CD Metallic Madness 2 Past Layout on 1996 PC version?

My copy of the pc port has the spring placed slightly higher than '93, but you get a ton of height over it from the unicycle spring below, so there is no issue reaching it:

No added platforms that I could see. So I guess this is bunk, unless there are multiple revisions of the PC port?

 

That quote about Metallic Madness Act 2 being impossible to beat in the past is inaccurate.. I’ve always been able to beat it in the past.. basically after you destroy the robot generator, you just keep going along the bottom route until you reach here:



Once you reach here, you have to rotate to the background (with that cylinder thing) and then walk all the way to the wall at the right.. there’s a secret floor that breaks and brings you downwards and then you can just proceed with beating the level.. I've never had an issue with reaching that diagonal red spring in particular because you always get enough height to reach it from another red spring below

I’m 99% confident this was also in the SEGA CD original as well

 

That's the kicker, because everything else you described on that path is true in the 1993 original release, except...



That diagonal red spring just does not send you far enough under any circumstances. It's the weak link that makes the act unbeatable in the past prior to revisions in subsequent releases.

 

Hmmm.. upon first look at that footage, it looks like Sonic doesn’t go far from that spring due to the directional input from the controller (holding up or left while hitting that spring does gimp Sonic’s launch distance) .. In the original I remember getting more distance from that spring by NOT holding down any directional button whatsoever while getting launched.

I have to test the SEGA CD version again for myself to see if that is indeed the case (unless someone else has does it beforehand)

 

Gotcha. Never knew that input influenced how far diagonal springs send you; is that a speed cap thing?

Anyway, it still doesn't send you high enough.

 

That is a good question.. honestly I have no idea why directional input affects the speed cap like that.. it might have had something to do with the coding (though I’m not a game developer by any means so I can’t say lol)

Like I said, I’ll try for myself later tonight and see if I can figure out how I was able to pull it off

 

Probably wrong with the following information, but IIRC the directional input influence is a bug leftover from the speedcap as set in Sonic 1. It actually happens with any airborne motion, not just with springs (at least in Sonic 2). Sonic 3 finally got rid of it.

FWIW I actually think DI influence in springs is something that should be brought back in some way. Less so as a aerial speedcap in Sonic's controls (and applying with all springs) but maybe as a new type of spring instead. You could do some interesting platforming setpieces/challenges with springs affected by DI. An (arguably unintended) example is the island before the boss in EHZ2, with the Coconuts badniks and a 1UP monitor. You're supposed to chain together a red spring underneath a corkscrew and a yellow spring on top of a loop to get there, but you're not supposed to press the D-Pad after being launched by the red spring.

 

here's how it shakes out in the 1996 port. in the first attempt I'm holding left, the second has no presses. the smidge they pushed the spring up is juuust enough that you are able to land! no extra platforms in this part either.

 

Ok I just beat the SEGA CD version and all I will say is holy cow.. I was stuck at that diagonal red spring for a good 15 minutes.. no directional input and yet Sonic is still not launched high enough to reach that high ledge to proceed.. I had to use the tubes to find a time travel spot to go to the present and beat the level (there’s a reason why I didn’t say I was 100% confident before )

I’m happy that it was fixed in the 2011 remaster (didn’t play the 1996 port) where Sonic’s launch distance was adjusted and thus the level can actually be beaten in the past

 

Damn! I had the PC version: the newer Windows 9x version, not the one with a 30fps framerate cap.

I distinctly remember getting a timeout in Metallic Madness act 2 specifically because the spring didn't work. I tried the wheel, but I could never time my jump well enough to make a blind jump at top speed, especially considering top speed on the wheel is enough to give me motion sickness from looking at the screen. I was 6 at the time, so pardon me if I sucked too badly to figure it out, but I timed out several times before I used a "future" signpost and a spinning wheel in the beginning of the level to go back to the present.

When I played the Taxman version on the other hand, I just used the red spring to get up to that next platform without any problems. I thought that change was a Taxman edit.

U mad Mandela?

 

At least Sonic News Network mentioned that it's possible to bypass the spring area, seeing as the level is topless.

Something else I noticed is that the spring is lower in the past than in the other 3 time zones, going by Zone: 0's maps. I think we have our answer.

 

Hang on, I feel like an idiot, but there were multiple PC releases of Sonic CD in the 90s?

 

Sonic the Hedgehog CD

Look at the releases.

 

Except if you don't have all the Time Stones in that point of the game you're going to be going through that area anyway after destroying the robot generator to get that good ending. The work around is travel back to the present after destroying the robot generator. I tried a couple of things out on real Sega CD and that was the solution. I also played the PC version briefly and in that version you can stay in the past as it's beatable. It's a major oversight in the end for the original version of the game that got fixed in the ports.