Sonic and Sega Retro Message Board: Player One - Viewing Profile - Sonic and Sega Retro Message Board

You know, I never noticed the lack of Lamp Posts in the last two acts of Sonic 1... maybe that's because I hardly had need for them at the time? I'd guess that it's to make those levels even harder to get through, though those levels really need them the most!

...Anyway, I just remembered something I'd noticed a while ago. You remember those "Magic Eye" pictures that were popular way back in the nineties? Well, take a look at the background of the jackpot machine bonus stage of Sonic & Knuckles, or click this to have a look at a mockup of it.

The objects in the background work much the same way as a stereogram, and it even works while the objects are moving! (except maybe for the sparklies, but everything else works well) Not only do the items look 3d-ish, each row appears to be on a different depth.

If you want to, you can try and view it through the original game - just set up Debug mode, and use it to position Sonic outside of the game board. If you're really clever you can use the emulator to switch off the top graphics layers. Have fun!

Well okay then, here's the rest! Apologies for all the picture spam, hope they don't take forever to load. I've gone back up and annotated the other pictures too.


Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here, but it doesn't look like any bonuses are hidden here. Oh, and Sky Sanctuary only has one Act and no Zone Sign, so therefore you don't get any pop-up bonuses.

...oh, and thanks for the mention of Zone: 0, I don't remember going to that site before but it looks awesome... especially the annotated maps. I've been wanting to do maps like those for ages, but didn't have the resources... looks like they beat me to it!

Thank you so much ColinC10! I figured it had to do with something non-random like that, but I used to think it had to do with Rings. Well, I guess I have to watch the clock carefully from now on in CPZ.
...by the way, do you know if there's any trick behind the slot machines in Casino Night Zone? Or are they really random?

...I'm running out of trial posts here, so I'm gonna post a few pictures before I use up my trial membership (brace yourselves):


...I'll post the rest of the images if they turn out to be something new. (I haven't seen anyone else put these up anywhere else, so I may be the first? )
Oh, and apologies for the weird comic-style presentation; it was designed to fit in with my old, never-completed fansite, but I guess it just looks kinda goofy now.

Advance 1: This was a great game, but I somehow expected more from it. They levels were missing all those secret passages and things that I liked in the earlier games
Also, they could have made the way of getting to the Special Stages a bit easier; hunting through the levels for a damned easy-to-miss spring that you can only use ONCE...

Advance 2: I had to buy this one second-hand, because I came to the party late and could find this title absolutely nowhere brand-new. The previous owner of the game managed to get all of the other characters (except Amy), but didn't get ANY of the Chaos Emeralds. I had the same problem, and had to get one of those Prima guidebooks to finish off the job <shame>. I feel bad for the last person who owned it, though, because the Tiny Chao Garden turned out to have a five-figure ring tally when I unlocked it!

Advance 3: I liked the teaming-up - it seemed like a logical progression of the Chaotix-style of play, except the second character actually added something useful to the setup instead of just being ballast. I also liked hunting out the Chao and the Special Stage keys in each Zone - until I got down to the last Chao that I just couldn't find...
Otherwise, it was a weird chapter in the series, what with the hub-levels and unusual gameplay. And let's not forget you get to team up with Eggman in the final stage.

Battle: I've never really got into the battle-style of gaming, and though this was interesting enough for me to finish the whole game, having to grind through battle after battle just to try and get a rare attack-card is just a bridge too far for me. I think I only have about a fifth of the total list of attack moves.

Pinball Party: I really liked this one! It has three games in it, one based on Sonic Advance, one for Nights, and one for Samba De Amigo (which is a bit trickier than the other two). This game had enough replay value and sub-games to keep me occupied for much longer than the other titles did, but maybe I just like pinball sims that much.

By the way... did anyone else here use the GBA games to raise any Chao, and port them over to the GameCube for use in Sonic Adventure? It was an interesting idea, and gave the GBA games a bit of extra life (Rings you collect can be spent on food and toys for your very own pet Chao).

There's something I've been trying to work out for years. You know those transport tubes in Chemical Plant Zone? They sometimes have two different exit points, and I've been unable to work out how you can control which way you come out of them (if it is indeed possible).

Sometimes there are tricks to the landscape in the Zones that lets you reach hidden areas (like the one near the end of Mushroom Hill Act 2 above the winch-elevator), and I wondered if there was something I was missing about CPZ.

Also:

Count the arms...