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Proof of concept for Taxman-version of Sonic 3 & Knuckles

RetroDLC

Foundations of Burden
I would quite happily buy this on console and iOS if Sega choose to commission it... I would also buy Chaotix too, just for the hell of it. Surely a mobile release of this alone would earn back the development costs and a fair profit, along with the new Google and Amazon micro consoles for the Android release.
 

Pachael

Member
Oh yeah, make no mistake, its the japanese arm purposely not giving the western one much in the way of funding. The war between east and west didnt end when shit went multi-platform. Failing to even get something like PSO2 out in the west has got to be a big black mark in and of itself. Then you point to all the funded Chinese translated versions of stuff now, and its easy to believe Sega Japan would be happy if Sega West disappeared entirely.

This PoC sounds like proof enough that the mobile remasters didn't do as swell as they'd hopes which is a bummer :/
 

Tizoc

Member
There were sonic 1 and 2 remasters?

Some of the BEST remasters a game could get too.
They're on iOS and Android, and as the NVidia Shield can run Android games IIRC, that's one way to play the game with a controller.
 

I Wanna Be The Guy

U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
I really wish Sega would have just ported Sonic Mega Collection to PSP back in the day. Then we would already have a great portable version of 3&K.
 

Ty4on

Member
Best sonic

I also do NOT want to play the special levels with touch controls. I value my life too muh

Yeah :/

I got Sonic CD for free through Amazon's store, but I mostly use it to play music. The boss stage in Collision Chaos was impossible without knowing where right and left were. My left finger presses the wrong direction all the time because I can't feel them.
 
1) Touch controls. No.

2) We know this won't be coming out because SEGA will mash it into the ground before it gets any further out of the gate. Fan projects shouldn't be announced until they're done and available.

Edit: Please disregard I am a moron.
 

Rich!

Member
1) Touch controls. No.

2) We know this won't be coming out because SEGA will mash it into the ground before it gets any further out of the gate. Fan projects shouldn't be announced until they're done and available.

...

You do realize this is the guy who made and designed the official Sonic CD, 1 and 2 ports for Steam, PS3, IOS and Android? Furthermore, a guy who was hired by Sega purely on the strength of his homebrew work?

http://christianwhitehead.com/?page_id=23


Yeah, thought not. This isn't a "fan project", this dude is officially affiliated with Sega and his past three remakes were published as the official versions by Sega themselves.
 
1) Touch controls. No.

2) We know this won't be coming out because SEGA will mash it into the ground before it gets any further out of the gate. Fan projects shouldn't be announced until they're done and available.

1) 3 Sonic games already came out on touch devices and are perfectly playable.

2) These guys worked on those 3 Sonic games. As in, SEGA hired them to make them, based on the strengths of both the Retro Engine and their status in the Sonic community. Also, SEGA doesn't give a fuck about shutting down fan projects, else amazing shit like Sonic After The Sequel or Sonic 3 Complete would have been C&D'd.
 

Pie and Beans

Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
This PoC sounds like proof enough that the mobile remasters didn't do as swell as they'd hopes which is a bummer :/

Pretty sure they did pretty well being at the top of charts for a fair while. Probably could have done a console port or two to be wise. Things get even muddier when you have the 3DS Classics versus Retro Engine releases. Its just a sign of Sega just not having spare funds to give to these sorts of projects anymore. Theyd normally be fine covering the Yakuza translation costs, a Valkyria Chronicles here, Shining game there, Phantasy Star Portable or Online release translated, retro collection from Backbone or whoever as well. Now you get nothing at all, on the western side at least.

I really wish Sega would have just ported Sonic Mega Collection to PSP back in the day. Then we would already have a great portable version of 3&K.

Well I mean the PSP does have perfect Mega Drive emulation, and beyond that, also Mega CD and 32X so... yknow.
 
1) 3 Sonic games already came out on touch devices and are perfectly playable.

2) These guys worked on those 3 Sonic games. As in, SEGA hired them to make them, based on the strengths of both the Retro Engine and their status in the Sonic community. Also, SEGA doesn't give a fuck about shutting down fan projects, else amazing shit like Sonic After The Sequel or Sonic 3 Complete would have been C&D'd.

Eh, I have big thumbs, so the games never really functioned for me. And obviously I didn't know that. Whoops.
 

gelf

Member
1) 3 Sonic games already came out on touch devices and are perfectly playable.

2) These guys worked on those 3 Sonic games. As in, SEGA hired them to make them, based on the strengths of both the Retro Engine and their status in the Sonic community. Also, SEGA doesn't give a fuck about shutting down fan projects, else amazing shit like Sonic After The Sequel or Sonic 3 Complete would have been C&D'd.

I wonder why Sega left them alone and yet blocked Streets of Rage Remake. Mind you even thier behaviour with that was weird. SORR went through 5 versions before it got thier attention.
 

JordanKZ

Member
I remember leaving a review for Sonic 2 on Android, asking these guys to use immersive mode. I believe they then updated all their games to support it, which was an awesome gesture.

I'd buy this in a heartbeat, Sonic 2 on Android/iOS is basically the definitive version of the game.
 
Now just give me this on the PS4 and i'll be well happy. His version of sonic Cd and sonic 2 were great, i was bummed sonic 2 didn't see a console release.
 

Spaghetti

Member
sega need to find a way to get the taxman remasters of 1 & 2 onto consoles and pc, but i can completely understand why they haven't done it so far. i mean, how the hell do you market it when there are already versions of sonic 1 through & knuckles available?

do you sell it bluntly as "here's the REAL version you want, the old version we put out were just cheap and easy emulations", or offer some kind of upgrade or discount for the people who already own those games?
 

Soodanim

Gold Member
I don't consider any mobile version of a game definitive. This will need to come to more than a phone for me to care (and I own an OTG cable and Sonic 2/CD), but I'm glad he's at least working on it.

Sega. Do yourselves a favour and get the mobile ports on Steam. Christian won't mind doing it, and you'll sell a bundle by having versions that include some effort/improvements for sale.
 

liquidtmd

Banned
If its implied that theres legal issues with S&K, especially in terms of the music, then all it would take is a quick call from Sega to Christian to say - 'hey, heres the deal. S&K cant go ahead / cant go ahead yet because of X'

This making of a proof of concept says to me no call has taken place. Which implies two things:

- There is no legal reason
- Sega couldnt be arsed to relay 'dont bother' to the guy whose done solid work for them and undoubtedly made them money based on him nearly being a one man operation and the chart positioning on the IOS / Android store of his releases thus far
 

Oemenia

Banned
I'm going to ask outright but when are Taxman versions of Sonic 1 and 2 coming to consoles? I loved replaying Sonic CD on a large screen, playing on a phone would defeat the whole purpose of playing these classics but enhanced for the modern times.

His ports are love-letters to fans and its been really hard to not cave-in and play them on phones!
 

Soodanim

Gold Member
If its implied that theres legal issues with S&K, especially in terms of the music, then all it would take is a quick call from Sega to Christian to say - 'hey, heres the deal. S&K cant go ahead / cant go ahead yet because of X'

This making of a proof of concept says to me no call has taken place. Which implies two things:

- There is no legal reason
- Sega couldnt be arsed to relay 'dont bother' to the guy whose done solid work for them and undoubtedly made them money based on him nearly being a one man operation and the chart positioning on the IOS / Android store of his releases thus far
According to investigative videos and articles, there are mixed answers from people ranging from Sega staff to Jackson's friends/colleagues that say anything from Sega pulled the tracks Michael was known to be working on when scandals hit to Michael not liking the music he could make using the limited instrument set, so he said they can use the work but without putting his name to it.
 
What's so good about these? The music was great, do the mobile ports have remade soundtracks like this?

They are native and non-emulated ports of the original games that display in a real 16:9 aspect ratio. There are lots of small graphical enhancements made in these ports (too many small things to list) and they have revamped bonus stages. In Sonic 2, the 3D half-pipe stages are remade with real polygons and run at 60FPS, for example. Sonic 2 also added an additional beta level that was cut from the final game. I have actually not played the Sonic 1 and 2 iSO ports, but I am pretty sure they do not have remixed music. Overall, they are like deluxe versions of the Genesis originals.

I do own the Sonic CD port for iOS and PC, and the new additions make it worth owning. Sonic CD also has both US and Japanese soundtracks, which is a nice inclusion
 

Sciz

Member
I have actually not played the Sonic 1 and 2 iSO ports, but I am pretty sure they do not have remixed music.

The music in those two was remastered, and sounds much cleaner for it. Hard to tell the difference unless you do side by side comparisons though.

The music in this video is just a Tee Lopes remix, although everything he's done is amazing and well worth checking out.
 
I was just thinking about this the other day, give it to me.

All those people fussing about touch controls, I'm pretty sure all the Taxman games have had GamePad support, Sonic CD had it patched in, and Sonic 1 and 2 natively.

These need to be on consoles so badly, but I have a feeling they have a deal with Backbone Ent. over their previous "crap a ROM into a weak emulator and stick it up" releases that they can't break without it costing too much. Or maybe the people speaking up about Michael Jackson's involvement (and the recent discovery of "Hard Times") has caused the music to be a legal headache? (Though it was questionable how the only song from Sonic 3 in Generations was Angel Island).
 

The Boat

Member
They are native and non-emulated ports of the original games that display in a real 16:9 aspect ratio. There are lots of small graphical enhancements made in these ports (too many small things to list) and they have revamped bonus stages. In Sonic 2, the 3D half-pipe stages are remade with real polygons and run at 60FPS, for example. Sonic 2 also added an additional beta level that was cut from the final game. I have actually not played the Sonic 1 and 2 iSO ports, but I am pretty sure they do not have remixed music. Overall, they are like deluxe versions of the Genesis originals.

I do own the Sonic CD port for iOS and PC, and the new additions make it worth owning. Sonic CD also has both US and Japanese soundtracks, which is a nice inclusion
Ah cool, didn't know that. I have the Sonic CD port, don't like the game, but it does seem like a good port and the dual OST is most welcome, the Japanese one is brilliant.
 

SegaShack

Member
I wonder why Sega left them alone and yet blocked Streets of Rage Remake. Mind you even thier behaviour with that was weird. SORR went through 5 versions before it got thier attention.

It wasn't that they left them alone, the fan project I believe wasn't finished (for obvious reasons) after Sega hired them.

Similarly, they was a pretty decent Genesis DS emulator called Jenesis DS. Sure enough, Sega swooped up the creator of it to make Sonic Classic Collection for DS, and the Jenesis DS updates stopped after that.

If its implied that theres legal issues with S&K, especially in terms of the music, then all it would take is a quick call from Sega to Christian to say - 'hey, heres the deal. S&K cant go ahead / cant go ahead yet because of X'

This making of a proof of concept says to me no call has taken place. Which implies two things:

- There is no legal reason
- Sega couldnt be arsed to relay 'dont bother' to the guy whose done solid work for them and undoubtedly made them money based on him nearly being a one man operation and the chart positioning on the IOS / Android store of his releases thus far

It might not be as simple as this. The lawsuits like this don't always allow people to disclose what is going on to the public. It involves other composers, so most likely stems beyond just being the Jackson Estate. I believe it has something to do with royalties, but could be mistaken.
 

ash_ag

Member
Has it been addressed why the remasters of Sonic 1 and 2 aren't on Steam and consoles yet? I know that there is a version of the games in almost every platform, but I honestly think Christian Whitehead's remasters are pretty much definitive, and they should be the distributed versions nowadays.

Come on Sega. I need to play the games with this controller:
dpzI4io.jpg
 
I think you'd people would be surprised by the touch controls of the Sonic games on android, they'er probably the best touch controls I've ever used for anything. I'd still recommend a MOGA or something though.
 

MrBadger

Member
This is the most necessary remake for 3 reasons. Firstly, there's no good portable Sonic 3K. Classic Collection DS is all there is and that has painful audio mixing and unpleasantly skewered sprites. I always dread having to do a spin dash with headphones in under fear that I'll go death. Secondly, people need to understand that Sonic 3K is best played as one complete game, so it should be released on iOS as such. Thirdly, the barrel has to go. Without that, it'd make an excellent platformer a perfect platformer. I'd really like for this remaster to happen.

Also buttons are preferable but touch controls are fine for Sonic. All you need is the directional pad and the A button to control the whole game, and Sonic rarely has precision platforming.
 

Ferr986

Member
What's the difference between the Taxman ports and the original games ?

Native 16:9 (not streched), remastered soundtrack (same as original but with higher quality synths), some nice extras (Tails and Knuckles in Sonic 1 with some new paths in some levels, Hidden Palace playable in Sonic 2...)
 

sörine

Banned
Day one on my Shield. Ristar next please Taxman!

I wish Sega would give the Retro Engine Sonics another push on current consoles/Steam too. Sonic 1/2/3K/CD would probably do pretty well across PS4, Xbox One and Wii U. Maybe Vita and 3DS too if they wouldn't be too compromised.
 

djlr181

Member
This is the most necessary remake for 3 reasons. Firstly, there's no good portable Sonic 3K. Classic Collection DS is all there is and that has painful audio mixing and unpleasantly skewered sprites. I always dread having to do a spin dash with headphones in under fear that I'll go death. Secondly, people need to understand that Sonic 3K is best played as one complete game, so it should be released on iOS as such. Thirdly, the barrel has to go. Without that, it'd make an excellent platformer a perfect platformer. I'd really like for this remaster to happen.

Also buttons are preferable but touch controls are fine for Sonic. All you need is the directional pad and the A button to control the whole game, and Sonic rarely has precision platforming.

Didn't realize the DS port had major audio issues.

I don't think the barrel should be removed (feels like removing the guns from ET). However, maybe an additional method of traversing it could be added. Maybe you should be able to manipulate it with touch controls?
 
Didn't realize the DS port had major audio issues.

I don't think the barrel should be removed (feels like removing the guns from ET). However, maybe an additional method of traversing it could be added. Maybe you should be able to manipulate it with touch controls?

The only thing that was ever wrong with the barrel is that there is no indication of what exactly you are supposed to do with it. Add a graphic of the dpad above it or something and it would be fine.
 
I can't believe it's been 20 years.

The first time I ever played Sonic & Knuckles was at Toys R' Us about a month after it was released. Right across from it at another demo station was Donkey Kong Country, which I also played for the first time there. Little did I know that this singular memory would one day be my defining recollection of 1994.
 

Daingurse

Member
I prefer Sonic 2, but S3K is literally right behind it. Simply an incredible game with a godlike OST. Still waiting for Taxman Sonic 2 on a game console or Steam, but S3&K would simply be a no brainer too if it dropped. 20 years . . . maaan. I still remember getting Sonic and Knuckles quite vividly, I can remember the cashier taking the cartridge out of a drawer at fucking Funcoland. Could hardly even remember the name of that place, Jesus.
 

jaydogg691

Member
This plus Sony's PS3/4 controller support on Xperia Phones = all over my face.

I loved each these ports especially the Sonic CD port. That was the first time I played Sonic CD and being a classic Sonic fan it made me realize that I've missed out on such a great game and really took me back to the old days of Sonic. And this being a 20th anniversary of 3&K (Damn! It's been that long) I would snatch this game up on a heartbeat.

Please Sega! Take my money!
 

MrBadger

Member
Didn't realize the DS port had major audio issues.

I don't think the barrel should be removed (feels like removing the guns from ET). However, maybe an additional method of traversing it could be added. Maybe you should be able to manipulate it with touch controls?

I want to see Taxman do a smart thing with it that shows awareness that it's a bit of an in-joke in the Sonic fandom. Like how he fixed the spike pit in Sonic 2 and had it lead into Hidden Palace.

But it does really need fixing. If Sonic 3K's being reintroduced to a new generation. I know we have the internet now to check these things, but not everyone does.

 

Dachande

Member
I completely forgot these guys did Sonic 1 and 2 remasters on that amazing engine. What a waste that they didn't get released on consoles, urgh. They aren't games for touch controls at all. Get them on Steam at least, c'mon...
 
Sonic 3 is the best Sonic game, and one of the best games, period. The amount of content is insane, and it's one of the few games of its time that feels like a true epic. This game deserves a remaster.

I completely forgot these guys did Sonic 1 and 2 remasters on that amazing engine. What a waste that they didn't get released on consoles, urgh. They aren't games for touch controls at all. Get them on Steam at least, c'mon...

While I agree that no console versions is a shame, but the touch controls actually work really nicely.
 

gelf

Member
The barrel is fine, it doesn't need removing. Just add some kind of explanation that you need to press up and down to move it rather then jumping.
 

Zubz

Banned
I need this game... Or at least a Wii U/PS3 Port. To this day, S3&K is one of my favorite games, and I don't want it to miss out on a wonderful port like the other 3 Classic Sonics did. I mean, they can't add as much bonus content since this one essentially has everyone and everything, but that's because the game's good enough as-is!
 

RGamer2009

Neo Member
Campaign to #BringBackSonic3

Copypaste cause its faster

Ok, guys. Its time to make your voices heard. You have most likely seen this video, which shows off Sonic 3 & Knuckles working on mobile devices.

You may also recall that was a concept and isn't really happening.

Well it can still happen. We just need to let Sega know how much we want this.

Starting today, fans should post on Twitter @SEGA_OFFICIAL a message asking for a Sonic 3 & Knuckles mobile remaster with the hashtag #BringBackSonic3 to raise awareness on the Sonic classic that is usually ignored by Sega. If you do not have Twitter, post this all around the Internet via forums, blogs, comments, whatever.

Let it be ignored no longer. Sega, #BringBackSonic3!
 
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