I don't know if anyone noticed this about the Game Gear games, but besides the mono/stereo echo issue, the games seem to be presented in the wrong aspect ratio. On top of that, the Game Gear games are obviously listed in chronological order, yet Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine is all the way at the bottom for some reason instead of being inbetween Chaos and Drift 1. Like, why? Even if this is a nitpick, it bugs me to no end.
I've been playing through Sonic CD and looking for some of these new level layout sections. One of the things I was really looming forward to. And, I'll be honest, now that I've seen most of them, I'm not a fan. Many look like a mediocre ROM hack. Maybe this is due to my own history and experience, but something feels wrong about these sections; especially the ones that lead to a 1-up (or coin), and that's it. Not to be completely negative, though. The object placement is pretty good for the most part (they sure do love lines of rings of 5, though), but there is some very questionable chunk positioning and some unwritten rules of creating a level layout are broken in order to force some of them in. Palmtree Panic Zone 1, for example, looks really off with an outdoors section underneath the level (like a lot of ROM hacks do with Green Hill Zone), instead of the use of indoor chunks that I would have expected. I'm a little saddened to see this, really. I was looking forward to exploring some new areas with Knuckles, but this is more adding in some extra 1-ups and calling it a day. Just a tad disappointing.
I think it’s because it originally wasn’t released in Japan, so from the dev team’s point of view it was released last. I don’t think this is the first time the GG version was re-released in Japan though, I think it was either SADX or Gems Collection?
Yikes I'll take back what I said about Amy potentially being 'better Sonic'. Her Drop Dash-alike is useless on slopes and loops, and that's pretty much the big hook of Sonic's. It's a real shame Amy wasn't granted some sort of exploit concerning the actual level design to give her gameplay more depth, it makes her seem TOO simplified, even compared to the main three. She should have at least got something like her spring exploit from Advance.
The Japanese versions of Sonic Mega Collection (and also Sonic Adventure DX, I believe) listed Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine as "Doctor Eggman no Mean Bean Machine" in the menus, in katakana. Has this tradition carried over to Sonic Origins?
Nah. We got the pre-existing remakes + S3, a new playable character (&Knuckles), and a bunch of new animated cutscenes. This collection rocks, regardless of the previous games being delisted or not. It'll never beat a heavily modded 3AIR or the decomps, but as far as official products go this is the golden version as far as I'm concerned. It has indeed!
Upon further inspection of Origins’ SteamDB page, it looks like they released an earlier build with the Plus content mostly implemented (version 2.0) however there seems to be more work being done behind the scenes so fingers crossed another patch will be released shortly after release to fix even more bugs (because yes there still are some lol)
Her being able to roll but then suddenly not being able to when she does the drop dash just looks stupider and stupider every time I see the move. She still looks like the least intuitive of the four and I don't see how anything about her is little sister friendly. In fact I can vividly imagine the embarrassment a little sibling would feel watching their older brother zip around with the drop dash as Sonic and then getting stuck with that as Amy and thinking they must be missing something or just suck at the game. She doesn't seem designed around casual-friendliness at all really. The only logic I see to her coming out like this is to abide by the one-button limit which is entirely self-imposed and so not really a limitation lmao.
Then explain Sonic Spinball not being at the bottom as well. That one also didn't originally come out in Japan until Sonic Adventure DX and Gems Collection.
Her hammer spin attack looks like it has a larger circumference than Sonic's insta-shield (which isn't part of his standard move-set in Sonic 1, 2 or CD). That alone gives her an advantage when it comes to enemies, and especially bosses.
The improved insta shield is a nice plus but still feels less developed than the other characters' exploits and mechanics. Amy having downgrades over Sonic's signature makes perfect sense (though I'd rather she didn't have it at all over something more unique) but it feels like there should be more nuances with her that play off the actual layouts. Every other character has this to some level. She doesn't need LOADS of complexities, but she should have got SOMETHING, again like the spring exploit from Advance. (Is Amy also invincible when using her hammer attack?)
I feel like kids who need a "little sister" character to play to learn Sonic would not be the kind of players to understand or care about the nuances of slope and momentum physics. Amy's use in combat is more intuitive and is what players would rely on more.
FYI to those upset over the Game Gear sound - switching your system audio settings to mono should correct it
Wacky Workbench Act 2's hidden area below the goal sign doesn't have its kill plane completely removed lmao (will toss a video in here later)
First thing I did was tried to pay as Amy in Sonic 3 Anniversary mode and it crashed! On Steam! EDIT: Because I didn't clean out the mods folder first!
