#At least let him shoot robots SEGA

[cutegirlmayra]

I have to admit, I haven’t seen that episode in a long time, so I had to go back. It’s just... a very silly rebranding SEGA tried and, although fun, I’m still a stickler for the canon xD

But, combining it with the AU altnerative dimensions can be fun! So, here we go~

                                                           , too~

PROMPTS ARE ON SHUTDOWN, DO NOT SEND IN ANY. Other than that, I love you all so much ^^

Prompt:

After the heroic ‘smolders’ Amy was being whisked away by all the charming chivalry, Sonic began to wonder why she didn’t exactly ‘openly’ show that for him anymore...

When Tails went to press the button to send them home, the machine needed a change of battries, but he accidentally clicked the wrong button.

When that happened, the two beams, one red to their Knuckles, and one blue didn’t cross, but ended up hitting Sonic.

“W-What’s going-!?” before Sonic could say anything, both him and Knuckles were sent to an alternative dimension.

Different... from the heroic Knuckles.

While they were gone, that Knuckles expressed more gentlemenly acts with Amy, and although Amy giggled and ate it up, she kept asking about Sonic and their Knuckles... “I hope they’re okay.” she looked away from Heroic Knuckles trying to extend his hand to her with a plate of cookies.

“Oh, well, your Sonic in this dimension seems quite resourceful!” he tried to cheer her up, “Mine was clumsy and... well, frankly, a child. Yours seems to carry himself with the pride of a warrior and diginity of... uhh... one with dignity, Mi’lady.” he held his fist up in... ehhh... somewhat confidence in his words. “Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll be back in time to send me home, and I can then finish saving my dimension from the ruthless takeover of that dastardly Eggman!” he knelt down from his towering, large stature and patted her back, which made her smile at him.

“Thanks Alternative, party-hat Knuckles.” she looked at him with gratitude, and as he nodded and got up, heading over to help Sticks with another batch of cookies--the first he rested in front of Amy where she sat on the couch--offering to make sure the oven didn’t blow up from her chaotic whacking of it with her boomerang.

Amy sighed and looked out the window, turning around to prop her fingers on the edge of the couch’s back. “Sonic... Knuckles... Just be safe.” she worriedly stated quietly to herself, resting her cheek, “Mmmmm...” she whined a little, ‘At least Sonic’s there to make sure Knuckles will be okay... right? I’m usually there to keep Sonic safe, though...’

She closed her eyes, yearning to know her two friends were safe.

In the other dimension, Sonic and Knuckles crashed down and learned that Eggman had retired, instead, converting his lab into a vactional retreat for old people, and to get off his lawn.

Sonic headed into the village with Knuckles when they thought they saw some Eggman robots, and were trying to get them to cross-beams and shoot them, but they only spat out towels.

Again, they were just running around doing errands, with Orbot and Cubot trying to get the games, party streamers, and food all set up.

Weirded out by a world where Eggman wasn’t... suspicious of anything... Sonic and Knuckles went to their friends places.

Sticks was now a scientist, who would work with Engineer Tails to help replicate the machine they were describing and get them home.

This dimension’s Knuckles was a therapist, but... he really didn’t actually do much besides ask geniune questions that confused him about other people, who then paid him for his confusion as they were able to talk through and about their traumas.

“Guess we can find me then.” Sonic was about to go out the door when Dr. Echidna stopped him by holding up his hand.

“W-wa-wah-wait, hold on there!” he looked to the other Knuckles, “Sonic’s on babysitting duty, you won’t really be able to get five minutes with him... let alone three.” he looked a little like he had tried, his eyelids falling slightly to be half-open in exhaustion. “Amy’s working all the time to support them, too. I really don’t think now’s a good time for-”

“Babysitting!?” Sonic jumped back, “Sonic T. Hedgehog doesn’t sit around and do nothing! What kinda dimension is this!?” he held up a fist in offense.

“Uhh... the dimension where you have responsibilities?” Knuckles held up a hand and shrugged his shoulder.

“Hmph. We’ll see about that!” Sonic took off, not liking the sound of that!

“Uck, can’t believe Sonic’s into daycare now... but, good for him.” Knuckles from their dimension stated before looking to Dr. Echidna.

“No, for real, I was asking a geninune question. Does Sonic even have any responsibilities other than staying home and looking after the kids?” Dr. Echidna sincerely wanted to know the truth to that, “Like, does yours just... actually... do things?”

“What kids?” Knuckles looked over to his other alternative dimensional therapist self. “You mean... Sonic really just plays with kids all day? How fun!” he gave a huge open smile to that.

“More like ‘who’s kids. Sonic’s a full-time dad now.” the good Doctor explained, “Though, I’m not sure how or why...” he put a finger under his chin, looking down as though to think about it, as Knuckles did the same thing.

The two began, ”Hmmmmm....” in unison.

Sonic barged through his door with a spindash, “Alright, I’m here to set the record..! ... Straight?” Sonic paused when he saw the whole of the hut completely surrounded by different colored hedgehogs, all with hues similiar to blue, pink, red, turquoise, and purple shades.

“What... on the planet!?” Sonic moved back, a bit taken aback and scared when all of the children suddenly stopped. Some were crawling up the curtains, others were throwing food from the fridge, and another was bashing a bat against what looked like a ripped up pillow case.

“... Dad’s home!” One called out, throwing out what looked to be a vase out the window and reaching his hands up in the air in joy.

“DADDY!”, “DAD!”, “DADEO!”, “Dadman~”, “Pops!”, “Father.”, “Papa!”

At all the screaming and loud exclaimations of joy, Sonic’s eyes shrank and he cried out before booking it away.

“So, you’re new.”

He paused, as out in the field, in a beach-chair with sunglasses and a drink,... was his alternative dimensional self.

“Sit down, kid. Take a load off.” He pulled out another chair from his back and, with some swagger, flicked the chair out and sat it next to him, dusting it off. “You’re not from a new batch I wasn’t told about, right?”

“H-huh?” Sonic tilted his whole body, too startled to even comprehend.

This Sonic had a small gut and lowered his sunglasses a second to take a look at Sonic, “Spitting image of me... buuut... you look too old to be one of mine.” he put the glasses back on and took a sip of his drink. “Amy won’t be back from work for another hour. Sit and chat a moment.”

The two ended up lounging... before Sonic unparted his intertwined hands on his stomach and shot up, “WAIT! ARE THOSE ACTUALLY YOUR... our?... AMY’S KIDS!?”

“Shhh.... look at that sunset.” Dad Sonic laid back and stretched, “Nothing beats that... Alright. I still got, what..?” He looked at his watch under his gloves and bandages. “Emmm... 10 seconds before Amy arrives? Plenty of time.” he nodded and got up, “Watch this.” he winked to Sonic and tossed off his glasses, dashing back into the house.

A few cat noises and whirling of wind, before Dad Sonic opened the door and gestured for Sonic to come inside.

Sonic didn’t want to, but Dad Sonic dashed behind him and pushed him in.

The place... was spotless? The vase was glued up, the kids were all sleeping on the couch with the t.v on to Tommy Thunder re-reels, and the food was back in the fridge with the floors being spotless. The pillow was sewed up nicely in patches that actually looked like ‘art’ before Sonic turned back to his other self.

“Wow... you... I... how the-?” he was flabberguasted as Dad Sonic bent down and put a hand to his shoulder.

“Look, when things get overwhelming, or if something ‘new’ spooks you too badly... just know you can trust yourself to get things done in the nick of time.”

The door opened and Amy stepped inside, “Oh my gosh, Sonic, I’m so sorry! They held me over for an executive meeting on charity fundraisers and then-... ah.” she smiled sweetly, relieved when she saw that it was all taken care of and handled.

Dad Sonic smiled and got up from speaking with Sonic, going over to help Amy remove her jacket, “Hope it wasn’t too bad, Amy.”

“It wasn’t... this means a lot, thank you for taking care of things at the ‘fort’.” She teased, and looked over to Sonic,... tilting her head. “I... Don’t remember this one.” she confessed. “Spitting image of you, though. Wait... how long have I been working!?” she panicked, her hands coming to her cheeks, “Sonny, is that you!?” but litlte Sonny woke up slightly, yawning.

“Here I am, momma.”

The others woke up and she went to greet them, as Sonic was still puzzled by the fact that this somehow... works?

Dad Sonic put his hands to his hips and then gestured for Sonic to come out with him, “Alright, Champ. Let’s sort you out, huh?”

But then... Dad Sonic began to glitch out of existence like Knuckles had back in their own dimension. “What the..?” He looked at his hands.

The kids gasped, one stating, “Mama... what’s happening to Daddy?”

Amy held that child close and looked to Dad Sonic.

Dad Sonic just held out his hands, “Hey, I’m gonna be fine. Just gonna sort this out, alright?” he was very... calm?

Sonic learned a lot from that day, when they headed back, the two Knuckles were still ‘hmmmm’ing to themselves and Dad Sonic just thumb-pointed to the other Knuckles, which Sonic nodded to and the two hoisted him up and away.

“Hmmmmm--oh, bye other me!”

“Hmmm... Oh, yeah, Bye Dr. me! Hmmm...”

“You take care! Hmmmm....”

The two continued their ‘thinking’ stances before Dad Sonic revealed that Eggman was still evil, hatching up a new plan and showing that the ‘bingo’ machine was actually his newest invention to turn all the old people into mindless work slaves to make more robots for him, so HE could actually relax...

“Diabolical.” Sonic shook his head, just joking around.

“Hey, I got a question...” Sonic began before Dad Sonic held up his finger.

“Nah, save it for your future kid.”

“... Wait, this isn’t my future. We’re in an alternative dimension... r-right?” he suddenly flinched back as Knuckles immediately snapped out of his thinking.

“H-hey! That’s it!” he took Sonic’s hands, “I promise buddy, I won’t do anything to ruin your future... With Amy.”

“My- WHAT!?!” Sonic’s face turned to panic as Dad Sonic just scratched behind his head.

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell Sticks and Tails they won’t need to bicker on about how to get you two home. See ya.” he gave his signature smirk and wink, before activating the two beams as Eggman cried out, ‘Noooo!!! My retirement plan!’

Upon arriving back, Amy embraced Sonic, and the other dimensional, heroic Knuckles, was sent home. “I’m so glad you’re alright, Sonic! What was it like in that other dimension?” she cutely put a finger to her mouth as Sonic just shoved her to the side.

“I-I-I need a walk...” he nervously took off... and pulling out a beach chair, facing it perfectly with some adjustments to the sunset... he sighed in relaxation... put on the same shades as Dad Sonic had... and rested his hands on his belly...

“Sometimes... you just can’t overwhelm yourself... with things you don’t know nothing about...”

“Hmmmmmmm....”

“Knuckles... buddy, just let it go.”

“O-oh, sorry.” Knuckles punched over a tree, cutting off it’s truck with his punch, uprooted with some effort the base, and placed it by Sonic to watch the sunset with him...

They both sighed as though letting that confusing dimension go.

“... So... do you like,... want to talk about it?”

“Knuckles, you’re not a real therapist.”

“Well, not yet!”

[infizero-draws]

ok so i was going to wait until i finished the cover but WHATEVER!!! this is something i’ve been (slowly) working on since last summer. my own idea for a sonic game: Sonic & the Candy Cuties!!

i’ve got usual gameplay pretty much down along with some ideas for boss fights, but the actual plot is a bit spotty currently (which is ironic since usually i care much more about the story than the gameplay). anyways more info on the candy cuties and everything under the cut!!

WARNING: THIS GOT REALLY LONG vvvvv

THE CANDY CUTIES

Sugar and Spice make up the Candy Cuties, a duo working to destroy Sonic and conquer the world in the name of Eggman!

Sugar: Silly and lighthearted, Sugar is more carefree than her partner. She can be rather ditzy and cutesy, but don't let that fool you into a false sense of security! Sugar is extremely powerful and a worthy enemy.

Spice: Aggressive and hot-headed, Spice is more hostile than her partner. With her burning passion and determination, she's a force to be reckoned with, especially when working with Sugar.

Sugar and Spice were employed by Eggman to destroy Sonic after he heard about their reputation as small-time villains.

GAMEPLAY

In SatCC, you play as Sonic. By completing certain levels, you can unlock the following characters: Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, and Rouge.

Sonic and Shadow are Speed Types.

Knuckles and Amy are Power Types.

Tails and Rouge are Flight Types.

You can only play as certain characters in certain levels - after completing the game, you can play all levels as the other character of the same type. (EX: Playing a Sonic level as Shadow.)

CHARACTERS

Speed Type Levels: SA2-Sonic/Shadow-style levels where the goal is to get to the end as fast as you can. Taking inspo from Colors, it switches from 3D to 2D.

Power Type Levels: Beat-em-up-style levels where the goal is to fight off waves of enemies and progress to the end. 2D.

Flight Type Levels: Air levels where the goal is to dodge obstacles and fight enemies to progress to the end. 2D side-scroller.

Sonic: High speed, medium damage. Special attack: Sonic Wind (propels him forward at high speed)

Shadow: High speed, medium damage. Special attack: Chaos Blast (destroys all nearby enemies)

Tails: Medium speed, medium damage. Special attack: Tornado Beam (clears screen of enemies)

Rouge: Medium speed, medium damage. Special attack: Night Flurry (makes her invincible to enemies and can go through obstacles for a short period of time)

Knuckles: Low speed, high damage. Special attack: Earthquake (stuns screen of enemies)

Amy: Low speed, high damage. Special attack: Rosy Rush (High damage attack that kills most enemies instantly within an average range around her)

DUO STAGES

Occasionally there will be stages that involve two characters. These are called Duo Stages. Duo Stages can have any pairing of two characters, whether they be the same type or a different type. 

In Duo Stages, you can either play as one character and have the other one be the computer, but there is also the option for a second player to join in as the second character.

COMBINATIONS:

2 Speed Types: A race to see who can get to the end first, like SA2 2P Sonic/Shadow levels. If playing with a second player, it becomes split screen.

2 Power Types: A co-op battle. Characters work together to destroy enemies and advance to the end.

Power & Flight: A co-op battle. Characters work together to destroy enemies and advance to the end. Power type destroys enemies on the ground while Flight type destroys enemies in the sky. 2D.

2 Flight Types: A co-op mission. Characters work together to advance to the end.

Speed & Power: A co-op mission. Speed type runs through the level, while Power type destroys enemies and obstacles to aid them. 3D.

Speed & Flight: A co-op mission. Speed type runs through a 2D level and dodges obstacles while enemies shoot at them from the sky, which the Flight Type can destroy. 

ZONES

There are 8 zones total. In order, they are:

Minty Field Zone

Dessert Desert Zone

Boba Sea Zone

Gingerbread Mountain Zone

Peppermint Tundra Zone

Cocoa Jungle Zone

Candy Castle Zone

Egg Base Zone

(pictured above: concept art for duo boss fight layout, “saucer” object, and alt. candy cutie form)

STORY

Again, surprisingly the least-fleshed out part of this so far. (and I call myself a writer lol) The main plot begins with Sonic chillin before the CC appear. They have a bit of back-and-forth with Sonic (he loves teasing them villains) before activating a mysterious machine (or something). Suddenly the landscape transforms into a bright candy land, and before Sonic can ask what they’ve done they run off cackling.

Sonic (and eventually the other characters - Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow & Rouge - I haven’t worked them into the story yet lololol) work to stop their sickly sweet plot~!

[insert the rest of the story here]

yeah............... ok so i dont have the middle stuff but here’s what happens at the END:

in what seems like the final boss fight, sonic fights both of the candy cuties together. after seemingly beating them however, they transform to another form (seen in the art above) and you have to beat another phase where they’re way harder. it’s their last ditch effort, and they nearly overpower sonic, but then the rest of the playable characters show up! with their help, sonic manages to beat them.

eggman shows up and the candy cuties, defeated and weak, call for help. but their pleas fall on deaf ears, as eggman cackles and reveals that he was going to betray them from the beginning. the defeated CC watch in horror as eggman abandons them and steals their candy machine thingy to power up his own big robot thing or whatever. eggman is about to strike them when suddenly they’re swept up by... sonic!

sonic yanks them out of harm’s way with his super speed, much to the surprise of both the CC and eggman. the candy cuties ask him why, confused, but sonic simply extends a hand to them. spice doesnt want to trust him, but sugar convinces her. sonic pulls them back up and asks if they can still fight. they nod, and in the REAL final boss fight, the candy cuties fight side by side with sonic and his friends, and manage to take down eggman.

the game ends with sonic and the gang celebrating, and the candy cuties being forgiven. after restoring the land back to normal, sugar and spice head off as sonic n friends wave them goodbye.

(this isn’t shown in the game, but they then retire to a little cottage together, being slightly evil and getting visits from sonic, whom they eventually become good friends with. oh also important note: im trying to stay somewhat realistic to what would actually be in a sega-approved sonic game, but the candy cuties are highly implied/coded (and are!!!) to be in a relationship.)

CONCLUSION

Uh yeah so that’s kinda what I have so far!! I’ve been thinking about this concept for a WHILE, and I can’t wait to flesh the story out more and figure out more of the game mechanics and boss fights. very glad to finally share it with you all ^_^

bonus: some old cursed art of the candy cuties. they were originally going to be mobians, but i really didnt like these designs and went for a more deadly six approach, where they’re not mobian but still look like sonic characters. i did one in the official style (by tracing some official art) and one as a quick doodle in my style (AT THE TIME) anyways i hate these:

cursed.

anyways peace out! <3

[sally-mun]

Why the Sonic movie is so great (SPOILERIFFIC)

AT LAST, I SHALL NOW LIST MY FAVORITE THINGS (and just a couple critiques) ABOUT THE SONIC MOVIE!! Do NOT proceed if you don’t want spoilers!!!

ECHIDNAS AT THE BEGINNING

and those echidnas are clearly from the Knuckles clan (or are at least designed as an homage to them)

using rings as warp rings a la Archie

Sonic playing with an inflatable guitar a la SatAM (even though there he can actually play one)

Sonic eventually getting a car bed a la Archie

Sonic yelling “GOTTA GO FAST” when abruptly waking up

Sonic getting to experience ACTUAL EMOTIONS in spite of all the Sega mandates (granted he didn’t cry, which I know they’re anal about, but still he has such a RANGE in this)

TAILS AT THE END

Sonic struggling to do yoga while copying Maddie

Sonic utilizing chaos energy basically the way Knuckles is known to (even though it isn’t specifically identified as chaos) (yet)

GREEN HILL ZONE IS SO GORGEOUS HOLY SHIT

and they even took the time to have one of the GHZ arches crumble!

also on that note, Green Hill Zone’s theme song turning up, even if it was only for like 30 seconds

getting to hear that oh-so-familiar chime when Sonic drops his rings at the end

Sonic not being able to hit the dart board with the darts a la the cowboy episode of AoStH

Sonic confirming he ate a chili dog, even if it’s not shown (EDIT: Now that I’ve gotten to see the movie a second time I realized that we DID see him eat it; in fact, he ate like 10. I just didn’t remember that detail after the first time!)

the fact that Sonic not doing what he’s told is specifically characterized as him having poor impulse control instead of just being a jerk

and, on that note, that he’s shown TRYING really hard to control himself (even if he still fails)

THE FRIGGIN ‘SANIC’ DRAWING SHOWING UP OH MY GOD

Sonic’s mismatched shoes until he gets the iconic ones

Jim Carry’s take on Robotnik containing individual elements of various other portrayals while still being his own version

being proven ABSOLUTELY RIGHT when I said years ago that this scene in X-Men Apocalypse is “what Sonic would be like if he were human” since the Sonic movie has scenes EXACTLY LIKE THIS

Sonic using a backpack a la SatAM

oh my gOD the elevator scene AND THE AMAZING DIALOGUE that shit was bananas

Sonic having moments of vulnerability! I hate it when he’s depicted as just completely confident ALL THE TIME

that said, Sonic still has his charming level of arrogance a la SatAM, ie referring to himself as “an incredibly handsome hedgehog”

the chase at the end referencing MULTIPLE game environments and scenes, especially the City Escape chase from SA2

and, on that note, that they DO canonically go to San Francisco to kind of back up that reference from the game??

Robotnik having controls for his robots built straight into his gloves, that shit is tight

Robotnik actually explaining WHY he prefers robots over people for once

establishing from the beginning that Sonic gives people nicknames, which easily sets up for calling Robotnik “Eggman” and, presumably, Tails’ nickname if/when we get a sequel (and who knows, maybe even “Knuckles” will turn out to be a nickname too!)

on that note, the reason why the nickname “Eggman” was eventually introduced (I can’t believe I didn’t see it coming)

Tom suckerpunching Eggman not once, but TWICE

Maddie just kind of rolling with it when Tom asks her to examine Sonic

Sonic unintentionally traumatizing a turtle

SONIC FACEPLANTING (and the fact that I called it way before the movie was even finished)

the fact that Tom and Sonic actually had good chemistry!! it would’ve been really easy for the movie to have Tom constantly irritated by Sonic to try to play up the humor of the mismatch, but I appreciate SO much that instead Tom really is kind of charmed by him and also just rolls with it

Sonic’s soul-crushingly intense loneliness acting as a tangible motivation to protect the friends he finally makes!! I mean yeah, we always admire that Sonic places a lot of value on his friendships, but making that the culmination of his character arc instead of the starting point is just SO SATISFYING

the SHEER JOY Sonic gets from being able to give a high-five for the first time

when Tom carries Sonic in his arms, the CG communicates that Sonic has WEIGHT (which I feel like a lot of IRL/CG interactions forget)

Sonic rolling up into a ball, and more than once

how much Sonic genuinely and deeply cares about the residents of Green Hills and kind of lives vicariously through them

Robotnik being, let’s face it, straight-up abusive and occasionally threatening to his assistant, a la SatAM, while also demonstrating that he favors him above all others (tho that’s really not saying that much because anyone that’s not a robot is still a waste of space to him)

Sonic running repeatedly in front of Tom’s radar gun to check his speed

SONIC DOING THE FLOSS I CAN’T HANDLE IT

Sonic’s innocence. It seems like in a lot of media lately he’s been the one teaching lessons or providing others with those little simple joys they’ve been deprived of. It’s really gratifying to see HIM in that position and being so grateful to finally have those experiences.

Sonic saying his legs “feel like spaghetti” due to Tom shooting him with a tranq dart (and the fact that this actually makes him physically vulnerable, which is so damn rare)

Sonic using level 100 smarm to demonstrate to Tom that he doesn’t know how to get to San Francisco by himself

Sonic’s map containing even more game references, including (if I remember correctly) the Blue Sphere ‘planet’

And just a couple things I wish were changed:

In the bar, when the server asks if Sonic is “a kid in a mask” and Tom tells her he’s “43 and has a condition” that makes him look like that, why 43?! He should’ve said 28!! SONIC IS CURRENTLY 28 IT’D HAVE BEEN PERFECT~

The fact that Robotnik only really starts looking like Robotnik as we know him in the couple minutes of the epilogue. I wish his appearance had changed -- or at least started to change -- in time for the final showdown. Like, maybe there could’ve been an explosion that burned off some of his hair (which would explain WHY he decides to shave his head, since the hair’s half-gone anyway) and bushed up his mustache, and then the impact of the chaos-charged spin dash is still when the mustache got all orange

The movie makes a point a few times about how Sonic’s just kind of throwing whatever he can find on his feet, and just before act 3 Maddie even comments on “his poor feet” while examining him. The movie even specifically shows that his shoes and socks have holes in them because of how much stress he puts on them (and it’s not like he can just go get new ones when he needs them). Since he spends most of the movie with inadequate footwear, and the health of his feet is kind of majorly important to his character, I wish Sonic had intermittently complained about them hurting to corroborate that. Or maybe even never verbally complaining about them, maybe just now and then when they have a moment to pause he could be seen rubbing or squeezing them.

I really, really wish Tom’s dog’s name was Muttski! (But hey, given that Sonic is prone to assigning nicknames, maybe that could be a nickname for the dog in a later movie!)

[modmamono]

Why Space Channel 5 is one of SEGA’s best dumbest games ever, no questions asked. (Report 1 & 1/2.)

Space Channel 5 on the Dreamcast is one of my favorite things ever, let alone favorite video games. Though I more often watch it on YouTube then actually play it.

For those not in the know, Space Channel 5 is a game series developed by United Game Artists and published by parent company SEGA. And that’s the most Wikipedia quoting I’m gonna do in this gush piece.

There aren’t many games quite like this rhythmic, Simon says game. At least in style because this game has that in spades, the gameplay anyone can do. And I am not at all qualified to explain its style because I wouldn’t how to describe it as besides maybe very 70s?

Point is there’s something charming about this game, and I think SEGA agrees with me on that. The lead character, Ulala (seen above), appear in these games to name a few years after new Space Channel 5 games stopped being made after 2002:

2004: Sega Superstars

2006: Sonic Riders

2008: Sega Superstars Tennis and Samba de Amigo

2010: Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing 

2012: Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed and Project X Zone

2015: Project X Zone 2

And not to mention the invading aliens have been skins of the titular Puyo Puyo in that series for a while I can’t determine. Possibly since at most 2007 up until current day with Puyo Puyo Champions in 2018/2019.

ALSO not to mention the VR game that came out recently! (How could I forget that? That’s the main reason I’m doing this.)

So it is clear SEGA loves this game and it’s sequel a lot. I don’t think their most beloved cult classic NiGHTS: Into Dreams gets that much love from the company though it certainly does get a lot itself, most games wish their parents still loved them that much long after they had a game. Anyway...

Now the part where I actually talk about the game.

I wanna say, first and foremost. This is not a review of the game. This is just gushing about why this game makes me happy.

And everything I’m gushing about is just what you get from the from one playthrough of the game. Save for one exception, I will not be talking about supplementary material, nor Space Channel 5′s lore.

And yes, this colorful dancing/rhythm/simon says game has lore. Basically any non-repeated character model has their own biograph. So I will not go into that.

You’re not missing too much, there are interesting tidbits, sometimes they fill you in on background details of the story.

Speaking of the story. I’ll start in a second. But if this is new to you, you can watch it here first (The first playthrough is only half the video):

Prologue:

We start off with a bunch of alien sitting on a space couch watching space TV. These aliens are known as the Morolians and they’ll be the main antagonists for the evening.

This cutscene has no dialogue, so this is all open to interpretation for a first time viewer. Though I do enjoy this split second foreshadowing:

And that’s when the title screen appears. Blasting you with the series’ main theme Mexican Flyer. Look it up if you must. You’ll be hearing it a lot, it’s the game and Ulala’s leitmotif.

Report 1: This is terrorism attack on an airport... I’m gonna ignore that.

This is the only piece of supplemental material I’ll talk about, as it’s present in the game itself, but not elaborated on, and it is important to two of the character.

The game starts in a flashback. In the year AD 2489 a spaceship exploded. Everybody on board died safe for a little girl.

She was rescued by a man working for Space Channel 5. A news organization that with a specific focus on dancing. That last bit is nothing special though, as everything in this galaxy revolves around dancing.

After the little girl is saved by this kindly Channel 5 Gent (Age 25) she knew what she wanted to be after she grew up. She wanted to be a sexy dancing reporter for Space Channel 5 just like him (presumably). And to meet him so she can thank him in person.

10 years later......

It is AD 2499! And the Morolians attack a space airport and their ray beams hypnotize people to dance silly.

THE HORROR!

And that’s when Space Channel 5 sends in Ulala to report on the progress.

But what they’re actually doing is for Ulala to solve the problem instead of the Space authorities.

One character I do wanna mention now is that Ulala’s producer, Fuse, is an unseen character yet is important later. He’s the one briefing Ulala in the screenshot above. And oversees Ulala’s every move.

Also Ulala never got to meet her rescuer. He either left shortly after Ulala got rescued, or shortly before Ulala joined. Given what we learn later, likely the former.

Anyway onto the show:

BAM!

BAM!!

BAM!!!

I will always love that. Ulala got down on the ground in the panicking space air port to coolly report on the panic.

As quick aside, I wanna mention that Ulala doesn’t run in this game, she slowly struts and all of her struts are simply majestic. And those amazing struts lead her to the first gameplay section of this game.

Some Morolians hold a few hypnotized people hostage. This is is a dance battle. Meaning you got repeat exactly what the aliens do in the exact rhythm they did it in order to save the hostages. And I love this gameplay. It’s simple yet fun (provided you got minimal lag, you should look into that if you wanna play this game).

The controls are:

Up: Up

Down: Down

Left: Left

Right: Right/Light

Button 1: Chu (Aliens)

Button 2: Chu (Humans)

And this is how normal people settle things in this world apparently:

Party 1 (usually the Aliens) make up a tough but fair pattern for Ulala to copy in the hopes of psyching her out.

Party 2 (Ulala & Co.) gets as many chances ad she got. And the better she does more people tune into her news report. If she wins she gets what she wants. Saving the hostage and getting Party 1 out of her hair.

Every single one lives by this code of honor and I honestly have no clue if there’s an in-universe reason. But I love it regardless. I love it when people say: Up Down Chu Chu Chu. And the Ulala repeating it.

Though frankly, I don’t like it when the Morolians issue the commands. I like it when others do the exact same commands in this same game, so it’s a little bit of a bummer the Morolians do it.

Anyways. You save the hostages and they join in on Ulala’s unstoppable strut as will always happen if you rescue people. And they strut to the second gameplay type: The Shoot-out.

The controls are the same as the above but now you gotta watch out for humans in the mix.

In general these are trickier. And I might go into that later. But they do work on the same rules.

Don’t worry I won’t go over every dance or shoot-out unless there’s something special about it.

Also I’m pretty sure you kill people if you push the wrong Chu. Don’t do that, it’s bad for the ratings!

Skipping over three battles.Something new happens, rival space news station: Space(?) Channel 42 has a reporter of their own out on the field. And that reporter is planning to steal Channel 5′s viewership. And this is HER!

You do a dance battle and she dies.

Though seriously, I like this game does this. It’s not only aliens you fight, but other factions of the Space News Media. And it’s always a nice shake up when someone besides her shows up.

You see, for the most part any reoccurring enemy has recognizable mannerisms you gotta batlle, and her is no different. It’s hard to describe for me. You kinda gotta play or watch the game for yourself to see what I mean, but I think it’s best exemplified in Report 2. And the following games.

Though one thing’s for sure, each non-normal Morolians or rival reported does bring their own genre switch with them. Heck sometimes even normal battles have unique genres. I’m am not musically inclined so I wouldn’t know hers or most others. 

Any way, before she dies she give an emotional speech and gracefully suggests to take her Channel 42 guitarist with her and Ulala accepts that’s the least she could do for a lousy reporter like her.

And then it’s boss time!

Yeah, actual bosses with actual boss characters. And not like the recently deceased as shown above. She’s practically for all intents and purposes another Morolian dance battle.

And it’s down to funky jazz music, not unlike what you’d see in Sonic Adventure! Even Ulala comments on it, confirming it’s dietetic  Where does it come from? Not sure, there might be an explanation somewhere. But do keep that in mind. That the music we hear is also the music the characters hear as well.

Anyways:

Not Pictured: Super Stretchy Arms.

I think it’s a bit of a misnomer. Invader is correct, that’s what it’s here for. But is it really a robot? It moves like an organics and is a bit rubbery. This basically goes for all Morolian robots.

I can suspend my disbelief. You shouldn’t nitpick too much about Space Channel 5, it doesn’t want you to think too hard about it’s world even if there’s a lot to it. I’d be concerned if Space Channel 5 did wanna put its story and world building first and foremost.

But “Hypnotized Robot Invader”?

What?

Spoiler.

Robots and hypnotism... I’m pretty sure a sign that we made perfect human-like Artificial Intelligence if they can fall susceptible to Hypnosis. Even then I doubt it.

Sorry, that’s always bothered me, I get what they mean by it. It’s just the word choice... Did they mean Hypnotizing Robot Invader? This boss is great.

It starts off with a normal dance battle, but you get to watch a new Morolian enemy’s moves. It’s also quicker on the draw along with a few softballs to throw your timing off. Pretty good stuff.

And that applies to the next phase as well, where the the shooting starts.

I don’t have much to say.

Unlike the robot’s final phase where it’s the first phase again, but with guns and the robot goes to berserking speeds with the input commands.

And after you beat it, it joins you in a strut.

As does everyone you saved, No matter the gender, nor age, nobody is embarrassed imitating Ulala no matter what she does. We’ll be half as lucky to get a cool future as cool as 2499.

And with that the first report is over.

Report 2: (Age 35)

At the Morolian HQ (Presumably), their boss doesn’t like failure.

But like a good boss he doesn’t dwell on failure and moves on to the next plan. One of his lackeys has this plan: Another boss battle dance robot who operates on:

The everyone at the table is impressed. So I guess Ulala is screwed, game over.

This level is more of the same as the last one more or less, it’s possibly the most boring level in the series in that regard. It’s not bad, this is just the game bulding enough a status quo before they change things up in Report 3.

But that doesn’t make this level any less interesting to talk about, so I won’t go over it much.

The short story until something new happens is: Space Ship (think of it as a fancy yacht but in space) is being attack by Morolians, Ulala is send to report on it, and being the professional she is saves hostages as well.

She saves the captain, crew members, stewardesses, waitresses, the Space Diva (OH NO! NOT THE SPACE DIVA!), passages and the like.

UNTIL!

He voice says “I’m gonna steal you show, Space Channel 5”. And you see this ship flying by:

Another rival reporter, this one a pirate broadcasting station.

Side note: That’s sounds like the most important kind of pirate ever. Alternative news/non-mainstream with no money/rating motive blinding everything with journalistic integrity? Yes, by all means. If they’re pirates then so are Secular Talk & The Humanist Report.

Back to the silly dance game. The Pirates either jam or hack Channel 5′s signal and the Ulala is stuck with them for a while.

And then we meet that where we meet the gent above.

“[His] name is:“

“JAGUAAAAARRRR!!!” “JAGUAAAAARRRR!!!“

(Age 35)

LET’S DANCE!

Dude, I love Jaguar (Age 35) he’s gotta be my second favorite character in the series on account he’s just cool and incapable of embarrassment.

Remember the deceased of the last report? The Channel 42 reporter in the blue dress? He’s her counterpart for this chapter.

But whereas the deceased’s gimmick sounded air headed for a lack of a better term. Maybe, girly? Point is, battling her didn’t feel too dissimilar to battling Morolians despite her rhytmic mannerisms.

Jaguar (Age 35)’s gimmick is that he just adds. He starts with a simple Up. And then he adds a Chu, and another Chu. Eventually it becomes a really long chain of commands, it has to be some of the longest in the series. And you have to do them all from start to finish because he does them all sequentially. Can you repeat?:

Up. Chu. ChuChu. Right. Left. Down. DownDown. Down. Chu. Chu. Chu.

He is easing you into it, but it is by no means an easy fight. Because after the chain is at its longest, he just spamming ChuChuChu in quick succession. And then a simple Chu.

After defeat Jaguar & Co, escape by jet-pack, saying they will meet later.

This battle is a highlight for me. Coco Tapioco and the big bosses to come are better if you ask me (with exceptions). But Jaguar (Age 35) is some of the best the normal gameplay goes.

And you could argue what normal means in the context of Space Channel 5. But effectively, like Channel 42′s deceased, functionally he might as well be another Morolian if he wasn’t there to be set up for later. Because you do get person that just joins your Strut Club like everywhere else.

You gain his Jazz Man and you get a great sax solo as a reward beating him. Like how you got Channel 42′s guitarist for beating them. I like the think the Jazz Man can work for Jaguar (Age 35) again while the Channel 42 Guitarist is blacklisted.

And before we move on from Jaguar (Age 35) check out his Chu pose:

BOSS TIME!

Jaguar (Age 35): The alien mothership is retreating. Don’t you have to follow them, Channel 5? Fuse: Blast you, Jaguar [Age 35].

With the pirates giving chase, Ulala is left with the cowardly alien robot to elegant music.

Ignoring the robot’s title, while silly, its cowardice is its greatest asset. For it has kidnapped some space schoolkids, making their space teacher worry. Their space teacher can actually be seen at the start of the report.

Space fashion, am I right?

I’ve exceeded Tumblr’s invisible limit of what to put in a blog post. I’ll have to rewrite this boss what I have to say for this boss. So full, can’t spell check! We’ll be back!

[cyberramblings]

Sonic & Tails: Ideas for a new Sonic Plot and Partner System

So, first off, there is a game called Sonic & Knuckles. It is basically just the second half of the overly ambitious Sonic 3. It is not Sonic 4, but it is a standalone game. Anyways, there isn’t a game called Sonic & Tails yet, so let’s make that happen.

Regardless of that, I wanted to talk about my vague conceptualizations of a Sonic game plot. I WANTED to continue my thoughts on other Sonic characters, but my stupid brain can’t stop thinking about “what if Sonic and Tails fought?” Again, this is getting into some borderline fanfiction territory, but I write the blog AND the rules.

Piggybacking off my previous post detailing my thoughts on Tails, I had said that I liked the idea of Tails taking over Robotnik’s lab after he is defeated once and for all (or temporarily, I don’t expect Sonic Team to kill off the main villain, as much as I’d pseudo-ironically love Sonic Adventure 3 to open with Eggman’s funeral while Sound of Silence plays like the overly edgy funeral scene from Watchmen 2009).

Now, this is also getting into some serious Marvel Civil War or Batman v. Superman territory, but stick with me. I feel like one of the most underutilized aspects of Sonic as a series is the cast of characters. Maybe it is just me, but I feel like Sonic fans want to see their favorite obscure character return or see as many characters as possible. Even the most trivial characters have a cult following in the weird Sonic fandom. It was really cool to see the obscure Sonic the Fighters characters return for a boss fight in Sonic Mania, even if they were just an illusion. I am proposing a Sonic game where nearly every characters returns to make up the boss fights.

Now, the first issue with this idea is that typically the “rival” battles in Sonic are a bit hit or miss. Fights against playable characters in the Adventure IMO felt pretty flat and uninteresting. Now, 2D Sonic has some better boss battles against the likes of Metal Sonic and Knuckles and the same goes for Generations, so maybe those could be emulated. Regardless of gameplay, I’d like to see all the weirdies like the playable cast of Sonic Heroes, The Fighters, Emerl, Blaze, Gamma E-102, etc. return at least as boss fights, if not as playable characters, even if they are just piloting the mechs that would typically be piloted by Eggman. I get zero excitement from fighting Eggman anymore, but just put Rouge’s model in the cockpit and suddenly its way cooler with more potential for unique boss dialogue.

So far I have proposed a Civil War-style plot where Tails goes a little bit off the deep end and a Sonic game where the boss fights are all the beloved recurring characters. It should be obvious how these two parts fit together. Perhaps the dual story structure of Adventure 2 is overplayed by this point, but obviously it would fit in with these ideas.

To get into the nitty gritty and provide an example of what I am imagining, consider Metal Sonic. I can easily see a plot that starts with Tails reconfiguring Metal Sonic to be “good”. This bring back a classic character in a new way and allows for a lot of angles for the plot to go, of course borrowing from various Iron Man plots and the Buffy-bot from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

One idea from Sonic Adventure that I would really like to see return is the ever-evolving nemesis concept. Even if Sega never really brings back Chaos, I’d love to see a rival that increases in power as the game goes along. This could totally tie in with my previous idea, with Metal Sonic becoming more powerful over the course of the game, possibly with the acquisition of the Chaos Emeralds like Chaos does. Metal Sonic already has been shown to take on a few different forms, such as at the end of Sonic Heroes.

Another story beat that I’d like to see replicated is the end of Adventure 2 where Sonic and Shadow have to team up. Now, in this hypothetical Sonic & Tails game, that would obviously be Sonic and Tails teaming up, but I’d also love to see them bust out Mecha Sonic as a kind of retconned prototype of Metal Sonic from Sonic 2/3 as a last resort too.

I also love the story beat of all the playable characters at the end of Sonic Adventure bringing the depleted Chaos Emeralds to Sonic for the final fight. I would love to see something like this but a little more weighty. I have a clear mental image of something like the Breath of the Wild loading screen that shows your level of progress though the game, but instead with Sonic endlessly walking towards the camera as the game loads, surrounded by more and more characters walking towards the screen as you rescue/recruit them.

Personally, it seems like Sonic games struggle to balance multiple playable characters, so I’d settle for something like Advance 3 where you pick a partner that enables new moves. I would prefer to find a way to include every possible character as playable, but I would settle for a 3D Sonic game where Sonic (and maybe characters that control near identically like Metal Sonic, Shadow, Silver, Blaze, etc.) is the only playable character, with characters like Tails, Knuckle, Amy, Big, etc. are relegated to the partner role, but swappable.

Playable Characters:

Sonic: Everything normal

Metal Sonic: Just make him control like he does in Adventure 2: Battle, so faster than Sonic but with less moves. I don’t think Metal Sonic has ever been canonically playabe, only appearing as a boss fight or playable in racing games or bonus modes, so that would be my biggest request.

Shadow: Just Sonic but slipperier and please give him a teleport instead of a homing attack

Silver: Again, just Sonic but make his double jump more offensive to represent his telekinetic abilities

Blaze: Her name is BLAZE and she has FIRE POWERS in Rush and Rush Adventure, so please just make her control like Sonic but with a fiery homing attack or her fire hover from Rush

Espio: Just give him some kind of limited invisibility or maybe the tornado attack as a reference to Heroes

Mighty: He could probably be thrown in with his moves from Mania, but this is reaching

Jet: Probably asking too much, but he’s never been playable in non-racing game, so even seeing him with his board in a main game as a kind of joke would be cool

Assist Characters:

Tails, Cream, Charmy: Obviously, limited flight with slightly different characteristics. Cream could alternatively have the Chao attack from Advance

Knuckles, Rouge, Tikal: Either a limited glide or the digging

Amy: Piko Piko Hammer as an attack or as a big jump. She could also maybe be a Sonic-like characters, but I feel like she was shoehorned into the speed role in Heroes

Big: I just like seeing this dumb idiot return. It seems like asking a lot for the fishing rod to be used as a grappling hook, so maybe he could just have a big area attack

Fang/Knack, Bark, Bean: I mean, maybe just show up and fistfight some enemies?

Vector: Something music based, realistically

Chaos: Again, this is reaching, but maybe this ties into Tails taking over Eggman’s research

E-1XX Alpha, Gamma, Omega, etc: It is asking a lot to have all the robots return, but I’d love to see them all as slight variants of “shoot a bunch of missiles” or limited hovering

Omochao: Personally I’d love to see this little guy as an assist who just never shuts up, maybe with some hidden secret-unlocking potential

Vanilla: She doesn’t have a lot of game appearances, I’d take anything

G.U.N. Commander: Again, I just think this would be kinda funny. He could summon robots or just fire missiles

Eggman Nega: Not sure why he would help the main characters, but I’m always rooting for weird stuff like this

Wave, Storm: They could function like Tails/Knuckles or grant a temporary board for tricks or whatnot, maybe like the skateboard powerup from Sonic Generations

Tails Doll: This is dumb, but it would be fun to see as a little throwaway easter egg

So, that was a bunch of random nonsense directly from my brain, but you probably get the idea: find a way to include a lot of characters in the plot and the gameplay. Do I expect any of this to ever happen? No. And honestly, I’d prefer to see another game where I can actually play as characters like Rouge, the robots, Amy, and Cream.

ONE LAST THING: There should really be a Sonic rhythm game. They have so much music, both the classic songs as well as the Crush 40 songs, with tons of remixes of both already existing and even more possible. It would fit perfectly with the gameplay of Sonic, you could just have the notes appear as obstacles or powerup boxes. There are a million different ways to slice it, but it just makes too much sense to ignore. I don’t have enough ideas to make a separate post, though. Maybe I’ll make a playlist sometimes of songs I’d like to see included, but the issue is that it would be way too many songs. As with the main point of this post, I would love to see many different playable characters with very slight changes to their properties.

ONE LAST LAST THING: Since Sega hates localizing Puyo Puyo games, they should just make a new Mean Bean Machine with HD graphics and all the various Sonic characters represented somehow and then release it internationally either as Mean Bean Machine or just Sonic Puyo Puyo. Again, I didn’t have enough ideas for a whole post.

FINAL FINAL FINAL RAMBLES: I kinda wanna play Sonic 06 since I actually just recently found out that Rouge, Omega, and Blaze are playable, but the disc is 20 bucks at gamestop for 360. I also kinda wanna play Unleashed, but not enough to buy it. I really get more excited when more characters are playable, which makes me wish I enjoyed playing Sonic Battle more. I also have my eye on Chronicles if I can ever get the patience to actually sit down and play it. At this point, I should just make my own dang original game or story inspired by the things I like about Sonic.

[eternityengine]

okay so I wrote a “review” (really just my thoughts in a disorganized way) of Sonic Forces about a year and a half ago and never got around to posting it, but I still have it so I’m posting it now because I have opinions

Main Game

Green Hill. Again. Argh. I mean at least they tried to change it up a little by throwing sand over it but that didn't really make any sense. (sega plz)

Look, I like Chemical Plant alright (for some godforsaken reason), but it's already been in Gens and Mania. Just give us Mystic Cave Zone or Mushroom Zone or something! Hell, use both! We could have Mushroom Zone instead of Green Hill Zone!

I gotta say the goop waterfalls in Network Terminal are really flow-breaking, you just come to a dead stop if you touch them and have to stop half the time to avoid hitting them, and you can't reliably avoid them very well. You can't even boost through them!

Luminous Forest is pretty and all but uuuuuggghhhhh casino levels suck

Infinite is delightfully edgy and I thoroughly enjoyed him, but they didn't utilize him very well.

Infinite's battle themes reflect his boss battle quality!

First battle: total banger of a song, pretty good boss fight (runnin’ on a SNAKE)

Second battle: excellent song, decent boss fight (best use of his nightmare zone powers, at least in the first half)

Third battle: okay song, boring reskin of the Metal Sonic boss fight

Why did they not give us a Chaos boss fight :( lame

Also why did Infinite use Chaos 0 instead of literally any other version, all of which are stronger? Like, would Perfect Chaos use too much energy or something?? He made giant snake versions of himself just fine...

Actually, why couldn't those have been Chaos??

Metal Sonic fight was okay but way too similar to Silver's in Gens

Also why is Metal Sonic a copy?? Just use actual Metal, come on, Eggman

There was no resolution to Infinite's plot and I am disappoint

Why does Infinite just flip the Avatar around with the Phantom Ruby in Metropolis? I feel like he should be at least shooting cubes at you or something instead of just occasionally passing by to frick with your gravity in suspiciously convenient ways

If Sonic was tortured for six months why is there no indication of this? He doesn't look or act any different than usual. Even without being tortured (as in the JP script), he should at least have some ill effects from being imprisoned for half a year.

I'm okay with Knuckles being the commander of the Resistance but who thought it was a good idea to let him come up with strategies? He's mostly a traps and punching guy on that front. I realize Tails was gone and all but I feel like most of the other characters could have strategized better.

Classic Sonic does basically nothing of note and has the worst levels and gameplay. Why is he even here if they weren't going to use him properly?

Caveat: I'm mostly going off of other people's statements re: his gameplay, I suck at Classic games overall and would probably dislike his levels regardless

Why does destroying the Phantom Ruby send Classic back to his dimension? I wouldn't think the Ruby would need to actively hold him there...

First of all, I feel like Tails should have been able to fix Omega. Secondly, why did they leave him there for six months?? Thirdly, HOW DID HE GET FIXED????? (Loved that he was here, though.)

I want to see the fight between Silver and Infinite, it was probably super awesome

Okay, so I can kind of excuse the giant snake given the giant worms of Lost Hex, but why would it try to eat Sonic. He'd be a tiny snack. What does it even normally eat? Other giant snakes?? (Is it an illusion??)

Why are both of Classic Sonic's boss fights just bomb tennis

Why is the final boss called a Death Egg Robot? The only similarities are in the first form's head (when protracted) and its primary (shoulder) arms. The rest is tentacle snake nonsense. And the second form is a straight-up tentacle robot, and somewhat similar to the Nega-Wisp Armour. And it's not even on the Death Egg!

Final boss was really ominous though, I liked it. First, dramatic orchestral music. Then, it murders you repeatedly by barely telegraphing its attacks to a first-timer. (Stop killing the floor!!) Then you "beat" it and a chestburster tentacle robot explodes out and dumps you in null space. The actual tentacle bot fight was kind of a letdown though, it was basically just the Nega Wisp Armour from Colours instead of something new... (also I was bad at timing my laser dodges so some salt there)

How is Classic Sonic doing Homing Attacks in the Death Egg Robot's third phase? He literally can't do them yet, wtf. (I choose to believe Modern Sonic and/or the Avatar is throwing him at it :P)

The water slides in Aqua Road are neat and fun the first few times, but when you're trying to S-rank the level they are such a pain. The RNG with the Motobug bouncing is the woooooorst. (Getting unavoidably knocked into spike balls sucks.)

Also why were a) spike balls there to begin with, it's enough of a challenge not falling out, and b) the spike balls moving slower than everything else in the slides? And then slow you down to their speed if you hit them, so when your invincibility runs out you're still glued to them and die?

Avatar gameplay is really fun, but I'm not a fan of how many automatic grapple points there are. Just let me do it!! It's not hard!!!! (Plus some of them are really unnecessary)

No boss fight with fake Shadow either, but that's less disappointing than Chaos for whatever reason (maybe because he's around more?)

Gotta say though I liked a much larger portion of the music in this game than usual, it's really good

However, the music for Classic's Green Hill stage is screechy garbage.

A good chunk of the stuff conveyed with the overworld dialogue would have been better presented as actual cutscenes (esp. the ones that use sound effects :/)

There is literally an area called "City" are you freaking kidding me

Okay, so Eggman decides to drop the sun on the Resistance...but he's also there?? I assume he's like, just not included in the illusion and is just laughing at their stupid faces, but it would have been nice to have some indication of that.

Why even make Zavok copies?? He sucks and no one likes him. Also he's kind of part of a set, where are the other Zeti copies?

I realize this is a video game, but why does Infinite make such easily dodgeable cube obstacles/attacks? "Ah yes let me make some long rectangles with big gaps to go through at each end, this will never fail"

I would like to thank Sonic Team for not making Imperial Tower a timed mission, that shit was hard enough as it is

I would also like to thank Sonic Team for making Imperial Tower so easy to cheese with Hover Wispons

I really wish the Null Space level had more...Null Space. You're in it for like 30 seconds, and it's a waste of a really pretty level design. AND it's just a straight shot that's 80% Double Boost.

Why is Double Boost a thing? The Avatar is just some random civilian, they shouldn't have weird team-up super speed powers.

I love that basically all of Sonic's friends are here doing stuff again, it is glorious. (Even though they were kind of epic fails until the Avatar joined/they got Sonic back...)

However, it would have been nice to see them occasionally doing stuff in the levels (like beating up robots in the background or something), rather than just in cutscenes.

Classic Sonic doesn't get an Infinite fight. :(

Which is weird, since he's the only playable character with Phantom Ruby experience/story.

In Final Judgement, the radio chatter includes them going "so this is where Eggman built Infinite" and...there are several things wrong with that. First of all, "built"? He's organic, it would be better to say something like "created" - even putting aside that that would be more metaphorical, as Eggman didn't straight-up create Infinite the person, just his current identity (not that they have any reason to know that - but they have no reason to think he made him either). Secondly, how are they coming to this conclusion? There's no tubes or assembly machines around until the end tubes with Phantom Ruby prototypes(?) in them, and those are part of the reactor. Plus an early cutscene has Infinite in a tube in a completely different area, though it could have been contained in the same superstructure. I mean I guess you could argue that the level looks like a factory?? Thirdly, how can they even see inside? They're not there.

Episode Shadow

Why is this so goddamn short. Only three levels? Really??

Why is the last cutscene just the first one from the main game?? They should be explaining where tf Shadow's been during the main game! So lazy.

Aqua Road is like 80% waterslides whyyyyyy

Infinite is really bad at getting revenge, holy shit. He just...illusions him for a bit until he gets away?? With some cube attacks tbf but STILL...

Also this shit never comes up in the main game why exactly? (I know the answer is probably they came up with this later like FOOLS, but argh)

ALSO also why do Infinite's attacks not send Shadow into the nightmare realm like they do in the main game?

Why do they go to such lengths to hide Infinite's face if they just straight up show it in his comic??

Honestly the way Shadow treats Infinite in this feels kinda out of character. I feel like he wouldn't be quite that harsh. (Definitely in character if it was Boom!Shadow, though...)

I am disappointed that Shadow is just a Sonic reskin. Let me use Chaos Spear! >:(

Also disappointed that Shadow can only be played on Modern Sonic stages; why not also Tag stages??

Misc

Infinite's theme is hilariously edgy and I love it (could do without the rap tho)

Kinda disappointed that this game has no fancy CGI cutscenes. I always look forward to those...

I think they had way too much nostalgia-baiting in this game. Classic Sonic, four previous Sonic villains (mostly Chaos and Metal Sonic though), Death Egg Robots, Green Hill and Chemical Plant and Death Egg...it just smacks of desperation. Not sure if it's "Generations was popular let's do that again" or just general trying to get fans back, but it's silly. You expect this sort of thing for Generations bc it was an anniversary game, but this one decidedly isn't and it feels like they're grasping at straws trying to get/keep players.

Also this is a Modern Sonic game, why is 50% of the content not playing him. Why is Classic even heeeeeeere

[cutegirlmayra]

What's your ideal Sonamy hint that could be in Forces? Not like a love confession, something that is actually somewhat feasible to see in a Sonic game. Love your blog!

Thank you!

Let’s see.. if SEGA wanted me to pitch an idea for Sonic Forces that involved a feasible Sonamy scene…

Ideally~ I’d want them to actually be present in the scene, and for Sonic to show some care or concern for her, in return to her showing the same regards for him.

But if I’m writing Canon Modern Sonamy in a game I know zip about then I can’t imagine much from SEGA’s rulings/standards allowing too much of anything to happen -tenderly or emotionally- between the two.. but I’m hoping time changes things :)

Also, Because I don’t know a whole lot about the game, it’s EXTREMELY DIFFICULT at this point to sketch up an idea that would fix the overall game. I’ll have to wait till the game actually comes out to fully answer that- but for now, I’ll give you something that MAY be more SEGA standard.

(x) Used with permission from the artists, please support her as well!

Prompt:

(May SEGA help me…I hope this works in overall context, cause I’m just going off of trailers and a best guess…)

Sonic sped through the falling apart city, a happy-go-lucky smile on his face, being separated from his little party of three for a moment to go off and do some ‘dirty work’ HIS style…

The intercom connected and burst to life as he ran on cracked and unsturdy ground, but was still able to manage just fine.

“Sonic? Do you copy?” Tails’s voice shot on.

“Y-ello.” Sonic rounded the side of an obstruction in his path and jumped over a rather large crack in the sidewalk’s makeup. He then found the road a little easier to travel across, given it was torn up and not leveled with… well, anything at all, but still easier to scale through.

He ran up a ram and did some more flips and turns, free-styling the terrain as Tails continued.

“Oh good! We’ve got some help for you up ahead. Shouldn’t be a problem from now on.”

“Roger that. But come on, Tails. As if I need-”

He suddenly screeched to a halt, his feet scrambling over the other as his arms rotated back to keep balance, flailing a moment as he slid to a stop…

His face strained back as his eyes widened.

On some debris piled together up above and in front of him… Amy stood with her back facing him, her hammer up on her shoulders, before swinging it down and turning to him, cutely winking and throwing up a peace sign.

“Hehe~ Hello, My darling Sonic!” She swung herself in a cute fashion, but also seeming to try and look attractive, as she moved her hammer behind her and leaned her body forward and down to look more directly at him. “I can tell you’re glad to see me too!”

Sonic’s being seemed to withdraw itself. His confidence left for a matter of a split-second, before Tails came back on the communicator.

“…She insisted…”

“More like enlisted in a valiant cause!” Amy swung her hammer back over her shoulder, and giggled again, lifting a foot daintily up. “We’re gonna be partners for a while, Sonic!”

Sonic looked… less than pleased by that, but sighed and walked over to her, mocking her a bit by gesturing up to her to come down. “You’re just here to show off.. you’ve always hated desk jobs.” he was referring to her speaking over the communicator, and she smiled sweetly.

“You know me too well~” she turned to move down the debris the other way, as Sonic followed after her. “But I’ll make sure to make YOU look good.” she teased, pointing to him and flirting slightly.

“Alright, Tails… you win. But no more surprises…”

“Ohh~ But you really are glad to see me. Right?” she waited at the bottom for him to land beside her.

She tilted her head, curiously away from him, but her eyes were scanning his expression.

Looking for any sign of a reaction, she also lifted her finger to her mouth, before narrowing her eyes and dropping the cutsey-wutsey act, seeing him look away and fold his arms, as if avoiding saying anything.

He tapped his foot a second, making her upset.

“Grr… Ohh!” she brought forth her hammer! As if threatening…

He smirked a second and looked back to her.

That simple, charming notion of recognizing her suddenly melted her anger and she swooned.

“That’s better~” she chimed, cooing almost in her way of fancying his natural charms.

He smiled a little friendlier, but dropped his head in a tilt her way, closing his eyes as if saying, ‘That was a close one.’ and moving on with the adventure.

No doubt he felt slightly awkward… but Amy was Amy.

And honestly?

He wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Alright, you two. Here’s the plan!” Tails spoke, as Amy and Sonic got down to fighting poses, shooting off in their running sprints towards whatever next stage or platform the player needed to traverse next!

—

Alternative~

—-

Sonic speeds up a hill covered in debris, looking down at trashed cars and other obstacles before ‘tsk, tsk, tsk’ing and shaking his head, leaning forward with his hands on his hips before straightening up and looking down at Classic Sonic.

“This place is a mess. Trust me when I say, it didn’t always look this way.”

The images of the ruined city were then showed, before Sonic’s expression turned slightly more saddened by all he saw.

“Come on… The recruit needs us.” He motioned his head forward and Classic Sonic continued to look around before seeing the notion and nodding too, moving forward.

-Loading screen-

Amy’s voice came on the communicator- “Ah! Sonic! Is that you?”

“No time, Amy! I’ve got a world to save!”

“N-no time? Sonic The Hedgehog! I demand you give me a second to at least say I’ve missed you so much!”

“Duly noted, Amy. Now where’s the recruit?”

“Hmph. I swear, it’s like you don’t even care sometimes… he’s at the further most part of the confine… within the inner city’s walls. But be careful Sonic… there’s a lot of Eggman’s robots walking around… especially under the city!”

“Got it! Crash, trash, and save the day! When is that ever NOT the plan?”

She slightly gave a ‘heh’ at his usual confidence and banter, before tenderly speaking once again. “Good luck… Sonic.”

(Throughout the level, you speak and interact with lots of characters on the communicator/intercom. But this is Amy’s dialogue I’m writing and creating)

-Next cutscene-

Amy’s voice once again comes on, “He should be directly ahead of you… Sonic, I’m picking up another signal too.,,”

“Thanks, Amy. You let me deal with the rest.”

“Roger that… Sonic? I’m so glad you’re alright…”

“…Good to hear from you too,… Amy.”

His voice was full of actual care, as if he delicately wanted to express that her words and feelings of worry or concern mattered to him.

(I kinda want to continue this cause it’s SO GOOD eee~ I love modern sonamy! Super canon writing too, but if I make her speak more than she normally would, it would get AU-ish. Overall, this is as canon as I can try and make it :) )