Sonic Next Genesis

Sonic Next Genesis a hack of Sonic the Hedgehog inspired by a the 2006 game Sonic the Hedgehog but mostly contains custom content.

Features:
Three playable characters which each start with different levels
The ability to have a partner character
A soundtrack full of songs ported from other Genesis games
New art
4 levels and a boss fight
- Sonic
-- Wave Ocean
-- Wave Ocean's Mach Speed Section
-- Special Stage
-- Egg Cerberus Boss (Eggman for now)
-- Aquatic Base
- Shadow
-- Kingdom Valley
-- Aquatic Base
- Silver
-- Crisis City
-- Aquatic Base
...and much more!

Helpful Notes:
This release is far from what would be an ideal release due to rushing in order to get the hack in on time. Because of this, most levels are mostly empty and are more made to show off the features that have been added. A more complete release will come soon.
When the results music starts playing, pressing A, B, or C will bring you to the next level. So many playthroughs I saw of last year's version consisted of people trying to wait out the screen.
In order to complete the special stage (the one with SSZ art), you need to move downward to a platform at the end of the level.
Silver's ability to levitate is on a timer that steadily decreases when being used and steadily increases when touching the floor.

Bugs and Problems

Spoiler

Only Wave Ocean Act 1 has a complete layout
Some sprites use garbage tiles
Silver stops when using psychokinesis and returns to his speed when finished
Completing a bonus stage will crash the game in Regen and MD.emu. However, it works fine in Fusion, Gens, and Exodus
Sometimes multiple monitors will be in one spot
Sometimes the music for Aquatic Base Act 1 stops
Sonic's jumping noise stops working during the boss in Dusty Desert due to the sound using FM6 and being cut off by DAC
Partner characters don't collide with platforms
The game won't start properly when doing a soft reset
Sonic and Shadow don't use their correct palettes when Silver is leading
The sign post at the end only uses Sonic's face
Sonic and Shadow's life icons don't adjust to the palette used when Sonic and Shadow are together
Crisis City ends with the game scrolling forward to the end of the level
Sonic can do his level ending pose in mid-air
The collision for the capsule isn't right
One checkpoint in Wave Ocean Act 1 has two star circles
Rock pieces break oddly
Chained blocks don't spawn correctly
Rhino badniks can go through walls and move quickly when falling
...and many more

Credits

Spoiler

RedHotSonic - Sonic 3K's Priority Manager in Sonic 2
MarkeyJester - 128 Variation of Disassembly, Background Deformation Code, ASM Guide
HiveBrain - Sonic 1 Disassembly
Mercury - ReadySonic
vladikcomper - Background Deformation Engine
Stealth - SonED2
MainMemory - SonLVL and related programs
Xenowhirl - SonMapED, Sonic 2 Disassembly
snkenjoi - Flex
Tornado - Water Guide, Sonic 3 Sound Driver in Sonic 1 Tutorial
DemonFox - Caterkiller Fix for 3K's Priority
MoDule - Sonic 3K's Priority Manager in Sonic 2
shobiz - Sonic 3K's Ring Manager in Sonic 2
Sonic master and hitaxas - Splash Screen Tutorials
Kram1024 - Sonic 3K's Sound Driver in Sonic 1
ValleyBell - SMPS Research
flamewing - SMPS2ASM
Dolphman - Genesis-style Sonic Advance badnik art
x_justicehunter_x - Silver sprites
Damien - Shadow Sprites
The creators of all the Sonic 1 and 2 Sonic Retro SCHG and SSRG tutorials
SSRG and everyone on it
People who contributed art to The Spriters Resource
My cat Nicole for sitting with me while I worked on this
And many others

Screenshots

Spoiler

Soundtrack:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw90cN76jHImXIPQ3PPvnSAMLWnyDtlU2

Spoiler

01 Title Screen Dahna: Megami Tanjou Opening
02 Menu Virtua Racing Deluxe Name Entry
03 Wave Ocean 1 Shura No Mon Battle Theme 1
04 Wave Ocean 2 The Hybrid Front Earth ~ Rebellion 2
05 Dusty Desert 1 Cosmic Carnage Narut0's Stage
06 Dusty Desert 2 Shinobi 3 My Dear D
07 White Acropolis 1 Shadow Dancer Stage 2-1
08 White Acropolis 2 Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000 Stage 6
09 Crisis City 1 Shadow Dancer Stage 4-2
0A Crisis City 2 Cosmic Carnage Yug's Stage
0B Flame Core 1 Golden Axe III Death Mountain
0C Flame Core 2 Cosmic Carnage Cyclic's Stage (Fully Armored)
0D Radical Train 1 Virtua Racing Deluxe Replay
0E Radical Train 2 The Hybrid Front Moon - Mars ~ Cocoon 1
0F Tropical Jungle 1 Aa Haraminada Young Noble's Slap
10 Tropical Jungle 2 Golden Axe III Ride the Whirlwind
11 Kingdom Valley 1 Dyna Bros 2 Diamonds on Home Planet
12 Kingdom Valley 2 Light Crusader Grave Matters
13 Aquatic Base 1 Shadow Dancer Stage 3-2, 5-1
14 Aquatic Base 2 Shinobi 3 Idaten
15 Eggman Fight Golden Axe II Boss Theme 1
16 Character Fight Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000 Stage 2 (Part 1)
17 Monster Fight Michael Jackson's Moonwalker Mr. Big
18 Bonus Stage Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Stage 5 Boss
19 Special Stage Mega Man: The Wily Wars Wily Tower Stage 4
1A Emerald Sonic and Knuckles Emerald
1B Invincibility Shinobi 3 Earlier Prototype ???
1C Stage Clear Sonic and Knuckles Stage Clear
1D Stage Results Phantasy Star 4 Cybernetic Carnival
1E Game Over Columns III The End
1F Continue Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000 Continue
20 End of the World Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000 Stage 3, 7
21 Final Boss Part 1 Shinobi 3 Shadow Master
22 Final Boss Part 2 Golden Axe II Boss Theme 2
23 Ending Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000 The End
24 Sonic Credits Shinobi 3 Earlier Prototype The End (w/ Sakura's instruments) (This was appearanlty already done in a different prototype os this will be changed)
25 Shadow Credits Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000 Staff Roll
26 Silver Credits Mega Man: The Wily Wars Wily Tower Ending
27 Final Credits Shadow Squadron Staff Roll
2A Extra Life Sonic 3 Extra Life
33-DF Sound Effects

Hacking Contest Link w/ Download:
http://shc.sonicresearch.org/sonic/entry/71

Future:
My plans right now are to revamp a lot of the art, fix bugs, and work on level designs. When that is finished, I will release it and then go on to work on more complex things.

2015 Hacking Contest Post

Spoiler

I've been on this amazing forum for over a year constantly learning and improving and here's what I have to show for it:

Sonic Next Genesis​

Sonic Next Genesis a hack of Sonic the Hedgehog design to take elements, characters, and levels from the 2006 game Sonic the Hedgehog and put them in a 2D game.

Info:

Spoiler

Features:
A fully playable Wave Ocean including a Mach Speed section and a custom boss fight
New move: Jumpdash
Custom music mostly taken from 3D Sonic games such as Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Adventure
Bonus Stage rings in hidden areas
Custom sound effects ripped from the 2006 game Sonic the Hedgehog
Elemental Shields (note: Sonic's abilities are not added)
Music, Sound, and DAC Sample Test
Custom Art
Music fades out before bosses and at the end of levels

Bonus Stage:
Walls will change color when touched until it changes into a goal block
Collect as many rings as you can to earn 1-ups and continues
Collecting rings will speed up the rotation

Coming Soon:
Shadow and Silver
More stages and bosses
New Special Stage

Bugs:
Monitors will sometimes crash the game
Sonic's DPLC's in the Bonus Stage and on the Continue Screen don't work correctly
Some objects won't show up correctly due to the massive amount of objects in Wave Ocean

Both the Homing Attack and hub worlds have been omitted because, in my opinion, they work well in 3D but are pointless in 2D.

Screenshots:

Spoiler

Credits:

Spoiler

Natsumi - Helped with shield art and created the DPLC system used
RedHotSonic - Tutorial for adding Sonic 3K's priority system and other tutorials
MarkeyJester - 128 variation of disassembly
Hivebrain - Base disassembly
Murcury - ReadySonic which a few elements were taken from
vladikcomper - Deform engine and MegaPCM
Ralakamis - Sonic 3K/3D music conversion tutorial
Stealth - SonED2
MainMemory - SonLVL
Nineko - xm3smps and the MIDI to XM to SMPS guide
oerg866 - /oerg variation of xm3smps
Xenowhirl - SonMapED and Sonic 2 disassembly
Aurochs - Sonic 2 disassembly
snkenjoi - Flex
Tornado - Water guide
DemonFox - Caterkiller fix for 3K's priority
Sonic master and hitaxas - Splash screen tutorials
Selbi - Jumpdash
ValleyBell - SMPS Converter
Esrael - Esrael Sound Importer and Sonic 2 beta disassembly
PsychoSk8r - Sonic 2 level select in Sonic 1 tutorial
insulfrog - Level design Wave Ocean is based off ofJoenickROS - Wave Ocean MIDI
The creators of the Github Sonic 3K disassembly
The creators of all the Sonic 1 Sonic Retro SCHG and SSRG tutorials
Everyone on SSRG who has helped me in some way

Hacking Contest Page w/ Download: http://shc.sonicresearch.org/sonic/history15/60

Also, I just watched Johnny play this and was severely disappointed he didn't even complete the first level for reason like the fact that some invisible solid blocks don't work and I lured him with Shadow and Silver on the main menu. This was even more frustrating when he played through a five minute level on the next hack. Oh well. It was an honor for Johnny to even acknowledge it and maybe he'll revisit it at the end. Plus, there are many others that are live streaming so I'll watch their reactions when they get to it.

If anyone would like to contribute anything to the hack (art, level design music, code, etc.) or would like me to contribute something, I'd be happy to work with you.

 

This is a very interesting hack. Levels are solid and fun to play. I think it acomplishes its goal as "levels from the 2006 game Sonic the Hedgehog in a 2D" good enough.

P.S.: I don't like that Sonic stops after a jumpdash.

 

The homing attack destroys the momentum other then that the layout was pretty good. 

 

So far I've heard that I should fix the bugs, allow momentum to be kept when jump dashing, and make the Mach speed section more fair. Remember, I won't know what to fix until I know the problem so please feel free to give feedback.

 

Well! This is definitely new! A remake of elements from '06! And definitely better than the original! Well you impressed me. The music, the thought of all 3 characters, and various elements! keep up the great work! 

(A bit off topic but, twentieth post!)

 

I updated the original post for the 2016 Sonic Hacking Contest version. Feel free to give criticism.

 

This hack shouldn't have been submitted this year. Most of the levels are not changed or empty. SHC is a contest not a medium for getting beta testers. Missing a contest isnt the end of the world. If you didnt make this would you enjoy this build?

 

First, the things is that I put so much effort into trying to get it ready fir the contest that taking it out of the contest would make it seem like a lot of effort went to waste. Second, the contest is when hacks get the most publicity and I'd like to get more people interested in my hack. Third, there doesn't seem to be any downsides for putting the hack in the contest, or at least the upsides outweigh the downsides.

If I didn't make this hack, I'd appreciate it for all the effort and ideas put into it and be excited for the next release. I also might've played around with the new features for a bit. This hack isn't yet meant to be enjoyable as a game but enjoyable as a viewing of the many assets that will contribute to a game.

I'm not asking for beta testers and would actually like it if people didn't post all the glitches they found. I'd prefer it if people just gave criticism and suggestions on the art, music, and features.

 

Well, there are a lot of pretty noticeable glitches in the hack and so posting about them wouldn't really help me improve my hack. If you can find a glitch that isn't on the list in the first post and is hard to spot, then post it. Otherwise, feel free to give criticism about anything else. That would be much more useful to me.

 

Incorrect, good sir. Pointing out glitches in any context can only help you improve your work. In the case of "obvious" glitches or stuff that you already know about, it shows how urgently you need to fix said glitches as they're the biggest issue the public has to deal with. Multiple bug reports for the same issue isn't a hinderence, it's a blessing, because it allows you to pinpoint what's going on, how many people are experiencing it, and how badly you need to fix it. Because if multiple people found it noteworthy enough to check, then it's obviously plaguing their gameplay experience. It could also serve as motivation as you wouldn't want to hear about it anymore.

Horrible mindset you've got there. Unfortunately, there's a lot of projects and games that don't see the light of day that got pretty far in development. Yes, it's a wasted effort, but unfortunately things have to be scrapped some times so that others can really shine. I understand that it can be hard to throw away progress that you've made whilst trying to get this thing ready for the contest, but having a hack that's far more complete in next year's contest will reflect better on you as a hacker than having this one be buggy and messy and next year's build be more stable and fun. As for publicity, may I remind you that this is a contest where judges judge your work, have to sift through a dozen other horrible hacks alongside your broken one, and then streamers will stream your unfinished work to the public. The judges are trying to make thing thing more on the professional side, and having hacks with actual quality would help with that. This shouldn't be a publicity stunt for you, it should be where you genuinely put your best foot forward to show off the best the scene has to offer.

Idunnow, having people see your half-baked entry, not wanting to play it, and then getting turned off from any future releases while you loose any publicity you could've had from the contest seems like a pretty big downside to me.

That's your mindset, and not one shared by the community. It's also probably tainted with bias as you're the one who put the thing out. Let me tell you my experience with the hack, as someone who didn't have a steak in making it. The build I played in the last contest killed any and all interest I had in the hack. The shoddy level design, bugs, and lack of enjoyable content, all ruined the experience for me. As a result of that entry, I haven't played the build you've submitted for the contest, and I really don't plan on doing so. There is no award for "effort", there is no real genuine appreciation for "effort". There is only a good product, and a bad product, and that's all what the viewer will think of the product. "Effort" put in is an afterthought, a minute one at that. The only thing that will matter to the public, is whether or not your game is enjoyable.

Then make a post in the General Screenshot Thread. The purpose of a demo should be to give the user a taste of what's to come in the final product. It doesn't matter how many cool mechanics a demo has, if the thing itself isn't well-designed, the user won't bother with the final product. Take a look at the great demos that have been released over the years and compare them to yours. Arkham City gave the user a brief look into the game's story and mechanics, The Stanley Parable gave the player a brief look into the humor of the game, Halo's open betas allow the players to get a feel for the multilayer aspects of the game. Meanwhile, your demo shows off a buggy game with empty levels and only the baseline features implemented. Is that what you want to introduce your game to players with? Is that how you want your game to be remembered?

 

I can see why it wouldn't have been a good idea to repease this. I guess I was expecting people to ignore the negative stuff that I'll eventually fix but I can see now that it the negatives still are making the game less fun for the players.

It's weird that I'm having someone tell me when a hack should be released when my policy was to always try to release something as polished as possible. However, I made an acception for the contest because of the time limit but I can see now that it's also a bad idea.

Anyway, I've learned my lesson and so I'll be more motivated to get out a playable build. I'll also try to release more screenshots because ever since I started the project, I've only released one or two.

 

With the hacking contest done and out of the way and my birthday over, I'm deciding to make plans about my involvement with Sonic hacking and the community over the next few months.

1. Sonic Next Genesis
With a lot of the engine coding done, I'm going to put more focus on the levels. I'm am going to work on setting up the level chunks and art and such in order to make good 16-bit renditions of Sonic '06's nine levels. When the art is near completion, I will release it on the General Screenshots Thread. I am currently adding the finishing touches to Wave Ocean's art and starting Dusty Desert's art. After the art is completed, I will fix bugs, add level designs, and release it to the public. Since school takes up a lot of my time, the next release will probably not be completed until sometime in early Spring. After the next release, the time will come for the big coding stuff: new bosses, set pieces, and level gimmicks.

2. Guides
I've been planning these for a while now and so I'd like to announce that I will start working on a few guides as a way to transmit to others the knowledge I've acquired over these past 2+ years on this forum. The first one will be on porting Sonic 3K's Object Manager and Ring Manager over to Sonic 1 based on MoDule's and shobiz's guides on Sonic Retro. I plan to release these by the end of the month. The next guide that I plan on releasing before the end of the year will either be on custom levels or porting music from other games that use the SMPS driver. What ever one I don't pick will be released after. I also plan on releasing a couple other guides such as a collection of small but useful guides.

Now, you're probably wondering why I am making this announcement when I could have just kept these plans to myself and the reason is because if I didn't publicly state them, then I probably won't follow them. If I do release them, people will have expectations and so they will be disappointed if I don't meet them. This creates a motivation for me that otherwise would be absent. Proof of this is the fact that I actually tried starting a level creation guide back in May and never added much more than an introduction.

Edit: Guides are on hiatus due to waiting to get a new computer.

 

Nice story, bro.

In all seriousness, though, tell us what you're going to do "next" (hehehe, see what I did there?) in the Sonic Next Genesis thread. I'm torn on whether to nuke this or not. Since nuking it would (I assume) unmotivate you, I'm going to stick it in your thread for now as I see that as "your space". In the future, please don't bother making a post like this unless it's in your hack thread. This just really wasn't important enough to be its own thread.