Sonic X Shadow Generations thread, movie level out now

I can't really comment on graphical fidelity for Shadow Gens because the Switch version isn't the greatest but I think the general art direction is pretty good! Rail Canyon stands out as the best to me.

Yeah the homing attack feels weirdly stiff in the newer games.

I know I post this GIF so many times but I really think Adventure 2 was the gold standard in terms of giving Sonic aerial mobility. They specifically made sure you could realign yourself after doing a homing attack so you could target enemies in any direction. In the newer games it feels like you're locked in one position after you hit an enemy.

After playing Kingdom Valley Act 1 I think they could definitely benefit from bringing back camera control in levels again. There's also something about the camera in the open-zone that feels weirdly disorienting at times and I don't know if that's the game's fault or just me personally lol. I had the same feeling in Frontiers.

I remember in Lost World, if Sonic was obscured behind an object it would turn transparent to show you his location like how 3D Mario games show a silhouette of Mario when he's hidden from the player's view. I was thinking that Sonic games would benefit from doing this (even though Nintendo legally owns the patent for this kind of thing, which is dumb ngl)

 

The way the homing attack used to work is that there would be slight priority given to the direction Sonic was facing instead of the camera, which was a little unwieldy but gave you way more control over your actual target. Combine a system like that with the reticle in the new games telling you exactly where you're going to go and a smaller radius and you'd have a happy middle ground that keeps the unexpected burst movement from happening as much.

 

Shadow Gens does this as well.

 

So how's the game? I've been tempted to buy it but paying $50 for what is essentially only Shadow Generations feels like too much, I already have the og Sonic Generations on PC. Are there any improvements with regards to system support or bug fixes in the new version of Generations? Did they fix the broken wall jumps or the massive stutters in Chemical Plant from PC gens for example? What about mods?

 

Well Chemical Plant runs with no issues but for some reason both acts of Rooftop Run seem to lag for me whenever Egg Chasers show up. The new Chao are actually really fun to hunt for though.

 

My brother got Shadow Gens. Playing it on his PS5. The game is really good. It's funny to dunk on Shadow but the game is excellent. So fair play.

 

@Blue Blood @Snub-n0zeMunkey SA2 had the best feeling homing attack by far, but it still had issues. There's this one string of beetle drones in Green Forest that trips me up every time I play it. So I like the aiming reticle at least. For off-screen enemies it should either pull the camera back or give us some form of indicator as to where the attack will go.

But the worst aspect by far is that there MUST be a valid target to perform the attack. In previous games I used a no-target homing attack as a mid-air dash to gain speed and clear gaps (which now can only be done by a mid-air boost)

 

After the first vine launch? It has like 2-3 gun robots then some beetles?

I don’t remember having issues with it as a kid but for some reason, I can only string it together like 1/5 times nowadays despite being far better at the game in general.

 

Yes. There's two bots then a string of beetles. The last beetle is placed just out of range so that Sonic uncurls before colliding with a normal homing attack. You have to press forward just enough to compensate.



Re-playing to get this screenshot really shows how much polish the franchise has gone through.

 

I guess it does but it's not really consistent? I tried hiding behind a few objects and the only ones I noticed going transparent were the platforms in Chaos Island (which I'm assuming is a holdover from Frontiers).

Spoiler

it's not really that big of a deal, I noticed that whenever I went behind an object the camera would always try to swing around to be behind Shadow so they definitely made the effort to make sure he doesn't get obscured behind things.

EDIT: oh shit I just checked again and most of the objects in the action stages actually do turn transparent if they're obscuring Shadow. It's just a bit inconsistent in the open-zone area.

 

I've already logged 10.5 hours since starting last Tuesday and haven't even touched Sonic Generations beyond Green Hill yet. In my opinion, Shadow Generations alone is well worth the price of admission. Can't speak to the remaster portion, however.

 

I liked that holding the button down after a homing attack used to (usually) give you greater rebound height.

 

ahahahahahahah this is how I've felt about the red rings in this game...

(I still have a backlog of games to finish before I go play this...)

 

Red Rings aren't as bad! At least those are big, and always one solid color, and you get a reward for collecting them.

 

Bad flash backs to Sonic Advance 3 Chao Hunting.

 

Red Rings tend to be in places that you would expect, usually the upper or otherwise secret paths. So if you're searching for them, you'll probably be able to find them without too much difficulty. You're very unlikely to let one pass you by if you get close to it. The Chao are hidden in random places with no rhyme or reason. They can just be stood next to a spring at the end of a homing attack chain or in a breakable box you'd typically ignore because it's easier and more efficient to jump over it. Nah, the Chao absolutely suck.

Do they even unlock anything?

 

3 chao with certain order in each level so you can guess if you missed one at beginning or end of a level is reasonable enough

80 collectables in an open zone with no map icons or any way to know where to look at and which one you missed, now that’s the stuff of nightmares

 

Some people are saying that Gens is a little more flaky than the original release was but in my experience (PC copy for each) most of the bugs I've encountered were in the original (most notably a specific clipping glitch with the spikes wisp on a corner near the end of planet wisp act 1), and stuff like wall jumps are MUCH more consistent. Does a lot to make the Egg Dragoon feel not broken, for example.

There are probably a few tweaks here and there but they're pretty minor. Plus, considering how flaky the original game's launcher tended to be, this release is better for doing away with it.

There are reports of stutters (I recall encountering some, but I don't think they were in Chemical Plant). There are potential mitigations for this.

 

Mod Idea: After you complete the story, Rouge moves her position in the hub world to stand next to Omega. Call it "Team Dark Reunion". She mentions Omega being concerned about her and it just makes sense.

 

For those who don't know, he voiced Young Xehanort in the Kingdom Hearts series, and he was absolutely involved with that fandom especially around the release of KH3. He's a really awesome guy and big nerd like the rest of us as far as I can tell, glad he's onboard!