Sonic Classic Heroes

I already have a prototype, I just need to revise it to match the actual drop dash.

 

No.

 

It does, yes. Depending on the number of characters with alternate super forms, it may or may not be too much to manage, and may require using the SSF2 mapper, which brings is own issues to the table.

 

So, I am looking for people that can do a few hardware testing, as well as some playtesting. Giving preference to people that have and can test with a Sega Team Player, an EA 4-Way Play, and 6-button controllers. Please send me a PM if you want to lend a hand.

On other news, yes, I am alive, and yes, the project is still alive. I will see about making a massive bugfix release soon, then go on to start working again on adding more characters/teams. Or, more likely, erasing the concept of teams and having a 'Sonic Chaotix Heroes' mechanic, if that makes sense.

 

New revision is out! You can grab v0.15.0d31 here.

Partial list of changes from previous release:

Spoiler

General

• Implemented system to prevent objects from dragging/pushing players inside terrain. When an object pulls a player inside terrain, the player will just stick to the edge of terrain instead. When an object pushes a player inside terrain, said player will simply be crushed instead. This system is more lenient than the one from SCD/Taxman versions.
• Fixed several collision issues in numerous levels.
• Changed how ledge clipping work so that you can no longer fall through solid terrain.
• Implemented a leniency system for movement that allows slow moving characters to duck/look up while over objects just as they could on terrain.
• Non-solid platform objects now prevent you from falling through them if you started above them and was moving down fast enough.
• Solid and non-solid platform objects rising fast enough will force a player moving up to land on them, instead of clipping through. You can look at speedruns of FZ in stock Sonic 1 to see why.
• Completely redesigned options screen.
• Pushed CRAM dots offscreen everywhere.
• Level wrapping is now impossible.
• Optimized the engine throughout.
• Replaced all Nemesis art by KosM-compressed art and a KosM-backed PLC queue. Also using ultra optimized Kosinski decoder.
• Generic 1-up icon to avoid the heavy logic of deciding which icon to show, and load, when swapping characters.
• Added option to select 'Super Dash' or 'Hyper Dash' when using the all-emeralds cheat code. Super Dash now extends all the way to the end of the level, with proper graphics for Sonic in signpost, mentions of 'Team Super' or 'Team Hyper' when appropriate.
• Got rid of continues. '99 continue' cheat renamed to '99 lives' cheat.
• HUD moves out of the way for some cutscenes.
• Fixed music selection logic to be consistent: boss music will have precedence over all but drowning music, which will override super/hyper/invincibility music, which will override level music.
• Solid and non-solid platform objects will forcibly despawn CPU-controlled characters when deleted. They will also keep checking collisions while offscreen if any character is standing on them.
• Removed stray unreachable rings throughout. It is now possible to achieve a perfect in every level.
• Removed now useless invisible solid objects and similar objects stuck inside walls.
• Fixed numerous graphic glitches.
• Numerous minor graphical and animation improvements.

Object specific

• Implemented comprehensive ring bouncing system where spilled rings will bounce from floors, walls and ceilings much more frequently than they do in stock S2.
• Spilled rings can now become attracted rings if a player with a lightning shield comes near them.
• Fixed numerous issues with spintubes and teleporters in CPZ, SBZ, and MTZ, including crashes that have been reported numerous times.
• Fixed numerous end-of-level issues with both signposts and egg prisons.
• Fixed buggy double-jump interactions with springs.
• Fixed a few issues with big rings.
• Fixed broken water palette when losing a lightning shield due to being dunked into water.
• Fixed a PAL bug in sound driver in drowning music compared to stock S2 driver.
• Fixed several cases of vertical screen wrapping bugs where relative orientations are needed.
• Fixed sticking issue when jumping off of objects underwater.
• Fixed issues with Charmy dashing up at the end of levels.
• Fixed S2 special stage HUDs.
• Eggman no longer loses his head in S1 levels if he is scrolled partially offscreen. This is most easily seen in FZ/SBZ4.
• Screen is released faster after defeating Eggman at the end of each level.
• Air bubbles can only be consumed by human players. AI players can use them, but they will remain in place.
• Level timer will stop when you defeat the boss, like in S3&K. Exceptions are LZ boss, and Silver Sonic.
• Fixed numerous single-frame bugs on objects throughout the game. If you know about one, it is probably fixed; if you think you discovered a new one, it has probably been fixed already. If you find out one which is not fixed, drop me a line!
• FZ/SBZ4 boss is now affected by insta-shield's extended attack radius.
• SBZ electrocuters use some emergency palette swaps to prevent some cases when they flashed red.
• You can now stand on lava and collect spilled rings, among other things.
• You can now make leaves fall in ARZ and hit badniks behind the leaf generator, among other things.
• LZ spikeballs would sometimes not show their chains when they were just offscreen.
• Numerous fixes to water surface object.
• Numerous minor fixes to objects throughout, including some caused by using nameless temporaries.
• End of level score tally will now run while the animals are escaping from the egg prison.

Level Specific

• Secret paths in several levels.
• Some more secret goodies in several levels.
• Boss pillars in ARZ start rising as soon as possible.
• GHZ2 has a Mania-style spike pit replacing bottomless pit on the middle of the level.
• All of SBZ3, FZ/SBZ4, SCZ, and WFZ, now have score tallies.
• In SCZ, destroying badniks while maintaining an uninterrupted chain will give a 'chain bonus' at the score tally. This replaces the normal time bonus.
• Bottom kill plane is disabled in DEZ.
• Improved background scrolling in OOZ: the hidden third of the background which was never seen in stock S2 is now visible.
• Fixed background section in HTZ post-lava rising sections: in HTZ2, it is no longer possible to see an incorrectly scrolled background when coming out of the tunnel with sufficient speed.
• Fixed scrolling of background clouds in WFZ. They will no longer move in the wrong direction when you walk around.
• Fixed numerous issues in WFZ->DEZ transition.

Character specific

• Fixed balancing issues for the Chaotix.
• Sonic now has a drop dash which can be activated by pressing and holding B while on air. Other jump buttons will trigger jump actions as normal.
• Tails can land faster by pressing down while flying. When Tails is flying and carrying another character, if you swap from Tails to one of the carried characters, you can make Tails boost up by pressing up if he is being controlled by the AI. This is equivalent to pressing a jump button when controlling Tails directly.
• Tails will no longer pick up AI-controlled characters while swimming underwater.
• Fixed black pixels on Tails' ears in some poses.
• Fixed misaligned mappings for Knuckles being held by Tails.
• Players being carried by Tails can jump directly down by pressing down+jump.
• Knuckles and Vector can drop from a wall climb by pressing down+jump.
• Fixed numerous issue in Hive Mode.
• Improved spawning of AI Sonic/Espio/Vector.
• Improved spawning of Knuckles by having him glide from the side and from further down.
• Spindash/peelout charging will not reduce charge on frames when you press a jump button to charge.
• Tails' tails no longer cause RAM corruption in S2 special stages when he is in third place.
• Knuckles/Vector pushing on the sides of an object will no longer cause players standing on that object to keep their balance.
• Holding up/down during title card allows charging spindash/peelout from the first frame of input.
• Un-nerfed the speed stats of Vector and Charmy, they now match those of Espio, Tails and Knuckles. Sonic is now the only character that has enhanced stats, and the only one to give a boost to others when on the lead.
• Sonic now has enhanced top speed when he has speed shoes. He also has enhanced acceleration when super/hyper *and* with speed shoes.
• Chaotix can now become super with a single set of emeralds, and hyper with both.
• Hyper Knuckles/Hyper Vector climb quake caused numerous issues when camera X position < 5.
• Chaotix now have proper corkscrew animations.

Coop modes

• In Chaotix coop mode, the energy bands can force a player to detach from the ground if the pull is strong enough.
• Energy bands will no longer pull players on different layers. This makes loops less painful.

Control modes

• The EA 4 Way Play multitap is now supported along with the Sega TeamPlayer.
• Input code has been heavily optimized.
• New 6-button controller control scheme: A/B/C are jump buttons, X swaps players like A does in a 3-button controller, Z swaps players in the opposite order, and Y swaps the sidekicks. Additionally, Mode button can be used to transform into super/hyper *instead of* a jump button; it can be emulated by holding two of A/B/C and pressing a third.
• Special pause commands: pressing A during pause will return to title screen; pressing B will restart the current level; pressing C will either kill both of player 2 and player 3 (if C was pressed by player 1) or kill whatever player presses C during a pause (otherwise). The C button clauses are intended to prevent you from getting stuck while on Chaotix coop mode.
• When a character is being controlled by another player, said character is ineligible for a swap, unless the player is holding any of the swap buttons.

Miscellaneous

• Pre-scaled Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Mighty, and Ray graphics for Sega screen.
• Modified credits with no fades. Instead, there is scrolling between each screen. Also, credits now uses SCH menu background.
• Fixed end of game branding.
• Emeralds now flash to white and back in special stage results instead of flickering.

 

Thanks for the report! Here is a version fixing that, as well as a couple other issues similar to that. I updated the posts above to reflect this new revision.

Good thing I decided to wait a bit before updating the Steam version...