Hello everyone!
If you been following my Sonic Retrospective for the past week or so, I covered a number of games. After covering Sonic 1, 2, CD and 3&K, I decided to move on to the last 'major' Classic Era platformer, that released on the ill-fated 32X.
This game is unique out of all the games I covered so far.....as I never played this before. I tried this game out two days ago for the first time and.....well, going to comment on it now
.
The story is that Knuckles visited Carnival Island to check on his buds the Chaotix (the colorful group you see in the intro screen) but Dr. Robotnik captures them in a special mechine, with Metal Sonic escaping with him. Knuckles frees one of them, Espio and him and Knuckles team up to save the rest of the Chaotix while going after the Chaos Rings Dr. Robotinik is after.
However, the story between the US/EU and JP versions changed a bit, so going to post something a fellow Gaffer pointed out. Thank you Supaidaman for pointing this out to me!
Gameplay wise, this is your traditional Classic Sonic game; you spin dash, jump, roll and use your character specific ability to explore levels at high speeds. But what makes Knuckles Chaotix so interesting is the ring system.
Each playable character holds one of these rings and you can do quite a bit with this mechanic.
-You can hold them in place to press on switches or allow you to rev-up and launch into a run
-Pick them up and throw them around
-Fling yourself toward your buddy and get higher jumps
It allows for some fun speed running, as the hold ability can really build up a lot of speed.
And that is a good thing, considering this games level design is very strange. On one hand, you have zones like Speed Slider that are linear and focus on you going fast.
....However, you have stages like Amazing Arena which forces you to find a Clock to hit before progressing to the goal post. And when you have no idea how to get there and the level design pushing you all over the place.....you will hit a lock-out point by Stage 3 of this place and you have to do the WHOLE level over again X(.
So, the level design is a mixed bag, with some stages being really fun while others being either 'meh' or outright frustrating.
But lets move on to the characters, as this is the Classic Era game with the largest playable cast.
Our boy Knuckles has all of his abilities from Sonic 3&K; can glide and climb walls, like a champ. He doesn't chuckle like Sonic either
.
But we have the Chaotix Crew, who got their first appearance in this game!
Vector can wall kick, Charmy is the most broken as he has unlimited flight and Espio can run on walls.
Mighty was introduced in a earlier Sonic game (SegaSonic the Hedgehog) but this is his first appearance in a 2D platformer. Its rumored that his inclusion in the game is due to how Sonic was supposed to be here (same with Tails) but was gutted at some point. Even his sprites mirror Sonics in early prototypes of this game (called Sonic Crackers).
Anyway, like Vector, he can kick off walls but otherwise, Mighty is the 'Sonic' of this game.
We also got two other playable characters; robots named Bomb and Heavy.
The former explodes when he bumps into robots while the latter is, well, Heavy.
So one would imagine "Okay, with this large cast, I can pick whoever I want and play that team-up and enter any stage I want, right
?"
Wrong, you would be my friend. The way Chaotix works is that everything is randomized. I'm serious with that; as while you have seven characters to play as, you can only pick one (the character you play as) and your partner is decided via mini game.
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You have some input for which is your partner character, as you can press a button to move the crane down and in-able it to move left/right but that is it. The characters shuffle around at the bottom and after you select your character, that is it until you play the game again after beating a level.
Level selection is far more randomized though. After selecting your party, you head to the level select area but you don't just select a level, you have to jump into the selector then it goes all over the five zones, then it lands on one.
It isn't a problem (unless you land on Amazing Arena) but its important to point this out; the game flow of Chaotix is very different compared to past Sonic's. Stage selection and character selection being randomized goes a long way in changing how you go into the game. It makes every replay different and with five acts for the five zones, you have plenty of replay value.
Overall, if I sound like I have mixed thoughts on this......its because I really feel mixed on this game :l. The way you deal with levels, the design of them itself, and the team-up mechanics all are odd additions that, in contrast to Sonic CD where the Time Travel element really clicks with me, the new elements here don't always hit home to me sadly.
However.....I really love a good deal of this game.
Firstly, is the visuals. They continue the outlandish and trippy tone that CD created, leading to some really great looking stages.
Bright, colorful and perfectly matching the Sonic series in my mind.
Secondly, the special stages are great.
They are Mode-7 looking locations that have you moving left, right and jumping to collect X amount of Blue Spheres per round. The timer is the amount of rings you get in the normal stages, leading you to be pushed into collecting a lot of rings prior to entering these stages.
What makes them so fun is that they loop around and well, feel fair. You don't restart or die when you miss X amount of sphere's in a round, you just circle back again to get the ones you miss. The stages are wide and open, and with some tight controls, it makes them quite fun to complete.
You only have to get six Chaos Rings and you have 21 chances to enter the stages; its very fair and fun.
Edit: Psxphile pointed out to me that the specials stages aren't Mode-7 like at all, as they use the 32X part of the Genesis hardware to make literal 3D visuals. Thank you for the correction!
Lastly, is the killer soundtrack. We all heard Door into Summer thanks to the Generations remix....but where did it come from? THIS game!
This game has an amazing soundtrack and stands next to the prior classic games in stride.
Title Screen
Amazing Arena 1
Botanic Base
Marina Madness
Speed Slider
Techno Tower
Isolated Island
Final Boss
Partner Select
Special Stage
This music is really great and matches the surreal tone of the game quite nicely.
- - - -
NeoGaf Member Contributions!
You guys pointed out some great information I forgot to put in the OP, so here it is! You all rock and thank you for posting!
-I found this while searching for images for the OP and was surprised! The game has an unfinished character within the games coding that can crash the game
It controls like Tails and fly around when mashing the jump button, so its likely garbage data from when Sonic & Tails were originally supposed to be in the game.
-Psxphile clarified that the specials stages are NOT Mode 7 like, but literal 3D stages using 32X hardware to render them. Thank you for the clarification!
-Late in the thread, poster Haganeren shared some great Gifs he made for his review of the game, so thank you for sharing this! These are great gifs and I really appreciate you sharing them with us all!
-The story between the US and EU versions changed a bit, so going to post something a fellow Gaffer pointed out. Thank you Supaidaman for pointing this out to me!
-Hasney pointed out that the final boss with Metal Sonic Kai was supposed to have more attacks/animations but was cut prior to the games launch. Thanks man for the information!
-If you played CD, you will love this little bonus. If you wait around for a minute, Metal Sonic attacks you with different attacks/animations. Thank Mr. Badger for the information!
- - - -
Overall, this is a game that while flawed, is enjoyable. Its a shame Sega never remastered this or put this part of a Sonic Collection. But, hopefully this year or latter, it will be. As I consider this to be a fun action platformer that while having some issue, is still worth playing.
If you been following my Sonic Retrospective for the past week or so, I covered a number of games. After covering Sonic 1, 2, CD and 3&K, I decided to move on to the last 'major' Classic Era platformer, that released on the ill-fated 32X.
This game is unique out of all the games I covered so far.....as I never played this before. I tried this game out two days ago for the first time and.....well, going to comment on it now
. The story is that Knuckles visited Carnival Island to check on his buds the Chaotix (the colorful group you see in the intro screen) but Dr. Robotnik captures them in a special mechine, with Metal Sonic escaping with him. Knuckles frees one of them, Espio and him and Knuckles team up to save the rest of the Chaotix while going after the Chaos Rings Dr. Robotinik is after.
However, the story between the US/EU and JP versions changed a bit, so going to post something a fellow Gaffer pointed out. Thank you Supaidaman for pointing this out to me!
Gameplay wise, this is your traditional Classic Sonic game; you spin dash, jump, roll and use your character specific ability to explore levels at high speeds. But what makes Knuckles Chaotix so interesting is the ring system.
Each playable character holds one of these rings and you can do quite a bit with this mechanic.
-You can hold them in place to press on switches or allow you to rev-up and launch into a run
-Pick them up and throw them around
-Fling yourself toward your buddy and get higher jumps
It allows for some fun speed running, as the hold ability can really build up a lot of speed.
And that is a good thing, considering this games level design is very strange. On one hand, you have zones like Speed Slider that are linear and focus on you going fast.
....However, you have stages like Amazing Arena which forces you to find a Clock to hit before progressing to the goal post. And when you have no idea how to get there and the level design pushing you all over the place.....you will hit a lock-out point by Stage 3 of this place and you have to do the WHOLE level over again X(.
So, the level design is a mixed bag, with some stages being really fun while others being either 'meh' or outright frustrating.
But lets move on to the characters, as this is the Classic Era game with the largest playable cast.
Our boy Knuckles has all of his abilities from Sonic 3&K; can glide and climb walls, like a champ. He doesn't chuckle like Sonic either
. But we have the Chaotix Crew, who got their first appearance in this game!
Vector can wall kick, Charmy is the most broken as he has unlimited flight and Espio can run on walls.
Mighty was introduced in a earlier Sonic game (SegaSonic the Hedgehog) but this is his first appearance in a 2D platformer. Its rumored that his inclusion in the game is due to how Sonic was supposed to be here (same with Tails) but was gutted at some point. Even his sprites mirror Sonics in early prototypes of this game (called Sonic Crackers).
Anyway, like Vector, he can kick off walls but otherwise, Mighty is the 'Sonic' of this game.
We also got two other playable characters; robots named Bomb and Heavy.
The former explodes when he bumps into robots while the latter is, well, Heavy.
So one would imagine "Okay, with this large cast, I can pick whoever I want and play that team-up and enter any stage I want, right
?"Wrong, you would be my friend. The way Chaotix works is that everything is randomized. I'm serious with that; as while you have seven characters to play as, you can only pick one (the character you play as) and your partner is decided via mini game.
You have some input for which is your partner character, as you can press a button to move the crane down and in-able it to move left/right but that is it. The characters shuffle around at the bottom and after you select your character, that is it until you play the game again after beating a level.
Level selection is far more randomized though. After selecting your party, you head to the level select area but you don't just select a level, you have to jump into the selector then it goes all over the five zones, then it lands on one.
It isn't a problem (unless you land on Amazing Arena) but its important to point this out; the game flow of Chaotix is very different compared to past Sonic's. Stage selection and character selection being randomized goes a long way in changing how you go into the game. It makes every replay different and with five acts for the five zones, you have plenty of replay value.
Overall, if I sound like I have mixed thoughts on this......its because I really feel mixed on this game :l. The way you deal with levels, the design of them itself, and the team-up mechanics all are odd additions that, in contrast to Sonic CD where the Time Travel element really clicks with me, the new elements here don't always hit home to me sadly.
However.....I really love a good deal of this game.
Firstly, is the visuals. They continue the outlandish and trippy tone that CD created, leading to some really great looking stages.
Bright, colorful and perfectly matching the Sonic series in my mind
.Secondly, the special stages are great.
They are Mode-7 looking locations that have you moving left, right and jumping to collect X amount of Blue Spheres per round. The timer is the amount of rings you get in the normal stages, leading you to be pushed into collecting a lot of rings prior to entering these stages.
What makes them so fun is that they loop around and well, feel fair. You don't restart or die when you miss X amount of sphere's in a round, you just circle back again to get the ones you miss. The stages are wide and open, and with some tight controls, it makes them quite fun to complete.
You only have to get six Chaos Rings and you have 21 chances to enter the stages; its very fair and fun.
Edit: Psxphile pointed out to me that the specials stages aren't Mode-7 like at all, as they use the 32X part of the Genesis hardware to make literal 3D visuals. Thank you for the correction!
Lastly, is the killer soundtrack. We all heard Door into Summer thanks to the Generations remix....but where did it come from? THIS game!
This game has an amazing soundtrack and stands next to the prior classic games in stride.
Title Screen
Amazing Arena 1
Botanic Base
Marina Madness
Speed Slider
Techno Tower
Isolated Island
Final Boss
Partner Select
Special Stage
This music is really great and matches the surreal tone of the game quite nicely.
- - - -
NeoGaf Member Contributions!
You guys pointed out some great information I forgot to put in the OP, so here it is! You all rock and thank you for posting!
-I found this while searching for images for the OP and was surprised! The game has an unfinished character within the games coding that can crash the game
It controls like Tails and fly around when mashing the jump button, so its likely garbage data from when Sonic & Tails were originally supposed to be in the game.
-Psxphile clarified that the specials stages are NOT Mode 7 like, but literal 3D stages using 32X hardware to render them. Thank you for the clarification!
-Late in the thread, poster Haganeren shared some great Gifs he made for his review of the game, so thank you for sharing this! These are great gifs and I really appreciate you sharing them with us all!
Best part of the game.
Wrong direction
Full speed ! (With bad framerate from the gif... I'm still learning to do that...)
-The story between the US and EU versions changed a bit, so going to post something a fellow Gaffer pointed out. Thank you Supaidaman for pointing this out to me!
-Hasney pointed out that the final boss with Metal Sonic Kai was supposed to have more attacks/animations but was cut prior to the games launch. Thanks man for the information!
Wonder if it would have been better if they got the time they wanted for the game instead of being rushed out before the 32X died. I mean, some of the prototypes have cool ideas like Metal Sonic KAI
-If you played CD, you will love this little bonus. If you wait around for a minute, Metal Sonic attacks you with different attacks/animations. Thank Mr. Badger for the information!
- - - -
Overall, this is a game that while flawed, is enjoyable. Its a shame Sega never remastered this or put this part of a Sonic Collection. But, hopefully this year or latter, it will be. As I consider this to be a fun action platformer that while having some issue, is still worth playing.
. I agree, it sounds awesome and was one of my favorite stages of this game 
