Sonic 3 Gameplay added
Tuesday, 27th April 2010, 8:10pm (UTC), 5 Comments
Update: Gameplay page added to the Sonic 3 section
Just a small update to the Sonic 3 section to prove I'm still around, and to make sure you all know what you're doing with regard to.. jumping, and rolling and things like that. Nothing ground breaking in it of course, but one of those things you need to have sooner or later. It should be one of the first pages made really, but I like to have a good bank of screen shots to use, which of course I have, from doing first three levels already. Carnival Night to come within the next couple of months probably. Sorry, I know it takes ages but bear with me, I hope to get on a more regular schedule soon. For what it's worth I do still quite enjoy making these guides.

Having said that though, I'll soon follow this post with an update to the writers wanted operation, which I've recently been having a sort through lately and hope to try and attract more of you to the cause. Stay tuned!
Comments   5 Comments have been posted.
#1. Comment posted by MoDaD on Wednesday, 28th April 2010, 2:31am
Great addition. I know they're used elsewhere, but the mouse-over captions are a nice touch.
#2. Comment posted by sonictails1189 on Wednesday, 28th April 2010, 7:21pm
Awesome. Looks good. Glad to see you're still here, though I didn't think you'd actually left. May I suggest you update the Details section of Background Information for Sonic 1-3 to include the Sonic Classic Collection?
#3. Comment posted by LiQuidShade on Wednesday, 28th April 2010, 8:12pm
Done! Sorry, I don't know why I'm not quicker to update those, they only take a minute. One of those things I have to remind myself to do. Have also added Sonic 2 for iPhone/iPod Touch, which I will write about in the ports section eventually, and the Sonic 1 one for that matter as well. Not missing any others in the meantime though, am I?
#4. Comment posted by sonictails1189 on Thursday, 29th April 2010, 6:20pm
Not to my knowledge, not recently at least. Though, I'm probably not the best source for information in this subject. ;-)
#5. Comment posted by zoneangel on Sunday, 9th May 2010, 6:55pm
I really liked this site, the feel, the tool tips, everything...
I hope that Sonic 3 and Knuckles section will be completed soon... and I hope SEGA releases Sonic 3 and Knuckles on Iphone too. lol
Marble Madness
Sunday, 14th March 2010, 2:38pm (UTC), 6 Comments
Update: Marble Garden Zone added to the Sonic 3 section
Finally, an update for you all! Angel Island's vast, ruin-filled forests are represented through the regal Marble Garden Zone, a treasure trove of unique, elaborate objects and some fantastic level design. Must apologise once again that it's taking me forever to get through Sonic 3, and as I reach the last three months of my degree, you're probably unlikely to see Carnival Night Zone within that time, but I'll do my best. After that though I have some big plans for the site that are currently cooking away in my brain. I want to get more guides from other writers up and running, a couple of which are looking promising at the moment. Need to catch up with some writers that I haven't heard from in a while. There's room for plenty more though, so see the old writers wanted blog entry for more information on writing for the site.

I might get the Gameplay page for Sonic 3 up next, which you may well see reasonably soon as it's not quite as draining as a whole level page, but then again, not as fun to make! In the meantime, the forum's becoming more active recently with lively Sonic 4 debate as more info trickles in, so feel free to take part.

Until next time!
Comments   6 Comments have been posted.
#1. Comment posted by Meph on Sunday, 14th March 2010, 2:50pm
Maybe in the future you could add some HTML5 features to the site. There are many that you can add right now, since most new features are backwards compatible.
#2. Comment posted by LiQuidShade on Sunday, 14th March 2010, 2:59pm
You know I haven't really looked into HTML5, been a while since I've really done much web programming now actually, but I'll have to see what can be done with it, and new CSS techniques too. Perhaps something will inspire me.

At the moment I'm considering a smaller update than the big new design that I made last year, primarily nothing particularly visual, mostly centered around integrating my hunt for new writers into the site itself, hopefully coinciding with some of them starting to produce finished works. I also have ideas for the blog system, using some of the entries as part of a larger articles system. Stay tuned!
#3. Comment posted by Speeding Hedgehog on Tuesday, 16th March 2010, 8:26pm
I get the reference! (in the title) great game! also, I love the guide! That zone is huge!
#4. Comment posted by Tailsspain on Friday, 19th March 2010, 2:57pm
I can´t wait till you cover Carnival Night zone. I hope you do an important refference to... THE BARREL!!
#5. Comment posted by LiQuidShade on Friday, 19th March 2010, 6:33pm
The Carnival Night barrel is certainly one of the occasions where this site has a chance to be at its most useful!

You know it's funny though, I originally wrote the whole Sonic 3 guide over four years ago now, and I briefly glanced at the Carnival Night part the other day and although I certainly made the barrel bit into a point, what I've written really doesn't make that big a deal of it. I personally never had an issue with it in my youth, it was explained to me by a friend when I first got there, but in the last four years I've obviously seen a lot of stories of how the legendary barrel seems to have had a rather profound effect on peoples lives in some cases! I'll certainly review the original text, as I always do, and amend to reference this more clearly. Would be a shame if I just ignored its significance to so many people!
#6. Comment posted by Chaos Shadow on Tuesday, 23rd March 2010, 11:02pm
Heh. The barrel. I don't understand people who have such horror stories about the barrel.

I remember, when I was young, that I got stuck on the barrel for a solid four minutes (and wound up timing out the level) before figuring it out. I was also -five- at the time, and had no idea this thing was so scarring until just recently. I knew it was tricky, but -wow-.
Sonic Classic Collection
Saturday, 13th March 2010, 12:18am (UTC), 2 Comments
The new baby brother of the "Sonic Something Collection" series is here, once again offering classic Mega Drive action to yet another platform, in the form of Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles and thankfully the experiments of the cross-breeding of Sonic & Knuckles with Sonic 2 and 3 (though not 1, sadly). Clearly by Sega's reckoning, if you don't have these titles playable on at least five different things then there's something wrong with you. The key thing about Sonic Classic Collection though (and indeed if it weren't for this simple fact I personally would have very little interest in this umpteenth compendium) is that it's on the Nintendo DS, and therefore portable.

Gathering all four of these gems, plus their cross-breeds in any officially portable form has never been easy. Sonic 1 and 2 starred quite successfully in a Sega compilation on the PSP, and I believe S&K appears on a little nostalgic Sega handheld, but this collection promises a much simpler solution. I find myself on a train on a monthly basis throughout most of the year, and quite often I've had a certain itch for vintage Sonic like Momma used to make. Trains are dead boring after all. In particular I wanted to finally have Sonic 3 & Knuckles, in my view the greatest game ever created, in the palms of my hands, which has never been possible until now, so naturally I was anticipating this collection quite eagerly. It arrived on pre-order very early, just in time for my most recent train journey, and I thought I'd share my findings with you all..

Make no mistake about it, this is a real bare-bones compilation. The EasyJet of Sonic compilations, if you like. Its minimal menu system reminds me of compilation cartridges on the Mega Drive, such as Sonic Compilation or that 6-in-1 thing that had Sonic 1 on it. It offers a set of basic character illustrations from the games that it features (which you've seen dozens of times and surely can't be in that high demand as far as viewing anywhere, any time is concerned), but that's it in the extras department. No videos, no unlockables, no music, no comics. The only other thing is a list of credits that are remotely fun to watch only because various sprites have been placed so that, for example, Knuckles is clinging on for dear life off the edge of some guy's name. Oh, you guys. You're such pranksters.

What I found far more interesting is the music that accompanies the whole menu system. Anyone who collected the minimal Sonic titles on the Sega Saturn will receive a blast from the past when they realise they're listening to the theme of "Sonic World" Sonic's first ever fully 3D environment, which served as an explorable hub into various museums of worthwhile extras, found within the first proper compilation title, Sonic Jam. What an obscure, albeit highly relevant thing to bring back. I'd liked to have had the Sonic 3 data select slow remix that also features in those museums as well.

However, we're agile online Sonic fans, any extra trinket that we want, we can get, so who needs em on a little DS cartridge? It's the games that I want. How do they fare? Well enough, I would say. I began with Sonic 3 (at first not realising that S3&K was further on in the menu system and no unlocking is required - I blame the scary and unfamiliar American boxarts that got me all confused). I think I was expecting as perfect an experience as any other emulation of it when I first loaded it up. That's not the case, so you shouldn't expect it either. If I were to describe it with a metaphor, I would say that if you consider a normal PC emulation of these games as the equivalent of Digital radio, then these versions are a bit like FM radio on good reception. They're clear enough, they get the point across and they do the job, it's just not quite a smooth a ride as it would be elsewhere.

Frame rate is the main culprit for this. Unless you have exceptionally high standards (and some of you do), then it's not what I'd call horrendous. It's perfectly playable, and the only real slowdown you get is when you lose a lot of rings, which has always happened really, so it rarely intrudes on your ability to play the game. I played most of Sonic 3 on my train journey and didn't really encounter any technical problems to stop me from playing the game about as well as I would on any other system. That said, the frame rate can get noticeably inconsistent. I know there were some concerns in previews of this problem, and I think those have been adjusted, however despite some reports of the final version, I don't think the problem has been erased entirely. These sudden drops aren't quite as severe as Sonic Adventure DX, which would go from 30 to 60 every few seconds - the margin of difference isn't anywhere near that high, however it is somewhat comparable by frequency and the fact that it's not always obvious things, like a lot happening on screen, that seem to cause it, it can occur at any time. It's not necessarily when running full pelt either, which can often be a perfectly smooth ride. If you're a complete purist then it might bother you, but if you just want a perfectly reasonable, playable rendition of classic Sonic on your handheld then you'll be fine with it, and you can get used to it fairly quickly.

Audio is crucial, it is is surely impossible to get the same amount of fun out of these levels without being able to hear their glorious tunes, and fortunately everything sounds about right. Going back to my radio analogy, this is also particularly reminiscent of FM as opposed to digital, perhaps just down to the hardware of the DS, as it's rather sort of tinny and muffled, even with earphones. Bit of a shame, but at least it's the original versions of the tunes and not recreated ones like the much loathed and ridiculed Sonic 1 GBA port. Again, you get used to them. Like Sonic Jam, this compilation appears to feature music separate from the actual emulation. It's all the right tunes (well, almost - I did notice Sonic 3 mini-boss music in the mini-bosses of S&K - WTF?), and they all play at the right times, but it does mean that when you get an extra life, the tune then restarts where it should have just carried on, ala Sonic Advance. I noticed in a couple of levels like Casino Night and Launch Base, they don't quite loop properly either. However, this does mean, and I haven't yet got far enough to confirm this, that you should be able to play Star Light and Sky Sanctuary without the chimes of rings and other objects completely interrupting the particularly beautiful melody. In theory. That always really bothered me.

The other interesting thing about this interpretation of these games is the fact that the full 320 x 224 screen resolution doesn't quite fit into the resolution of the DS. At first, from screenshots I thought they'd just clipped off the very corners of the full screen, but what they've done is made it so that the actual area of the screen, the window into Sonic's world if you like, is a tad smaller. So when you face a boss that is normally designed to be in a window that perfectly matches the normal 320 x 224 resolution, so that normally the camera won't move, it will nudge over a bit here. There aren't really any problems with this, apart from the fact that in Sonic 2, you can run around behind the score tally bit and actually move all of the results left and right by a few pixels, which is actually more amusing than problematic. Actually shows that the developers might have had a harder time bringing these games to this format than others if they had to go to the trouble of making those kind of changes. In addition, somewhat predictably, there are no 2 player modes. When you start up Sonic 2, the options for character select appear where your player mode or options menu would normally be (which means no 19,65,09,17 level select cheat!), and Competition has been removed from Sonic 3's similar list.

Now the DS has two screens, right? So what have they got on the other screen? Well, not a whole lot, and this is, I think, the biggest shame of it all. You have the ability to save and load your game for Sonic 1, 2 and S&K (Sonic 3 already has this feature anyway of course), and there are touch screen buttons here to do that, except it'll only save your progress from the start of the current act you're in (or level for S&K), and not the actual state. You get a very brief summary of the game's plot and you can bring up a list of controls and moves to pull off, and the pause button has curiously been moved from Start to a button on the touch screen. This is such a missed opportunity though, where else are you going to be able to so easily add a piece of relevant information to one of these games, while you're playing it? I've tweeted about this fairly recently, but wouldn't it be great if they were able to add, in essence, a mini Zone: 0 in that bottom screen? As soon as you enter a level you can bring up info about its badniks and objects. They could finally give a kind of hints system to the games, if it could analyse where you are in the level and bring up a relevant point to guide you if you're near enough to an area that you could get stuck on (the Carnival Night barrel would be the obvious example). Hell, you could even have a map that tracks your location and that you could zoom in and out to see the different routes. It'd all make the games a lot easier admittedly, but perhaps there could be an unlocking system to it, and lets be honest, who hasn't played all of this before anyway?

So in summary, Sonic Classic Collection does what it says on the tin, but little else. That's fair enough I suppose, but as a Sonic fan, it's a great shame that they didn't/couldn't do more creative things with that bottom screen. Just looking down and seeing it with a slightly pathetic little description, not really knowing what to do with itself is a pity. Even just a bit of level specific info (take it from this site, Sega! I'll happily give you what I've written for the unpublished guides too) couldn't have been that taxing on the developers, considering they've messed around with quite a lot of things in the game anyway. It's that kind of effort that wins favour with the fans and makes it worthwhile to buy the same games over and over again.

Whether or not you should buy this depends entirely on your lifestyle. If you don't get out much, then there's probably not a lot here for you except for the sake of owning everything Sonic, ever (an expensive habit, I should know). However, if you do a fair bit of traveling (unless you're the one driving of course) and have often thought how much fun you could be having bouncing off of bumpers in Spring Yard or getting high off of pixelated fungi in Mushroom Hill, instead of staring out the window at cows, this is worth a look. It's a portable collection of reasonably accurate, perfectly playable renditions of four and a bit of the greatest games (scratch that, four of the greatest things - scratch that too, the four greatest things) in the history of creation, and whatever way you look at it, that's a good thing. Even if the overall packaging could be more interesting and unique.
Comments   2 Comments have been posted.
#1. Comment posted by supersonicsmash on Saturday, 13th March 2010, 8:36pm
Oh, yeah I heard of hits on wikipeidia the same day I found out about Sonic 4 being named Sonic 4. But the real name is Sonic 4 episode 1.
#2. Comment posted by GreenBird on Wednesday, 31st March 2010, 6:02pm
I'm a little disappointed with how little extras we got this time around, especially with what we got with Mega Collection, ah well. Still hoping for a portable version of Sonic CD.
Temporary Downloads Lockdown! (Now back to normal!)
Friday, 19th February 2010, 6:41pm (UTC), 5 Comments
My humble apologies, but I've disabled access to the downloads for all the games - very temporarily, because I'm experiencing bandwidth issues right now, thus far inexplicable ones at that. All month it was looking hairy that demands on the site were finally going to break my 20 gig bandwidth limit this month. I checked earlier today and it seemed to be hovering around the 13-15 gig used area. Checked again late this afternoon and suddenly there was a big scary bandwidth exceeded message! Apologies if you were confronted with that also. So I've contacted my hosts and expanded my package to 30 gigs for the next month, and as soon as I got back on my cpanel, my bandwidth was immediately at 28 gigs used! Absolutely no idea what's going on, no reports are showing anything out of the ordinary, though I confess to not being a web server expert.

Anyway, drastic times, drastic measures, I've decided to temporarily block access to all the downloads folders until I can work out what's going on. They host the largest files on my server that are accessed the most so maybe I've been linked somewhere really popular and people are swarming all over them. If you've suddenly come here from somewhere really popular then please let me know, or if you know anything that might give me some clue as to what's going on!

Again, really sorry about this, I'll try and keep them locked down for only a short time, although if I've only got 2 gig left to go I might have to just try and ride out the rest of the month without them, as I have other sites sitting on this server too. Please bear with me! Will update soon.

UPDATE: I've reinstated access to all downloads folders, you should be able to get at everything once again. Bizarrely, my bandwidth has now returned to normal! So it's gone from 42 gigs used, down to just 15, which is where it should have been all along! I suspect it's some sort of technical error with my hosts, the bandwidth was never actually that high at all, as the tracking records would suggest. But it's caused a slightly stressful wild goose chase that's disrupted access to my site and caused me to shell out for unnecessary extra bandwidth. I shall be having words, I assure you!
Comments   5 Comments have been posted.
#1. Comment posted by Meph on Friday, 19th February 2010, 8:29pm
Could it be bots?
#2. Comment posted by supersonicsmash on Friday, 19th February 2010, 11:11pm
I'll kill em give me a hammer I'll kill em.
#3. Comment posted by Anonymous on Saturday, 20th February 2010, 5:28pm
That sucks, I love the site. It better not be malicious or we will band together and take them down!
#4. Comment posted by LiQuidShade on Saturday, 20th February 2010, 6:24pm
I suppose it might, though I don't have any enemies in the community - no one's said a bad word against me and my site really, as far as I'm aware, so I can't think what anyone has to gain out of this. Weird thing is, bandwidth and traffic reports aren't stating anything out of the ordinary, although they're about 12 - 24 hours behind at any one point, it's very hard to pinpoint the issue.

I've upgraded to unlimited bandwidth for the time being which should keep the site live. Consumed space was 43 gigs earlier, now it's gone down to 42 somehow! This may be some sort of technical cock up.
#5. Comment posted by Speeding Hedgehog on Sunday, 21st February 2010, 2:08am
Hope it get's fixed soon! I miss looking at the wonderful level maps!
Sonic the Hedgehog 4
Thursday, 4th February 2010, 8:34am (UTC), 6 Comments
The rumours are true...



I think I'll come back and compose my thoughts a little later, but at the moment I'm feeling like I'm done with the whole "critical, whiny" attitude that many fans seem to think is cool nowadays. Sure, that's a fairly generic looking Green Hill clone, but if any game has permission to use it, it's this one. It looks fantastic and I want to feel like a ten year old again, eagerly awaiting and thinking over the possibilities of the next game in my favourite series. Well done Sega, you did it!

*Later that day*

Well we've had a few hours to let it sink in and a few more details to trickle out. I recommend the Q&A with good 'ol Ken if you haven't read it already. Also http://www.sonicthehedgehog4.com now lives and breathes. The design of the site is a little generic-Sonic, the kind of default styling they give to most of their general purpose Sonic websites, but hopefully it might mutate into something more appropriately retro. They're probably still establishing the branding characteristics of the game as a whole.

All in all everything that we suspected is true though;
- A direct continuation of the original series, picking up where S&K left off. The official site even mentions Angel Island and the Death Egg having just been dealt with!
- High res 2D graphics (there's a lot of talk of 3D around, but I suspect it relates only to the characters, not the environments, and even then it could just be pre-rendered).
- Classic moves such as the spin dash. Homing attack also pops in.
- The first game of at least two parts, exactly like Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles.
- The first download only Sonic game, through XBox Live, PSN, and also Wiiware will not be left in the cold afterall. And interestingly, unofficially uncovered, iPhone. Christian Whitehead's Retro Engine perhaps..? Hmm..
- July release. That's not long!

Overall, I love what I'm seeing and reading and I love the whole approach. As I've said somewhere before (or maybe just in my own head, I can't remember now), making it a smaller downloadable title ultimately makes it more likely to be of a higher quality because the developers won't feel like they have to pad the game out by introducing other mechanics, which everyone always hates - it won't matter if this game can be completed within a couple of days and only really has one central gameplay mode. Plus, its cheaper price is perfect for the 'normos' who stopped paying attention after Sonic & Knuckles, will one day come across a Sonic 4 advertised on their XBox, download a quick demo, love it and buy the whole thing there and then.

Now I make no secret about reservations over their choice of first level. I was holding out for something more original, however I will admit that a Green Hill clone does shout "look at me, I'm Sonic like you used to know me!!" to lost, casual fans, whom I think this is partially aimed at, in addition to the ones like you and me who have hung around and spent years building complex websites (or maybe that's just me). It does, however, look gorgeous. It's bright and colourful as it should be, and I love the extrusions and intrusions on the individual checkers, creating lovely lighting and shadows. It bodes well for the graphics of the game as a whole, because you just can't find this kind of quality in the world of fan gaming, and I can't wait to see this applied to the other levels too. Those also downhearted by the lack of originality behind this level should hopefully be comforted by the fact that at least one more game will follow this one with a whole new set of levels, and between the two of them, I'm sure they can concoct some more interesting ideas. It's hardly the end of the world.

Inevitably, this game will be nitpicked and such evidence can already be found. I can understand resistance to be excited if you've felt let down multiple times, but clearly some people will never really get the big picture. I speak mostly of those shouting at their monitors about how Sonic has green eyes, how the homing attack will make an appearance, etc etc. I think each Sonic fan needs to realise that the franchise does not revolve around the exact specifications of what they, individually, deem to be a worthwhile Sonic game, that anything less than that is not automatically crap, and that their opinions do not necessarily reflect, even by majority, the opinions of the whole fanbase. Whatever the specifics are that you want, you are unlikely to get all of them in one go, because everyone has different needs - I think some of us need to be a lot more accepting, and less fussy over the details.

Also, I think it's unlikely that any future Sonic game will ever really be better or possibly even as good as your favourites among the original Mega Drive selection - in a way, their quality is time-locked, it's directly linked with the nostalgic memories of playing them in their own time period, when you were probably a youngster and because of all that you've seen and played since, nothing will ever quite live up to that. I personally, have come to accept that and I urge fans not to have those kind of high expectations for new titles, official or otherwise, because they'll probably never really be met. Each game should be judged on its own merit, with its own approach, in my view.

But lets be excited for once, for goodness sakes, this is SONIC 4! This is a game I remember dreaming about a decade and a half ago, and sure it's not going to be as it would have been had it been released in 1995, but I think that's for the best. I think it would have been a shame to see them use Mega Drive technology to represent this game here and now, when it can look as good as it does in those brief 3 seconds of footage. Emulating S3&K's 2 part nature is a fantastic idea, and I'm hoping the two will then be playable together in one massive chunk. Who's to say that episode 2 won't feature Tails and Knuckles, who could then be played in episode 1 and access whole other routes? What I'm most excited about is the fact that all of the classic staples; spin dash, badniks, end of act signposts, hopefully item boxes and potentially just about anything from S1-K is being reintroduced into the modern flow of Sonic design. All of these features have gradually been phased out of modern games to be replaced by new mechanics. I'm all for trying new things but this stuff should never be left to die completely, and Sonic 4's mere presence ensures that won't happen. plus I can't wait to just play through a whole new, classic 2D game. By the time of release, it will have been a good three years since any fully 2D game, and many more years since one of this nature.

Unsurprisingly, the real meaty stuff, like level design decisions (multiple routes, unique objects and layouts per level, water, fewer death drops, etc) still remain to be seen, and these are the kinds of things, along with general control physics of Sonic himself that will really determine whether Sonic 4 sinks or swims with many fans, however so far, everything is going rather well I would argue, and in general it's a great choice of game for Sega to do, at the time when Sonic really needs it.

I always knew that Sonic the Hedgehog 4 would come one day, in pretty much this kind of packaging. Having known that the game would be announced at 8am this morning (UK time) I was like a kid on Christmas Eve last night. I even kept dreaming about various different forms the game could take, from Mega Drive graphics, to full on 3D, and waking up after each. I think it would certainly be aided by slightly more retro branding than what's currently on the official site, but I really hope this game inspires the kid in every twenty-something or late teen Sonic fan to come bursting out into life again and jump up and down at the prospect of a new, full on 2D adventure, simple and brilliant.

Oh, and to all the people who have, or will be interested in writing guides for Zone: 0.. dibs on Sonic 4. Both/all episodes :P
Comments   6 Comments have been posted.
#1. Comment posted by Svend Joscelyne / Dreadknux on Thursday, 4th February 2010, 12:06pm
A lot of people were unreasonably expecting Mega Drive style graphics or something - this game looks more like it's channeling New Super Mario Bros. Wii's approach than, say, Mega Man 10. And that, undoubtedly, is a good thing. A very good thing.

Excellent article, mate. I agree pretty much wholeheartedly. It finally looks like we're getting the game we've been waiting for. Why sully the celebration with the colour of Sonic's eyes, eh?
#2. Comment posted by LiQuidShade on Thursday, 4th February 2010, 12:17pm
Exactly. The details like that don't matter, it's the overall spirit of the game and effort gone into creating a fun and engaging experience, through great level design and character momentum. We still need to see evidence of that but if you can't get excited about something new now and then, then what's the point?
#3. Comment posted by Meph on Thursday, 4th February 2010, 3:51pm
It's kind of the Sonic Team to do this. I think it would be rude if we were to lash out at them over minor details.
#4. Comment posted by Speeding Hedgehog on Thursday, 4th February 2010, 9:38pm
I dunno. call me a spoil sport, but I'm kinda disappointed to see new Sonic, especially since this game takes place RIGHT AFTER Sonic 3 & K. It doesn't ruin the whole game, but it is kinda a letdown. I'm also not too thrilled with the inclusion of the homing attack, but as long as it takes a back seat and isn't used to travel over bottomless pits by attacking still enemies (ala anything after Sonic Adventure), It'll be fine.
#5. Comment posted by supersonicsmash on Wednesday, 10th February 2010, 9:09pm
Already seen it on Youtube. Also, someone predicted this that it would be SOnic 4, I thought it would be a remake looking at the wikipedia thing. I recently did of course look it up. remake of Sonic Mega Collection and Sonic Gems Collection.
#6. Comment posted by Chaos Shadow on Friday, 12th February 2010, 3:49am
Whether it turns out to be closer to a remake than an original game, or we get back to the real good stuff from the 90s (Sonic Advanced/Rush, you try so hard, but you never quite -make it-; it's like an uncanny valley of fun, where you know it should be but it just feels more like busywork), I am excited. This looks absolutely gorgeous, and if the gameplay remains true to the original Genesis titles (or Sonic CD), this is going to be a blast.
Secret talent for fake Needlemouse concept art
Thursday, 28th January 2010, 2:01pm (UTC), 5 Comments
Sega are playing interesting games at the moment. They've already revealed who's going to be in Sonic 4 - whoops, I mean, "Project Needlemouse", and teased toward its content with concept art of a classic badnik design, all by connecting to the fans directly and more personally, through setting us challenges on their blog. We complete the challenge, we get the info or media that, like crack addicts, we desperately desire! I must say I think it's a much more original and involving approach than the traditional "we release trailer, press release, screenshots, you talk amongst yourselves kthxbye" way of doing things, and particularly appropriate for the subject matter. They know they've got something big and probably franchise-shaking on their hands, if that's a term, and they're being charmingly sneaky about it. Crucially though, as a fan, I feel like more of a part of this than I would otherwise. They could have gone to all the big gaming sites who facelessly slam their games when it comes to review time and ask them to pass on this kind of stuff, but I do admire their alternative marketing strategy here. It makes a world of difference to have this kind of thing delivered in such an informal way, and cut out that unnecessary middleman.

Today they've launched another challenge, and made big promises about what's at stake; The game's real name, concept art from the first Zone (note that they use that term rather than level or stage) plus a "very cool" bonus surprise, which I might predict would be artwork of Sonic himself, perhaps in his original form. Tantalising, but this time the task is a little more strenuous than just answering a few questions that everyone knows, we need to get our creative hats on and come up with our own concept art of our favourite classic badniks, a challenge inspired by Trakker, an artist who in turn was inspired enough by the first Shellcracker Needlemouse artwork to come up with a couple of his own. We have until Monday to get a hundred of them over to Sega.

In what I probably saw as a perfect excuse not to do work, I've decided to play along this time and jump through their hoops, so here's mine, on what must really be the coolest (no pun intended) badnik ever..

Penguinator

I had fun with the eyes. It strikes me that adding a touch more realistic detail to a character with really cartoony eyeballs must be quite difficult. I've kept their shape but made them a bit more synthetic - rather like webcams. The irony of this choice of course is that Penguinator has already reappeared since Sonic 3 (in Sonic Advance). Submit links to your own designs to their blog post

They also sneak in an additional, official return of Moto Bug, just to show they mean business. Now, while it's all very well to bring back classic designs, it's a relatively small aesthetic compared to overall focus on level design and pace in the game, which one would hope matches that of the classics. Is there any word on that yet? It's easily missed, but at the bottom, a small poetic paragraph offers, I think the most exciting thing about this post:

Speed is something that is not given; but rather earned through dedication. Speed is not found by simply pushing a boost button, but by building momentum. It is the reward for skill in the face of difficult challenges – this kind of speed is the most exhilarating, not only because it is fast, but because of the pure perfection such speed exemplifies. This is the truth of the original Sonic games – and this is the truth of Project Needlemouse.

Seems like they're really putting some thought behind this - an excellent indication that they've finally done what they should have done years ago and really looked in depth about what made those early games so great. It's my hope that in searching for inspiration behind every design decision in this game, they haven't even glanced at anything that didn't precede Sonic Adventure. I don't know about you, but I cannot wait for next week!
Comments   5 Comments have been posted.
#1. Comment posted by Meph on Thursday, 28th January 2010, 3:45pm
I bet that IGN and the like are still going to give it a zero, even if it does turn out to be the best game of the year! Lately, the review sites are being extremely negative at everything they see.
#2. Comment posted by LiQuidShade on Thursday, 28th January 2010, 3:56pm
I think this game will probably have the best chance of any to appeal to them, but whether they like it or not, I don't read anything they have to say about Sonic anymore. Sonic will keep going as long as fan interest still drives up sales high enough, so it's pretty irrelevant what they think. Fan opinion is the only thing that matters these days.
#3. Comment posted by Mercury on Friday, 29th January 2010, 10:08am
It's so huggable! I want a big plush Penguinator! ^_^

This new little challenge of Sega's is much cooler than the first. It's fun and creative as opposed to those brainless trivia questions, and we also know what we're aiming for (zone concept art, w00t!). The "Who's gonna be in the game?" was just too obvious to be that thrilling.
#4. Comment posted by Zeupar on Saturday, 30th January 2010, 7:23pm
You got a really nice piece of concept art there! Its style is similar to the official Moto Bug art. I guess you did that on purpose.

I agree that that last paragraph is the most interesting thing of the whole entry. It looks like Sonic Team's members are learning from their mistakes (or at least that is what I want to believe).
#5. Comment posted by supersonicsmash on Monday, 8th February 2010, 9:15pm
DARN! I missed it. Easy come easy go.
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