Sonic Classic Heroes

So, I decided it was about time I posted a topic for my hack here.


I will start by giving quick links (which I will update as needed), then I will give a description of the hack for those that have been living under a rock.


So: quick links:


Retro Wiki page: http://info.sonicret..._Classic_Heroes


Latest revision (0.07f4): http://www.mediafire...roes-v0.07f4.7z (mirror: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/17315175/scheroes-v0.07f4.7z)


Latest preview video (slightly outdated):



With those out of the way: the introduction.


Sonic Classic Heroes is a hack that allows you to play as Sonic, Tails and Knuckles simultaneously on all levels of Sonic 1 and Sonic 2. You can play all 3 in a simultaneous coop with a Sega Team Player, with one or two AIs, or select how many players (1 to 3) in your team. It adds several things from S3&K, such as shields, super/hyper transformation, sprites, double jump actions and anything I could find that was more optimized, to reduce lag. It has a custom object manager which is a bastard half-breed of S3&K and Chaotix, and allows swapping between characters. On the works is support for multiple teams.


A bit of history about the hack:


Sonic Classic Heroes is a hack that, contrary to popular belief, was not connected at all to Sonic Heroes in its inception -- the last Sonic game I had ever played by then was S3&K, and the only ones I knew were the Master System and Genesis games (but I knew of the Advance series through TASes). Rather, it was conceived while I was playing CollinC10's Sonic 1 and 2 hack. One of the thoughts I had was how cool it was to have Tails tagging along in the Sonic 1 levels when a stray idea hit me -- it would be cool to have Knuckles tagging along Sonic and Tails in S3&K.


My first thought was to see if anyone had done this before. After looking around, no one had. The next couple of days had me sleeping very little, as my feverish brain imagined the game all night. There were two problems with this: first, that I was no hacker (the most I did before was add in a peelout to Sonic 2 using the beta running sprites, then analysing the s**t out of Sonic 2 adding symbolic constants for VRAM and art tiles everywhere -- which I eventually ported over to the Hg disassembly), and second, that the S3&K disassembly was (and still isn't) in a viable state for such a hack (but the Sonic 2 one was).


Compelled to do it, I decided to do it. Initially, I duplicated Tails so I could recode the objects to interact with the third character, so I had a badly glitched Tails following Sonic and Tails. Eventually, I ported Knuckles (code and graphics), then Sonic and Tails (also code and graphics), but most objects were already working by then. At the end of the first week of hard work, I coded in a swapping mechanism so I could more easily test Knuckles' interaction with objects (instead of having to manipulate the AI to do what I wanted). By then, my thoughts turned to names; it was then that I found out about Sonic Heroes.


Then I saw that Xenowhirl was starting down a similar road. I quickly finished the swapping mechanism and released what I got. The rest happened more publicly, and can be seen on the thread over at Retro. The original name (Sonic 2 Heroes) was given by Nineko (though he did not know it then).

 

Extremely clever hack. It's one of my favourites on my playing list. And I've never read your story on how you started, and it's pretty interesting. It's always nice to get a thought in your head and imagine all these things you can do, and then making it a reality. Everything is neatly layered out and you took the time to find the space in the VRAM and to speed up the game so there would be no slowdowns.


I'm also glad that you've shared this hack here with SSRG and that you've started to visit here more.


As for the video, it's a nice addition and neatly done. My only concern is poor Tails. When Eggman starts flying in the background with Death egg and etc, Sonic watches, Knuckles watches, and Tails stares at a flower =P

 

Well, without all chaos emeralds, Knuckles is left staring a tree

 

Very cool stuff, what's with the "nothing to see"? If it's to hide the HUD, then a click on the "show/hide annotations" will reveal it. I was suprised to see amy with the plane, will she be staring in the hack any time soon? By that I mean not as a cameo.


I will be honest with you though, I don't have much interest in terms of gameplay, mostly due to lack of brand new levels, but please don't take this as an insult, I am still impressed none the less, I'm just wondering if you'll move onto making new levels in the near future?

 

2D based Sonic Heroes levels, now that would be AWSOME.

 

Complete (All Emeralds) Playthrough Video of Sonic Classic Heroes (1h 36m 56s, grab some popcorn and make sure your chair is comfortable).


Just give it time to process

 

MarkeyJester: Yes, Team Rose (Amy, Cream and Tikal) is in the works. I need to ask E-122-Psi to see how it is going. Also in the works is Team Chaotix (Espio, Charmy and Vector -- although the palette is proving to be such a challenge I am starting to doubt if it will be possible), Team Super and Team Hyper (similar to the emerald cheat, but you die when zero rings are reached), Team Mini (using the S3&K 2p sprites, still have to finish those sprite sheets), Team Glitch (Ashura/Blue Knuckles/some form of glitched Tails), and a team by Aquaslash (which I need to check to see how is it going).


I intend to finish thoroughly the Sonic 1 and 2 portion; among the things I intend to do before I start adding levels/editing layouts (in no particular order): finish setting up the multi-team support; finish eliminating all bugs; port the S3&K camera manager, as it allows faster camera speed; finally start using my modified S3&K sound driver (instead of the hacked version of the S2 driver I use), possibly seeing if I can integrate vladikcomper's Mega PCM driver (possibly modified); setup a modified KosM decoder (modified since I could only free up $800 bytes in RAM for it); add some form of level transitions; add a secret level.

 

I thought Team Rose was Amy, Cream (with Cheese) and Big? Not Tikal? Or do you dislike Big? =P

 

Big is simply too big; there is no way I can free up enough VRAM to fit him in. Not to mention the palette, he has no colors (except black and white) in common with the other characters.

 

So... Team Dark? what about Shadow, Rouge and Omega?.

 

Once I take care of what is planned, maybe; there is enough on my plate as is. It doesn't help that I don't think Shadow is a good character.

 

Yes!


Although I'd love a Knux Vs Rouge S1 hack featuring tge same gameplay as the Knux/Rouge SA2 levels.

 

I couldn't help but notice a small bug in the most current revision of the game. When playing in Super mode; when a character or characters are about to drown I jumped out of the water and the S2 SuperSonic theme played instead of the actual music of the zone it's self.

 

I am not too concerned with bugs in the super mode; it is a cheat, after all (even though it is the precursor to Team Super and Team Hyper).


Anyway: I had this thought for the ending pose of Super/Hyper Sonic in Team Super/Hyper (when I implement them):





Thoughts?

 

He looks a little.... manic for my liking, if you know what I mean.

 

It looks like he is wearing a cape lol. I think the flash should be all around him rather than just above his arms.

 

RHS: like a Super Saiyan, to say so?


Random reference image found on Google Images (I am at work now so I am linking to the first one I found for no particular reason):





It is not a mystery that Super Sonic has been inspired by Dragon Ball Z anyway, so you can as well take the full route with it.

 

Darn cool ending pose. Loving the hack as well!


Quick question: Is there a revision of the hack from 9/10 (the Retro page said there was)? If so where can I find it?

 

There is; and I will be releasing a new one as well which fixes a game breaking bug with Tails solo (or with 1 other player), I just have to remember to update this thread as well.

 

This hack I did have a good time of fun very good hack! just I found the bug that sometimes you can fall from the plane in the sky chase zone.