New Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Hack

Okay, let's get back on the topic of the hack itself.

First question: What disassembly are you using? I'd be damn surprised if you're using the Hg disassembly, since music (and this is probably a big reason why most people use the Xenowhirl disassembly when they're going to port Sonic 1's sound driver) uses set IDs, which, in turn, causes the Sonic 1 sound driver to fuck up (read: 1000+ errors), as it doesn't use IDs like the S2 sound driver does. I might experiment with a way to make the Sonic 2 sound driver as compatible with ported songs as S1's sound driver, and then, additionally, find a way to expand the music index to start at $00 instead of $80 using that modified sound driver. I'd call it the Sonic 2 Titanium Driver (named after my hack, which is called Sonic 2: Titanium Upgrade).

 

I have a few things I like about this and a lot I don't like about this. This might take a while...

Good:

• Music Ports. Some of them are well done and I like that you've tried to change the music.
• Endless Ruins 1's palette is quite nice. The far background could do with being a shade darker but it's good.
• Porting Shadow. It may extremely be samey to Megamix but it's not too bad. Refined a little, he could be a nice extra character.

Bad:

• Eggman monitors causing instant death is wrong. Placing them frequently is worse.
• Object placement needs refining in some places. I got stuck between a spring and a wall and couldn't jump out, I fell through the side of abridge because it wasn't connected to the floor properly and I died when coming back from a starpost because of a buzz bomber that's unavoidable.
• Too much of the original layout still exists, which takes away from the originality of the layouts you have. I'd recommend clearing a level of chunks first so you can make yourself something new.
• Your loops don't work properly. I find myself getting stuck and having to jump through the side of them in EHZ.
• Your palettes require some work. Some aren't too bad others use a lot of garish colours such as dark yellow and green/grey shades which are used way too much.
• Death Pits. I hate using them anyway but if you're going to use them, don't throw them in front of the player. And don't make it so that if the player didn't jump at a specific point, then they fall into one, not knowing they had to jump.
• Endless ruin's boss is impossible to hit with Sonic Alone, so I can't progress.
• On the subject of bosses, speeding them up and putting out of reach is artificial difficulty and it's done badly. All bosses I played suffered from it.
• My god, how many balloon tubes do I have to go through in City of Gold 2? I got bored and held the fast-forward button.
• Sonic's art glitches up a lot, either while jumping/rolling or when going at angles.
• Some of your object code edits are downright cruel. Moving spikes are impossible to get passed in a few places and some enemies are edited to the point of trapping you, even if you have a shield and rings.

Conclusion:

Quality over quantity. You have some good stuff, some questionable stuff and some things need to be looked into.

I'm not interested in how long you spend on it, just that the end product is worth playing. I got frustrated way too easily here and it wasn't much fun. Don't take this as a pure negative response; it's not. It's my opinion. But I do hope you take what I've said on board... at least some it. :V

 

Yes I am using the xenowhirl disassembly and about your hack, focusing on the palettes you need a little bit more help with blending colors first thing EHZ was not meant to be a winter level which is why it wasn't originally called winter hill which btw is a lost level in sonic 2 but I'm sure you already knew that, so anyway what Im getting at Is that making each color of the grass white makes it too bright and painful to the eyes you want to use different shades for the foreground chunks so that they blend well together. For changing palettes I would strongly recommend the real time palette editor it's a program that can change palettes while in play so you can see what color is changing what but it can only be used by Gens yeah yeah I know gens sucks but it's the only way you can use the program and it can only be used by the current version of Gens.

 

Yes I am using the xenowhirl disassembly and about your hack, focusing on the palettes you need a little bit more help with blending colors first thing EHZ was not meant to be a winter level which is why it wasn't originally called winter hill which btw is a lost level in sonic 2 but I'm sure you already knew that, so anyway what Im getting at Is that making each color of the grass white makes it too bright and painful to the eyes you want to use different shades for the foreground chunks so that they blend well together. For changing palettes I would strongly recommend the real time palette editor it's a program that can change palettes while in play so you can see what color is changing what but it can only be used by Gens yeah yeah I know gens sucks but it's the only way you can use the program and it can only be used by the current version of Gens.

Alternatively, I could just use SonED2's palette editor. SonED2 has palette, layout, tile, block, and placement (read: where rings and objects are placed) editors. Essentially, it's got everything a beginner hacker needs to get started. Except a disassembly, of course

Anyway, any palettes that could be touched up a bit?

 

Yes I am using the xenowhirl disassembly and about your hack, focusing on the palettes you need a little bit more help with blending colors first thing EHZ was not meant to be a winter level which is why it wasn't originally called winter hill which btw is a lost level in sonic 2 but I'm sure you already knew that, so anyway what Im getting at Is that making each color of the grass white makes it too bright and painful to the eyes you want to use different shades for the foreground chunks so that they blend well together. For changing palettes I would strongly recommend the real time palette editor it's a program that can change palettes while in play so you can see what color is changing what but it can only be used by Gens yeah yeah I know gens sucks but it's the only way you can use the program and it can only be used by the current version of Gens.Alternatively, I could just use SonED2's palette editor. SonED2 has palette, layout, tile, block, and placement (read: where rings and objects are placed) editors. Essentially, it's got everything a beginner hacker needs to get started. Except a disassembly, of course

Anyway, any palettes that could be touched up a bit?
In honesty almost all four you have done like in your ARZ the leaves gray with green doesn't match to well the leaves should be a mixture of one color with different shades, also the buildings in the background of your CNZ, and for Winter Hill to work you would have to change the art of the tiles so that having them as different shades of white will fit better and if your not artistic (which I am not) tile editing is hard work, and yeah I forgot SonED 2 could do that. Also with items in the bosses like spikes they are glitched because original no objects besides sonic tails and robotnick where meant to load and a set of the spikes you used in CNZ are glitched because in the original zone there were not any spikes on the sides of the walls, you used spike art that is none existent in CNZ. There's more you can change those are just examples

 

Yes I am using the xenowhirl disassembly and about your hack, focusing on the palettes you need a little bit more help with blending colors first thing EHZ was not meant to be a winter level which is why it wasn't originally called winter hill which btw is a lost level in sonic 2 but I'm sure you already knew that, so anyway what Im getting at Is that making each color of the grass white makes it too bright and painful to the eyes you want to use different shades for the foreground chunks so that they blend well together. For changing palettes I would strongly recommend the real time palette editor it's a program that can change palettes while in play so you can see what color is changing what but it can only be used by Gens yeah yeah I know gens sucks but it's the only way you can use the program and it can only be used by the current version of Gens.
Alternatively, I could just use SonED2's palette editor. SonED2 has palette, layout, tile, block, and placement (read: where rings and objects are placed) editors. Essentially, it's got everything a beginner hacker needs to get started. Except a disassembly, of course


Anyway, any palettes that could be touched up a bit?


In honesty almost all four you have done like in your ARZ the leaves gray with green doesn't match to well the leaves should be a mixture of one color with different shades, also the buildings in the background of your CNZ, and for Winter Hill to work you would have to change the art of the tiles so that having them as different shades of white will fit better and if your not artistic (which I am not) tile editing is hard work, and yeah I forgot SonED 2 could do that. Also with items in the bosses like spikes they are glitched because original no objects besides sonic tails and robotnick where meant to load and a set of the spikes you used in CNZ are glitched because in the original zone there were not any spikes on the sides of the walls, you used spike art that is none existent in CNZ

So let me get this straight:

Winter Hill - different shades of white

Watered Relic - mixture of different shades of gray

Jackpot Way - same as Watered Relic

Is that correct?

And are there any issues with Corrosion Plant Zone's palette?

 

Yes I am using the xenowhirl disassembly and about your hack, focusing on the palettes you need a little bit more help with blending colors first thing EHZ was not meant to be a winter level which is why it wasn't originally called winter hill which btw is a lost level in sonic 2 but I'm sure you already knew that, so anyway what Im getting at Is that making each color of the grass white makes it too bright and painful to the eyes you want to use different shades for the foreground chunks so that they blend well together. For changing palettes I would strongly recommend the real time palette editor it's a program that can change palettes while in play so you can see what color is changing what but it can only be used by Gens yeah yeah I know gens sucks but it's the only way you can use the program and it can only be used by the current version of Gens.Alternatively, I could just use SonED2's palette editor. SonED2 has palette, layout, tile, block, and placement (read: where rings and objects are placed) editors. Essentially, it's got everything a beginner hacker needs to get started. Except a disassembly, of course

Anyway, any palettes that could be touched up a bit?
In honesty almost all four you have done like in your ARZ the leaves gray with green doesn't match to well the leaves should be a mixture of one color with different shades, also the buildings in the background of your CNZ, and for Winter Hill to work you would have to change the art of the tiles so that having them as different shades of white will fit better and if your not artistic (which I am not) tile editing is hard work, and yeah I forgot SonED 2 could do that. Also with items in the bosses like spikes they are glitched because original no objects besides sonic tails and robotnick where meant to load and a set of the spikes you used in CNZ are glitched because in the original zone there were not any spikes on the sides of the walls, you used spike art that is none existent in CNZ
So let me get this straight:


Winter Hill - different shades of white


Watered Relic - mixture of different shades of gray


Jackpot Way - same as Watered Relic


Is that correct?


And are there any issues with Corrosion Plant Zone's palette?


Close but not exactly Winter hill change tile art


Watered Relic: If you want different shades of gray and take green out entierly then yes


Jackpot way yes different shades of one color for the background


Corrosion Plant: none that I can remember

 

Winter Hill:



Is this good?

 

Ok, SuperEgg, let me take a crack at it

First off, i see alot of screwed-up sprites. Take this for example:



^Ladies and Gents, MissingNo. in Sonic 2^

And the level design isn't so hot either. especially in Utopian City ,Endless Mine, Arctic Cliffs. Look below



Hmm, a tube. Better go down there. There could be gold ring boxes! Or a 1up!



..Or maybe it's spikes. Or a Robotnik Box...



...Or absolutely nothing. And don't even get me started on Wilting Cave



I sure hope to GOD the spike bug isn't on.

As for the music ports, i wanna say decent because of how you used Knuckles Chaotix music for Sunset Hill (which is sort of an overused level concept)

but some of the music doesn't fit for the stages, like HydroCity Act 2 for Utopian City Act 2, and some Knuckles Chaotix-sound song for Mechanical Egg. I will give you props for the Egg Fleet in Reckless Fleet Zone, that was pretty clever. But the menu theme does not need to sound like Flying Battery Zone Act 2.

Now onto the level concepts, ideas and graphics.Like i said before, "Sunset Hill Zone" is so overused. And when i get to Act 2, it's night, not sunset, so you might wanna get on that.And, the idea of renaming Aquatic Ruin "Endless Mine Zone", and putting in Endless Mine's music was not a very smart move. You should've used Mystic Cave for Endless Mine if ANYTHING. Next we go to Casino Park (which is taken from Sonic Heroes) looks ORANGE AS HELL XD. And about City of Gold Zone, that's what you should rename Casino Park. The graphics in most of the stages are pretty much recolors.

As much as i hate to say it, Joenick69, this hack is a semi-ripoff of Megamix with Shadow's moveset, and the idea of hitting enemies that turn into rings afterwards. But you do have a lot of potential in hacking. I will say one more thing. When i got to. Insane Sky Zone. IT WAS SO INSANE. THE FREAKING BIRD THINGS KEPT COMIN AT ME AND OH MY GOD. Change those sprites to ROCKETS if you can.

 

Your shading on the main level blocks looks inverted. Besides that, you might want to consider a different theme for the level, there have been so many "Winter Hill" zones that I could never count them all.

 

Your shading on the main level blocks looks inverted. Besides that, you might want to consider a different theme for the level, there have been so many "Winter Hill" zones that I could never count them all.
Two choices I'm trying to decide on:

1) Summer Hill (red, orange, and a bit of yellow)

2) Starry Hill (nighttime-oriented palette)

Which one sounds better?

 

Why does it have to be a hill? I like Starry Fields.

 

Guess I can't make a harder version of Sonic 2 without complaints and the path way in Arctic Cliffs that you went down in and died in a death pit was for knuckles but it doesn't work to well because knuckles climbing is a little screwed up when pressing up on some chucks (look at the last post in the thread Help porting Knuckles to Sonic 2) there is a video showing my problem.
Yes this seems like Im trying to make a Megamix copy but on sonic 2 but Shadow is in my hack because he is my favorite Character not because he was in Megamix and I wanted to give each character their own moves which is why he can double jump I don't want it to just be a reskin thats pointless and I like the rings from bad nicks concept and the thing that's different in my hack then in Megamix is that the badnicks move faster and are harder to hit and my bosses are faster and act differently look at CNZ and MTZ and ARZ. Yes I know Megamix changed MGZ boss completely but that's it I've changed every single boss. Please stop assuming I want this hack to be Megamix 2 Because I'm not experienced like them and I'm not plaining to work on this hack to much more so dont worry it will never be Megamix 2. About the Insane Sky I could change the birds to rockets but aren't the birds supposed to be like rockets? If yes then that's why they move fast like rockets but I guess if you can't see their art to well since they are moving so fast I could change them to rockets. Wow that's alot of rockets lol. As for Reckless Fleet thanks I thought the music fit well too. As for the sega screen that started happening after I changed Sonics running sprites, what section of the ASM file points to that? And did you just play as Sonic??

 

Why does it have to be a hill? I like Starry Fields.

I just think it makes more sense for it to be a hill. But if you insist, I guess I could call it something that doesn't end with Hill. In that case, the choices are (I gave a third option in case you don't like either):

1) Summer Hill (red, orange, and yellow ; I couldn't think of a non-hill name for this one)

2) Starry Fields (nighttime-oriented palette)

3) Neither of the above (if you choose this option, you must give the zone name and the colors used for the palette)

 

Well, you can make a harder version of Sonic 2, but not because of poor placements, because of GOOD placements that make it seem harder to get around.

And i understand that Shadow is your favorite character, and you wanna give him some special moves, but you wanna give him different moves, because if you take moves from another hack, people are gonna think you're plagiarizing.

 

Well, you can make a harder version of Sonic 2, but not because of poor placements, because of GOOD placements that make it seem harder to get around.

And i understand that Shadow is your favorite character, and you wanna give him some special moves, but you wanna give him different moves, because if you take moves from another hack, people are gonna think you're plagiarizing.

Give me an example of poor placements that make it imposible to beat and the double jump is simple to code and what other moves could posibly be done for shdow that have not been done already? If it wasnt for people comparing every new hack to Sonic Megamix there wouldnt be any of this drama.  and its not like im stealing these codes from Megamix.

 

some more stuff

[...]

If it wasn't for people comparing every new hack to Sonic Megamix there wouldn't be any of this drama.

[...]

What this guy said. You people don't need to compare every new hack to Sonic Megamix. Doing so is stupid and pointless.

Now, does the double jump require an SST?

 

some more stuff

[...]

If it wasn't for people comparing every new hack to Sonic Megamix there wouldn't be any of this drama.

[...]

What this guy said. You people don't need to compare every new hack to Sonic Megamix. Doing so is stupid and pointless.

Now, does the double jump require an SST?

No it does not

 

Okay then.

 

Just look at the jump code and you can easily create the double jump. It took me about 12 hours to get it working.