Sonic Generations Megathread

Also, to let people know, looking at the hacked files I am fairly sure that the boss doesn't automatically start after Chemical Plant. From what I understood reading through the Generation demo dumps, Modern Sonic and Classic Sonic each have to collect boss keys, one each per stage (two total).

The game is split into three areas, each with three stages and two bosses, representing a different era of Sonic. There are six boss keys in each area, spread across the three stages. To unlock the rival boss, you must collect three keys. To unlock the boss, you must collect six keys. You unlock the next stage in a area by completing the normal stage for Modern and Classic Sonic each. You unlock the next area by beating the boss.

I don't exactly know how you get keys besides that you must complete other acts/missions in the stage. Whenever you just have to complete one extra total out of choice, or a specific mission, I don't know.

But I can say, with confidence, from what I read bosses are unlocked by collecting Boss Keys (like in Unleashed), which are obtained through extra acts/missions, 6 per area (three stages per area), and you unlock the next area by beating the boss.

Completing missions/acts outside of the boss key collecting one just returns more color to the stage.

 

They're not mashing up anything. Chemical Plant and Stardust Speedway are separate.

 

I was going to write a couple paragraphs about how what's wrote on the front page by a single author (Gene) isn't exactly the entire representation of 'Sonic Retro'.

But I think the red circles, yellow boxes and pink stars of Ritz clarifies the point being overall made. It's a separate zone. It was quite clear from the screen shots and that lightpost just screams it at you.

I'll be honest, I looked at the front page article, read it and thought "oh hey they're saying Metal Sonic's the boss of Chemical plant? Are they trolling, mis-informed or what?" but I didn't then take it as the 11th commandment and live by it as truth. :P

EDIT:

Sticking to the topic and simply not shooting down another member's post, I hope to god there's Modern and Classic remixes of the SCD Jap OST. I've been listening to Stardust Speedway Bad Future on Youtube all of yesterday (just out of randomness) and my my it's still as good as ever. I just hope they don't slap it with the american soundtrack, or heck, make it different for different regions again (Though giving the JAP ost to PAL again would be nice, but don't pull another Gems Collection on us (Seriously, USA music? Daww ))

 

Maybe since they are remixing the old music, they will appease both by mashing them both together into one song somehow?

THAT would be awesome.

 

It would... Especially considering that there's really NOTHING WRONG with the USA music.

Seriously guys, both regions' tracks are fine. What's making you DESPISE the USA track? The fact it's not Japanese?

Music aside, I'm glad Stardust Speedway makes its way into this game. That's quite an epic addition. Maybe the boss fight will be longer than before :O

 

I'm all for having Metal Sonic appear in Chemical Plant Zone as a boss, but have Stardust Speedway as the setting for the boss "fight". The only thing that kinda annoys me is that they're slapping Metal Sonic into the game as the second boss of the game. (Not counting if there is a modern boss fight and classic fight, or the rival bosses.) It's nothing major, I'd just rather fight him later in the game.

 

We don't know if Chemical Plant is the second stage yet though.

 

Yeah, for all we know, Chemical plant could be the 11th zone in the game.

I wonder if any of the other "Sonic Robots" will appear, even if it was just a small cameo.

 

Chemical Plant has turned out better than I ever could have imagined. I hope they'll be releasing a trailer soon

As for Metal Sonic, heck yes for Stardust Speedway being the stage for the race. I just hope Sega doesn't shoehorn it in, that they're all of a sudden "Lol, we're on the Little Planet now" as long as they make some attempt at a transition other than a fade to white time warp, I'll be content.

Though that does raise questions about how exactly the Sonics will be traveling through time, if only from a plot angle. Will they just randomly be pulled away, or will there be a kind of time field that you can return to previous areas at will? If it's not something voluntary, maybe a special stage type thing to blast forward, kind of in the same vein as Sonic CD? I'd be curious to find out.

 

The second cutscene's name roughly translates to, "To Chemical Plant Zone" but hey, you're right. Even this could take place later in the game, so yeah.

 

The fact that the Japanese soundtrack sounds better. Aside from just generally being an ill fit for a Sonic game (which is interesting and refreshing in its own right, so I'm not upset we got an alternate take), there really isn't anything wrong with it at all, but it had some colossal shoes to fill. The vote on this has been damn near unanimous for years now, so it'd be nice if they didn't shaft us for once. Again, if you really prefer the US soundtrack, there's a very good chance you weren't too fond of the music in Sonic to begin with!

He'd actually be the first boss, with Death Egg being the main boss for the area. You'll probably be able to choose from any of the three areas to begin with, so just get Modern 1 and Modern 2 out of the way first if you're really into ball torture.

You know you're setting yourself up for disappointment here.

 

I've got to quote this for the truth here. If I read one more person hating on the U.S. soundtrack just because it's not the "oh so superior" Japanese track, I'm going to rant like no one's business. I get tired of this mentality that the Japanese material is the best solely because it's where the franchise originated. Consider this as I like that soundtrack and its use of George Clinton samples. But... You know, this shit gets on someone's nerves after awhile.

I just feel that the U.S. soundtrack is better and portrays the game's world of Little Planet better. Of course, I grew up with the soundtrack being in Sonic CD, but even after listening to some of the ridiculously J-Pop tracks of the game I still prefer the U.S. soundtrack. It sounds like Sonic, you know?

But man, looking at Chemical Plant. If it looks bad now with the magazine quality, then this is going to blow minds once we get high res screens of the level. I'm getting serious feelings of pollution rising in the atmosphere here looming over a base of poisonous chemicals. Kind of makes me want to have this level at the end of the game. It still makes me think that the level list is an utter disaster though and that we don't need these extra acts and boss keys to pad out the game in place of seeing more Zones and better ones at that.

 

I don't despise the Nilsen soundtrack. It has a lot of really good tunes, like Palmtree Panic Present, pretty much anything Tidal Tempest, Quartz Quadrant Present, Wacky Workbench Present, and especially Stardust Speedway Bad Future. The only thing that really pisses me off with it is how the Hataya soundtrack never once got the time of day in the US, and continues to not do so.

 

Firstly I don't think it's a fair assumption for people to dismiss that CPZ and SSZ could be being mashed up when we've seen no game play footage yet (I personally feel the two stages would complement each other immensely). More importantly this rekindles hope for me that more "classic" stages will be mixed in with the "modern".

 

Now, that I'll take. It's kind of unfair for us that the closest we can get to playing the game with the original soundtrack in the U.S. is importing a Mega CD and JP copy of CD, or emulating it on KFusion. Of course, the main reason it was having problems coming over Stateside was the George Clinton samples if I'm not mistaken. And you know, I kind of appreciate that now, that we have two great soundtracks to listen to, but I'd appreciate a Mega Collection or Generations to incorporate a bit of that Hataya flair by choice or as a mash up of the two soundtracks.

 

All too true, at least on the Dreamcast/Modern front. But honestly, Nothing that they've done in these re-designs thus far have been disappointing in the least to me thus far. I get the feeling it's going to be a case of execution trumping the concept. IMO, the weakest level concept in the whole line-up is Speed Highway, and even then, there's some majorly impressive things that can be done with it. I feel that this game is going to be one that is more than the sum of its parts.

 

Come on, man. There's nothing wrong with the soundtrack, but it's about as far from Sonic as you can get. Sonic was never about ambience, you actually have to go looking for the melody in some tracks (like all of Collision Chaos). One personal failing the score has going for it is that there's barely any distinction between the timezones in some parts, with tracks being pretty much the same thing in a different chord or tempo with minor embellishments. I can't even tell which future is good or bad out of context anywhere outside of TTZ and QQZ. Also, more guitar per capita than any of the modern games.

I had to Youtube the whole soundtrack to reaffirm my stance on it just now because all of the future songs were just so unmemorable. Granted, TTZGF and WWZBF sounded totally new to me and I kind of prefer those over the originals, so there's that, I guess!

The demo data gave us a pretty good understanding of how this game is going to be laid out. You're going to need some boss keys for SSZ, the zones aren't going to touch.

 

I put Chemical Plant Zone as it's likely going to be Chemical Plant's boss area. I did recognize that it had Stardust Speedway's elements (the lamps, the backgrounds, the floors) but it also shared the same murky red sky as CPZ. On top of that, without a true confirmation that it was Stardust Speedway, I played it safe and labeled it for Chemical Plant because lord knows the backlash I'd get for that if I was wrong would be far worse than the little complaints I'm getting now.

I'm just glad that I'll finally be able to comprehend how SSZ's background is supposed to look like. The bad future version is just thunderstorm clouds, a metallic city on the bottom, and some amorphous mess of lights in the middle.

As for the soundtrack, I'm siding with the International soundtrack because I don't know Sega's licensing situation with Spencer Nilsen and the U.S. soundtrack. Otherwise, I'd definitely side with the U.S. one as it fits the mood better and it seems like something Jun Senoue and Tomoya Ohtani will be able to handle easier. Not that Naofumi Hataya couldn't rework his International track too.

 

Pretty much why I was the zone's biggest detractor back when we were throwing our stage wishlists together, there isn't a single more visually drab and indistinct setting anywhere in that game. Aren't you guys glad Chemical Speedplant is only going to last long enough for a boss battle? You only have to sample what you've sown!

Least they could've done was given us the good future instead. That would've been canonically correct anyway, right?

 

I think it's great they put it in there for the boss, but Stardust Speedway not being present in the game would be by no means a deal breaker anyway. The premise was enticing, but the layout and visuals to that zone were kind of a mess.


I like both soundtracks (In that I can pick out individual songs from each that I like), but I seem to recall someone (I think it was Chimpo) pointing out that neither soundtrack was all that fitting to the actual game, and I agree with that sentiment. Many of the tracks in the US version are too quiet and ambient while the Japanese tracks in contrast are too busy and sample-heavy.

I might be alright with tracks from either for the race against Metal Sonic so long as it doesn't lead off with the "HURR HUR HURR" vocals.