The Sonic General Thread (Team Sonic Racing Released!)
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SonicMario
Star Spirit
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- #402
Revenant Archagent said:
I can safely say I enjoy this game quite a bit.
Though first I should probably mention a few things. I have not tried online yet, that isn't just because of all the bugginess that's apparently going on with it but also I don't often play online multiplayer that often anyhow for any game. But if you're getting this game to mainly play with others that aren't around locally either wait for a patch that fixes the online issues or feel free to wait much longer for this one. Because for now most of the bugs going around are for the most part in online play.
The meat of the game is very much in the team play, but individual races can be pretty fun too. The story mode is nice and simple, though keep in mind there are times in both story and if you play team races alone where your AI teammates don't perform very well and prevent you from winning the race overall even if you yourself got first. Especially if you try playing the game on Expert and Super Expert difficulty where the AI of your teammates can be very dumb while your opponents are much smarter. On normal it's decently fair though, but there are times where the AI teammates can still screw you over in the end. But know it's definitely worse at the higher difficulties, so it's preferable you have two local friends who are also good at the game to beat the harder difficulties.
The team aspect definitely brings in something new that helps the game stand out and should definitely be applauded for bringing something new to the kart racing genre. Dare I say 3 characters in individual karts helping boost eachother up is a better form of co-operative kart racing then 2 people on 1 kart from Double Dash when it comes to Teamwork. Even if Crash ends up completely swallowing up this game's sales next month, it will still have something that stands out from both Mario Kart and Crash. Not to mention being a cheaper option, and still a solid game overall.
If however you are strapped for cash, and have been kind of on the fence because you want the Crash racing game and/or Mario Maker 2. I won't blame you for waiting a bit. But TSR is a fun game. And definitely provides the itch for a kart racer that isn't just MK8 again. I love MK8 but after 5 years and double dipping between systems, it's nice to have a little more variety in good kart racers. I'm looking forward to having 3 different games to choose if I want to kart race. MK8 that's still a guaranteed good time even if I feel I've played it enough sometimes in the 5 years it's been out. TSR if I want to be a certain Two-Tailed fox and enjoy some teamwork mechanics. And Crash for a grand return of a game that I used to like to play when I went to a cousin's house, Nostalgia overload for certain.
whoaSheriff Woody said:
Denny Hamlin
I beat your favorite driver!
- Pronouns
- She/They
- MarioWiki
- Cosmic Cowboy
Is Ralph still in?
- Pronouns
- she/her
- MarioWiki
- Mario
Eggman and Chao the only worthwhile characters. The rest? Pfft.
YoshiFlutterJump
Power Star
- MarioWiki
- YoshiFlutterJump
Vector though...Princess Mario said:
- MarioWiki
- Inkboy
I love Sonic Mania Plus, The DLC Is so worth it for $4.99! I have it on the Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox One!
I am a game collector and I wanted to collect Sonic Mania Plus and I finally did!
Sonic Mania Plus has a Encore mode that revamps the already revamped stages! And Ray and Mighty is back from SegaSonic as playable characters! Hell, I consider Sonic Mania the best Sonic The Hedgehog game in the Franchise!
I also mod on PC, Use cheat codes on console, Mess around with Debug Mode! F*ck Sonic 06, Adventure, Heroes, Forces, Play Sonic Mania Plus (or without dlc)
Gotta play the mania for the Mania!
I am a game collector and I wanted to collect Sonic Mania Plus and I finally did!
Sonic Mania Plus has a Encore mode that revamps the already revamped stages! And Ray and Mighty is back from SegaSonic as playable characters! Hell, I consider Sonic Mania the best Sonic The Hedgehog game in the Franchise!
I also mod on PC, Use cheat codes on console, Mess around with Debug Mode! F*ck Sonic 06, Adventure, Heroes, Forces, Play Sonic Mania Plus (or without dlc)
Gotta play the mania for the Mania!
- MarioWiki
- Inkboy
get sonic mania for 24.99!
Denny Hamlin
I beat your favorite driver!
- Pronouns
- She/They
- MarioWiki
- Cosmic Cowboy
Which Vector? Honestly, I'm hoping for the one on the right, but I have a feeling that it'll unfortunately be the one on the left.
Pink Cat
Art by BBQ Turtle
- Pronouns
- Kie/Mer
New SXSW panel
Should be interesting, besides Sonic at The Olympic Games and Sega Ages Sonic 2 (Which would already be out by then), we actually don't have any new games announced yet
Should be interesting, besides Sonic at The Olympic Games and Sega Ages Sonic 2 (Which would already be out by then), we actually don't have any new games announced yet
Pink Cat
Art by BBQ Turtle
- Pronouns
- Kie/Mer
- Pronouns
- She/her He/him
Well, I'm in the process of doing a playthrough of all the classic Sonic games on Genesis (at least, re: 1, 2, 3, and CD), so I feel like this thread is a good place to relay my thoughts once I was done playing the game.
Anyway, I've played through the first Sonic game, being my first 2D Sonic sidescroller. Thoughts...
It's not the game's fault that it feels like a 1990's Genesis game, but speaking from the perspective of someone who's never experienced the games as a kid, it's very 1990's Genesis game. Your lives serve as your continue counter: you run out of lives, you start the game from the very beginning, all the way back in Green Hill Zone. Fortunately, in this day and age, Sega has included the option of save states as an option for players who simply don't have the patience to play through earlier levels just to get to the part they lost all of their lives in. I wouldn't exactly say this game is very difficult, as it's fairly easy to amass lives in the first levels, but running through the levels the first time can be pretty miserable, especially if you expect Sonic 1 to be a game where you can just blow through the levels fast and then fall into a pit or get hit by an enemy. Its main selling point, Sonic's speed, I feel like is underutilized at points and many of the levels you're better off taking it slow since you're unfamiliar with the layouts. There was one irritating part in Scrap Brain Zone where you speed through very fast, so fast, and you're enjoying yourself, and then you get slammed by a random bomb enemy you can't defeat which is impossible for you to know ahead of time, and I find that enemy placement to be very poor. Pits are also telegraphed very poorly, you can sorta get an idea of what parts of the levels are bottomless pits or not, but it's not very clear, hence how I don't like dropping down levels if it's potentially a lose elevation or a bottomless pit. The experience with the levels improve, however, when you play through it again, and it truly gets satisfying knowing the layout and then taking advantage of your speed. The biggest advantage of the levels however, is the high amount of multiple paths you can take, making the game very replayable as you can take a huge variety of different paths to complete a level.
How does Sonic defeat enemies? He has to be in ball form. Unlike Mario players, Sonic can jump right into enemies to defeat them, but the catch is that Sonic can't fall down and KO enemies. In order to have a safe landing, you have to jump as Sonic and fall down while he is in a ball. Sonic can also roll into some enemies to defeat them and it helps him gain speed down slopes. Sonic can collect rings in the level, which serve as his hit meter. Sonic loses rings if he gets hit, and if he has zero rings and gets hurt, he loses a life. Some places have him die instantly such as getting crushed or falling down a pit or drowning. If Sonic activates a checkpoint, if he dies, he can respawn there. Sonic can find some few power-ups in the level, such as invincibility, a shield that protects him from losing rings if he gets hit, and something that increases his speed. If Sonic collects 50 rings and finishes the level, he can enter a challenge level. The challenge levels, you navigate through a maze in ball form to try to get the Chaos Emerald and avoid the markers labeled as "goal", and I found these levels very disorienting to play in and...ehhh. However, if you want the good ending, you need to do this challenge six times to get all six Chaos Emeralds.
Oh and there's a 10 minute time limit for every level sorta like Mario but it's almost nonexistent and it's pointless. 10 minutes is more than enough time to complete a level.
Speaking of the zones, you have several zones with three levels (called acts). Once you played through them, you can input a level select option to replay any specific level you like. At the third act of every zone, you fight Eggman (Robotnik) with his mech. You jump into his mech multiple times to kill him while every zone has him with a unique Eggman gimmick, with Labyrinth Zone in particular having you have to beat the water and the obstacles rather than actually fighting him.
Green Hill Zone is a good starter zone and a good place to stock up on lives, but don't expect to run fast through its levels, you'll find spikes and pits and some bots. It's a good place to introduce to some fundamentals of a Sonic game, including taking multiple paths and exploring the level as you please, at least under a 10 minute time limit.
Marble Zone is a zone where you need to take it slow, ride on platformers through the lava, and avoid lava-themed obstacles in a dungeon-like environment, almost reminiscent of traveling through a Castle or Fortress in a Mario game. The caterpillar robots are annoying as you need to precisely land on their tiny head to defeat them and if you touch any of their other segments, you get hit. I liked this zone quite a bit actually, but perhaps because it reminded me of Mario games.
Spring Yard Zone has a lot of platforming by navigating a bunch of moving platforms, and has a lot of slopes and you guessed it, springs. It's a zone where you can travel through pretty fast like Green Hill, but it has a lot more platforming segments.
Labyrinth Zone is the worst zone in the game. The water levels feel really bad to play in. It slows down Sonic's speed to molasses, including his jumps, making platforming and navigating a slow and painful slog and working against Sonic's strengths, and Sonic is in a time limit when he's underwater, as he needs spawning air bubbles to restore the limit. The air bubbles spawn at a hugely slow and inconsistent pace: there was one point in the game where a bubble spawned right when I drowned. You'll spend a lot of time just waiting for bubbles to spawn and I hate it, they should spawn at a consistent pace. Enemies underwater slow down as well, and the gravity of the water makes it harder to deal with the Orbinaughts, enemies that toss spike balls at you. It's not a fun zone, period. At least the music is nice. That intense drowning tune though. Yeah no wondered it scared kids.
Star Light Zone is a return to platforming and speed, and I find it similar to Spring Yard Zone in terms of a stronger emphasis to platforming. It has an annoying fan mechanic that pushes you around, and the introduction of the annoying bomb enemies. I didn't find it too memorable. Hell, when I reread it to remember its gimmicks, I didn't even notice it had a lack of checkpoints to increase its difficulty.
Scrap Brain Zone, the final zone in the game, is the Eggman Zone and it has a lot of traps and gimmicks, such as the transporting elevators, alongside its intense soundtrack. Pretty fun and challenging to play through I must say, even if the flame pillars are sorta annoying and not too clearly telegraphed, as the vents blend in with the environment.
So overall my thoughts after destroying the fat man? It's decent, especially for its time. The graphics are very pretty and give the environment an organic flair, which is points I'd give it over Mario's more blocky environments. Its soundtrack is mostly inoffensive but still a bit memorable. I've had a taste of Sonic 2 already, and people aren't wrong when they say the next games are an improvement over this one in every way. I still suggest players new to Sonic Genesis games to start with this one and work their way up, they'll learn to appreciate the improvements and enhancements to the Sonic foundation the next ones introduced. Can't wait to play through Sonic 2 next!
Pros
+Beautiful graphics, organic, beautiful environments
+++Tight gameplay with easy to learn controls that carry through the entire game
+Game set the foundation for future titles, which owe their success to this game.
+Has a great sense of speed
+Fun, creative zones (except Labyrinth Zone)
+Decent soundtrack
+++Well-designed levels with many ways to complete the zone thanks to the amount of paths you can take.
Cons
-Outclassed by future Sonic games, especially 2.
-Plays like a 90's Genesis game, with a lot of archaic elements and rough level quirks associated with it
-Challenge levels are disorienting and mediocre
-Very short, you can probably beat this in a day, even if you do die and start in the very beginning.
-The entirety of the Labyrinth Zone
-Doesn't take advantage of its speed very much.
Anyway, I've played through the first Sonic game, being my first 2D Sonic sidescroller. Thoughts...
It's not the game's fault that it feels like a 1990's Genesis game, but speaking from the perspective of someone who's never experienced the games as a kid, it's very 1990's Genesis game. Your lives serve as your continue counter: you run out of lives, you start the game from the very beginning, all the way back in Green Hill Zone. Fortunately, in this day and age, Sega has included the option of save states as an option for players who simply don't have the patience to play through earlier levels just to get to the part they lost all of their lives in. I wouldn't exactly say this game is very difficult, as it's fairly easy to amass lives in the first levels, but running through the levels the first time can be pretty miserable, especially if you expect Sonic 1 to be a game where you can just blow through the levels fast and then fall into a pit or get hit by an enemy. Its main selling point, Sonic's speed, I feel like is underutilized at points and many of the levels you're better off taking it slow since you're unfamiliar with the layouts. There was one irritating part in Scrap Brain Zone where you speed through very fast, so fast, and you're enjoying yourself, and then you get slammed by a random bomb enemy you can't defeat which is impossible for you to know ahead of time, and I find that enemy placement to be very poor. Pits are also telegraphed very poorly, you can sorta get an idea of what parts of the levels are bottomless pits or not, but it's not very clear, hence how I don't like dropping down levels if it's potentially a lose elevation or a bottomless pit. The experience with the levels improve, however, when you play through it again, and it truly gets satisfying knowing the layout and then taking advantage of your speed. The biggest advantage of the levels however, is the high amount of multiple paths you can take, making the game very replayable as you can take a huge variety of different paths to complete a level.
How does Sonic defeat enemies? He has to be in ball form. Unlike Mario players, Sonic can jump right into enemies to defeat them, but the catch is that Sonic can't fall down and KO enemies. In order to have a safe landing, you have to jump as Sonic and fall down while he is in a ball. Sonic can also roll into some enemies to defeat them and it helps him gain speed down slopes. Sonic can collect rings in the level, which serve as his hit meter. Sonic loses rings if he gets hit, and if he has zero rings and gets hurt, he loses a life. Some places have him die instantly such as getting crushed or falling down a pit or drowning. If Sonic activates a checkpoint, if he dies, he can respawn there. Sonic can find some few power-ups in the level, such as invincibility, a shield that protects him from losing rings if he gets hit, and something that increases his speed. If Sonic collects 50 rings and finishes the level, he can enter a challenge level. The challenge levels, you navigate through a maze in ball form to try to get the Chaos Emerald and avoid the markers labeled as "goal", and I found these levels very disorienting to play in and...ehhh. However, if you want the good ending, you need to do this challenge six times to get all six Chaos Emeralds.
Oh and there's a 10 minute time limit for every level sorta like Mario but it's almost nonexistent and it's pointless. 10 minutes is more than enough time to complete a level.
Speaking of the zones, you have several zones with three levels (called acts). Once you played through them, you can input a level select option to replay any specific level you like. At the third act of every zone, you fight Eggman (Robotnik) with his mech. You jump into his mech multiple times to kill him while every zone has him with a unique Eggman gimmick, with Labyrinth Zone in particular having you have to beat the water and the obstacles rather than actually fighting him.
Green Hill Zone is a good starter zone and a good place to stock up on lives, but don't expect to run fast through its levels, you'll find spikes and pits and some bots. It's a good place to introduce to some fundamentals of a Sonic game, including taking multiple paths and exploring the level as you please, at least under a 10 minute time limit.
Marble Zone is a zone where you need to take it slow, ride on platformers through the lava, and avoid lava-themed obstacles in a dungeon-like environment, almost reminiscent of traveling through a Castle or Fortress in a Mario game. The caterpillar robots are annoying as you need to precisely land on their tiny head to defeat them and if you touch any of their other segments, you get hit. I liked this zone quite a bit actually, but perhaps because it reminded me of Mario games.
Spring Yard Zone has a lot of platforming by navigating a bunch of moving platforms, and has a lot of slopes and you guessed it, springs. It's a zone where you can travel through pretty fast like Green Hill, but it has a lot more platforming segments.
Labyrinth Zone is the worst zone in the game. The water levels feel really bad to play in. It slows down Sonic's speed to molasses, including his jumps, making platforming and navigating a slow and painful slog and working against Sonic's strengths, and Sonic is in a time limit when he's underwater, as he needs spawning air bubbles to restore the limit. The air bubbles spawn at a hugely slow and inconsistent pace: there was one point in the game where a bubble spawned right when I drowned. You'll spend a lot of time just waiting for bubbles to spawn and I hate it, they should spawn at a consistent pace. Enemies underwater slow down as well, and the gravity of the water makes it harder to deal with the Orbinaughts, enemies that toss spike balls at you. It's not a fun zone, period. At least the music is nice. That intense drowning tune though. Yeah no wondered it scared kids.
Star Light Zone is a return to platforming and speed, and I find it similar to Spring Yard Zone in terms of a stronger emphasis to platforming. It has an annoying fan mechanic that pushes you around, and the introduction of the annoying bomb enemies. I didn't find it too memorable. Hell, when I reread it to remember its gimmicks, I didn't even notice it had a lack of checkpoints to increase its difficulty.
Scrap Brain Zone, the final zone in the game, is the Eggman Zone and it has a lot of traps and gimmicks, such as the transporting elevators, alongside its intense soundtrack. Pretty fun and challenging to play through I must say, even if the flame pillars are sorta annoying and not too clearly telegraphed, as the vents blend in with the environment.
So overall my thoughts after destroying the fat man? It's decent, especially for its time. The graphics are very pretty and give the environment an organic flair, which is points I'd give it over Mario's more blocky environments. Its soundtrack is mostly inoffensive but still a bit memorable. I've had a taste of Sonic 2 already, and people aren't wrong when they say the next games are an improvement over this one in every way. I still suggest players new to Sonic Genesis games to start with this one and work their way up, they'll learn to appreciate the improvements and enhancements to the Sonic foundation the next ones introduced. Can't wait to play through Sonic 2 next!
Pros
+Beautiful graphics, organic, beautiful environments
+++Tight gameplay with easy to learn controls that carry through the entire game
+Game set the foundation for future titles, which owe their success to this game.
+Has a great sense of speed
+Fun, creative zones (except Labyrinth Zone)
+Decent soundtrack
+++Well-designed levels with many ways to complete the zone thanks to the amount of paths you can take.
Cons
-Outclassed by future Sonic games, especially 2.
-Plays like a 90's Genesis game, with a lot of archaic elements and rough level quirks associated with it
-Challenge levels are disorienting and mediocre
-Very short, you can probably beat this in a day, even if you do die and start in the very beginning.
-The entirety of the Labyrinth Zone
-Doesn't take advantage of its speed very much.