The title card letters are 8x24, 16x24, or 24x24 px over a line backdrop, with the space being an empty 8x24 px void without any line. Here's AIZ2 in-game, HCZ1 in-game, and a photoshopped HCZ1 with a space. A hypothetical spaced "Hydro City" using untouched vanilla assets takes up a little less screen real-estate than the vanilla "Angel Island" already does, so they could've put a space if they really wanted to (though I wouldn't know how the real rendering code works, or if there would be any problems implementing this.) Just for fun, I also cut out the middle column of the "O" to make a quick-and-dirty smaller 16x24 letter that's more normal-sized. Here's some slightly cursed mockups for that.
It's never been consistent across sega and japan, ever. Remember, space harrier takes place in the "Fantasy Zone" and used stages in Space Harrier, then turned around and used "Round" in Fantasy Zone. Even among the very same team, there has never been consistency. I.e. Virtua Fighter 2 using "Round" while Fighters Megamix uses "Stage" They've always been used haphazardly without rhyme or reason.
I always read it as HYDROCITY but thought about HYDRO CITY. I never found anything suspicious about the spelling or pronunciation, but thats probably because I'm not a native speaker. I suppose Sonic Team viewed it in similiar way.
I think SOOOOO strange, that humans don't understand WHY new classic Sonic is blue. Everybody says "What? WHYY HE IS BLUE?!? WHAT THE F". So... surprise, but it's early palette from Sonic 1! ..yes.. it's strange, that SEGA is return early palette, but, maybe someone from developers like palette from this period)
Ever since i started playing sonic 2 as a kid the fact that the little white highlight pixel on sonic's head changed to gray during the walking sprites always bothered me. If you never noticed, now you do. ;-)
I'm not sure about irrelevant, but why did Mecha Sonic need to attack Sonic with Eggman's old machines (especially ones that Sonic's defeated in the past) in Sonic 3 when Mecha IS a weapon himself (when he finally faced Sonic one-on-one)? It's obvious from a gaming standpoint, but from Mecha's himself? It almost seems cowardly.
It's just a gameplay mechanic for the player. I guarantee that absolutely no thought went into the narrative implications of it. But if you want to try to justify it somehow, you could say the he was toying with Sonic or just delaying him from inevitably reaching the Death Egg.
My guess is that Eggy was desperate to stop Sonic (or at least slow him down) and keep him from reaching the Death Egg, so when he sent Mecha he armed him with the Eggmobile as extra insurance. Mecha might also have needed the Eggmobile to reach Sky Sanctuary after being deployed from the Death Egg. I don't think he's ever shown flying in his non-Super form?
It's just this weird thing where video game villains need to be hyped up with some kind of gauntlet instead of just trying to kill Sonic. You could ask the same for Robotnik, who often refrains from using his most powerful machines because he would rather try to kill Sonic with one of his least powerful machines first.
The lead up is partly cinematic, meant to show you just how far you've come since the Green Hills. You're supposed to go 'Hey! I remember when I had to fight that!' As for why Robotnik brought out those bosses again, think about it, The Death Egg is at full power, Sonic's in a mad race to catch up, there's simply no time to make new bosses, and you certainly cannot risk Mecha Sonic, so just throw whatever you have at him. That's probably why Mecha Sonic didn't fight you at first, only when all other options were exhausted did Mecha Sonic face you.
In-universe, he's the last line of defense for the Death Egg passing through and any precious seconds to stall Sonic count. If Mecha were to fight Sonic immediately (and therefore get disabled immediately), Sonic would have a much easier time boarding due to not having to deal with being harassed during his climb. Out-of-universe, it's meant to show him off early, and hype you for the fisticuffs battle with him. (Though that might have the opposite effect.)
