Sonic 2: The Rise Of Chaos

(Yes, I know the logo sucks, but I made it in about 5 minutes. =/)

Hello there! ThomasSpeedrunner here, bringing you a small but interesting demo of my latest creation: "Sonic 2: The Rise of Chaos."
In this short-but-sweet 2-act demo, you'll find that there has been quite a bit of effort put into what little there is. I have ensured that it is virtually flawless, and it is, for the most part.

Features both external and internal include:
- A fully playable Sonic, who has gotten an overhaul both graphics-wise and gameplay-wise.
- The first 2 acts of Frosty Dusk Zone, the first zone of the game, whose art was made from scratch, with White Park Zone Act 1's music making an appearance, as well as a remix of Ice Cap Zone.
- An internal overhaul as well: S3K priority and rings managers, Flamewing's S3K sound driver, and more. The 4-act system from Sonic 1 has been ported as well, though it is not utilized in this demo.
- And of course, a million and three bugfixes.

Controls for Sonic in this demo:
- B/C: Jump. Jump up into the air. This puts you in ball form and lets you destroy enemies.
- Down+A/B/C: Spindash. Roll off at high speeds.
- Up+A/B/C: Super Peel-Out. Run off at a very fast speed if at full charge, but watch it: If you're not fully charged, your speed is canceled.
- Double jump when not near an enemy: Jumpdash. Boost yourself forward with a Modern-Sonic-style jumpdash, but be careful because you can't use it again in the same jump, nor can you use a homing attack after using the jumpdash.
- Double jump when near an enemy: Homing Attack. Shoot towards a nearby enemy with a burst of speed!
- A (when in freefall): Air Roll. Roll into a ball mid-air.
- A (when in a ball): Jump Cancel. Cancels your jump and will bring you out of homing attack mode if currently in it, but will also make you unable to get back into ball form.

Known Problems:
- SEGA Screen Sonic sprite is messed up. This will be fixed in the next demo, trust me.
- In some locations, notably where lots of floating platforms exist, parts of some sprites will disappear. This is due to the floating platform mappings having a lot of pieces (each piece counts as a sprite), and will be fixed no later than the next demo.

Thanks to the following people:
- Varion Icaria: White Park Zone Act 1 port + a bunch of other miscellaneous assistance along the way, large and small. Also for giving me the idea for the new name.
- JoenickROS: Fixing up the major problems with the sound driver aside from the pointers.
- Bakayote: Frosty Dusk Zone name idea.

- Everyone else on SSRG and SGD who gave me feedback on my work and/or helped me in some way. You are all great people.

Feedback is appreciated, and I don't mind criticism as long as it's constructive.

Download can be found HERE.

 

For those who have read this, what Thomas actually meant was, I helped him fix some porting issue he had with the sound driver, to his hack, not the sound driver itself.

 

I'd reword it if I understood how to =/

Anywho, fixed a small bug that I somehow overlooked; the timer kept going when the game was paused.

EDIT: Also fixed the jumping crash that happens in Regen, making the game playable in all emulators (hopefully).

 

This looks like it could be really cool, but since the only two levels that are there are extremely incomplete, there's no point in going into in depth criticism. Here are my thoughts, however.

I love the art and move-set you've given Sonic. The Jump dash is a wonderful (if overused) move, and lots of people leave the Super Peelout behind, despite the fact that it can be extremely fun to use. The Super Peelout doesn't feel the same as it was in CD for some reason. Was it directly ported, or did you make it from scratch? I don't think its as fast as the original.

As for the level, I can really only say this: too many platforming areas. I know Sonic isn't all about speed, but usually the first level in a Sonic game is speed based. Unless you plan to move this level to somewhere in the middle of the game, I recommend fixing the flow. Not that it wasn't fun to play, but it did seem strange, being the first level I can see.

Also, you removed Tails :'(

 

Here we go! 

Starting it up in Fusion, everything is fine..

I start playing and everything seems alright so far. The Peel-Out is kind of derpy though. 

I really only have 2 gripes about the first level.

Spoiler

This bottomless pit is a big problem mainly because you really don't see it coming. Maybe put spikes and a yellow spring at the side instead?

Spoiler

This jump here is honestly kind of pointless.

EDIT: Playing it again I noticed another little derp in Act 1.

Spoiler

 Just another little observation, usually moving platforms like these meet up in Sonic games.

Act 2.

Spoiler

This spring is seriously really bad. It is hanging off too much so I can't be up against the wall and be able to jump over it. Also, when I jump and jumpdash next to it...



I get stuck. I can't get out until the time kills me or I reset.

Spoiler

A little observation, that upside down monitor shows right side up when broken.

Other than that, the whole demo seems really empty (but I'm sure you will fill it).

I hope this helped you, at least a little!!

 

The level was pretty fun to play. Althroungh i noticed 2 bugs, which I recorded on videos.





If someone is too lazy to watch: the first video shows that is possible to jump through loop. The second is a Jump Dash problem in act 2.

The solution for the first may be making a little bigger wall (3 pixels) while to the second - adding Jump Cancel so it will be possible return to play. Otherwise than that I don't noticed any bigger problems.

 

Updated once again. It should now be impossible to jump through a loop. Also, I've added a jump cancel move as suggested by Painto (just press A while in a ball).

 

It feels very empty. Flat single colour backgrounds, no scenery, very few enemies...

Also, why is it exceeding the sprite limit with only 3-4 platforms on screen? You haven't made them out a ton of small sprites or something have you?

 

Sadly, the loop-de-loop glitch is still there.

I also found a graphical bug where the dash effect stays on Sonic if you activate the peelout until he does his victory pose.

Spoiler

 

Hmm...probably forgot to clear superpeelout_flag (spindash and superpeelout, while using identical counters, use separate flags).

In any case, this is fixed, and I have also re-designed FDZ1. Will do the same with FDZ2 tomorrow, it's late at night where I am =P

Download link is still the same and is in the OP.

 

I played it yesterday, so what things are fine:

1. I like the layouts, They aren't too easy, not too hard at all.

2. Varion Icaria, that music port is very good. Also Sonic 4 OST isn't often used in the hacks, so it gives some originality.

3. These sprites of Sonic are pretty great (especially the final pose). Foreground art is good too.

The only things I don't like are:

4. Background is very empty. 

5. Jump Dash. It is veeery slow, try to do something like Selbi or vladikcomper did.

Overall, hack is fine, but too short, and I'm not sure it get some trophies at SHC14. Also I love title screen because you put copyrights to top of screen.

 

New update. Mainly a graphical update (background-only, as I have not touched up the foreground at all) but I've also touched up FDZ1's layout a bit. This may be the last update for the contest demo.

Download link is still the same and is in the OP.