Not-so-Super Sonic 2

A while ago in the Random Project/Mini Hack thread, I posted a hack and said I probably wouldn't do anything more with it.
I changed my mind.
So, I'm giving you a new version of Not-so-Super Sonic 2.

Story:
Sonic fights Eggman. Sonic goes Super. Eggman fires a laser. It doesn't look like it does anything. Eggman gets angry. Eggman hits Sonic. To both of their surprise, Sonic goes flying! Sonic isn't invincible! Eggman runs away while Sonic is dazed.
BEST. STORY. EVER.

Characters:

Sonic:
Our hero. Looks like Eggman's laser did something after all! Sonic is no longer invincible, however, he also doesn't need rings to maintain his transformation anymore. He's also replaced his Spindash with a normal Dash move which allows you to go faster, but doesn't attack enemies.


Tails:
Always the sidekick, Tails is here again to follow Sonic's every move. When playing as him, he has no special abilities.

So, if you've read my posts in the help thread, you may have noticed I've added a new character. Who is it? Shadow? Mighty? Espio? Knuckles? Tails? Ashura? Big? No, it's...


Amy:
Have no fear, Amy Rose is here! She moves slower than Sonic or Tails, but (eventually, hopefully) she will be able to use her hammer to open new paths. See a wall with a crack in it? SMASH! She can also have Tails following her.
Sprite credit goes to everyone here.

Zones:
Straight Line Zone:

video
Nothing interesting happening here. Will eventually have three acts, with the last being a real (hard) level.

Hidden Palace Zone:

Straight from S3K. May have 2 acts eventually.
video

Things I can't fix:
Results screen says Miles for Tails and Tails for Amy.
"All systems, full power!" SEGA sound: doesn't fit.
"Full power!" SEGA sound: horrible screeching noise at the end.
Tails stands above the ground when exiting debug. (jump to fix)
Amy stands in the ground after jumping on capsule. (jump to fix)
Hidden Palace Zone BG is blank. (the tiles are there, they just don't show up)
Amy is missing some sprites. (Hanging, pushing, twirling, braking, drowning, Super)

Things to do:
Change Metropolis 3 to Straight Line 3 and move EHZ boss.
New zones!
Amy's hammer
Underwater and Super palettes for Amy
Underwater palette for Super Sonic in HPZ.
New Title Screen art
???

Download!

+ - Level Select:Date I joined Retro Pause Controls:Enabled by default Debug:Release Date All Emeralds:Sonic CD Special Stage cheat  
Oh yeah, and the music keeps playing when paused. (I can change it back if requested.)
Use the Level Select to access the normal levels.

I'm posting this because I want to learn more about Sonic 2 and make a hack that I like playing.
Suggestions are welcome, especially for levels. Help is also welcome. Asking to make this a team hack is not.
Also, how about a Windows level?

 

Level Select and Amy gameplay.

I have a feeling that this hack will be made difficult by the fact that I have interesting ideas, but I can't draw. A Mega Genesis (lol) level would be cool, but how would I do it? The Windows level is easier because I just have to copy-paste the graphics, and they're already 16-color.

 

I got Metropolis 3 to use Straight Line's art and Death Egg's music! Now I just need to come up with a layout... I should've left the original chunks intact, now I have to figure out how to build curves. I suppose I could look at HTZ, good thing I separated them.

 

Do you mean the animation she uses when going at her normal top speed (the walking animation), or the one she uses when you actually get her to run, which matches up perfectly with Sonic's? I'm aware that the walking animation isn't properly aligned, and it's probably worse at an angle, but I tried my best to at least get them close to lining up with Sonic's. If you're talking about the actual animation itself, the only thing I could do is use one of the other animations in that sheet. As for the shield, I could make it gray like S2K.

And I got the Title Card for Straight Line Zone Act 3.

 

There is one, but I think it might look funny going around a loop, and I would have to extend the animation, and the animation data scares me. Either way, I need to lower the running speed so she actually runs instead of walking fast.

 

It works for me. I could upload it to the wiki, but I don't know if it's significant enough.

I would like to implement a Sonic Advance style gravity flag (you don't instantly change direction when it switches), and I'm wondering two things:
Is there a way to factor the flag into the Y speed, rather than testing it and having a positive and negative value for each setting?
How hard would adjusting the collision be?

 

I guess that could work. I think maybe if I actually negate the Y velocity when the gravity switches I'll get the effect I'm looking for. It will read the velocity as negative, so it will look the same as before the switch (I.e. if you're traveling down at 10px, you will continue moving at that speed when gravity flips).
Edit: Wiki article up.
Update: I have implemented a separate ObjectMoveAndFall routine for the characters that checks the gravity flag from S3K and NEGX's the Y_vel if it's set. It works as expected, Sonic jumps down and falls up, but he still sticks to the floor, so I will have to change some collision routines and make him flip vertically. I will also have to make objects to change the flag (maybe based on the path swapper?).
Windows Zone, if I do it, would include:
Platforming on windows and taskbars
The cursor making appearances to click and drag Sonic to a new location or the inside of a window
Amy may be able to hit certain buttons with her hammer (if I ever actually figure out how that would work) to minimize/restore windows
Programs:
Notepad
MS Paint
SonED 2 (levels inside levels!)

 

Okay, I need to work on some stuff with this. I've set it up so that the A button (the B button wouldn't work because it's used for debug mode) is checked in the (currently empty) Amy_Hammer routine, and I think I could study the Spindash to disable movement while it's happening and display the animation, but how would I make the hammer able to hit things?
If it's possible, I would also like to know how the gravity flag works in S3K, so I don't have to figure out how to make it work on my own.
I would also like to move the EHZ boss to any point in Straight Line 3 and remove the Metropolis boss from there (unless you want a boss in acts 2 and 3).
Also, is there any documentation on the animation format? It looks like a bunch of random numbers to me.

Straight Line Zone Act 3 is going to have lots of stuff. I don't know what it is (everything maybe?), but there's going to be a lot of it.

Windows Zone is going to need a lot of new objects, I'm scared to start working on it.

 

I'm thinking about switching A and B for debug, but that might make people .

I think I'll have objects use different art to match the level's theme. SLZ=Lines, WinZ=icons, HPZ=S3K.