The Supreme Topic of 'Other' Knowledge.

Because they were the hardest zones and they wanted them to be very hard perhaps. Not the most lovely design choice as I'm sure most would agree.

 

One possible reason for leaving checkpoints out of Star Light Zone is the large metal girders that pass by in the foreground. These only appear if you start the level from the beginning because they're an object placed at x=0, y=0. Try restarting the level from the boss checkpoint (or ones that you've added yourself) and you'll notice that the girders are gone. Removing all checkpoints seems a pretty lazy way of "fixing" the problem though, so I'm not all that convinced that's the reason!

 

I wouldn't put "taking the easy way out" past the Sonic Team.

It's not like they've never done it before.

 

Mind=blown.

Does Chemical Plant fix this, and if so does that mean there might be hope for a fixed SLZ?

 

You know, I never noticed the lack of Lamp Posts in the last two acts of Sonic 1... maybe that's because I hardly had need for them at the time? :v: I'd guess that it's to make those levels even harder to get through, though those levels really need them the most!

...Anyway, I just remembered something I'd noticed a while ago. You remember those "Magic Eye" pictures that were popular way back in the nineties? Well, take a look at the background of the jackpot machine bonus stage of Sonic & Knuckles, or click this to have a look at a mockup of it.

The objects in the background work much the same way as a stereogram, and it even works while the objects are moving! (except maybe for the sparklies, but everything else works well) Not only do the items look 3d-ish, each row appears to be on a different depth.

If you want to, you can try and view it through the original game - just set up Debug mode, and use it to position Sonic outside of the game board. If you're really clever you can use the emulator to switch off the top graphics layers. Have fun!

 

About the starposts in SLZ, I'm pretty sure there's one, but I never got to it. Back then, when I messed around with the debug mode, I remember reaching the boss like 2 times from the lower path, one that I've never reached normally. And I could swear there was a star post there.

As for the stereograms, it's not quite a stereogram. The pattern is just repeated. You can cross your eyes and one of the parts of a pattern may overlap another, locking your eyes like that, as if it were 3D.

 

Yes, this was fixed for Chemical Plant by taking the girders out of the object layout and making them load during the level setup code instead. This technique works just as well in Star Light, which is exactly what I did in my Sonic 1 and 2 hack.

Espyo, you can use Zone: 0 if you want to confirm Star Light's rather sparse checkpoint placement.

 

Another thing that's just sort of bothered me. I realize you can get the Sonic 3 snowboard in SA's ice cap by pressing buttons, but it seems sometimes the GC version of SA:DX just loads it with no cues from the player. I mean, it's neat, it just seems odd.

 

So I found out something about the first boss in Sonic 1 8-bit. Dr. Robotnik has the same XY coordinates in both games, though it appears that he moves closer to Sonic in the Game Gear version than the master system, since it's easier to hit him. (In the SMS version, you have to wait until he actually attempts to attack Sonic, when he moves lower towards the ground.) The lower resolution of the GG probably helps in this situation though. Oh and from what I've seen by comparing the SMS and GG versions, both object id's are the same. (Meaning $06 is the Chaos Emerald in both versions, etc.)

 

I know this is ridiculously old, but the voice of Princess Elise also did Eliza Thornberry, also known for talking to animals.

 

Well, Jun Senoue wrote both songs...

 

Maybe that's why I hated that show when I was younger. A strange premontion perhaps!

 

Holy crap, how did they get away with nobody noticing that before?

 

Also, yesterday, there was no eletrical energy in the entire district, so I grabbed my PSP to see what I had in there. Turns out I had Genesis, Neo Geo Pocket Color, Master System and Game Boy Advance emulators. Luckly, I also had many Sonic roms avaiable.

So I decided to make engine comparisions and analyses between the games. I started with Sonic Advance 1. Okay. Then I went to analyse Sonic Advance 2...

I was testing physics, etc, etc, and the insta-shield behavior. While I was testing the insta-shield, that is, pressing the jumping button twice, the was an enemy near me, and Sonic did a freaking homming attack!

There is Homming Attack in Sonic Advance 2! And I only find it out 8 years later! And I used to play it so much and never knew it! What the heck!

 

How could I miss that?

Guess that was the only Sonic game that the Homming Attack was absolutely opitional, to the point of the player not even knowing that it existed in the first place. :v:

 

I don't think it was required in Advance 3, Rush, or Rush Adventure...

 

It really took you that long to notice the Homing attack? I figured it out the first time I played, and I think it's mentioned in the manual anyway.