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pahrak-the-sinnoh-slizer · 8 months ago

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Game Night: Sonic X Shadow Generations

This being a game all about touring memory lane, I ask you indulge me a bit while I reflect. When I was a kid my sisters and I were given our older cousins’ Sega Genesis as a sort of hand-me-down, and among the included library of games were several featuring a very distinct spiky blue creature. This many years later it’s hard to remember exactly why, but I’d estimate at least 85% of the time my we spent playing the Genesis was dedicated to these games in particular—and considering they were competing with a Jurassic Park game for a dinosaur-obsessed kid’s attention, that’s certainly no small feat. Not long after that, the combination of Sonic X’s English dub and Sonic Heroes turning the games multi-plat solidified this affinity, and a Sonic fan was born! I followed the franchise quite closely throughout what’s now known as “the Dark Age”—yes, even including Shadow the Hedgehog (2005). (Especially Shadow the Hedgehog (2005).) Alas, when I picked up Colors…I guess you could say things just didn’t click? So while I was somewhat excited by the announcement of Generations, I didn’t play it. Following that, I’m ashamed to say I fell prey to the cultural mindset of “Sonic = bad”, and I tried to put the hedgehog behind me. However, seeing Mania getting rave reviews piqued my curiosity, so I slowly waded my way back in and was in the exact right spot for the announcement of Frontiers to get me psyched. I’ve already shared my thoughts on that game, but suffice to say it scratched my very specific itch. I’m hooked once again.

Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) was one of my favorite games as a kid. I haven’t played a single second of Sonic Generations before now. Sonic Frontiers felt to me like a joyous homecoming. And now, you’re telling me that this Generations remaster comes bundled with a Shadow the Hedgehog 2 that iterates on Frontiers? Sign me the fuck up.

Spoiler-free tl;dr: Shadow Generations may be brief, but it’s also unbelievably sick, proving that short games can still be great and that edge can in fact be used for good.

While I dove straight into Shadow Generations, I feel like for this post I should go over Sonic Generations first. This game was a HUGE deal when it first released, and it kinda never stopped being a huge deal: I already had a good grasp of what I was getting into, and I guess my expectations were high. Perhaps too high. Make no mistake, I am aware that I am very bad at video games, and I do want to emphasize that my expectations were working against me, not to mention playing Shadow Generations first probably skewed my muscle memory and I was kind of exhausted whenever I was able to play. All that being said. I didn’t really have a great time. There were quite a few obstacles and deaths that didn’t feel entirely fair—Boost was riskier to use than I thought it would be, and the Homing Attack lock-on felt very finicky. Even when the Homing Attack did work I still ended up taking damage from the enemies I was killing a bit too often. Part of this is down to the controls: I know they changed which button executes the Homing Attack, but while playing it seemed like both buttons worked? So I hit the wrong button twice as often, I guess. Again, I’m under no illusions there’s a huge skill issue here, and there were still things I liked about the game! Classic Sonic using R2 for a one-button Spin Dash felt really nice, and even with my spotty Sonic history I experienced a healthy dose of nostalgia. I was surprised to see just how many Challenge Acts involved Sonic’s friends—they weren’t all fantastic stages, but I was glad to see these characters had just a bit more of a presence than I previously thought. I remember liking the challenge where you had to switch between the three elemental shields, as well as the one where Vector picks up and throws Classic. (Did not enjoy either Blaze stage I played, sadly.) But I mean, by now there’s loads and loads that’s been said about this game, and if you were considering playing it you’ve probably already decided if you will or not. I don’t have anything new to say. These are just thoughts on my personal experience with it.

In any case, let’s move on to the main event.

Shadow Generations has several unique additions to your basic Sonic gameplay, to the point where it can almost feel overwhelming. To its credit, the game carefully eases you into these mechanics, first introducing your basic Homing Attack (more akin to Chaos Snap from 06) and Boost, then the first tier of Shadow’s specific kit with his Chaos Powers. Chaos Spear is a quick and easy shot able to activate switches and stun enemies, though it doesn’t actually damage them and is thus more of a utility move than a long-range offense option. Chaos Control sort of merges both of its functions from Shadow 05: time freezes (including the in-game timer!), and while it’s in effect you can use special energy ribbons to perform a Chaos Dash and zip ahead at blistering speeds. I love that Control is far more accessible this time around; Dash can be handy, but it’s very situational, and the shortcuts it provides in the hub world kept surprising me with where they spat me out. Then there’s the heavily-advertised Doom Powers, which are unlocked in a specific order as you make your way through the game and have a nicely subtle progression to them. Doom Spears is a relatively minor upgrade to Chaos Spear (locks onto 5 targets), Doom Blast is an upgraded Homing Attack (great for movement when you can find an enemy tough enough to actually take the hits), Doom Surf sees the corruption building and Shadow forcing it all out of his body to form a manta ray thing (I found this one unwieldy, not being able to stop is irritating), Doom Morph sees the corruption completely envelop Shadow’s body (definitely tricky and a bit situational, but I actually had a lot of fun navigating goop with this), and while Doom Wings might not escalate it still gives you a big power-high, with the balanced visual design showing Shadow’s control over his new abilities. I wasn’t expecting the Doom Wings to be this game’s stand-in for Super Shadow: you need at least 50 Rings and they drain quickly, but you’re invincible, faster, and jump higher, plus you have nearly unlimited Boost that can be used in midair to glide extended distances! This being usable in the hub world is perhaps an iteration on Knuckles and Tails’ flying abilities from Frontiers, and I suspect a more targeted experiment on how to integrate on-demand Super Sonic into the Open Zone design. Big fan of this skillset.

The hub world is another big feature I was excited to see, and it does not disappoint! The Frontiers influence is on full display, turning Shadow’s side of White Space into a mini-Starfall Island that expands outward as you progress and gain new abilities, which you then utilize to gather collectibles. It’s somewhat Metroidvania-esque in that sense. You’re also constantly watched over by the Black Moon, essentially a cross between Black Doom and a biblically accurate angel. Super creepy! Everything you can do in stages, you can do in White Space, and the plethora of rings, enemies, and mini-challenges make it a lot of fun to just run around aimlessly. Primarily you’ll be searching for those collectibles: nearly 100 chests containing art and music and such (unlocked using keys you find in stages a la Red Rings), 80 machine parts used for a certain sidequest, and 13 excerpts from Gerald Robotnik’s journal. Wait—this game has secret reports?! Fuck yeah! I love that shit! They can actually be a bit tricky: they’re in pods carried by a trio of flying robots, and when you notice a set flying around you need to get high enough to shoot them down, and it seemed they were always just a bit higher than I expected. Noticing and successfully claiming one is a nice rush, though. They can be viewed in Shadow’s Collection Room (which has surprisingly nice décor), alongside artwork, movies, music, game summaries, and character profiles. What surprised me was how few profiles there are: notably, neither Rogue nor Black Doom have entries. Also Sonic Heroes is placed after Shadow 05 for some reason and that’s really bothering me. That aside, overall the Collection Room is a very satisfying little side mode for you to enjoy the fruits of your collectible hunting.

But let’s talk more about that journal! A physical version was actually included as a pre-order bonus, taking the form of a little booklet inside the game case, and I read through it right away. A little difficult with the handwriting, but in-game you have an option to display all the text in standard format. I’m told that this compiles everything from the games that has been attributed to Gerald, including the excerpts from SA2, Sonic Battle, even Sonic Rivals 2! Additionally, it gives deeper insight into his character and the Robotnik family tree, which is the really juicy stuff. What probably shocked me most was the reveal that Maria has a younger sister. In other words, Eggman has another cousin, one who could easily still be around in the present day. That’s got to be a hint or something. There’s no way they’d tease something like that and not follow up on it, right? Right?! …Well anyway. The journal also has a few “snapshot” illustrations that add a lot of charm, and, somewhat oddly, contains numerous redacted elements that have been blacked out. This is explained diegetically by a note in the inside cover: the journal was recovered from one of Eggman’s bases and delivered to G.U.N. Commander Abraham Tower, with the implication that Eggman defaced the journal to keep its secrets hidden. Or, maybe the Commander made the redactions for some reason? Come to think of it, this journal most likely passed through G.U.N.’s hands after they executed Gerald, and the note does talk about the previous Commander covering-up the incident, so maybe that’s when it happened…whoever it was, it makes sense canonically. Most of it can be inferred using context clues, though I’m amused that they used it to hide the names of Gerald’s sons. Guess they weren’t ready to commit to anything just yet! Even funnier, though, is that one of Gerald’s explanations of how he Scienced a solution to a problem is just smudged over rather than being redacted. How did he do it? We don’t know! Fact-check us now, nerds!

In a similar vein to Sonic saving a new friend each time you clear a stage, new NPCs show up each time you clear one of Shadow’s stages. You can talk to them. That’s…pretty much it, not even any character-specific Challenge Acts like on Sonic’s side. Still, the only one of these who really feels underutilized is Omega—granted, I’m biased, but bro shows up after the very first stage and doesn’t get a single thing to do, despite being a member of Team Dark! Utterly appalling. But, regardless, I’m happy these characters are around to give Shadow someone to bounce off of (even if silently). After the second stage you get Orbot and Cubot…strange additions to be sure, but I guess they couldn’t overlap with anyone Sonic rescues and pickings were rather slim. These two are trying to build a rocket to escape, and will give you artwork in exchange for those machine parts hidden around White Space. Third is the one and only Big the Cat—another bizarre choice, but Big needs no justification, especially since it’s just…kinda nice to see him and Shadow chat casually? I enjoyed having him around. Fourth stage gets you important NPCs we’ll discuss later, and fifth brings Rogue onboard for some last-minute involvement in the plot. (Okay one overlap, but y’all would riot if she wasn’t here.) Only five stages then? Well there is a sixth and final level, but clearing that beats the game. Maybe it’s time we start getting into those stages and the story tying them together…

Fittingly, Shadow begins aboard the ARK. As advertised, this stage combines aspects of ARK stages from SA2 and Shadow 05, a sizable pool to draw from and, rather shockingly, the only Shadow 05 level representation. Sure, it’s something, and plenty of the artwork and music you can collect is from that game so it isn’t being ignored, but I would have expected at least one dedicated full level adapted from Shadow’s first solo outing. Eh, not a dealbreaker by any means. You then drop into White Space, where you’re initially restricted to a small area with just the ARK level entrance, Omega, a few level assets you can scale to find a few chests, and an ominous pod next to a sealed door. Clearing the ARK earns you a “Doom’s Gear”, which is used much like a Portal Gear to unlock that weird pod…a “Power Sealing Device”. Lame. Like, it doesn’t matter, I know it doesn’t, but that’s just such a lame name. Give it some flavor! Just call it a “Doom Capsule”, there, that’s an easy one! You might have already guessed, but these are what give you your Doom Powers. Opening the door reveals a short pathway leading to the next level: Rail Canyon from Heroes. Honestly, this is probably the inclusion that warmed my heart the most since Heroes was my first 3D Sonic game…not that I ever fully beat it. Ironically, I recall Rail Canyon/Bullet Station being the farthest I managed to get with Team Dark, so this feels like a chance to resolve some unfinished business! I even flung myself into the void just trying to change rails—that’s what really made this an authentic experience! (It only happened once, though, the physics here are far more polished than those in Heroes.)

And here’s where we encounter the first Boss Gate. Interacting with the Gate causes Challenge Acts to spawn, and clearing those will get you Boss Keys—the basic structure of Sonic Generations, with a few tweaks such as there being fewer challenges and needing to (eventually) clear all of them to access all the bosses. These all seem pretty straightforward: collect a certain number of rings, defeat a certain number of enemies, stages built specifically around one of Shadow’s abilities…I had fun with them. I will say that it’s a little weird that you need to interact with the Boss Gate before these spawn, if only because the second and third Boss Gates are tucked away in their own areas you have to navigate to get to them—definitely cool, but feels a bit more like a chore when you have to go back after leaving to get the keys. It’s no surprise that the first boss is the Biolizard, which starts with familiar patterns before shaking things up in its later phases. I had a bit of trouble, but it wasn’t too difficult a fight; it makes a point of utilizing Chaos/Doom Spears and ending with Chaos Control, both of which you’re expected to know your way around before moving on to the mid-game. It’s after this that Black Doom makes his first real appearance after taunting Shadow through Doom’s Eye across the preceding stages. He’s a bit cryptic, but notes that the temporal anomaly caused by the Time Eater has allowed him to accelerate his pre-formulated plan to revive himself. For whatever reason, I like that the thing “connecting” Black Doom and the Time Eater is nothing but sheer happenstance: Doom saw an opportunity and seized it, that’s all. Certainly makes it easier to write around Sonic Generations and not interfere with its established plot!

With the Biolizard defeated, the hub world expands to include a new area across a big lake. This is where you get Doom Surf, and again, this one proved difficult for me; despite that, I appreciate how the next few stages and upcoming boss are designed to incorporate it, rewarding players able to master the move for their skill. Speaking of stages, we now get access to two: Kingdom Valley from 06 and Sunset Heights from Forces. I wonder if there’s something to said about this juxtaposition. But in all seriousness, these levels are just as good as the rest—my knowledge of and ability to analyze Sonic level design may be lacking, but even I can feel the difference between this Sunset Heights and Forces itself. It’s around Kingdom Valley that Big hangs out! He says he’s visited Soleanna to fish before, which makes sense, and he even mentions meeting Elise! (Not by name, but it’s still nice to see.) Sunset Heights, on the other hand, is home to two NPCs…Maria and Gerald Robotnik.

I mean, y’all saw it in the trailer. And it’d be a missed opportunity to NOT do this. But uh, still hits pretty damn hard. They’re from a point in time before the ARK incident, obviously, lacing their every word with potent dramatic irony. Shadow reacts to this as one might expect, which…is actually kind of a big deal! If you cared enough to read this far I probably don’t need to tell you that Shadow’s characterization has been quite a hot topic (heh) in recent years, and his portrayal here could easily make or break the game. Without getting too ahead of myself, I want to say that—at least in my opinion—it’s good news. I remain a bit unsure about some of the pacing, perhaps necessarily due to the length of the game, but Shadow is fleshed out remarkably well and with appropriate nuance, and is once again recognizable as the character we all came to love during his debut. Not to get controversial, but maybe this’ll help to convince more people that Ian Flynn kinda sorta knows what he’s doing? Anyway. Time to fight Metal Overlord! Again, never actually beat Heroes so I can’t properly compare this fight to his original, but this one seems pretty good. You spend the whole fight using Doom Surf (ah…), hitting rubble and projectiles at Metal while he tries to blow you to bits. His tail swipe attack felt unfair at the end, when you have to jump twice in quick succession—Doom Surf is NOT built for that. One cool thing is that if you use Chaos Control, Metal will be unaffected and gloat about how he has the same power. It's a neat attention to detail that actually comes back into play later on!

With Doom Morph now acquired you can navigate some goop to reach Chaos Island, which, yeah, does feel like a weird inclusion since Shadow wasn’t in Frontiers. That it and Sunset Heights come from the future is actually something I like, something you’d expect in a scenario about breaking the timeline but can only be done in a situation like a rerelease for obvious reasons. This is around where things really began to get tough for me: early on I was at least getting B Ranks, but from here on it was all Cs and Ds. Difficulty is a tricky thing, of course, but I think it progressed pretty well here. This is also where we begin to enter the endgame, with some pretty big things happening after beating Chaos Island and around doing the Mephiles boss fight. (Very fun and frantic, built around using Doom Morph and Doom Blast, honestly might be my favorite boss in the game! Shadow also ends things off with a badass one-liner about Mephiles not having a future. “Ever.”) One of the first is a cutscene where Shadow ends up in Sonic’s area of White Space. They bump into each other, have a race as a stand-in for the rival battle you fight while playing as Sonic, and Shadow goes to use Doom Spears but decides against it because he only wants to beat Sonic if it’s on equal terms. Rad. Of course, this loss of focus leads to Sonic beating him and taking the Chaos Emerald he’s been carrying, and this is when Rouge shows up to ask how the hell he could let himself lose. This scene is great, maybe the best example of how this game is careful about precisely maintaining continuity and making it look easy. See, Shadow’s been carrying an Emerald around because it’s been established he needs one to use Chaos Control. Okay, gameplay mechanic justified. At the start of the game, while exploring the ARK, he comes across the fake Chaos Emerald Tails made in SA2, actually sort of compliments Tails saying that even he has a hard time telling which one’s a fake. Huh, okay, neat callback I guess? So now, problem: if Shadow Generations takes place at the same time as Sonic Generations, then Sonic has to be the one to take the Chaos Emerald, that result has already been established. Does that mean Shadow loses Chaos Control past this point? Nope! Because the Emerald he dropped was actually the fake Emerald! He even asks Rouge to swap it out for the real one as soon as he’s done with it, so the two Sonics going Super against the Time Eater still works! I’ve seen it mentioned that this even explains why you can’t use Super Sonic before that point despite having all seven Emeralds, because you’re unknowingly carrying a fake! That’s awesome!

The next big thing: Shadow goes to check in with Gerald and Maria, only for Black Doom to show up. Shadow immediately gets between them and him (he protecc!), and Black Doom assures him that he’s learned from his past defeat and won’t make any mistakes this time. We also get to see Maria shout at Black Doom that Shadow’s nothing like him, points there for sure. I believe it’s here the game states that Black Doom is using his connection with Shadow to grow stronger as he does, allowing him to revive faster and simultaneously corrupt him so that he can possess his body and become the Ultimate Lifeform himself. It seems to be working, too, since Shadow gets pissed off and starts shouting about how he’s going to wipe out all the Black Arms. However, Maria steps in to calm him down, saying she can’t bear to see him driven by hatred like this, that Black Doom isn’t his real family, that she and Gerald love him and just want him to be happy. Shadow doesn’t really know how to respond and runs off. His next stop is the last Power Sealing Device…I think an extra scene or two might’ve helped here? Just so he doesn’t go straight from nearly giving in to corruption to absorbing even more corruption. Whatever the case, this is where you finally get Doom Wing (after a small taste all the way back in the ARK stage), and now that Shadow has his full set of powers, Black Doom enters the final stage of his plan and turns White Space red while calling Shadow to come and finally face him. Shadow goes to Maria first, and tells her that while he has let go of his anger, he will continue to fight with her wish in his heart. The change in White Space causes it to shake and throw Maria off her feet, but Shadow stoops down to help her up—which is such a great way of showing that he’s still in control of himself, love it. One short platforming challenge later, it’s on to the final stage…

Radical Highway! Yep, SA2 gets a full stage in addition to contributing to the ARK stage. Both Acts are built in a way that encourages you to test out the Doom Wings, but can be cleared without them. Also these Acts are HARD. I died repeatedly here, really driving home how happy I am that lives are no longer a thing. Eventually you reach Black Doom, and after exchanging some final words, he goes straight to Devil Doom form and the battle begins! You start out using Doom Surf, but after getting his health down to half, he changes the arena and you need to use Doom Morph to take out the other half. Then Doom transforms AGAIN, becoming Neo Devil Doom, and you enter the traditional “fly around in Super Form” type of final boss using a modified Doom Wing while a new version of “All Hail Shadow” plays in the background. Not really one of my all-time favorite Sonic songs but I’d be lying if I didn’t say it was hype as fuck. Once you finish off the second health bar, Doom uses Chaos Control to freeze Shadow and goes in for the kill…but, hey, remember how Metal Overlord could cancel out your Chaos Control? Now YOU get to cancel out DOOM’S Chaos Control! And Shadow finishes him off with a volley of giant Chaos Spears followed by blasting through his chest Goku-style! It’s such a good final fight—I may love Frontiers but Supreme was a pushover, this is leagues better. After the fight Shadow’s wings shrivel up, so he probably won’t be using them again any time soon (sad…), and he hands his Chaos Emerald off to Rouge before going to say goodbye to Gerald and Maria. When they start to fade away, returning to their time, Shadow says he can stop Rouge and use Chaos Control to keep them in this moment, but Maria doesn’t want that. He tries to argue that they don’t know what’s going to happen, but she tells him that even if they’re pulled apart from each other, her love will always be in his heart. Shadow leaves, and as he runs past Rouge, a single tears flies off. They let him cry! Not on-camera maybe but they let Shadow cry at seeing his family ripped away from him again! This is the good shit!

You know, I worry that in these posts I spend too much time summarizing and not enough actually commenting. But in a case like this, what is there really to say? Shadow’s in-character. That’s best demonstrated through example. After the way he’s been written through the 10s (as well as his previous solo outing), that alone is worth the price of admission for quite a few of us. Let’s see, what else did I want to bring up:

-Shadow’s first thought upon seeing Maria and Gerald is that he might be able to change their fate, but I felt like this wasn’t really followed up on. There is the scene at the end where he considers Chaos Control, but by itself I’m not sure it’s enough? Plus, this game is about Shadow defying the destiny Black Doom chose for him, so seeing him successfully do that while not being able to change Maria’s fate feels a little at odds. But the former is about the future and the latter is about the past, I suppose.

-There are points where the dialogue very clearly echoes some familiar Shadow lines like “This is who I am” and “I will fight like I always have”, but do so without directly quoting those lines. I may not be part of the faction that seems to view call-backs as a grave sin, but even still, this approach definitely feels superior to direct quotes.

-In contrast…the Shadow vs Sonic scene repeats that one exchange from SA2, and even a line from the Team Battle in Heroes. These felt forced to me, especially the latter.

-This is probably the most Maria’s illness has actually been focused on? We see her getting weak and fainting, and there’s even a picture in Gerald’s Journal of her in a wheelchair. Part of me wonders if this is an attempt to make Maria better representation for people with chronic illness; I don’t feel qualified to evaluate that if true, but as a writer I’m very curious to see if it does or doesn’t work for people so that I can learn from it.

-It’s been confirmed we’re getting at least one DLC level based on Movie 3, though I don’t know if it’s been stated whether it will be free or paid? I have to wonder if there will be any other DLC; it could certainly help combat dissatisfaction with how short the game is, and I know I’d be willing to pay money for an excuse to keep playing. Although Frontiers did give us a LOT through free updates, and I’d be ecstatic if that were to become the norm.

Sonic Team has always experimented, something I think they should be commended for even if it hasn’t always worked out. Shadow Generations, however, feels more like a culmination of lessons learned from Shadow the Hedgehog (2005), Sonic Generations, and Sonic Frontiers—the fully-realized fruit of all those experiments, if you will—and it’s definitely stronger for it. As someone with vivid and fond memories of that road’s starting point, not caring or even realizing I was playing a “bad game” because I just fucking LOVED Shadow, my heart’s telling me that nearly 20 years was more than worth the wait to experience its endpoint. If you have the chance, I absolutely recommend you try Shadow Generations and behold the ultimate power for yourself.

#Sonic the Hedgehog #Sonic X Shadow Generations #Game Night #Pahrak plays games

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tenebraevesper · 3 years ago

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Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer, Issue #32: Recovery (Part 2)

So, after Eggman decided to crash the party in the last Issue, we’re going to have one last battle to finish The Metal Virus Saga with a bang. I have to say, it is awesome!

Let’s go!

Starting off where we left, everyone is facing off Dr. Eggman, who makes an announcement in his usual fashion (but without addressing Shadow or the moon).

Whisper asks Amy for orders, but Amy replies that she quit as a leader, so Whisper turns to Jewel, who panics as she’s just handling the paperwork.

We then check in on the Babylon Rogues, with Jet deciding to use the situation to their advantage and rob Jewel’s museum blind. Stay classy, Jet.

Vector takes over instead, telling Tails to mess with the mecha’s programming, and sends off everyone who can fly to the cockpit, while those left go to trash the mecha.

We also see a panel of the Babylon Rogues at the museum, Jet baffled when he realizes that it is empty. This is followed by Rouge on the top of a building, having stolen all the gems, noting that, while it’ll hurt returning them, it was worth it.

I agree.

This is then followed by a panel of Gemerl protecting Cream and Cheese, only to get blasted by Eggman, with the latter proceeding to just fire at everything around him, using Gemerl as an upgrade.

Back to Blaze and Sonic, Sonic had done a couple of laps around the island, so at least there is something familiar he’s doing. Blaze notes how the nature of Sonic’s arrival and memory loss are a mystery, and since she cannot figure it out, she’s bringing out the big guns - the Sol Emeralds.

Blaze then literally lights up, fire surrounding her as she uses the Sol Emeralds to bring Sonic’s memories back. I guess that if a mix of Chaos Emeralds-powered Super Sonic and the Warp Topaz had a hand in erasing Sonic’s memories, the Sol Emeralds would be a good way to bring him back. Still, I’ll miss British Sonic. He was actually quite fun.

Anyways, back to the battle against Eggman, Rouge and Tails discuss a new plan to stop Eggman. They need to find a way to eject Gemerl out of the mecha, so they both fly in to find the access panel on the mecha while Eggman is distracted by the others.

Tails manages to eject Gemerl, who is caught by Cream and Charmy. Rouge and Tails realize that Omega is literally part of the mecha, with Tails needing to figure out how to get Omega back. Eggman turns around, gun in hand, and proceeds to shoot at Rouge and Tails, blasting a hole in a nearby building (yeah, it was the laser gun variant, but still!)!

As for Omega, he is dealing with an error, his programming conflicted between destroying Eggman and destroying Eggman’s enemies. Vector is relieved that the shooting stopped and yells at everyone to move in.

We then proceed with a full-page panel of everyone just beating down on the mecha, while Eggman is trying to hold them back. Special shout-out to Charmy trying to free Omega. Then Cheese, out of all people, bonks Eggman on the head, who decides he has enough and takes control over Omega once again.

Back with Blaze and Sonic, Sonic has finally his memories back. They’re a little fuzzy, and he explains how he and Silver handled things. Cue Blaze noting how, by “handling it” he crashed into her garden with amnesia. Sonic just notes how he likes to make an entrance and apologizes for that.

He then asks Blaze to send him back, which Blaze agrees to do, including a promise to visit Sonic at some point. She then warps him into fire and out of the Sol Dimension.

Meanwhile, Eggman manages to take control of the situation, about to fire back, when a pillar of fire strikes the ground, and Sonic exists it.

Not gonna lie, this is probably one of Sonic’s best entrances to date.

Sonic then sees Tails and Amy on the ground, then turns to Eggman in his mecha.

He then asks Tails to fill him in, having figured out what to do, and jumps right on the mecha, while Eggman screams in disbelief upon seeing Sonic. Sonic spin-dashes into the core of the mecha, freeing a furious Omega.

Omega then turns around and promptly barrages Eggman’s mecha with bullets and rockets, only to fall apart a moment later. I guess this was either a malfunction, with Eggman having quickly scrapped him together, or it was intentional, with Eggman making sure he won’t have Omega also attacking him.

Eggman doesn’t care, being furious at Sonic for ruining his moment, and then we get, out of all things, a Jojo reference! Sonic walks up to Eggman, ready for another round of ass-kicking.

Eggman is nervous, figuring Sonic is still pissed off about the whole Zombot thing, and then quickly bails. He ruined the party, that’s victory enough for him.

Sonic, on the other hand, knows they’ll clash again, and again, and again... He still hopes that Eggman will come around, but for now, they’ll continue being enemies.

Amy then promptly tackles Sonic, hugging him in joy, and they’re joined by Tails, as well as Tangle, who adds in Vector, Espio, Charmy, Cream, Cheese, Rouge and Whisper to the pile.

Jewel then quickly reminds them they’re dealing with a fire, which they quickly extinguish.

Once things have calmed down and a new day rises, Sonic overlooks his world from the top of a building, hoping that Silver and Blaze can come back without dealing with some kind of disaster. He stretches and rushes of, ready for the next adventure.

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lea-andres · 3 years ago

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Vavok but it’s starts out as a crush between the two?

Vector hears about Zavok and is instantly repulsed because “who the heck destroys an entire planet to mess with one singular person?!?!” but then he sees a picture of him and is like “oh no he’s hot-“ And you’d think the crush would diminish once he sees a video of Sonic’s fight with him but somehow that makes it worse. Like the way he can effortlessly block a spin dash? The way he talks about his teammates? Just his general composer?? It gave Vector some butterflies.

So fast forward to the present and Sonic and friends are trying to stop the Deadly Six from doing something to the world. Things happen, the Chaotix join sonic, and eventually Zavok and Vector meet up and Vector is stumbling over his words because his crush is here oh no-

Zavok, however, is acting a little… off. Like he’s not making direct eye contact, he too is stumbling over his words a little, he just seems more reserved than usual

Turns out, Zavok did a little research on Vector, and also got a crush on him. Zavok was not expecting to fall for one of his enemies, but he couldn’t help himself! I mean, the way Vector fights? The way he protects his kids? Just how determined he is to win?? It gives Zavok butterflies. He keeps it together better than vector, but it’s still affecting him, especially now that they’re face to face.

When one of them actually tries to start the fight, it’s clear that they’re not fighting to the death. Zavok can feel his face getting hot, and it’s not from the fighting. Vector is trying his best to stay composed because Zavok keeps complementing his skills. They’re both a mess but they don’t know why?

Unfortunently, the fight got a little rough, and now they’re injured. Luckily, Vector knows some first aid. Would be a shame if they tended to their wounds and fell in love, wouldn’t it? :)))

- Both of them, LOL

Also, 🥺 I love this so much. Love the tending wounds trope, as we've seen in my BugBear fic lol.

#vavok #vector the crocodile #zavok the zeti

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smashsets · 6 years ago

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Morrigan Aensland Moveset Concept

Visual Reference :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s7nChlAhfQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66J70dKzUtY&t=1s

Attributes:

Entrance animation is her being brought in on a swarm of bats, she's laying on them like a platform on her side

A very light, quick, and floaty character with lots of multihit attacks and combo specials

She has 3 Jumps

Does a Spin when she dodges

Sparkles and bats are always around her when she's stationary as well as her classic hand movements

She glides to run like Dark Samus, a small green trail of flames follow her during her dash

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Regular Attacks:

Jab: Punch, Punch, Hair swipe, Kick (multihit punch kick combo) Energy uppercut as a finisher

Dash: Vector Turn ( Turns into an arrow of light, multi-hit, passes through enemies)

F Tilt: Press button repeatedly for a wing slash, head swipe, Wings turn into guillotines combo

D Tilt: Spinning leg kick

Up Tilt: Hands go up (hit), devil tails follow a few frames after

F-air: Press the button repeatedly to attack more: Kick, punch, angled Guillotine wings (can spike)

N-air: Soul Fist in the air (At an angle similar to Ryu’s nair)

Up Air: Spin kick, Multi-hit attack with her legs and a finishing hit of her wings

Back Air: Shell Kick (multi-hit kick, corrins d-air but behind)

D-Air: Shell Pierce (Corrin down air)

Up Smash: Shadow Blade (Multi-hit uppercut)

Down Smash: Darkest illusion (Morrigan clones appear on both sides of her and perform a high leg kick

Side Smash: Soul fist (Like Mega Man’s forward smash)

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Grab: Cryptic Needle: Long grab range with a point of a finger

Jab: Holds opponent close to her bosom as her wings knaw at who shes grabbed (Pit and Dark Pit blush like they do with Bayonetta, Ryu and Ken just look extra annoyed)

F Throw: Morrigan bends down and her wings throw forward in a slicing motion

Up Throw: Morrigan Holds the opponent and they get shot up by an energy beam in the shape of a Shadow Blade

Back Throw: Supplex

Down Throw: Devil tails wrap around opponent looking like chains and throw onto the ground, the opponent always bounces to lead into a combo

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Specials:

Neutral B: Finishing Shower (Multiple projectile missiles get fired at once depending on how long you hold the B button)

Up B: Dash Shift ( LOTS of vertical ascensions, allows the user to still attack in the air, like a combination of rob's up air and Palutena's jump glide from sm4sh, but a little better because you can go in and out of floating and attacking very quickly)

Side B: Vector Drain, grapple on the ground or in the air, Morrigan holds onto the opponent and her wings turn into her classic jetpack, she flies upward and suplexes backwards, if done perfectly, can drain health to heal and can barry.

(Gimmick) Down B Astral Vision: Morrigan summons a copy of herself who moves in negative tangent with herself, she has to hold down down B for a period of time in order for her summon to appear fully, it is active for about arense’s playtime, not intangible, think of Ice Climbers

Final Smash: Eternal Illusion A curtain appears and A kiss is blown, whoever is sucked into the curtain gets transported to an alternate dimension where a cutscene is shown, A small combo attack with multiple Morrigan’s in the air, the real Morrigan is on the ground charging her soul eraser canon, when the Morrigan copies finish the combo, Morrigan fires and causes an explosion in the air (a flavor text of Monster! shows up on the screen like in the game) after the explosion she gives a promiscuous pose and kiss to the screen.

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Alts:

Default

Demitri Colors Brown Hair

Baby Bonnie Colors Blonde hair

Lilith Colors Pink hair

Felicia Colors Bluer hair and a slight tan

Hsien-Ko Colors Purple hair and purple-tinted skin

Morrigan in her casual grey pants attire

Morrigan in her casual pants attire, slightly different color, Blonde hair

Bonus?

Onimusha Morrigan ( Capcom Heroines reference)

Nurse Morrigan ( SNK VS Capcom Card Fighters Reference)

Taunts:

1) Lilith appears from a cloud of bats coddling her waist

2) She floats in the air with her hands delicately placed behind her head and legs crossed, bats and sparkles swarm around her

3) Backflip then kiss with a heart ( the heart has a chance to cause a lot of damage)

Victory Screens:

She backflips then transforms into her casual dress as bats fly away

She and Lilith appear in an intimate pose together with their wings covering their body

She blows a kiss to the screen then a curtain drops down her silhouette appears laughing in the (OHOHO laugh pose)

Victory theme: Morrigan’s Victory

Stage: Deserted Chateau/Feast of the Damned

#ssbu #dlc concept #super smash bros #darkstalkers #Morrigan #morrigan aensland #smash dlc

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miloscat · 5 years ago

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[Review] Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove (3DS)

Continuing on WayForward spinoffs, we have Shovel Knight, which recently got its final content update. Good value!

Yacht Club Games, composed of former WayForward employees, Kickstarted this game back in 2013. Ever since, they’ve been slowly updating it with features promised as part of the crowdfunding campaign. The initial release in mid-2014 was so successful that the eponymous knight has popped up in many, many other games since.

Said game is a very intentional homage to NES action platformers like Rockman and Castlevania. Development was focused on recreating an authentic 8-bit experience, even limiting the audio and visuals to NES capabilities... with some cheating. The result is gorgeous, impeccable pixel art with tons of parallax background work, plus banging chiptunes from WayForward veteran Jake Kaufman. I’ve been tired of 8-bit nostalgia for a long time, but this does it so well it’s nigh-impossible not to be impressed.

In gameplay terms, you have a world map à la Mario 3, and selectable stages with Rockman-like bosses. Shovel Knight’s primary attack vector is swinging a shovel, but even better is the Zelda 2-style downthrust, which can also bounce you back up like Scrooge’s Ducktales cane. The stage design wonderfully tests these skills, with hidden secrets everywhere and lots of shiny gems to grab. These are used between levels to buy upgrades back at town: improving health and mana, and gaining new active and passive abilities.

The game has had a complicated history of updates and platform exclusive bonuses, but suffice it to say that at this point the “Treasure Trove” edition contains three complete new stories in the same world, playing as boss characters from the base game with fun new abilities for combat and movement. Plague Knight is more technical, with air-stalling bomb-throwing and boost jumps. Specter Knight uses a contextual slash attack for angled dashes. And King Knight has a combination shoulder barge-spin jump. Plague’s campaign uses the same stages more or less, Specter has new levels with the same theme, and King breaks it up into many smaller levels plus adds a mostly-optional card game mechanic between action stages (your enjoyment of this may vary).

In terms of exclusives on 3DS, they’re locked behind amiibo but if you can access the features there’s a cool “custom knight” mode that auto-unlocks upgrades as you collect gold, including some of Plague and Specter’s powers and even all-new subweapons. There’s also a handful of extra tasks in the “challenge” mode, a fun diversion with specific rules to test a particular skill (I didn’t do any of the “beat boss with one health” challenges, though).

Despite a tremendous sense of fun and silliness in the writing and character design (which extends to all campaigns), the world and story are also taken seriously, giving weight to the occasional emotional moment such as the brief interludes after levels.

I must mention that one of the Kickstarter promises which was latterly fulfilled was the “body swap” mode, a menu feature that swaps the gender (and separately, pronouns) of the main characters. Two of the twelve are female by default, but you can make it an all-lady game, or any combination you like! I found this a really cool thing to include, but the intense frustration quickly set in when I realised this change only applied to the original “Shovel of Hope” campaign, and was not supported in the other three character’s stories. What a rug-pull!

Regardless, Shovel Knight is an excellently put-together game. You couldn’t ask for a better fulfillment of 8-bit sensibilities combined with modern conveniences. Special mention again to the aerial mobility of all four characters, which is augmented by their various subweapon powers!

#shovel knight #yacht club games #indie #3ds #review

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thedepressedweasel · 7 years ago

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Another Sonic Forces Shortfic

Meanwhile, the Resistance group were searching everywhere for Gadget and yet every attempt proved futile.

“Where’s Rookie?” Vector wondered out loud.

“Yeah, we’ve been looking everywhere for him!” Knuckles complained in agreement.

“I’m sure that Eggface must’ve taken him,” Sonic replied in a dejected tone.

Just then, a familiar masked jackal appeared before them, floating above them.

“If it isn’t this blue savior and his friends here,” Infinite sneered.

“Where’s Gadget?!” Sonic demanded.

“Yeah!” everyone else yelled in agreement.

“So you’ve been searching for that trembling child,” Infinite said, intrigued. “Don’t worry, I’ve kept him safe and I’m sure he might be glad to see you now.”

With that, he then signaled the familiar wolf to appear out of nowhere and approach our heroes. However, they all noticed something different about him and not in a good way; his once warm amber eyes were now cold, empty, lifeless, vacant and calculating and he was now wearing a skintight black jumpsuit with the red Eggman Empire insignia emblazoned on it. Oddly enough, he still had his Burst Wispon in hand.

“Rookie, what’s happened to you?” Knuckles whispered in horror.

Gadget then raised his Burst Wispon at our heroes while Infinite snickered.

“Buddy, it’s us!” Sonic shouted.

“What’s wrong, Rookie?” Vector questioned. “Don’t you recognize us anymore?”

“I’d hate to see Zelda now,” Shadow admitted in agreement.

“I’m his partner now,” Gadget replied coldly. “Nothing personal, but that’s business, right?”

With that, he ended up using his Burst Wispon to shoot fire beams at our heroes, who barely managed to dodge it on time.

“You masked clown!” Sonic roared. “What did you do to our friend?!”

“That’s a long story, my dear blue rat,” Infinite chuckled. “Dr. Eggman and I kidnapped him and brought him to the former’s lair, where I used my Phantom Ruby prototype that’s fused to my chest to twist his memories of you do-gooders; therefore, he’s under my control now.”

“This can’t be happening!” Silver gasped in horror.

“He’s been brainwashed!” Knuckles yelled in agreement.

“Faker, we need to fight back!” Shadow suggested.

However, Sonic couldn’t help but stare in horror at Gadget’s pupilless, vacant eyes.

“What’s the matter, blue rat?” Gadget taunted. “Can’t fight back?”

“Please, listen to me, buddy,” Sonic pleaded. “This isn’t you. I know you’re in there somewhere. We all do! You’re on the wrong side now and you need to fight it!”

“Sonic, be careful!” Tails cried out.

“Yeah, we almost lost you,” Amy shouted in agreement, “and we won’t lose you again!”

“Please fight it,” Sonic begged.

“You insolent fool,” Infinite sneered. “You can hear him all you want, but he can’t hear you.”

Gadget proceeded to fire some more flames at Sonic, who had to run around like crazy in order to avoid getting singed.

“Come on,” Gadget taunted yet again, “fight back!”

Just then, Sonic had an idea.

“Knuckles,” Sonic said, “maybe I’ll just knock him down, but you guys will have to try to hold him down as long as you can!”

“Sonic, are you crazy?!” Knuckles snapped in shock.

“Trust me,” Sonic said prior to turning to Gadget with a sad look on his face. “Sorry, buddy, but you leave us no choice.”

Sonic then proceeded to jump in the air prior to executing his Spin Dash; afterwards, he managed to hit Gadget, knocking him down instantly. Before Gadget could get up and attack him again, Knuckles, along with Vector, Amy, Shadow and Silver proceeded to hold him back.

“Let go of me, you filthy pieces of garbage!” Gadget snarled as he struggled to break free from their grasps.

Meanwhile, Zelda woke up and looked around, prior to realizing that she was in the Luminous Forest. Just then, the familiar trio of jackals approached her menacingly.

“Okay, who are you people?” Zelda demanded. “And why did you bring me here?”

“Sorry, lady,” Buck replied, “but we brought you here because we’ve been looking for Zero for quite some time, since he sold us out after he got that Phantom Ruby!”

“Yeah,” Resa agreed, “and look where that got us!”

“Shadow killed my wife!” Stone roared in agreement.

“Yeah, and the rest of our squad except the three of us!” Buck agreed as well.

“If not for that fat guy,” Resa hissed, “none of that would’ve happened!”

As the jackals continued to rant about their predicaments, all Zelda could do was sigh in sadness.

“So we need your help,” Buck explained. “Why don’t you help us?”

“Actually, before I answer you, please let me explain,” Zelda said. “I’ve known Shadow for some time and he revealed to me that Zero was, in fact, Infinite now.”

This only caused the jackals to gasp in horror.

“I know this sounds terrible,” Zelda continued, “and even know my family sucked, there was only one member of my family whom I loved and truly cared about. That was my little brother and his name was Oliver. Yes, he was all I had and yet Infinite had to come and kill him as well as the rest of my family! Afterwards, Gadget was the one who helped me give my baby brother a proper burial later that night.”

As Zelda continued her story, the jackals could just look on with sympathetic looks on their faces and tears in their eyes.

“We’re sorry about what happened to you,” Buck said as he proceeded to stroke her hair. Just then, a beeping noise came from her transmitter before a familiar feminine voice was heard.

“Zelda, can you hear me?” Rouge called.

“What’s going on, Rouge?” Zelda asked.

“You’re not going to like this,” Rouge said grimly. “Infinite brainwashed Gadget and forced him to attack us! We’re trying to help him remember the good times that we all had together. We need you here!”

Zelda gasped in horror. She didn’t expect her beloved Gadget to fall victim to Infinite’s mind control.

“Is...that...true?!” Zelda stammered afterwards.

“I’m afraid so,” Rouge admitted.

“Where are you guys?” Zelda squeaked in horror.

“We’re in Sunset Heights,” Rouge replied.

“Okay, I’m on my way!” Zelda said in determination.

After the intercom was finished, Zelda decided that she wasn’t going to let anything bad happen to Gadget. She was ready to rescue him.

“Infinite...brainwashed...your...boyfriend?!” Resa gasped in shock.

“How can we get to Sunset Heights from here!” Stone interjected.

“Don’t worry,” Zelda assured them, “I know how to get there from here. Follow me.”

Meanwhile, most of our heroes were still holding Gadget back. He tried to break free, but luckily, Vector was very strong and so was Knuckles and Shadow combined.

“Now what?” Silver asked.

“All we have to do is make him remember,” Sonic said prior to turning to Gadget, yet again. “Buddy, we know you’re in there somewhere, so we’ll have to jog your memories. Do you remember when I was in my prison cell in the Death Egg and you were out to save me. I broke free myself and that was when we met and ended up saving each other!”

Upon hearing this, Gadget felt a ping inside his head and gritted his teeth in agony.

“Rookie, I know we’ve been so hard on you,” Knuckles admitted. “But we had to be hard on you most of the time! You may not like it, but that’s because...we care about you! We just wanted to make you stronger! We just wanted you to be brave enough to help us save the world!”

“Yeah,” Vector agreed, “and if we didn’t care about you, we wouldn’t have recruited you! We wouldn’t have trained you! And we wouldn’t have sent you to the Death Egg to save Sonic!”

Gadget then groaned as he felt another ping in his head.

“Wha-what’s happening to me?” Gadget hissed in agony.

“I think it’s working,” Tails said.

“Keep going!” Charmy chirped in agreement.

“No! They’re lying!” Infinite shouted in disbelief.

“Don’t listen to him, partner!” Sonic said. “Keep remembering!”

Just then, a familiar female wolf appeared with the three jackals in tow and suddenly gawked at Gadget in horror.

“We’ll hold Infinite off for a long as we can,” Buck said.

“Yeah,” Stone agreed, “you help these do-gooders over there!”

Then as the jackals then proceeded to distract Infinite, Zelda rushed over to the Resistance group, willing to help them restore Gadget’s real memories one and for all. Resa was wielding her sais while Stone was using his tomahawk; Buck, on the other hand, was using his bow and arrows to help fight Infinite.

“Remember when we would prank you with my airhorn in the morning sometimes?” Charmy shouted.

“Yeah, and remember when we saw you and Zelda kissing each other,” Vector asked in agreement, “and we decided to tease you guys for it? It was all in good fun!”

“And remember when you received that box of chocolates,” Silver asked as well, “and I caught you eating the entire box?”

“Yeah, and I had to cancel your mission, let Sonic take over and send you to bed?” Knuckles added.

Gadget continued to groan.

“Gadget,” Zelda said softly. “Please remember that when Infinite killed my brother, you helped me give him a proper burial and supported me afterwards. “Do you also remember when you got caught eating the whole box of chocolates and we had to help you eat a light meal? And then I decided to rub your belly and then we cuddled together and even kissed until we fell asleep together?”

With that, she walked over to Gadget prior to gently pulling his face close to hers and kissed him passionately on the lips. After spending ten seconds struggling to break free, Gadget suddenly gave in and kissed her back, for he couldn’t help but do so. After they eventually broke the kiss, Gadget then collapsed on the ground and writhed in agony, feeling his real memories flood him.

“No! This cannot be!” Infinite roared prior to to getting kicked in the stomach by Resa.

After a few minutes of writhing in agony, Gadget then started to calm down.

“Buddy, are you okay?” Sonic asked as he walked over to Gadget prior to gently stroking his head fur.

“How do you feel?” Zelda asked softly.

“I...feel...calm,” Gadget replied softly. Just then, his amber eyes suddenly regained their pupils and that just happened. He was officially freed from Infinite’s mind control. Then he looked around and then down prior to realizing what he was wearing.

“What am I wearing?” Gadget asked in horror.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sonic reassured. “That masked clown brainwashed you and Dr. Egghead made you wear this.”

“Anyway, we’re glad that you’re back,” Amy said.

With that, Gadget smiled and proceeded to group-hug our heroes. Just then, Shadow broke the hug and noticed the jackals prior to unleashing his Chaos Spear on them, knocking them all down.

“Ugh, that hurts!” Resa cried out.

“What was that for?” Buck yelled.

“Yeah!” Stone shouted in agreement prior to glaring at Shadow. “You monster! Why did you kill my wife?!”

“What is the meaning of this?” Infinite demanded.

Just then, Shadow walked up to them menacingly, knowing what he would do next.

“Well, well, well,” Shadow said menacingly, “looks like we’ll have a lot of explaining to do now.”

#sonic forces #sonic forces au #infinite the jackal #gadget the wolf #mind control #zelda the wolf #oc #shortfic #fanfic

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runicscribbles · 7 years ago

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Fic Recs

I wish I had more time to read all the amazing fics in our fandom, we have so many talented writers it’s incredible. I want to do a little shout out for @sheithparticipationweek on a few that have really stuck with me.

I think my favorites to read have been the ones that focus on the small, quiet moments between Shiro and Keith. The ones where the writers slip a thin blade in sideways between your ribs before they twist. The ones where the characterization is so on point and the actions are so dorky that it makes you yell at your computer screen. The ones where they confront pain with love and support that always makes me mushy inside.

In Reverse by @riverbanks

This is where the night pulls you in Nothing like old times, when we were friends And this, this is where the water calls And severance sings me out again -Or: There’s a pool in the castle.

Vector to the Stars by @theolddarkmachine

Shiro’s life had ended, up amongst the stars that he had dedicated it to. It had been dashed across the surface of a moon that could offer them nothing more than rocks and ice. Keith had seen the evidence for himself, etched on the crust like a memorial.

Shiro was dead.

So why was he sitting beside the Galran emperor?

When You Rise by @lionescence

For a year Keith waited for Shiro. Now Shiro waits for Keith, haunted by his newly-returned memories of their relationship, praying to whoever who would listen for his baby to wake up.

He's not the only one struggling. And when Keith does wake up, the Voltron family are up to the task of dealing with the changes that follow. Because that's what families do.

Mirror Mirror by @ilovelocust

It's not Keith. He needs to remember. The thing with the sick smiles and lust for pain can't be Keith. For his own sanity, he has to believe that. Keith would never do something like this to him.

Something very bad happened to Shiro and somehow he has to cope.

got me feeling sub kind of way by @arahir

Shiro was a lawyer. Keith was a sandwich.

Rabbit’s Foot by @commodorecliche

After Shiro goes missing on the Kerberos mission, Keith is left with nothing more than a shack, his thoughts, and a wide, desolate desert to keep him company. And every day that Shiro is gone, hope for his safe return begins to dwindle. But when Shiro suddenly reappears in the middle of the night - somewhat different than Keith remembers him - Keith begins to question what's real, what isn't, and what kind of person he truly is. With his grip on reality loosening, and control over his actions dwindling in the presence of this stranger that's returned to him, Keith must come to terms with the darkest parts of the universe and himself.

tonight i can write the saddest lines by @amillionsmiles

so if you love me, why'd you let me go?

Keith meets Shiro on a Friday, and everything unravels from there.

Long Way Forward by @queerly-it-is

When they drop out of the hurtling nightmare of the wormhole, everything blends into nausea and the scream of alarms, the stars smearing into concentric loops outside their Lions.

Keith grits his teeth, hauling helplessly at controls that were already damaged even before they got thrown out of the hangar, across the universe and back into space again. Arms and shoulders straining, muttering constantly under his breath, he tries to get any real response from his Lion, but the connection’s been reduced to just a faint wavering spark, like a candle about to go out.

Finally Shiro brings his own Lion around and physically stops Keith’s uncontrolled spin. His voice sputters in over the com. “This is no good. We’re gonna have to find someplace to set down.”

#Sheith #Fic Recs #Sheithparticipationweek #sheith participation week #To these and so many more amazing writers who have made this fandom a joy #You are talented and wonderful #Thank you all

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trainer-sean · 3 years ago

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Pretty sure all mobians can spin dash with that kinda body type, one like vector wouldn't, but Charmy and Espio would

Oh, can metal spindash in that form ?

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sonisis · 7 years ago

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So I watched Revolutionary Girl Utena and thought the concept of Rose bride was interesting and I felt it could fit Amy in a way but this is in no way the same Rose Bride from Utena. I’ll be posting the fanfiction to Fanfiction.net but I’ll also post it here since I also want to show off some chapter art. Critiques welcomed!

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After the 16th petal has fallen, only then has the Rose matured enough to become a bride. Amy Rose finally turns 16 but her joyous birthday is soon ruined by an old family tradition she wasn’t familiar with. Will Amy follow her ancestor’s footsteps and become a Bride worthy of a knight or will she create her own path? (Sonamy)

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Chapter 1: The Rose Bride

“After the 16th petal has fallen, only then has the Rose matured enough to become a Bride.”

“Happy Birthday Amy Rose!”

It was Amy’s 16th Birthday and all of her friends came together to celebrate it at the beautiful courtyard provided by one of Rouge’s Acquaintances. The courtyard was adorned with White Roses as the walk path was paved in white bricks making the place feel like a dream and although the leaves were beginning to fall it was a bright warm day.

“Aww you guys! This is just the nicest thing!” Amy began to tear up “I…I just want to cry I’m so happy!”

“There’s no reason to cry birthday girl.” Sonic walked up to Amy handing her a small wrapped gift. “Even if they’re tears of Joy you should be sharing laughs instead.”

Amy laughed, Sonic was as charming as ever, although she would never admit it because she was much too embarrassed by her younger self’s actions toward the Wind she loved, she finally got Sonic comfortable enough to stay for a while and to her that’s all she needed. She looked at the tiny present and quickly began tearing through the paper, she was curious to see what the Blue hedgehog could’ve given her on her special day. Tossing aside the last bit of ripped up paper revealed a small white box and upon opening it revealed a small metallic cake charm that had the words ‘Sweet 16’ etched onto it. Amy gave a small excited squeal as she quickly attached the charm to her already full charm bracelet full of memories. “Aww Sonic you’re so thoughtful! I needed a new charm for my charm bracelet!”

Everyone took turns handing Amy their gifts, some gifts were very thoughtful like Cream’s handmade Baby blue scarf and some gifts were…nice… like Knuckles’ scary ancient totem that he found while visiting a temple near Jungle Forest. All in all all the gifts were nice and the fact that everyone got together to celebrate her special day made Amy the happiest girl in the world, nothing could ruin this moment for her!

“So Amy, can you start cutting the cake now? We’ve been waiting here for hours!” Knuckles put his arms behind his head.

Vanilla quickly pinched Knuckles cheek “Now now Knuckles, it’s not polite to rush the Birthday girl.”

“Hehe, well I do love cake! Where is it? I’d love to start munching on some cake right about now” Amy giggled as she watched Knuckles quickly rubbing the pain away from his cheek.

”If the Birthday girl demands cake then we deliver!” said Vector as he walked out to the courtyard with a long rectangular strawberry cake that had been adorned with light pink roses made out of sugar crystals while the sides of the cake were carefully patterned with Rose golden curves and on the base of the cake had the words ‘Happy Birthday Amy Rose’ with Rose gold candles.

Amy awed at the beautiful cake, “With a cake this cute I don’t think I can bear to cut it!”

“That’s ok I can do it then!” Charmy took out a cake knife and begun to draw in closer to the cake until Espio threw a throwing knife to knock the knife out of his hands and Vector quickly grabbed Charmy by the collar.

“Sorry about that Ms.Rose, don’t worry about this little Bee, hehe.” Vector nervously chuckled while Charmy crossed his arms and gave a little ‘hmpf’

Amy giggled one last time before blowing out her candles with her wish. As the last light was blown away everyone begun to clap and cheer, but through all cheers a Dark Green Bird in knights armor quickly landed on top of the freshly laid out cake.

“No! My cake! How dare you!!” Amy was Mad and quickly summoned her Hammer to begin her first birthday clobbering.

“Rose Bride, come with me, it is time to perform your duties.” The armored bird got down from the table and in front of Amy.

Sonic quickly stepped in between them to prevent any possible damage. “Listen bud, sorry you didn’t get an invitation but you didn’t have to go and crash the cake.”

“My apologies but my duty must come first, I must retrieve the Rose Bride, now step aside.” the Knight drew out his sword “Or face my sword.”

Sonic brought his arm up for Amy’s defense, ready for what was to come next. “Yo Amy, any idea what this party crasher is talking about?”

“I…I think? But I thought that was just a joke, I just thought you guys were just teasing me.” Amy was looking directly at the Knight.

“Summoner of Roses, what you perceived as “teasing” was nothing more than truth, ‘When the 16th petal has fallen, only then has the Rose matured enough to become a bride.”

Amy clenched her Hammer unsure of what what to come “And if I were to refuse to become a ‘Rose Bride’”

“That is not an option” The knight charged at Sonic causing him to fall on the floor. The knight then reached his hand to grab Amy but it was quickly swatted away by her Hammer.

Amy quickly jumped back a few steps to give herself some distance between her foe“I know nothing about being a Rose Bride, what makes you think I should still be one?”

“As I’ve said before Rose, that is not an option” He quickly lunged his sword at Amy’s wrist quickly swiping a light tap strong enough to cause her to drop her weapon. “It is your duty as a maiden of the Rose name.”

Before the knight could once again grab Amy, Sonic spin dashed into his back with enough force to push him further out to the rose garden farther from Amy. “Listen I don’t know much about this Rose Bride stuff but if Amy says no there’s no changing her mind.”

“Foolish Male, as I’ve said before. That” The knight drew his sword closer to his face

“ is not” then the white rose petals from the garden begun to circle around him.

“an Option!” With rose petals floating all around he lunged past Sonic and quickly grabbed Amy, and just like that they vanished as a trail of white roses fell and scattered all across the Courtyard. Everyone was shocked and didn’t move due to all the confusion.

Sonic finally broke the silence “Just what exactly is a Rose Bride?”

#sonamy #amy rose #sonic the hedgehog #sth #fanfiction #my writing #my art #art #the rose bride

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wizardofbits · 8 years ago

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Sonic Forces. Hoo, boy.

Strap yourselves in, folks, this is gonna be a long one. I have numerous thoughts about Sonic Forces. The latest "modern Sonic" game from Sega to use the "Boost formula", Sonic Forces saw a multiplatform release on November 7, 2017. It features three playable characters: Modern Sonic, Classic Sonic, and a new character called the Avatar, as they work together to stop the evil Dr. Robotnik (fuck you, that's his name) who has already taken over the world, with help from the mysterious Infinite.

Ask a diehard Sonic fan and they might be hard-pressed to find anything good about this game. More likely, they'll probably say "Nothing about this is good, Vector. That's why it's called war." And then laugh at themselves for their oh-so-creative sense of humor, repeating memetic lines from the game. But the game is a good game, just not a great one. It's a step down from Generations and in that respect a bit of a disappointment, but it's not terrible. It's definitely not going to take Sonic soaring to new heights either. Still, I would much rather play Sonic Forces than play a long list of Sonic games. Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Heroes, Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Adventure 2 (yeah I went there)... The real problems with the game break down as follows.

The Levels Are Too Fucking Short

The average Modern Sonic or Avatar level is about as long as Metal Harbor from Sonic Adventure 2. That was a... really short level, in a game that had too little Sonic-gameplay content as it was. But while that was just one level, the entire game is like this in the case of Sonic Forces. Classic Sonic levels are, maybe, about the size of an act from Sonic 1. The thing is, we're used to bigger stages than this. In Sonic Forces, you reach a point where you're finding a groove through a level and having a good time, and then whoops! It's over. The game makes up for it somewhat by packing in a lot of stages (30 to be precise), but I'd rather have 12 memorable stages than 30 forgettable ones.

The Level Assets R Bored ._.

One of the really remarkable things about early Sonic games is what vaporwave kids call A E S T H E T I C S. Early Sonic was aesthetic as FUCK, borrowing cues from the trends in the late 1980s and very early 1990s in graphic design, and especially, old-school CG. If you've ever seen the old Mind's Eye videos and things of that nature, you know exactly where those polygonal palm trees and Escher-esque birds and fish come from. This sort of eye for detail made the early games absolutely beautiful to look at, with the levels boasting streamlined curves and maze-like layouts, bursting with color and exhibiting harmonious balance that was pleasing to the eye. Even the backgrounds were gorgeous -- who could forget Green Hill's shimmering seaside, with mountainous islands and white puffy clouds in the background, or the steel industrial towers rising into the sky in Oil Ocean from Sonic 2, with a heat wave effect around the searing sun above?

What do we get in Sonic Forces? A bunch of boring, rectilinear bullshit, that's what. In fact, the Green Hill stages (way to come up with new locations, guys) just have different-sized checkerboard boxes in the background. Sure, there are some ramps and slopes in the level itself, but they're either straight or just use the same few curves over and over. It's not quite Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric bad, but it's not very good. Also, the same gimmicks are used over and over, level after level, and most of them were taken from Sonic Colors, the first game to feature all-Boost gameplay. Jesus Christ, there's a level called Chemical Plant but it doesn't use the Chemical Plant assets aside from some of the glass tube ramps carrying blue liquid. The elevators, in particular, are samey rectangles instead of the unique Chemical Plant lifts. It's not quite as bad as the bland, depressing, rushed aesthetics of, say, Shadow the Hedgehog, but Sonic Mania and Sonic Generations set our standards higher, with mind-blowingly creative takes on old and new locations.

And the level layout doesn't make any sense because it's not themed to the stage. It's just the same boring shit as every other level. Take Casino Forest, for example. If you remember Casino Night Zone from Sonic 2, you will recall that the entire level was laid out like a giant pinball machine. The slopes and curves seemed to funnel Sonic into the slots when he came across them. Sonic Forces, no such luck. It's pretty much "let's use the same rectilinear corridors and rooms we use for every other level, throw in a couple of ramps -- oh shit, this is a casino level isn't it? Well, we'll throw in some bumpers and slots here and there. Done!" Oh yeah, there's the fact that you can't steer Sonic into the slots very well because you don't have the same level of precision and control. Which brings us to...

The Physics Are Glitchy

Modern Sonic controls like ass. So does the Avatar. They either don't move when I want them to move, or shoot off in a direction I didn't want to go in. Their acceleration curves on the ground are janky as fuck, and when they jump you have to wrestle with the control stick to get them to go where you want them to go. And Classic Sonic isn't much better. He feels "sticky", like he doesn't really want to move when you hit a boost pad, spin dash, or roll. To be fair, none of these are too bad. They don't make the game play like Bubsy, or Sonic '06 or anything. It's just... when old-school Sonic physics is coded into your muscle memory, it can be hard to get used to these foibles in the game's physics and tune your stick and button responses to them.

My biggest complaint is that, particularly in one late-game level, the road curves ahead of you, and with no guardrails to keep you on track, if you aren't holding right hard as you dash along this stretch of track, you will crater to your death. But then there's another stretch of track where the game dynamically adjusts your trajectory to keep you on the track as long as you hold Up, so if you take what you've learned from the previous stretch of track and try to turn Sonic into the curve, you will again fall to your death. That's probably the biggest fuck-you in the game, but it's just in that one level as far as I can tell, and overall the game has a much lower cheap-death count than Adventure 2, Heroes, or Shadow -- let alone '06. (Fuck you, '06 and fuck the fans who say it's good or it can be made good. It's broken.)

The Boss Battles Suck

So Infinite, supposedly, is more powerful than Sonic. Shouldn't that be reflected in, you know, the boss fights against him? Instead we get two boring, relatively easy fights against him where all you have to do is dodge his straightforward attacks and mash the jump button when he's in range. Sonic games used to be known for neat boss fights. There was one at the end of each zone, and each one was based around Robotnik in his egg vehicle, but they all featured different weapons and upgrades to the vehicle, and thus different attack patterns and vulnerabilities. Later games would bring midbosses at the end of each zone's first act. This formula would be abandoned for the Sonic Adventure series, and I really wish it'd come back. But even then, Sonic Adventure 2 had a variety of interesting bosses, even if they weren't all Robotnik.

Things went really off the rails with Sonic Heroes, which had boring, samey bosses up until the last one or two, and this seems to be the pattern Sega feels comfortable in now. Which is fine, except no, it's not, it sucks actually. And it's particularly galling because this is the game where Robotnik finally takes over the world. It should be fraught with peril and danger for our heroes, and they should have to square off against terrifying robots and creations the likes of which the world has never seen before. But no, it's run down a corridor, hit the guy a few times, dodge his telegraphed attacks and fucking repeat until dead. This is even true of the final boss, which is just a ripoff of the final boss from Sonic Colors. That one was fun the first time, but come on. Even Sonic and the Secret Rings had an imaginative final boss.

Oh, another annoying thing: there are encounters which look like boss fights because they feature huge enemies that must be defeated, such as the giant snake from Luminous Forest or the giant crab thing from that one Avatar level with the giant crab thing in it. But you've been trolled because a couple of quick time events later and you fucking beat it. Jesus Christ, Sega.

So those are the bad points of this game. Here are some good points:

Your Name, the Hedgehog

I like the Avatar. More than I expected to. Full background: the Avatar is a custom character created using the in-game character creation facility. The character creation tool is very basic, allowing you to pick from among seven species, two genders, and a variety of head and eye shapes and base skin and fur colors, but that's it. Then again, it's still about as wide a range as the imagination of a typical Sonic fan can muster. Completing missions allows you to unlock accessories to decorate your OC with -- but aside from the Wispon (a gun powered by colored Wisp energy which grants one attack ability and one sub-ability) these do not affect gameplay at all. In fact the only variables that do affect gameplay are species (each species grants a different, specific perk; for example birds can double-jump and cats can hold onto one ring when they get hit) and equipped Wispon.

Adding the Avatar was a brilliant marketing move by Sega. They know what's up. They knew that diehard fans would piss themselves at being able to make their fursona canon in a Sonic game; and ironic hipsters would attempt to recreate Coldsteel or Sonichu in the character editor. Sega also resisted the temptation to decide for us that what we really need is another, vastly different, playstyle from the go-fast modern Sonic style we've gotten used to by now. Accordingly, Avatar levels are Boost levels with a different moveset. You can homing-attack enemies and swing from grapple points with your grappling hook, use your Wispon to clear out groups of enemies, or collect Wisps of the appropriate color to enable an otherwise inaccessible form of locomotion -- like launching yourself into the air with the Burst Wispon or doing a light-dash along rings with the Lightning Wispon. They're not as zippy as the Boost levels, but hey, there can only be one Sonic. Some levels let you play as Sonic and the Avatar together, successfully merging the gameplay of the two characters by putting Sonic in the lead when you press the Boost button and the Avatar in the lead when you attempt to grapple or use Wispon attacks. It's quite seamless, even less clunky than Sonic Heroes, and I love it. They could make a whole game out of this style of play. There are moments when Sonic and Avatar together do a "Double Boost", plowing through enemies and sweeping up rings at hyper speed, but these sections last about ten seconds apiece, in keeping with the game's general theme of frustrating shortness.

Finally, the Avatar is perfectly integrated into the game's cutscenes, giving them a critical role in the unfolding story.

Plot and Theming

So the plot goes like this: with the power of Infinite and the Phantom Ruby (that weird rock he dug up in Sonic Mania), Dr. Robotnik has succeeded in defeating Sonic and taking over the world. A band of rebels called the Resistance -- led by Knuckles and bearing quite a few parallels with Princess Sally's Freedom Fighters from Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series), aka "SatAM" -- seeks to track Sonic down, wherever he's being held, and retake the world. In Sonic's absence, a new hero (your Avatar), a survivor from one of Infinite's assaults on the population, steps in to help the resistance.

Meanwhile, "Tails", presumably wracked with guilt after Sonic's capture, re-connects with Classic Sonic (the version of him from Mania) and the two eventually lend their help to resisting Robotnik as well.

It's a fairly basic plot. It goes back to some dark themes -- like war and torture -- that we really haven't seen in a main-series Sonic game since Shadow. But there's no self-conscious attempt to be grimdark and edgy, no characters brooding about their past, no "damn fourth Chaos Emerald", and no human-hedgehog shipping. Everything is, still, pretty lighthearted and fun. Which gets pretty weird when you're told Sonic has been "tortured for months" aboard the Death Egg, and yet all he says to his torturers are the usual lighthearted, sarcastic quips. But what the hell. He's a blue cartoon hedgehog. This idea of cartoon animals in a war-torn world reminds me of nothing so much as the North Korean propaganda cartoon, Squirrel and Hedgehog, which even Western viewers admit has a sort of bizarre charm about it -- and that's where Sonic Forces is. Although not with the anti-Western propaganda of a repressive dictatorship.

I like how each of Sonic's friends has a specific role in the resistance: Knuckles is the leader, Silver the second in command, Amy the data analyst, Shadow and Rouge are the recon agents. "Tails" has gone underground to conduct his own search for Sonic. Sonic's cast has grown quite a bit in the past few years, and it's good that they found something for all these characters to do without burdening the story with needless exposition or a surfeit of unnecessary "gameplay styles".

Another thing I like is that they managed to keep Sonic's sarcastic "attitude" without making him a jerk. Looking back on 90s Sonic media, it's noteworthy how Sonic is an asshole even to his friends, and gets away with it because he's the hero. In "SatAM" and the Archie comics, for instance, he never passes up an opportunity to make fun of Antoine. In the British "Sonic the Comic", he's constantly mocking "Tails". In this game, Sonic manages to save his jokes at others' expense for his actual enemies and is quite charitable to his friends (especially "Tails" and the Avatar). At multiple points in the game, upon hearing a report of impending defeat from Resistance fighters, he says something like "You've done more than enough already. Good work, everyone! I'll handle it from here."

That's another thing: they actually found a use for in-game quips from the main character. Rather than Bubsying it up and having him say "there's a bounce pad!" or "I love rings!" every time some game event is triggered, Sonic Forces does a fair bit of story exposition with Star Fox-like radio chatter from the main characters before and during the game's stages, as well as cutscenes. The chatter can be turned off at the player's discretion, but I don't find it too distracting, and some of Sonic's lines are genuinely funny.

If there's anything wrong with the plot, it's that sometimes they seem to raise the stakes, but don't follow through and the situation is resolved in like a minute. Sonic is thought dead in the early game, but a couple of stages later, he's alive. Worse, there's a scene where Robotnik banishes Sonic and Avatar to "Null Space". Ten seconds later, they're back out on the street.

Boost Gameplay

The Boost levels are the most fun ones in the game. When you're barreling down the track at a zillion miles per hour, you don't notice the odd bit of minor physics glitch (except when it sends you clean off the track; I'm looking at you, Metropolitan Highway...). They didn't keep up the standards set by Generations, but they didn't kill all the fun in the game, especially the Boost bits, either.

But that just provokes the question: why didn't they keep up the standards set by Generations? I liked this game a fair bit, but I wanted to like it a lot more. Hell, I want to like every Sonic game as much as I like 2, 3, and & Knuckles. But this is where we are. Sonic has just gone from consistently good, to consistently bad, to just plain inconsistent. Why can't he just stay good?

The problem with Sonic is, I believe, a problem with Sega. It ties back into what I said about the franchise in the past: Sega just doesn't understand which values the Sonic brand represents, from a gameplay perspective. They use him as a media icon, but they have no vision of what the player should expect when they boot up a Sonic game. Hell, the players have a better idea than Sega does, which is why an effective fan game (Sonic Mania) got the highest praise the main series has seen in literally decades!

But here's the thing, Sonic fans: It's easy for you to say that a particular game is bad, and even -- as I've done here -- point out what's bad about it. It's much, much harder for a game developer to find and fix those bad things. Say "the physics are too glitchy", or "the jumps are too floaty" to a game dev, and you may was well say "tighten up the graphics on level 3". Take jumping for instance. There are quite a few variables that go into a game character's jump. A jump can be modelled as an impulse that sends a character's velocity upward followed by acceleration back downward due to gravity. But how big should the impulse be? How quickly should they accelerate back to earth? Do you want to have jump aftertouch (changing directions in midair)? How much aftertouch? What should happen when you jump off a slope? Should the impulse still be straight up, or should it be perpendicular to the slope? (Classic Sonic went with the latter; Sonic Rush went with the former. And now to this day I still can't take Sonic Rush seriously as a platformer in the classic vein.)

Getting games right is hard. Hell, getting slopes right is a test of mettle for any 2D game programmer. What needs to happen is the developers, once they have the basic engine put together, need to sit down and test and tweak, and test some more and tweak some more. Because that's what it takes to make a game "feel" right. And what they found out as they made these tweaks needs to be noted for future developers; it needs to become institutional knowledge.

The big difference between Nintendo and Sega is one of institutional knowledge. Quick, who do you think of when I say "Mario"? Well, Mario himself, but who in real life? Shigeru Miyamoto, right? Gaming's Walt Disney. What if I told you that Miyamoto, who had been producer or director on most Mario titles to date, only had a light touch on Super Mario Odyssey? And Super Mario Odyssey is the best damn Mario game to date! That's because the info on what makes a Mario game good and how to make a good Mario game has become institutional knowledge at Nintendo, passed from employee to employee and generation to generation. It is the ultimate mark of success of any genius that they eventually make themself obsolete, so that their successors can benefit from their knowledge without them when they die, retire, or quit. And Shigsy is coming up on retirement age...

Sega, er, didn't bother preserving that institutional knowledge from the first few Sonic games. And today, the end result is like they forgot it. It's like retrograde amnesia. While playing through Sonic Forces, I was reminded of nothing so much as early, 1980s Sega platformers, like Alex Kidd and the Wonder Boy series. In fact I have the modern remake of Wonder Boy III on my Switch, and the janky movement and floaty jumps from Forces all feel specifically familiar to what I remember from that game. But back in the 80s, you could sort of give them the benefit of the doubt. Nintendo basically invented the modern video-game-character jump with Super Mario Bros., and they weren't exactly forthcoming with that information back then because it was a competitive advantage for them, so other game houses had to either figure out on their own what made the Mario jumps so satisfying to use (Capcom), or else do without them and use a lesser mechanic (Konami, Sega).

But here's the thing: when Sega set about creating a better Mario in the early 90s, they succeeded. Sonic was everything Mario was at the time, and more. But in the early 90s, Sonic Team wasn't really a thing. It was just whoever had worked on Sonic 1. There wasn't a Miyamoto at the helm to set the standards and guide the trajectory for the series as a whole. Yuji Naka doesn't count, and neither does Naoto Ohshima. Later games would be passed from team to team, and while the basic engine remained the same, high-level knowledge of what went into that engine may have been lost along the way -- I'd say the best candidate for such a loss was the "Sonic Winter" of the late 90s, when Sega would go a whole console generation without developing a current-gen, native main-series Sonic title. (Sonic 3D Blast was a Genesis port, and the only other games in the franchise for the Saturn were Sonic R and Sonic Jam.) It was a time of tremendous upheaval for Sega, as they had to recover from the setbacks they suffered from the botched Sega CD and 32X launches, and the failure of the Saturn against the PlayStation and N64. This was also the time when Sonic fandom began to coalesce, and to be frank, the fandom which eventually formed couldn't give two shits about gameplay. So by the time the Adventure series appeared on the Dreamcast, already you could see a break in continuity of vision for where the series was going from a gameplay perspective. Bereft of the franchise's moorings, Sonic Team endlessly tried new things, wanted you to try new things, wanted you to like their experiments. But ultimately what they were trying to do was catch lightning in a bottle, and they failed at it. That's why I call the series "tryhard".

If I were the head of Sonic Team, I would instruct my subordinates to do what the fans already did: go back to the original Genesis games. If I can't find the original source code, I'd have them disassemble and reverse-engineer the ROMs. (That is what the fans did!) Part of the problem with updating OG Sonic physics for today may be that the original games were 2D and pixel-accurate, and largely used integer math to calculate the game state, whereas a modern 3D world would be built from floating-point coordinates in 3D space. Nevertheless, I would try to map the integer constants of Sonic's 2D world into 3D space, fit acceleration curves to what's observable from the 2D games, etc. I would have a model of Green Hill Zone Act 1, or a part of it, built in the 3D engine, and if Sonic does not control exactly as he does in the original Sonic 1, I would order more refinements to be made. This can be checked both through play-testing and by running side-by-side versions of original Sonic 1 and the modern engine, sending them synthetic button events, and seeing whether they match up. Once they do match up, only then would I add modern features like the boost, homing attack, etc.

I would have the programmers take careful notes on the refinements they made, and instruct them to put these notes into a company- or team-wide wiki. I would have them bring in their sons, daughters, or little siblings to play-test it. I would reach out to Sonic fans and select candidates for a limited beta test from among their number.

It's going to take effort and commitment for Sega to rescue Sonic from the scrappy heap. What Sonic Forces showed me is that Sega is not ready to make that commitment. It may be time for them to cut Sonic loose, to sell him to Nintendo or WayForward or somebody. I don't think they'll do that, though, because Sonic is the thing that's keeping their name in the limelight.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic forces #game design #sega #rants

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isakthedragon · 8 years ago

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A Dragon Sized Adventure Chapter 26

Chapter 26: In the Beginning...

*Crash and the others are teleported into the lowest section of the Death Head, right inside the Prehistoric Terrarium. These Terrariums have the ecosystem of the time and place the Time Twister connects to in them. Within those Terrariums are buttons, and those buttons connect to the Time Twister, creating an orb in time and space that warps anyone who enters to that specific point that is contained within it...*

Sonic takes a look at their surroundings. "What kind of place is this? Even Eggman has never made something as big as this..."

*Crash whispers something in Crunch's ear.*

Crunch: "Well, this is the second time Cortex and the others have made something like this, which is called a Time Twister. It basically lets anyone go to any time period they wish. Cortex mostly uses it to steal crystals from any time."

Tails: "Wow! A real, working time machine!"

Crunch: "Yep, but the old one was, and this new one probably is too, made by Dr. Nefarious Tropy. He likes making time paradoxes, yet he wants to keep order too. I bet he'll explain himself more once we find him."

Spyro: "So, then, why can't we go find them now?"

*Espio, Charmy, and Vector had left to scout the area and have just returned.*

Charmy: ♪ "Cause it be no use!" ♫ *Silver can be heard face-palming.*

Knuckles: "Why not? It shouldn't be too hard to punch down a door."

Espio: "Well, they don't use doors. They use force fields of electricity."

OMEGA: "THEN I WILL BLAST THE GENERATORS!"

Rouge: "Omega, must that be your answer to everything? I'm pretty sure that they have prevented that too."

Vector: "There does seem to be some way though. It says we need to collect 5 purple crystals in order to drop the field."

Shadow: "That sounds like an absurd requirement."

Crunch: "Not for Cortex, it isn't. I bet he wants us to collect them for him."

Crash: "He thinks he can fool us!" *He immediately covers his mouth.*

Silver: "Then why should we collect them? They seem pretty safe wherever they are."

Crunch: "Well, Aku-Aku, he's our mask deity who has now been taken by Cortex too, has always had us collect them because they have immense energy that can be used for anything."

Crash: "He trusts us, and we should help him!" *Again, he quickly covers his mouth.*

*Amy, Cream and Big had also left to search the area.*

Cream walks up to Crunch. "Um, Mr. Bandicoot?"

Crunch: "Oh! We never told you our names. I'm Crunch, and this is our little bro Crash."

Crash walks up to Cream. "Hello!"

Cream: "Hello, Mr. Crash."

Crunch: "We also have a sister, but Dr. N. Gin, Cortex's right hand man, has taken her. But we bet she's doing a good job fending herself."

Sonic: "We'll keep a watch for your sister." *He smirks.*

Cream: "Mr. Crunch? What's with all the buttons we found in here?"

Big: "Yeah. We found 5 of them. I guess they must have something to do with what we are in?"

Crunch: "Yep. They fire up the Time Twister that's in here and opens a way to a crystal. Come on, we will show you. Now where's the 1st button?"

Amy: "This way." *Team Rose leads them over to the first button.* "Here it is."

Crunch steps on the button and an orb appears.

Tails: "Wow!"

Crunch: "Indeed. Well, let's get started on collecting those crystals. Oh, and if you guys see gems around, can you collect them?"

Spyro: "Gems? Like these?" *He pulls out a gem from his world.*

Crunch: "No. They're bigger and most are a white color. Cortex can use those to harness planetary energy as well, so we should make sure to be the ones to grab them first. They may be laying around, but they mostly come from destroying crates."

*Crash shows one.*

Cynder: "Why?"

Crash decides to answer by saying "They're filled with Wampa Fruit!" *He breaks the crate, revealing some of those apple-like fruits. He immediately eats them.*

Crunch: "We have to eat, you know."

Cynder: "Indeed."

Crunch: "But be careful with TNT Crates and Nitro Crates. They're really explosive."

*Sonic is now impatient and tapping his foot. He can't wait any longer.* "Alright, enough with the explanations, let's go!"

*Crash blabbers in agreement.*

(Whenever you are ready, press those buttons and jump in the Warp Orb. Note that you can take anyone into these. I'll note if there is anyone who needs to enter specifically. For the most part though, Crash or Crunch (And later Coco) will at least be one of the partners.)

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Level 1: A Prehistoric Walk

*Cortex, Uka-Uka and Eggman appears as a hologram as they go though the wormhole.* (This happens off and on.)

Cortex: "Crash, why must you always be a thorn in my side?"

Eggman: "Same for you, Sonic, why must you ruin our plans?!"

Cortex: "Well, we decided on a team up."

Eggman: "Let's see you ruin our plan now!"

Uka-Uka: "WE WILL DESTROY YOU!" *They disappear.*

Crates: 78

Time Trial

Sapphire: 1:45.00

Gold: 1:30.00

Platinum: 1:15.00

(Just to note, those crates and Time Trail times are made up to make it sound more like a Crash Bandicoot game. If this were real, those numbers would be different.)

Magmadons To Save: 5

Helping Partner: Sonic

Badniks: Rexon: Robo dinos? What will they think of next? A park to house them? Spiker: It's a spike carrying robot, what more do you want? Sol: Spinning wheels of FIRE! Wave Lab Assistant Pawns: They hide in the swamps, waiting to pounce on Crash and the gang. Thanks to getting a Pawn head, they should be easier to identify thanks to their eyes.

Beasts: Bandifish: Crash's prehistoric ancestor. *SPIN SPIN*

Mutants: Magmadons: Turtle + lava rock hybrids that love to bath in lava.

(Starts headbanging!)

Welcome to the Prehistoric Earth. I hope you don't mind getting your feet wet, since there are feet high swamps everywhere. This first level is here to introduce you to Crash's moves. from his spins (and his Death Tornado), to his Super Belly Flop, his Double Jumping, and even his Wampazooka (with special appearance of Crash's tiptoe and dash power). And you also get an introductions to all the crates you'll see. All the basics in a lovely tutorial that is just a regular level. All the Crystals hide in plain sight around 3/4 in of every level (so I won't keep mentioning it). (And unless stated of a second gem around, there is usually only one for breaking all the crates.)

*About midway through the level, Sonic and Crash encounter and 3 Aku-Aku crates on top of each other.*

Crash whimpers.

Sonic: "What's wrong?"

Crash: "No Aku-Aku to help me!"

Sonic: "Is that bad?"

*Crash whispers in Sonic's ear, telling him that Aku-Aku usually protects him from damage, with invincibility with 3.*

Sonic: "So he protects you. Well, you do look pretty trustworthy. Want these?" *He shows Crash the Chaos Emeralds.*

Crash: "Oh?"

Sonic: "Take them, they'll keep you safe if you collect enough rings."

Crash: "These things?" *He shows the rings he found so far in the level.*

Sonic: "Yep. Here, let me show you." *He takes the rings and uses them to go Super Sonic. A wall of 16 Nitros are ahead and Sonic runs into them and the nearby TNT, making them blow up and leaving Sonic unhurt. He returns to his regular state.*

Crash: "Hooray!" *He smiles his toothy grin.*

Sonic: "Here, take them, Crash."

*Crash takes them and easily goes Super, gaining a yellow aura. His hair turns yellow as well and regains his old mohawk.* "Yahoo!" *He runs off, letting the player finish the level in Crash's super state.*

Achievement Unlocked: Getting Your Shoes Wet

-----

Level 2: Wading Dino

Crates: 95

Time Trial

Sapphire: 1:50.00

Gold: 1:35.00

Platinum: 1:20.00

Magmadons To Save: 5

Helping Partner: Spyro

Badniks: (Except for any new ones I note, all badniks appear in all levels of a Terrarium) Dino Riding Lab Assistant Pawns: They have tamed some baby T-Rexes of their own, albeit the dinos are metal too. Charging the dino and smashing the Pawn will defeat them.

The main feature for this level is that Crash is able to ride his old Baby T-Rex from Warped. He grants Crash an extra hit point and lets Crash jump even higher (Spyro flies for any jumps that are too high.). This level is another walk through the swamps. Usually around the halfway point of the levels, there is a platform that you can jump on to go to a BONUS area, filled with crates and Wampa fruit. It's a great way to earn lives, too.

Achievement Unlocked: Baby T, The Cutest Dino Around

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Level 3: Magmadon Magma Runs

*Dingodile appears.*

Dingodile: "G'day, mates. Dingodile's the name. Uka-Uka, Cortex, and Eggman want me to collect those Crystals you're collecting from the Prehistoric. You better give me the goods, and shove off, before I roast yas!"

Crates: 60

Time Trial

Sapphire: 1:40.00

Gold: 1:30.00

Platinum: 1:20.00

Magmadons To Save: 5

Helping Partner: Knuckles

This level has Crash and Knuckles riding Magmadons across lave floes. These mutants that are scattered across the levels and Terrariums are working for Cortex, but if you can break their headsets, they are more than willing to help you. They look big and strong, and they are, but they are big softies that are quite gentle. Cortex's Evolvo-ray is what has made them susceptible to the noise generated by the headsets, but Crash and the others slapping some sense in them helps save them. These mutants can take much more of a beating, having their own health bar and can be easily healed from the Wampa fruit laying around.

Knuckles noticed one of the Magmadons. "Hey, Crash? I know that they do have those headsets that are meant to make them crazy, but why are we helping them? Aren't they dangerous?"

Crash: "Mutants aren't mean! Nor dangerous" *Crash sounds like he is a little offended at the question.*

Knuckles realizes his mistake. "Wait, you're a mutant yourself? I'm sorry, I didn't know..." *Knuckles trails off, a little angry that he made such a mistake.*

Crash shows a smile. "It's okay! You didn't know." *He whispers something to Knuckles.*

Knuckles : "Oh! They are only dangerous and evil thanks to Cortex's evolving."

Crash: "Uh-huh! I help them so they can live their own lives!"

Knuckles: "Maybe you should tell the others that too so they can help."

Crash: "I will!"

Achievement Unlocked: Magmadons, The Hottest Turtles Around

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Level 4: Volcanic Vents

Crates: 103

Time Trial

Sapphire: 2:00.00

Gold: 1:55.00

Platinum: 1:50.00

Magmadons To Save: 5

Helping Partner: Tails

Badniks: Fireworm: So fire, much worm.

Well, I got some good news and bad news. Good news is that there is no more swamps underneath you, the bad news is that now you have to climb a volcano. At least it is somewhat dormant, so this no raining of rocks from the sky, but there are some lava flows here and there. And here is where you can get your first taste of a Death Route (Complete with proper music). There's a checkpoint right next to it so you can try as much as your lives allow. Death Routes are usually harder sections of a level, with more traps and Nitros and danger. But this one shouldn't be too hard. It will take you through the center of the volcano, with platforms strewn all across. Should you be able to avoid getting singed, another gem and a quick walk to the exit is your reward. Or you could kill yourself after collecting the gem and continue normally around the volcano. Your choice. Either way, your exit is on the other side of the volcano.

Achievement Unlocked: Feeling the Earth Move

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Level 5: Pterodactyl Pterror

Crates: 93

Time Trial

Sapphire: 1:40.00

Gold: 1:30.00

Platinum: 1:20.00

Magmadons To Save: 5

Helping Partner: Cynder

Beasts: Pterodactyls: *SCREECH!*

No prehistoric visit would be complete without a visit of flying dinos, aka Pterodactyls. You're back in the swamps again, but it isn't all that bad. Those birds can easily be dealt with by spinning them away. Nothing much to note here, just avoid being hurt by the beasts and badniks and you'll be fine.

Achievement Unlocked: Not Altering the Course of History

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*After returning to the Space Egg / Death Head, the buttons disappear and Crash and the others are lead to the center of the Terrarium. There, they find Dingodile, readying his flamethrower.*

Boss: Dingodile

"Mmm! Deep fried bandicoot and deep fried blue hedgehog sound mighty delicious right now."

(Break out the guitar, we're gonna rock out!)

Dingodile makes a lovely first boss, don't you think? Now, it's not a good idea to go straight into him, lest you want to get burned, rather you should run away and collect the rings scattered about to keep your health (Bosses use rings, since Aku-Aku isn't around to save you, and it makes sense with Sonic here). Now the normal way is to just wait until Dingodile gets tired and drops his flamethrower, letting you hit him. Afterwards, you'd have to run away until he gets tired again. OR, if you really want to kick Dingodile's ass, you can find 50 rings around the place and go Super, and just keep running into him. Either way, about 8 hits will do it.

Achievement Unlocked: No Singed Bandicoot Butt.

*After the 8th hit...*

Dingodile: "Gah! Youse are the worst mates ever! But let's see how tough you are over ICE in the Ice Ages."

*Dingodile gets up and runs off, deactivating the force field and letting you move on to the next Terrarium. Crash and the others give chase...*

Next Time: Try not to become Crash cubes in the Ice Age Terrarium.

#Isakthedragon's fanfiction #A Dragon Sized Adventure #ADSA #ADSA: Chapter 26

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