As floor plans, elevations, and 3D drawings of the 3D Sonic Stages are quite rare, I've decided to put together the level maps (from Adventure to Unleashed) from the Prima Games Strategy Guides as single images, and post them here in case any one was interested in them ( also as to not clog the other topic). If anyone knows of any other/better ones (or any other undocumented rare maps), post them here as well. I felt that the ones they drafted for Adventure are fantastic (and extremely informative/accurate), so I'll start there: (As a side note, these images are mostly just the geometries/drawings alone, without the symbols, item indicators/etc; for clarity reasons I left them out. Unfortunately, these are also a bit low-res as well. If anyone has a hard copy of these, they could be scanned at a higher resolution.) Sonic Adventure Spoiler Emerald Coast: Windy Valley: Casinopolis: I'll post more soon. EDIT: Ice Cap EDIT2: Twinkle Park Speed Highway They also have different versions for each character I.e. Tails' route in Speed Highway, Big's Ice Cap, Hot Shelter etc. EDIT3: Red Mountain Sky Deck Lost World Final Egg Speed Highway Tails Section Casinopolis Knuckles Speed Highway Knuckles Sky Deck Knuckles Red Mountain Knuckles Lost World Knuckles Twinkle Park Amy Section Final Egg Amy Hot Shelter Amy I'll try to get to Big and Gamma later today. Gamma Stages Big Stages (Due to image limits per post, SA2's maps are on page 2)
That would really explain how these are so accurate to the actual stage geometries. If they did, perhaps they generated these by taking Section Cuts of the stage models, editing them in CAD/Illustrator, and coloring them in Illustrator? I would love to find/see those Vector drawings. If I had the Heroes Stage models, I could do something similar with them (Prima's maps for those aren't as nice as these; I have yet to look at the Shadow-->Unleashed maps), as this is not too much above my level of drafting ability. I would also love to do Colors maps in this style as well! Also, knowing your extensive work with this game, do you see any mistakes in these maps so far?
Rich material. I've been looking for those for quite some time now, but I thought it as impossible to draw these maps. Kudos to who made them. (...Sonic Adventure level design was very poor)
Lol Yeah, it almost looks like parts of the digestive system! They are very possible to draw, if you have the stage models. And yet, from looking at some of the other games' maps (like Heroes, for example) the designs of the Adventure levels are hilariously better than those! Also, they didn't draw maps for Shadow, 06 and Unleashed (Wii version; I did not find the PS360 version's guide). Interestingly, they did draw maps for Secret Rings.
I have the Prima guide for Sonic Adventure 2 with similar maps. I can scan them when I get a chance if anyone's interested. I remember the Prima guide for the Dreamcast Ecco game also had really good maps.
didn't someone once get a few of the level maps from the sonic game on that weird edutainment handheld, the "Didj"? if I recall, some of the stages looked like they could be decent, aside from the fact that the game's actual engine is probably garbage and nobody would probably want to own the damn thing in the first place :P
I never really thought of Sonic Adventure's level design as poor. Linear? Absolutely. But I still found it fun to play. Unless you want to make the claim that linear level design is inherently bad, and that non-linear level design is inherently superior of course. I don't think linear level design is an inherently bad thing, after all just about every platformer ever made has linear level design (Mario, Megaman, Castlevania, etc.) unless you want to make the argument that those are terrible and poorly designed franchises. I'm not a particularly huge fan of SRB2's style of branching paths in a 3D game either. It was interesting the first time I played it, but I found the designs kind of tedious after a while. I appreciated the concept and it wasn't a bad first attempt for a fangame, but I still didn't quite find it enjoyable after a certain point. It was a lot like a classic Metroid game to me. Interesting and refreshing the first 30 or so minutes you've played it, but after a while it becomes incredibly overbearing and mind-numbingly tedious. That being said, I do like a few Metroid games but I'm not overly fond of the franchise in general.
Yeah there was a hacking topic long time ago: http://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?showtopic=11702 http://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?showtopic=18687 (Original topic was a Sonic X hacking topic) It was really progressing then it just sort of...died. there hasn't been any progress or menction of it since. sad really since I was hoping the sprites would get ripped.
Added Red Mountain to Final Egg (Sonic), Knuckles', Tails' (only those that were different from Sonic's), and Amy's stages to the first post. Also, that Sonic Edutainment game looks interesting from an asset standpoint. It'd be kinda cool to see those maps.
Bump. Started SA2, got 6 of the Hero stages so far; I might get to Aquatic Mine tomorrow or Wednesday, as it is a bit more complicated.
The guide for Sonic Heroes also has level maps. I think they stopped doing those after that. I don't recal Shadow's game having it.
Yeah, they didn't do maps for 06, Shadow, and Unleashed, unfortunately. However, they did make maps for Secret Rings (and apparently Colors as well, but I don't have that guide yet).
I have a strategy guide by Brady Games that includes some kinda crappy, incomplete maps of all the levels in Sonic Adventure. I say crappy because the diagrams aren't that efficient or aesthetic for many of the levels. But they do show where you can find the item capsules in specific parts in the levels. This is the map for some of Ice Cap's areas. Click on the thumbnails for a larger image. I can scan more pages of the levels if anyone wishes me so.
Bump. Finished Sonic Adventure 2's stages. Moved all of them to this post, due to the image limit. Also, is it possible to scan the maps they did for Speed Highway, Okei? I'm a bit curious about how they drew those in that style. Sonic Aventure 2 Spoiler Hero Stages Spoiler City Escape Wild Canyon Prison Lane Metal Harbor Green Forest Pumpkin Hill Mission Street Aquatic Mine Hidden Base Pyramid Cave Death Chamber Eternal Engine (*Couldn't rip this one normally; that's why all the symbols are there) Meteor Herd Crazy Gadget Final Rush Dark Stages Spoiler Iron Gate Dry Lagoon Sand Ocean Radical Highway Egg Quarters Lost Colony Weapons Bed Security Hall White Jungle Sky Rail Mad Space Cosmic Wall Final Chase Cannon's Core
Bump: So apparently, Sega included some scans of the Brady Games maps as part of their (year-old) guide, so I decided to post-em here. Tropical Resort Act 1 Sweet Mountain Act 2 Starlight Carnival Act 1 Planet Wisp Act 1 Aquarium Park Act 1 Asteroid Coaster Act 2
I bought this with the console, just to make my collection more complete. I think it is decent in terms of its intended purpose/for its intended target audience. The game felt like it was made in Flash and its not terrible in how it handles but it doesn't feel right really.
