[Mr Lange]

The Taxman, on 04 May 2014 - 01:45 PM, said:

Oh man, that was not meant to be in there!

WINK.

I'd ask for this to be finished but I'm sure it's not going to ever happen.

[E-122-Psi]

steveswede, on 04 May 2014 - 12:39 PM, said:

You-Are-Pwned, on 04 May 2014 - 12:03 PM, said:

I love the wacky design of this stage, the background even gives me the munchies for a pack of tangy cheese doritos.

Well we had James Pond endorsing Penguin biscuits. :P

[Blue Blood]

I do have to wonder what the different Time Zones for Desert Dazzle would have looked like. Could any light be shed on this?

[GeneHF]

Let's have a look at the different states of Little Planet.

http://www.spriters-...cd/sheet/25625/

While obviously Tax may have had different plans:

Good Future: a more verdant desert, so vegetation and some water. Think of how most of the natural good futures tend to signal the harmonic balance of nature and technology.

Bad Future: mechanized, possibly in ruins. This is where I think trying to echo the original R2 concept might have worked best.

Past: I'm not really sure how you could depict a desert in pre-historic times differently. Maybe a more naturally verdant area (instead of verdant w/ tech like the good future)

[Aerosol]

GeneHF, on 06 May 2014 - 12:54 PM, said:

Past: I'm not really sure how you could depict a desert in pre-historic times differently. Maybe a more naturally verdant area (instead of verdant w/ tech like the good future)

With water everywhere in the background. Like a large lake with several pretty waterfalls going down that cliff face.

[E-122-Psi]

Aerosol, on 06 May 2014 - 12:58 PM, said:

GeneHF, on 06 May 2014 - 12:54 PM, said:

Past: I'm not really sure how you could depict a desert in pre-historic times differently. Maybe a more naturally verdant area (instead of verdant w/ tech like the good future)

With water everywhere in the background. Like a large lake with several pretty waterfalls going down that cliff face.

Perhaps that is how it could make a link to original R2 plans with it's rainbow waterfalls.

[Lambda]

E-122-Psi, on 06 May 2014 - 01:06 PM, said:

Aerosol, on 06 May 2014 - 12:58 PM, said:

GeneHF, on 06 May 2014 - 12:54 PM, said:

Past: I'm not really sure how you could depict a desert in pre-historic times differently. Maybe a more naturally verdant area (instead of verdant w/ tech like the good future)

With water everywhere in the background. Like a large lake with several pretty waterfalls going down that cliff face.

Perhaps that is how it could make a link to original R2 plans with it's rainbow waterfalls.

Dang... I want this so bad now. Hardcore fans would like the addition, and the general public wouldn't notice it's new... why SEGA shot this down is beyond me... Like, I'm really trying to figure out why they'd do that.

Honestly, I rarely enjoy desert levels in platformers... but the colors and American West vibe here is atypical and very nice. Seems to have a good flow, too. Even if it is a test level.

Oh well, I'll just have to let it go... or hope they get to make an original Sonic game with the ideas that got shot down... pretty please? :D

[GeneHF]

Lambda, on 06 May 2014 - 02:38 PM, said:

Dang... I want this so bad now. Hardcore fans would like the addition, and the general public wouldn't notice it's new... why SEGA shot this down is beyond me... Like, I'm really trying to figure out why they'd do that.

I can only guess that they didn't want to change the core game too much. Tails being included may have been enough of a stretch, like how HPZ is in Sonic 2.

The sad part is, and I think this may have to do more with SoJ than anything, is they need to understand that because they re-released the original games so many damn times throughout the last 13 or so years, there's little incentive for people to keep buying them. Look at the feedback around the net about Sonic 2. Yeah, 16:9, touch controls, online multiplayer... the key selling point all of them pointed to, even SoA themselves, was Hidden Palace Zone's inclusion. It was entirely new content that was taken out originally, now restored. THAT'S why it sold like crazy, not just because it was Sonic 2.

The sooner SoJ gets it through their thick skulls, the more liberties these remasters could have gotten. That said, I would rather see these ideas implemented in an all new game, not just simple mobile remasters. May as well leave remasters or porting to M2 and their GigaDrive emulator.

[Blue Blood]

GeneHF, on 06 May 2014 - 02:42 PM, said:

The sad part is, and I think this may have to do more with SoJ than anything, is they need to understand that because they re-released the original games so many damn times throughout the last 13 or so years, there's little incentive for people to keep buying them. Look at the feedback around the net about Sonic 2.

The sooner SoJ gets it through their thick skulls, the more liberties these remasters could have gotten.

It's a pride thing I'm sure. And it's a damn shame too. Did any of these remakes ever get a Japanese release in the end? What with Boom and the fact that these remakes are the best things since the originals, I get the impression that Sega West are the only ones that are really striving for excellence and at all in-tune with the market these days.

[Machenstein]

The only other reason behind Desert Dazzle's exclusion I can think of is Sonic CD's limited distribution. The general public has played Sonic 1 and 2 to death, but not Sonic CD. Sega probably thought people would experience the Taxman port first as if it were the original. It could also have been due to how unfamiliar Sega was with Taxman at the time. They had relied on emulators for years, then this Sonic fan turned programmer approaches them with an iPhone port of Sonic CD. He was a new face that Sega didn't completely trust at first, but since he proved himself with Sonic CD, now he can take liberties with the rest of the classics.

[Master Emerald]

Because an extra zone would involve 3 new songs, 3 new level layouts and R2 wasn't really part of Sonic CD. With HPz it was more to do with the time constraints, but R2 had bad, uninteresting art and they decided to cut it... that's why we don't have it. It's not part of Sonic CD if people chose to cut it.

As a graphic designer I can tell, for every logo/corporate identity/game art/everything related to it, you have at least two alternatives that were discarded by the client.

[doc eggfan]

I love how Taxman just went ahead and started putting R2 together. That's how I like to work too, to half complete something and then take it to your boss and say "Look, isn't this a great idea and it's mostly done now so can I have permission to finish it off?"

It's really annoying when they say no.

[TheKazeblade]

doc eggfan, on 06 May 2014 - 04:23 PM, said:

I love how Taxman just went ahead and started putting R2 together. That's how I like to work too, to half complete something and then take it to your boss and say "Look, isn't this a great idea and it's mostly done now so can I have permission to finish it off?"

It's really annoying when they say no.

Hopefully Sega's got the hint by now. From what was completed, Desert Dazzle had the makings to be a level on par with that of Sonic 2 with its open design and use of multiple paths. Plus, Stealth-Tax's Hidden Palace is such a completely new animal from the original HPZ, it may as well have been its own original zone.

Now we've all seen DDZ and are clamoring for it. Sega was smart enough to let Taxman start making these ports, so hopefully they'll be smart enough to offer him the chance to do Sonic 5, or at the very least an original Sonic project of some kind. They have a golden egg-laying goose right there! They haven't even begun to scratch the surface of the potential Stealth-Tax and the Retro Engine possess.

[E-122-Psi]

This hidden data does seem to work as a semi pitch to display the potential and see if buyers would take to it, sort of like how the beta helped in Hidden Palace's elusiveness. Very convenient if something were to come from this little oversight by Taxman's team... XD

[GeneHF]

I don't doubt that he has his backers in SoA. Sales for all the games suggest they were quite healthy, and they won some awards too. The main concern is likely going to be SoJ. It doesn't take a genius to see SoJ doesn't like being upstaged. Hell, a handy look at our lovely Sega Retro wiki will show various instances in the past where SoJ and SoA are at odds, but SoJ ultimately wins because they're the main branch.

If the fans really want to make their voices heard, you all need to shake up SoJ. No disrespect to M2 for how impressive the GigaDrive is (and really, I respect the amount of work they put in to it and how it largely shames Nintendo's VC offerings), but Stealth and Tax have taken some classics, lovingly touched them up and made them super appealing to buy once again, and with bonus features incentives. It's like how Square Enix ported Chrono Trigger to DS and added stuff (opinions may vary on quality.)