Sonic Adventures (Act 3)
With Sonic now established as a cultural phenomenon, it came as no surprise to find that the rights to produce a TV series based on the character were snapped up by US/French firm DiC. What followed, however, wasn’t quite what was expected. The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog is best thought of as a series featuring the character, rather than one about him. The distinctly madcap scenario pits a nomadic Sonic and Tails against Robotnik and his two minions, robots Grounder (loosely based on the Aquatic Ruin badnik) and Scratch (not loosely based on anything). Universally despised by fans, it’s rather entertaining in places, although it clearly suffers from not actually being ‘about’ anything, reliant on the writers coming up with a different gimmick every week. Due to the character still being under-defined in the US when the series entered production, the creators had to make a number of leaps of faith, of which the more sensible were retained in other forms (Sonic’s addiction to chilli dogs was eventually made ‘canon’ by Sonic Unleashed). Others such as the nonsensical plot device of Sonic donning various disguises, were quietly kicked to death. It’s not completely awful, but did inflict a truely horrible design of Robotnik on the world, which took several years of brand management to stamp out. The ongoing success of the character made it clear to Sega of America that a more substantial conception of Sonic was needed, and the US version of the Sonic-verse as it stands today actually created by the successor series, simply known as Sonic The Hedgehog.
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Probably the most high profile release that directly followed the release of Sonic 2 was the STI-developed Sonic Spinball, which had a budget surprisingly high for such a title. Later converted to the 8-bit systems, it tasked the hedgehog with infiltrating and destroying Robotnik's new island-sized badnik production facility, which was entirely made up of pinball-like areas. The game is small but challenging, with the player sure to experience countless deaths before its four levels have been completed, despite the high degree of control that is given over Sonic when he's in flight. All art assets and sprites were created specially for the title, with the direction apparently influenced by the look of the follow-up to AoStH. It manages to find its own unique tone, but the overly challenging gameplay tends to undermine strengths such as the technically impressive special stages and the superb boss music (sound is otherwise weak). Like many of the non-Naka developed titles from this period, it suffers from continuity problems after Sonic 3 established that Robotnik had been trapped on Angel Island since the conclusion of the second core game. For this reason, it makes most sense to consider the title as taking place between the first and second games, like Sonic CD. Spinball is far from the worst of the cash-ins the series has seen over the years, but the unappealing art direction makes it unlikely to be anyone's favourite.
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Speaking of Sonic 3, development of the game commenced after a severe readjustment of Sonic Team, with Yuji Naka and Hirozaku Yusahara putting together a mainly Japanese outfit for development of the next core installment. After rejecting initial experiments for an isometric title as impractical, they undertook development on the Sonic 2 model, with the goal of improving the depth of gameplay and design of the levels. A key decision was to move the two player versus mode to a separate feature, eliminating a factor that had constrained the size of the levels in the second game and enabling much more complex environments. The third game finally shook the left-to-right linearity which had dogged previous instalments of the series, with the hedgehog often having to double back on himself to make progress. The complexity of the characters’ moveset was also increased to add more depth to combat, with the player now being able to make Tails fly at will and Sonic being granted an ‘insta-shield’ which awarded a moment of invincibility. Unfortunately, the full scope of this project would take time to realise, and sales of the Mega Drive were slowing. As a consequence, development of the game was effectively split partway though, with Naka & co ordered to get the first six levels of the title into shape for release as soon as possible. The second half of the game would be released at a later date as Sonic 3: Special Edition.
Even after being cut in half, Sonic 3 remains a superb offering, with the features listed above combining with a sensible restructuring of the power-up system to produce the greatest depth of gameplay of any of the 2D titles. Where before the shields available to characters had been a perfunctory inclusion, they were now split into fire, water and electric versions, each offering their own gimmick. These superficial features however, were just the tip of the iceberg. Each also had its own secondary properties in resisting specific enemy attacks, and their use by Sonic unlocked a different attack move, such as the fire shield’s horizontal blast or the spark shield’s double-jump. Pretty much every aspect of the game was increased in complexity from its predecessor, with access to the special stage now moved to hidden giant rings, and Star Posts offering access to non emerald-based bonus rounds where power-ups could be obtained.
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As with Sonic 2, the plot of the game was structured around the addition of a new character, in this case Knuckles the Echidna. After the previous game’s conclusion, Robotnik and his Death Egg had crashed onto the legendary Angel Island (that’s Floating Island to us in the west). The scientist had convinced Knuckles that Sonic was seeking the Master Emerald that powered the island’s ancient machinery, and that his duty to his dead species required him to protect the island from the hedgehog. In a nice piece of continuity, it’s Knuckles who removes the Chaos Emeralds from Sonic at the start of the game, denying him the ability to go Super. (In other cases, Sonic Team appears to have modelled the gems’ presence on their Dragonball Z inspiration, which scatter themselves after being used.) At the time, Knuckles had the most complex motivation of any of the cast, and the brief appearances he made seemed to win him fans, with scarcity breeding value. It also gave Sonic Team the opportunity to add many of the mini cutscenes which had proven so popular in the previous games, with the echidna frequently turning up to use the island’s architecture against Sonic. In addition, the Team chose to dramatise Sonic’s movement between levels, adding to the impression of Angel Island as a coherent location.
After Masato Nakamura’s acrimonious parting of the ways with Sega, the company found themselves faced with the task of finding a new high-profile composer for the third game in the series. What happened next is mired in controversy, but many believe that Michael Jackson wrote at least part of the soundtrack for Sonic 3. Voice analysis of sound samples and similarities to published pieces cause fans to credit Jackson with the soundtracks to Carnival Night, Icecap and Launch Base, as well as the Knuckles riff and the mini-boss music that was based around it. Icecap’s music is one of the best-loved Sonic tracks of all time, with countless rearrangements found online. Although these five tracks are much less intricate than the other parts of the score, they are both catchier and more distinctive- Carnival Night’s sinister vibe comes from the score, as does the high-tech feel that stops Icecap being another generic snow level. Mid-way through development, however, controversy began to circulate around Jackson, and Sega dropped him like a stone from involvement in their child-friendly mascot, although the western versions of the game retained the pieces the singer had already finished. The later PC release of the game saw all of Jackson’s music scrapped, replaced by more complex but less distinctive pieces from Sega’s in house sound collective, who also in all territories contributed the tracks not recorded by Jackson. Amongst their number was a musician called Jun Senoue (remember that name, you’ll be hearing it again later). Amusingly, a few years later, Michael’s sister Janet appropriated the music from the 8-bit Sonic 1’s Bridge area wholesale to form the chorus of her 1998 track ‘Together Again’.
The inclusion of a save game option in Sonic 3 meant that players could return to their favourite zone at will after beating the game, and tellingly Sonic Team made the level select code infinitely harder to activate, supporting the view that they had always intended it to be used for those wishing to replay a particular area after beating the game. Tellingly, Sonic Team titles from NiGHTS onwards would go onto feature the option to select cleared environments as a standard feature. With the strength of its engine, depth of gameplay and some wonderfully conceptualised levels, Sonic 3 stands as a great advancement of the 2D series, but neither reviewed or sold as well as its immediate predecessor. This lead to a slight rethink of the approach to releasing the second half of the game, which continued to be developed at the Sega Technical Institute.
Despite its failings, the Master System incarnation of the second game had sold strongly, and development continued apace on a third title, known in the west as Sonic Chaos. A seriously modified engine was created for this title, which for the first time mimicked the control and gameplay of the core series within the limitations of the 8-bit systems. The main selling point for the title was that Tails was also controllable (in Japan, the game was released as ‘Sonic & Tails’), with a simplified version of his flight gimmick from Sonic 3. Unfortunately, the technical demands made of the consoles resulted in compromises in the art, with some horrifically simplistic and garish design. The game tried to cover this with a plot which saw Robotnik using one of the Chaos Emeralds to mess with the nature of reality itself, but the game remains extremely unappealing visually, was well as being far too easy.
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From a fan perspective, the sequel that followed it, Triple Trouble (Sonic & Tails 2 in Asia) is of interest mainly for the continuity error that stems from Knuckles’ conversion to the white hat brigade in the second instalment of Sonic 3. Taking the stopgap ending of the first part of the title as a definitive conclusion, the game still sees the echidna as one of the trio of enemies confronting Sonic, with Robotnik and Nack the Weasel making up the numbers. The latter is a curious character, known as 'Fang the Sniper' in Japan. The bounty hunter is recognised as a bona fide member of the Sonic ensemble, despite having only appeared in this Game Gear title and in 1996’s arcade beat ‘em up. Despite it not being financially viable to produce a Master System version of Triple Trouble, games continued to follow for the handheld, initially in the form of weak Mario Kart-clones Sonic Drift 1 & 2, before a pair of spin-off puzzle-based platformers staring Tails appeared, requiring the fox to use a variety of gadgets to defeat robots attacking South Island. A slightly less sane venture followed in the form of the isometric Sonic Labyirnth. The greatest entertainment that this spin-off provided actually came from Sega Pro's review, written in the style of a piece of fan fiction.
The Game Gear's parting shot to the franchise came with one final title, Sonic Blast. This latter game feature both Sonic and Knuckles as playable, and presented a bizarre combination of Donkey Kong Country-style rendered graphic with a return to the art direction and slower gameplay of the first 8-bit iteration of the series. It’s hard not be reminded of the cliché of the elderly Japanese solider emerging from a tiny island in the Pacific, unaware that the second world war is long over. Somewhere in downtown Tokyo, there’s probably still a development house churning out Game Gear Sonic titles, unaware of their lack of sales…
Next Time: I set about giving the second TV series the kicking it deserves, before moving on to the altogether more pleasant topic of Sonic The Comic. And if you’re VERY good, there might be time for Sonic & Knuckles as well…
Guest Reminiscence: Simpler Pleasures
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I always considered myself a bit of a Sonic fan growing up - I bought Sonic the Comic religiously, watched the cartoon on Saturday mornings, got a plush Sonic (that still lives in my flat to this day) one Christmas morning, used to doodle the little critter all the time - and yet I didn't even own a Mega Drive until I bought one for three quid at a car boot sale in around 2001. It was long after the height of their power before I even played on one of the damned things. So where did my love for the blue spiky one's adventures come from? Answer : 8-bit. The first console I ever owned (indeed, the only one, for many years) was a Game Gear, while my cousin - at whose house I spent countless childhood gaming hours - had a Master System. So naturally, my formative years were spent racking up the zones on the twin titans of gaming that were the first two games (no Chaos for me) in the 8-bit series. And I know this isn't a popular view, but in my book (and admittedly it's a book printed on NostalgiaTM brand paper), they still hold up remarkably well. The first game, admittedly, is more charming than brilliant - and it could barely be described as a "Sonic" game at all, its slow pace and required amount of consideration making it resemble a certain Italian plumber's games more than its 16-bit counterpart - but there's still some lovely level aesthetics (the Jungle Zone in particular) and a pleasing amount of variety in the Robotnik boss stages (as well as the obscene cruelty, characteristic of the 8-bit series, that saw you not given rings for these final encounters). Sonic 2, though, is the one to which I spent years glued (and you haven't known terror until you've spent hours playing through to the final levels of a game you can't save, knowing that if you accidentally jolt the machine to the wrong angle, or have it slip from your now-sweaty palms, the cheap universal power supply that's jammed into the thing might work loose and end the game in an instant), and I still don't have a bad word to say about it. Well, except that it's too difficult. And the first zone is a bit rubbish. And the hang-gliding is stupid. But it looks terrific, and the music is wonderful throughout, and there are some ingenious bits of level design - and it will always have a special place in my heart. Even now, when I play the 16-bit versions, I consider it cheating to have rings in a zone's final act...
About this entry
- By Julian Hazeldine
- Posted on Sunday, June 28 2009 @ 7:12 pm
- Categorised in Games, Analysis
- Tagged with sonic the hedgehog, Sonic Adventures, Sega
- 13 comments
Another first-class article. I always enjoyed Sonic 2, although hated, with a passion, those bloddy exploding star things on the industrial level. The gamepads I went through trying to dodge the star-spines and the ceiling of spikes, only to fail. Frustrating, but a very addictive game.
By SeeYouAtThePartyRichter
June 28, 2009 @ 3:53 pm
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I will happily stick up for Sonic Chaos. It’s true that the majority of it is massively easy, and I remember my sister getting upset that she bought it for her boyfriend and he completed it (sans Chaos Emeralds, admittedly) pretty much in his first go. But I find it great to just pick up and play through to relax, at least the first four stages; maybe not quite the thrilling experience most people pick up Sonic for, but it works for me.
(Also, I also found some of the later special stages quite challenging. Especially the one where you’re placed in a huge environment and have to hunt the fucking emerald down, and the one where you’re placed in a load of tubes and have to find the right way to go…)
Anyway, yes. I never played the later Game Gear games after Sonic Chaos - I only found out about Triple Trouble a few weeks ago, and only found out about Sonic Blast through reading this article! I need to go and get me some emulator action, I think.
And totally agreed with Seb’s piece on the 8-bit games - they’re what I grew up with, too. And yes, Jungle Zone still looks fucking gorgeous.
By John Hoare
June 28, 2009 @ 6:42 pm
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“Universally despised by fans…”
Mean Bean Machine disagrees, along with this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adventures-Sonic-Hedgehog-…
I like the Nack/Fang design, same as most of the Sonic characters that have similar appearances to the hedgehog unlike, say, Big the Cat. I’m not counting Ray and Mighty of course…Something too Disney about them.
By Ridley
June 29, 2009 @ 7:24 pm
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“AoSTH: Universally despised by fans”
By fans of the games perhaps. But unsurprisingly, that cartoon has a fanbase of its own too, so it’s hardly universally despised. Personally, I couldn’t bear watching more than a few episodes of it.
“It’s not completely awful, but did inflict a truely horrible design of Robotnik on the world, which took several years of brand management to stamp out.”
Hehe, I wholeheartedly agree with this. I can’t stand that “US design” of Robotnik. Did you know that there are two versions of the Sonic Spinball cover, one with the good old Eggman design and the other with the dreadful, cone-headed US design? Ironically, Sonic looks better on the latter (IMO), because the former uses his ball-headed US design that I also always disliked.
“Sonic Spinball: Like many of the non-Naka developed titles from this period, it suffers from continuity problems after Sonic 3.”
Oh no, please tell me you’re not one of these crazy people who try to shove all Sonic games into a single, coherent timeline/continuity, even those developed by different teams and on different platforms. Also, who or what says that Robotnik was trapped on Angel Island after Sonic 2? His Death Egg might have been stuck there, but I don’t see why he shouldn’t have been able to jump into an Egg-o-matic and fly to his badnik production facility in order to defend it from Sonic. Pointless continuity speculations aside, it’s best to think of Sonic Spinball as a little spinoff that helped passing the time while waiting for the release of Sonic 3. The sound was weak indeed, Howard Drossin’s “Return to the Toxic Caves” remix from the Virtual Sonic album is probably the best thing that came from it.
“As with Sonic 2, the plot of the game was structured around the addition of a new character, in this case Knuckles the Echidna.”
Wait, what? Sonic 2’s plot was structured around the addition of Tails? I must have missed that, I thought it was a mashup of Star Wars and Dragonball (just kidding). Given the tiny amount of plot that Sonic 2 has (a good thing!), that’s an overstatement, I think. Aside from piloting Sonic’s plane, Tails has barely any involvement.
“The scientist had convinced Knuckles that Sonic was seeking the Master Emerald that powered the island’s ancient machinery.”
Yeah, that would have made perfect sense. Unfortunately, the western (US and EU) manuals of the game state that Knuckles is the guardian of the Floating Island’s Chaos Emeralds (wait, does that mean that the previous games’ islands have their own set of Chaos Emeralds?) and that Robotnik convinces him that Sonic & Tails want to steal them. No word about the Master Emerald here. I don’t know what the Japanese manual says, should look it up sometime…
“Michael Jackson and Sonic 3”
Oh my, here we go. Fact is that, yes, Michael Jackson was intended to write music for the game. However, according to Roger Hector, who was the General Manager of the SEGA Technical Institute, “his work was dropped”. It is not known how many tracks (if any) Michael Jackson had actually completed when he was “fired” (apparently he was never officially hired in the first place), or whether any of his stuff made it into the game. “His work was dropped” doesn’t sound like any of it made it, though. Let’s take a quick look (listen) to the tracks in question (from my perspective as musician).
First, Carnival Night. Yep, it has a break which sounds note for note like a break from Michael Jackson’s “Jam”. Does the rest of Carnival Night sound like anything by Jackson? Not that I know of. Maybe Michael Jackson composed that music (I doubt it), maybe not - the artist who did Carnival Night might have been a fan and snuck this little quote in, possibly. On that occasion it’s worth noting that the people who are credited for creating Sonic 3’s soundtrack all worked with Michael Jackson at some point in their careers. Hence, a connection to Jacko’s style is definitely there, but not necessarily through the man himself.
Second, Ice Cap. According to some people “very similar” to Smooth Criminal and Who Is It. You gotta be kidding me. A part of the chord progression is similar, but the same can be said for many other songs by different artists! Some people apparently don’t realize how “cliched” popular music is - there’s only a limited amount of chord progressions that sound “good”, so they crop up all over the place. Here’s a fun video that illustrates this point for one particular chord progression: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM
Third, Launch Base, Knuckles riff etc. The connection to Michael Jackson is… what is it? I don’t know. The PC version of Sonic 3 & Knuckles has replaced those tracks in question with other music. One theory is that the tracks were indeed composed by Jackson and replaced in the PC version due to legal reasons (and those would be…?). Another much more plausible theory is that those tracks were replaced because of technical reasons. The PC version of the game played all of its music through MIDI, meaning it had to use standard MIDI sounds and couldn’t use custom sound samples. All of the tracks that were replaced made heavy use of samples though. Maybe they just didn’t sound good enough when remade for MIDI (or maybe remaking the originals for MIDI would have taken too much time/effort/money and they simply used some MIDI tracks they had already lying around).
“although the western versions of the game retained the pieces the singer had already finished. The Japanese version of the game saw all of Jackson’s music scrapped, replaced by more complex but less distinctive pieces from Sega’s in house sound collective, who also in all territories contributed the tracks not recorded by Jackson”
Wrong! First, the Japanese Mega Drive version of the game has exactly the same music as the US and European versions. The PC version is the only one with different music, as mentioned above. Maybe you were thinking of that. Second, as stated above, there is NO PROOF yet that any of Jackson’s music actually made it into the game!
“a musician called Jun Seoune (remember that name, you’ll be hearing it again later)”
Well, if we’re supposed to remember the name, better spell it properly. Jun Senoue. ;)
“Amusingly, a few years later, Michael’s sister Janet appropriated the music from the 8-bit Sonic 1’s Bridge area wholesale to form the chorus of her 1998 track ‘Together Again’.”
Wow, this is the first time I hear about this. The Master System version of Sonic 1 was the first I played, I loved the Bridge Zone music. Let me check this out…
What? I call bullshit! Yes, the chorus of Together Again (from the album Velvet Rope) does sound similar, but it’s not identical. I say it’s a coincidence unless somebody can prove that Janet Jackson or the other producers of that song stated that they used Bridge Zone as inspiration. Consider this: If they intended to cover Bridge Zone, then why wouldn’t they get all the notes right, creating something that sounds similar but not the same, and more importantly, why wouldn’t they give credit to the original music in the liner notes? Many tracks on Janet Jackson’s Velvet Rope album quote music from other artists and they are all credited in the liner notes. No other credits for Together Again, meaning no conscious quoting of other music in that song.
“supporting the view that they had always intended it to be used for those wishing to replay a particular area after beating the game”
What is “it”, the level select or save game option? Most likely the latter, but phrased like this it isn’t clear.
Phew, that’s it. Pretty good article this time, except for not getting the whole Michael (and Janet) Jackson issue straight. ;)
By Needlemouse
June 30, 2009 @ 2:21 am
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It’s almost as if Julian was making a joke based on their similarity.
By Ian Symes
June 30, 2009 @ 8:28 am
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Needlemouse:
The lack of form of authoritative creative direction for the hedgehog across Sega during the first five years of his life is an interesting quirk of the character’s life, and the continuity inconsistency of his early adventures is a part of this. It’s particularly striking in this case as Sonic 3 and Sonic Spinball were being developed on the same site at the Sega Technical Institute.
As you point out yourself, the idea that Sonic & Tails are trying to steal the Chaos Emeralds from Angel Island in Sonic 3 is rather nonsensical, given that they already possess them at the opening of the game. The Japanese manual makes reference to the Master Emerald, although you’re right that the echidna’s motive to attack Sonic at the opening of the game is to recover the smaller gems.
I admitted in the article that my view of the Michael Jackson incident is a theory, but it’s one that I believe covers the facts. The midis of alternate tracks for the zones in question are usually labelled ‘Japanese Version’, which is why I believed that was their origins. After the sad events of last week, we’re now even less likely to ever know the truth.
(Senoue typo corrected.)
By Julian Hazeldine
June 30, 2009 @ 10:36 pm
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Yes, unfortunately the full truth about Michael Jackson’s alleged involvement with Sonic 3 may never be revealed. Anyway, his actual contributions to another Sega game, namely Space Channel 5 (especially Part 2), are more fun and significant, IMO.
PS: I missed pointing out another typo, “Hirozaku Yusahara” should be “Hirokazu Yasuhara”.
By Needlemouse
July 01, 2009 @ 5:41 pm
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Re: Michael Jackson and Sonic 3’s music:
The most comprensive article I’ve seen on the subject can be found at Sega-16.
Incidentally, copies of Moonwalker (I loved the Master System version!) are currently going for silly money on eBay. I wonder if anyone’s yet posted the listing:
SONIC 3 GENESIS WITH RARE UNRELEASED MICHAEL JACKSON (RIP) MUSIC!!!
AOSTH:
Universally despised by fans,
Hey, I liked it at the time! I was rather disappointed when Channel 4 abruptly and inexplicably switched to that weird dark version of the cartoon one Sunday morning in 1994. But I accepted the change… in time.
Also, the Channel 4 run never (well, maybe once or twice?) showed the “Sonic Sez” morals that have since become such a Youtube meme among US viewers. They might have been shown when it was on the cable channel TCC, though.
and Scratch (not loosely based on anything).
The chicken badnik in Sonic 2’s Wing Fortress Zone?
It’s not completely awful, but did inflict a truely horrible design of Robotnik on the world, which took several years of brand management to stamp out.
Did the “target” design really originate with AOSTH? It was also used on various other Sonic merchandise that appeared at around the same time, like the poster book and Where’s Sonic? books, so maybe they were both just following the guidelines set by someone deep within Sega Europe or America.
Either way, the website of AOSTH’s character designer contains the original Robotnik model sheets from that cartoon:
http://www.miltonknight.net/robotnikmodel1.html
Also some other goodies there, if you can cope with a design that looks like a cross between AICN’s old layout and The Best Page In The Universe…
My favourite Robotnik design is Richard Elson’s in Sonic the Comic’s adaptation of Sonic Adventure: bulky arms and legs (rather than the spindly little Eggman ones), cone head, giant mouth, red eyes - but wearing the M. Bision-esque military uniform from Sonic Adventure rather than the “target” suit.
Elson’s the only artist I’ve seen able to make that Robotnik face look like it could work as a real 3D object from any angle, rather than a set of copy-and-pasted stock expressions. I think the 3D teeth he drew (at least in the later issues) made all the difference.
By Nick R
July 01, 2009 @ 11:03 pm
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Really top quality article, Julian.
Me and Ian were discussing the other day how great this is going to be once you move into areas we know naff all about (not that these past few pieces haven’t taught me a great deal), which is basically Sonic Adventure 1 onwards. In fact, in preparation I’ve downlaoded an DC emulator and a the SA1 ROM so I might finally be able to formulate some thoughts on it that are actually informed.
I’ve been trying to cast my mind back to when I was little and watching the Sonic cartoon on TV. I have a vague recollection of really enjoying it, but then again I did watch a lot of shit as a kid.
By Jonathan Capps
July 02, 2009 @ 12:37 pm
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Nick R:
I’ll be covering Sonic The Comic in this Sunday’s instalment, but yes, Richard Elson was brilliant, wasn’t he? In addition to making the AoStH Robotnik work and being able to cope with external redesigns perfectly (remember that one panel from the Adventure 1 adaptation of Robotnik pulling on the military coat as he charges into action?), he also came up with some cracking concepts of his own. I always think of Super Sonic as being his spiral-eyed vampire, and the Emperor Metallix was superb…
By Julian Hazeldine
July 02, 2009 @ 6:19 pm
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Once again, I’m in the minority. As when I was a kid, I was a fan of both the games *and* the TV Series (both of them), I thought the both did well in their own field.
By Mjn Seifer
July 03, 2009 @ 9:54 pm
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>Even now, when I play the 16-bit versions, I consider it cheating to have rings in a zone’s final act…
Wait till the Death Egg Zone of Sonic 2 (16-bit), after years of practice I have mastered it but as a child that one was just painful without rings.
By SoundableObject
July 09, 2009 @ 2:34 pm
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> Wait till the Death Egg Zone of Sonic 2 (16-bit), after years of practice I have mastered it but as a child that one was just painful without rings.
That, for me, show’s the difference between the 8bit and 16 bits games. The 16 bits challenge you hard but they’re never unreasonable, but the 8bits just strike me as haviong their difficulty contrived rather than well thought out and balanced.
By Jonathan Capps
July 10, 2009 @ 8:25 am
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