Sonic 1 and 2 getting the Sonic CD treatment by Taxman and Stealth

Is there anything good that is financially viable for this company?

Alright, how about this; we get the Taxman versions of Sonic 1 and 2 on Steam, XBLA and PSN first, then we can worry about Sonic 3. If we can't have a "Sonic Taxman Collection" that has Sonic 1, 2, CD and 3&K on it, then just release them individually. Obviously Sega isn't convinced that their flagship IP can sell these digitally released remasters enough to warrant just one more for Sonic 3, so why not just test the waters with non-mobile releases first?

As for any licensing issues with Sonic 3's music, how, pray tell, was the game re-released in so many different Sonic compilations? I know it's Sega, but this literally makes no sense. Taxman's remasters played well. I presume they also sold well. Sega was able to release products that were critically and commercially successful, and what is their next course of action? "Sorry, we're not interested. Here's Sonic Boom instead." It's like they're allergic to success.

 

I assume it may be an issue with the remastering of music, if its a music thing at all... Use of the originals probably couldn't work either since I'm pretty sure there's some copyright bullshit for any use of songs outside of their original product aka the S3&K ROM. Honestly, we're still debating to this day why SEGA shies away from Sonic 3 like a vampire from garlic. For all we know it could be a number of reasons, music just seems to be the one that holds more water than the others.

 

I imagine they're probably too spooked to rerelease it because they don't want to remind the general public that their biggest franchise shot it's wad 20 years ago and it's been flaccid ever since.

 

I've said it before: Tiddles' S3 Complete is basically the perfected version of Sonic 3. Retro Engine incorporation would only add the retro engine modifications the other three games had and a smooth as hell Special Stage.

While that'd be nice, I'd much rather see something new out of these two. I don't know what the plan is at the moment (if there even is one at this point), but I'm just saying giving them the reigns for an original title would be interesting, especially with what we've seen from Dusty Desert, the scrapped Final Frenzy boss idea, Hidden Palace finalized and redone, and the plan for Egg Gauntlet.

 

The first thing I noticed is it's not 16:9. That's a "must have", in my opinion, for games on today's devices (and why I'm not touching the versions in the Steam store).

 

Widescreen is lovely but crisp, clean remastered audio is even nicer (for sound nerds like me anyway). Of course I would love a brand new original official game from these guys more than anything (and I would pay full retail price for one, if you're paying attention Sega) but the appeal of having my favourite video game ever touched up for posterity can't be denied either. In a just world we'd have both.

 

This is sad news, but I think if (when) Sega needs more money they'll rerelease this one too. They just may not have Taxman/Stealth available to work their magic when that happens. They do have the Retro Engine at their disposal now, though.

 

If music is SEGA's only concern, I wouldn't mind the S&KC versions in the place of the problematic tracks. I think it'd have to be an unofficial fan effort to ever get widescreen if SEGA never does anything.

I wonder how viable a modified emulator would be that has its own widescreen renderer? I understand that it'd likely be more trouble than it's worth to expand the real VDP stuff past 320 pixels, but what I'm saying is to write a new VDP surrogate totally from scratch that is specially written for Sonic 3 Complete. I suppose the idea would be to read from certain RAM addresses and the ROM itself would be geared toward this, all as the real VDP goes completely unused. Admittedly convoluted, but perhaps less effort (and less legal risk??) than to rewrite the entire engine as a stand-alone modern executable or to use the Retro engine (most certainly wouldn't want Taxman to get tangled up in such a risky unofficial effort given his professional relationship with SEGA).

 

I was pondering something like that myself just a few minutes ago. If M2 can program a Genesis emulator/ROM combo that can handle 3D I bet someone in the community could do the same with widescreen. Whether the ends would justify the means is up for debate though (I'd side with "probably not").

 

This makes me sick. As much as this franchise has been going downhill, these remastered versions have been the shining light of hope, of something. Wow, I guess the old school fans just don't bring in enough money to the franchise to make a iOS S3&K important enough to happen.

If it's money, SEGA, say how much, and open a kickstarter. I'll gladly pay, and I never do kickstarter. Ever.

 

I was thinking as well, perhaps it's too late now for PS3/Xbox 360/PC versions anyway, sadly it's looks like SEGA think so too, so the best versions of Sonic 1 and 2 are now forever banished to Mobile Platforms.

 

It can't be too late for a PC version, but I can see how it would be for the 360 and PS3. I don't see what's stopping them from doing Steam releases, or even Wii U/Xbox One/PS4 releases. How expensive can it be for Sega to take digital remasters that are already done and put them on those services?

 

The first thing I noticed was that the remasterings are horrendously blurred. At least the original hardware could do better than that. Also, the game was designed for 4:3, so 16:9 is nothing but a novelty and a boss ruiner.

 

Depends on the device and your settings. The Sonic 2 remaster looks sharp as hell on my Galaxy Note, but the CD remaster looks terrible on my iPhone 3GS.

Of course, they're all fucking impossible to control anyway, but I respect the developer enough to throw money at it dammit. :specialed:

 

Well I don't even have a good android phone, but I bought the games and played on Bluestacks, it's hardly good but it does the job.

 

This, and they control much easier on my 'Motorola Moto G' than they did on my 'Sony Xperia L'.

 

I wasn't too sure but I'm curious to know; are the controls really that awkward for people? I understand that, for a touch screen, they take some getting used to but I've not had a problem with them and have even managed to get some great times on time trial. However, I keep reading that everything is great, apart from the controls for some people and I'm curious as to what the issue really is.

 

Some cellphones don't respond as easily. Also some others (like the Xperia L) make it almost impossible to hold one finger while pressing another button with another, reving the spindash is almost impossible on it even though it has a multitouch display.

 

I would say that's a good idea. I have experience with Kickstarters. The first step is to get Sega on-board with the idea, though.

It would be nice to know who within Sega one should talk to. Are there any suggestions?