RE: Sonic CD (Sega CD)

[marioman]

@Terra:  Good job on those maps of the Little Planet.  I haven't seen the ones for the future before.  The only alternate one that I have seen is the one at night.  How did you activate them?  Is there one for the past?  I am going to have to look into that.



@DarkWolf:  All right!  Another Special Stage!  Please post it as soon as you can.

[TerraEsperZ]

Normally, the D.A. Garden option at the main title is availableb once you beat Time Attack under a specific amount of time. Not being the patient kind (and lacking the ability to use savestates), I downloaded a save of the internal Sega CD RAM with everything unlocked



That menu is really cool, as each planet will slowly go through a day/dusk/night/dawn cycle (you also get all sorts of distracting sprites like flying Robotniks, UFOs and annoying things like that too). I'm hoping to do some animated GIFs of that and the intro/ending videos too when I have the time.



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

[DarkWolf]

5/8 Done



http://garoux.net/vgmaps/sonic_cd_special_1.png">Stage 1

http://garoux.net/vgmaps/sonic_cd_special_2.png">Stage 2

http://garoux.net/vgmaps/sonic_cd_special_3.png">Stage 3

http://garoux.net/vgmaps/sonic_cd_special_4.png">Stage 4

http://garoux.net/vgmaps/sonic_cd_special_8.png">Stage 8

[TerraEsperZ]

Wow, impressive! I've never actually played any of the Special Stages except for the first one, and the later ones look a lot more difficult. And speaking of the stages, I'll probably rip the backgrounds to them one of these days just for fun. They are all so different from one another that they feel like they aren't even part of the same game.



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

[marioman]

I am amazed.  Those maps look so good.



I have said it before, I absolutely LOVE the graphical style of Sonic CD.  Although the gameplay may be lacking a little, the immersing atmosphere completely masks the shortcomings in the gameplay.  I am not usually one to rant about graphics, but Sonic CD is something special.



The Special Stages do get much harder.  DarkWolf hasn't put up stage 7 yet, but I would say that it  is 80% water.  Very hard stuff.



Terra, I would like to get my hands on those HQ Special Stage backgrounds when you get around to ripping them.  Just to let you know that there is actually interest in them.

[TerraEsperZ]

*First post updated with Sonic CD - Collision Chaos Zone, Act 1 (Past)*



I agree with you MarioMan (hope you don't mind the  capitalization, but I like to put emphasis when writing names/alias) about Sonic CD's style. The more I map it, the more I get the sense of the Little Planet as a real world with a history. You can watch the evolution of each zone over the time periods and it's a wonder to behold in a way. Graphically, none of the Genesis Sonic games come even close to matching it. In fact, only Knuckles' Chaotix on the 32X comes close, and it's a much more boring game anyway.



As for those backgrounds, I might do it in the coming weeks in-between maps, so stay tuned.



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

[marioman]

(hope you don't mind the capitalization, but I like to put emphasis when writing names/alias)

Sure.  Call me what you want...provided its clean.  

As for those backgrounds, I might do it in the coming weeks in-between maps, so stay tuned.

I will keep an eye out for them.  Thanks.

[TerraEsperZ]

Well, that didn't take long. Here are the assembled backgrounds for the Special Stages in order. I've put two versions of the first one because the colors cycle between blue and red and I wanted to show both, and two versions of the sixth with the background as it appears originally  milliseconds before getting heavily distorted. Enjoy



http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/5896/specialstagesbackgroundvm2.png" width="512" height="2249" alt="User posted image" />



I love the graphics of this game. They suggest such a rich world, especially these special stages:



1: Seems to be in orbit of either Mobius/Earth or the Little Planet



2: In orbit of a Jupiter-like planet!?



3: Underwater complex



4: On an island near a huge city featuring waterfalls and floating buildings



5: A huge domed-city, either underground or in space



6: A city lost in the twilight zone?



7: Yet another city/base most likely at night, unless the green sky indicates yet another moon/planet



8: Robotnik/Eggman's cup of tea?



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

[marioman]

That was fast!  Thanks so much.  I absolutely LOVE those backgrounds.

[DarkWolf]

Here are the last 3, although I think I'm too late for this weekend's update.



http://garoux.net/vgmaps/sonic_cd_special_5.png">Stage  5

http://garoux.net/vgmaps/sonic_cd_special_6.png">Stage 6

http://garoux.net/vgmaps/sonic_cd_special_7.png">Stage 7

[marioman]

Wow, just wow.  I thought that I would never see this done.  Great job DarkWolf!

[TerraEsperZ]

*First post updated with Sonic CD - Tidal Tempest, Zone 1 (Present)*



Collision Chaos is coming along slowly because of all the palette changes I have to make, so I went ahead and did a Tidal Tempest map instead to see the kind of problems I'd have with the water and its associated palette change. You'll notice that I've put the water level at two different heights but it was unavoidable as it changes when you pass a certain point, and since the water isn't a simple transparent layer like on a SNES or GBA, I had to capture it "as is".



Zone 2 should be interesting considering the map loops vertically for part of it and the water level changes like, 4 times.



I've also corrected my first post since in Sonic CD, Acts are known as Zones (unlike all the other Sonic games). Zones themselves are known as Rounds, but that just doesn't sound right so I'm not using it. Palmtree Panic Round sounds just awful anyway.



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

[TerraEsperZ]

*First post updated with Sonic CD - Tidal Tempest, Zone 1 (Past)*



Fairly boring level actually. It was a bitch to map though since once removed, the background is replaced by black and about 60% of the main map is also black...



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

[Grizzly]

Yeah, those levels with black background and dark sprites are very hard to map. I also encountered this problem in some games (the night map of Lion King and some Mega Man Genesis maps, maybe others).



Your result looks great though.

[TerraEsperZ]

I think everything from Tidal Tempest and forward will be a massive pain to map, as the black-on-black situation becomes standard. Why, oh why must every game I enjoy mapping throw such obstacles at me!? ARG!!!



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me