It's probably the best port of any of your classic games ever.
I'd say this isn't true, actually. Sega's "port" of Fantasy Zone 2 to the PS2 is the best retro remake of all time. The quality that went into it is staggering - they took a SMS game, and remade it from scratch for the System 16 arcade board - a board which hadn't seen a new game in 20 years - built to 1989 arcade standards, pressed real arcade boards, then emulated it on the PS2. And it wound up being a much better game than the original ever was.
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syndalisGetting ClassyOn the WallRegistered User, Loves Apple Productsregular
It's probably the best port of any of your classic games ever.
I'd say this isn't true, actually. Sega's "port" of Fantasy Zone 2 to the PS2 is the best retro remake of all time. The quality that went into it is staggering - they took a SMS game, and remade it from scratch for the System 16 arcade board - a board which hadn't seen a new game in 20 years - built to 1989 arcade standards, pressed real arcade boards, then emulated it on the PS2. And it wound up being a much better game than the original ever was.
Okay, so second best then?
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Let's play Mario Kart or something...
It's probably the best port of any of your classic games ever.
I'd say this isn't true, actually. Sega's "port" of Fantasy Zone 2 to the PS2 is the best retro remake of all time. The quality that went into it is staggering - they took a SMS game, and remade it from scratch for the System 16 arcade board - a board which hadn't seen a new game in 20 years - built to 1989 arcade standards, pressed real arcade boards, then emulated it on the PS2. And it wound up being a much better game than the original ever was.
It's a shame SegaAges never really took off over here. Then again, given what they did fart out of that over here, I'm not entierly surprised.
It's probably the best port of any of your classic games ever.
I'd say this isn't true, actually. Sega's "port" of Fantasy Zone 2 to the PS2 is the best retro remake of all time. The quality that went into it is staggering - they took a SMS game, and remade it from scratch for the System 16 arcade board - a board which hadn't seen a new game in 20 years - built to 1989 arcade standards, pressed real arcade boards, then emulated it on the PS2. And it wound up being a much better game than the original ever was.
It's a shame SegaAges never really took off over here. Then again, given what they did fart out of that over here, I'm not entierly surprised.
The fantasy zone 1 remake was also great. It had awesome visuals, had a great throwback to the cancelled Space Fantasy Zone after each boss, had new unlockable power ups, and 4 new unlockable stages. The rest of the collection wasn't that great, but Fantasy Zone alone is worth the $20 the collection sold for.
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Niceguyeddie616All you feed me is PUFFINS!I need NOURISHMENT!Registered Userregular
To think one dude could make a perfect port of a classic sonic where an entire team failed (Sonic 1 GBA), is astounding.
A) Taxman didn't make Sonic CD by himself, he had a team.
Sonic 1 wasn't ported by Sonic Team, it was likely ported by TOSE using a small team of 2-3 people.
Yep, Blit helped him work on the console versions while Taxman did the iOS/Android ports himself, that's how I've heard it. And even if it really was TOSE porting the game, it's still very shitty on Sega's part to treat one of the best acclaimed games like that, even if it's only a drop in the bucket for the number of horrible things done to Sonic over the years.
I never had a Sega CD, but we got our first computer in 1996. My mom surprised me one day after school, said she had bought me some computer games from a store that was "about learning and using your brain." I groaned, thinking it was some lame math muncher game or even worse, a piece of edutainment software that was essentially digital flash cards. Mom handed me the surprise, and I ended up getting a PC port of Bug! for the Sega Saturn, and...
Sonic motherfucking CD! This was THE Win95 game for me, I played the everloving shit out of it. I was so disappointed that I'd never get to play it again after I upgraded to a WinXP PC, It is by and large my favorite sonic game with Sonic 3 and Knuckles being a close second. The time travel, the up button spindash, the way the music was leagues ahead of the other Sonic games just blew my little mind.
I bought the Live Arcade version, and it's so awesome. The Gamecube port doesn't even compare to this. The water effects and special stages actually work and, on top of that, there's so much more content than the original. A whole different soundtrack along with the original, butter smooth graphics, even Tails as a playable character! I am buying this game on everything I can get my hands on, that includes Steam and, once I get my new phone, Android.
Sega, if you're reading this, please just drop the Sonic 4 engine and make future episodes with this, in fact I'd also love to see the other classic Sonics remade on this. It's probably the best port of any of your classic games ever.
EDIT: "This" means the Retro Engine. Christian Whitehead has pretty much earned the right to work on as much Sonic stuff as he wants, in fact I believe it would GREATLY help Sonic's future if Sonic Team was composed of just him. To think one dude could make a perfect port of a classic sonic where an entire team failed (Sonic 1 GBA), is astounding.
I think my favorite things in Sonic threads are the nostalgia stories.
AaronKI on
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Niceguyeddie616All you feed me is PUFFINS!I need NOURISHMENT!Registered Userregular
While I grew up with the US soundtrack, I can't decide whether I like that boss theme better or WORK THAT SUCKA TA DEATH, C'MON NOW WORK THAT SUCKA TA DEATH
Looks like the lyrics from the Japanese credits music are missing too, but all of the level music lyrics seem to be intact (Boss Theme, Stardust Speedway Present, Metallic Madness Present, Metallic Madness Bad Future). I wonder what happened.
Gaaahhhh, why are the special stages still kicking my ass, after ALL THESE YEARS?!?! Halfway through my first playthrough, and I'm 2/7 at Stardust Speedway. Man, I've always been iffy at them. By the way, does the "Super Sonic Suicide" maneuver (my nickname for the instant stage restart button combo) still work in this? It was kind of necessary if you missed out on a Past sign too far in the stage to go back and hit the Eggman stuff.
Yeah, five bucks isn't shabby at all considering the extra stuff going into it.
Yup, considering the true widescreen support, the ability to play as Tails, both soundtracks being in the game, improved animation, ability to switch between Sonic CD and Sonic 2 style spin-dash, and the ability to switch between Sonic 3 style jump physics and Sonic CD style jump physics, this is absolutely the definitive port of the game.
For $5.
Huh, I must have missed the jump physics part...
Anywho, this has been a blast so far. And Tails! Love getting to catch up with him; I'm not sure if I ever even managed to get a Time Stone before, but I did with him!
Pity he's unlockable; he breaks the game like a boss, like an Easy Mode. Also a shame that he can't get Achievements... or have cut scenes, or Metal Sonic bits, or much of anything else. Sigh. Though in the case of Achievements, I suppose the whole "broken" thing explains that...
I just wish it were possible to go back in your file to specific stages to unlock different time periods and such, sort of like TSR mentioned a while back.
On another note: anyone know how to open up the unlockables in this one?
The graphics are good-- so there's oldschool, sharper oldschool, and some modern version, right? If I'm not mistaken, that also looks tons better than the Backbone attempt at the same... what did they do there?
I hope they do make DLC... I'll be looking forward to that. Surprised by the low price for the game itself, too.
Speaking of DLC, I thought that's what the NA soundtrack was going to be, and even then, only as a "maybe"... what happened there to change their minds?
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
Looks like the lyrics from the Japanese credits music are missing too, but all of the level music lyrics seem to be intact (Boss Theme, Stardust Speedway Present, Metallic Madness Present, Metallic Madness Bad Future). I wonder what happened.
I haven't bought it on XBLA yet.
I'll be honest...I actually am very bothered by the removal of the lyrics.
I just can't fathom and reason why they did this, other then Sega is simply compelled to always take something away from these ports.
Looks like the lyrics from the Japanese credits music are missing too, but all of the level music lyrics seem to be intact (Boss Theme, Stardust Speedway Present, Metallic Madness Present, Metallic Madness Bad Future). I wonder what happened.
I haven't bought it on XBLA yet.
I'll be honest...I actually am very bothered by the removal of the lyrics.
I just can't fathom and reason why they did this, other then Sega is simply compelled to always take something away from these ports.
That disappoints me, but not as much as it would if the level songs weren't intact. Plus I'd really like to help get the message to sega that "Yes, yes. This is what we want!" in terms of how to handle rereleases of the older games. (curiously missing lyrics aside.)
Tuesday can't come soon enough!
Edit: What could have been..
Oh boy…
So what is this image doing in Sonic CD?
Basically, earlier on in the remake’s development there were 2 new levels: Desert Dazzle & Final Fever (another boss)
Neither level was fully complete, and we had to make the call whether or not to go ahead and finalize them. Sonic Team felt the game should not deviate too far from it’s original form, and in retrospect it was for the best since we had a lot of other work to do anyway.
I left this image in since it’s quite a groovy looking Zone, and it also serves as a way for you to get to the stage select as Tails.
Absolutely having a blast with the iOS version here. The price is nuts for such a complete game. I really like how when you switch soundtracks it even affects stuff like the main menu screen and the stage select screen for time trial.
In my case, i haven't run into too many control problems; just a little adjustment period for the touch interface.
Given the cost of the base game I'm not sure how it could be overpriced, unless they make it more expensive than the game.
Even then, I personally would probably credit Sega some of the consumer surplus towards any potential DLC. I can't think of a more feature-complete classic re-release in a while, especially not at this $/content ratio.
It is kind of funny that, after all this time, there still is not a perfect port. Get those Japanese lyrics in the game. Still, this went above and beyond.
I'm definitely buying this if they put it on Steam, even though I already got it on my 360.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who's doing this. Now I can feel slightly less silly. :P
That reminds me, Steam registry miners found an entry for Sonic 4: Episode 1. That's pretty neat and I'm glad Sega is putting a heavier focus on PC support.
Too bad it's my second-least favorite 2D Sonic game.
It would be hilarious if they did not fix the water color bug that was in the gems version.
That wasn't a bug, but rather a technical deficiency. Sonic CD in Gems wasn't an emulation, just a lazy port of the PC version (lazy because of issues like this). When the water surface is on screen, water colors in the 2D Sonic games are realized by switching from the above water palette to the the below water palette at the right place mid-frame. Yes, while the current frame is being rendered on screen. That's a bit tricky to replicate in a port when you're not running in a palettized (eg. 8 bit per pixel) graphics mode, which the GameCube was not.
If there's one area that Sega always impresses me, it's the way they recycle even the most obscure of their music for future sequels.
Seriously, how did they even decide to turn a GG song into a full-blown vocal opening for Sonic CD? Who decides that?
It could be as simple as the same composer contributing to both games. Musicians recycling their themes is very, very common.
I think my favorite (ok, my only) obscure tune realization was going back to play the Genesis version of Sonic 3D Blast after SA1 came out. I had only ever played the Sega Saturn before that, so it came as a big shock when I started a special stage and found myself in a proto-Windy Valley.
SA1 used a lot of 3D Blast Genesis's music, and even borrowed from some other things, like this song for Tails' theme:
Case in point for the above. Jun Senoue did the music for Sonic 3D Blast Genesis and he recycled some of his tunes for Sonic Adventure.
I've never seen any similarity between Bridge Zone and "Believe in Myself" (Tails' theme) before. Interesting. Yuzo Koshiro composed the former, Jun Senoue the latter. I'd say their similarity is just a coincidence.
There's also this song by Janet Jackson, which bears a greater resemblance to Bridge Zone. I'd still chalk it up as a coincidence. You can most likely find more tracks with variations on that motif. But who knows, maybe Janet was an avid Game Gear player and that motif got stuck in her head, consciously or not. Just don't go around claiming "Wow, Janet Jackson covered Bridge Zone!" if you don't have conclusive proof. I hate that. (Did she even compose that particular song herself or did some producer do it...)
Sonic motherfucking CD! This was THE Win95 game for me, I played the everloving shit out of it. I was so disappointed that I'd never get to play it again after I upgraded to a WinXP PC, It is by and large my favorite sonic game with Sonic 3 and Knuckles being a close second.
Hey, that's why I created a patch for the PC version. I guess I should have marketed it better. With it, Sonic CD PC still runs today in Windows 7. Albeit awkwardly. ;-)
A modern PC port of the new Sonic CD is most definitely welcome.
Alright, I've never played Sonic CD before unfortunately.
I bought this game for a few reasons, mainly Sonic Generations gave me a jonesin' for some old school Sonic. this definitely delivers..
but you'll have to forgive me if I don't "get" the game. It's Sonic ala Sonic 2 and such, but... Past/Future signs? What's going on there? I don't get what my objective is. I'm flying through levels around 1' or 2', but I feel like I'm not doing my job.
Alright, I've never played Sonic CD before unfortunately.
I bought this game for a few reasons, mainly Sonic Generations gave me a jonesin' for some old school Sonic. this definitely delivers..
but you'll have to forgive me if I don't "get" the game. It's Sonic ala Sonic 2 and such, but... Past/Future signs? What's going on there? I don't get what my objective is. I'm flying through levels around 1' or 2', but I feel like I'm not doing my job.
In Act 1 and 2 of each zone, your goal is to travel to the past and look for a robot generator to destroy. It's a floating pod type thing. You'll know it when you see it. That determines whether or not you get a Bad Future or Good Future in Act 3.
I think there are two ways to get the best ending: 1) Destroy all of the robot generators, or 2) Collect all of the Time Stones in the special stages.
Is there any advantage to going to the Future during Acts 1 and 2?
Only if you made a Good Future. Otherwise, no.
Back when I played it on Sega CD, I'd purposely go into the future first just to see how shitty Robotnik's future was, then go into the past twice, destroy the generator, then go back into the future twice to enjoy the good future without any enemies.
I, uh...I'm not doing that with the XBLA version. I don't really have time for that anymore.
If you don't want to figure out how the signposts work on your own (you probably will by accident if you keep playing enough), here's a specific explanation:
When you pass a signpost and get a little "Past" or "Future" sign next to your lives. That just notes where you'll go the next time you time travel. To actually travel through time, you have to get sonic going at his max speed and maintain it for a few seconds. You'll know it because a trail of sparkles will form behind sonic.
Dangit, I got gypped. Went through all the trouble of getting a Good Future in Stardust Speedway so I can race against Metal Sonic with my favorite track in the game blaring triumphantly in the background, only to get the Bad Future track when the race began. Ah well, game's still kickass. I loved the way they worked in the "See You Next Game" thing with unlocking Tails.
The time attack achievement is gonna be fun. . . you have "W+Mouse 1 Pyro" in TF2; Time Attack just lets you be "Right + A Button Sonic".
Holy hell. This game is pure sex. Except for maybe Metal Madness--it can go die in a fire. And I like both soundtracks pretty much equally at this point, with Japan's maybe edging out the American one.
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SteevLWhat can I do for you?Registered Userregular
I'll be honest...I actually am very bothered by the removal of the lyrics.
I just can't fathom and reason why they did this, other then Sega is simply compelled to always take something away from these ports.
From Sonic Retro, I bolded the important part:
The one downside to this–and pretty much the only thing that keeps it from being definitive–is that the vocal songs in the Japanese soundtrack have no lyrics present. This is less blatant neglect and more a factor beyond SEGA’s control, though; while they own full rights to the backing tracks for the music, the lyrics belonged to Casey Rankin, who unfortunately passed away in 2009. This left the rights to use the lyrics outside of a standalone album release in total limbo, an issue that couldn’t be resolved before the slated release of the game. Fans of the US soundtrack will be pleased to learn that no such issues come into play for Sonic Boom, however.
I still say it's pretty definitive-- not as definitive as it could be, but undoubtedly the best version available, unless you really need that toot-toot.
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
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I'd say this isn't true, actually. Sega's "port" of Fantasy Zone 2 to the PS2 is the best retro remake of all time. The quality that went into it is staggering - they took a SMS game, and remade it from scratch for the System 16 arcade board - a board which hadn't seen a new game in 20 years - built to 1989 arcade standards, pressed real arcade boards, then emulated it on the PS2. And it wound up being a much better game than the original ever was.
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
A) Taxman didn't make Sonic CD by himself, he had a team.
The fantasy zone 1 remake was also great. It had awesome visuals, had a great throwback to the cancelled Space Fantasy Zone after each boss, had new unlockable power ups, and 4 new unlockable stages. The rest of the collection wasn't that great, but Fantasy Zone alone is worth the $20 the collection sold for.
Yep, Blit helped him work on the console versions while Taxman did the iOS/Android ports himself, that's how I've heard it. And even if it really was TOSE porting the game, it's still very shitty on Sega's part to treat one of the best acclaimed games like that, even if it's only a drop in the bucket for the number of horrible things done to Sonic over the years.
I think my favorite things in Sonic threads are the nostalgia stories.
why is the 20th so far awayyyy
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Huh, I must have missed the jump physics part...
Anywho, this has been a blast so far. And Tails! Love getting to catch up with him; I'm not sure if I ever even managed to get a Time Stone before, but I did with him!
Pity he's unlockable; he breaks the game like a boss, like an Easy Mode. Also a shame that he can't get Achievements... or have cut scenes, or Metal Sonic bits, or much of anything else. Sigh. Though in the case of Achievements, I suppose the whole "broken" thing explains that...
I just wish it were possible to go back in your file to specific stages to unlock different time periods and such, sort of like TSR mentioned a while back.
On another note: anyone know how to open up the unlockables in this one?
The graphics are good-- so there's oldschool, sharper oldschool, and some modern version, right? If I'm not mistaken, that also looks tons better than the Backbone attempt at the same... what did they do there?
I hope they do make DLC... I'll be looking forward to that. Surprised by the low price for the game itself, too.
Speaking of DLC, I thought that's what the NA soundtrack was going to be, and even then, only as a "maybe"... what happened there to change their minds?
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
I haven't bought it on XBLA yet.
I'll be honest...I actually am very bothered by the removal of the lyrics.
I just can't fathom and reason why they did this, other then Sega is simply compelled to always take something away from these ports.
Blog||Tumblr|Steam|Twitter|FFXIV|Twitch|YouTube|Podcast|PSN|XBL|DarkZero
That disappoints me, but not as much as it would if the level songs weren't intact. Plus I'd really like to help get the message to sega that "Yes, yes. This is what we want!" in terms of how to handle rereleases of the older games. (curiously missing lyrics aside.)
Tuesday can't come soon enough!
Edit: What could have been..
Blog||Tumblr|Steam|Twitter|FFXIV|Twitch|YouTube|Podcast|PSN|XBL|DarkZero
In my case, i haven't run into too many control problems; just a little adjustment period for the touch interface.
Even then, I personally would probably credit Sega some of the consumer surplus towards any potential DLC. I can't think of a more feature-complete classic re-release in a while, especially not at this $/content ratio.
My Backloggery
I'm glad I'm not the only one who's doing this. Now I can feel slightly less silly. :P
That reminds me, Steam registry miners found an entry for Sonic 4: Episode 1. That's pretty neat and I'm glad Sega is putting a heavier focus on PC support.
That wasn't a bug, but rather a technical deficiency. Sonic CD in Gems wasn't an emulation, just a lazy port of the PC version (lazy because of issues like this). When the water surface is on screen, water colors in the 2D Sonic games are realized by switching from the above water palette to the the below water palette at the right place mid-frame. Yes, while the current frame is being rendered on screen. That's a bit tricky to replicate in a port when you're not running in a palettized (eg. 8 bit per pixel) graphics mode, which the GameCube was not.
It could be as simple as the same composer contributing to both games. Musicians recycling their themes is very, very common.
Case in point for the above. Jun Senoue did the music for Sonic 3D Blast Genesis and he recycled some of his tunes for Sonic Adventure.
I've never seen any similarity between Bridge Zone and "Believe in Myself" (Tails' theme) before. Interesting. Yuzo Koshiro composed the former, Jun Senoue the latter. I'd say their similarity is just a coincidence.
There's also this song by Janet Jackson, which bears a greater resemblance to Bridge Zone. I'd still chalk it up as a coincidence. You can most likely find more tracks with variations on that motif. But who knows, maybe Janet was an avid Game Gear player and that motif got stuck in her head, consciously or not. Just don't go around claiming "Wow, Janet Jackson covered Bridge Zone!" if you don't have conclusive proof. I hate that. (Did she even compose that particular song herself or did some producer do it...)
Hey, that's why I created a patch for the PC version. I guess I should have marketed it better. With it, Sonic CD PC still runs today in Windows 7. Albeit awkwardly. ;-)
A modern PC port of the new Sonic CD is most definitely welcome.
I bought this game for a few reasons, mainly Sonic Generations gave me a jonesin' for some old school Sonic. this definitely delivers..
but you'll have to forgive me if I don't "get" the game. It's Sonic ala Sonic 2 and such, but... Past/Future signs? What's going on there? I don't get what my objective is. I'm flying through levels around 1' or 2', but I feel like I'm not doing my job.
In Act 1 and 2 of each zone, your goal is to travel to the past and look for a robot generator to destroy. It's a floating pod type thing. You'll know it when you see it. That determines whether or not you get a Bad Future or Good Future in Act 3.
I think there are two ways to get the best ending: 1) Destroy all of the robot generators, or 2) Collect all of the Time Stones in the special stages.
If you stop, you have to start over.
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
Back when I played it on Sega CD, I'd purposely go into the future first just to see how shitty Robotnik's future was, then go into the past twice, destroy the generator, then go back into the future twice to enjoy the good future without any enemies.
I, uh...I'm not doing that with the XBLA version. I don't really have time for that anymore.
My Backloggery
The time attack achievement is gonna be fun. . . you have "W+Mouse 1 Pyro" in TF2; Time Attack just lets you be "Right + A Button Sonic".
A shame he didn't get to do any of the past/future stuff, but oh well.
My Backloggery
From Sonic Retro, I bolded the important part:
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!