Random hack/Mini project thread

The only thing about this project that can worry you is to receive a complaint from the big N...

 

I think it's a delightful proof of concept personally~

It'll need refining though, heavy refining, because it clashes with Sonic's game-play and breaks the flow.

 

So! I've made a little hack where I put some S3K music stuff into Sonic 2. Also, big thanks for Markey for ripping the samples!

 

Ooo I dig that underwater effect, though a lot of the sfx don't fit Sonic 2

 

This made me curious enough to download and run this, and it did not disappoint! I also did not expect to hear Beta/PC Carnival Night, although I think that it fits Casino Night a little more (the music selection seems, semi-randomized?). Not sure if this is a bug in vanilla Sonic 2 (or if you coded it this way intentionally), but when I went into a special stage with speed shoes, the music is sped up.

 

As you've all seen, I've been playing around in Labyrinth Zone recently, and I have seen many people mention wanting to see Labyrinth Zone without water at all:



As an apology for my previous aquatic shenanigans, here's a hack that aims to fulfill that request. Yep, no water here at all, not one drop. Just a dry Labyrinth Zone, I promise.

Download

Spoiler

So yeah, if you haven't noticed yet (or have understandably refused to click the download link), this is a mini-hack that floods the level with water at randomized intervals. Only Labyrinth Zone + SBZ 3 are playable, but I've again included Caterkiller Mode (activate by selecting a level in the level select with the C button).
There is a known sprite bug occurring that I plan on fixing in a later release; I've decided to expand this into a full Sonic 1 hack, so I'll figure it out/address it then, along with anything else that will come up. Special Thanks to Joenick for helping to identify it!

 

Yawn Here's something I spent 15 minutes on. It's a disasm that hybridizes Aurora Field's AMPS example for the ASM68K Hivebrain disassembly and MarkeyJester's Project Sonic 1: Two-Eight. It's not a particularly difficult project, but why not ease the load off the 2 or 3 of you who will use this and can't be arsed to do it yourself. Basically; Sonic 1 but now it's easier to do sound and level design. I will now retreat into my hole. I think I spotted an issue or two with tile reloading, but if I recall correctly, that was a default thing in Sonic 1.

Edit: So the tile reloading issues I mentioned are in fact not a part of default Sonic 1 (At least not to the extent that they are in this), I possibly missed a step, I'll work on fixing it later. I probably just missed a small bit. It's still perfectly functional, however.

 

Thats a pretty nice gimmick for a water level! I'd love to see if this could be fleshed out to something like Ristar where the water enemies fall to the floor gasping for air, or some items maybe move a little faster above water? I did run into some odd bugs though. Whenever I was hit by things like the moving spears, spinning maces, or fireballs, the graphics would corrupt. I was able to get spikes and the moving platforms to do this as well. (played on Regen)

 

Yeah, this is the sprite bug I mentioned before. I'll address it at a later date (although I don't know when, since my schedule has somewhat returned back to the normal 'busy'). I haven't been able to figure out exactly why that is happening yet, but I know it has something to do with Sonic's sprites, since it triggers when Sonic enters his edge and hurt animations. I've been studying it, but it might be a while until it's figured out, so I figured I'd release it as-is as a concept. Either way, thanks for reporting that, and the badnik idea!

 

Do you remember that horrible excuse of a game from Sonic Hacking Contest 2016 that not too many people bothered playing because most people hated the hack for the concept alone? Well I was stupid enough to give the concept another go but then I decided to drop it completely since I already knew that this kind of project is doomed from the start...so I decided it would be best to cancelled this thing entirely and release it as a mini-hack instead.



Download

 

Mini hack name: Stress Free Special Stages

So we all hate the Sonic 1 special stage. From the rotation to the diamonds. Well, from this mini hack, it won't be a problem. This turns the special stage into a platforming stage which removes stress from those painful special stages. Jump from platform to platform, watch out for the bumper and watch out where you're falling.



This hack is based off ReadySonic source by Mercury due to the Wall Art VRAM, HUD in Special Stages and Jumping Height Limit.
Also the Special Stage editor is also from Mercury

EDIT - The ROM has been updated due to the stage being unbeatable.

 

Hooray I finally remembered my log in info after all this time.

May as well start by showing off this. Here's a quick Proof of Concept attempt at getting Hill Top Zone running in 2P VS Mode:


Known bugs:

* The dynamic background doesn't load properly due to split screen data interfering with its VRAM position, leaving a glitchy mess.
* Some multiple loading issues with objects such as Rexon and the airlifts.
* I've mostly got the airlifts working but some won't run unless you hop off them.
* If Sonic finishes first in HTZ 2 Tails' screen glitches and gets an instant Game Over.
* Going too far out of bounds during the finish line can cause you to walk into the boss arena and hurt yourself on the lava.
* Obviously to make the level load properly I had to trim down the object number drastically.
* Earthquakes (which don't run properly in 2P and would likely break the flow anyway) are now absent altogether and replaced with normal lava areas (though the rumbling still occurs).

Obviously this is in a rather glitchy state right now, but I like the idea of expanding 2P Mode if even just a little.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/202861068224036864/727999266127347712/s2built.bin


EDIT: Quick revision that fixes Act Two's end glitches:

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/202861068224036864/728782090119675985/s2built.bin

 

Remember Sonic Labyrinth? You know, that Game Gear title that took away the one thing that makes a Sonic game a Sonic game - speed. Have you ever wanted to play Sonic 1 with those speed restrictions? No? Well, too bad, lockdown boredom has really hit me hard.

Proudly presenting...

Sonic 1 - You're Too Slow! Edition

It's basically just vanilla Sonic 1, except Sonic's speed has been reduced to a snail's pace; more specifically the speed restrictions underwater in Labyrinth Zone (this hack makes Labyrinth more of a hellhole than it already is). Speed Shoes have also been modified to briefly restore Sonic's normal speed.

It's a simple hack, but it's a decent challenge for those who are so used to speeding through zones as per usual...



Also, my sincere apologies to any fellow PAL users out in the field who wanna try this out on real hardware.

 

Uhh... I played the Sonic Labyrinth. But what you came up with is a rather cunning and interesting idea. You can even make a test out of this hack

 

The one thing this is missing that's present in Labyrinth is the spin dash. Also maybe adding some keys to collect in order to complete the stage would also make it more similar to Labyrinth. (I know this is just a mini hack but I think those changes would be cool to see.)

 

What can I say about this hack? It's just Sonic 1 but with all of Sonic's speed values slashed in half. It's a nice start, but it really is a no-brainer. If I wanted to see Sonic go at half his speed, all it would take me is 3 Action Replay codes (but hey, this hack changes speed values when you hit the speed shoes or when you go underwater, so you might want to use this hack if you even want to play Sonic 1 with his speed halved). With that out of the way, I hope you learn how to make something noteworthy eventually. It won't be easy, but if you try hard enough, anything is possible.

 

I'll be honest, the concept of having slowed movement with speed-up monitors that restore it to the original speed is a good idea, but honestly you could do more to it. You could make it so you *need* the speed up shoes, i.e. put a J slope in GHZ. Ontop of that, you could add Spindash and make it work like Labyrinth's spindash, which is you could interrupt it after you release it (or go into the skidding animation). Otherwise it's okay for a mini-ROM hack.

 

I decided to take a look at Sonic 1 - Score Rush, one of my past challenge hacks and my favorite concept so far. In hindsight, and looking at some feedback I received, I think I could've done much better than what I have. And that's what I (hopefully) did.
Enter Sonic 1 - Score Rush REV01, a faster, prettier and harder version of the original Score Rush.
The rules are simple. You start the game with 1000 points, and your score gradually decreases. If your score reaches zero, you die, and dying at any point during the game will have you restart from the very beginning.
Of course some changes had been made to make the challenge harder (such as only allowing you to get 1000 points at once from badniks and MZ bricks), but I guess I hadn't made enough changes in REV00.
Here's a list of things that have changed since the last version:
- The hack is now built on ReadySonic.
- You can no longer get Score Tallies and go to Special Stages. The Hidden Bonuses at the end of the level have also been disabled. Beating a level just takes you straight to the next one
- The HUD has been redesigned. The Time, Rings, and Lives counters have been removed.
- Rings now award you 50 points each.
- Lampposts, Signposts and 1-up monitors award you 1000 points each.
- Getting hit costs you 1000 points unless you have a shield.
- The moveset has been changed. There's no Speed Caps, you get CD's jump-roll physics and the Spin Dash has been enabled (all of these changes were built into ReadySonic).
- If you don't want the Spin Dash, I made it optional. Just press B at the Title Screen to toggle it (on by default).
- Another option that can be toggled is Easy mode (off by default). Press C at the Title Screen to toggle it. With Easy mode, you start from 5000 points (just like in REV00), Hidden bonuses are re-enabled (10000 points bonuses are replaced by 1000 points bonuses), and you can get up to 10000 points from Badniks and MZ bricks.
- The Level Select is inaccessible via normal means, and the Debug Mode has been removed.

With all that out of the way, here's a video of me beating Sonic 1 - Score Rush REV01 with one of those clickbaity thumbnails.

Spoiler: Credits

Idea and programming: Giovanni
Extra Sprites: 1001, Giovanni
Disassemblies used: ReadySonic, S1 Github
Tools used: HxD, ConTEXT, SonLVL, Flex 2
Special thanks to: MarkeyJester (assistance with bug fixing), The Razor & Zenon Community (feedback)

And here's the ROM:

 

Our good friend Zeta_Null has still been busy tweaking CPZ's tileset to work in split screen, and right now we almost have a working version:



There's only a couple objects not reworked at this point (Grabber, the boost pads, and the tipping platforms). Obviously the level tiles themselves needed to be streamlined a good deal to make this work as well but at least it looks coherent and clean now. Zeta_Null fixed the background as well, but I need to fix the scrolling in 2 player to properly show that.

The objects needed to be trimmed down in some areas due to being a vertical heavy level, but it is raceable:

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/202861068224036864/733438029347291287/s2built.bin

EDIT: Updated version which fixes some of the remaining object art:

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/202861068224036864/733475500785270864/s2built.bin

EDIT: ANOTHER refinement:

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/202861068224036864/733506928348495972/s2built.bin

EDIT: ANOTHER OTHER refinement. This one adds back a few objects and fixes Spiny's projectile:

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/202861068224036864/733741229124092014/s2built.bin

 

Peoples of the internet, I present to you: Sonic 1 Always Surfing edition.
What is Sonic 1 Always Surfing Edition you ask? Well, in this cool and epik hack, Sonic's always surfing. ALWAYS.
No matter what, he's surfing. Green Hill?

Surfs right through it.
Labyrinth's many water slides?

Well what's a surf hog like him not supposed to do there?
He'll surf on ol' Eggman like it's low tide.

Now, he can't be surfing all the time, shocking, I know, I had to take many a year to cope with that fact myself. But, in the rare event that he does stop to get air, he'll be sure to do it in style.

And in the rare event he dies, he can't seem to grapple the fact that you can't surf when you're dead, so he opts to book it to Surfsville, South Island instead.

So overall, I think this a quality hack that didn't take me like 10 minutes to make because I thought the surf animation was just that funny. Join me next week when I put Wario in Sonic 1!
....You think I'm joking?

Join me the week after that when I end this joke! Bye, don't forget to subskribe, and the next episode will be with me making Heavy in Sonic 1!