Sonic The Hedgehog

[GaryPotter]

Any Sonic fan who doesn't own Gems Collection is a fucking idiot. The awful soundtrack for Sonic R makes the whole purchase worthwhile just by itself.

Speaking of Sonic CD, when is the re-release with the Japanese OST supposed to happen?

[Avaitor]

Want to know how badly my current addiction back to Sonic is?

While my uncle and I were at the local comic book shop, I had him buy me the first 3 archive volumes of the comics for my birthday. They're about $7-$8 a piece and have 4 issues each in them, so it didn't end up costing too much.

But I'm back into the franchise now, baby.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Thanks to Colors and 4 I was brought back in, too. I almost miss what it was like to be a fan of the franchise after avoiding it for so long.

Oh, and the Sonic CD rerelease will probably be by the end of the month/beginning of next. I'd assume they'd want it out by then to promote Generations.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Sonic Generations Modern Trailer

Planet Wisp looks so awesome.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, I started replaying the original Sonic the Hedgehog on the Genesis, and so far managed to clear the first 2 zones. Green Hill Zone is classic as always, though its more about having fun exploring the area and finding alternate routes through the level than any real sense of challenge, since it is the first stage after all, and is expected to be laughably easy.

As for Marble Garden, I just remembered how awkward this zone feels. You can tell that with this being the first Sonic game, the creators were experimenting a bit more with it so in that process we got levels like Marble Garden which clearly didn't play to the game's strengths. There is hardly any running in the level and really it just feels like an average, boring platforming level that's fairly light on challenge and just feels way too slow-paced for a Sonic stage. Thankfully it seems that the developers learned from this and made sure to avoid that sort of level design as much as possible in later Sonic games.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I love Marble Zone despite how un-Sonic it is. Especially when I remember to use the hidden shortcuts. It's a nice pacebreaker for me after how fast Green Hill flies by. As far as the slowness is, compared to Labyrinth it's still quite a brisk level.

Marble Garden in 3K was pretty much an improved version of Marble Zone. They added a lot of vertical running in between the crazy platforms (and there's no lava so you don't have to wait much) and tons of routes and power ups. It's a shame Sega doesn't seem to do levels like that anymore, because they're a lot of fun to play in between the high speed zones like Hydrocity or Spring Yard.

Anyway, that modern trailer confirms wisp power ups for Planet Wisp. I hope they're unlockable for other levels, that would be cool.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Man, I forgot how much fun Spring Yard is. There's lots of different tricks, jumps, and alternate paths strewn about this zone, and the music is pretty entertaining too. Overall its just a plain fun level, and I like how it gets back to the speedy style of gameplay that Sonic is best at.

[Spark Of Spirit]

It also has, IMO, the best Casino themed music in the series.

But yeah, it's one of my favorite zones, too.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I played up to Labrynth Zone last night and then got too tired to keep playing. I did play half-way through that zone, though, and while its fine enough as a platformer zone I kind of have the same general problem with it that I do with Marble Zone, and that's that it doesn't really play to Sonic's strenghts. I guess the developers purpose put in Zones like Marble and Labrynth in between the faster ones like Green Hill and Spring Yard for pacing reasons (one fast-paced level followed by a slower one). Still, I kind of feel that these zones tend to drag on a bit too long for my liking since they usually take a bit longer to complete (I'm also not a fan of the underwater sections in this particular level; Hydrocity does it much better, IMO).

Oh, BTW, I know some lists were posted a while back but does anyone know exactly which Zones have been 100% confirmed for the console version of Generations? I know a few like Green Hill, Chemical Plant, Sky Sanctuary, and City Escape, but I'm not sure of the other choices.

[gunswordfist]

Any Sonic fan who doesn't own Gems Collection is a fucking idiot. The awful soundtrack for Sonic R makes the whole purchase worthwhile just by itself.

Speaking of Sonic CD, when is the re-release with the Japanese OST supposed to happen?

Please don't hurt me.

[gunswordfist]

So, I started replaying the original Sonic the Hedgehog on the Genesis, and so far managed to clear the first 2 zones. Green Hill Zone is classic as always, though its more about having fun exploring the area and finding alternate routes through the level than any real sense of challenge, since it is the first stage after all, and is expected to be laughably easy.

As for Marble Garden, I just remembered how awkward this zone feels. You can tell that with this being the first Sonic game, the creators were experimenting a bit more with it so in that process we got levels like Marble Garden which clearly didn't play to the game's strengths. There is hardly any running in the level and really it just feels like an average, boring platforming level that's fairly light on challenge and just feels way too slow-paced for a Sonic stage. Thankfully it seems that the developers learned from this and made sure to avoid that sort of level design as much as possible in later Sonic games.

I find it funny how punishing the 2nd levels are in the first time Sonic games. It's like they just wanted to fuck with us.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Sonic Generations is looking like this:

Green Hill
Chemical Plant
Sky Sanctuary
Metal Sonic (Stardust Speedway)
Death Egg Robot (Death Egg)
Speed Highway
City Escape
Seaside Hill
Shadow (Final Rush)
Perfect Chaos (Station Square)
Crisis City
Rooftop Run
Planet Wisp
Silver (Unknown)
Egg Dragoon (Eggmanland)
Final Area (Unknown)

Those are the levels in Generation that we know of.

So, I started replaying the original Sonic the Hedgehog on the Genesis, and so far managed to clear the first 2 zones. Green Hill Zone is classic as always, though its more about having fun exploring the area and finding alternate routes through the level than any real sense of challenge, since it is the first stage after all, and is expected to be laughably easy.

As for Marble Garden, I just remembered how awkward this zone feels. You can tell that with this being the first Sonic game, the creators were experimenting a bit more with it so in that process we got levels like Marble Garden which clearly didn't play to the game's strengths. There is hardly any running in the level and really it just feels like an average, boring platforming level that's fairly light on challenge and just feels way too slow-paced for a Sonic stage. Thankfully it seems that the developers learned from this and made sure to avoid that sort of level design as much as possible in later Sonic games.

I find it funny how punishing the 2nd levels are in the first time Sonic games. It's like they just wanted to fuck with us.

Fun fact: The original build of Sonic 1 had Labyrinth Zone as the second zone. They smartly changed their minds before the game was done.

[gunswordfist]

Too bad they decided to make it 4 zones anyway.

So do y'all think Sonic was better off not having 3 acts for most zones?

[Spark Of Spirit]

Oddly enough, I liked 4's way of doing it with 3 acts and a separate boss act AND S3K's way of it basically being one long level split it half. Both work for me. Sonic 1's was a little long in the tooth as some Act 3's were just too long before a boss fight like Labyrinth or Marble.

Actually, that was the one disappointment I had when the 3D games began and we lost acts. If they would have scrapped the fishing and emerald hunting and added second acts to every Sonic zone in Adventure (and mech shooting) and its sequel, I think the games would get far less guff. Thankfully, they've since returned after such a long and pointless absence.

[Rynnec]

Well if you want to be technical, you could say that SA1 had acts in Sonic's levels (eg Windy Valley's act 2 is everything after the tornado segment, Speed Highway's act 2 is after the skyscraper segment, etc.).