Sonic 3 & Knuckles: Master Edition

nineko · Feb 2, 2007

I will send the full report privately to Nova, but I want to say that this is fucking hard, I'm loving it. For the first time in my life I can't beat a Sonic game at the first try. I got the Time Over TWICE in Hydrocity.

Really good, really good. It won't be for everyone, imo. Some sections actually need great skills.

NovaWizard · Feb 2, 2007

Yeah I am aiming for a challenge for already very good players.
Also trying to stay original with the obstacles, trying not to use same obstacle 2 times, If I do they're normally a harder version of a previous one.

EDIT: An example would be:

And Knuckles' version of it:

Picture taken from previous posts.

Shadow MK2 · Feb 3, 2007

This game looks awesome. I like the Knuckles icon, too.

nineko · Feb 3, 2007

Shadow MK2 said:

This game looks awesome. I like the Knuckles icon, too.
Click to expand...

Nova changed also Sonic's and Tails', fyi. Probably that screenshot was old, as he said.

And this game not only looks awesome. It IS awesome.

NovaWizard · Feb 3, 2007

nineko said:

Shadow MK2 said:

This game looks awesome. I like the Knuckles icon, too.
Click to expand...

Nova changed also Sonic's and Tails', fyi. Probably that screenshot was old, as he said.

And this game not only looks awesome. It IS awesome.
Click to expand...

Yeah that screenshot was taken from the first page due to I thought that would be easier than taking a new one just for that.
The updated versions of Sonic's and Tails' icons can be seen on the previous page.

And thanks. :D

nineko · Feb 6, 2007

Due to some issues in my real life, I'm sorry to say that I can't keep on beta testing this wonderful hack, at least not on a regular basis.

Good luck with this, Nova. It is really promising so far.

NovaWizard · Feb 6, 2007

Hmm, too bad.
You were doing a really good job reporting bugs and helping to test it.

Well current status is 75% done with MGZ act 1.
And here is a picture of an obstacle:

nineko · Feb 6, 2007

I'll still send you occasional reports whenever I will be able to, but don't expect too much.

NovaWizard · Feb 6, 2007

Ok, Good.
I will send you next closed beta release when I'm done with MGZ act 1.

NovaWizard · Mar 27, 2007

So I finally had some free time to finish up on the first public beta, it got delayed a lot due to life coming in the way, and by the end I wasn't able to get it the way I wanted so I kept on making alterations.
Anyway without further ado:

Public Beta Link Version 1.100

I hope you enjoy, worked very long to make the release by March (I know I said February but too much life interference came up).
One thing, I'm interested in how you think the difficulty is, I tried to balance the level out where I could.
Also if you want, tell me how long it took for you to get to and beat Marble Garden Zone without state saving, level selecting or debugging.

Anyway depending on feedback I might increase or decrease the difficulty.

And now, pictures!

Here is the list of things done in the hack so far.

Angle Island Zone
- Palette, layout and object placements altered.
- Miniboss and boss HP and pattern edited.
- Music edited for both acts.

Hydrocity Zone
- Palette, layout and object placements altered.
- Miniboss and boss HP and pattern edited.
- Music edited for both acts.

Marble Garden Zone
- Palette, layout and object placements altered.
- Miniboss and boss HP and pattern edited.
- Music edited for both acts.

Carnival Night Zone
- Palette edited.

Hidden Palace Zone
- Palette, layout and object placements altered.
- Knuckles boss HP and patterns edited.
- Music edited.

Sky Sanctuary Zone
- Palette, layout and object placements altered (Only up to first boss).
- First boss HP and pattern edited.

Other Edits
- First 5 chaos emerald bonus stages edited.
- Slot Machine special stages layout altered.
- Title screen palette and text edited.
- Data select level palette for AIZ, HCZ and MGZ edited.
- Level select palette edited.
- Data select and level select font edited.
- HUD (Score, Time, Rings and Lifes) font edited.
- And other small stuff.
Click to expand...

I would also like to thank nineko, SMTP and VERSE for helping me beta test (alphabetical order).

That would be all, enjoy.
Feedback appreciated.

EDIT: Due to some last minute edits I forgot to update the checksum, so I have updated it and added a version which has the checksum fixed.

Shadow Hog · Mar 27, 2007

Up on the top route (I got up here by using spikes as a boost... not the most ring-conservative method, but it works). This monkey (forget the exact name, sorry) never ceases to go down, even when it's well into the ground.

Other than that, this definitely fulfills its "make S3&K harder" goals - at least, what's been edited so far.

nineko · Mar 27, 2007

Nova said:

I would also like to thank nineko, SMTP and VERSE for helping me beta test (alphabetical order).
Click to expand...

I'm sorry that I couldn't help you as much as I wanted, but my new job is taking a lot of my time, and it was hard for me to sit down and beta test.
And yay for alphabetical order, I am the best :D

Cinossu · Mar 27, 2007

Very, very nice, and very, very hard. :P

.. very, very killing on the ears, too. Could you at least change the pitch of every channel the same ammount?

Mr. Fox · Mar 27, 2007

OK, just tried a few levels (HPZ especially). Man, you're insane. It's so hard. Well, too hard for me anyway, coz it's way too irritating without any rings. And with all that spikes and bottomless pits you just force player to play as Tails in most levels.

And it'd be better if you just put the original music back, the remixes just suck, I agree with Cinossu that they're very awkwardly edited.

Also, fix the "angle island" lol.

NovaWizard · Mar 27, 2007

Regarding the difficulty, yes it might be a bit hard, I might have underestimated it due to I know the hack, but I did beta test it with 5-6 other people.
I think ill reduce the difficulty slightly in later releases, unless objections.

And also HPZ might not be a prime example of the difficulty as it's so far out so it hasn't been edited to match the difficulty of the rest of the zones in the current release, and HPZ is only one act zone that you can retry without trouble and it's short, but I might add a few rings.

And the music, I guess my speakers are busted or something, cause I can't seem to be able to get it right, ill try evening it out.

And yes, typo with the Angel Island, sorry, hehe.

Shadow Fire · Mar 28, 2007

I offer you hosting on The Shadow Realm. That is, if you would like a proper place for it, rather than Rapidshare. If you like, and if you have MSN, you can add me to your list.

NovaWizard · Mar 28, 2007

That would be nice, thanks, ill add you and talk more over msn.

Shadow Hog · Mar 31, 2007

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Nova @ Mar 27 2007, 01:38 PM)
The only really nasty part is the abundant bottomless pits everywhere. Otherwise as it stands I found it to be a rather entertaining hack, difficult or not. Why change that?

That and I absolutely had to use that picture.

Dark Sonic · Mar 31, 2007

Atleast make the first Hydrocity zone boss easier. That thing's like impossible to beat.

Hardest hack ever.

Aurochs · Mar 31, 2007

Bottomless pits are cheap. I'm sure you can do better than that.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles: Master Edition

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