Nobody gets excited when I do release it out of the blue. (I'm not really upset, don't worry!) This is more or less where I'm going, although not behaving particularly like S&KC - the menu is entirely different in design and presents Blue Sphere as one of the main options rather than tucking it away. However, the S3 alone mode is very much like S&KC's by virtue of being similarly built onto S3K, perhaps even further down the same line since I don't intend to bring back the old S3A level select. For purists, you will be able to set the game to skip over the front menu and go straight into Sonic 3 Complete mode, or any of the other game modes you'd prefer to start up in. One handy thing is that, just like S3K did, Sonic 3 Complete mode will import savegames made in the Sonic 3 alone mode if there are no S3C saves; further than that, I've also allowed the reverse so that S3A mode will try to import the first six S3C savegames if it doesn't have any existing savegames (marking them "clear" if they are past the S3 portion). The resulting SRAM is then compatible with both S3 and S3K if you feel like slumming it with the original releases.
A few ideas/suggestions. Not sure if they can be implemented or not: -Ability to switch between S1/S2 and S3K monitor style. -Ability to change Sonic's sprites (Sonic 1, Sonic Cd, and Sonic 2). -I have a certain bias in favor of Knuckles sprites from Chaotix, as to me, it certainly looks as the definitive knuckles sprite. If somehow it could be implemented, it would be great. -Ability to change the invincibility theme to those of Sonic 1 and 2. To me, they just sound like they define sonic, in the same way the hyrule field the defines zelda. -Ability to change super sonic's sprites to those of Sonic 2 I am well aware that my suggestions are not easy to implement in the game, but when it comes to improving a true classic, I am all in favor of positive changes that do not impact gameplay, or level design. Hell if you could, I even think that you should add sprite animations like those of "Pana Der Hejhog" and 32x quality graphics. I hope you don't get me wrong: I really loved your work, with sonic3Complete, and I see A LOT of potential in it, and if it can reach an absolute peak of quality, then why not?
Yeah, I guess that's feasible actually. It still doesn't tempt me to actually make music, but I guess I'd be prepared to take contributions for these if someone wanted to make them, as with the PC music - but in the same vein, I wouldn't put them in a release without having a full, consistent set.
The invincibility music *is* replaceable, to be honest. But I'm also inclined to believe it's a bad idea, yes.
It's not a "bad" idea, but the problem is it doesn't fit into the ideas of this project. Adding the S2 invincibility theme would not "complete" Sonic 3, it would just add something that was never intended. It's a feature that conforms to your ideas, not what Sonic 3 would have been like if complete.
Well I don't want to to come off as a flip flopper, but yeah I agree that some of these ideas are are not the best when it come to the original art direction of sonic 3 BUT they add new features to the whole customization aspect of sonic 3 complete, and to a certain degree I believe they are feasible. And yeah, when I wrote my previous post, feasibility was my main concern and although I am not into programing, its not that hard to imagine what would be harder to code into the game. Most of my suggestions were made with feasibility in mind, and it was just stuff that could be interesting to see in the game: I imagine that, for example the ability to change monitor style would be something that would be tried at least once, by almost everyone, but it would only be regularly used by about 20% of people. And the reason for this is, as you can imagine, that this sort of change directly interferes with the artstyle of the original game and the nostalgia factor. If there is one change that I think that would be accepted by almost everyone, and would make no compromises when it comes to the original art style or what sonic 3 was meant to be like/play like/sound like, would be to add better animation, something similar to what was done with "Pana Der Hejhog". If you asked me "Why not a separate project, then?" I would say that the amount of bug fixes that this one already has, makes it stable groundwork from which to work upon, plus it would be just some customizable aspect: something you could use or not. This is when the word "feasible" comes to mind, as I really have no idea if there is some sort of automated software process to animate the sprites this way, if simply adding new sprites would work, or if it would require a full 32x conversion.
The problem is more likely to do with space availability than anything else. Remember, character art is uncompressed in ROM, meaning it already takes up a sizable chunk with Sonic, Tails and Knuckles in there. Adding in Sonic 1/2/CD/Chaotix sprites for any of them just takes up more room. With only 4mb to play with (without resorting to bank switching) you won't be able to do any of those, really. Monitor art would work, as would the music, but I don't see the point as it'd just break style without the appropriate character sprites.
Just to clarify one thing: my last response was to flamewing's suggestion - I wrote it before JigenD's post existed, got a timeout when posting it, then went back and reposted without ever seeing the intervening suggestion, which I wasn't aware of until today. Oops! The responses are quite right: none of the suggestions fit directly in the path of Sonic 3 Complete, but one might argue the same of Pink Knuckles(TM) or a few other patch options. I'm not fundamentally opposed to patch options that do something more adventurous, provided that they fit into that "completely optional" scope and can be readily ignored by anyone picking up the standard build. That wouldn't really be practical for, say, adding a new character, adding levels, significant design changes, particularly where patch options need to interact with each other, which is a total minefield when it's all done with binary patching; and at the end of the day, it still comes down to what I actually have any enthusiasm to do, which isn't much more than "Sonic 3 as I truly imagined it". (That is to say, don't take what I'm saying here as a call for creative and adventurous suggestions!) But binary patching has benefits: if I wanted to make Sonic look like Sonic 2 Sonic in a patch option, I could just have a chunky IPS patch that overwrites the art/mappings/DPLC, provided it doesn't push out any other binary offsets. I don't think anything suggested is inherently completely impossible (except that the Chaotix sprites might require VDP flexibility I don't have on the MD), but that's not to say it's likely to happen either.
Here's a new patch option for the next release. 100 points to anyone who recognises what's going on here. Disclaimer: points do not mean prizes.
Welcome to Whose Sonic 3 is it Anyway?, the game where everything's made up and the points don't matter. Let's start out with a game called "Easy Mode." EDIT: I spent so much time trying to get the exact wording for this that I got ninja'd!
Oh, awesome! I...have to admit I was getting just a tad antsy about whether we'd see any more release info (indeed, have been getting a bit more of an S3K itch to scratch lately). Now, I've not played Sonic Jam's easy mode on any real level. How is this going to work in relation to the S3 vs. S&K object layout patch options? (Did Sonic 3's easy mode version of LBZ2 start from the extra rings and reduced obstacles from S3K and then simplify on top of that? Or do some of the additions in S3K's layout of LBZ2 not show up? Alternately, is Sonic 3's easy mode the same as the easy mode of S3K up to LBZ2?) Also, kinda unrelated, I was wondering whether or not the MGZ workaround for the act 2 loading glitch (autoscroll, then change) would also work for the similar bug in Mushroom Hill (when defeating that boss as Super/Hyper Sonic too early, I mean). Is it more compliated, I.e., should I not hold my breath for this one to get fixed?
That's Sonic 3 Easy Mode? I didn't know.... and I HAVE Sonic Jam, I guess I didn't play it ever in my life, probably because of the save option Sonic 3 have. I'm now with that sensation of stupidity, when you didn't know what you have in your hands. It's glad to know that you are still working on this wonderful stuff. So when we are going to get night-time Sonic 3's Flying Battery Zone? :P (If we're going to get it at all...) Besides Easy. Normal and Original, I think, I don't quite remember the difference of those two...
Normal tended to be modified slightly from "original" under the basis of giving a fairer challenge. I don't know the actual differences between layouts offhand, but I think it was more pronounced for Sonic 1 and 2.
