Sixfortyfive
He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
Random, but it kind of irks me that Taxman's Sonic 2 port doesn't use Hidden Palace's dedicated BGM for the stage itself.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
RTTP: Sonic the Hedgehog 1 2 3 K on Sega Genesis/Megadrive
- Thread starter Branduil
- Start date
Elfforkusu
Member
Which one, track 10? That wasn't for Hidden Palace originally.
The canon S2 HPZ music is the final Mystic Cave 2P music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcuH6YP3KdM
Sixfortyfive
He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
Elfforkusu
Member
By the time it was final, the zone was dead. No sense in wasting a good track on a removed level.
Sixfortyfive
He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
It never lived in the first place!
Elfforkusu
Member
Sure it did -- look at that sweet beta level!
(my favorite HPZ tidbit is that in one of the late betas it has a dynamic water level based on where you are in the zone)
(my favorite HPZ tidbit is that in one of the late betas it has a dynamic water level based on where you are in the zone)
Stealth defended his choice for the Hidden Palace BGM in the Sonic 2 re-release here :
http://www.headcannon.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=123
Stealth wrote:
http://www.headcannon.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=123
Stealth wrote:
Elfforkusu
Member
Yes, but by the time it was, development on that stage was over, never to be continued. The song is effectively a funeral dirge for the zone.
(there are a lot of S2 betas out there)
Eh, I disagree. Flying Battery and Lava Reef are still some of the best zones in the series and I've grown to appreciate Sandopolis and Death Egg for their relative difficulty.
The only real weak part of S&K is Mushroom Hill.
Elfforkusu
Member
^^^ yeah, IMO Lava Reef is the single best Sonic level ever made
Elfforkusu
Member
The 3D classics are great.
Cool I'll buy them then. The taxman ports are amazing but I can't handle screen buttons
Sonic & Knuckles starring Knuckles the Echidna from the Sonic the Hedgehog series
The game that was advertised as a revolutionary technology, but was really just an excuse for splitting Sonic 3 into two parts. This time we actually get an ending which lives up to its predecessor!
Mushroom Hill is a pretty decent first level, although some of the enemies and obstacles are fairly annoying. Some of the gimmicks are fun, like the bouncy eponymous mushrooms and swings. The see saw is not. The boss is pretty cool though, and makes use of some fairly advanced effects for the Genesis.
The next zone, Flying Battery, feels a bit like a mashup/retake of Metropolis Zone and Sky Fortress Zone, featuring a lot of similar platforming elements and theming to those two stages, though obviously Flying Battery is much easier, coming much earlier in the game. It also introduces some new ideas like powerful magnet ceilings and gigantic vertical cylinders. Oh, and there's a much less annoying version of the Sky Fortress boss too.
Ah, Sandopolis Zone. The deceptive first act is a fairly straightforward trek across a vast desert, with lots of flying ramps and zip lines to help you speed towards a haunted pyramid. Entering that pyramid in the second act is where the nightmare begins. If the previous zone was a retake on Metropolis Zone and Sky Fortress, then Sandopolis is a retake of the original's Labyrinth Zone. There's no water to slow you down, of course; rather, it uses the omnipresent threat of the ghosts, as well as a number of timed gates, to create that same feeling of pressure and imminent demise. Actually, it wasn't as bad as my memories- probably because Hyper Sonic trivializes a lot of the challenge in the latter half of the level. As a kid, I remember repeatedly getting stuck in one of those endless sand slides, as well as barely reaching the boss before a time out.
Lava Reef Zone actually feels fairly easy after Sandopolis- not that I'm complaining. Following the trend of zones in this game, this feels a bit like a better version of Marble Zone, with the tunnels full of lava shooters and falling spike machines. It's much more open, though, and it features one of the most dramatic second act shifts in the series, as the lava hardens, and the music transforms into a weird, otherworldly melody. It creates an eerie feeling of the calm before the storm, as you descend through underworld tunnels and avoid mainly a variety of simple traps and wall-mounted weapons, before fighting one of Robotnik's stupider ideas.
Hidden Palace Zone, let's face it, it's not really a level, it's just a setting for a cutscene to explain Knuckles' face turn. You'd have to be a real idiot to get killed by the two spikes you automatically spring over, and the Knuckles fight is also easy as long as fucking Tails doesn't keep trying to pick you up and mess up your jumps.
Next is yet another one act zone, but Sky Sanctuary is at least a real level, even if it's padded with a boss rush featuring Mecha Sonic impersonating various Robotnik bosses of games past, and finally a repeat of his silver version's fight from Sonic 2. Flying Eggman sure is easier with the insta-shield. It's a nice, if easy, little platforming challenge with a pleasant atmosphere and some great backdrops.
Finally, we come to the Death Egg Zone, but unlike the one in Sonic 2, which was nothing but two boss rooms, this is a true, massive two-act zone, topped with a multi-stage "final" boss. It also features the best damn track in the game. Full of legitimately challenging platforming, weird machines, anti-and-reverse-gravity segments, and flying energy loops, the Death Egg is worthy of its name. The only real complaint I have is that Death Ball is not fun to fight, at all. Seriously, we already did the "use Robotnik's own weapons against him" in this game, and that was far less tedious. At least it makes up for it with the Kyodai Eggman Robo, which has 2 stages, followed up by what we all know is the most difficult boss in the game, "Hit Eggman 8 Times Without Falling Off the Fucking Map."
Now, if you've failed to acquire all the Super Emeralds, the game will end with that fight, but the true, secret final level is Doomsday Zone, which is basically a gimmick level where you fly through space as Super/Hyper Sonic and try to acquire enough rings to not run out while fighting two space-based bosses. True story, as a kid I didn't realize you could press jump to boost, which made the second boss chase way harder than it should have been.
And so concludes the 2D saga up to this point. The Master Emerald is restored, Angel Island floats into the sky(which surely killed a bunch of fish, but whatever), and Sonic does his trademark pose. A fitting and satisfying ending to one of the greatest series of platformers in history.
The game that was advertised as a revolutionary technology, but was really just an excuse for splitting Sonic 3 into two parts. This time we actually get an ending which lives up to its predecessor!
The not-very-intelligent Knuckles accidentally reveals the location of the Master Emerald to Sonic and Tails, which takes the chaos emeralds and turns them into Super Emeralds, which Sonic can regain- after finding a giant ring and winning a game of Blue Spheres, of course. This has to be the only Sonic game which essentially starts with a special stage- yes, technically you play Mushroom Hill for like 5 seconds before this cutscene, but that's not much of anything.
Mushroom Hill is a pretty decent first level, although some of the enemies and obstacles are fairly annoying. Some of the gimmicks are fun, like the bouncy eponymous mushrooms and swings. The see saw is not. The boss is pretty cool though, and makes use of some fairly advanced effects for the Genesis.
How did we all know the "get the spheres around the edge to make them into rings" thing anyway?
The next zone, Flying Battery, feels a bit like a mashup/retake of Metropolis Zone and Sky Fortress Zone, featuring a lot of similar platforming elements and theming to those two stages, though obviously Flying Battery is much easier, coming much earlier in the game. It also introduces some new ideas like powerful magnet ceilings and gigantic vertical cylinders. Oh, and there's a much less annoying version of the Sky Fortress boss too.
Welcome to hell
Ah, Sandopolis Zone. The deceptive first act is a fairly straightforward trek across a vast desert, with lots of flying ramps and zip lines to help you speed towards a haunted pyramid. Entering that pyramid in the second act is where the nightmare begins. If the previous zone was a retake on Metropolis Zone and Sky Fortress, then Sandopolis is a retake of the original's Labyrinth Zone. There's no water to slow you down, of course; rather, it uses the omnipresent threat of the ghosts, as well as a number of timed gates, to create that same feeling of pressure and imminent demise. Actually, it wasn't as bad as my memories- probably because Hyper Sonic trivializes a lot of the challenge in the latter half of the level. As a kid, I remember repeatedly getting stuck in one of those endless sand slides, as well as barely reaching the boss before a time out.
Not your cleverest invention, Robotnik
Lava Reef Zone actually feels fairly easy after Sandopolis- not that I'm complaining. Following the trend of zones in this game, this feels a bit like a better version of Marble Zone, with the tunnels full of lava shooters and falling spike machines. It's much more open, though, and it features one of the most dramatic second act shifts in the series, as the lava hardens, and the music transforms into a weird, otherworldly melody. It creates an eerie feeling of the calm before the storm, as you descend through underworld tunnels and avoid mainly a variety of simple traps and wall-mounted weapons, before fighting one of Robotnik's stupider ideas.
I love how shocked Knuckles is that Robotnik is the bad guy
Hidden Palace Zone, let's face it, it's not really a level, it's just a setting for a cutscene to explain Knuckles' face turn. You'd have to be a real idiot to get killed by the two spikes you automatically spring over, and the Knuckles fight is also easy as long as fucking Tails doesn't keep trying to pick you up and mess up your jumps.
Next is yet another one act zone, but Sky Sanctuary is at least a real level, even if it's padded with a boss rush featuring Mecha Sonic impersonating various Robotnik bosses of games past, and finally a repeat of his silver version's fight from Sonic 2. Flying Eggman sure is easier with the insta-shield. It's a nice, if easy, little platforming challenge with a pleasant atmosphere and some great backdrops.
This guy is known in Japanese as "Kyodai Egguman Robo," which roughly translates to "Ginormous Eggman Robo."
Finally, we come to the Death Egg Zone, but unlike the one in Sonic 2, which was nothing but two boss rooms, this is a true, massive two-act zone, topped with a multi-stage "final" boss. It also features the best damn track in the game. Full of legitimately challenging platforming, weird machines, anti-and-reverse-gravity segments, and flying energy loops, the Death Egg is worthy of its name. The only real complaint I have is that Death Ball is not fun to fight, at all. Seriously, we already did the "use Robotnik's own weapons against him" in this game, and that was far less tedious. At least it makes up for it with the Kyodai Eggman Robo, which has 2 stages, followed up by what we all know is the most difficult boss in the game, "Hit Eggman 8 Times Without Falling Off the Fucking Map."
Now, if you've failed to acquire all the Super Emeralds, the game will end with that fight, but the true, secret final level is Doomsday Zone, which is basically a gimmick level where you fly through space as Super/Hyper Sonic and try to acquire enough rings to not run out while fighting two space-based bosses. True story, as a kid I didn't realize you could press jump to boost, which made the second boss chase way harder than it should have been.
And so concludes the 2D saga up to this point. The Master Emerald is restored, Angel Island floats into the sky(which surely killed a bunch of fish, but whatever), and Sonic does his trademark pose. A fitting and satisfying ending to one of the greatest series of platformers in history.
Diablohead
Member
The hpz music we are all used too is way too high pitch to loop for minutes at a time without being annoying so I agree with mystic cave 2p being used. It's like death eggs music it's just not suitable for long repeats.
Theslammer
Member
I agree with Diablo on this.
Mystic Cave 2-player sounds way more fitting of this hidden level and as a Sonic song in general than Track 10. The only slow-paced Sonic song I remember fitting well was Sky Chase, but the level as a whole felt more relaxed, and the song itself was quite soothing on repeat.
