@Kayloo I'm sorry, but do I know you? Your name isn't ringing a bell, and this is a rather odd spot to try to add me as a friend on 3DS or Switch, considering the subject of the article.
My condolences to his family and loved ones. I enjoyed reading his work during his heyday at NL. I remember he loved to play Mega Man and I think a running joke was that ChickenBrutus got to review the bad games? His words brought me many laughs and smiles, and he will be missed.
@Einherjar Just adding on to what you said about the lack of a Nintendo Charm.
It was very intentional on the Switch. Take the barebones white and black themes, these came from wanting the system to always boot up within a certain amount of time instead of taking longer to load like the 3DS and Wii U. I imagine a jingle/power on sound would potentially take up more resources that Nintendo didn't want to spare with their minimalistic take on the Switch.
@James Haha, hello James! I purposely put that space there to avoid tagging you. I hadn't seen you comment here in ages and didn't want to bother you with that old memory.
Glad to hear you're still at NOE! Have a great day!
@Damo I remember a former NL Staff member, a Mr. James Newton, who talked about pitching "SegaLife". I believe he wanted to call it SegaFusion? It's been a decade at this point, sadly can't remember clearly. Hopefully @ James is still working for NoE or enjoying a promotion elsewhere.
@UltimateOtaku91 It depends on your region and when the game unlocks. Since 3DS Retail Downloads, a game would unlock at 12AM Eastern, meaning if you lived on the West Coast of North America, you could play the game at 9PM once all of the data has downloaded/final bit of data has downloaded from the preload. I know this worked for Smash Ultimate a few years ago, since it's a first party Nintendo game, I imagine it would unlock at 12AM Eastern.
@aznable It's definitely not for everyone, it led to me replaying levels more than I would have otherwise if I wasn't trying to get certain drops for other upgrades. It's sort of why I'm confused about the backlash to the gacha system in Gunvolt 3, it's not exactly a new inclusion. Again, unless I'm misunderstanding how it works in 3.
The system in the first two games felt like gacha to begin with, since your materials were hidden behind 15 question mark boxes in the first place, and the better you did on the level, the more pulls you had at the end of the level. Unless I'm horribly misunderstanding how the gacha system works in this game, I feel like it will be pretty similar.
@GsPandem Back in 2015, the fans were wanting a game titled Iron Cog. It never had a solid, definitive three word title though.
I also think you're underselling how popular the NES game was in the West, with it selling a million units in the US alone, and was the second best selling game of October 1988 behind Super Mario Bros 2, according to Wikipedia that is. Sure, it's no 7 Million copies like the PS1 game, but without the original game being popular in the west, perhaps it would have sold less, needing to introduce the genre rather than expand upon it.
And just to add a bit to the legacy of the NES game, copied and pasted from Wikipedia: The NES version of Metal Gear was ranked the 104th best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games list.[37] GamesRadar ranked it the sixth-best NES game ever made, and the staff felt that it popularized its genre.[38] In 1997 Electronic Gaming Monthly named the NES version the 35th best console video game of all time, citing "how you have to think like a spy to win, which means you don't always have to fight."[39] Game Informer placed the game 53rd on their top 100 video games of all time praising the game’s stealth aspects and dramatic plot.[40]
@Not_Soos As a Sonic fan on the internet, I'm unfortunately numb to that kind of content. Look for a new avatar and there are some things you can never unsee.
Joking aside, your first sentence in your comment made me stop reading entirely until I figured out what was going on, haha. Properly confused me and I needed to know what article I was on, or if the Sonic glitches had somehow carried over to the articles as well.
@Not_Soos I opened both this and the article about Nintendo never asking Platinum Games to cover Bayonetta in new tabs before reading them, I read through this article first, and the beginning of your comment still made me believe I was somehow in the wrong comment section! 😅
@OwenGamer22 Just adding more evidence, Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric on Wii U and Shattered Chrystal released in November. Sonic Lost World on Wii U released in October, Sonic Generations on all devices released in November, Sonic Colors on Wii and DS released in November, and Sonic Unleashed released in November too.
Sonic Mania and Origins are more of the exceptions to the norm with recent releases, with Sega seeing them more as the minor release for the year, and Sonic Colors Ultimate was bizarrely released in September with performance issues. Oh well, at least we can count on Sega to stick to whatever release date they set instead of delaying the game.
@Pointy59 It's an issue with the collection itself. The collection runs at Sonic Mania's Soft Pixel setting, and it results in the games looking blurry. Sharp pixels would fix the issue you're talking about, and was modded in on the PC version within a few days of launch.
@KateGray I've said it once before, but I love your taglines. As soon as I read it on the main page, I clicked knowing you were the one to write the article. Your taglines are unique and a joy to read.
@Axecon Can you provide a source for Mario Odyssey developers working on Lost World? Or do you mean that the developers left Sega to work at Nintendo on Mario Odyssey? Wouldn't be the first time that happened, staff from Generations worked on Breath of the Wild.
I'm almost willing to bet that the next Sonic game won't be a Frontiers 2. That would make too much sense, along with a Mania 2. We're probably going to get another crazy twist like Lost World or Sonic Boom. (Yes, I know Boom was handled by outside studios)
@Snatcher Tell your friend they can, but only very carefully. You may also want to tell them that Jakks will definitely take their money for the replacement purchase.
@Ralizah The game was delisted from the eShop and all other digital shops selling it because of the licensing expiring to historical archive footage in MGS 2 and 3. If you owned the game digitally, you could redownload it, they didn't go full P.T.
@davowayman You need to boot up CD outside of Story Mode, then press right on Sonic CD's title screen until you reach something like Soundtrack, and then you're brought to the 2011 menu for the Soundtrack.
@westman98 Hey now, I'm sure EA would know a 10 if they saw one. They'd recognize every 10 dollar bill, 10 pound note, 10 euros, 10 yen, oh wait. That last one is too small, but they might still take it anyway.
@samuelvictor Since you mentioned World, I should inform you and the other casual Digidestined of the localization problem Digimon had for a while.
Digimon World released back on the PS1, and with it came a naming convention that was used on most western releases afterwards. In Japan, they used different names for the different series of games, World for the pet sims, Story for the RPGs, etc. In the west however, they were all mostly given the name of Digimon World. It would be like if Sega continued to name every western Sonic release after Sonic Adventure. Sonic Adventure Shuffle, Sonic Adventure Heroes, etc.
Take the DS Digimon games, Digimon World DS, Digimon World Dawn, World Dusk? Those were the first games in the Digimon Story games in Japan, World DS = Digimon Story, World Dawn = Story Sunburst, World Dusk = Story Moonlight.
Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth was the first time they dared to use the Story branding. If you have a PS4, they released an entry in the Digimon World series on there, I just forget the subtitle. For the casual fan wondering what the difference is, World is a Tomodachi like game, where your Digimon at most have a lifespan of about a month before they get reborn as better or worse Digimon. Story is a mission driven dungeon crawler.
Survive is a new take on the series that I'm excited for. Hopefully all of those delays didn't just prolong the inevitable.
@Henmii I'm guessing your browser had an issue loading the image, because there is an image included in this article showing off the logos of 4, 5, and 6, Pokemon style, both games included.
@Banjo- Again, haven't played the games for Origins outside of Story Mode, so I can't say if they updated the save file screen. However, in 2013 releases of Sonic 1 and 2, they retained their in game level select through entering a code at the title screen. In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the level select is through a code, but also once you've cleared the game on that save. It works like Mania, on a per Zone system, not per act. And really, I should say it works like Sonic 3, because Mania copied it. The code however always will let you choose the Zone, the Act, and also the character. 00 is Sonic & Tails, 01 is Sonic, 02 is Tails, and 03 is Knuckles. This option is generally in the bottom right.
@thinkhector The crush deaths you referred to are a known issue with the Retro Engine, the engine used to make every game in this collection. The hurtboxes in the games are now more accurate to the sprites, at the cost of things like crushing players to death when they would never in the original releases. It was made more well known with the release of Sonic Mania.
@Banjo- I haven't played any of the games individually to Origins yet, and Story Mode doesn't have a game select option to my knowledge. However, your emeralds will likely carry over. If you were asking about Mania, then yes, they will carry over.
The games don't feature a main menu level select option, but if you input codes on the title screen for Sonic 1, 2 and 3, there is a level select. GameXplain uploaded a video on it yesterday.
@samuelvictor They come from "Blue Spheres 2" a game/demo that Stealth made back in 2009. And I completely feel the Blue Spheres burnout, I actually enjoy it, but I was not having fun when I played them in Origins yesterday. Admittedly, that had more to do with the fact I had already collected 13 Chaos Emeralds and 7 Time Stones just before that. Story Mode was a fun idea, but perhaps I shouldn't have done 4 full Emerald/Metal Sonic Hologram and Generators run at once.
@Banjo- Sorry for the obvious suggestions about the special stages. I didn't pick up on any of it as a kid, but completed the stages anyway. Thought it might help you out a bit. Best advice I can give is to follow the flow of the stage, and to be patient when the stage rotates away from the opening you've been drilling away at. When it's safe to, let Sonic rest against areas that won't kill you and get ready to jump back into the opening you've been making when the time is right.
@samuelvictor You forgot one unlockable for Mania! DA Garden is unlocked at 26 Medallions, and I know you're sick of Blue Spheres, but they also added in the new Blue Spheres mode that Stealth wanted to include in the original pitch for Sonic 3 & Knuckles that Taxman and Stealth put out as a proof of concept video for S3&K's 20th Anniversary. It would have Green Spheres that had to be ran around twice instead of the usual once to turn into rings. It would change from green to blue to red instead of the usual blue to red, and then either Pink or Purple Spheres that teleport you from place to place!
@thinkhector The Switch Pro Controller when wired has an addition frame of input lag that wireless does not have, even with the proper system settings enabled. It's bizarre, but that's what multiple tests have shown.
@Banjo- Sorry for the second reply, you posted after I started typing.
"The Sonic 1 special stages rely a lot on luck." I actually disagree with this statement, everything is on a set system. The way the stage moves is constant unless you change it. Hitting an R Circle reverses the movement of the stage. The same for hitting an Up or Down Circle, it speeds up, or slows down the rotation of the stage by up to 3 speeds if I recall correctly. Hitting bumpers can also help you if you aim at the angle you want to bounce off of them at. The stages are an acquired taste for sure, but they aren't as luck based as they first seem.
As for your reply and your two edits, Stealth himself said that it is considered unprofessional in his initial thread of tweets. He only made the message after people started attacking Headcanon and their staff for the issues with the games.
"I have to apologize for not addressing anything like this sooner, but you must understand - many things of this sort are considered "unprofessional" and can hurt our relationship with Sega, meaning no origins updates, and no further 2D pixel Sonic games from us. Why am I talking about it now, then? Well, there's just too much scrutiny over things that both are and are not related to us, and I don't want to sit in back in silence while people are asking why and how things happened to a product they put so much hope and money into. I hear you, Headcannon hears you. We wanted this to be right then and now. There's so much that you'll never know or understand within the realm of this kind of work, but know and understand this - we try our best to our own detriment, and we care about our work and about Sonic"
You're right there are two sides to every story. Sega had deadlines they had to meet, hence not letting Stealth patch the game when his team tried multiple times before release. It would screw up the submission process and delay the game. I hope they patch the game, but I'm not in the same doubtless boat as you, beyond the inevitable minor fixes and updates that come to almost every game now.
@samuelvictor So, you didn't experience constant debris falling in Marble Garden Act 1 after you encounter the mini boss? That was a bizarre one in my playthrough on Steam and it didn't go away until I entered a Bonus Stage a few minutes later.
I was once told that Sonic 06 was initially supposed to release on June 6th, 2006. Couldn't find an online source for that when I recently looked for one, but if true I can only imagine how the game would have been if released in June to meet that birthday rush instead of November 2006.
@Banjo- Stealth, the owner of Headcanon only made a Retro Engine version of Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Sega internally ported the 2011 Retro Engine version of Sonic CD, the 2013 Retro Engine Mobile/Android TV/Amazon Fire Stick, etc versions of Sonic 1 and 2, and Headcanon's newly made version of S3&K into Origins.
Stealth said that there were new bugs/issues in Retro Engine version of Sonic 3 & Knuckles that weren't there when they turned in the final product to Sega, meaning they popped up when Sega put the games into Origins. Stealth also said the game they turned in wasn't perfect due to a very narrow timeframe given to make the game in the first place, but Sega wouldn't allow any fixes to be made before the game released. It's a coinflip right now if Sega will or won't patch serious bugs in the game. They could patch things, either with their own team or Stealth's, or they could leave them as is.
@samuelvictor Hopefully Sega removes Denuvo in 6 months instead of the 19 months took for Mania. Won't impact the modding of the game in the meantime, the Sonic Community has never let Denuvo stop them before, but it's probably responsible for some of the random issues with the game on Steam anyway, like the Hedgehog Engine 2 menus stuttering when you leave the Museum for instance.
@MidySeaCloud I'm by no means waiting around for Adventure 3 or a modern remakes of the Adventure games, but do you mind linking that interview? It's not the first time Iizuka has brought this topic up and had no intention of following through. A recent quote would help with some discussions.
@Serpenterror I just learned that the developer for Shredder's Revenge has some former staff members of the Ubisoft Montreal team who worked on TMNT 2007 GBA. Read your comment yesterday and had to comeback to reply.
@Blaze_Firestorm Just thought I'd point this out in case you didn't know how Sonic Jam handles the music. While the music is the same, the soundtrack plays differently on Saturn. Take Sonic 1, you're running through Green Hill Zone, and you hit an invincibility monitor. The invincibility music starts up, and then there's a noticeable gap once it ends. Instead of the Green Hill Zone music picking up where it left off, the track restarts from the beginning. Sonic Jam remade the Genesis games for the Saturn, and it's one of the quirks from doing so instead of emulating the games.
@AlanaHagues I don't believe the Act 1 Boss Music is going to be remixed, specifically because Origins doesn't have Sonic 3, it has Sonic 3 & Knuckles. When the two games are combined, certain tracks are replaced with their Sonic & Knuckles version, the title theme, Knuckles theme, the Act 1 Boss theme, the invincibility jingle, etc. The other tracks you listed are very likely on the chopping block, but unless Origins will actually use it's music library to allow swapping to certain soundtracks in game, I don't think the Act 1 Boss theme from Sonic 3 will be in the game. They are probably going to use the one from Sonic & Knuckles.
I watched the page go live for preorders, and within seconds, it already said Item Limit Reached and signed almost anyone out who tried to preorder. This has been a disaster, even if you were there the moment it went live, you couldn't secure a preorder.
@samuelvictor Excellent posts about the Saturn's specs, just wanted to add on in case you, or others didn't know.
The Saturn was originally intended to be a 32 bit, 2D Powerhouse with easy hardware to develop for. This changed after Sony unveiled the PlayStation, and the top executives of Sega Japan demanded the Saturn be capable of running 3D games, regardless of the cost. The cost ended up being a higher system MSRP, and development on the games being now very difficult to do. This was one of the many reasons why the Saturn failed on the west. And as you said, it continues to be a reason why emulating the Saturn is difficult to this day, the hardware is a mess.
@anoyonmus @Rainz The series order goes Shantae, Shantae Risky's Revenge, then Shantae and the Pirate's Curse. Shantae Half Genie Hero is a bit of a sequel and a reboot, and Seven Sirens is the sequel to Half Genie Hero.
As a heads up, the Original Shantae is a Game Boy Color game, it has been ported to Switch, not remastered, so it will play almost exactly like it did back in 2002. Pirate's Curse is considered to be the pinnacle of the series by many, but I'm not sure I'd recommend as a starting point since it is a direct sequel to Risky's Revenge, a game that released back in 2010. The other Shantae games match up closer to Risky's Revenge than they do the original Shantae.
@inenai I know you're joking, but the first 2 seasons of Sonic X in SD clock in at 50GB, all three is closer to 75GB, and that's before the files have been converted to a smaller size. Sonic X in HD would be well over 75GB, depending on how it's done, it could be around 200-300GB.
@Koda1000 They spend a lot of time working on prototypes that don't end up getting developed, from what I remember reading before they took over Metroid Prime 4. How they still got paid during those years of no releases pre Prime 4 development is beyond me.
@Chibi_Manny Careful there, you know what that song says about chuckling.
The reason the songs are replaced in Sonic 3 & Knuckles is because the game uses the sounds from the Sonic & Knuckles half of the cartridge. As for why they were changed in the first place, we will likely never get the official answer, but 99% chance it involves Michael Jackson being involved with the soundtrack of Sonic 3 and most of his music that wasn't a zone theme was replaced by new songs in Sonic & Knuckles.
I didn't mention these as lost earlier because I was talking about what content you wouldn't be able to see from Sonic & Knuckles and just added on that Tails could play through the stages now. All the songs you mentioned would still be accessable in Sonic & Knuckles, but not Sonic 3, since I wasn't listing those numerous changes.
@Chibi_Manny Sonic 3 & Knuckles is included instead of Sonic 3, and Sonic & Knuckles. Sega commissioned Headcannon, one of the studios behind Sonic Mania, to build Sonic 3 & Knuckles on the same engine that Sonic CD, 1 and 2, and Mania were built on. It's an odd exclusion, but the content from Sonic & Knuckles is still there, you just need to reach Zone 7, or use the Level Select. Outside of that, Tails is playable in the Sonic & Knuckles levels, and you sadly lose title screen for Sonic & Knuckles.
@Don When you transferred your games to your Wii U, you transferred all of the purchases too, and lost the ability to redownload those games to your Wii. Additionally, you would have had to rebuy them on Wii to play them, which is no longer possible.
On Wii U, you could still redownload the games you transferred over if necessary until recently. While the ability to make purchases from the Virtual Wii Shop Channel was disabled years ago, the store was still open to redownload games if necessary. With the shop still under maintenance, this is currently not an option.
Comments 1,650
Re: That's A Wrap! The Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Movie Is Done Filming
@Spider-Kev I have never liked you either!
Re: In Memory Of Philip J Reed, Writer And Nintendo Life Contributor
@Kayloo I'm sorry, but do I know you? Your name isn't ringing a bell, and this is a rather odd spot to try to add me as a friend on 3DS or Switch, considering the subject of the article.
Re: In Memory Of Philip J Reed, Writer And Nintendo Life Contributor
My condolences to his family and loved ones. I enjoyed reading his work during his heyday at NL. I remember he loved to play Mega Man and I think a running joke was that ChickenBrutus got to review the bad games? His words brought me many laughs and smiles, and he will be missed.
Re: Video: Don't Forget About Attack of the Friday Monsters!
Attack of the Friday Monsters... now that's a game I haven't heard in a long time...
Re: Nintendo DS Firmware 'Prototype' Reveals System's Unique Boot Up Sound Effect
@Einherjar Just adding on to what you said about the lack of a Nintendo Charm.
It was very intentional on the Switch. Take the barebones white and black themes, these came from wanting the system to always boot up within a certain amount of time instead of taking longer to load like the 3DS and Wii U. I imagine a jingle/power on sound would potentially take up more resources that Nintendo didn't want to spare with their minimalistic take on the Switch.
Re: Say Hello To Time Extension, The Newest Member Of Our Network
@James Haha, hello James! I purposely put that space there to avoid tagging you. I hadn't seen you comment here in ages and didn't want to bother you with that old memory.
Glad to hear you're still at NOE! Have a great day!
Re: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Datamine Might Have Leaked Details About Future DLC Tracks
Really hoping for DS Airship Fortress to make the jump. It's always been one of my favorites.
Re: Say Hello To Time Extension, The Newest Member Of Our Network
@Damo I remember a former NL Staff member, a Mr. James Newton, who talked about pitching "SegaLife". I believe he wanted to call it SegaFusion? It's been a decade at this point, sadly can't remember clearly. Hopefully @ James is still working for NoE or enjoying a promotion elsewhere.
Re: Xenoblade Chronicles 3's Day One Update Is Out Now, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
@UltimateOtaku91 It depends on your region and when the game unlocks. Since 3DS Retail Downloads, a game would unlock at 12AM Eastern, meaning if you lived on the West Coast of North America, you could play the game at 9PM once all of the data has downloaded/final bit of data has downloaded from the preload. I know this worked for Smash Ultimate a few years ago, since it's a first party Nintendo game, I imagine it would unlock at 12AM Eastern.
Re: Review: Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 - Another Cracking Mega Man Zero-Alike
@aznable It's definitely not for everyone, it led to me replaying levels more than I would have otherwise if I wasn't trying to get certain drops for other upgrades. It's sort of why I'm confused about the backlash to the gacha system in Gunvolt 3, it's not exactly a new inclusion. Again, unless I'm misunderstanding how it works in 3.
Re: Review: Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 - Another Cracking Mega Man Zero-Alike
The system in the first two games felt like gacha to begin with, since your materials were hidden behind 15 question mark boxes in the first place, and the better you did on the level, the more pulls you had at the end of the level. Unless I'm horribly misunderstanding how the gacha system works in this game, I feel like it will be pretty similar.
Re: Streets Of Rage Composer Yuzo Koshiro To Give Special Performance At Kyoto Game Show
@Serpenterror Just adding onto that, it's a 20% Discount for Digital Deluxe and the sale has been active since July 22nd, and will end on August 8th.
Back to the news at hand, anyone got a spare plane ticket for Kyoto laying around?
Re: Among Us Team Teases Next Update, Coming Soon
@GsPandem Back in 2015, the fans were wanting a game titled Iron Cog. It never had a solid, definitive three word title though.
I also think you're underselling how popular the NES game was in the West, with it selling a million units in the US alone, and was the second best selling game of October 1988 behind Super Mario Bros 2, according to Wikipedia that is. Sure, it's no 7 Million copies like the PS1 game, but without the original game being popular in the west, perhaps it would have sold less, needing to introduce the genre rather than expand upon it.
And just to add a bit to the legacy of the NES game, copied and pasted from Wikipedia: The NES version of Metal Gear was ranked the 104th best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games list.[37] GamesRadar ranked it the sixth-best NES game ever made, and the staff felt that it popularized its genre.[38] In 1997 Electronic Gaming Monthly named the NES version the 35th best console video game of all time, citing "how you have to think like a spy to win, which means you don't always have to fight."[39] Game Informer placed the game 53rd on their top 100 video games of all time praising the game’s stealth aspects and dramatic plot.[40]
Re: Sonic Frontiers Gets Rated In South Korea
@Not_Soos As a Sonic fan on the internet, I'm unfortunately numb to that kind of content. Look for a new avatar and there are some things you can never unsee.
Joking aside, your first sentence in your comment made me stop reading entirely until I figured out what was going on, haha. Properly confused me and I needed to know what article I was on, or if the Sonic glitches had somehow carried over to the articles as well.
Re: Sonic Frontiers Gets Rated In South Korea
@Not_Soos I opened both this and the article about Nintendo never asking Platinum Games to cover Bayonetta in new tabs before reading them, I read through this article first, and the beginning of your comment still made me believe I was somehow in the wrong comment section! 😅
Re: New Listing Potentially Narrows Down Sonic Frontiers Release Window
@OwenGamer22 Just adding more evidence, Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric on Wii U and Shattered Chrystal released in November. Sonic Lost World on Wii U released in October, Sonic Generations on all devices released in November, Sonic Colors on Wii and DS released in November, and Sonic Unleashed released in November too.
Sonic Mania and Origins are more of the exceptions to the norm with recent releases, with Sega seeing them more as the minor release for the year, and Sonic Colors Ultimate was bizarrely released in September with performance issues. Oh well, at least we can count on Sega to stick to whatever release date they set instead of delaying the game.
Re: Sega "Working On Fixing A Variety Of Issues" In Sonic Origins
@Pointy59 It's an issue with the collection itself. The collection runs at Sonic Mania's Soft Pixel setting, and it results in the games looking blurry. Sharp pixels would fix the issue you're talking about, and was modded in on the PC version within a few days of launch.
Re: Soapbox: Games Go Down Better When Paired With Books, Movies, And TV, Just Like Wine
@KateGray I've said it once before, but I love your taglines. As soon as I read it on the main page, I clicked knowing you were the one to write the article. Your taglines are unique and a joy to read.
Re: Takashi Iizuka Says He Already Knows What The Next Sonic Game Is
@Axecon Can you provide a source for Mario Odyssey developers working on Lost World? Or do you mean that the developers left Sega to work at Nintendo on Mario Odyssey? Wouldn't be the first time that happened, staff from Generations worked on Breath of the Wild.
Re: Takashi Iizuka Says He Already Knows What The Next Sonic Game Is
I'm almost willing to bet that the next Sonic game won't be a Frontiers 2. That would make too much sense, along with a Mania 2. We're probably going to get another crazy twist like Lost World or Sonic Boom. (Yes, I know Boom was handled by outside studios)
Re: Jakks Pacific Reveals Brand New Super Mario 'Let’s Go Yoshi!' Interactive Figure
@Snatcher Tell your friend they can, but only very carefully. You may also want to tell them that Jakks will definitely take their money for the replacement purchase.
Re: Where To Pre-Order Bayonetta 3 On Switch
The game has only been available to preorder online for several years now, but always nice to see it actually have preorders instead of generic ones.
Re: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater 3D May Return To The 3DS eShop Soon
@Ralizah The game was delisted from the eShop and all other digital shops selling it because of the licensing expiring to historical archive footage in MGS 2 and 3. If you owned the game digitally, you could redownload it, they didn't go full P.T.
Re: No Gravity Games Is Giving Away 5 Nintendo Switch Games For Free - Starts Today (North America)
Pretty sure Destructopolis was given away in their Advent Calendar last year.
Re: Review: Sonic Origins - A Fine Collection For New Fans, Less So For The Hardcore Sonic Crowd
@davowayman You need to boot up CD outside of Story Mode, then press right on Sonic CD's title screen until you reach something like Soundtrack, and then you're brought to the 2011 menu for the Soundtrack.
Re: Developers Don't Take Kindly To EA's Single-Player Gag On Twitter
@westman98 Hey now, I'm sure EA would know a 10 if they saw one. They'd recognize every 10 dollar bill, 10 pound note, 10 euros, 10 yen, oh wait. That last one is too small, but they might still take it anyway.
Re: Digimon Survive Trailer Highlights Strategy Combat And Visual Novel Segments
@samuelvictor Since you mentioned World, I should inform you and the other casual Digidestined of the localization problem Digimon had for a while.
Digimon World released back on the PS1, and with it came a naming convention that was used on most western releases afterwards. In Japan, they used different names for the different series of games, World for the pet sims, Story for the RPGs, etc. In the west however, they were all mostly given the name of Digimon World. It would be like if Sega continued to name every western Sonic release after Sonic Adventure. Sonic Adventure Shuffle, Sonic Adventure Heroes, etc.
Take the DS Digimon games, Digimon World DS, Digimon World Dawn, World Dusk? Those were the first games in the Digimon Story games in Japan, World DS = Digimon Story, World Dawn = Story Sunburst, World Dusk = Story Moonlight.
Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth was the first time they dared to use the Story branding. If you have a PS4, they released an entry in the Digimon World series on there, I just forget the subtitle. For the casual fan wondering what the difference is, World is a Tomodachi like game, where your Digimon at most have a lifespan of about a month before they get reborn as better or worse Digimon. Story is a mission driven dungeon crawler.
Survive is a new take on the series that I'm excited for. Hopefully all of those delays didn't just prolong the inevitable.
Re: Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection Coming To Switch In 2023
@Henmii I'm guessing your browser had an issue loading the image, because there is an image included in this article showing off the logos of 4, 5, and 6, Pokemon style, both games included.
Re: Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection Coming To Switch In 2023
@Anti-Matter NintendoLife normally doesn't mention when a game is coming to non Nintendo platforms. The biggest exception is when it's a game announcement with no platforms confirmed yet. Otherwise, they'll normally only mention the Switch version in the article. Capcom's official website states it's coming to Switch, PS4 and PC.
https://news.capcomusa.com/2022/06/27/mega-man-battle-network-legacy-collection-transmits-10-classic-games-to-modern-platforms-in-2023/
Re: Review: Sonic Origins - A Fine Collection For New Fans, Less So For The Hardcore Sonic Crowd
@Banjo- Again, haven't played the games for Origins outside of Story Mode, so I can't say if they updated the save file screen. However, in 2013 releases of Sonic 1 and 2, they retained their in game level select through entering a code at the title screen. In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the level select is through a code, but also once you've cleared the game on that save. It works like Mania, on a per Zone system, not per act. And really, I should say it works like Sonic 3, because Mania copied it. The code however always will let you choose the Zone, the Act, and also the character. 00 is Sonic & Tails, 01 is Sonic, 02 is Tails, and 03 is Knuckles. This option is generally in the bottom right.
Re: Sonic Origins Contributor Shares Frustrations Over The State Of The Game
@thinkhector The crush deaths you referred to are a known issue with the Retro Engine, the engine used to make every game in this collection. The hurtboxes in the games are now more accurate to the sprites, at the cost of things like crushing players to death when they would never in the original releases. It was made more well known with the release of Sonic Mania.
Re: Review: Sonic Origins - A Fine Collection For New Fans, Less So For The Hardcore Sonic Crowd
@Banjo- I haven't played any of the games individually to Origins yet, and Story Mode doesn't have a game select option to my knowledge. However, your emeralds will likely carry over. If you were asking about Mania, then yes, they will carry over.
The games don't feature a main menu level select option, but if you input codes on the title screen for Sonic 1, 2 and 3, there is a level select. GameXplain uploaded a video on it yesterday.
Re: Review: Sonic Origins - A Fine Collection For New Fans, Less So For The Hardcore Sonic Crowd
@samuelvictor They come from "Blue Spheres 2" a game/demo that Stealth made back in 2009. And I completely feel the Blue Spheres burnout, I actually enjoy it, but I was not having fun when I played them in Origins yesterday. Admittedly, that had more to do with the fact I had already collected 13 Chaos Emeralds and 7 Time Stones just before that. Story Mode was a fun idea, but perhaps I shouldn't have done 4 full Emerald/Metal Sonic Hologram and Generators run at once.
Re: Review: Sonic Origins - A Fine Collection For New Fans, Less So For The Hardcore Sonic Crowd
@Banjo- Sorry for the obvious suggestions about the special stages. I didn't pick up on any of it as a kid, but completed the stages anyway. Thought it might help you out a bit. Best advice I can give is to follow the flow of the stage, and to be patient when the stage rotates away from the opening you've been drilling away at. When it's safe to, let Sonic rest against areas that won't kill you and get ready to jump back into the opening you've been making when the time is right.
@samuelvictor You forgot one unlockable for Mania! DA Garden is unlocked at 26 Medallions, and I know you're sick of Blue Spheres, but they also added in the new Blue Spheres mode that Stealth wanted to include in the original pitch for Sonic 3 & Knuckles that Taxman and Stealth put out as a proof of concept video for S3&K's 20th Anniversary. It would have Green Spheres that had to be ran around twice instead of the usual once to turn into rings. It would change from green to blue to red instead of the usual blue to red, and then either Pink or Purple Spheres that teleport you from place to place!
Re: Review: Sonic Origins - A Fine Collection For New Fans, Less So For The Hardcore Sonic Crowd
@thinkhector The Switch Pro Controller when wired has an addition frame of input lag that wireless does not have, even with the proper system settings enabled. It's bizarre, but that's what multiple tests have shown.
Re: Review: Sonic Origins - A Fine Collection For New Fans, Less So For The Hardcore Sonic Crowd
@Banjo- Sorry for the second reply, you posted after I started typing.
"The Sonic 1 special stages rely a lot on luck." I actually disagree with this statement, everything is on a set system. The way the stage moves is constant unless you change it. Hitting an R Circle reverses the movement of the stage. The same for hitting an Up or Down Circle, it speeds up, or slows down the rotation of the stage by up to 3 speeds if I recall correctly. Hitting bumpers can also help you if you aim at the angle you want to bounce off of them at. The stages are an acquired taste for sure, but they aren't as luck based as they first seem.
As for your reply and your two edits, Stealth himself said that it is considered unprofessional in his initial thread of tweets. He only made the message after people started attacking Headcanon and their staff for the issues with the games.
"I have to apologize for not addressing anything like this sooner, but you must understand - many things of this sort are considered "unprofessional" and can hurt our relationship with Sega, meaning no origins updates, and no further 2D pixel Sonic games from us. Why am I talking about it now, then? Well, there's just too much scrutiny over things that both are and are not related to us, and I don't want to sit in back in silence while people are asking why and how things happened to a product they put so much hope and money into. I hear you, Headcannon hears you. We wanted this to be right then and now. There's so much that you'll never know or understand within the realm of this kind of work, but know and understand this - we try our best to our own detriment, and we care about our work and about Sonic"
You're right there are two sides to every story. Sega had deadlines they had to meet, hence not letting Stealth patch the game when his team tried multiple times before release. It would screw up the submission process and delay the game. I hope they patch the game, but I'm not in the same doubtless boat as you, beyond the inevitable minor fixes and updates that come to almost every game now.
@samuelvictor So, you didn't experience constant debris falling in Marble Garden Act 1 after you encounter the mini boss? That was a bizarre one in my playthrough on Steam and it didn't go away until I entered a Bonus Stage a few minutes later.
I was once told that Sonic 06 was initially supposed to release on June 6th, 2006. Couldn't find an online source for that when I recently looked for one, but if true I can only imagine how the game would have been if released in June to meet that birthday rush instead of November 2006.
Re: Review: Sonic Origins - A Fine Collection For New Fans, Less So For The Hardcore Sonic Crowd
@Banjo- Stealth, the owner of Headcanon only made a Retro Engine version of Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Sega internally ported the 2011 Retro Engine version of Sonic CD, the 2013 Retro Engine Mobile/Android TV/Amazon Fire Stick, etc versions of Sonic 1 and 2, and Headcanon's newly made version of S3&K into Origins.
Stealth said that there were new bugs/issues in Retro Engine version of Sonic 3 & Knuckles that weren't there when they turned in the final product to Sega, meaning they popped up when Sega put the games into Origins. Stealth also said the game they turned in wasn't perfect due to a very narrow timeframe given to make the game in the first place, but Sega wouldn't allow any fixes to be made before the game released. It's a coinflip right now if Sega will or won't patch serious bugs in the game. They could patch things, either with their own team or Stealth's, or they could leave them as is.
@samuelvictor Hopefully Sega removes Denuvo in 6 months instead of the 19 months took for Mania. Won't impact the modding of the game in the meantime, the Sonic Community has never let Denuvo stop them before, but it's probably responsible for some of the random issues with the game on Steam anyway, like the Hedgehog Engine 2 menus stuttering when you leave the Museum for instance.
Re: Feature: Takashi Iizuka, Head Of Sonic Team, Speaks About Sonic Origins, Sprites, And Future Plans
@MidySeaCloud I'm by no means waiting around for Adventure 3 or a modern remakes of the Adventure games, but do you mind linking that interview? It's not the first time Iizuka has brought this topic up and had no intention of following through. A recent quote would help with some discussions.
Re: Feature: Need More Turtles After Shredder's Revenge? You Should Check Out These Underrated TMNT Gems
@Serpenterror I just learned that the developer for Shredder's Revenge has some former staff members of the Ubisoft Montreal team who worked on TMNT 2007 GBA. Read your comment yesterday and had to comeback to reply.
Re: Jun Senoue To Adapt Some Of Sonic 3's Music For Sonic Origins
@Blaze_Firestorm Just thought I'd point this out in case you didn't know how Sonic Jam handles the music. While the music is the same, the soundtrack plays differently on Saturn. Take Sonic 1, you're running through Green Hill Zone, and you hit an invincibility monitor. The invincibility music starts up, and then there's a noticeable gap once it ends. Instead of the Green Hill Zone music picking up where it left off, the track restarts from the beginning. Sonic Jam remade the Genesis games for the Saturn, and it's one of the quirks from doing so instead of emulating the games.
Re: Jun Senoue To Adapt Some Of Sonic 3's Music For Sonic Origins
@AlanaHagues I don't believe the Act 1 Boss Music is going to be remixed, specifically because Origins doesn't have Sonic 3, it has Sonic 3 & Knuckles. When the two games are combined, certain tracks are replaced with their Sonic & Knuckles version, the title theme, Knuckles theme, the Act 1 Boss theme, the invincibility jingle, etc. The other tracks you listed are very likely on the chopping block, but unless Origins will actually use it's music library to allow swapping to certain soundtracks in game, I don't think the Act 1 Boss theme from Sonic 3 will be in the game. They are probably going to use the one from Sonic & Knuckles.
Re: Pre-Orders For Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Special Edition Open Now (US)
I watched the page go live for preorders, and within seconds, it already said Item Limit Reached and signed almost anyone out who tried to preorder. This has been a disaster, even if you were there the moment it went live, you couldn't secure a preorder.
Re: Sega Has Considered Dreamcast & Saturn Mini But Is Worried About Extreme Costs
@samuelvictor Excellent posts about the Saturn's specs, just wanted to add on in case you, or others didn't know.
The Saturn was originally intended to be a 32 bit, 2D Powerhouse with easy hardware to develop for. This changed after Sony unveiled the PlayStation, and the top executives of Sega Japan demanded the Saturn be capable of running 3D games, regardless of the cost. The cost ended up being a higher system MSRP, and development on the games being now very difficult to do. This was one of the many reasons why the Saturn failed on the west. And as you said, it continues to be a reason why emulating the Saturn is difficult to this day, the hardware is a mess.
Re: Shantae Celebrates 20 Years With A Switch eShop Sale, Up To 50% Off
@anoyonmus @Rainz The series order goes Shantae, Shantae Risky's Revenge, then Shantae and the Pirate's Curse. Shantae Half Genie Hero is a bit of a sequel and a reboot, and Seven Sirens is the sequel to Half Genie Hero.
As a heads up, the Original Shantae is a Game Boy Color game, it has been ported to Switch, not remastered, so it will play almost exactly like it did back in 2002. Pirate's Curse is considered to be the pinnacle of the series by many, but I'm not sure I'd recommend as a starting point since it is a direct sequel to Risky's Revenge, a game that released back in 2010. The other Shantae games match up closer to Risky's Revenge than they do the original Shantae.
Re: Sonic Origins File Sizes For Standard, Digital Deluxe Versions Revealed
@inenai I know you're joking, but the first 2 seasons of Sonic X in SD clock in at 50GB, all three is closer to 75GB, and that's before the files have been converted to a smaller size. Sonic X in HD would be well over 75GB, depending on how it's done, it could be around 200-300GB.
Re: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Artist Talks About "Frustrating" Zelda Rumours
@Koda1000 They spend a lot of time working on prototypes that don't end up getting developed, from what I remember reading before they took over Metroid Prime 4. How they still got paid during those years of no releases pre Prime 4 development is beyond me.
Re: Sonic Origins' Story Mode Snubs Tails & Knuckles
@Chibi_Manny Careful there, you know what that song says about chuckling.
The reason the songs are replaced in Sonic 3 & Knuckles is because the game uses the sounds from the Sonic & Knuckles half of the cartridge. As for why they were changed in the first place, we will likely never get the official answer, but 99% chance it involves Michael Jackson being involved with the soundtrack of Sonic 3 and most of his music that wasn't a zone theme was replaced by new songs in Sonic & Knuckles.
I didn't mention these as lost earlier because I was talking about what content you wouldn't be able to see from Sonic & Knuckles and just added on that Tails could play through the stages now. All the songs you mentioned would still be accessable in Sonic & Knuckles, but not Sonic 3, since I wasn't listing those numerous changes.
Re: Sonic Origins' Story Mode Snubs Tails & Knuckles
@Chibi_Manny Sonic 3 & Knuckles is included instead of Sonic 3, and Sonic & Knuckles. Sega commissioned Headcannon, one of the studios behind Sonic Mania, to build Sonic 3 & Knuckles on the same engine that Sonic CD, 1 and 2, and Mania were built on. It's an odd exclusion, but the content from Sonic & Knuckles is still there, you just need to reach Zone 7, or use the Level Select. Outside of that, Tails is playable in the Sonic & Knuckles levels, and you sadly lose title screen for Sonic & Knuckles.
Re: Nintendo Responds To Wii And DSi Shop Channel Outages
@Don When you transferred your games to your Wii U, you transferred all of the purchases too, and lost the ability to redownload those games to your Wii. Additionally, you would have had to rebuy them on Wii to play them, which is no longer possible.
On Wii U, you could still redownload the games you transferred over if necessary until recently. While the ability to make purchases from the Virtual Wii Shop Channel was disabled years ago, the store was still open to redownload games if necessary. With the shop still under maintenance, this is currently not an option.
Re: Sonic Mania Dev Clarifies Involvement With Sonic Origins, Says It's "Purely A Sega-Developed Product"
@dr_frahnkunsteen Sadly, Sega already confirmed that Knuckles is not playable in CD.