes on a plane would be awesome.
this is by far one of my favorites, i also like the design of tim with a mickey mouse hat.
Superman is such a goody two-shoes, thats exactly what he would be doing. I also love all of the little Easter eggs in the matrix panel, and Tim in a mickey mouse hat is…kind of weird actually, but in a good way? I think the joke really worked with the off the wall comparisons, Great comic guys!
(singing)”Superman on an aeroplane
Sitting next to Lois Lane…”
Tim is really not enjoying that ride is he? I don’t know about you, but if that kid was sitting next to me, it would make that ride 10x creepier.
Hah, nice! You bring out a good point! 😉
So, if that’s Tim with a Mickey hat in the last panel, where’s Ray? Perhaps in the 1st panel wearing his Sonic hat? More evidence for the Ray=Sonic theory?
Come to think of it, there honestly has to be a reason why the 1st panel only shows a silhouette of something looking like Sonic in a car…
It can’t just be Ray being lazy, right?
That’s just what he wants you to think. Take the front piece of Superman’s hair, straighten it out a bit and shape it into a ski slope, and voila, mild-mannered Ray Hargreaves (Clark Kent was just a decoy). You might ask where all his muscles go while disguised as Ray; let’s just say his knubby elbows are made of pure concentrated Kryptonian muscle.
Goodness gracious! Tim in a comic without Ray? Quite rare in my opinion. Funny comic guys, although I have to say something about Sonic in a car subject. Yes, the game just came out, but during the days when the game was still in development, Sumo Digital already explained why Sonic was in a car. (Which was for the sake of gameplay; Sonic on foot ruined drifting and rather skewed the competition. Plus, if he’s the fastest thing alive, then there would be no need for a race.) In addition, there was already Sonic Drift and Sonic Drift 2, I believe which also includes Sonic in a car.
Now yes, it is funny to still make the joke about Sonic in a car, but really, it doesn’t bother me at all that Sonic is in a car. Sonic is finally in a game that’s fun and easy to get into, hey, I’m happy. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I enjoyed the comic, but also understand the reasons as to why Sonic is in a car. I’m sorry if I sound negative or anything like that, this is just how my mind works.
On another note, Tim better not get on the Finding Nemo ride with Aquaman.
Aquaman: I can understand what these fish are saying!
Tim: Yeah, you and everyone else, man.
Fun Fact: This is actually the 5th time Tim has appeared without Ray. The others were 67, 68, 101, and 139 (which itself gives Tim’s avatar around 50 panels without Ray).
Conversely, Ray has been in 6 comics without Tim (21, 42, 53, 65, 115, 116).
However, if you count TiMii appearing without Ray/Ray’s Mii, Tim gets one more (comic 69), which then makes them even.
This has been another episode of “You probably didn’t care, but now you know.”
For a second I thought you were going to end with “The more you know!” or “But, you don’t have to take my word for it.” Thank you television.
I actually did consider using “The more you know!” instead.
AND KNOWING IS HALF THE BATTLE!!!
~G.I Joe!~
(i couldn’t resist 😀 )
Check out the Justice League versions of Superman and Aquaman. They’re AWESOME. This has been a shameless plug of a show that ended five years ago in a poor attempt to revitalize interest in it so DC will stop being stupid and revive the show, WITHOUT that stupid Bat-Embargo… Yeah…
I’ll be really surprised if anyone here knows what I’m talking about…
I gotta say, I LOVED this one. Excellent script and great artwork. The stamp-like effect on Sonic and his car is awesome. I thought the little easter eggs on the Matrix monitors were fantastic. The Superman panel looks…uh…*searches for more adjectives*…super!
And I agree with Ray. I don’t think the “Sonic in a car” joke is untimely.
Great comic! Is there any chance the last panel would be available as a wallpaper?
And Tim’s here again to explain the joke (maybe why it’s called “Lowering the bar”)
Sonic would say, I can go fast! [insert Tim’s line]
Superman would say, I can fly [insert Tim’s line]
Neo…. well not quite sure how the world of the Matrix work since I didn’t I never saw one of the movies entirely.. but probably something like, I can open many windows at the same time! [insert Tim’s line]
and the kid, well, self explained
and here’s what I found in the 3rd panel background (not complete and in no particular order)
Google search for matrix screensavers (not in Google image)
Nyquil ad
Dayquil ad
Beginning Programming for dummies book
Lace cameo
Matrix (maths not the movie) search on wikipedia
Toyota ad (think it’s an ad)
twitter about Matrix
2Pstart home page (before today)
Alice in wonderland web page
Kwikset home page (some door locks apparently)
Sims3
Smicity (am I the only one who run out of cash before people join my city?)
TBN(?)
a video (probably Toyota’s ad just above)
Good old no channel tv screen
Some face book page
Well, since I searched for that, just in case you didn’t suspected it, enjoyed this week’s comic, and really like your blueprints artworks btw
Hilarious! This is one of my favorites. 1. Each panel is really funny 2. Each panel looks great (especially love Superman in the style of the animated series from the ’90s) 3. Loads of little jokes in the Matrix panel (Toyota Matrix, lol) 4. It gets topped off by the appearance of Tim.
Of course, some day Ray should actually visit The Haunted Mansion…
Yes, as I said, the 90’s Superman: the Animated Series (as well as its follow-ups, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited) were AWESOME.
Well just started listening to the pod cast and have been readin on and off since god knows when! so here i ‘Rise from the grave’ to say i can’t wait to sit next to super man the next time i’m flying, that would be crazy awesome! (i’d totally fight with him for the arm rest!)
Nice, although I would agree with someone above, who said something along the lines of “*character in panel* stating the obvious and Tim replying with his line from the last panel.”
Seems like I need to take over this website again, We need better quality that only I can deliver!
There was a take-over? Did it have anything to do with cardboard boxes, April 1st, and a pack of gum?
Heh heh. Nice progression. The level of funniness in the panel is directly proportional to how close the panel is to the end. The last panel put a huge grin on my face (Tim needs an excuse to say that line during the next podcast!).
By the way, random fact. “That Sixth Sense kid” (Haley Joel Osmett) is the voice actor for Sora (the main character) in the Kingdom Hearts games. …Just thought I’d say that.
Really? Your bringing this up? Get over it!! It’s a Kart Racing game!! There are rules! #1 rule, YOU HAVE TO BE IN A VEHICLE!!
Your being too critical of this game. It’s gotten great reviews. I absolutely love it. Even the cynical NeoGAF are saying “better than Mario Kart Wii” (and I agree. Nintendo just coughd that one out with no love.). I just spent two hours last night doing my best to beat my friends time on a track. With time trials, online racing, and 64 missions there is just so much to do. Who cares if some themes are repeated when the track designs are done so well?! Name me one “Samba De Amigo” track that looks exactly like another.
This is the best game to have Sonic’s name on it in ages.
I whole-heartedly agree here. Having played this game personally, I can honestly say it DOESN’T MATTER that Sonic is in a car. It is a GREAT game. Something that Sonic fans and Ray alike should be happy about. Every other mascot kart racer has been a joke (Crash Racing 1,2,3, Chocobo Racer, Looney Tunes Racing, even SONIC R! I know I’m missing tons) aside from MarioKart, and now SEGA has taken over that field. If you’re going to be petty enough to complain about Sonic being in a car preventing it from being a good game, then I feel sorry for you Tim and Ray, since you yourself are the reason the game isn’t enjoyable. Lighten up, stop patronizing Sonic and enjoy the game. That, ironically enough, is a similar argument for why UP is a good movie 😉
Anyone who thinks this comic is an insult to the actual game is missing the point. It’s an observation about how silly it is for a super-fast character to be restricted to a relatively slow car. Lighten up people! Sonic fans shouldn’t be so sensitive!
I never heard Mega Man fans complain that our comics were too critical of Mega Man games:
“Cut Man isn’t that rude, come on!”
“Dr. Light would never sell of his robots!”
“So what if Mega Man can’t shoot up, it’s a great game!”
Yes, but none of the Megaman comics were named “lowering the bar”. They joked around in situations that could occur within the Megaman games. This is pointed ridicule.
Don’t get me wrong though, I don’t dislike this comic. Seeing TIm in a Mickey hat and seeing the classic 90’s Superman again is a nice touch!
Putting Sonic in a car is a very lame idea, but it shouldn’t decide if Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing is a good game or not.
This I can agree with.
Rosemary & Olive Oil Triscuits® are really good. Want some? They’ll help lower your blood pressure.* ^_^
*(Rosemary & Olive Oil Triscuits® may or may not actually lower blood pressure. These statements are still being tested by a scientific-sounding team that was going to have an army of test monkeys at their disposal, but due to poor funding could only acquire a hamster, a ping pong ball, and a box of Wheat Thins which definitely doesn’t have an ® on it).
Great comic guys. It realy seems that lately Sonic has been “Borrowing” ideas from Mario, Playing Tenis, racing cars and what not. I swear by the end of the year we’re going too see “Sonic/Sega allstars Board game” a la Mario Party.
P.S yes I know I’m a little for this rant.
In Mario Galaxy, the plumber collect emeralds, mario franchise launched a mario pinball game with a few sonic pinball titles published. Sonic does not copy Mario kart, because the gameplay is the same gameplay as Outrun, the IA is better than MK and the vehicles are faster.
okay a copy doesn’t have to be “were gonna take this game, replace the models, redesign some levels, and call it ours” it can be “okay guys, were take this game redo the gameplay up the ai, replace the models, redesign some levels, and call it ours” besides the point is that sega steals ideas from mario.
p.s I am RISING FROM MY GRAVE (for the third time) did you guy just not notice, or did you edit me out for time constrictions reasons?
ignore that p.s. please thank you.
p.s forgot to mention the ncg.
I miss Sonic Shuffle. Why do they make tons of Mario Party sequels and none for Sonic’s better version?…oh right, nobody has the vision to create a VMU for their console…*sigh*…
THIS COMIC IS HORRIBLE. TIM WEARING A MICKEY MOUSE HAT? TOTALLY UNREASONABLE. DEFINITELY.
But in all seriousness, that was just a joke. It’s really one of my favorites in quite a while! The little…unsightly saying above was just me feeling a need to break up the swarm of loving comments. really, good job, that was pretty nice!
This (the fake negativity) actually seems to be the running theme of this comic’s comments section (though one of them seemed to be a legitimate complaint… I had fun “responding” to that one *grin*). At this rate, the trend may get a short mention in the podcast.
By the way, I just now found out my mouse’s tilt wheel can move the text cursor left and right. Suddenly, I feel lazier just by finding that out…
Really like this one. Love the expression on the kid’s face. XD
Well, I think it’s time to rise from my grave. I discovered this comic series from the link posted on Brawl In The Family, and since then I have read all of the comics up to date, and now I return every Monday and Thursday for my weekly dose of 2P Start’s comic and podcast goodness. I find your humor to be between Brawl In The Family’s Kid-ish humor and VG Cat’s Adult Humor. The art is amazing, and while I don’t always catch the jokes the first time around, you always leave me laughing.
Keep Up The Amazing Work,
Christopher
(A.K.A HeyMama555)
(P.S. I agree, Sonic in a car is as useless as Star Fox out of his Arwing. Oh wait……)
Is it just me, or did you make the Haunted Mansion ride a LOT creepier than it’s supposed to be. What little can be seen in the frame looks like a mix between Left 4 Dead and Fatal Frame. This comic needs to be rated M now. =P
Hmmm… I”m not sure. The “ghost” in the lower right looks a bit like Ray to me. No offense Ray, I didn’t intentionally mean to compare you to a dead person. Wait, that came out wrong…
You have a good point. Sonic IS starting to run out of ideas. Tennis, olympics, pinball, RACING, and th elist goes on.
Besides, Sonic IS faster than a car! Why can’t he put wheels on his feet and say its a car!
No hard feelings, Sonic will still have a good part in our heart.
so true. I like the “Beginning Programming for Dummies” in panel 3 (or is it ‘panel’ 2?) with Neo. Also… is the NyQuil / DayQuil intended to be analogous to the red pill / blue pill? I’m assuming yes.
You know, there’s one way they could have satisfied both the people who think Sonic shouldn’t need a car and the people who say he needs a car to fit with everyone else.
Problem solved.
it seems so obvious now!
i feel like NCG wouldn’t even be needed, just automatic with the comics you have been putting out recently. this one was great guys.
Haha, great comic guys! Each panel just got better and better
I think you should have had “Aggressive Alpine Skiing” on one of Neo’s mointors.
That last panel made it completely amazing. 😀 Great job.
*I see dead webcomics… that used to be good*
Just kidding guys. Quite an enjoyable comic this week. You’ve won my approval, carry on.
I don’t know about Strong bad being better than Homestar, but I see the analogies you’re trying to make. I definitely see your point, though. That’s why I didn’t find the PS3/360 version of Sonic the Hedgehog; it was just too slow-paced.
The Superman flying coach, though really made the point.
Hi guys, great comic as usual.
On a side note, just wanted to thank you guys for the free entertainment. I work from home part time, and I’ve been listening to the podcasts while I go. For 4 hours a day. 5 days a week. Great stuff, really high quality, and entertaining. And believe me, at 4 hours of podcasts a day, I know.
makes sense,the fastest hedgehog driving?!
I have to laugh at what this weeks comic is poking fun at. It really does make sense to me. I mean really, Sonic driving? He can run faster then the speed of sound. Needless to say, driving would be a let down. On another note, I do agree with Tim on the Mario bit, though I consider both characters great. Superb comic this week!
I saw lace and 2p start in the Neo panel… and SimCity? i got that one lol!
NCG!
(Wow, this comment sounded better in my head :-P)
Sounded better in your head? But is embarrassing? That’s happened to me before, many times. :p.
I wonder if that’s how Tim and Ray feel after every podcast.
NCG but I do have to wonder why you didn’t put other wonderfully lame ideas in like, paraplegics in a 3 legged race or giraffes playing the silent game.
sonic’s just flintstoneing his car he’s just slower because the cars metal
Had a bad dream last night… at least it involved 2P START!
long time no see guys. awesome comic. did you ever wonder about the physics of that game. i with i could jump out of my car, do a triple flip, and then land back into my seat. that would be the Greatest Day ever!
WAIT! THE RED GUY ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE HAUNTED HOUSE CAR IS THE MARINE FROM DOOM! LOL!
This isn’t the 1st Tim only comic!
The Oregon Trail was the 1st.
Sorry, but the correct answer was the first Wii Fit comic. (#67, as opposed to #101 which was the Oregon Trail one). Also, in this comment I go through all the comics with either Tim or Ray only.
Also, I feel the need to say “I will never ever ever ever ever write a song about Sebby”
Not only is it not thrilling to see my favorite blue hedgehog confined to the car, it’s like he is being punished for something, it goes against the logic of the original Sonic games and comic series. Robotnik (Dr. Eggman) is turning animals into killer robots and tech is the enemy.
Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games is just painful. Pitting a plumber vs. a speed demon hedgehog, that’s a fail.
I was thinking that all of the screens should have been on TV Tropes….Neo gets trapped in one of the biggest timewasters on the Internet!
This is why you play as the OTHER characters. Like Mobo!
I SEE HEARTLESS AND NOBODIES…
*roaring applause*
Anyway, wasn’t that Sixth Sense kid Hayley Joel Osmont? He actually does the voice for Sora in KH.
was a good joke….but the point was made in the second panel with superman. would have been great if you picked ONE of those analogies. otherwise, nice work.