Heh, I always knew it was a loop from the beginning. It just uses weird tricks to give the illusion of a loop that wasn't possible with the current way things were done. Never did get that weird pseudo-3D spinny gray plus sign though...
I thought that was a ramp. It makes sense now that I watch it, seeing how the background flips upside down and stuff and there's another curve to the left of the one you go up and to the right of where you're launched from, but... I'm still confused as to where it's supposed to launch you from. Looking at the level map doesn't really help me. Also what's with that one random platform to the left of the top?
Somebody probably forgot to delete it from the original object layout. It's there (along with a few others) in all the other timezones.
This is a thought that just occurred to me. I'm not sure if anyone's attempted to do this, but I'm curious what it would take. There exists some data for Flying Battery Zone and maybe Lava Reef Zone in Sonic 3. But I'm curious what differences there are (layout wise?) to the 408 prototype and maybe the final, since the final Sonic 3 build is a few months before the date of the earliest prototype we have. Has anyone tried to restore FBZ/LRZ to Sonic 3 so it's more playable? What data (besides level tiles I guess) would need to be restored to make them work again? I know FBZ's existence in Sonic 3 was known for a LONG TIME now, but I don't remember if there was any effort in trying to restore it. Sorry if this wasn't the place to ask.
I don't know about chunk layout, but in terms of object and ring layout, there's almost nothing there for levels that aren't in the retail Sonic 3. FBZ does have an object layout, but it's very minimal: it only contains the act 1 boss and the final act 2 boss. The former is in its correct position, whereas the latter is too low and too soon, so if you used the final chunk layout, you'd meet it early in the rising floor section. (Perhaps the level was mostly planned, save for the final section?) There's nothing for LRZ at all, but there is a little bit of object layout for MHZ - mostly springs and monitors which make no sense in the context of the final level. I wanted to check those against 0408 at some point to see if they mapped up better, but I never got around to it. Sonic 3 Complete lets you see these object layouts with the S&K final chunk layouts if you use one of the patch options flagged as research/experimental. You can see the same in Sonic 3 Delta. I'm interested in the idea of LRZ possibly having more to it, because I've heard that before, but I'm not sure what it's based on - can anybody enlighten me?
Just a little tidbit of trivia, since I've been playing Sonic Heroes lately, more than any sane man should; the Team Blast attacks generally use moves not available to the characters in-game, except for Team Sonic; Knuckles (from the bottom, a la flight formation) throws Tails and Sonic (the former carrying the latter, as said formation), Tails flings Sonic with a Thunder Shoot into the fray, and Sonic uses his Blue Tornado on all enemies in range. I don't know if this is connected to a small oddity I've found on Robot Carnival (not seen it happen elsewhere) -- sometimes, when using Blue Tornado with a full Team Blast bar, Sonic will destroy all enemies in range (with the normal camera, not the Team Blast view) and sap the bar. Anybody have any knowledge if it's the case?
That's Adventure 1's Lightspeed Attack, not the Blue Tornado, after using the Team Blast the Lightspeed attack is usable for the duration of the bar by pressing the action button near an enemy.
In fact, every Team Blast has an extra effect that lasts till the gauge is empty again -- for Team Sonic, it's Lightspeed attack (and with Super Sonic, you get to perform it whenever ya feel like it, but it saps your rings), with Team Dark, welp, Chaos Control, with Team Rose, well, invincibility plus speed up, I am guessing at least. xD; With Team Chaotix, you get a random amount of rings (5, 10, 20) for each destroyed enemy.
What. I'll have to try this; always wondered why Team Sonic seemed to get shafted in terms of after-Blast effects. Coulda swore it was doing a Team Blast with Sonic alone though. Ah well. If this information is in the manual, I have never read it. If I need a manual to play a game, it's too complicated.
FFFFFFF I accidentally overwrote this tab! Now I have to write everything AGAIN. Bah. There's this guy on YouTube named Sonic70o that posted videos with some Sonic facts. Most are already well known, and others aren't even interesting. Anyway, a few caught my attention: (Part 8) When Sonic defeats Chaos 0 in SA, you can see Eggman on top of a building. That building has a rail in SA, but not in SADX. (Part 10) SA on the DC was meant to run @60FPS, but they toned it down to 30 to avoid lag. The first portion of Sonic's Twinkle Park runs @60FPS, though. Can we get an explanation for this? EDIT: It's actually in Twinkle Circuit. (Part 20) SA2's Mad Space has a blue defense item container and a green medical item from PSO I and II. The train in SA is red, but blue in SADX. Knuckles' eyes are black in SA, and purple in SADX. Eggman's model in '06 has his eyes rendered, despite being obscured by his glasses. Do they show up at any point in the game? In Shadow the Hedgehog, the titular character acts left-handed, but the boxart shows him right-handed. There is an unused Chao pacified left in SA and SADX. ...I think we discussed this one before. Knuckles' eyes are purple in Sonic Battle's cutscenes, but blue in-game. Palette limitations? Sonic was meant to have 5 quills, but SOA chose to give him 3 quills because 5 was "too Japan-like". When Knuckles taunts at the beginning of a multiplayer match in Sonic Heroes, the white crest in his chest disappears. The US and EU versions of Shadow the Hedgehog censor Maria falling to the ground. The GUN officers in those versions also fall and moan, whereas they die in the Japanese version. Knuckles was meant to fight against the Biolizard, not Shadow. I think this one is fake, though. While I was checking to see if Knuckles really had his crest disappear in SH's multiplayer mode, I happened to find out a lot of derpy things about the special stages. Those are worth a new post in and off itself, but I'm not gonna double post. Anyway, here's a video about Knuckle's chest, and about the special stages in Sonic Heroes actually being very easy to complete. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDBb9OmQbV8
What the… how does that crest even disappear? I could understand a texturing error or something, but Knuckles' crest isn't even a texture in Heroes, just some white-colored bunch of polygons. Unless the animation kinda shoves the crest underneath the rest of his chest somehow…?
Yes, in the cutscene where Team Sonic is sent to the future, they can be seen for a moment or two while Eggman is talking.
If I recall correctly, Sonic, Knuckles and Robotnik were to be the only playable ones, but they stuck Shadow, Rouge and Tails in as well (I think the reason was fans complaining. Someone was gonna have to fight the Biolizard before that change, so it could be right if I am recalling correctly...not 100% though...
There's a point where you can see them in a cutscene, kind of a "if you blink you'll miss it" sort of deal. (Pun incredibly intentional) I don't know which scene precisely, but I definitely remember seeing it and being surprised to see his eyes for once.
I've heard this so many times before, but nobody's ever given a source. The best anyone's provided is this trailer, and it's perfectly possible they just wanted to keep Shadow, Rouge and Tails a secret at that time.
I think I remember a Dreamcast magazine at the time saying that Tails wasn't going to feature in SA2 - but yeah, that might have just been an assumption based on that original trailer.
IN that video he could have grabbed the yellow emerald at the start if he ran on the right side wall, the shortest route, as he says it's about not losing speed but it's also about taking the inside line.
