General Sonic The Hedgehog thread

Oh Carnival Night is ABSOLUTELY faster as Knuckles. But I like the carnival-esque levels the best: bright, colorful foreground contrasted by a dark, starry background and lots of toys to bounce off of. Casino Paradise from Advance 1 is up there, too.

Yeah, I enjoy Carnival Night myself aside from the barrel.

Though controversially I really prefer its prototype/Collection music. And by that I mean how the music was in the original November prototype. The MJ one just sounds a bit too much like clown pleasure music and it make sme uncomfortable.

I was trying to think what my favorite casino level actually is. Even though the mechanics are janky, I think I'd give it to Casino Park from Sonic Heroes. The music is a fantastic tune, and I think visually the level is a treat as well.

Casino Park from Heroes is my favorite Casino level from Sonic too, it's what I think of instantly when I think of the archetype.

Edited by taotruths on May 13th 2024 at 8:30:35 AM

As a kid, I had mixed feelings on Casino Night Zone. I wasn't too big on the pinball-themed stuff, but I always liked a city backdrop.

x4 I have too much nostalgia for the MJ track to be objective, but the November prototype track is really good too. My animosity mainly came from how I felt the PC version BUTCHERED it (but to be fair I don't think MIDI did any track in the game justice), and was pleasantly surprised when the prototype turned up.

Edited by Sid-Starkiller on May 13th 2024 at 12:13:44 PM

I personally liked the MJ music for Carnival Zone. It was pretty catchy.

They were butchered twice over by existing in Origins...right?

Correct

Casino Night is ok. I just see it as an inoffensive, somewhat slow and annoying stage.

I feel like Sega made the right move with which tracks they chose to replace with the MJ tracks during development. They picked what I feel are the weakest songs in the early game, and swapped those out.

I do wonder what an entirely MJ soundtrack would have been like, but I love the results we got. A great variety of music. The MJ music was more hip-hoppy and slower paced, and even as a kid, I could tell the difference!

Started actually playing a Sonic game with Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Actually kinda fun despite its difficulty (most recent attempt ended at Hill Top Zone).

I loved Sonic the Hedgehog 2, even though I had a rough time with the final boss.

It was years before I was able to beat the final boss of Sonic 2, because I assumed that it was so tall that trying to jump over the spike arms and hitting him up above would get you killed, so I always aimed for the much smaller and more difficult to hit area between the arms and legs. Also, when he did his jump attack, I'd always spin dash out of the way so I'd never see it land, and thus never knew it bent over upon landing, providing a much more secure shot. I may have been more likely to experiment if the final boss wasn't preceded by a fight against Mecha Sonic, thus making you feel like you can't waste any opportunity, or if they gave you even a single ring so one error didn't get you killed.

Yeah the final boss having no rings in a game with limited lives was kinda bullshit. The fight itself isn't hard, but it's long and the collision in the Genesis version is horrendous (namely bonking him, going through his body, and into his hand spikes). Though giving you rings would've trivialized the fight. Balancing bosses in a game with a system like Sonic's rings is tricky.

I'm replaying Sonic Heroes, a game from my childhood. It's quite fun thus far aside from being kinda jank. I really hope it actually gets a remake and Sega doesn't find a way to fuck it up if it does.

Edited by TheLivingDrawing on May 13th 2024 at 3:48:12 PM

A final boss with a tricky hitbox that the player has to learn, that has to be fought perfectly with no mistakes, at the end of another rush that also has to be fought perfectly with no mistakes, was a bafflingly awful idea.

It's not even that it makes the boss difficult to fight, since once you know the pattern it's not so bad. It's because it makes the boss extremely difficult to learn - since every time you try something you just die. Good luck being a child in the single digits and figuring out the pattern or the hitbox in the first place.

Edited by KnownUnknown on May 13th 2024 at 12:52:57 PM

Hip Hop wouldn't apply to either the Ice Cap or Launch Base Zone tracks.

And even when you know what you're doing the fight sucks. It's just a shitload of waiting since he hardly actually attacks. The Final Boss should not be a damn Puzzle Boss.

You don't actually have to wait for him to attack in order to hurt him. At any point you can jump over the spike arms and hit him. Only Knuckles has to wait for him to lower his body to attack.

Yes but that is very risky. I generally wait for safe openings (him not moving and him bending over)

Edited by TheLivingDrawing on May 13th 2024 at 4:55:43 AM

And sometimes even when you hit successfully, your character doesn't bounce off like they should and hits the claws & dies anyway.

I'm thinking about Sonic Heroes, and even though I enjoy it, its pretty rare to get through a set of levels where at least one of them doesn't have a moment that can just be random jank.

• Sea - Sometimes the rock chase at the end of Sonic & Dark will just hit you in midair and kill you.
• City - Is actually okay. I don't recall much jank here.
• Casino - Even though the pinball controls can be messy, that's not too big an issue in Casino Park. But Bingo Highway... Ugggh, it hurts there. For some reason, the control just hates cooperating there, and when characters get split up, falling out when you can't do anything about it becomes WAY too easy.
• Canyon - Rail switching is wonky as hell. Save yourself the headache and just jump yourself.
• Jungle - Those stupid vine swings, especially at the end of Sonic & Dark when the giant croc chases you.
• Castle - Again, Sonic & Dark's last section... Well, actually, this time just Sonic's. The "Speed" section of the last area in Mystic Mansion requires a level of Homing Attack cooperation that you just won't get without finagling with it. Also, this isn't really a jank thing, but Team Chaotix is so damn tedious here.
• Fleet - I think this one is mostly jank free, actually. Just remember what the canyon taught you - don't use the rail switching, just jump to the side yourself.

Edited by diddyknux on May 13th 2024 at 5:01:21 AM

Been in a car for hours and just now catching up. #77908 it was either change the track or NEVER HAVE THE GAME BE RERELASED EVER AGAIN. While I wish it had skewed closer to the prototype track, as far as changing the music in general...suck it up. Mod it if you must, I'm sure without even looking that there's mods for that.

That seems... kind of harsh. The music tracks, for those three zones, are part of the experience for many, and while their removal may have been ultimately needed in order to re-release the game, their absence is still going to be felt, there's no getting around that.

That's still just Knuckles...

Mod origins? I'm sure I could, but I don't really care to...nothing provided in Origins interests me enough to get it even through legal means.

Edited by randomness4 on May 13th 2024 at 8:05:22 AM

I will admit that it is harsh. But when I see people refer to a company trying to clear up legal issues as an "unforgivable sin" (actual words from a Steam review I saw a while back) and similar ridiculousness, I'm going to be harsh.

Scorchingly hot take: I prefer the replaced music tracks over the originals