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VGMaps Social Board / Sonic 3's
« Last post by Cyartog959 on October 10, 2025, 01:36:31 pm »
A bit of an insight, but, didn't any of you know about what was Sonic 3's planned launch date?

Well, after watching Splash Wave's look into Sonic 3's development history on YouTube... I'm kinda sure some of you are quite familiar of what some of Sonic Team and S.T.I.'s devs went through, but, just in case...

It was not Feb 1994, but the game as a whole, if it wasn't split into 2 halves, WAS actually planned to be launched in Summer 1994, but, thanks to the promotional deal with McDonald's Sega made, that date got thrown off by many months, and we know where it led, to the invention of Lock-On Technology, to take care of such problems.

We also knew Sonic 3 started previously as a 3D game, planned with its Virtua Processor chip installed, which didn't happen because of it being too costly.

The dev work actually began in Jan 1993, shortly after Sonic 2's launch, but, thanks to mentioned complications, including the promotional deal, all that work got canned in June '93. Very shortly, though, it got restarted back to the 2D blueprint in about Jul '93, but improved from Sonic 2, including having mini-bosses in each Zone's 1st Act, instead of some.

Thanks to the pressure of launching the game to meet that deal's deadline, the game got split, with the 1st half to be launched in Feb. '94, and the second half in Fall '94, months later. At least, we had the first of its 3 Bonus Stages in the 1st half.

Then, after 3 more Sonic games got launched in later '93, its second half was given about enough time to finish all remaining Zones, resuming from Spring 94, including the Extra Zone, Doomsday, along with the additional 2 Bonus Stages, done in the next month, then, the remaining months spent building Lock-On Technology in the cart before its launch on Oct. 94.

Yes, you're already educated on that, but I felt a bit more history of Sonic 3, at least about the intended launch time, should be shared.

If you'd like, you can watch that video here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdvtssb10Q8
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Map Gab / Re: Sega Genesis Mini 2 - full map set
« Last post by JonLeung on October 10, 2025, 09:07:15 am »
If anyone's still in the mood for some Sega Genesis mapping...

I'm always wondering if I should make a topic about mapping all of the games available on the "Nintendo Classics" apps (as they are now called) for subscribers of Nintendo Switch Online (the online service for the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2).  More games are added occasionally, so it'd be something I'd have to keep updating, but I imagine it should easily be possible to map them faster than they add to them.  :P

The apps include games from the NES/Famicom, Super NES/Super Famicom, and the Game Boy/Game Boy Color on the basic tier.  Subscribing to the Expansion Pack also adds games from Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64 (with a separate app for M-rated games, and more features on the Switch 2), Virtual Boy (announced but not yet available at the time of this post), and GameCube (for the Switch 2, not the original Switch).  And it's not limited to Nintendo platforms, there's the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive as well.

Here's the current list of those, as seen on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Classics#Sega_Genesis_/_Mega_Drive

As of now, there are 51 Sega Genesis games, but 42 of them have already been mapped.  Certainly having the Sega Genesis Mini and Sega Genesis Mini 2 fully mapped knocked out many of these classics already.

Now, I haven't checked if those 42 games are FULLY mapped, but the nine games that we don't have any maps from at all are these:

ESWAT: City Under Siege
Flicky
Mercs
MUSHA
Puyo Puyo (J)
Super Thunder Blade
Target Earth
Thunder Force II
Zero Wing (E)


So yeah, I dunno... should I make a "NSO/Nintendo Classics apps" requests list?

From my personal requests list, all I have right now for the Genesis is one Sega CD game: Snatcher.  (Though maybe I should add Zero Wing (E) to it, weird that we don't have that already...)

Thanks again for all your hard work!  I don't mean to sound like I'm all like "you're not done yet, LOL".  Though I am a Nintendo fan, I always feel like the Genesis needs more representation here.
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Map Gab / Re: Sega Genesis Mini 2 - full map set
« Last post by G.E.R. on October 10, 2025, 04:30:06 am »
It wasn't so difficult due to use emulator with the possibility of manage layers (visible/invisible), game genie codes (invincibility player) and free moving around some levels.
There was small sized levels or small levels count in most this games.
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Gaming / Comparisons between past true 2D Sonic games & Sonic Superstars
« Last post by Cyartog959 on October 10, 2025, 02:17:05 am »
There's a couple minor comparisons to remember between the many past 2D Sonic games(those from the Classic line, not counting Modern's own 2D games, even the "Advance" and "Rush" games in that line) and Sonic Superstars, most of which favor above Superstars' own. I may include Zone amounts in them, too.

Sonic the Hedgehog had 6 Zones, each having 3 Acts at the time, with only Final Zone holding the last fight against Robotnik.

Sonic 2 had 11 Zones, most being 2 Acts, Metropolis having 3, and the rest having 1, most of which were a bit longer than Sonic 1's.

Sonic CD had 7 Zones(though, if DLC for the 2011 port wasn't cast aside in favor of it being too faithful to the regular's amount, 9 Zones, with Zone 2 maybe being Dubious Depths being added, and the last being Final Fever with a satisfying conclusion to the time-traveling adventure on Little Planet), 3 Acts, most of which had time periods suiting to the time-travel theme.

Sonic 3, as the whole game, had 14 Zones, the last of which is the first Extra Zone Sonic only went to by having all Chaos/Super Emeralds. They were three times larger than Sonic 2's, and they were all enjoyable.

Sonic Mania had 13 Zones, 8 from past games, 5 original. Again, the last is an Extra Zone, and is focused on the anniversary aesthetic, but having the pixel art graphics upped to solidify the thrill of a 2D Sonic game on the Sega Saturn, if such a one was made. The Zones were made quite long, but to compare on their size and length, not quite more than Advance's, Rush and Rush Adventure and even Colors DS'. They were all still enjoyable, though.

Of course, Mania Plus' Encore Mode felt a bit lacking in what we often expect as a New Game+ mode of some sort; none of the bosses were given their own upgraded counterparts(but I don't mean needing bland palette swaps to call it that), not like how later Kirby games did after Super Star Ultra(I quickly imagined DD Wrecker becoming QQ Demolisher and Hotaru Hi-Watt becoming Hotaru MAX-Watt), nor an actual exclusive final boss, and hardly the levels' layouts were changed to become more challenging than Mania Mode's levels, save for Mirage Saloon giving a different Act 1.

Sonic Superstars only had 11 Zones, all original, but same amount as Sonic 2's, but their Act amount differs through many Zones. The true final fight against the Great Dark Dragon is claimed to be a level, but isn't.

What is truly common for those 2D games, they're all made from the original pixel art style and aesthetic, of which Sonic was originally made from. The animation frames in Mania are more fluid, and there are more background layers that moved freely in all directions, even those that replicated line scrolling, due to them being free from the Genesis' past constraints.

Sonic Superstars was made in 3D, but placed in 2.5D view. Aside from numerous misses in different aspects, the aesthetic doesn't work well for those still expecting for more 2D Sonic games to retain the pixel art style, and no, I don't mean sticking too close to the limits of the Genesis, nor Saturn's, but not too high from the latter. It also does not deliver the atmosphere and excitement felt and seen in an actual 2D Sonic game.

There's certain things 3D can work, but others, well... they just plainly won't. Just only saying.

For the record, in my perspective, I'm strongly against Takashi Iizuka's quite out of touch mindset about pixel art games' viability and relevance(which is an obvious bland cop-out to the opposite and to the talents people held from growing up with these games), because we have NUMEROUS games made in said style, PC and console, and they don't really need to adhere to the tech constraints of many past consoles, nor their singular sound chips' channel amounts(of course, Furnace does retain said fidelity to numerous sound chips, but the freedom to use a lot as we want, even the original chips that Sonic's music and sounds were made from, is much more widespread).

I do, at the very least, agree about only one thing(nothing more than that). Sonic Mania, still being actual 2D in its own right, is made as a commemoration to Sonic's 25th Anniversary, and it's only made to be exactly that. Another Sonic game that continues said anniversary adherencies as a sequel to it(complete with the obvious name and number to boot) can be dismissed as a rehash of the previous.

It's been nice to celebrate, but original 2D Sonic games still retaining the original pixel art aesthetics would still be the best choice, with the exact tools an engine that would've still been used, too, and the stories all still need to be well-made and original, and sometimes, have new villains to face instead of Robotnik a lot. It does not really have to be called "Sonic Mania 2" at all.

The continuity arrangement for Superstars doesn't really make sense being placed before Adventure(we really don't even get an explanation about how Robotnik escaped from the Phantom Ruby's grasp in Encore Mode's good ending). I'd been more content having Classic and Modern Sonic's canons still being separate on their own, but co-existing. Makes their storylines and continuities less convoluted that way. Superstars tried to have Classic Sonic remain independent from Modern's games, but I'm not sure how that went.

And, so far, no 2D Sonic game has its Zone amount went past 14, if I'm not counting Extra Zones. I handled longer Zones, as many of you have, but what can you imagine if a new 2D Sonic game, still made in pixel art and with Retro Engine, had about, at the very least, 17 Zones, and they were longer and/or larger than Colors DS, even Asteroid Coaster Act 2's size(well, not too crazy large than what we've been through so far, but still...)?

I could imagine some of you being fatigued after a few runs.

If Classic Sonic got another new game, which still needs to retain the 2D pixel art aesthetic, it'd best be an interquel that takes place after Mania Plus' events, where Robotnik and all of his remaining Badniks finally got out of the unstable, self-created pocket void the haywire Phantom Ruby created and re-enacts his conquering plans, but having been landed on an unknown alien world, he attempts to go intergalactic, and Sonic and his friends would go on a planet-traveling adventure to stop him.

Wouldn't that be really neat?
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Map Gab / Re: Sega Genesis Mini 2 - full map set
« Last post by JonLeung on October 09, 2025, 09:03:55 pm »
G.E.R. has mapped out Shining Force CD and Mansion Of Hidden Souls!  Turns out that last one wasn't that hard after all.
Thanks, G.E.R.!

He has also clarified that the Shining In The Darkness map set by Vorpal86 that we've had all this time is actually complete too.
Belated extra thanks, Vorpal86!

It looks like... could it be?  The Genesis Mini 2 has been completely mapped?

I'll check it over, and if so, I'll thank everyone involved and edit the original post (like I did with the others when they got completed), move this topic to "Map Gab", and make a front-page feature image sometime.

EDIT: This is who has mapped what... looks like G.E.R. was involved in mapping 46 of the 61 games, most of them completely by himself!  Wow!  That's dedication!

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VGMaps Social Board / Re: YouTube channel! (JonLeung1)
« Last post by JonLeung on October 09, 2025, 07:23:50 pm »

I saw a funny Chiitan☆ video, wanted to see what it would be like to add Contra music to it, then figured, "that's cool", but at this point, why not just make it a YouTube Short?

My recent Mega Man 3 Short is now at 10k views and the Mega Man 2 Short is now at 50k views.  So even though I seriously need to get back to making longform content, I can make silly stuff like this now and then to keep my watch time up.  They don't take too long to make, after all.
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Map Requests / Re: JonLeung's Requests
« Last post by JonLeung on October 09, 2025, 09:11:21 am »
Gravity Circuit is on my list, and this is a public service announcement that the game is free to claim on the Epic Games Store this week (until Thursday, October 16, 9:00 AM MST) if any of you PC gamers want a NES-like Mega Man-style (or maybe more like Mega Man X-style) game.
https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/gravity-circuit-489baa
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He's right! If anyone's willing to donate more money to reach those stretch goals, now is the time! The countdown's begun! Make Jon's dream come true!
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Bumping this up as there's only 25 hours left (essentially, it's the final day) and I wanted to bring attention to it again for a final push and before it's too late.

At the moment, it is very close to the £20,000 stretch goal that will bring it to iOS & Android, so that's quite likely, but can it get to £25,000 for a Nintendo Switch port?

If anyone's been holding off, well, there's no reason to delay now that there's not much time left!   :o
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