The Supreme Topic of 'Other' Knowledge.

It's not entirely baseless to imagine 4 is built off Rush. The launch version on iOS used the Sonic Rush model, as seen in this trailer.

Comparing the code's going to be a bit tricky. For Sonic Rush, you've gotta put up with disassembling into ARM assembly, and then put even more effort translating that into C or something. Sonic 4 will be easier, it's made in Java (If I recall), which is dynamically typed, so decompilation is much much easier, but it presents the issue of obfuscation, because with any professionally made game that's in a dynamically typed language, they don't want to hand you the source code on a silver platter.

Granted Dimps left fucking SVN login info in Sonic Generations 3DS so what do I know.

 

I seem to recall Polygon Jim (rip) saying they were using the same codebase and structure when he looked under the hood.

 

According to the Sonic 4 Launcher project, only the launcher is written in Java. The main game seems to be written in C#, as attested to by this Sonic 4: Episode I decompilation project.

Finally, I think you're confusing Java with JavaScript. The former is not dynamically typed, while the latter is.

 

Aye thanks for the correction. Evidently it's clear I don't do much coding these days outside of assembly.

 

It may just be the Windows Phone port that is written in C#: Sonic CD 2011 is written in C(++?), but the Windows Phone port was written in C#. It seems that Windows Phone required C/C++ codebases be converted to C# in order to run on the platform. Luckily for us, these ports lacked obfuscation, which has made all of these decompilations much more feasible.

 

There was a Digital Spy interview with Takashi Iizuka from 2012 about Sonic 4 Episode 2 and in it Iizuka makes a statement that seemingly suggests Sonic 4 originally being a mobile game.

Digital Spy: You've also introduced a new engine and tweaked the art style. Why do that?

Iizuka: We started creating episode one in 2009, and at that time, mobile device's specs weren't as good as those we have right now. At that time we couldn't use a shader program, so we used a pre-render for the graphics

For Episode 2, mobile device's specs were so much improved compared to the one in 2009, so the graphics can be quite similar to the console versions. So that's why we changed the art style slightly.
Source:
https://www.digitalspy.com/videogam...nterview-sonic-team-on-a-fan-pleasing-sequel/

Archived source:
https://archive.is/eTYvd#selection-931.0-943.190

From this statement Iizuka says that the mobile device specs at the time Episode 1 was being made in 2009 weren’t that good so they had to use pre-rendered assets. This can be why background elements look like they are flat cut outs.

Also since we're on the topic of Sonic 4 I recall seeing here on the forums a post where someone showed a magazine page where Yuji Naka said Sonic Advance, possibly around the time of its release, was like Sonic 4. Unfortunately I saw this post a long time ago so I am not sure where to find it again and I’m not even sure if that is exactly what Yuji Naka said but that is why I want to try seeing the page again. Does anyone else know what I am referring to?

 

I had considered that, but the repository also has an XNA version, suggesting that that's what they used for the Xbox 360 version. But the game also has versions for the Wii and the PS3, so who knows.

 

you wanna add it or should I?

 

Is this the one?
https://x.com/DocFishz/status/1627685976792346631

Naka: Sonic Advance (GBA). It is a 2-D Sonic game, which made me think that I was going to entitle it "Sonic the Hedgehog 4."
I guess I succeeded in expressing the fun elements of a 2-D action game even after such a long time.

 

Not sure if this has been discussed before, but is it safe to say Sonic Adventure 2's City Escape's intro is a carried over idea from Sonic 3's original concept for Flying Battery (where sonic rips off a door and was supposed to use it as the skateboard in Ice Cap Zone)?

Pretty neat to see unused ideas carried over all those years later.

 

Theres actually a trace of Sonic 4 being conceived as a mobile game in the final game;



Sonic 4 was originally called "SONIC THE PORTABLE" and this original title can actually be seen on ferris wheels in the game's Casino Zone (I have circled it in red in the lower right corner though the name is blurred.)

 

Ah. My bad ^^;;.

Something I keep forgetting to bring-up - During my recent bout of research into Sonic CD, I discovered another source apart from the official Sonic Jam Guide that references Sonic's bizarre danger sense that causes him to sneeze upon sensing danger;



A Japanese fan told me that this is from a fairly hard to find Sonic CD guide.

Another thing I found out about the game is that the island background of the fourth special stage is based on the image on the Yuusei SEGA World print ad;



I always had a suspicion that it was. Cool to see Yamaguchi confirm it.

 

Cool thing I learned recently, for some reason the QTE prompts in sonic frontiers' titan fights arent actually UI elements, they're 3D models placed into physical space during the cutscenes. Sonic even actually goes in front of them in a few brief instances

Spoiler: Big images (freecam used for demonstration purposes)

 

For those too afraid to venture to the other side of these forums:

Sonic Adventure/Compliance

This is how Sonic Adventure holds up to Sega of America's software standards guide. No I'm not testing everything myself.

I think it fails on the screen brightness check, though if the title screen is anything to go by, this may have been addressed for the PAL version:


Damage your own screens at home! Point the camera at the sand in Emerald Coast, then pause.



Yes there are 700+ other Dreamcast games that could have compliance pages. No I won't be testing all of those either.

 

I don't think there was any question it was based on that ad. The details and features match up too closely to be a coincidence.

Still, it's nice to get confirmation.

Have people asked him about the backgrounds of the other special stages? I think they're more puzzling and mysterious. They're unconventional for special stage backgrounds, usually depicting actual places, suggesting those were based on other things too.

So that's why they made the screen darker in that version! I always thought the EU title screen looked weird and unnatural because of that.

 

Something something add it to the wiki something

 

Cheeky, aren't we

 

wtf is that

 

Oh it's in the trailer @biggestsonicfan posted. They are character skins made in a collab for a mobile AFK game, for which I could find far less information than I thought there'd be availeble