goodness, that’s a lot already! but hey, at least one timeline has a good ending, so far.
meanwhile, Robotnik’s plan in this game, roughly:
Okay like
Robotnik’s plan is to squash resistance by making the planet unlivable, which is the same broad plan which hasn’t worked in any iteration, ever
And he never seems to account for the fact that he is still technically a human and has biological needs, dude is gonna starve himself to death ruling the planet
In an indirect way we actually do get a bit of an answer to this, but, well, it raises different questions instead, unfortunately.
Speaking of which, how about we check in on the doc here soon?
Let’s head back and go the proper way. There’s quite a few drops yet again, not sure why when our initial goal was climbing.
These are the pendulum-like obstacles, but they’re not even connected to anything. Really could have used the detail here, would have been a fun detail but probably because these were already in the DOS game they came in without change. Bleh.
So here’s the boss. A giant clock face. Yeah.
The pattern depends on what the hour hand lands on. On 3, a few lasers are blasted, which the Electric Shield can deflect easily. On 6, a wave of spikes from the outside move to the inside. On 9, a singular mech guard dog is spawned. Finally, on 12 the eyes open allowing you to attack, but it also spawns a wave of goop that prevent you from jumping so you better already be in the air when it strikes midnight.
This boss takes a long time because it’s only on striking 12 is it able to be hit, and only once, despite the dinky health meter. But, at least it’s all done now. Let’s finally check in on things with Snively.
reactor raining entrails upon my beautiful Robotropolis. My wonderful city is being randomly attacked with my own materials.
(Ya know, Robotnik was usually known for yelling quite loudly at Snively for the slightest error. You’d think he’d be more… yelly.)
know why I’ve put up with your worthless hide for all of these years since we found ourselves trapped on this insane world of sentinent(sic) rats? Because I felt even the worst human is better than the best of these rodents. But now… now that you can’t even keep one of these pesky creatures in his grave… that he could arise once again and perform so much damage is just beyond comprehension. They’ve defeated you, Snively. The rodents have won. So now you are worth the same as one of the disgusting vermin – as fodder for a roboticized workerbot. Take him away!
(So minor plothole, just a bit, nothing too much, but HUMANS WERE PART OF THIS WORLD BEFORE. Naugus MIGHT have been human in his youth, and there was also Lazaar, a human sorcerer. Also, nowhere was it mentioned Robotnik and Snively were trapped on Mobius, most of the backstory was serving alongside King Acorn with Julian claiming he was going to dismantle the military and would be given the honor of one of the top scientists on Mobius. I also can’t help but feel like, this is it? Snively is just going to be dragged off now unceremoneaously? The possible stinger of the last episode, had SatAM been picked up for another season, was all about Snively laughing at how he’s finally free of Robotnik.)
servitude to a master strictly for him to prove his own imagined supremacy? … That is the face of the creature known as Dr. Robotnik. But it is not the one for Master Snively. Snively built me to protect himself… he acknowledged his own weakness and found ally in one who is of this “rodent” class. Robotnik’s entire foundation of belief is that he is rightfully supreme over creatures of any other specie(sic) that differs from his own… and yet, he created his entire workforce through a machine that forces our minds to be blocked from free thought…
roboticized. For he has officially commited the most egregious crime…
officer has made prohibited changes to your base design. Report immediately to the nearest repair center and have your system and body restored.
system… I am unallowed to act of my own free will…)
Robotnik: Workerbot! I have given you an order! Move out immediately!
53’: (The MMIG… its restrictions… are cruel…) … O-on my way, Master Robotnik.
Robotnik: Why did Snively have to be so idiotic as to use a hedgehog? I -hate- hedgehogs…
(I feel there is a severe under-usage of exclaimation points in Robotnik’s speech. Jim Cummings was always so boisterous, so hammy in his delivery, while SatAM was a fairly dark cartoon for the time it still was light hearted enough to give us an evil villain such amazing meltdowns when he didn’t get what he wanted, you’d think it’d be more so here when you’ve ruled the world for so long and now something is actually threatening it.)
Robotropolis… you think they’re distracted enough?
(Seriously, why the constant innards allegory? And really, how would destroying the main center cause such an explosion to rain parts so far away?)
Mobotropolis Highway which should be through the southern wilderness.
Sonic: You ready?
(Now THIS is a SatAM game! Look at the two so determined and ready to blow shit up!)
And here we go, this is the final chapter! Now, unfortunately this is because the story and cutscenes are much less frequent, so there’s going to be more stages.
Why is there a row boat here. Why.
And next time we’re gonna get into tackling the rest of the stages in a sort of gauntlet. Never fear, there’s still plenty of cutscenes to hit, just… more rushed.
3 Likes
This update is purely stages and it’s all I can take for a bit. Oooooh boy. My first mistake was wanting to use Sally for a bit because hey, two characters, gotta mix it up a bit.
We’re immediately dropped off next to a Coconuts-like enemy and they like to rapid-toss. We made the slightly easier choice going into here with Sally since she has distance and Coconuts does toss with a curve above.
Unfortunately we’re also met with deception: the vines cannot be climbed. It’s one thing Sonic can’t use the vines but Sally can’t either?
A bland waterfall but I could be showing a gif and this would be the same: it’s not animated. Also the spring leads to nothing. I’m really, really unimpressed here, the stages are so cookie-cutter and rushed.
It only gets worse, too, we’re coming across a few turret nests, which unless you time it right you’re going to get hit unless you have an electric shield still. Which is actually difficult here because
We’re soon back to underwater sections. I really, really, REALLY hate the water parts of this game because of how awful the mechanics work. Underwater enemies easily swarm, there’s already enough ranged weaponry, they can easily glitch and swim outside the water. By the way, we have more of the glitch where Sally can not be properly registered as coming out of the water so she can drown, and in this part it’s not even the least bit beneficial with floating from jumps.
There’s also this abyss out of nowhere. I also discovered here that shields actually block the hit from bottomless pits. You die still after the hit but wow I should have tested if you can chain shields and maybe even escape out.
The lasers are absolutely ridiculous. Also I think I mentioned this before but electric and fire shields are instantly nullified upon entering water. Just like Sonic 3, yes, but water shields were actually decent in 3 and the obstacles weren’t this grating.
Also I never mentioned that this game has always had a “low-health” animation for the two. I’m probably going to see it more often here if spikes are placed all over for the rest of the game.
I’m getting really sour at this point, hopefully things get better here. Looks like more water though.
We start with a useless Fire Shield and a Water Shield foreboding what’s to come. But the entire path down is absolutely littered with turrets. But that’s not the worst of what’s to come.
The only other blessing here is we finally found more fruit, including the tier 2 stuff. I already used up a Tier 1 just to help get through this mess.
And here it is, where the game tells you to go fuck yourself if you actually were trusting enough to play this without any form of save states.This entire part is filled with fish that swarm you, ledges you can’t jump over given Sally’s jumping mechanics, springs that fuck you over, damage causing you to be unable to grab ledges until you land on solid ground, and good fucking luck trying this without a water shield. This is an abombination of game design, this is beyond “not-playtested”. I loaded a single savestate at least 20 times because this was ALSO A MAZE. Absolutely fucking abysmal.
And just to really top it off, once you’re out of the nightmare water, there’s spears that sprout up with absolutely no indication where they might be, pretty much guaranteeing you take more damage. I honestly wish I just had cutscenes left at this point, I was so furious at this part.
This alcove contains a 1-Up. Seems simple to just slip through, right? Except no not with Sally, she keeps latching and can’t fall down properly because of the ledge to the left. Speaking of the ledge to the left, that’s how you fit in: drop from there into it.
At some point during a spring section Sally ended up grabbing onto a ledge that probably shouldn’t have been there and now we’re clipping through the walls.
It does lead somewhere! Unfortunately that somewhere is death, specifically you take the winding path down until you come across an air gap, which turns the area into underwater. Least if you’re playing legit you can get out of this area, there’s no way to exit stages once you commit. Remember the compactor area? That you had to play through even though you’re forced into it if you’re under the magnet.
And for all that we are now able to harness the power of MSPaint to bridge the lands.
And then the bridge wrapped around to the bottom until I moved far enough away. So with that out of the way I think I’m going to switch back to Sonic next time. He may suck at avoiding bottomless pits but the stages were otherwise pretty much made for him primarily, especially anything concerning waterways. It’s absolutely impossible since you need a water shield as Sally because you’re not fast enough, but the shield blocks your lasers in certain sprite frames.
By the way, one thing that did change positively from the DOS version was even with that, this version has had much less pits. A bit ironic given this was about the time Sonic Heroes came out, notorious for constant pits that put the final Sonic/Shadow levels in Adventure 2 to shame. And oof, speaking of the DOS version and pits, in a future update I’ll have to talk about what happens when you die, because unlike the death throw sprite used for everything in Advance and we’re used to from all the 2D games, there were multiple reactions for Sonic and Sally depending on what happened and they were quite violent. Even falling into bottomless pits!
3 Likes
Just noticed the road we’ve come across is marked for traffic even though most of Robotnik’s forces fly out for most everything. Huh.
things suddenly turn into a frozen wasteland?
Sally: Wow… we’re about 4 miles outside of the city, which appears to be… a true test of the freezer capabilities! The entire city is sporting below freezing temperatures! Look at the damage to the road from the sudden drop…
(I’m not sure when this sudden drop happened, because our last mission blew up one of the fridge units.)
Sonic: Geez… I mean, it’s even staying cold when right next to the heat!
And here we go, up the slope Sonic style! We’re gonna rip this tundra up as we blast through with sizzling speed!
THAT’S A LIE. We’re actually cautiously going to make our way past these platforms because immediately to the right of the level start is a bottomless pit, then a bit later is a bunch of spikes. Also here’s where I brought up hills before and it doesn’t even hide it: there are no proper slopes, it’s all stairs. Sonic runs up smoothly, but falls down clumsily, like the stairs in the Daemon Mansion.
This is also annoying me: There’s sections that are hard to jump to that seem to be more for skill, but nope it’s just a dead end either way.
Your guess is as good as mine. PCO?
Okay what the fuck, there was a bottomless pit practically above this spot, meanwhile this section you fall for four seconds and then hit the floor. What is this?!!
Some rough platforming but not a single enemy in this level? Already at the end? Why was it the last level made me want to pull my hair out?!
By the way we’re on a new overworld map. The music is no longer one of the two hundred variations of the cartoon theme song, but some extremely generic instruments made to make a “sad winter” theme.
Which sucks because this map screen is more involved than the first one, strangely. There’s proper layering as you run around the base
And you can even see what’s ahead by going east of the road. That’s the kind of exploration that’d be nice to actually expand on!
And… it’s like the first level of the game. The music does remind me of the Hangar theme from Raptor: Call of the Shadow. Weird.
The level is so far also void of enemies, but there’s a stash of shields not too far from one of the teleporters. I’ve switched to lightning, will that be a good choice for our pincushion speedster?
Uh, sort of, I was tempted to stick to the top and see if I can just avoid most of the level, but it’s a card-key level and also one of the card keys just so happens to be in a water pit!! Fuck you too, Sonic Epoch!
The only enemies here are guard dog bots and SWATBots, but the SWATBots are coming in pairs and threes, so electric would have been the choice if not for the water pit that wasn’t even large enough to go through two ticks of the oxygen. Oh, and there’s also a second card key that’s optional but it leads to here: an entire room full of Tier 2 and 3 Recovery fruits. With that, we’re maxed out on everything shields and recovery.
And we fade out of another level, hopes high that things will keep being decent.
OYE, DO YOU THINK THERE’S GONNA BE A FIRE LEVEL FORCED IN HERE, FOLKS? IT SURE WOULD BE A SURPRISE IF WE FIND A FIRE LEVEL SOMETIME SOON!
And surprisingly, the hole in the middle of the road is NOT a sewer level, even though the second level was sewers! Granted, if there was another sewer level it’d have to be before actually getting into the base so hey, suits me.
Something I haven’t mentioned yet that I actually did want to was some of these levels have glass panes that you need to either shoot with Sally or spin dash through with Sonic. A bit over the top but nothing wrong with that! Just, I don’t think we needed three glass walls in a row to barrel through.
Notice my health already dropped a bit even though there was only one SWATBot so far. Notice the spikes that you can’t avoid, you ARE taking damage. What you can’t notice is this area is also underwater, yet even floating down you can’t avoid the spikes. Look, it’s one thing to have forced-damage in any game, but the amount in Sonic Epoch is actually disturbing. What you’re not hearing is Sonic and Sally have pain grunts each time they take damage.
But then it’s suddenly over. So spinning the sign posts is a classic Sonic goal marker and it was in versions of the DOS version, but the last version of that took it out among other more Sega-style takes in the game, including removing all Sega game music, solidifying keeping Knuckles out, I think the shield effects were changed too? During that time there was quite some, uh, negative feelings towards Sega, and fresh off of Sonic Underground did not help matters. One bonus scene I haven’t seen on Youtube yet is a small series done in Manic Mansion involving SatAM Sonic and Sega, I REALLY wish I could get this captured at some point, but it’ll require not just DOS emulation but a bit of debugging to access the scenes. (It’s very short anyway, only two scenes were made)
I think that might be the road damage Sally noticed, but I was expecting more large pieces of road because of ice expansion.
3 Likes
Back at it again navigating the maze of mediocre platforms!
Those cylinders occasionally spark blue, which cause damage. Naturally, a lightning shield makes you immune, but the only real obstacle with these is speed: if you’re trying to speed through you might pass by when the damage tick is happening. But again, lightning shield especially since our enemies are pretty much just SWATBots and laser turrets.
This level does have another gimmick, there are windows on the right side of the building, and if you slam through the glass you plummet into a lake with a bottomless pit. Fortunately that’s not much of a worry here, there isn’t much to spin dash into.
Another Power Ring! Also I forgot to point this out the first time, but when you get the ring, Sonic holds it above as energy swirls around him, much like the cartoon. He also says “Way cool!” which is a bit more appropriate here than when we got it in the Daemon Mansion.
I wasn’t able to check completely but these crushers don’t instantly kill, at least if you have a shield. They also seem timed so you can easily run all the way past, making a nice obstacle to overcome with speed.
Unfortunately this level is extremely repititious.
I am so fucking sick of seeing spikes.
There’s one more glass pane but being the end of the level it doesn’t go anywhere anyway.
And here Sonic must adjust the dial and find the correct radio frequency.
Nah it’s just more water pits to navigate. Actually, finding a radio frequency would be fun in a Sonic game where you run on an oversized dial. That’s your one free idea for a Sonic game.
Both the other monitors are also lightning shields. In fact, there’s a lot of finding shields in groups. The problem, though, is there’s no predicting at this point what shields to use, and what might be restocked later. This wouldn’t be too much a problem if your inventory wasn’t also limited to three of everything. You know, that’s another problem, I swear I thought the DOS game had a larger inventory too, especially with as punishing as it was on health.
Going off the beaten path, this actually leads to a trap. Sort of.
There is a pit to the right, but these are all 1-Ups. You also can’t use the shield to get back out, so I guess net positive lives??
And speaking of health, this is… the first health upgrade I’ve seen. I might have missed some earlier, especially in the forest, but I thought I’ve been pretty good in finding the items needed. Like, we’re 80% done with the game, and only now do I see this. It annoys me, too, because the gems you constantly collect wasn’t just for score originally, they leveled up Sally and Sonic which gave them a bit more HP each time. Also, another thing I just noticed while writing this, there’s no more gems either? Like, yeah I just said they’re only good for points which do nothing, but it’s so bizarre to just suddenly stop. But alas, the game was rushed, and we can tell because the only cutscene we got after the whole Snively getting carried off was Sonic talking about the goddamn weather like he lives in South Dakota.
Despite the earlier trap, there’s still plenty of wall jumping to skip parts, and I am just sick of the constant water pits to get through anyway.
I have no idea how to get over there but that is in fact another three 1-Ups and two Water Shields. Is the game trying to tease me into going back and exploring with the most useless shield?
We don’t have proper clearance to get through the road gate so time to dive into what we got a sneak peak of earlier.
The problem with these levels being shorter is they still feel all the same. More SWATBots, more laser turrets, more teleporters.
In fact, sod it. It’s a labyrinth with plenty of water and extremely deep elevator shafts. By the way, did I mention the DOS version had fall damage? Now we have ridiculously high drops that feel like they lead to pits instead. Oh well, fall damage in a Sonic game is extremely off so that’s a good removal.
This part is a bit tricky but with a well timed fire dash-
We can smash through the window and grab the second keycard without even bothering with the first. I don’t care if this was intentional or not this was a fun shortcut.
That skip pretty much got us to the end of the stage, actually. Might as well have missed another health up but at this rate why bother.
Anyway, look who it is!
53’: Yes… us meeting alone was fate, I’m sure. I was… in transit, following orders to have myself disassembled… but I knew that directive could be overridden if you showed up…
(53’ sounded so dismissive like “yeah sure fate whatever”)
Sonic: I know, I know. Priority 1 hedgehog at your service.
53’: I’ve finally realized so many things… having been able to think freely within an artifically(sic) created mind… I don’t know who I am, since such memories are forbidden to access. But I know my existence is wrong, that this entire world is wrong. This isn’t how things were supposed to be. And I should not have such a strong desire to needlessly fight you.
somethin’ nasty, and I don’t have time to sit around listenin’ to you talk about your headaches.
(He’s, he’s got an attitude? Sonic?? The snarkiest thing alive?!)
Not the kind of boss fight I expected regarding an all-powerful bot. Unfortunately this fight also starts off with immediately taking damage because you’re too close at the start when 53’ takes off.
53’ will fly around, either claws out or retracted. When claws are out, Sonic needs to stay away completely. Once they go back, however, you need to spin attack him, which makes Sonic bounce off harmlessly and then 53’ dives from above. If it connects it takes a decent chunk out of Sonic’s health, but if it misses it does damage. It’s the only way to deal damage and, again, very odd way to take out this feared nemesis, but it’s way better than the Clock Tower fight.
(No more of the theme song. The last few stages also had a remix of the theme song. I don’t want any more references to it pleeaaaase.)
Sonic: You should watch that first step or maybe next time take the elevator, ‘cause terminal velocity stings. And err… despite what I said before, I gotta admit I’m curious why you’re goin’ on so much about everything.
(NO DON’T START THIS IS ESPECIALLY GRATING BECAUSE THERE’S A SIREN BACKGROUND NOISE THIS ENTIRE TIME)
53’: Thank you… Sonic… you’ve freed me… at long last… freedom…
Sonic: …?
53’: The MMIG Gate has been destroyed. The bypass is gone. But my power supply is shot. I haven’t much time, so listen! Patrick is hiding in a geothermal power plant base not far form here… it’s the backup supply for the city and sufficent(sic) to take over as the primary supply for the freezer project at this stage…
Sonic: Hey, I thought you destroyed the village. You missed Ratso?
(Everyone else who cares, but you left RATSO alive?!!)
53’: Heh… Patrick… I had meant to erradicate(sic) everything and everyone, including him… but I felt something was important about keeping him alive… and I delayed… just long enough… but… t-t-tracked… him…
scraping Sal’s face and all that?
53’: My original attack programming… I had to… follow orders… protect and praise Robotnik… I’m sorry…
thing of his. I wonder why he cared so much to help the priority 1 hedgehog…?
The signpost just dropped on the carcass of 53’.
What a fitting end to this update!
3 Likes
Woof. Woof. Talk about being blind to tone.
I’m trying to piece together why the golden rings in this game bug me. I think it’s that, reinterpreting them as rare “Power Rings” was an attempt to integrate an iconic part of Sonic’s aesthetic into the show when using them the way the games do would feel game mechanic-y and schlocky in the tone of the show. But, now we’re back in a game and we expect Game Mechanics, so not using them as originally intended feels off.
The funny thing is it doesn’t even fully translate from the cartoon either. Sonic usually pulled it out of his backpack when in a pinch which would have actually made sense in gameplay since you have an inventory system. Here, it honestly more feels like an excuse to fill a level out with very long sections full of enemies the few times they’re encountered.
I did enjoy that the Power Ring was supposed to parallel how players were much more brave when holding rings in the games so they’re more apt to hit top speed, but you can’t do that here ever between the pits, constant walls and navigation, and a few times when enemies hit you harder than you expect.
1 Like
Ah yeah, this is happening! We’re hitting the volcano level! There’s also a glitch that prevents you from pausing! In fact, pressing start just hides the Health Meter as long as the button is held instead. I had to leave the level and play a different one to set a Fire Shield since, well, volcano.
But now we’re good, it’s time to storm the last leg of the game! YEAH, RUNNING UP A VOLCANO! LIKE A REAL GAME!
I mean I’m immune to the fire streams but HELL YEAH, DODGE THE OPENING!
Aaannnd we come across pickups instead. There’s a spring up a bit more that has the other two shields and a 1-Up.
Yeah.
BUT THAT JUST MEANS WE GET TO GO DOWN THE VOLCANO, FUCK YEAH.
I really wish the lava were animated, and it’s certainly instant kill (again if you have a shield it saves you for a bit!) BUT YEAH, RIDING PLATFORMS OVER LAVA.
TECHNICALLY MAGMA.
And then there’s this weird funnel design where again you go down the center, and drop down a whole bunch of platforms. But hey, volcano! After another ride over lava, into the teleporter, we find some
wait that’s Patrick Facade
or curious about what my involvement was… I suppose it’s irrelevant now, there’s no way we can stop the Freezer from happening.
bother assisting Robotnik in secret development of the Freezer Project? A project that you know that neither you or anyone else was going to survive from?
(Unfortunately not only does the level just abruptly end, we get a massive case of plot dumping and hastily wrapping things up.)
Sonic: Wait a minute, when did you figure out that Ratso was involved?
(HE JUST FUCKING SAID HE WAS INVOLVED)
Sally: Uh… well, I thought it was pretty obvious.
Patrick: It doesn’t matter, she’s right. I’m not that uncommon a case, y’know. I had a group of Freedom Fighters that Robotnik took ransom with a promise of exchange; I build him a freezer, he lets me and -some- of them live. What was I supposed to do, try to take out Robotropolis? Bah, that’s insane!
(think you mean “hostage” not “ransom” there buddy)
Katrina: Nyah, that girl over there convinced me to try to talk some sense into you, so I snuck aboard your hover unit. Which, by the way, I always knew was suspicious that you had, nyah. Once I found you worked for Robotnik, I was so shocked I kinda wandered around Robotropolis for a while.
Patrick: I just knew… this volcanic area… was the only place Robotnik wouldn’t dare tread thanks to his condition…
(You’d think they’d have brought this up a TAD sooner to help build an idea of how to defeat Robotnik for good, if only for the player’s curiosity.)
Katrina: Nyah, I wasted my life on a sewer rat like you, Patrick. I’ll bet you wouldn’t have even come to my rescue when I got captured…
Patrick: You were … captured?! Then how…
Katrina: As they opened what would’ve been my cell, I was freed by and have since fought beside a real man, a true Freedom Fighter!
(HE’S BAAAAACK.)
Sonic: Tails, ol’ buddy! You’re okay!
Sally: Glad to have you back!
(Glad to have you resolve all loose plot threads and we have left nothing else to worry about!)
Tails: Ha, you expected less? Well, now that some serious robot ass-kicking has taken away a shitload of my frustration, I realized that I could be of help to Sally, even though it means cooperating with you, fuckhog. Just think of this as having my priorities straight.
(I have different swearing reasons right now.)
Tails: So, anyway, lucky for you two, me and Kat also got to break into a few places and steal some vital Freezer info. Most importantly we have the access code to Robotnik’s secret hiding space. See, it appears that Robotnik -roboticized himself- as part of his freezer project experimentation. Combining ideal machinery operating conditions and making himself a machine should evaluate to effective immortality.
(We had an entire series that dealt with the fact roboticization basically took away free will, where Sonic’s Power Rings were found to be the only way to restore consciousness, and even then it was temporary, and we’re now expected to believe that Robotnik did it to himself and is completely fine.
That is just one of the many problems I have with just this cutscene alone.)
Sally: How awful! Do you have any idea where the access to Robotnik’s hiding place is??
Tails: Unfortunately, no, not exactly. It’s actually pretty far from Robotropolis… Specifically, it’s an abandoned factory somewhere close to the Great Forest…
Tails: You… set up base in front of Robotnik’s doorway?
Sally: Well, it’s not like we -knew-…
Sonic: It does explain the funny looking keypad by the big locked door, though, heh.
Katrina: Nyah, enough talk! If Freezer’s almost ready to go, then we have some Robotnik ass to kick!
So… yeah. A prime example of rushing the plot and being overloaded in a sense. Mostly, how much of a clusterfuck this has all gotten.
So from the top, Katrina survived Kumquat Village being raided. However, there wasn’t really any indication of any other survivors from there, even from 53’. She managed to be on the same ship Patrick was on, while Marty is… nowhere to be seen either?
Next up, Robotnik’s “condition” is that he is now completely machine. Now, he was already slightly roboticized in the series: when Sonic and Sally went back in time Sonic managed to cause Robotnik’s left arm to be zapped. Much like Bunnie, he retained his will. I’m assuming Robotnik probably did some “mind upload” nonsense to overcome losing free will, but that doesn’t need to be roboticization-related.
Also, there is so much WRONG with the Freezer Project, but I have one bit in particular to point out: Robotnik is sadistic. He likes to leave his enemies writhing and broken, hence why Tails and Sally lived this long to begin with. What is he planning to do with his supposed immortality when he just has machines walking around? This is a problem with taking a cartoon villain and applying dark gritty themes, especially since Robotnik is a fairly flat villain. I guess SatAM is a totally serious, dark series where Sonic frequently dreams of chili dogs and shreds a guitar in the first episode in his very first scene while namedropping Axl Rose.
This is probably the worst time for all of this to be dumped because despite the hyperbole I was legit curious about the volcano level, I did not remember it at all from when I first played it over a decade ago. You actually run up the mountain and dive into the center, that’s some cool shit you don’t even usually see in Sonic games! It was also fairly wide open except for the platforming inside but even that was plenty open compared to the other levels.
And yes, it took until now to finally see Tails again. It’s one thing everything after Kumquat Village was rushed, but Tails was completely taken out until now without really changing anything. The original DOS version had him released by Snively as long as he assisted him and Sonic-2 in getting Sonic. In fact Tails was outright gunning for his life, one cut scene was he managed to get a roboticized Lupa to attack Sonic. In cutting out Tails’ involvement it also made Sally and Sonic come off as completely uncaring, they never ONCE referenced that they hadn’t seen Tails since leaving their original home or were leaving him behind. Instead we just have Tails swearing here.
And it’s not great!
edit: oh, no we’re not done yet. Next update is not the last but it is the final gameplay update, we’re finally taking down Robotnik. Still, we’re nearly done with the LP, whew.
3 Likes
Look I know the plot here is very rushed and that’s a bizarre way to try to tie up all these loose ends, especially the “your base is literally the final stage / secret base’s front door” thing, but I can’t quite get over one detail I missed before.
Tails is huge. I don’t know how I missed this before but Tails somehow grew from a tiny boy to tall enough he probably has trouble getting through the front door to the base. Sally sure didn’t get that tall in X years. What happened?
At least he smiles in this cutscene. Too smugly, but it’s a tiny improvement.
As I pointed out before when I found out my game was not working right due to wrong save settings. Also I redid the cutscene from earlier so it gave a different password for this part. Dunno what sets the password but I’m guessing it never works until you get the flag set for the scene with Patrick and Tails.
Also note the flame shield showing up on the entry screen.
Ready yourselves. We’re going in.
You’d think someone would have come this way before. Either Sonic would have broken in, or Robotnik broken out. This was not ideal shared living space.
And here we are on the arena floor. The music playing is a remix of the boss theme from Sonic 1, appropriate. I remember originally the DOS version had the Sonic 2 Final Boss theme play for Robotnik and company before the Sega music was purged.
(Remember how Jim Cummings used to roar with fury when Robotnik even thought about Sonic? I just realized how un-emotive this Robotnik is, even the DOS version had a cute small scene that had an entire scene that cut voice clips from the show and featured Robotnik absolutely screaming when he realized Sonic was alive.)
Sonic: … Man, I used to think you were ugly before, Robuttnik.
Robotnik: I see you haven’t matured at all in all this time, Sonic. And it is fortunate that your rodent body is well covered, otherwise… this place should’ve been just cold enough to slowly push you into hypothermia. However, once my Freezer Project comes online at full power, which should occur shortly, global temperature will drop to a much more comfortable level. One where I will remain ruler of the world, and rodents such as yourself will cease to exist.
(While it is possible to get hypothermia from cold air alone, it’s more often due to winds, being wet, and factors from substance abuse. If you wanted Sonic to die sooner you could have just offered him a few drinks while he was running around your base.)
Sonic: What’s it all about anyway, 'Buttnik? I mean, I don’t think there’s any guy who just randomly decides he’s gonna take over the world and kill off everything.
(YEAH SONIC READ MY POST)
Robotnik: Well… I suppose it doesn’t matter to explain at this point. Imagine the world you live in now, with everyone you know, everything and everyone you ever loved and cared about, then imagine leaving it and eventually returning to it only to find everything and everyone gone and replaced by a bunch of filthy, highly evolved animals…
Sonic: Aww, sorry I forgot to shower this morning, Doc.
(I’m with Sonic on this, your backstory sucks.)
Robotnik: Snively and I were supposed to perform a simple task… discover a new, suitable planet to which the human race might be able to save itself from the world it had destroyed and start anew. Granted, nothing like it had ever been attempted before, but we severely underestimated the effects of the theory of relativity. Our journey out into space and the return trip caused a large multiplication of time for this planet compared to our meager experienced time.
(This is literally the plot of the Queen song '39.
What if 53’ was named '39 instead? God that would have ruled so much.)
possessors of this world. Rodents are to be lucky if we put them in cages and call them pets. All that I’ve ever tried to do is restore the pecking order and ensure the survival of mankind… Perhaps I hated Snively and wished him dead on a regular basis, but that is why I never disposed of Snively until he dared to side with one of you… you foul creatures which infest this planet.
(So one, they’re not all rodents, the sidekick of the protagonist AKA title character is a fox. Second, wow I was exaggerating in saying Snively was killed when it was said he was roboticized, but nope here he pretty much confirms it!)
Sonic: Huh, so basically you time traveled several years later to find things went downhill. Well guess what, bud, if you “humans” didn’t last between the time you left and the time you returned, then I guess we’re really the ones who should own this place.
Robotnik: I suppose you mean to fight me to prove that point. Fair enough, that was inevitable, as you, Sonic, have been the only rodent ever to truly become classified as a worthy adversary to me. Let us begin.
Ugh, okay before we begin, one this is ABSOLUTELY not what Robotnik would ever talk like. Second off, this thing with humans is VERY OFF. While yes, it’s entirely possible that humans died off while woodland creatures stood on two legs and lived in harmony this entire time the two were off, it’s ignoring facts like how HUMANS STILL EXIST. Again, Lazaar was alive, and I still believe Naugus was human before his powers mutated him. Third, this also feels extremely off when Robotnik, as Julian, was King Acorn’s trusted Minister of War who used the original SWATBots to maintain peace rather than for combat or capture. Again, it’s possible, but good golly holly not so likely.
Immediately off the bat Robotnik disappears in a flash, dropping a wave of mooks on top of us. You can either jump into them when they spawn in and try to make sure you don’t land next to a pack, orrrr you can charge your spindash. You’re able to damage even when just charging, making them trivial.
Robotnik will then come back down and fire his fist three times. These are a pain to dodge so it’s best to just soak the hits and down some fruit or burn shields. He’ll then either cycle back to dropping bots on you or he’ll charge to the other side of the room and either do the fist attack one more time or then proceed to fly up.
Yeah, that’s really it to this. Not as annoying as how little chance you got to attack the Clock Tower at least.
And then he explodes. No second phase or anything.
You’ve defeated me. As with so many of my other mechanical creations…
(OH BOY THAT ANNOYING SIREN IS CONSTANTLY GOING OFF AGAIN)
Sonic: You snooze, you lose, 'Buttnik! Too bad you won’t be around to see your dream of freezing Mobius.
Robotnik: Maybe I won’t be… but neither will you, Sonic. Just one of Snively’s modifications to that roboticized citizen intrigued me… I had it stolen from his corpse after you had destroyed him. I’m sure you remember. By utilizing a largely built-up version of the device used in the first stage breakdown of my own teleporters, one can utterly destroy a large area in a matter of seconds.
(“And knowing the platforming nightmare that is this game you have no chance of making it out in time, hedgehog.”)
Robotnik: Oh, please, hedgehog. The Power Ring won’t save you this time. 3, 2, 1…
And Sonic just floats upwards, Sally and Tails were killed instantly by the explosion, and coolant leaks ruined the entire area and caused unspeakable damage to the ozone layer.
Some warp effects later
Hey this looks familiar!
‘Buttnik! That means… that means… Sal’! You’re back to normal! Everything’s back to normal!
Sally: … Uh… are you okay, Sonic?
Sonic: Sal’, I don’t really have the slightest clue what’s happened to me… but I’m sure glad to be alive.
Sally: Me too. Let’s get outta here! That’s enough danger for one day…
(Oh hey this was a fully voiced line)
Snively: Oh, come now, sir, you know I really didn’t mean that “lackies first” comment, it was all in good fun…
Robotnik: Are you a fool Snively, or just in the mood to suffer?! I’ve been humiliated by the hedgehog again, Snively! Months of research were destroyed during a mere test application!
(Well that’s just your fault for not keeping copies elsewhere, Julian.)
Snively: (As if it were all your research you big oaf…)
Robotnik: What was that remark, Snively?!
Snively: I said there’s no time to loaf, sir! I’ll commence on cleanup duty immediately!
(Again.)
And it plays a clip from the last scene of the cartoon. Again. Well, okay, not the last scene, the last actual scene was Snively bragging he made it and Robotnik didn’t and he has a new ally as Naugus’ eyes glow. During the credits roll, it plays short gameplay clips from various levels while the SatAM theme plays.
This was… shorter than the joke BttF ending.
Yup, that’s it! We don’t even get a goodbye to the future or even know if things were left for the better, guess we’re supposed to assume that the timeline from there was erased now that things are different again.
So… yeah! 2004. I think I played the original DOS version in 2003? It wasn’t actually too long after I saw there was a demo made for an Advance version. What a a time to be alive. This here, though, was made near the end of the GBA cycle. One thing that was interesting was how GBA emulators were already pretty well developed at the time, before the DS even came out. I was really hoping for something that took what made the GBA fun despite my lack of games for it (Most of my library didn’t happen until after the DS even came out). Unfortunately it took instead elements from what plagued the console more: shovelware platformers.
I’m honestly unsure how to feel about how the game was transferred to the Game Boy Advance, this was before the rise in popularity of developing games with limited hardware with the idea of pushing the limits of what you had and seeing what you could really make shine. This game did push limits, the shields are just tiny icons rotating around the character instead of the fancy effects from Sonic 3, which the creator noted is because of space. But wouldn’t there have been a different way to portray this effect, or even maybe find a way to fit something bigger? One way I can think of is having the character give off effects that indicate the type of energy they have, such as steam, bubbles, and little sparks.
I have quite a bit to say but I think I’ll save most for next time, but I do want to talk about the original endings, specifically the fact there was a Bad Ending that was possible in the DOS version. Ari’s ghost would have pointed Sonic to fight the original Freedom Fighters, all now roboticized, in order to retrieve parts for it. If Sonic didn’t do this (or he might have been able to miss a boss), you got locked into the bad ending. From what I remember reading, the good ending was about as generic as this, Sonic gets the machine, it sends him back, the teleporters are destroyed, it goes back to the cartoon canon. The bad ending, though, was actually programmed into the original game and WOW it makes me wonder if somebody really did hate Sally. This required some fiddling with the game itself to give access to blocked off cutscenes, but if you did you got treated to a rather brutal scene. It starts with the original version of 53’, Sonic-2, breaking into the shelter Sally was in and cornering her. Sally tries to appeal to Sonic-2’s senses but the MMIG is too strong (and quite frankly Sonic-2 is ridiculously sadistic). He then proceeds to somehow mutilate her completely in one fell swoop and then flies off as Sonic arrives too late. The game shows a really disturbing sprite of a bloodied Sally, and has her die in Sonic’s arms. Then who would come hopping in at the wrong time than Tails, now swearing absolute revenge before storming off. The cutscene ended here but it was told that the plan was Tails would take on I believe the Deep Power Stones, absolutely destroys Sonic-2, and then you have one final boss fight against Super Tails. Tails would lose his power and his rage in the end and finally come to terms with what has happened, and the ending pretty much would end saying Tails would join with Sonic once more and they would continue the freedom fight.
Yeah. Sally fucking dies and Sonic doesn’t get to go back. Gotta kill your friends to make it back instead.
The other thing I never really talked about was deaths, as in “lose all your HP” kinds. This was one of the better choices made in bringing it over to Advance, they’re all classic video game death throws with arms out and looking at the screen like “well crap!” The DOS version, HOO BOY. The main one, losing your health, was kinda already hinted at with how Sonic and Sally would look tired and be panting. Losing all health had them fall and keel over, as if they bled out. Even falling into a pit was rather violent, as it featured a scream echoed. The most violent though was falling into lava, which I saw a comment the creator especially comment on how ridiculous edgy it was: the character would quickly sink into the lava screaming. Way too much dark stuff in this, and I know SatAM is supposed to be revered for being a darker cartoon but absolutely not at these levels. Especially not fitting because even in the original you could have so many extra lives.
So, one last update remains: Bonus content and final words.
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Some of this stuff you’re upset with was actually touched on in the comics; I don’t know how familiar you are with Archie’s Sonic the Hedgehog comics to know what’s just explaining stuff you already know but the short version is that according to those, Robotnik’s variety of humans-except-not can’t have their free will overwritten by roboticization (“Overlanders” who don’t accept roboticization voluntarily freeze up as a result).
I could go on but that starts getting into stuff that raises questions and that’s gonna take a while.
Most of what I know has been from Bobby Schroeder’s “Thanks Ken Penders” tumblr, so I know at least that the stuff really goes places as the plot expands. I do remember that Overlanders was a thing brought up later, among other things including the whole “both Robotnik AND Eggman exist” chaos. But, yeah, I’d be totally fine with including the Archie Comics stuff in here. Sort of. Again, Ken Penders kinda ruins a lot of it but he wasn’t behind everything for sure.
I am stressing this part though because part of the Bonus Features implies the comics did not influence the game, which does make sense when the game was being made in 2000, although I kinda wish it did have some influence with the transfer to the GBA.
This is not the first story that I’ve seen where the hero is warped into a dark future and ends up returning to the present.
It’s just the most pointless one I can remember.
Oh sick, I was actually going to recommend her blog as an alternative to me putting a sizeable novel in your forum thread.
That actually sounds like a deliberate choice on the part of the creators if this game is from 2000, the comics were eight years old and well into the Penders era by then.
Rather appropriate, this is, the end of an epoch, as I close out on Sonic Epoch.
I said this before but I don’t think I can overstate this: this was a game I was really digging playing as a teen. Mostly, I was only a year into having my Gamecube. I had Sonic Adventure 2, 1 DX, Mega Collection, and I don’t think I was too far behind with Heroes. I was a Nintendo kid who missed out on a Genesis (and was actually close because our KMart had an extreme sales cut on the Genesis but it was sold out I think) so my only other way to play Sonic was the PC games I got in middle school: Sonic 3 and Knuckles (complete with the screensaver goodies), Sonic R, and Sonic 3D Blast. It was also fresh off of the console wars nonsense so I had to overcome my “but Mario!!” mindset, which came easily with S3&K playing extremely nicely on our machine at the time. So of course I wanted more, and at the time there was a strong fangame community! Mario had a particularly strong one because of the ease of platformers but Sonic was not far behind, there were plenty of demos like this neat one showing off using the Master Emerald to transform Sonic very handily, complete with mechanics and sprite work. I remember a “humorous” game which just referenced Vegemite a lot for whatever reason, I guess the author was Australian.
So lo and behold, digging around a bit brought up the SatAM fandom and a game that stood out in particular: Sonic Epoch. A game that ran separate from the other fan games engines, a game that had both Sally and Sonic playable, a game that wanted to be faithful to a cult classic cartoon, a game that looked, sounded, and played different from the rest! Well, that last part especially didn’t play too well in the long run, but hey. A mature Sonic game appealed to my teen senses without having to worry about other things about myself, like gender hah what no what do you mean I’m a girl and pansexual, I just want this game from a series that has a massive furry fandom with a very dramatic story. Nothing unusual here I mean why would I be disappointed that Tails is a jackass and straight in this future story.
The unfortunate thing is that SatAM just didn’t hold up for me. I ended up watching more Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog in the last decade than SatAM. I did read a bit of comics but like I said a lot of my knowledge now is from Ponett’s Tumblr that’s been going over the entire series, and honestly I prefer it that way, at least until it was rebooted with IDW. I need in on the recent stuff especially with how amazing Tangle and Whisper are.
So, let’s get one final thing sorted before we dive into the Bonus stuff. I’m talking about Sonic-2, the character that eventually got replaced with 53’. As the GBA game shows, 53’ was hastily thrown together by Snively who simply did not want Robotnik to find out that Sonic was still around. This led to 53’ being somewhat disobedient and ultimately disregarded Robotnik to give info to Sonic. This is very downplayed compared to his predecessor, the deadly and outright sadistic Sonic-2. The DOS version actually started with showing Robotnik working on Sonic-2 instead of the teleporters, including Snively making a remark about him looking like “Sonic, too”, to which Robotnik was amused and felt the name was ironically appropriate for a robot that might confuse and cause chaos to people that thought it was directly based off the blue speedster himself.
Sonic-2 also had one major advantage: he was absolutely stupidly invincible. In the intro before Sonic was thrown into the future, Sonic-2 was untouchable. It wasn’t until Knuckles/Ari managed to exploit his shielding agility to overcome him for a bit, but was able to turn the tables soon after. It wouldn’t be until Sonic returned ten years later that he’d have any sort of challenge, which in this case was his programming telling him to return if he saw any sight of Sonic, rather weak given the last time the two met Sonic-2 was absolutely untouchable. In fact, there was a boss fight soon after Sonic came to the future where Sonic-2 wasn’t destoryable, the object was to get him flung into a teleporter and get some extra time. The next time Sonic managed to punch through his defenses for some reason, causing him to scurry back once more to Snively for repairs, and if the DOS version were complete it’d take the machine Ari made using knowledge of the Void to blast past his absurd defenses. This was a prime example of an overpowered villain who wasn’t even the final boss, it was still Robotnik. And I said both Ari and Knuckles, it was originally Knuckles but the original creator did want to stick to SatAM so instead of Sonic the Movie Knuckles with his neat hat it was Ari. At least it was a character who escaped the Void which was a rather nasty place if you stayed too long. King Acorn ended up not being able to leave for long or else he’d turn to crystal and bite it.
But well, I can only weigh in so much of what was and could have been. Now, though, we have some last bits to show. Upon completing the game, you’re treated to a new Extras menu.
early “I, Robot” story concept. Simply too weird to not show. The final version is shown for comparison and you can skip it by pressing Start.
(So this is the scene after Kumquat Village is destroyed. I’ll skip the first one as it was already recorded earlier in the LP and we’ll see what differed.)
… and… now it’s… gone!
Sally: Please, not so loud. Auuunngh, what a headache.
Sonic: I got a bad feelin’ about this one, Sal’.
of polygons, heehee.
Sonic: What in the world is he?
Sally: is it a person? I can’t quite see…
(Oh dear.)
Sonic: Um…
53’: Ah ha, Sonic Hedgehog. I hadn’t expected to see you alive.
Sonic: And I hadn’t expected to see you at all. Have we met, Bot-Brain?
citizen roboticization designed to regain control.
(We all need control! I need control… we all need control.)
Sonic: With all that weird stuff you’re sputtering about berries and playfields, I think you gotta get control of yourself first.
53’: I said no such things, citizen! Anyway, as you can see I’ve made short work of this sad village.
Sonic: Ah ha! So Ratso was lying about this place being hidden!
53’: Correct. Dr. Facade was merely an agent repaying the favor of being saved from roboticization.
short time?!
53’: Dear princess, it’s not as amazing as you think. Using the same technology that brought about Lord Robotnik’s teleportation system, I am free to disturb matter on its molecular level. With a click of switch I can effectively ruin any amount of material within seconds.
(As long as it sounds intimdating never use it I guess.)
Sonic: Oh man. I guess we’re next?
53’: Given taht you’ve proven to be a substantial danger to our existence, I am forced to –
Sonic: Sal’! Let’s beat feet while he’s thinkin’ about this!
MMIG. Something powerful is trying… apples to oranges in which we twist the flux… I should report to Master Snively.
An unfortunate case of could have been something different but in the state of this game you could have left it in anyway and not much would have changed.
Next up, the Blooper reel. This isn’t really much other than coding errors and some cases dialogue inserted for the sake of the ha-has. I’m cutting a good part of it, most of it is just coding errors but there’s some poor jokes that don’t land.
Tails is small and has a gun it seems.
It’s supposed to be his pointing sprite but it looks like he’s telling Sally to hush he’s hearing a great deal on the radio.
This is the most true-to-source Sally has been.
I do like the idea that Sally just talks too much instead of being depressed and Sonic has an overload of information.
(I kinda liked this only because of the stupid Dark Souls II contest SA had that it reminded me of)
(Funky Kong Music) HII-YAH!
And then Sally perfected the Chaos Spear.
Lastly, we have an option called “Random Piccies”. It’s just as you might guess, random pictures that interested the dev team.
This isn’t exactly that rare, though, Robotnik was just ready this time for Sonic to barge in.
Unfortunately, again it’s not like it was a novel idea. Also, I should point out that yeah the DOS version was different in the opening which is where Uncle Chuck appeared originally, then Sonic ran in and encountered Sonic-2 immediately and had little chance to survive make his time. I’m not sure about the consistency of how strong Sonic’s spin is, he’s able to go through dirt easily but metal I’ve never been sure. He breaks plenty of bots but doors, I guess, are too much.
So there was a story that was also “Sonic got sealed off and never returned” except well of course he made it back. Also what the fuck Antoine go sit in the corner you asshole.
No comment.
HOO BOY. To say nothing of when they show both an Eggman and Robotnik in the same setting, and Robotnik is quickly disposed of.
This is actually a reference to the early DOS build where Knuckles was going to appear. There was also a tasteless bit where Sonic went all “Oh no Sally fell for the wrong guy!” even though there was no hint of that ALSO AGAIN THERE’S NOW A TEN AGE GAP BETWEEN YOU TWO.
And that’s it, except a music test. I wasn’t too fond of most of the music except the boss battle music which was brought from the DOS version, and the Clock Tower theme which was also a leftover but made a bit more subtle and much more enjoyable in the end.
In fact, let’s focus on the positives. There was some good music in here, it was ambitious to have both Sally and Sonic playable in very different forms, the settings kept fairly well to the original series, the use of the original series’ voice clips was very novel for the time, assigning shields to the Pause Menu was a good idea to make for strategic path taking, and well we did have Sonic’s classic moveset in-tact, AND WELL as someone who has trouble adjusting to game difficulties, having a powerup when you need it just makes you feel safer overall since it’ll be there, and it isn’t like the Elixir Conundrum of saving your big percentage heals for later except you already killed the bonus boss.
And here’s something you might not have expected to have brought up, the main force behind this! There were multiple people for sure but well games tend to have a main author/contributor. In cases of these games many would wish to distance themselves, or have already jumped overboard into anonymity, finding a new online identity. Our friend here? Well, 15 years afterwards they’ve not hidden what they did, and here’s the kicker of this entire Let’s Play: said person has acknowledged many a time the faults and shortcomings of this.
Yup, Captain Southbird, if you like Vinny of Vinesauce you know this fellow a bit, he’s the one that’s done amazing condensed edits of streams to the point Vinny himself noted that people might be disappointed at how amazing the highlights are vs. his actual full streams. Southbird has a rather, uh, cheesecake Youtube channel filled with furry stuff so I’m NOT gonna link that, and no I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, if that’s your curiosity then no shame in that (for fuck’s sake I have a fursona of course I’m not going to shame furry works). Also, Southbird created Super Mario Bros. 3Mix, an extremely cool romhack of Mario 3 that includes past and future aspects of Mario.
So yes, I’m name dropping him because he does not hide it, in fact his main site is sonicepoch.com where he still hosts the game and even part of the history. One thing to note is he’s mentioned a few times about revisiting the game. Honestly, I’m not sure I would but the dude is very open about criticism and reworking the game and I can understand his frustration with the game needing another rework. It’s 2020, who knows what we can do, why not a positive look at it I suppose. That’s why I have my own list of recommendations for changing the game. These are my own, not professional, but as a player how some aspects really stuck to me.
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The focus on the seperation of Sonic and Sally gameplay wise. Stages suffered massively from trying to accomidate both of them. My suggestion is of course to make seperate stages, but also strengthen how they work with each other. Sonic needs longer roads to do his speed stuff, that much is simple, but for Sally here’s what I recommend. She needs a rechargable shield over her health. Get rid of always doing a pain grunt when she takes a hit, she should be perfectly fine with exchanging fire with SWATBots and come out without a scratch when played right. Her laser is also chargable, that should play a significant factor in fighting enemies. For a more novel idea, Sonic should find health items on his stages much more often while Sally finds shields more often. That encourages teamwork and a wide variety of rewards while sustaining each other. I believe in the DOS version this already sort of an idea, Sally had a larger health pool than Sonic, who was forced to use his spin attacks more often for his defense.
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Don’t be so weird with Sally. I feel like multiple people wrote her character and none were, well, great. Sally always hated her title in the cartoon, the constant use of “princess” feels out of place even if it was more of a mocking tone. Main thing, get rid of the fucking Daemon Bot virgin plot bit, that’s gross!!! Otherwise, get rid of the romantic tension, that does not fit into a decade-gap. There’s still plenty of good drama to be had following such a long gap when Sonic finally reappears, especially since he doesn’t seem to have aged at all.
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Redo the health system. Combined with 1, Sally should have shields but probably a small health meter, while Sonic should make do with rings that scatter in a classic fashion. For that matter, get rid of the absurd amount of spikes and enemies that clog halls and force you to take damage. I think SatAM games would do well with rewarding stealth, think of it like Warframe where you can find broken vent fans and sneak around without risking a hundred Grineer shouting about the Tenno being there.
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Embrace the absurd. The Back to the Future bit was not just brought over but actually continued. I liked it. Maintain that light hearted stuff in an otherwise bleak game. If you want the multiple endings brought back, don’t make it about killing the old Freedom Fighters for instance. Heck even lorewise Sonic was able to reverse the mind control aspect of roboticization through the use of the Power Ring, that’d be a nice way of reintroducing old characters that stick around.
And, well, honestly? I think that’s all I have left to say on this. I know this had a bit of a foul taste for as far as fangames go, but I do appreciate the ambition put into this. Hell, I wouldn’t know how to put a DOS game together, and then to get something working on GBA specs, all to be able to finally release a game dreamt up years ago, it’s pretty admirable. The real admiration as I pointed out, though, is taking the criticism in stride. If you look at the site, there’s an officially sanctioned Let’s Play of both the DOS and GBA version, with Southbird even giving comments on videos talking about each part (The thing about death in lava was one particular comment standing out).
And with that, I’m Riley, and I don’t know what I’ll do next but honestly I hope it’s as ironic as me doing a screenshot capture Let’s Play of a Sonic game.
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