Sonic and Sega Retro Message Board: ColinC10 - Viewing Profile - Sonic and Sega Retro Message Board

I've had no time to work on any new hacks this year. However, I like to submit something for the contest each year, and I found this while looking through my old laptop. It's the first hack I ever made, back in 2006 (before Robotnik's Revenge). It was about 95% complete when I hit some technical issues and gave up. With six years more hacking experience the issues were simple to fix, so here it is, finally finished! All I ask is that you judge it by the standards of 2006 rather than 2012.

Sonic 2: Battle Race is a TWO PLAYER ONLY hack. Players race against each other on the same screen. If a player falls too far behind his opponent and disappears off the screen, he dies. The leading player then gets a point, the losing player reappears next to him, and the race continues. Whoever has the most points at the end of the level wins.

Pause + A: Quit the current level and return to the level select.
Pause + B: Kill both players and return to the last checkpoint. This is handy for "standoff" situations, where the players can't progress (they fell off a MTZ nut, for example) but they don't want to backtrack for fear of losing a point to their opponent.


Screenshots:


Monitors work the same way as in split screen mode, but with an extra life giving you an extra point instead.


Knowing the level layout is important, particularly in the later levels.


All zones are playable except Sky Chase and Death Egg.


Edit: Here's a video of the hack in action, courtesy of Iceman404. It probably gives a better idea of what the hack's about than screenshots:




I realise that the vast majority of you were probably expecting to play a single player game and have no interest in a two player one, so if that's the case then I'm sorry for the disappointment.
However, if like me you've always wanted to play Sonic 2 against a friend on anything other than Emerald Hill, Casino Night and Mystic Cave then hopefully you'll have some fun with this hack.

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All comments are welcome!

I've had very little time for hacking this year so for this one it's back to basics!

Get Sonic to the exit in each of the 40 mini-levels. No rings, lives, time limits or bosses, just virtual-themed artwork and music by Anamanaguchi.

There are a couple of annoying sound issues that I haven't been able to get rid of, and some sound effects don't even play at all in certain emulators, so for that reason I suggest you use Kega Fusion. Other than that I'm reasonably happy with it, despite how quickly I knocked it together. In fact it's probably the hack I've enjoyed working on the most, so I'd be interested to hear what you guys think.

Screenshots:


This is the title screen. Told you I was going back to basics!


More command line goodness in the level select.


I hope you like grey.


The levels range from insultingly easy to teeth-grindingly difficult (this one's somewhere in the middle).


Finally, I should point out that the version of Sonic VR entered in this year's Hacking Contest is a demo with only around half of the levels. The download link below is for the full version, so bear that in mind when voting. SRAM saves from the contest demo will carry over to the full version.

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All comments are welcome!

I've always thought it would be really cool if someone ported the Sonic 1 zones to Sonic 2. So, for this year's hacking contest, I ported the Sonic 1 zones to Sonic 2. Any questions?

Here's the list of features:

- A full game of Sonic 1 and 2 starts with Green Hill and ends with Death Egg.
- The Sonic 1 special stages are available through end-of-level giant rings. Giant rings have been added to Sonic 2 levels where necessary.
- You need all six Sonic 1 emeralds and all seven Sonic 2 emeralds to become Super Sonic.
- Your progress is automatically saved to SRAM. You can enable/disable this or start a new game from the options menu.
- Pause the game and press A to return to the title screen.
- Hold A at the title screen for level select.

You'll also notice a little extra called Arena Mode. I came up with this as a way to quickly jump in and play a few levels, so give it a look if you want to try the hack but don't feel like tackling an entire game. In the Arena, you attempt to increase your rank by completing time attack challenges. Higher ranks mean harder levels and shorter time limits. And no, I don't know why I always feel the need to grade people from F-S in every hack I do!

One thing I should point out is that if both Sonic and Tails are on screen, and there are a large number of objects active, the framerate can drop a bit. This was just as true in the original Sonic 2 as in this hack - the difference is that Sonic 2's object placement was designed with the presence of Tails in mind, meaning this only happens in rare cases like when you lose all your rings. Sonic 1's layouts weren't designed for Tails so there are some sections in Marble, Labyrinth and Scrap Brain where things can get a bit laggy. It's not a huge issue, but I just wanted to point out the reason for it in case it bothers you. Remember you can exit to the title screen to switch characters mid-game.

Time for some screenshots, I think:


Look, I actually drew something this year!



I'm in ur marble zone, pressin ur buttonz



There's a lot of trickery to get round palette limitations, so you may notice some slight differences.



Sonic 1 special stage: now with added Tails. He won't follow Sonic in, though. (Probably for the best.)



Ooh, shiny.



Hi, I'm Super Sonic.



Now that's what I call a level select screen.


All comments are welcome!

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P.S. If anyone feels like making a credits medley containing all of the level themes from Sonic 1 and Sonic 2, I'm sure I could find room for it in my hack somewhere...

I'm glad we have the hacking contest every year, because otherwise I'd never get round to doing any hacking whatsoever! My entry for this year is Sonic 3 & Knuckles: The Challenges. In this hack you play through the normal levels of S3K. In each one you're given a time limit and a specific challenge to complete, such as collecting a certain number of rings or protecting Tails from danger. Completing challenges unlocks more challenges, and your progress is automatically saved to SRAM.

That's pretty much it, so here are the screenshots:


The list of challenges. Selecting one takes you to...



The briefing screen, which tells you the rules. Read it!



Knuckles and Tails, just hanging out.



If you've played my previous hack, Robotnik's Revenge, you might be able to guess what the "Final Battle" challenges are all about.


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All comments are welcome!

Hi! I'm 23 years old and I work as a programmer. I'm been reading these boards for several years now but this is the first time I've got something that I consider worth contributing. It's a hack of Sonic 2 that I've also entered in this year's hacking contest. It must have impressed someone here because it got me to Tech Member in one post - thanks!

Robotnik's Revenge consists of one long level in which you fight all of the bosses from Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 consecutively. In Time Attack you have infinite lives to go for the fastest time you can. In Survival you have three lives and no rings to try and get as far as possible. In both modes you're given a rank based on how well you did.

Screenshots!


The title screen. Can you tell it was chucked in at the last minute?



Boss 1 of 17.



I think I've managed to get the behaviour and graphics of the Sonic 1 bosses to be accurate, but let me know if that's not the case!



Final Zone was the hardest to port by far, but I'm pleased with the results.


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Comments and suggestions are welcome!