Sonic 2 Unimpossible, Like Red Rings, but different. Options

[ShadowsofYesterd...]

Okay, well, I mostly post on the irc. In fact, this is the first time I've ever posted on the boards, even though I've been a member here for... what, a year now? Anyway, I'm a n00bish hacker, but amazingly, I've managed to cobble this together.

Sonic 2 Unimpossible started out as a joke hack. I was screwing around and made it so that you gain a life every time you die, you can't drown, and you don't need rings or emeralds to go Super (and it doesn't consume rings). Needless to say, this was all just for the lulz. And it was good. But then I realized it was impossible to get a game over (hence where the name of the hack came from), and being Oppositionally Defiant, as I am, I was determined to get a game over in the un-game overable game. So I did some more hacking, and now here we stand. The current concept of the game? Everything listed above.

But you might ask "Wait, doesn't that mean it's still impossible to get a game over?" No. See, the game runs on 8 bit hexadecimal. What does that mean? It means there is no number larger than 255. It basically means that 256 = 0. Now I've made the hack so that in addition to gaining a life every time you die, you gain a life for every ring you pick up. By this method, you get 256 lives quite quickly. Now recall what I said: 256 = 0. Because of its 8 bit programming, the game automatically resets your life count to zero once you have 256 lives.

Initially, this didn't give you a game over. You could have zero lives without getting a game over. This is because you're not supposed to be able to have zero lives without dying, so the original game only ran a game over check upon dying. I rewrote the game over subroutine and added a branch to it in Sonic's main routine, so that every frame it checks if you have lives, and if you don't, your game is over. So now, having 256 lives is the end for you. And believe me when I say that it makes the game incredibly difficult.

Currently, the game is in its second demo version, v1.75. Starting with v2, I plan to have completely new level layouts (where there isn't a single place in the game that FORCES you to collect rings, like there are plenty of in the original game). I fully intend for v2 to be not only the next release, but the final release.




Current features:
Super Sonic without emeralds or rings (consumes no rings)
Increased speed (greatly)
Can't drown
Deaths give you lives
Rings give you lives
Ring monitors give you 10 lives
1up monitors take away 10 lives
Sonic 3 style activator for Super Sonic
Tails' flight ability
Invincibility monitors allow you to get rings without gaining lives, and can be broken open even as Super Sonic
End of level bonuses changed
Ashura code implemented (replacing the 14 continues code)
Three digit life counter
LIGHTNING SHIELDS LOL

Currently known bugs:
Super transformation sound effect (Now I'll show you! Grrraaaahhhh!) plays really fast and high pitched

Planned features:
New level layouts (you'll thank me when you reach Casino Night)
Finish spriting Ashura





Need someone to do level layouts. Coding is finished.

Oh, and here's the link. And yes, it actually is possible to beat legitimately, just a pain.
Sonic 2 Unimpossible v1.75

This post has been edited by ShadowsofYesterday: Jun 24 2010, 07:28 PM

[SonicVaan]

Heh, looks nice so far. I'm gonna try this out later if I have time.

[Aquaslash]

This is pretty fun. I got to ARZ 2 myself, but only because I didn't get any 1 ups or exploit that clean slate bug.

[Anthall]

This hack is insane and I like it.

[ShadowsofYesterd...]

Oh, crikey, I forgot to mention one of the most important planned features. It's edited into the first post now.

I've been trying and trying to find a way to get invincibility monitors to be usable by Super Sonic without making him vulnerable when they wear off. I've just been unsuccessful so far.

[Ollie]

Ah, the simplest/crazy ideas can be so much fun sometimes. =P

...Like that Sonic 1: Return to Origin. That was pretty cool.

[Blitz]

Very good, extremely good compared to my hack.

Lower supersonic's top speed, the level tiles cant reject the character and you go straight through them.
(piticularly CPZ, because you get stuck inside the tiles).

[Blanche Hodapp]

This was great to play through, simply because I wanted to see how long it would take to get a game over once the life counter ticked over too high to be of use. (For the record, I lasted until ARZ Act 1).

I'm looking forward to playing it with the new Super activator, I can't stand the original's "jump and oh look now I'm yellow" feature =P

[Ice Sonic]

You guys are wimps. I reached CNZ Act 2.
Anyway, this hack is awesome. I really like hacks like these - simple and still fun.
Super Sonic is awesome, especially ARZ. I reached the boss in 12 seconds.

[Mr. Mash]

Aaaaarghhh! it's tricky, It gets like playing tetris when your screen's nearly full and you know you're doomed

[Enzo Aquarius]

Oh man, when I heard about this hack on the IRC channel, I looked so forward to it. Didn't realize you would have it out so quickly! Definitely gonna have to try this out, sounds like a great challenge!

[ShadowsofYesterd...]

Oh man, when I heard about this hack on the IRC channel, I looked so forward to it. Didn't realize you would have it out so quickly! Definitely gonna have to try this out, sounds like a great challenge!

This is actually pretty much what was finished when I was talking about it on the irc. Since then, I've been trying to learn ASM and fix that damn ring monitor bug (and implement the invincibility feature), but I still haven't had any luck. So I just decided to release the demo, and maybe if people like it, they'd be willing to help finish this up.

[Graxer]

Great hack! Its very fun. I reached HTZ Act 1 on my first attempt. I will try again later, but CNZ has way too many unavoidable rings!

[GagaMan]

Got up to Casino Night Act 2 and half way through BAM! Game Over. I burst out laughing the first time it happened.

Seeing as 256 can't be read on the lives counter, can anyone show me what 256 lives looks like so I might know when it's close? XD

[Overlord]

CPZ2's boss causes too much havoc with the Super Sonic rebound - lost most of my "lives" there =P I finally died 11 seconds into ARZ1. Nice ROM hack idea though - very original.