Tizoc
Member
I'll do you better
https://www.bundlestars.com/en/promotions/sega-genesis-pick-mix
grab 20+ SEGA games if you haven't gotten them yet
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Sonic Mania (8-15-2017, SEGA/Taxman/Headcannon/PagodaWest, PS4/XB1/PC/NX)
- Thread starter Hip Hop
- Start date
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I'll do you better
https://www.bundlestars.com/en/promotions/sega-genesis-pick-mix
grab 20+ SEGA games if you haven't gotten them yet
mikefrails
Banned
They're giving out experiences that already exist.
Mostly the level design has to obviously be good, a lot of fan games tend to have very weak level design with the 1 dimensional idea that "sonic is about speed" and forget to integrate decent platforming, they'll litter levels with springs and boost pads, curves and loops so you rarely have to stop. What we've seen so far looks good though, a good mix of speed and platforming, and the fact they've been working with old levels means such things will have been on their minds while designing them, hopefully.
And just general assets and gimmicks. Obviously most fan games are going to be made by lifting assets from existing games and reusing them, recolouring them etc. So long as they put the work into making stuff that feels new instead of reusing stuff we've already seen for the sake of nostalgia, it'll keep the game feeling fresh, new, a proper step forward, not some side grade wannabe. Sonic's spring spin lifted straight from CD (fan games seem to have an obsession with CD so I'm glad they didn't use the CD/Chaotix jump sound effect) and the colour palette for Studiopolis for example screams "fan game" to me, but the level design and asset creations definitely lend it a better authenticity. It's the little details here and there that make the experience.
Also before you roll your eyes and think "jesus you can't please anyone these days", I really don't care that much lol. The game is looking to be pretty good, if it's good none of it will make much of a difference, I'm just hoping it manages to be more than another nostalgia hit and is everything we could have hoped for from a new 2d sonic game from back in the day.
Telephone Man
Member
I don't mind it, at least not enough to complain to them about it. Would be fun to compare how it'd look on and off though.
I always thought it was still pre-made sprites. But even then, the GBA's super-low resolution would ruin any smoothness the rotation could have had anyway.
I can agree with some of that. I don't see the point in the blue ring box or even in the regular (non-elemental) shield being there (Sonic 3 ditched it for good reason IMO).
I would also renew the Sonic jump sound effect (which sounds a bit off alongside that beautiful music, and is a bit tiring after a while).
Brawly Likes to Brawl
Member
That first zone boss is really cool.
GabeTheGrouch76
Member
Not too far-fetched. Taxman last year actually got his Retro Engine working on New Nintendo 3DS homebrew hardware. Here's shots of his Sonic 1, 2, and CD remakes running on it:
Emphasis on "New" Nintendo 3DS hardware. I don't know if he can get it to run on OG 3DS hardware.
Sectorseven
Member
Is this a full price retail release?
Mr. Smiley
Member
Nothing's been said but most likely not.
Jonneh3003
Banned
Not too far-fetched. Taxman last year actually got his Retro Engine working on New Nintendo 3DS homebrew hardware. Here's shots of his Sonic 1, 2, and CD remakes running on it:
Emphasis on "New" Nintendo 3DS hardware. I don't know if he can get it to run on OG 3DS hardware.
Ohhhhhh not seen this before, he's a beautiful man.
Megaman 9/10?
Seven Force
Banned
Nah, it's definitely rotation. It's more apparent in Advance 1 than any other Advance game, though.
Telephone Man
Member
Kinda agree. The animations are out of this world, but when still, it doesn't look that different from most fangames.
Not that I mind though. I feel the animations more than make up for it.
Looking at Advance 1 again, yeah, you're right. It's just the low resolution that made me assume otherwise.
Honestly, Jools' efforts would be better-placed towards an NX port or his own game.
Fusilli Craig
Member
Really, no one feels like there needs to be any explanation of who Christian Whitehead is?
Fine, I'll Google it, like a savage.
Fine, I'll Google it, like a savage.
Not too far-fetched. Taxman last year actually got his Retro Engine working on New Nintendo 3DS homebrew hardware. Here's shots of his Sonic 1, 2, and CD remakes running on it:
Emphasis on "New" Nintendo 3DS hardware. I don't know if he can get it to run on OG 3DS hardware.
He did get it to run on OG 3DS, and he said performance was good and that if it was a full time project for him both versions would run with full 3D.
This really looks like the real deal. Sonic 4 should have been like this, fuck.
Hot Coldman
Banned
Huh, consider me corrected. That looks so nice.
Ah, gotcha. (pardon the 3rd person slip)
Well, it really boils down to how many new zones there are vs the returning zones, and how differently the returning zones play based on the new move and added layouts.
The real issue is, like Metropolis Zone, they put some of them in places were it's really hard to avoid them, like next to bouncy gimmicks that make you vulnerable and in places where you have to ride very narrow platforms.
https://gfycat.com/YellowShimmeringKarakul
and the size and persistence of the attack makes them even harder to avoid.
ViewtifulJC
Banned
the little dots on the TV Sonic explodes out of it are the Game Gear logo
Just to add to that, I'm 95% sure that at some point Freedom Planet had this hybrid solution where it still rotated a base sprite, but only did so at 15 degree intervals with some mathematics dodgery. So while it didn't look as good as custom drawn sprites, it still gave that granular rotation effect.
I may be wrong at this current point of time since the game has been updated pretty often - maybe they slipped discrete sprites in at some point
the little dots on the TV Sonic explodes out of it are the Game Gear logo
Wow, how many homages have we found in a single zone? This, the Streets of Rage one, the Daytona USA one, and the CPU/COPE train from Spring Yard Zone.
I like them for sure but I hope the whole game is not filled with them at the same rate (that also gives them a fangamey feel).
Seven Force
Banned
the little dots on the TV Sonic explodes out of it are the Game Gear logo
Man, if this kind of detail is what's to be expected of the new zones in Mania, this is going to be a real treat.
Funnily enough, that was pretty much the only zone from either Sonic 4 episode that wasn't entirely derivative of a level from the classic series. (About the only thing it shares in common with IceCap Zone is being an ice/snow level)
TheCongressman1
Member
Incredible. This game needed to happen.
Hot Coldman
Banned
There's a Club Sega billboard in the background.
Azure Phoenix
Member
I mean, it really is, just pull out a sprite sheet and compare. That's the Sonic 1/2/CD sprite with the usual tweaks you see in fangames. The super peel out run adapted with the Sonic prototype blue leg blur (which for some reason the fangame community has a real obsession with), the Sonic 1 prototype act clear animation, a stronger shade of blue and more shading. There is no inspired about it, they've not been redrawn, they've been touched up and in the same way that most fangames do.
I'm not railing on the visual quality or anything, but take the Sega logo off it and people would think that it's a Sonic fangame. It doesn't feel quite as professional as Freedom Planet.
Seven Force
Banned
So far, people have found:
- Hornet Truck (Daytona USA)
- Pink Bot Building (Streets of Rage)
- Popcorn Machine (SegaSonic Popcorn Maker)
- Background Train (Sonic 1)
- The Game Gear logo on the TVs.
I feel like these are subtle and obscure enough that it doesn't bother me too much.
Tizoc
Member
He made excellent ports, to say the least, of Sonic 1, 2 and CD to mobile systems. Sonic CD is available on consoles and Steam too which is the best ver. of the game.
Sorry for being late to give my initial reaction 
.
I surely will get the game day one, and I'm glad that the most important aspect of a Sonic game (or any action game for that matter), the core gameplay/movement/mechanics being fun, is guaranteed.
I hope it is a resounding success that opens up the gates for future 2D Sonic that are a bit more daring in its approach, like going true HD or 2,5D (which would oblige Sega to define a new aesthetic and make it impossible to rely on modified old assets). Or shake some of the foundations that are shakable (co-op play? online play? 2d open-world metroidvania Sonic?).
I think this should have been the Sonic 4 of five years ago, and I'm glad it has come, better late than never.
PS: I would like this precedent also opened Sega to the possibility of acknowledging and legalizing the wonderful Streets of Rage remake.
.I surely will get the game day one, and I'm glad that the most important aspect of a Sonic game (or any action game for that matter), the core gameplay/movement/mechanics being fun, is guaranteed.
I hope it is a resounding success that opens up the gates for future 2D Sonic that are a bit more daring in its approach, like going true HD or 2,5D (which would oblige Sega to define a new aesthetic and make it impossible to rely on modified old assets). Or shake some of the foundations that are shakable (co-op play? online play? 2d open-world metroidvania Sonic?).
I think this should have been the Sonic 4 of five years ago, and I'm glad it has come, better late than never.
PS: I would like this precedent also opened Sega to the possibility of acknowledging and legalizing the wonderful Streets of Rage remake.
IronicSonic
Member
I like how the EGG TV logo has the 7 chaos emeralds on it.
Sonic Mania is a prequel to Sonic 2017 confirmed?
God, Sonic Mania is such great name!
Solid SOAP
Member
This game is going to be fucking great!The train itself isn't from Sonic 1, but the graffiti on it is.
Seven Force
Banned
The train itself isn't from Sonic 1, but the graffiti on it is.
Yeah, I know. Probably should have emphasized the graffiti in that post.
Eh, no. Not at all.
Even the beta was not a bland flash game.
They have some great artists and are being extremely faithful to the original game.
http://sonic2hd.com/changelogs/staffattack/Staff-Attack-Jesus-Campos.html
http://sonic2hd.com/changelogs/htz2/
http://sonic2hd.com/changelogs/htz/
http://sonic2hd.com/changelogs/staffattack/Staff-Attack-Lewis-Cross.html
http://sonic2hd.com/changelogs/staffattack/Staff-Attack-Jessica-Jeansoulin.html
http://sonic2hd.com/changelogs/sonic2/POCKY-2.html
http://sonic2hd.com/changelogs/sonic2/
Indeed.
Relaxed Muscle
Member
Looks good, for what in tries to achieve, but lacks the charm of pixel art.
Azure Dream
Member
All the little references are crazy to me. There was this little Uppercut end of the level celebration Sonic did in the early Sonic 1 prototypes, they removed it cuz IDK maybe they thought it was too Mario, so he just does the pose. They actually added something like that back in, but with Sonic signature finger pointing.
Oh hey, it's my post. Glad you agree, though.
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