Sonic | He's the fastest thing alive

Regardless of how you view the reaction, point is - SA2 is back! Hopefully it would pave the way to finally be able to properly play as Tails, Knuckles etc in a future Sonic game. SA3, anyone?

jb said:
Regardless of how you view the reaction, point is - SA2 is back! Hopefully it would pave the way to finally be able to properly play as Tails, Knuckles etc in a future Sonic game. SA3, anyone?

I may hold off on SA2 for now until a price drop. Depends if they bother to do widescreen or other features. I'm guessing the GameCube stuff will be offered as DLC unfortunately, but I think it was mostly multiplayer stuff anyway. Maybe the odd Chao stuff as well. But at least there will be no PAL jump glitch this time!

Azuardo said:
I may hold off on SA2 for now until a price drop. Depends if they bother to do widescreen or other features. I'm guessing the GameCube stuff will be offered as DLC unfortunately, but I think it was mostly multiplayer stuff anyway. Maybe the odd Chao stuff as well. But at least there will be no PAL jump glitch this time!

And yeah I think the multiplayer stuff is confirmed as DLC, a 'Battle' expansion like the DX expansion for the first Sonic Adventure.

Marzy said:
I hate this "grown-men" nonsense, as well...

"Hey! I'm suddenly going to stop liking something because I turned from 17 to 18! Because NOW I'm a 'grown man!' I can't play Pokémon anymore, because it has cute characters and I'll be seen as pathetic by my peers, har har har, I'm influenced so easily by society, I'm so great and follow the rules, because it's considered normal, har har har"

You're right, I've met many people like that. I wonder where their rebellious spirit of playing with Playmobil and Barbie dolls went? Suddenly they all wanted to get a boring job, drive a car, have a family, drink alcohol while discussing mortgages and holidays. Even if they play a game now, it's some boring brown shoot 'em up. Poor men. Such a shame they give in to being normal. Now they'll have to secretly enjoy Pokemon on their children's Gameboys. Society really sucks when you look at it like that. Luckily not everybody is like that.
Still, that video is hilariously embarrassing. But that's probably just me then.

Probably better to discuss this somewhere else though. PM me if you want.

SuperLink said:
Oh the jump glitch was just PAL? That bugged the hell out of me sometimes.

I was trying to play Sonic CD the other day and I know that you're supposed to go back to the past and destroy the generator to make a good future. But I'm reading that in order to get the good ending you need to make good futures in every act? I've already missed out on the good future of a second act in one zone, so have I already ballsed up my chance of getting the good ending? Bit of a piss take.

Azuardo said:
I was trying to play Sonic CD the other day and I know that you're supposed to go back to the past and destroy the generator to make a good future. But I'm reading that in order to get the good ending you need to make good futures in every act? I've already missed out on the good future of a second act in one zone, so have I already ballsed up my chance of getting the good ending? Bit of a piss take.

If you get every TimeStone you get the good ending regardless (though some of the special stages are rly hard), doing that automatically destroys every generator in every stage, even ones you've already missed.

Also random tip: The Metal Sonic holograms you see in the past don't affect your game besides making more animals appear in the stages.

I've been taking my sweet time exploring in each act. I flew through the game on PSP in the past, but was trying to do it properly on PS3 this time. I may just end up trying the bonus stages for the Time Stones, but I think I already failed the first one ffs lol

I think there is a trophy for defeating each Metal Sonic hologram, so I've been getting rid of them.

Azuardo said:
I've been taking my sweet time exploring in each act. I flew through the game on PSP in the past, but was trying to do it properly on PS3 this time. I may just end up trying the bonus stages for the Time Stones, but I think I already failed the first one ffs lol

I think there is a trophy for defeating each Metal Sonic hologram, so I've been getting rid of them.

http://www.sonicstadium.org/2012/07/sega-releases-new-sonic-adventure-2-screenshots-press-release/

Sonic Adventure 2 press release and a couple of screens.

Um, it's widescreen? Thank fuck.

Okay, who else didn't know about this?

Get Sonic 4 Episode 1 for free for Apple devices if you go to any UK Starbucks

Who wants a free copy of Sonic 4 Episode 1 for their Apple device? If you do, good news! The UK arm of Starbucks are currently giving away the game for free if you visit their participating branch. Near to where you collect your drink you can find their 'App: pick of the week' promotion. For being a customer you can take a free code to a selected product from the iTunes store, and this week it happens to be Sonic 4 Episode 1.

I would imagine that the idea is you actually buy something at Starbucks and not just rush in there and take a code before manically laughing as you run out. But if you can't get to a Starbucks, I have a few codes to giveaway. Click that read more button if you want one!

The promotion looks like it's been running since last Monday so chances are come next week they'll move onto something else. If you can't get down to Starbucks tomorrow, I do have 9 of the codes to giveaway to anyone who would like one? Simply email "I want free game!" to hogfather@sonicstadium.org with your name and email address as I will be emailing the codes.

A few important things before you all rush to your email inboxes. This promotion is only running in the UK, as a result, the codes ONLY work for the UK iTunes store.

No more entries after Tuesday 21st August. Winners will be notified at some point next week all being well.

According to the instructions on the card, you can download them via a PC/Mac or direct to your Apple device (if it can connect to the iTunes store.) The devices listed as being compatible with this promotion are the iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone.

The promotion code will expire on September 24th 2012. So if you get one, make sure you use it before then.

Be nice if this comes to Wii U as well.

Anyone buy Sonic Adventure 2 HD yet? How does it look/play?

Wasn't too keen to get it asides from giving SEGA an extra buck they might need, but I'll wait to see if it comes to WiiU and get it there (so I can subtly tell SEGA 'hey make more games with Nintendo like Bayonetta')

From what I've heard it's more or less the same.. mixed things, some bug fixes maybe? But nothing major.
It seems to be a popular choice though, somewhat surprisingly, even met a few people in Uni today keen to download it.

I proper wanna get it. I think I deffo would in a price drop. Guaranteed I'd buy it on the spot if my mate came round, though. We'd just smash through it on the day. But yeah, for Wii U owners' sakes, would be nice if SEGA released all the Sonics available on PSN/360 on it, too (SA1 & 2, both Sonic 4s, Sonic CD, etc).

Came across some very interesting info on the development history of SA2 whilst browsing GAF. All credit to the user Sega1991 who posted this:

Originally Posted by brumx:
Sonic Adventure1 was much more colorful not sure what they where thinking when they made SA2 it seems a random. I mean you have to play thru like 4 stages before one shadow level huh?

Well, as the story goes, Shadow might not have been originally a playable character, and a great many things in SA2 changed about halfway through development. The way it goes is like this:

Sonic Adventure 2 as it was originally announced had Sonic, Knuckles, and Eggman as playable characters - very likely meant to represent Good (Sonic), Neutral (Knuckles) and Evil (Eggman). Many of the story themes present in the final version of the game were still around - we know from early reports of (still never publicly shown) concept art that Shadow and Rouge were in the game from the beginning, though Sonic Team was clearly playing with the concept that Sonic Adventure 2 was going to be a very dark, serious sort of game (various pieces concept art for Shadow described him as having full-body scars, or a missing eye, or missing appendages). The game was to have branching storyline pathways - a concept later resurrected for Shadow the Hedgehog in 2005.

The problem was that Sonic Team refused to confirm whether or not Tails was in the game, and apparently there was enough people out there who pestered Sonic Team at conventions and such about Tails not being in the game that Sonic Team announced they would be going back and putting in more "friendly faces" in the game, notably Tails. While not directly confirmed, there are suggestions that this signaled a pretty significant change in the whole entire design of Sonic Adventure 2. For example, around this time is where they went from the above "light vs. dark" logo style to this more colorful (almost garish) stylization:

The branching pathway system was scrapped. Tails and likely Amy Rose were shoe-horned in (think about it: Amy contributes almost nothing to the story), and the overall plot was lightened up a little bit. But most importantly, the roster of playable characters went from 3 to 6, and the "team rivalry" system was born. Shadow was now playable, as was Rouge, to make up for the fact that Tails was now Dr. Eggman's rival.

It is somewhat likely that Shadow, Rouge and Tails were given levels that were intended for the branching path system. Whereas you would be presented with a choice that would either lead to LEVEL A or LEVEL B, now LEVEL A would be for Sonic and LEVEL B would be for Shadow. Unfortunately for Shadow, there probably weren't a lot of LEVEL B's to go around.

tl;dr: They hastily re-tooled a pretty significant portion of the game somewhat late in development all because fans were whining about Tails not being in the game originally.

I was hoping the "Making Of" featurette would help shine some more light on that stuff but instead we get stories about parking meters. :

Oh and to further point to the fact that Tails wasn't planned to be in the game, a video of a demo of SA2 that came with Phantasy Star Online. The ending movie part is what you want to watch.

Also very interesting to note that Shadow The Hedgehog originally wasn't a Hedgehog at all, but infact a character who is now widely considered to be the best new Sonic character since Knuckles.

I frankly loved this idea, the fact that Sonic's dark equal counterpart was a female feline. Now Blaze ended up being Sonic's counterpart in another way, the hero and emerald user of her own dimension and definitely a strong character, but it would have been interesting to see how her original concept could have ended up.

And.. yeah while I have nostalgia for SA2 it was flawed in ways besides camera and buggy controls, the Tails gameplay wasn't really fun at all, and between SA1 and 2 he became an arrogant whiny kid, not the Tails I want to play as! As much as I like Tails I'd rather have had him not playable in SA2.

Especially since.. Knuckles' role in the series in general has been completely shafted since SA1, he's now nothing more than comic relief when he was indeed originally a neutral faction and a real rival to Sonic. I can't help but wonder if the series would have stayed more true to itself had SA2 continued down its original path.. (dark or not, can't say I ever liked the Sonic series being really dark but you never know)

..Still with all of Sonic's messups in years past, you can't help but think "what if" for everything.

For a fan-funded feature film, this is great.

Ah, I remember the teaser for that film. Was wondering when it was going to come out. I remember the big news was Jaleel White as the voice of Sonic. I'll have to give it a proper watch soon.

I thought it was pretty embarrassing really.. especially Jaleel's portrayal of Sonic, I simply don't understand what's popular about how nasal and obnoxious it is. He sounds even worse in this than the cartoons! His years must be getting to him.However considering it was fanmade the CGI on the robots especially is actually pretty good.. shame the actors themselves aren't so good.

Bumpity bump hehehehe:

It's been a while since something Sonic happened, here's a little something. Remember that amazing Sonic CD remake a few years back? New physics, remastered music, playable Tails, multiple soundtracks? Yeah, that one. Well..!

The guy who made it is working on a similar treatment for Sonic 1 and 2! This'll be released on Android, and the iOS versions will be updated to this version. Hopefully it'll come to consoles too. The very fact that this ad is following the Japanese Sonic cover theme as opposed to the American one usually used by SEGA over and over should instantly illustrate that this time is different.

BUT, that's not the best part, listen to this juicy little tidbit I discovered surfing Sonic Stadium's Message Boards!

A little background, that's a snapshot of Sonic Retro, and that quote chain is being quoted by Admins. Admins of Sonic Retro generally are privvy to insider knowledge (Taxman, the guy who made Sonic CD + this also used to be a fandom member)

Basically, what this means is that if Sonic1/2 remastered do well, it could have genuinely great consequences on the future of the series. Sonic Retro's Admins are URGING fans to buy it, maybe they know what'll happen if it does well? Here's my speculation; Taxman will be able to create an original Sonic game in the REAL style of the originals if it does well, or original Sonic content, or a full HD remake of one of these games. Maybe he'll even be invited to Sonic Team. This is all speculation, but some of it might be possible.

So basically yeah, if you care about the Sonic series' future, buy and support this when it comes out. Maybe even get multiple copies. Yep.

( Edited 27.03.2013 14:11 by SuperLink )

Was gonna post about these remasters here last night. So fricking happy at this! I would've bought them regardless of whether there was added incentive for future proper Sonic prospects, but it's so good to hear it might happen now. I would love a brand new proper 2D Sonic.

When I saw this news it begged the question: Why doesn't Nintendo hire someone to remaster SMB3 and World and whack them on the eShop? Easy money.

( Edited 27.03.2013 14:48 by Azuardo )

A small update on things, this could turn out to be a good year for Sonic (just a feeling)
Of course, there's the new Sonic trademark; Sonic Lost World, which is very likely to be the next mainseries Sonic title. It's been over 2 years since the last 3D entry, Generations and Colours were both genuinely good, it's fair enough to feel a bit hyped about something they've clearly actually put time into rather than rushing (which gave us most of the nasty Sonic games between 2002 and 2009).

Then there's 3D Classics: Sonic The Hedgehog 3D on 3DS. It sounds cool.. but it's apparently not that impressive. A solid port + spindash with a half-assed, missed opportunity of a 3D function. Of course, 3DS getting a port of Sonic 1 that's superior to the VC, PSN, XBLA and PC versions is pretty nice..

but it's totally overshadowed by this new beaut:
Sonic 1 iOS/Android, brought to you by that guy who did the amazing Sonic CD remake (Christian Whitehead) (unfortunately yes, it's mobile exclusive, whether it comes to consoles in the future is a mystery)

• Tails and Knuckles are unlockable AND have their own hidden pathways in some stages that are basically totally new sections to stages. You heard right, new parts of stages have been designed especially for this remake.
  
• Tails and Knuckles have their character specific abilities from Sonic 3, including flying/swimming and gliding/climbing
  
• option to have Tails following Sonic a la Sonic 2
  
• High quality music, some tracks with new instruments
  
• runs constantly at 60FPS, even on older devices
  
• optional spindash
  
• game saves
  
• perfected physics and removed speedcap
  
• hidden easter eggs!
  

EDIT: SONIC LOST WORLD IS A WII U AND 3DS EXCLUSIVE

( Edited 17.05.2013 15:06 by SuperLink )

Sonic 1 with Tails and Knucks is free for those who already own the game??? Amazing!!!

Thanks for this Superlink, the update is already out there for those of you had'nt realised!

( Edited 19.05.2013 21:09 by Flynnie )