[Namo]

I died on the Chemical Plant boss (It's been years, my skills are rusty), and when I came back, I couldn't go on that loop - the left side's collision must have gone wonky. It may have been caused by Knuckles, because I switched to him before trying to run up the loop.

Doesn't appear to be in the bug list.
-Collision errors?

Out of curiosity: were you playing as Tails when you crossed the checkpoint?

I did, actually. I remember because I'd fallen into the water in the area before the checkpoint and used Tails to swim out. I also died as Tails too. Then when I respawned at the checkpoint I switched to Knuckles and tried to run the loop, but the bug occurred.

I switched to Tails, and tried to fly over the loop, but there was a wall, so I tried to fly through the chemical tube right above it, but that was a wall. Then when I tried to run the loop, I was able to.

Otherwise, this hack is incredible - I actually had fun playing it. Switching between Sonic and Tails just feels natural.

Also, this is unrelated to bugs, but have you considered adding in some of the scrapped levels like Dust Hill and Hidden Palace? And are there going to be special stages?

[flamewing]

I did, actually. I remember because I'd fallen into the water in the area before the checkpoint and used Tails to swim out. I also died as Tails too. Then when I respawned at the checkpoint I switched to Knuckles and tried to run the loop, but the bug occurred.

Aye, I thought it might be that. There was a slight coding bug which the new revision fixes; you probably won't see that particular bug again.

Also, this is unrelated to bugs, but have you considered adding in some of the scrapped levels like Dust Hill and Hidden Palace? And are there going to be special stages?

I don't know about the scrapped levels, but I will definitely get the special stages working in future revisions. They may or may not work in the current revision -- I haven't tested -- but if they do work, it is likely that only Sonic will appear in them.

[pyrotix]

This is a dope hack. Love it.

[nineko]

the genesis cant handle 3 controllers at the same time.

Indeed, it can handle 6. Ever heard of Multitaps?

Also:

While I haven't implement the character switching option, you can fiddle with variable $FFFF72. It is a word value, and the following values have work in the game:

$0001 - Sonic solo
$0022 - Tails solo
$0014 - Knuckles solo
$001C - Blue Knuckles solo
$0003 - Sonic and Tails, Sonic leads
$0053 - Sonic and Tails, Tails leads
$0045 - Sonic and Knuckles, Sonic leads
$004D - Sonic and Blue Knuckles, Sonic leads
$0015 - Sonic and Knuckles, Knuckles leads
$001D - Sonic and Blue Knuckles, Blue Knuckles leads
$0026 - Tails and Knuckles, Tails leads
$002E - Tails and Knuckles, Knuckles leads
$0066 - Tails and Blue Knuckles, Tails leads
$006E - Tails and Blue Knuckles, Blue Knuckles leads
$0007 - Default: Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, Sonic leads, Tails is 2P
$0017 - Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, Knuckles leads, Sonic is 2P
$0027 - Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, Tails leads, Sonic is 2P
$0047 - Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, Sonic leads, Knuckles is 2P
$0057 - Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, Tails leads, Sonic is 2P
$0067 - Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, Knuckles leads, Tails is 2P
$000F - Sonic, Tails and Blue Knuckles, Sonic leads, Tails is 2P
$001F - Sonic, Tails and Blue Knuckles, Blue Knuckles leads, Sonic is 2P
$002F - Sonic, Tails and Blue Knuckles, Tails leads, Sonic is 2P
$004F - Sonic, Tails and Blue Knuckles, Sonic leads, Blue Knuckles is 2P
$005F - Sonic, Tails and Blue Knuckles, Tails leads, Sonic is 2P
$006F - Sonic, Tails and Blue Knuckles, Blue Knuckles leads, Tails is 2P

I wonder if you can add a Sonic + Sonic + Sonic mode or Knuckles + Knuckles + Blue Knuckles and so on...

This post has been edited by nineko: 03 November 2010 - 02:21 PM

[Streak]

After viewing the ending, going into Options presents you with garbled graphics.
I haven't spotted anything else, but I'll edit this post if I find anything.

Man, the final boss is easy with insta-shield. Favorite move ever.

[flamewing]

I wonder if you can add a Sonic + Sonic + Sonic mode or Knuckles + Knuckles + Blue Knuckles and so on...

It is doable, but will require some reworking; I am using the lower nibble as a bitfield flagging presence of characters (except the high bit of the niggle, which flags blue Knuckles instead, and only has an effect if Knuckles is in), while the high nibble is composed of a 2-bit controller field, which determines who is leader, and a swap sidekicks flag. I could use the high byte for character IDs; but in any event, I would need to edit the code for the 3 characters so that their art tiles can be relocated or they would share the same locations. In fact, for a good while I had a pair of Tails hanging behind Sonic as I found and fixed interaction bugs -- until I imported Knuckles graphics.

[ZeroShift]

I'm sure you are aware of this, but in CNZ, I would suggest using whoever you have 2P set as (Tails is default)

He seems to have no trouble activating bumpers/launchers with the others gone.

[Neo]

You have a nice eye for detail. I went through the route of cramming the 3 characters in the same palette line; using the S3&K Sonic (which has one less shade of blue) allowed me to add one shade of pink for Knuckles and removing one of the grays allowed me to add the green for his socks. I then swapped the reds for the Knuckles colors, so that Sonic's and Tails' shoes aren't exactly red. The palette reuse everywhere from S2 made title cards, Robotnik and several badniks mis-colored, with the grays being merged being probably more noticeable -- although the changed reds is also noticeable, particularly in Robotnik.

This is exactly the same process I followed a few years ago when I compressed all the characters into a single palette line, only to later realise I've been beaten to the point -- Sonic 3 did just this in its Data Select, and that was in 1994!

While the grays do lose some detail, since most of the characters only really use white as a base color (for gloves, eyes, and in case of Tails, half his body) and the grays are essentially just used for shading, dropping one shade isn't really that noticeable (Tails gets the most noticeable drop in detail, again due to his high use of the color). The biggest problem is really the medium red, which is a bit darker than the pure red used for shoes, making everything that was red seem too dark. There is really no other way to fix this other than simply make new sprites to adjust to the new palette, using both the medium and bright reds to even it out a bit.

[nineko]

This is exactly the same process I followed a few years ago when I compressed all the characters into a single palette line, only to later realise I've been beaten to the point -- Sonic 3 did just this in its Data Select, and that was in 1994!

Actually you're wrong. The Sonic 3 & Knuckles data select uses more palette lines for the characters (unsurprisingly, since there isn't much level art to be loaded there).

Here is how the palette looks like when you play as Sonic + Tails:

Their colors are on the first line. Lines 2-4 depend on the level.

Here is how the palette looks like when you play as Knuckles:

His colors are on the first line. Tails' colors are still there (in fact you can play as Knuckles + Tails even without hacking in MGZ2). Lines 2-4 depend on the level.

Here is how the palette looks like in the level select:

The palette line used by Sonic + Tails is now the second line. Knuckles' colors are now in the fourth line, in different indexes, even.

This post has been edited by nineko: 03 November 2010 - 03:05 PM

[ICEknight]

Great work, I can't believe such a thing was actually possible to do on a Mega Drive.

I know this seems pointless and its probably just me, but I feel that when playing the newest build...

The CPUs feel like robots. Even more so then the first build.

They follow my every move to a tee, and stay RIGHT next to me. No breathing room. When I stop...they OVERLAP me perfectly. They move so quick to my movements that it doesn't seem like they are themselves.

Maybe keep Tails at half his normal distance, and make Knuckles have Tails normal distance from Sonic. That would at least give them less of a robot-feel, and not have them be right next to me.

Or just making them have their usual 1-player stats (lower jumping, etc) would spice things a little. I don't get why Knuckles had to lose his trademark lame lower jump...

This post has been edited by ICEknight: 03 November 2010 - 03:16 PM

[The Shad]

but if they do work, it is likely that only Sonic will appear in them.

This is exactly what I wanna to hear. I've never enjoyed having a second player messing everything up. Dear god, could you imagine if you managed to put a third?

Though, what would be neat is if you play in the special stage as whoever jumps into the stars at the starpost.

[ICEknight]

Just tried it in Genesis Plus for Wii and it locks up at the Emerald Hill title card, with the music still playing. Does this happen when played on real hardware too?



Also, suggestion: An option to use the different stats from Sonic 3's multiplayer mode. Or even just the mini-characters from there? They should take even less VRAM space.

This post has been edited by ICEknight: 03 November 2010 - 03:42 PM

[DigitalDuck]

Awaiting collaboration with ColinC10, and "Sonic 1 and 2 Heroes".

[Overlord]

I've merged in the posts from the General Projects thread.

Also - excellent work on this, flamewing. Badass hack is badass =P

[Neo]

Here is how the palette looks like in the level select:

The palette line used by Sonic + Tails is now the second line. Knuckles' colors are now in the fourth line, in different indexes, even.

Uh, no, bro. Knuckles's colors are in line 1 - the first two reds are now Knuckles's medium and dark reds, and the brightest gray has been dropped for the bright red. I know this, it's blatantly obvious when you look at the character sprites up close.

I've merged in the posts from the General Projects thread.

So I've noticed. I've split the post I was making when you started playing around.