@“tokucowboy”#p75326 we need him on the podcast…he can be bizarro @exodus
Yuji Naka a real one.
Anyone else been playing Sonic Origins? I‘ve decided to work my way through Sonic 1, 2, CD, 3 and Mania back-to-back as a little self care here in the theocratic American dystopia. I’m just about the start Sonic 3, and here are some probably not novel observations so far:
1) I'm gonna try to not say all the usual gamer stuff about Sonic 1. Its creations and impeccable aesthetics make it still worth looking at. I'll say instead that its cruelty seems more shocking than it normally might for a game of its vintage because of how inviting both those aesthetics and gameplay creations are; you expect cruelty from Ghosts n' Goblins, but Sonic 1 feels like it's inviting you to a party and taking you the dentist
2) Sonic 2 feels like the good time that Sonic 1 constantly threatens you with. Jesus what a joy it remains; I told myself last night that I'd peek into Sonic 2 as a little treat for finishing Sonic 1, and I ended up playing all the way through Oil Ocean Zone. It feels like creators in their prime joyfully showing off. I don't think I've ever just played both so substantially in an immediately back-to-back sort of way, which made me notice that the only peck on this game -- for me -- is how the final battle falls back into Sonic 1 habits (i.e. "You can jump attack Mecha Sonic when he's rocket skating, isn't that fun? Oh, but don't jump attack Mecha Sonic while he's rocking skating _that_ way which is somehow different from the way you just successfully did it in an incredibly specific and unclear fashion! Now you're dead.")
Literally up until then, Sonic 2 is self-care. That I want to stress. It's a party
3) On the note of Sonic 1's frustrations, it is absolutely heinous that Sega opted to release this in the year of our lord 2022 without so much as a save state in sight, let alone rewinds
4) However, the museum includes some incredibly cool, peak Memphis-design art from internal Sega employee magazine, Harmony. I guess it's pretty accessible on the internet, but I'd never seen it before and it's a treat
5) My current playthrough inspired me to seek this remix out, and it has improved my life today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuAhGhrVUGY
@“tokucowboy”#p75632 that song is a lazy summer day.
Sonic Origins has been great so far! I‘m loving story mode… the games are the same but it’s kinda made me look at games that I‘ve played hundreds of times throughout my entire lifespan through a new lens which is super exciting. I haven’t tried mirror mode yet but I'm looking forward to the way that will shake up how I play these games.
@“milo”#p75641 oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the cutscenes are lovely. That little one at the start of Sonic 2 is so pure
@“milo”#p75641 i just heard sonic origins are ports of the games, not emulated, and that oddly has me interested enough to consider getting it.
@“pasquinelli”#p75971
Yeah most, if not all the games were put together by the Sonic Mania folks using their Retro Engine. People have reported various bugs but I haven't noticed anything too egregious!
@“pasquinelli”#461 I am far from a Sonic speedrunner or anything, but they feel pretty great to me (so far just about through Sonic CD, playing in release order). Like @“milo”#451 said, I have heard about bugs but haven't experienced anything noticeable myself except for a brief moment of music dropping out in CD and maybe some weird Tails behavior in Sonic 2
EDIT: Digital Foundry video dropped, so that'll be a thorough look
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kas9IbqvJgg
Sonic fan game
https://stardropsmh.github.io/sonic-and-the-fallen-star/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAsY4VEsmMk
@“hellomrkearns”#p76681 i do speak english, which is why i call it hydro-city zone.
I tweeted an unsettling Sonic revelation earlier, so this time I figured I‘d post one to the forum: Sonic eats nearly his body weight in hot dogs for breakfast every day (300 1.6 oz hot dogs + 300 50 gram buns = 63 pounds, just 14 pounds shy of Sonic’s weight).
[upl-image-preview url=https://i.imgur.com/SPFzyJl.png]
Further, we know he eats more than this. Just how much does the hedgehog need to eat to maintain such high velocities?
as someone who finally finished SA1 & have 2 on hold until i finish up with the pre IDW book (i love the current run, so i went back for ian flynns arcs because i love myself too much to read ken panders) , i am entirely here for this thread
>
@“Video_Game_King”#p77016 Further, we know he eats more than this. Just how much does the hedgehog need to eat to maintain such hydrocities?
fixed
I was wondering why, when Sonic Mania thrives on extremely obscure references to every conceivable corner of Sonic the Hedgehog games & merchandise, branching out into general SEGA references, I noticed nothing related to Sonic Pocket Adventure for Neogeo Pocket color. There are references to Sonic Advance, after all. SPA is my favorite sonic game, I had it as a kid. So I've been exploring the Sonic Wiki today.
[upl-image-preview url=https://i.imgur.com/a7tyW1z.png]
I guess that explains it. sad 
I played Sonic Forces last night. The running stages were kind of easy and chill fun but then I got to an arena boss and turned it off. Seemed kinda okay?
If I hadn't heard the Guantanamo Bay Zone bits on the podcast before, my jaw would have been hanging open at the ridiculousness of Knuckles talking about the hardship of war. The tone of the game is just unbelievable. Glad I took a look at it.
This morning, I woke up at 6:30AM, drank a Reign, and started playing Sonic.
I beat Encore mode. The encore emeralds are really hard to get! I only have 1 so far, will keep plugging away casually, since it‘s always there on my PC and it’s just about the only use I have for my saturn controller on PC.
So then I drank an energy drink and started playing Sonic 3 Complete, which is a hack of Sonic 3 & Knuckles that let's you toggle a bunch of features to make your own custom idealized version of Sonic 3. Here's the way I have it set:
I just played up to the boss of Launch Base Zone in one sitting for the first time and had a blast. I got stumped on the boss after a couple tries I was getting weary, and then I accidentally knocked the console and it froze so I will have to play through launhc base again when I feel like it. I'm not complaining because Launch Base is awesome!
[upl-image-preview url=https://i.imgur.com/3A6mHBO.jpeg]
A point I want to bring up is for some reason the groupthink of Sonic Fans is that Sonic & Knuckles is bad by comparison in every way, from stage design to music?? But I couldn't disagree more.... Mushroom Hill has always been my favorite Sonic Zone since I first played it at the orthodondist when I was barely old enough to remember, the music is super chill and so is the stage design. I think this may be mainly zoomers or peopel who mainly played in lock-on mode, complaining because the momentum is slowed at the midway point when you'd want it to be ramping up. But IDK. Probably someone here could explain.
Anyways, drinking an energy drink and playing Sonic Mania first thing in the morning definitely caused 2D Sonic to click in a whole knew way for me. I am just flying all over the place and it feels right. I can see why people are so obsessed with sonic. Once you commit the time to mastering it, it's extremely engrossing.
The Special Stages / Bonus Games have gone from annoyances to an exciting challenge that I can manipulate easily enough to boost the main game. By the end of my first playthrough of Mania I had 40 lives and 13 continues. On Encore mode I have 15 continues. Halfway through sonic 3 & knuckles I have 32 lives and 7 continues. It's especially awesome being able to select any shield I want for any stage but still feeling like I definitely earned it. The way different shields interact with stages you may not expect (because they don't just hand them to you) is awesome. I also feel like I can go through most of the game with a shield on since every goal post is a shield-getting opportunity.
It's true what they say about Mania being the best Sonic game ever, but 90% of it is copying what Sonic 3 nailed in the first place. I'm surprised that the emerald system works the exact same, where you can't obsessively savescum on your first playthrough, but once you've cleared the game you can go back and get the emeralds. I'm gonna need to play a hack of Sonic 1 & 2 that have this style of saving!
The Retro-Bit 2.4Ghz controller is so perfect for mega drive btw..... game changer.