I think the best way to explain what the issue is with this zone is that the aesthetics are all too familiar and I mean that it isn't a case of "it reminds me of GHZ" it's a case of "it looks like GHZ". This really needs to be the last time a design choice liked this is made in a Sonic game. The tropical beach trope is perfectly fine but that's the only thing that should be used. It's funny because this design philosophy was already perfected with Sonic 2 so it's not as if the Sonic Team doesn't understand this.
You know, they really could had avoided all this third-character debate if they just made him Professor Pickle. With his gameplay being able to swipe enemies with the strongest double-decker hoagie you've ever seen. Complete with thinly-cut cucumber slices appearing as particle effects. The more rings you collect, the longer your hoagie gets, and the length of your hoagie translate into end-of-level score bonuses as Professor Pickle devours it. Hire me Sanic Team. :v:
https://twitter.com/Nakamura_ShunR/status/853561427595935744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fboard.sonicstadium.org%2Findex.php%3Fapp%3Dcore%26module%3Dsystem%26controller%3Dembed%26url%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FNakamura_ShunR%2Fstatus%2F853561427595935744 "This is a dialog" so apparently, "It's not Green Hill zone" is a line said by a character, not developer exposition on the level itself.
I mean that could be a kind of interesting twist depending on where they take it. EDIT: Also I just had a thought. That 3rd character silhouette looks like a redesigned Felix the Cat.
Imagine actually speaking this comment aloud and emphasizing each word they capitalized. You'd sound like a lunatic, I love it. Anyway if there is a plot point to why GHZ is the way it is I'd like to see it. If not, I guess I still probably won't care that much
I think they've already stated that Classic was brought there by Eggman on accident, so basically how I see it is that he's accidentally managed to dump GHZ right next to Syria Zone, which is what we see at the end of Modern Sonic's gameplay. This is why it's covered in sand, cause it literally fell in a desert.
Maybe it's some sort of mash up of a bunch of old Sonic Zones caused by Time Travel shenanigans or something. To, you know, explain how and why Classic Sonic winds up in the future. Hence the sand in the zone.
No matter the story reason, I don't see why they have to stick to Green Hill when they could easily use Emerald Hill, Angel Island or Palmtree Panic if they're so adamant about re-using levels.
Right? Didn't you know the classic series was Sonic 1 including Chemical Plant, Flying Battery, and the Death Egg? Those other levels and games were simply illusions.
Nah dude, the classic series just had Green Hill, Casino Night, Labyrinth, and Metropolis; those were the only zones in Sanic 1.
nah bruh, Casino Night was from Sanic 1. Sanic 2 had Aquatic Ruin, original ice carnival level, Oil Ocean, Wing Forretress, and Space Colony ARK Egg Zone.
For all the love that it gets from SEGA, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Sonic 3 was just an illusion. Regardless, Green Hill reappearing in Forces is really dumb. If there's more to it and it's going to be interesting for one reason or another, they'd have done well to showcase it properly and not just give us a tiny snippet of gameplay that's barely distinguishable from Generations.
Could you imagine if Mario games reused World 1-1 from SMB1 all over the damn place? *No, Neither can I.
I feel like that's kinda not the same. 1-1 stands out only in it's level layout, which has been referenced in a number of games. It's aesthetic was used all over the original game and is rather bland, so using it wouldn't make any sense. Not only that but World 1-1's theme also is pretty heavily associated with what would essentially be Mario's theme song. GHZ as an environment is it's own thing, but that doesn't make it a good thing that it's used constantly. I'd say the GHZ abuse is closer to the Kirby series' nostalgia abuse. What is it about the Kirby series though that makes it able to get away with its rehash? Sonic gets chewed out for it (by us anyway), but it goes under the radar with Kirby, even if Green Greens and that tree show up all the time. Is it that there's less Kirby games and therefore it's not as stale, or that the Kirby universe is more contained, or that the nostalgia crutch was solidified early on? What do hardcore Kirby fans think about it. Granted they can't be nearly as jaded, as that series has been consistently good.
