Sonic ERaZor

I'm sorry, but I just can't bring myself to enjoy this. Any "difficulty" is onset by horribly convoluted design, the music is all Megaman shit that I swear I heard DalekSam use in his hack (to put it bluntly, I'm tired of hearing it and regret starting the trend), and there's absolutely no coherent theme outside of "Here's some shit, now figure the rest out." The ideas are interesting, but the execution and overall context of the changes leave a lot to be desired. I can't have fun with it at all; all it's managed to do is frustrate me in several different ways.

My suggestion? Get an actual idea, run with it and start over. I know some people get a stiffy for this sort of batshit insane lack of direction, but I'm not one of them. Please fix this.

 

Every single time I fell in lava, Sonic always continues jumping in one place and I can't move him at all. I guess I could use Fraps to show my problem, but I've never really worked with the program before. >_>

I just played through that game a few days ago and I also hate the way that stage is designed. <_< What bugs me the most is why can't Sonic go back down? It's one thing if boiling hot water or lava is rising, but it's just designed where Sonic can't go back down which lacks logic.

Good to hear you plan on changing that. It was angering as hell at the final check point for the fifth zone.

 

It's clear that quite a few people enjoy this hack. Let them.

Not everyone likes everything. If you don't like ERaZor, go play whatever unreleased build of Megamix you might have. I'm sure you'll find that far more entertaining than moaning at Selbi.

 

Wow, since when is my opinion something you should take offense to? Go eat shit and die or something. My view of this hack is absolutely none of your concern; don't get all pissy at me just because you actually like it.

 

I'm agreeing with Tweaker on this. It has a few good ideas, but it's too difficult, feels like you're thrown in a dark room with nowhere to go. I gave up after the first zone. It just feels like you tested some code out and threw it into a giant pile of shit. Needs more direction and less...non direction.

 

Speaking of Megamix, If I could actually make one request: if you added light-dash to this hack, that would be awesome

 

Haha, IIRC, it was SEGA who pioneered the light dash Keep up the good work Selbi.

 

Yeah, I love this hack. It's fresh, it's interesting, it's unusual. It's not exactly coherent, but it never claimed to be - it's a mish-mash of ideas and experiments thrown together into the same ROM. It's absurd, frequently funny, and actually very smart.

I think special credit goes to the AWESOME solution for the bottomless pits. The bottomless pits in Night Hill Place are now incredibly fun, and the penalty is just really nicely balanced considering the platforming and enemies. I love the way the enemies give you a second or so leeway as you intersect with them before you take damage. I love the way the music keeps playing when you die. I love the way it goes black and white when you pause. I love the way the game lets you know you've started by sliding the HUD onto the screen.

I thought the Labyrinth Zone concept was a cool idea, despite being obscenely hard. I don't mind that the hack lacks an overall theme or is tied together by using elements from a certain continuity or whatever would constitute a "direction" - there is fun to be had here and the sheer unpretentiousness of Erazor fills my insides with a golden smile.

Great job Selb. Loved it.

 

As usual with gameplay that greatly strays away from the norm, some people love it, others hate it.

I belong to the former group, as there's a lot of novelty to it that plays interesting.
And I can actually see a glimmer of direction, even if unintentional, to it: Most of the levels got an athmosphere of menace to them, with the grey enemies, bloody spikes, explosions and screen shaking, in part the music, or like in Marble Zone the lifeless grey palette. Of course, mellow original GHZ doesn't fit into that at all, but I think with a few changes you could get that athmosphere consistently.

But even without that, I greatly enjoyed it, it didn't take too long to get used to the difficulty level. (I actually managed to beat the special stage without savestates :v There are so many bizarre and previously unseen elements that are not mere gimmicks, but have actual effect on the gameplay, that it keeps my interest for longer than the usual 'small' hack does.
I think straying away from the original Sonic 1 as far as possible is the key to what you're doing; keep at it!

 

It's not like having the light dash in a rom hack was an extremely original idea to begin with. After all, it was just an idea taken from 3D Sonic games so adding it to your own rom hack wouldn't be considered stealing ideas from Megamix as much as it's taking an idea from a 3D Sonic game and putting it into your own game.

 

That's true, though would you want a move like that to be programmed in other hacks more often? Looking back at the homing attack, jump dash and to a degree the spindash, I'm not too confortable with the idea. Of course, that's not to say I have initial control over what should be used and where, Selbi, if you think you are capable of producing the lightdash, then go ahead, give it a try, although I do respect your original decision not to, my precausion above is only limited to explaining.

 

As far as I remember, the light dash in Megamix makes use of the S3K object/ring manager (forgot who programmed that into it).

I suppose it wouldn't require too much effort to do it without that, it would just be a little slower. Shouldn't be that much slower, though.

 

Why isn't the jump height fixed?
Also I found a bug: After the 3rd checkpoint theres a goal block structured this way:

GOAL SONIC
SPACE GOAL

And sonic didn't restart the stage.

Anyway, great addition with the checkpoints. You should add a fail O meter indicating how many times you went back to a checkpoint (probably as a bonus Endless Special Stage game) and make the music restart to add the element of frustration.

 

Just sayin', I gave him the idea :3

 

Finally tried and completed that hack.
I must be masochist but I'm in love with this hack.
And that Eternal Champions Blade's stage remix <3<3<3
And that invincibility theme <3<3<3<3<3<3

 

awwww why is this link dead