Viele alte Sonic Fans wie ich sind mit der aktuellsten Entwicklung des stacheligen Igels unzufrieden. Zwar sind die heutigen Spiele schnell, schön anzusehen, aber etwas fehlt. Dieses typische Feeling von Sonic, durch pixelige 2D Landschaften zu rasen, ein guter Mix aus atemberaubend schnellen Leveln, wie der legendären Starlight Zone, oder den eher langsameren Plattformzonen, wie die durchflutete Labyrinth Zone. Doch bei all der Schnelligkeit muss immer der Spieler gefordert sein. Die Kritik vieler alter Fans: die neuen Sonic Teile spielen sich fast von selbst. Die Levels sind einfach aufgebaut, sorgen zwar für ordentlich Tempo, doch der Einfluss vom Spieler schwindet wenn er Minutenlang von einem Turbobooster zum nächsten gejagt wird. Die Ankündigung von Projekt Needlemouse vor kurzem lässt uns Fans daher hoffen auf ein modernes Sonic Spiel mit all den stärken, die den Igel überhaupt erst populär gemacht haben. Doch was konnte man als Sonic Fan vor der Ankündigung tun, wenn man alle alten Teile durchgezockt hat, aber nach neuen Levels, neuen Gegnern, neuen Gefahren dürstet? Und selbst Projekt Needlemouse könnte sich zum Flop entwickeln, wer weiß? Also was tun? Die Abhilfe: Fangames! Und ein ganz besonderes möchte ich euch heute vorstellen: Sonic Nexus für den PC!

Zugegeben, Fangames von Sonic gibt es wie Sand am Meer. Einmal kurz Google bemühen und man findet unzählige davon. Die Qualität variiert dabei natürlich stark. Von den schrecklichen bis zu den ganz spaßigen. Aber bei den meisten stellt sich trotzdem nicht das Gefühl ein, dass man es hier mit Sonic zu tun hat. Die Physik stimmt nicht, unnütze Features, es fühlt sich einfach nicht so an wie man es vom Mega Drive kennt. Sonic Nexus punktet hier direkt indem es sich ganz an den Originalversionen orientiert. Wenn man nicht wüsste dass es sich hier um ein selbstprogrammiertes Spiel handelt könnte man annehmen, es wäre ein neuer, von Sega gebastelter Sonic Teil. Doch nun zum Spiel selbst.

Die Story steht natürlich bei Sonic Games eher im Hintergrund. Der verrückte Dr. Robotnik will die Weltherrschaft übernehmen und verwandelt dazu unschuldige Waldbewohner in monströse Roboter. Alles kein Problem für Sonic, der ihm immer wieder das Handwerk legt. Doch dieses Mal meint es Robotnik ernst. Mit den metallischen Überresten seiner vorhergehenden Erfindungen baut er eine riesige Turmuhr nach seinem Ebenbild. Innen im Turm hat Robotnik eine schreckliche Kreation versteckt, und sobald die Uhr eine bestimme Zeit erreicht wird er sie auf die Welt loslassen. Als Sonic das riesige Gebilde entdeckt macht er sich natürlich sofort auf den Weg dem Wahnsinn ein Ende zu bereiten.

Soviel also zur Ausgangslage. Es liegt also mal wieder an euch die Welt zu retten. Also schnell los und das Spiel starten! Das könnt ihr sogar direkt jetzt nach Lesen des Artikels tun, denn es gibt zwei Demos von Sonic Nexus die euch in zwei unterschiedliche Zonen schicken. Die neuste schickt euch in die Sunset Shore Zone, ein typisches erstes Sonic Level. Grüne Palmen, idyllischer See im Hintergrund und eine Mördergeschwindigkeit. In der zweiten Demo müsst ihr die Pristine Palisade Zone bewältigen, ein sogenanntes Wasserlevel, indem ihr euch häufig unter dem Meeresspiegel bewegt und darauf achten müsst, nicht zu ertrinken.

Wenn man den Grafikstil des Spiels mit einem Sonic Teil vergleichen möchte kommt man nicht um Sonic CD herum. Viele Hintergründe, Gegner oder sonstige Grafiken wurden nämlich direkt aus diesem Spiel übernommen und aufpoliert. Doch wer jetzt denkt, dass die Zonen des Spiels eine direkte Kopie der Sonic CD Zonen sind, den kann ich beruhigen. Die Levels von Sonic Nexus sind nämlich einzigartig, sowohl vom optischen Eindruck als auch vom spielerischen Erlebnis. So startet ihr in der Pristine Palisade Zone auf einem felsigen Festland vor einer Ruinenartigen Kulisse im Hintergrund, und findet im Laufe des Levels einen magischen Orb der euch in eine Unterwasserstadt tief auf dem Meeresboden teleportiert, Atlantis lässt grüßen. Die Grafiken von Sonic Nexus machen wirklich einiges her, und stellen für mich alle Fangames davor in den Schatten, und lassen euch denken ihr spielt wirklich ein offizielles Sega Spiel.

Auch der Soundtrack kann sich hören lassen. Während sich andere Fangames gerne bei anderen Spielen bedienen, wurde für Sonic Nexus eigens ein kompletter Soundtrack komponiert. Der langjährige Sonic Fan wird sogar feststellen, dass die Titel auf klassischen Sonic Mega Drive Soundtracks basieren, ohne dabei aber “geklaut” rüberzukommen. Die Soundeffekte wurden nicht vom Mega Drive übernommen, sondern stammen, wie schon viele Teile der Grafik, von Sonic CD. Explosionen, Sprünge, Schüsse und ähnliche Geräusche gibt es hier also in CD Qualität.

Da das Spiel nun zweifelsfrei stark an Sonic CD erinnert, fragen sich manche Fans nun vielleicht, ob dabei auch einige nervige Funktionen dieses Titels in Sonic Nexus zu finden sind. Zum Beispiel der Spindash, der in Sonic CD, anders als in den Nachfolgern, sehr langsam auszuführen war. Dem kann ich mit einem klaren Nein entgegnen. Das Spiel nimmt hier wirklich die besten Elemente aus den klassischen Sonic Teilen und fügt sie zu einem der besten Fangames zusammen. So gibt es zum Beispiel die aus Sonic 3 bekannten Elementarschilde, die euch vor dem Ertrinken, vor gegnerischen Projektilen oder Fallen schützen. Aber auch komplett neue Features wird das Spiel enthalten. Einzig Schade ist vielleicht, dass es das Zeitreise Feature aus Sonic CD nicht ins Spiel geschafft hat, aber das würde wohl auch den Rahmen sprengen.

Meiner Meinung nach ist Sonic Nexus eins der vielversprechendsten Projekte der Sonic Fan Community. Ladet euch eine der beiden Demos runter und spielt selbst eine Runde, und lasst euch vom dem harmonischen Zusammenspiel aus Grafik, Sound und Gameplay beeindrucken. Denn Sonic präsentiert sich in Sonic Nexus so gut wie schon lange nicht mehr. Klare Empfehlung von mir!

Sonic Nexus Homepage

Before I start this blog let me just say most of what follows is my opinion however I did do about of week of research before my initial blog post announcing I was going to do this last month.  What I’m trying to do is rely the possibilities of what could go wrong with this game, because knowing Sonic Team they will find a way to mess it up, they always do.  So basically if you’re going to troll just go on to the next blog.  Also with all of those who commented on my last blog REREAD WHAT I WROTE YOU TWITS I NEVER SAID SEGA WAS NOT GOING TO PUBLISH IT IN FACT I SAID IN THE BEGINNING THAT SEGA WAS DEFIANTLY 110% THE GOD DAMNED PUBLISHER OF PROJECT NEEDLEMOUSE I WAS TALKING ABOUT THE DEVELOPER I.E. SONIC TEAM!!!!  With that said…

Now that we are fairly certain that Sonic Team will be behind the development of this game we must ask ourselves if it’s going to be a 3D title or a 2D title.  Once again I will go over my original points from September and give a score for 2D and 3D.

Point #1: The Trailer States this game will be a 2D Adventure

Figured I’d make this point first so I could rile up all you trolls even more because I know you all kept reading after I told you to stop.  The trailer comes out and says that this game is going to be a brand new 2d adventure or something like that.  If it says it in the trailer it must be true.

But of course Sonic Team/Sega has lied to us so many times like saying that the next main/core/whatever Sonic game is going to be good (I still have nightmares about playing Sonic 06).  Not to mention that Sonic Unleashed was supposed to be “2D” as well and it wasn’t, a point which I should hopefully touch upon later on in this post.

Well we really can’t deny the fact that the trailer said it is 2d (though this still won’t make you trolls happy).  Since the trailer says it’s 2D this point goes to 2D.
Is a 2D Game: 1
Is not a 2D Game: 0

Point #2: Fan out cry in recent years to return to 2D

Before I even touch upon this I want to remind everyone that since Sonic Adventure there has been 4 2D games (I only count Pocket and all 3 Advance games because everything else is 2.5D and Battle was some sort of weird combo of 2 and 2.5, 2.25d perhaps?).  So really I don’t know why people keep complaining about not having 2D games, it’s only been 5 years since the last one.

Now back to what we were talking about.  Fans keep complaining that there hasn’t been any 2D games and that Sonic is only good in 2D (yet they fail to remember some of the old Game Gear games).  If a company wants to keep making a profit and wants to get people to buy the product they make they need to listen to their customers.  Sega and Sonic Team have both under gone staff changes since not only Sonic Heroes and Sonic 06 but as recently as Unleashed.  We can only hope that these new business people (because they are in it as a business to make profit as much as we the fans may want to believe otherwise) will listen to the majority of the fans (or it may even be the loudest of the fans) and make a 2D game.

Well that’s all fine and dandy but we should expect the worse from Sonic Team.  Didn’t they also promise us that Sonic 06 was going to be a reinvention of the original Sonic 1 for Genesis or some BS like that?  Plus there’s also that rumor going around that Sonic Team is actually being purposely making crappy games so Sega can give them a rest on Sonic for a while (which tell you the truth as much of a die-hard fan I am of the Blue Blur that’s probably best in all seriousness he’s second to Mario as the whore of video games).  If Sonic Team wants to give Sonic a rest as much as this rumor says they do they’ll most likely produce another crappy game.  But that’s not what we’re talking about.  We’re talking about it being 2D or 3D and there have in fact been good 3D games (Sonic Adventure 2 as much as no one wants to admit it any more because of SA2B).  But you do have to realize as well I am talking about Sega lying to us about Sonic games too.  Since they have lied to us in the past I must give this point to 3D mainly due that they said Unleashed was going to be 2D but was not.

Is a 2D Game: 1
Is not a 2D Game: 1

Point #3: Sonic Unleashed Claimed to be 2D

Finally I come to it.  Ok trolls you’re going to have to do some research which I know you hate doing but go surf the intertubes and find old posts about Sonic Unleashed where press releases made it sound like the game was going to be in 2D.  Sonic Unleashed was done rather well in the graphics department and the Hedgehog levels were great BASED upon 2D platforming at points sometimes switching over to 3D gameplay but still giving us linear paths as we saw in the Genesis games.  If Sonic Team learned anything from Unleashed (which I’m sure they didn’t) they’ll probably take this lead and program it with 3D graphics but make it seem like a 2D platformer in-game play and hopefully without any Werehogs too.

It has been 5 years since Sonic Advance 3 the last real true 2D Sonic game, at least in my opinion.  So maybe it really is time to go back to 2D?  Mega man did it so why not Sonic?

The real kicker to awarding this point to 2D once again goes back to what it said in the trailer.  For now we’ll just assume the trailer is telling the truth and they will not take the Sonic Unleashed path.  However when the game comes out and it’s in 3D don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Is a 2D Game: 2
Is not a 2D Game: 1

Point #4: 2.5D anyone?

Ah yes 2.5D a way to have good graphics and still great platforming gameplay without introducing a werehog (let’s ignore the cellphone version of Unleashed for the moment).  If you’ve poured all of this money into graphics over the years this is the way to go.  You can make beautiful artwork but at the same time maintain your graphically intense characters.  Kind of a win win situation.  You can see what I mean in Sonic Rush…well sort of as sometimes the characters seemed out-of-place or too pixellated but it looks like Rivals got the hang of it though.  I can see them saying it’s 2D and releasing it as 2.5D especially since a lot of people refer to the Rush and Rival series as 2D as they are not true 3d like Unleashed and 06.

Once again the only real argument against this is that the trailer said it’s 2D not 2.5D but then again I doubt trailer would get that specific (why do I have a feeling some troll is going to send me a link to a YouTube video that’s a game trailer that says 2.5d in it?).  So I’m just going to award this to not 2D as most likely 2.5d would be the route Sonic Team will be going since they mentioned 2d in the trailer

Is a 2D Game: 2
Is not a 2D Game: 2

There we have it folks a 50/50 tie for this being a 2D game.  Now I’ll just await the hate comments to pour in like last time!

btw happy Sonic 2 Day, it’s been a great 17 years with that game!

Charles Hamilton was gone for a while, ever since he lost all of his rings when he got punched by a girl. There was a while there when Charles was putting out a tape or a track every other day and people were getting sick of it because it wasn’t all the same quality. Some were good and most of them were awful and just filler, so I didn’t mind that he was gone because I was getting sick of him to be honest. Time passed though and I forgot about the kid until this song popped up on the screen. I had to check it out and the kid got me again. This is some good Charles Hamilton, the stuff we have been waiting for. Download it below and I’m sure you’ll agree. Now lets hope he doesn’t go silly again and he can put out some quality work and do a real album.

Charles Hamilton- Charles Hamilton Is Back

Well, there’s not much news in the Sonic world. Just lettin’ you know I’m still here.

~Colin~

Sony, alongside Sega, are working hard to bring the famous hedgehog to Playstation 3’s Little Big Planet.

Sonic the Hedgehog and 4 other friends based on Sonic Unleashed characters, will be released as downloadable content and you can buy them seperately or the whole pack.

Sonic Sackboy Pack will be available on PSN in the middle of December.

Source [ Siliconera ]

A rumor going around the internet is that a Sonic Collection will be heading to the Nintendo DS. Well according to the BBFC classification site, a “Sonic Classic Collection” will indeed be coming to DS soon.

The games said to be in the collection are the following…

* Sonic the Hedgehog
* Sonic the Hedgehog 2
* Sonic the Hedgehog 3
* Sonic & Knuckles (including the lock on features for the other games)
* Sonic Chronicles and “The History of Sonic” video content and the art gallery

Exciting don’t you think? Me? I’d be much more excited if the games hadn’t been ported so many times before.

[Source: http://ds.kombo.com/article.php?artid=7651]

These LittleBigPlanet updates continue to get more clever. Sega is teaming with Sony to release 5 new Sackboy costumes this December; all based heavily on Sonic Unleashed. Cute!

Taylor has put up with my feminist outrage for a long time.  When we sit down to watch a television show at the end of a hard day, it’s almost tradition for me to see an ad and blurt something like, “Come on!  By using a woman they are insinuating that women are the only ones who are incapable of taking care of themselves without additional security!”  And Taylor raises his eyebrows a little bit and agrees with me when I press him about it.

I can be a little out of control, it’s true.

My feminist rage is at its strongest when watching cartoons.  It’s a fact: most all of the coolest cartoon characters are men.  The boys are allowed to have complex motivations and badass fight scenes.  They typically get the best jokes and tend to be the main characters.  The women’s motivations tend to be “SHE IS A LADY.  THAT IS WHAT LADIES DO,” and their jokes are limited to nagging  and histrionics.

It’s true that some characters are worse than others, though.  For your pleasure (and to give Taylor’s ears a break) here are the Seven Worst Female Cartoon Characters, rated in order of how much they conform to an unhealthy and unnecessary stereotype.  You may note that I’ve left out the classics – Betty Boop, Disney Princesses…I feel like these characters, sexist though they are, are the product of their times.  But now we have decided we are progressive!  Our entertainment features women who can rassle!  Women who know math!  So our modern cartoons are devoid of girls who rely on sexuality or bitterness, right?

Ha.

Are you ready to get your Righteous Indignation on?

7.  Candace from Phineas and Ferb:  I like Phineas and Ferb.  The show centers around two young boys who live each day of their summer vacation to the fullest, often concocting wild and impressive schemes to get what they want.  They are good natured and fun loving.  Their older sister, Candace, is not.  Candace likes boys and makeup and being a star, and hates fun and things that are messy.  She often plays the role of the villain in the cartoon, but her motivations are completely transparent.  It’s as though the creators decided she was A Big Sister and left it at that.  Boo, Candace.  Booo.

She is the very spirit of fun and mischief!

6.  Roxanne from A Goofy Movie:  What do we know about Roxanne from A Goofy Movie?  The main  character, Max, loves her and wants to impress her.  Why?  Because she’s hot, of course!  And she like…uh.  I guess we don’t really know what she likes.  But she’s very….oh.  I guess we don’t really know her personal qualities either.  Well, we KNOW her name is Roxanne, and that she is HOT!  And that’s enough for her to be a truly compelling character, right?  Right?  You guys?

She has a sparkling uh...personality?

5.  Amy Rose from Sonic The Hedgehog:  When you have a cartoon and video game franchise centered around a blue hedgehog, the natural choice for his counterpart is a pink hedgehog.  It is the law of the wild.  Amy Rose exists to chase Sonic with large hearts in her eyes, wielding a hammer that she uses to stun him into submission.  When she isn’t chasing him, she is nagging him to ‘be more sensitive’ or ’slow down and do things with her’.  Flash forward twenty years and he will be an overweight husband in a dead-end job, and she will be a hot wife that only wants him to do the dishes, and harps on him to eat a salad now and again.  Stay in school, girls!

Don't showcha your chocha, Amy!

4.  Jean Grey from X-Men Evolution:  Okay.  I’m going to catch a lot of flak for this one, because lots of people like Jean Grey, but her X-Men Evolution iteration is…maybe a little less than impressive.  In this era, Jean is a high school student.  She is gorgeous, limber, the most popular girl in school, gets straight A’s, and has fantastic telekinetic and telepathic powers to boot!  All this besides the undying love of most of the male characters.  So, here’s what I don’t like about Jean: she is entirely focused on what others think of her.  From the outside, this sounds like a solid motivation for a character, but Jean, in the true tradition of dim female characters, relies entirely on the males around her to define herself.  Is she dating the football jock or sensitive Scott Summers?  Is she being kidnapped by Magneto, or are her Phoenix powers being squelched by ultra powerful psychic Charles Xavier?  Jean is a grievous cartoon stereotype offender because she purports to be a Modern Woman – smart and powerful, but ultimately she relies on the men in her life to boost her esteem and supply her opinion.

Don't be afraid, Jean! Somewhere out there...somewhere, there is a shirt that will cover your midriff.

3.  Raven from Teen Titans:  In the bold tradition of Jean Grey, Raven is a heroine who seems quite heroic until you take into account who pulls her strings.  She is the daughter of vicious demon Trigon, which has imbued her with impressive magic.  The magic controls her more than she controls it, and when Trigon comes to earth, he promptly subjugates her to his whim.  A great story would be if Raven found her courage and her strength and rose up to slay her father, freeing herself and gaining control over her power.  Buuuuut Robin the Boy Wonder does it for her, and she is so pleased to be saved it establishes her trust in humanity.  Yay, Robin!  You’ve finally showed us all that we don’t need to save ourselves, as long as we can go from one male protector to another.  Did I mention she does all this in a tight-fitting legless leotard?

Dig the belt, Raven! But I think you...did you forget to put something on this morning? Starts with a P? Ends with an 'Ants'?

2.  Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon – Oookay.  I know Tuxedo Mask is a dude.  I’ve been focusing mostly on horrible female stereotypes, but male stereotypes exist as well.  Tuxedo Mask is the Edward of Sailor Moon.  He is a preteen girl’s ultimate fantasy.  That bratty guy at school that causes her so much grief secretly loves her for no apparent reason!  And what’s more than that, he is secretly a super hero!  He always shows up at the right moment to save her from evil amid a show of bubbles and delicate rose petals.  What does he like?  What are his hopes and dreams?  What are his fears?  It’s a mystery.  After all, Tuxedo Mask doesn’t need to be a real person, as long as he loves me.  Sob sob sob.

Ohh, Tuxedo Mask! Let me stare into your eyes for another four hours!

1.  I have reserved the number one spot for a cartoon creation that truly kindles the flames of my red-hot ire.  I speak, of course, of The Ruiner.  The Great Hair-Flipper, the Bunny-Smoocher, whose vapid stare and saxophone-stoked entry music sends me into paroxysms of rage.

I speak, of course, of Lola Bunny.

You guys remember the movie Space Jam.  Aliens try to take over the Looney Tunes, and they challenge them to a basketball game.  To tip their hand, the Tunes snag Michael Jordan.  Hilarity ensues.  When it turns out they don’t know how to play basketball at all, Michael Jordan says, in desperation, “Hasn’t anybody here ever played basketball?”

You guys.

Lola Bunny has:

I feel like that is all I really need to say about Lola Bunny.

Tune in next Monday when I post my picks for Top Seven Awesomest Cartoon Ladies!

Yeah my Sega Genesis need to start playing it with some Sonic the Hedgehog got all of them need to play them again. Still have it and still playing it so what ? if only you can play it online lool that’ll be cool, Sonic online will be dope!

Heres my Sega genesis with the game Sonic and Tails the second game of Sonic the Hedgehog

Heres the Intro to the game and the gameplay memories *sigh

1. One of a class of genes involved in fruit fly embryonic development, called hedgehog genes, has been named “sonic hedgehog” after the character.

2. The first animated series to feature Sonic was Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, in which he was voiced by Jaleel White, yeah that’s right…Steve Urkel.

3. Sonic is also the first video game character to have a balloon in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

4. Sonic’s blue pigmentation was chosen to match Sega’s blue logo, his shoes were a concept evolved from a design inspired by Michael Jackson’s boots with the addition of the color red, which was inspired by Santa Claus, and his personality was based on some stud senator named Bill Clinton.

5. In 2005, Sonic was one of the first game character inductees into the Walk of Game, alongside legends Mario and Link.

See what I did there? In a feature with a twist, over the next few scroll-downs (or ‘pages’) you’ll find a summary and review of the most interesting ‘hacks’ of Sonic games found on teh interwebz. To those unfamiliar, a hack is when an unauthorised change is made to a game’s files, whether that be graphics, sound, level design etc, and are often produced by ‘hardcore’ fans to re-create a game as they envisioned how it was ‘meant’ to be. The hacking of games stretches far beyond the Sonic series, yet arguably no other series contains the same amount of mystery, controversy or speculation that Naoto Ōshima et al’s creation does, hence the focus on the spiny blue one. Resultingly, countless attempts, some serious, some not, have been created to plug any gaps, with varying success. Onwards you’ll see the best and appallingly worst of the array of interventions, picked and primed for your pleasure.

Disclaimer: I am no hacker and have little experience with the process (minor tamperings with Pro Evolution Soccer 4 aside), this is simply a critical overview of a handful of what’s out there, highlighting a few to try.

Sonic 2 Long Version by Sonic Hachelle-Bee & Esrael
To the unfamiliar, the snappy-named Sonic 2 Long Version fills the void left by Sega’s forced cancellation of additional levels to the original Sonic The Hedgehog 2, either due to memory or time constraints. Arguably one of, if not the, most interesting hacks, the game is the familiar Sonic 2 we know and love plus what should have been. It features playable versions of Wood, Dust Hill, Genocide City and the (not Sonic & Knuckles) Hidden Palace zones, also including a triple dose of Death Egg.

First of the new levels is Wood Zone, an accessible yet extremely unfinished level in the Sonic 2 Beta ROM, located once Hill Top Zone’s fully licked. Unreliable clipping aside (Sonic tends to get ‘caught’ between ramps, for example), it’s a rather pleasing rendition of what might have been. While Act 1’s built from the foundations laid by the Beta version, the second act is entirely improvised and great work. It puts your platforming skills to the test, adding a more challenging version of Aquatic Ruin’s Dr. Robotnik squabble at the end. One particular criticism, however, would be the choice of music. While I imagined the Beta’s early mix of Metropolis Zone’s aural theme to be dropped in, the hackers saw fit to sensibly assign Emerald Hill’s two-player mode’s music to the level. While suitably mocking when Sonic falls to his death for the tenth time, it doesn’t really ‘fit’, yet it’s hardly a major issue.

Based on a promotional mock-up ’screenshot’, Dust Hill Zone is arguably the most unique. Borrowing aspects from both Sandopolis and Ice Cap Zones of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, it’s unexplained dual-faceted juxtaposition of desert and snow makes for a curious, yet ultimately misplaced, experience. Nevertheless, it’s a complex level and can be rather confusing on first visit. Once you get to grips with it it turns out to be a lively and applaudable affair, with enemies, tricks and deception in droves! Entirely improvised from the aforementioned promo shot, you’d be understandably mistaken for believing Sega themselves designed it. For example, towards the end of the second act Sonic must hit springs in order for the level to open up. They basically act as switches to progress through the level and it’s executed so seamlessly that it resulted in topping the new zones ‘chart’.

Dust Hill's two extremes demonstrated 'seamlessly' for you

Up next is the morbidly titled Genocide City Zone, possibly omitted due to the potential ‘bad dreams’ it may have given the kids, and it’s produced from entirely home-made graphics. What with the Beta’s level merely being a fuzzy vacuum, there was nothing to base it on other than the images conjured up in the mind of the player; and so hackers ‘Sonic Hashelle-Bee’ and ‘Esrael’ produced a Halloween-esque backdrop. Lightning forks, the moon and cloud formation akin to Zool’s peeper, colour the background’s gloomy sky, while digging deeper rotting corpses are found dangling from chains in the lower reaches of the level. Pleasant stuff. If it wasn’t for the glitchy walls, gaping drop that the game cannot cope with and repeated level design of Act 2, it’d been a more pleasing experience. The intense difficulty of the Robotnik battle at the end culminates in an ultimately missed opportunity.  Good to finally see, but not the ideal finished product.

The penultimate modificated level lands us in the enigmatic Hidden Palace Zone, where the first act was almost complete in the Beta version, only to be axed more harshley than a couple of the heads of Henry VIII’s wives. Complete with glimmering bridges and God-intended music (number on Sonic 2’s sound test), Act 1 almost perfectly delivers what we always wanted, minus suctionless tubes (like Hill Top’s), that you unexcitedly have to roll through manually. Unfortunately after that great high, Act 2 seems to have been abandoned. While its layout is complete, it lacks enemies, contains few rings and has less soul than Soulja Boy himself. Truly disappointing from a gamer’s perspective, yet as this is the last build since 2004, I’d hazard a guess this is a premature ‘final’ version. Shame.

Finally, and unexpectedly is Death Egg with a Chemical Plant infusion. For some reason, the Egg has been divided into three acts. Using Chemical Plant’s level layout and Death Egg’s colour scheme, you’re forced to basically re-play a level with a different skin. An odd decision and ultimately pointless. At least the final act is completely untouched.

Out of pure experimental interest, the game was completed ‘properly’ (ie. no saving before a Special Stage) in order to judge how the extra length would affect the overall experience; meaning that collecting every emerald was a necessity. Having once gathered all the shiny buggers by Aquatic Ruin (it’s very possible), I failed miserably this time, finally amassing all seven emeralds well into Mystic Cave Zone (now the game’s seventh level, coincidentally). A pathetic attempt if there ever was one. Anyway, overall, the game stole 4 hours and 48 minutes of play time, possibly totallying an extra 45 minutes of gameplay over the original. Not bad, and ultimately a disappointing loss to the officially released version.

For more tidbits on the ‘lost levels’ , have a butchers at this interview with Brenda Ross, a Sonic 2 level art designer. Quite interesting, if a little redundant!

Robotnik’s Revenge by Colin C10

For sheer originality, Robotnik’s Revenge simply has to receive the champion’s crown of hacks. Fused with a blend of Robotnik battles from Sonic and Sonic 2, the spiky blue speed machine is challenged to consecutively deal with every boss from his first two outings on a paltry diet of rings. Set in a marvellously seamless Death Egg, each fight is introduced via the inviting chime of a star post as if it was one of Mother Nature’s creations; it truly could’ve been sewn together by Sega themselves. While posing a challenging and interesting affair, it also delivers in working perfectly, mixing some memorable and frustrating Dr. Robotnik confrontations, gift-wrapped in one pleasant, compact package. Does giving the portly genius the once-over seventeen times seem easy to you? Why not try it for yourself then? I’ve managed a respectable time of 13 mins 30 seconds & a ‘B’ rank; can you better me or this guy?

Sadly, this nifty part of Sonic 2 spawned the awful Sonic Spinball

Sonic 2 Advanced Edit (Beta 3) by rika_chou ‘and many others’
Often featuring less sprites than a Pepsi vending machine, Sonic 2 Advanced Edit is a regrettably unfinished recreation of Sonic’s second attempt at foiling Dr. Robotnik’s evil plans. With Sonic, Knuckles and Tails as playable characters, it was an intended redesign of Sonic 2 as opposed to an improvement or gap-plugger. Beyond the precariously unfinished nature of the hack is a well-produced and convincing attempt at ‘playing Sega’, thus slightly tear-inducing that they’ve abandoned the project. Yes, a crime worse than an unwanted ‘Christmas pup’ dumped on a roadside, in a damp cardboard box in the cold. In the rain. At night. (Only joking, RSPCA!)

Moving on, upon hitting whatever you’ve assigned the start button as you’ll experience a sense of quality resonating from your monitor. What was once Emerald Hill Zone, is now Neo South Island, in a pleasantly chunky, spritely form, complete with non-bombing Buzz Bombers! Swapping Sonic’s Sonic 2 sprite for Sonic 3’s (an odd move), the speedy chap blends in tidily in a well-produced level. Using advanced loops for Sonic to run around and a complex-on-initial-view level design, it promised to deliver a fresh and enjoyable Sonic adventure, unlike Sonic Adventure, funnily enough.

However, the first two acts of Neo South Island is about all you’re welcome to; from there on in the levels become increasingly sparse until you reach the latter parts of the original Sonic 2, which are left untouched, if a little glitchy to the point of nauseating on Metropolis. Not good when you’re low on blood sugar, I can assure. Most interestingly, apart from some intelligent (and cruel) level design on Neo Gigapolis and others, is ‘Oil Ocean Zone’. The suitably miserable aesthetics of the original level have been replaced with level art that can be attributed to the elusive Dust Hill Zone (see below), with its desert backdrop providing rather pleasant viewing. Again, satisfyingly chunky, the first act is great for all of 30 seconds, where upon acquiring a static shield and jumping over a couple of chasms, a hole greater than Big Pit welcomes you to an unavoidable death. Again, it’s disappointing that it’ll never be finished, but one deemed good enough as an example of a better hack. Have a look for yourself; there’s even a handy level select on the title screen.

Might be a Dust Hill interpretation, might not, but it looks nice, eh?

Knuckles The Echidna In Sonic The Hedgehog by Stealth
What Sega never achieved, a rather clever chap known as ‘Stealth’ managed to shoehorn Sonic-sidekick Knuckles into the original Sonic The Hedgehog, producing some fine results. The official story for the omission of the ability to play as the red echidna in the original Sonic outing via Sonic & Knuckles’ lock-on feature was that S&K’s palette colours were too different to Sonic 1’s. As a result of importing the Knuckles sprite, Sega hit the supposed brick wall of a colour scheme nightmare, transforming the entire game into a 1960s-esque swingers’ club; needless to say that would’ve made for interesting viewing! Skipping to the end, Stealth craftily used Sonic’s shoe colours to ‘dress’ Knuckles with, in addition to altering his choice of socks and; hey wow! (2:26 onwards), Knuckles was free to skip and dance with cute, needy animals once more! It was a clever move, but could Sega really not have achieved this themselves? Questioning Sega’s integrity is hardly alien nowadays, yet back in the ’90s they were gaming gods. Perhaps lead designer Yuji Naka was on a fag break at the time.

Considering Knuckles was originally introduced as Dr. Robotnik’s ally it, like Knuckles in Sonic 2, puts a spanner in the Sonic series’ chronological works; yet on Knuckles goes, hypocritically battering (and outsmarting) Robotnik’s evil overtures. First impressions spark pensive thoughts; Knuckles looks different (palette problems fully explain that, however); he’s assigned Sonic 3’s physics, and so runs faster than the blue one originally did, further adding to the irony; and, well, Knuckles in Sonic 1 ain’t cricket! But as you delve below the first act of Green Hill’s surface, using Knuckles feels ‘right’; until you begin abusing the game.

Knuckles stumbles across some development debris in Spring Yard, usually out of a hedgehog's reach

Knuckles’ ability to climb walls and glide can amusingly render Yorkie-sized chunks of the game redundant. Find elevated terrain in Green Hill Zone and feel free to laugh at all the carnage below as you sail to the level’s end. Most entertaining is Marble Zone, where all three acts, often a pain in Sonic’s wee backside, can be successfully reduced to a mere nothing, coupled with a firm middle finger salute to Dr. Robotnik and all of his evil plans. Ha! Trumped. Feel free to experiment for yourself and see how you can ruin the game!

The drawbacks to the hack, however, are that the game simply wasn’t designed for Knuckles, meaning not every wall is climb-able, where clipping issues tend to creep in, thus sending the piny red one to a fall not nearly as disastrous as Humpty Dumpty’s (fortunately!). Furthermore, Super Knuckles is only available via a cheat, so once all emeralds are gathered, collecting fifty rings means nothing. No, not even a high-five from Dr. Robotnik. Tsk! And there’s no escape from the suffocating clutches of Labrynth either; it’s still the Worst Level Ever.

Heh heh. Consider yourself merked, EggFace!

And that’s all there’s time for. ‘AllThatRumpus got through Act 1′, if you like! More to follow in ‘Act 2′ some time in the future.

By now you’ve probably heard about Project Needlemouse. if not, I’ll post the video at the end of this post. Basically, it’s a brand new Sonic game that will “bring Sonic back to his 2D roots” Hmm, where’ve we heard that before? *cough* Sonic Unleashed *cough*. Well, that’s really all I know.

~Colin~

I really don’t want to think of a snazzy title today.

Yesterday was Remeberance Day, or Veteran’s Day, or whatever you want to call it. I didn’t work, I didn’t really do anything too exciting, and there was no way in hell I was going to blog on a holiday.

So, Tuesday night I finally beat Sonic the Hedgehog. And by finally, I mean that I’ve never actually beaten the game before. Ever. Not since it came out and I had a Sega Genesis and it was all that I would play (okay, so I played NHL ‘93 too, big whoop) have I beaten that game UNTIL NOW! I am excited, you’re probably making fun of me in your head, and really, seeing as I played an emulated version wherein I was able to save in place and generally beat the game without dying to get the Achievement for it, I still managed to beat the game and I’m really fucking pleased with myself.

To top it all off, I now have that beautiful 75% marker thing next to Sonic, so I can concentrate on the other games I have to upgrade. Unfortunately, they’re all retail. Damn, but that’s a lot of points.

I played some Rock Band 2 with a buddy last night. We played on Hard, I got the Victory! Achievement for beating someone in Score Duel or Tug of War, so that was a nice 15G for having fun with a friend. RB2 is up to 44% now, so I should let it simmer for a while. I’ll be playing with friends a lot, so it’ll be good to have my score pop up more randomly. It’s one of those games where I can get to 50% with minimal effort, but with loads of time. So it’ll sit on the shelf until I get some more people over to play, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll get some more Achievements.

As for handheld excitement, I’ve been playing Pokemon Diamond, trying to breed and level enough pokemon to have one of each stage in my boxes at the same time. Right now I’m leveling a Dratini – I need Dragonaire and Dragonite to complete the first gen boxes, and then I can start with the second gen non-legendaries that I have. I really should take the time to get the legendary dogs sometime soon…oh well, that’s worry for another day.

I don’t feel like typing anymore. Back to YouTube, and back to Beast Wars. Woo-hoo!

Since being shunned from the offices of Interscope and having his debut album shelved indefinitely, the rap career of Charles Hamilton seemed to have died out before it could truly launch.

Last impressions are almost as significant as first and for Hamilton, his last image was that of having a few teeth shifted after a punch from his female affiliate. Sonic lost all his coins after that hit, as he completely dropped off the radar.

Adding insult to injury, Interscope took his first album, This Perfect Life, and released it online for free download. Clearly, there was some bad blood brewing between Hamilton and Jimmy Iovine and this served as a swift kick to the groin before letting the rapper go.

After being shrouded by the shadows and what felt like isolation, reports are showing that the Cleveland born, Harlem bred rapper may be on the verge of returning back into the spotlight. Leaving a bad taste in almost everyone’s mouths, however, it might be quite a bumpy road to win anybody back if those are indeed his intentions.

Speaking with HipHopWired, Detroit’s Royce Da 5’9 gave incite to his own problems with the young rapper. Initially embracing him, everything went South between the two after Hamilton tried to throw the fallen Dilla on his album for credits.

“We had spoken and I told him about Detroit Hip-Hop and how we all stick together and we’re all one camp. I explained everything to him and told him to just put up an apology on Twitter and don’t talk about it anymore. After he was cool with it, I just told him that I would go talk to my people and straighten everything out. He went back on Twitter and did a half-a*s apology and it was just some sh*t that didn’t look sincere and nobody took it as an apology.”

Nickel added that Hamilton only proceeded to make his situation worse and even swayed the Detroit rapper to look at him in a negative light and even some shots during a freestyle to “D.O.A.”

“The very next day after I’ve been sticking up for this n*gga, he puts on Twitter, ‘Detroit is mad because they lost J. Dilla and Harlem is mad because we lost Max B, so I guess we’re even. I was like ‘Alright, since he made that comment, I’m on him now because now I feel a little disrespected.’ That’s where my comments came from. It was just a few bars and I left it alone just to see where his head was at.”

Hamilton’s career has apparently been built upon burning more bridges than building, but everyone is allowed to have a second chance in anything. Only time will tell when he will surface and what he will bring to the table this time around.

“Issues” is the last single 810 is releasing before Glass Half Full and it will be ready to drop tomorrow. Mydus produced this track and I think the sample he used is some type of interpolation of a Sonic The Hedgehog stage song.

810 – Issues (Produced by Mydus)

See the artwork for Glass Half Full after the jump

Okay, so for those of you who haven’t played Infinite Undiscovery, let me explain about Vermiforms. Basically, there’s this thing called lunar rain which has started falling now that the moon has been trapped above the planet and it isn’t moving. I personally think that it’s not a natural occurence, and you have the Dreadknight (the main badguy) to thank for it, but that’s yet to be confirmed.

This lunar rain causes anyone with a lunaglyph (which enables the use of magic) to have an overabundance of magic power, resulting in death or transformation to a vermiform. The idea is that vermiforms are pure evil, and invisible to boot. The only people who can see vermiforms are called “unblesseds” because they weren’t given a lunaglyph at birth. So, the magic-less characters are the only ones who can protect the magic-users, and yet the governments refuse to protect the unblesseds from harm (bandits, storms, etc). The main character, Capell, is an unblessed.

Why am I talking about this? There’s an Achievement (which I got last night – yay!) that requires you to let nine members of your party fully vermify, and become vermiforms. There are only nine characters that can do this, and they all transform at different rates. Of course, once they’ve fully transformed, I can’t actually attack them, so there was a lot of running around trying not to get killed by my own party members.

The thing about having your friends transform into monsters is that they start saying things that are really evil and weird. Like, “Mommy, mommy! Give me a hug mommy!” Okay, I know that sounds really sweet, but it’s the tone and inflection, like “give me a hug so I can plunge a dagger into your neck, mommy” or “I’m going to throttle you until your neck breaks, but I can only do that if you give me a hug, mommy” that makes it sound bad. Then there are comments from your most faithful characters about not needing anybody, or deciding that they should be in charge even though they’ve been fully supportive of your orders and following you all around the world for the last god knows how many weeks/months.

It’s a mental thing as well as physical.

It got me thinking about the dark parts of people. How even the most good-hearted individuals have this core of uncertainty and insecurity that they try to hide, and that some don’t even know exist, but can easily overtake them (or you) if ignored or left to ferment on its own without guidance. We see it all the time in situations like Columbine, or Heroes, or just about anyone in Criminal Minds. It’s the realism that scares me, not so much the actions of the created personas of characters in a video game.

On a lighter note, I almost beat Sonic last night! I got the last two Chaos Emeralds (Achievement unlocked!) and got to the Scrap Brain level. I’m in Act 3, just trying to find the way to the end of the level. I’ll be looking it up, because the first puzzle just knocked me over and I can’t for the life of me figure it out. Theoretically this is the last stage before Dr. Eggman, so I should get that glorious Win Achievement pretty soon here, and that’s another game I can cross off the 50% list. It’ll be up closer to 60%, so it’ll be a while before I end up playing it again.

And while we’re talking about that goal, let me say that I’m really getting tired of the same old games. Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying IU, and I want to beat it and it’s got a decent story, but with all the talk about Mass Effect 2, all I want to play is the first one! And with my pre-order of Assassin’s Creed II coming in just three weeks, I kind of want to do a quick run-through of the first game to reacquaint myself with the story. There’s also the deepseeded need to play Dead Rising and get the true ending, which I just barely missed and that frankly I don’t even know that I can get. And if I don’t it’ll mean playing through the entire game again (which I’m not necessarily opposed to) and that’s a lot of time I could be spending on other games that aren’t at 50% yet. Like ODST, which, thanks to Waypoint, I really want to play.

Ugh, I’m going to stop thinking about all the Achievements I could easily be getting in other games, and concentrate on beating IU. When I’m done, I can shelve it until I’m ready to start the Hard mode run. That’ll be a long time coming, and a long time completing, but it’ll unlock Infinity Mode, which I need to get the last Achievement and 100% (although I highly doubt that I’ll be doing that anytime soon – probably not for a year at least). Sonic is almost done, and if you check out my recent played games (available on just about any site, really) you can see -

Oh shit, I totally forgot until just now. There’s a triple experience thing going on in Gears of War 2. I’ve been playing a little of that over the weekend, trying to get to level 15 as well as that last win I need in King of the Hill to get the related Achievement. The two of them together aren’t enough to get 50%, but it’s progress nonetheless and I’d be a fool not to take advantage of this opportunity to have free access to KotH without having to play 20 matches of Annex first.

Geez, my life is complicated. I want to get 50% on all of my owned games, but there’s so much to do and so many other games to play! Guaranteed, once I get ACII I’ll be ignoring the goal, but until the end of the month I’ve got a lot on my plate. We’ll see how it all pans out of the coming days/weeks, and I’ll of course keep all my readers posted.

My brain hurts now.

Since we’re back (and by we I mean me and this site) I have two new posts coming soon. One is going to be a video game review and the other will be a little news.

~Colin~

Well, after revisiting this site more than 1 year after it closed I noticed it wasn’t doing half bad. So, we’re back with more Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Shadow, Rouge, Eggman, and on and on and on.

~Colin~

Hey geeks.  The time has come to tell you what is, in my opinion, the best video game ever.  This week I’ve been playing non-stop, trying to reacquaint myself with what I had once mastered…so, therefore, I’m geeking:

Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog.

Where else can you collect rings, chaos emeralds, and save little fluffy animals from Dr. Eggman (i.e. Ivo Robotnik)?  Where else can you fly as Tails and glide as Knuckles?  Playing as an anthropomorphic hedgehog with the ability to curl up into a ball for an attack and to run faster than the speed of sound is always a good time.  Released in 1991 in response to Nintendo’s flagship character Mario (also a worthy choice for best video game), Sonic the Hedgehog became Sega’s big break.

Sonic grew so popular he was re-released in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (this time with his fox best friend Tails), Sonic 3, Sonic and Knuckles, and subsequent CD-ROM games and updates over the years.  Needless to say, when I tell people on campus I have to forgo studying to brush up on my Sonic (Sega Genesis) skills, they ask if they can come over too (sorry, Mario).

May the geek be with you,

Lindsay

We are now proud to present OnlineGames4Free.Me’s very own youtube channel! We got it up and running yesterday morning with a couple videos of us playing The Torture Game. We plane on uploading many new videos in the weeks and months ahead of us and hope they will be very entertaining for our online games 4 free viewers and fans.

We are also working hard on our online games for free sonic squidoo lens and think it may be available within the week.

Todays online games 4 free game is Flatland 3.

Description:
Stay alive by destroying all enemies in space

We hope to see you all soon on the site for another day of online gaming.

Have a great day!

Die Nachricht ist zwar schon etwas älter, aber aufgefallen ist sie mir erst eben gerade (Schande über mich als Sonic Fan). Auf GameSpot gibt es einen kurzen Trailer über “Projekt Needlemouse”. Mysteriös mysteriös! Angeblich handelt es sich dabei um ein neues Spiel von unserem stacheligen Freund Sonic. Der Clou: das ganze ist in 2D! Aber nicht im pixeligen Retrolook, sondern in schickem HD. Viel sagen kann man dazu noch nicht, da der Teaser wirklich nur das ist, ein kleines Video mit einem schattenhaften Titelbild wie man es aus den klassischen Sonic Spielen kennt, also keine Ingame Szenen oder Screenshots. Infos bezüglich der Plattformen auf denen das Spiel erscheint, Features oder ähnliches gibt es auch noch nicht.

Das Spiel ist ein Geschenk an alle alten Sonic Fans denen die neueren Teile nicht zugesagt haben. Anschauen könnt ihr euch den Trailer auf GameSpot.