This is an interesting title, as its the first for a few things. It was the official Sonic game that released on a non-SEGA system.....and it was during the era of the Dreamcast. It released on a interesting handheld called the Neo Geo Pocket Color and for some deal with SEGA.
But it was another first for the Sonic series; SNK developed the game but members that worked on the game moved on to form a company called Dimps.
They are known for helping out Capcom with fighting games like Street Fighter V recently but they never made platformers before. Sonic Pocket Adventure was one of their first projects before forming Dimps and it started a long string of co-productions with Sonic Team.
Their first game under the Dimps label was Sonic Advance, which I will be covering quite soon .
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Okay, now lets talk about the game! This releases post Sonic Adventure, so the sprites are not completely classic like, but they are very close to the original Genesis games in look.
Sonic has his Adventure design and Eggman slowly gets his classic look as you progress further into the game.
What makes this game so interesting is that its less of a original game but more so a fun remix of the Classic series. You have Sonic 2 level tropes, music from Sonic 3/Sonic Jam and Sonic 2 special stages; a mis-mash of Sonic content!
It makes this stand out more with new level designs and an attempt to capture the Genesis physics on the Neo Geo Pocket hardware, which was very impressive. Though considering this is a 16-Bit handheld, it was likely a bit easier to migrate over compared to what developers on the Game Gear Sonic's did (as they worked with 8-Bit hardware).
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The level designs are fun, as they feel like they belong with a Classic Sonic game. It plays up the tropes from past Sonic's well (the Plant Zone having underwater sections, the Casino Zone having pinball, a Sky Chase stages where you move on-top of Tails' plane, ect). But the new level design elements make each retread 'different' then Sonic 2, making this game quite fun.
But I will comment on two issues I have with the game. One being how the special stages work. They are like Sonic 2 but you only have ONE shot. If you die, that's it, no extra tries in later levels. You only get six shots to get the Chaos Emerald and it really bites. Emulation makes this a non-issue (as you could make save states before each special stage) but still, doesn't get rid of the problem.
My second issue is that you cannot use Super Sonic in main-levels. That was the case too with the Game Gear games but here it is a bit head scratching. They are playing up this being a Classic Era homage, so why not give you something famous from that era of Sonic?
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The music in the game is remixes from a number of older games in the series, but the 8-Bit composition is really well done here .
Neo South Island Act 1 (Sonic World): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_4vnQqn3dY&list=PLC3ACD809AA5B1518&index=3
Neo South Island Act 2 (Angel Island Act 1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VpticdI5RE&list=PLC3ACD809AA5B1518&index=4
Secret Plant Act 1 (Angel Island Act 2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kehVC9vMISw&index=5&list=PLC3ACD809AA5B1518
Secret Plant Act 2 (Hydro City Act 1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYqBY4etVYY&list=PLC3ACD809AA5B1518&index=6
Aquatic Reflex Act 1 (Mushroom Hill Act 1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6EH8Aqug_8&list=PLC3ACD809AA5B1518&index=9
Sky Chase Zone (Sonic 3 MP Levels): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BKUNbX4WVA&index=11&list=PLC3ACD809AA5B1518
Areobase Zone (Death Egg - Sonic 3): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U9YXiHcheY&list=PLC3ACD809AA5B1518&index=12
Chaotic Space (Sky Sanctuary Zone): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cLJwYjyGfA&list=PLC3ACD809AA5B1518&index=18
Some of the music choices were great picks, like Knuckles having a remix of Flying Battery play during his fight and Silver Sonic having the Doomsday theme play in his fight .
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Critics loved this game a lot and I gotta say, really enjoy this too . Sill have a lot to play of the title (have two more zones left to get through) but overall, this is a solid platformer. Dimps first shot with the series is a strong one and we will see them again with future handheld Sonic's .