Sonic X Shadow Generations thread, movie level out now

Switch 2 gameplay for Shadow Generations. Seems to basically be at parity with the other current gen versions from what it seems.

Too bad there’s no upgrade path! No idea when I’ll play this version.

 

I’ve been playing this for a few days and it actually is pretty smooth. It’s kinda crazy to have a high framerate version of this portably. If you could only get one console version I think the switch 2 is probably the best for the grab and go nature. It’s just a shame it doesn’t have the Dark Beginnings prologue.

 

I'll probably pick it up on sale. I have it on Xbox so I'm not dying to play it on Switch 2 right now, but I do really want to have a high-quality portable version eventually and this looks like a fantastic port aside from the lack of an upgrade path.

 

I loved Shadow Generations so sadly I probably will double dip, but even so I don’t think I’ll do so without it being like 50% off

 

I'm hoping it does get a very steep sale once holiday season hits because as much as I enjoy Generations its really hard to justify double dipping when it should've been a $10 upgrade at best.

All the DLC has to be repurchased too right?

 

I believe so, only thing that can be transferred as far as I can tell is saves.

 

The fact that they’re willing to recognize your saves but they couldn’t figure out a fair path forward for those who bought the game is such a slap in the face. It’s clear that they knew buyers would want to upgrade, but offered no path forward for them to do so.

 

To my understanding Sega is so far the only publisher that's forcing you to re-buy games at full price on Switch 2. It's especially frustrating because I don't think they do that on Xbox or PlayStation. IIRC Frontiers, Superstars, etc came with free upgrades.

 

The upgrades for all those games were free. That's what makes it so weird.

 

The difference is that those were games released at the same exact time for both consoles after the new consoles were out, so generally that's just a free option offered for every game outside of a few that just hate you for some reason like Tetris Effect, you end up getting both the versions if you get it digitally or are allowed to download the PS5 version as long as you have a PS4 disc inserted. We don't really have any other examples of Sonic games that got versions for the PS5 or Xbox after it came out, even Colors Ultimate just had a PS4 version, but that's basically a symptom of Sonic games not having extended support (although there was originally some evidence or maybe an error showing a PS5 version of Forces that never happened)
I guess SEGA really just wanted a Sonic game at launch and this is something that could be ready and probably sell well.

 

Such a shit practice. Very annoying that most 3rd parties are just opting into it, especially when their Switch 1 contemporaries are on proper carts. DQ I-III remakes, SxS, and more are all regular carts on Switch 1.

 

Yeah, I know I'll be able to find the game in a bargain bin a year from now, but if it needs a download anyway then I may as well just buy digital to skip the hassle of swapping carts out when I want to play it.

 

Sometimes Sonic games go on sale in like a month. No reason not to wait.

 

So it seems like enough time has settled, seems like this game wont be getting any additional dlc, which im not gonna lie, is a bit disappointing. Its not the end of the world, im expecting frontiers 2 or other standard boost games going forward to control similarly to this but after the movie level i was hoping we might get a bit more post launch content or stages. Missed opportunity for both versions of generations...

 

Can’t say I’m surprised, this really felt like a one-and-done deal. I’d have liked more content, but perhaps it’s for the best that they released a short and sweet title for $50 and called it a day instead of trying to milk players dry over the course of several years.

 

At this point, I would rather save the rest of budget for next mainline.

 

Autodesk JP interview about Shadow Generations.

There's lots of insights to read, but the real star is the media included. You can see a whole BUNCH of in-development video, screenshots and unfinished versions of Shadow's cutscenes, as well as a reanimated Sonic Generations cutscene, a new scene with Modern Sonic fighting Death Egg Robot, and a totally original scene of Sonic zipping around Seaside Hill, all showing off the squash & stretch and warping techniques they're implementing in the games (apparently they held back for Shadow's cutscenes due to time restrictions and parity with Sonic's campaign). Look at those 3D smear frames!

It's rough test footage obviously (and maybe a bit overexaggerated), but if this is the unpolished version of what we can expect from new Sonic games, we're in for a treat.

 

This is Seaside Hill from All Stars Racing right?


Looks like they're experimenting heavily with Unreal Engine 5 so we can expect that going forwards. The deformation is cool (if a little over the top lol), it'll be nice to see in game cutscenes finally reach the level of Marza's CG animations.

 

Ackshually its Lost Palace from TSR
...
Anyway this looks pretty cool, idk if that's normally how it's handled but the fact that the squash and stretch is being done purely through some kind of shader is pretty interesting to me. Ditching HE in favor of Unreal Engine for everything going forward would kinda suck though so I'm hoping they were just using it as a way to test animation techniques more easily or something.