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Sonic Jam commentaries tell all~

Discussion in 'General Sonic Discussion' started by Scarred Sun, May 23, 2008.

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  1. I don't have the magazine immediately handy, but I'll see if I can find it when I have an opportunity to dig through my old house in about a week or two. I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that the magazine doesn't say a thing about this not being Sonic 2 though. The article was about the process of game design, so it contained very little information about Sonic and more about game design in general using Sonic 2 as an example.
     
  2. Well, what do ya know-I do have the article immediately handy. It turns out that I cut it out waaaaaay back when I scanned it originally. It was in a folder from my Sophomore year in highschool! Wacky. I had cut out the picture I've already posted and it's MIA right now-but the rest of the article is here. It doesn't have any information that could be considered notable, the caption for the picture in question just says vague things about programming.

    The screens in the rest of the pictures are all of Green Hill Zone though, so it's safe to say they're from pretty early in development. I'll get this article scanned sometime today, I can't do it right this minute. :)
     
  3. MathUser

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    Sega has re-used graphics in future games before. Also, in Sonic 2's early development it reused Sonic 1 sprites. It even had green hill zone still intact. Anyway, I don't see the point in speculation taking priority over actual proof. The magazine says that the images are Sonic 2 CD related so that's all we got to go on, until theres proof they aren't related.
     
  4. ICEknight

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    This is not Sonic 2's early development. Sonic 2 was already finished by then, so it would make no sense if they reused Sonic 1 graphics for an enhanced version of it.
     

  5. Sonic 2 was absolutely not finished at the time of these screens. I have the original magazine, the article on Sonic 2 still mentions time travel and uses the EHZ mock-up screenshot, so WHATEVER this is it was created during the earliest phases of Sonic 2's development. It was the July 1992 issue. It was part of EGM's VERY FIRST preview of Sonic 2.
     
  6. MathUser

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    Not to mention, this article is dated April 1992:

    http://info.sonicretro.org/Image:%28segapr...%29sonic2cd.jpg

    Which is also well before the game was released. Seriously ICEKnight, I know the appeal of being right all the time, but you shouldn't spread mis-information. Especially since you sometimes bring in important information, it damages your credibility.
     
  7. Here is the article in context:

    Page 1

    Page 2

    Page 3

    Page 4


    Apologies for the poor scan quality on page one-I don't actually have the magazine with me right now and that's the best I apparently could do six years ago.
     
  8. MathUser

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    Hey, according to the article, the game was 40% completed, and it still mentions time travel. That's interesting.
     
  9. STHX

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    Amazing how many misteries can still have a game that came out more than 15 years ago.
     
  10. Tweaker

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    I think there may be a better scan of that article on Sonic CulT, Miles. I certainly recognize the mockup on the third page, anyway.

    And yeah, the only context I've ever seen those "loading intermissions" used in was for Sonic 2 CD. I think it's pretty silly to insinuate they're not related at all, especially since there's nothing to disprove the idea that they were for a Sega CD version of Sonic 2.
     
  11. ICEknight

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    Eh?


    They say it was from a demo and that those screens might not appear in the CD version of Sonic 2. To me, that sounds like a cautious way to say "we don't really know if this demo we were shown is related to Sonic 2 at all".
     
  12. Wow!! Never seen those beta 8-bit Sky High shots before - nice work!
     
  13. MoI

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    A few days prior to this I was playing Metropolis zone and thinking how funny it was going trough Genocide City on the 3rd Act. :P I'm not trying to be an asshole or anything, because its easy to overlook all this stuff once you're used to it.

    It explains the lifts in Act 3, and those barriers as well, which I thought were a little out of place in that Zone. Although I theorise the level might have had tweaks to make it fit Metropolis Zone better, that's assuming Genocide City didn't share its objects.
     
  14. ICEknight, I'm sorry but I'm flat out disappointed with the way you've taken this thread. Stop kidding around and open your eyes. It's EXTREMELY clear that the image that lady is working on looks just like one of the loading screen here:

    http://personal.southern.edu/~edwardg/s2cd3.jpg

    And on that page, it says in some BIG - ASS - LETTERS "SONIC 2 ON SEGA CD" not just once, but twice.

    It's very clear that there's something telling the people writing these articles that these images are for "SONIC 2 ON SEGA CD". Do we know this for ABSOLUTELY sure? No, but let's not pretend it's a bad guess. So far what you've been saying to prove us wrong has faltered (ie; "Sonic 2 was already done by this point" = wrong). I'd advise taking a step back, and gathering up a good argument before calling us out for saying these loading screens are from Sonic 2 CD and the lady in that photo was indeed working on one of them.
     
  15. LocalH

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    For the record, that's not an Amiga she's working on, it looks like a generic PC to me.
     
  16. Hivebrain

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    I'm not convinced the screens are from Sonic 2 CD either. Why would Sonic 2 have an angel drawing on a blackboard?

    We need more information before coming to any conclusions.
     
  17. True, that is a rather odd-ball picture in the bunch. I can't see how it's relevant to any Sonic game though, aside from Sonic CD. And even then, it's a rather loose connection. The angel doesn't look the same as the one hidden in the game to me.
     
  18. Delusphere

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    It is possible that Levels already in STH2 were past & future levels of existing levels such as Hill Top Zone & Emerald Hill.
    Over time, I realized that Hill Top has resemblances to Emerald Hill in look and also Marble Zone in idea (though, from another game). Years ago, when I knew some people in the "gaming industry", and As far as I know, Sonic 2 does have big chunks missing, many of which are obvious, but, many of which are very unknown about.

    In some levels, there are little pointless parts left in, like at the beginning of Oil Ocean, there is a pointless platform if you use D-Bug to go to the top of the screen at the very beginning of the level. Plus, the Springs in Hill Top Zone, the ones that make you go back and forward, there location and positioning all make sense in relation to the Time Travel idea.

    Another thing, looking into the background of some Zones also show resemblance to later levels in the game.

    I find that the Mega CD intermissions for Sonic 2 CD look a bit South Parkish, as if some one had cut them out of paper and stuck them down on sheets. I don't see why the game would have to load in the first place; load for what? They are very poor images for Sonic Team to have made, but I guess they were in development.

    I have more significant info, I'm busy right now and I will post more another time.
     
  19. A good first post by the way. Nice work.

    As he mentioned in there, something I was gonna bring up was those "spring traps" which force you to spring back and forth in an enclosed space. You see quite a few of those in Sonic CD for time travel, so it'd make sense that those are left over from the Time Travel idea. I wounder how far they got the concept in-game before scrapping it totally...cuse it's looking more and more like it was there at some point.
     
  20. Delusphere

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    Yeah, having the springs in Hill Top would have been an irritating design idea, and I still always get a feelings that Hill Top is different from any of the other stages in Sonic 2. I think Time Travel was probably canned because the success of Sonic 1, and it was to early to experiment with the game, thus giving opportunity for it in Sonic CD, which Sonic 2 CD could have been the naming inspiration of Sonic CD. And thanks for the compliment!

    Yeah, having the springs in Hill Top would have been an irritating design idea, and I still always get a feelings that Hill Top is different from any of the other stages in Sonic 2. I think Time Travel was probably canned because the success of Sonic 1, and it was to early to experiment with the game, thus giving opportunity for it in Sonic CD, which Sonic 2 CD could have been the naming inspiration of Sonic CD. And thanks for the compliment!
     
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