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[G0523]

Saturn games are just hard to emulate I suppose, so they never bother with remasters of that.....though Panzer Dragoon Saga got ported to the PS2 and Xbox, so who knows.

WAT! When?! How?! Can I play it?! That'd be awesome to finally play this game without shelling out over $500 for it!

Traveller's Tales made a lot of great games; Toy Story 2 is regarded as one of the better movie-games of that era, Crash Twinsanity incomplete and all is regarded by many as one of the better post Naughty-Dog Crash games and Sonic R is beloved for its soundtrack. People liked them before the Lego games .

I didn't know TT did Crash Twinsanity. I just thought they did the first PS2 Crash game and that was it. Interesting to know that they got another shot at the series. And Sonic R? Uhh...that's okay. Lol.

Apparently TT also developed Super Monkey Ball Adventure. So Sega still liked them back in the PS2 era as well. Too bad that game wasn't very good either.

 

[Synth]

WAT! When?! How?! Can I play it?! That'd be awesome to finally play this game without shelling out over $500 for it!.

The "Saga" part shouldn't be there.

Sorry

 

[A Black Falcon]

I covered my thoughts on Sonic 3D Blast recently in my Genesis game opinion summaries thread, and I'm on the side that actually likes this game. It isn't quite as great as the main-series Sonic platformers on the Genesis, but it is a good game that I definitely enjoyed playing. My main complaint would be that the game is too slow-paced to not have saving, but they finally fixed that in the PC port. Otherwise, it's a good game. It's fun to play, the levels are mostly well designed, it has decent variety, I like the challenge of finding all the flickies, etc.

 

[G0523]

The "Saga" part shouldn't be there.

Sorry

Aww. I knew about the first game being available on Xbox through Panzer Dragoon Orta so I really got my hopes up for Saga. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[Merrydeath]

It was a alright game to me. I still have it for my Saturn. I love the special stage though and its music. I was upset of the lack of Super sonic in the game after collecting the chaos emblems

 

[I am Christina Aguilera]

This is probably a seriously unpopular opinion, but I rented 3D Blast for Genesis on one or two occasions, and owned Sonic Labyrinth for Game Gear, and I always found Labyrinth the more enjoyable isometric Sonic game. Slightly more straightforward game mechanics, maybe fewer unexpected hits from speeding around (or at least lighter punishment for it)? Something about 3D Blast just never really clicked and always felt "off" to me.

 

[HueyFreeman]

Man you make fucking awesome threads, RK. I'm really enjoying your sonic series

 

[marmoka]

This game is quite underrated. Is not as good as the previous games, but it's not bad either.

I play this game from time to time. And still enjoy. In my opinion, the genesis version of this game has the most epic soundtrack in Sonic games ever.

 

[Mabufu]

I enjoyed the hell out of this game as a kid. Yeah, isometric and slippery controls, but it looked great, OST was amazing, and level design was amazing too.

And that moment when you realize you lost one flicky somewhere and you backtrack all the level and have more time to enjoy the OST (and more chances to die)... I love that so much.

 

[RK128]

Man you make fucking awesome threads, RK. I'm really enjoying your sonic series

Thank you ! A lot more is coming, so hope you look forward to it .

This game is quite underrated. Is not as good as the previous games, but it's not bad either.

I play this game from time to time. And still enjoy. In my opinion, the genesis version of this game has the most epic soundtrack in Sonic games ever.

I agree with you on the Genesis soundtrack; that sounds great and a lot of the themes like Green Grove Act 1 and Diamond Dust Act 1 are really iconic .

 

[Piccoro]

I liked Sonic 3D on the Megadrive and I prefer the Megadrive soundtrack. (Although the Richard Jacques tracks are also good.)

And I still remember the stage select code! You had to input BARRACUDA in the title screen. (Genesis controller buttons B A Right Right A C Up Down A)

 

[RK128]

I liked Sonic 3D on the Megadrive and I prefer the Megadrive soundtrack. (Although the Richard Jacques tracks are also good.)

And I still remember the stage select code! You had to input BARRACUDA in the title screen. (Genesis controller buttons B A Right Right A C Up Down A)

Believe me, I know that code XD! The version I played (Mega Collection GC version) has no save system, so used that to play through the game in three days. Its like Travelers Tales knew that "Hey, we didn't have enough space for save states so.....use this level select code instead!" or something .

Still, thank you for sharing that code with us all and I'm happy you enjoyed the game buddy !

 

[Efejota]

And here I though that company simply disappeared. It's a shame they dropped their old logo. It was much more iconic.

 

[cireza]

Great thread. This game was very impressive on Genesis. Incredible mastery of the color palette of the console to achieve those graphics.

Special stages are also very pretty, and there even is a short movie when booting the game. This was very impressive.

Even if the game is not about speed, it is still one of my favorite platformers on Genesis. I really like all the exploration and secrets.

I don't like the Saturn version mainly because I don't like Richard Jacques' work. Never liked his music. Jun Senoue really has Sonic in him. Genesis OST is fantastic.

 

[Crayolan]

I played through this when I was going through the classic sonic trilogy a few years back since I was playing the Mega Collection on Gamecube and this was included in the collection. It was just average, nothing special but not spectacularly bad like a lot of people seem to think it is.

The mega collection had the genesis version so I only know of that soundtrack but it's great as is; Panic Puppet Act 1 is my favorite. The special stages do look to be much better on the Saturn version but I appreciate the Genesis stages being piss easy so there's pretty much no chance of missing a Chaos Emerald.

 

[celsowmbr]

I love this game, was very impressive for me when I played it for the very first time !

I remember accessing the "stage select screen" when I changed the voltage of the AC adapter of my brazilian mega drive 3 (110V TO 220V).

A friend of mine simply "hit" the cartridge on the sega logo to enter on the stage select screen, exactly like this guy did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M09oJusoKpI

There is a special hack version of Sonic 3D Blast called "Sonic 3D: No Flickies":
http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_3D:_No_Flickies

 

[Mabufu]

There is a special hack version of Sonic 3D Blast called "Sonic 3D: No Flickies":
http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_3D:_No_Flickies

Which is a blasfemy, but yes, it exists.

 

[DISSESHOWEDO]

Loved the game, when it released on the Mega Drive! Quite short and there were no chaos emerald powers, but still enjoyed it and replayed it many times!

At first it was hard to get used to the controls but once they click in, you start to do amazing stuff!

 

[kinn]

Loving your Sonic threads RK. Keep em coming!

Never bothered with 3d blast. Kind of tempted to now.

Have you covered, or will be covering sonic the fighters, segasonic the arcade game, sonic Jam... And for shits and giggles, the GBA port of 1?

 

[marmoka]

I agree with you on the Genesis soundtrack; that sounds great and a lot of the themes like Green Grove Act 1 and Diamond Dust Act 1 are really iconic .

I always considered Gene Gadget's OST epic as hell. I smile everytime I hear it.

 

[RK128]

Loving your Sonic threads RK. Keep em coming!

Never bothered with 3d blast. Kind of tempted to now.

Have you covered, or will be covering sonic the fighters, segasonic the arcade game, sonic Jam... And for shits and giggles, the GBA port of 1?

Sonic the Fighters I will cover (if you vote for it in the Twitter Poll I have, I might cover it sooner then I expected XD!) for sure!

Segasonic the Hedgehog I have no idea how to play, so that might not happen :l. Will talk about it either in the Sonic the Fighters or Sonic Jam threads though.

Sonic Jam I will be covering for sure and that will be the 'cap off' to the classic era for the blue blur .

For the GBA Port of Sonic 1, why not? How doesn't love playing shitty games XD?

For reference, these are the games I covered thus far:
Classic/Saturn: Sonic 1, 2, 3&K, CD, Knuckles Chaotix, Sonic R, Mean Bean Machine, 3D Blast, (by this weekend) Spinball
Dreamcast: Adventure 2, Heroes, Riders
Modern: 06, Unleashed, Black Knight, Colors, Zero Gravity

I always considered Gene Gadget's OST epic as hell. I smile everytime I hear it.

I completely agree, sets such a great tone that 'This is IT man!' for the final series of levels. Really great track and could fit like a glove for any Robotnik base in the series.

 

[Shadow Hog]

Underrated game. Not great, but hell, I still love it. Very fond memories of clearing the PC version of the game within two days of getting it for Christmas.

Also really bad boxart:

Seriously, what is with that head. Worse is how the European Sonic the Comic started using it as a reference for Sonic when viewed from the front (well, Mick McMahon did, anyway):

Saturn games are just hard to emulate I suppose, so they never bother with remasters of that.....though Paznern Dragoon Saga got ported to the PS2 and Xbox, so who knows.

No it didn't. Still Saturn-exclusive, sadly. The first Panzer Dragoon did, but that's mostly because there was a PC version to work off of.

 

[RK128]

Underrated game. Not great, but hell, I still love it. Very fond memories of clearing the PC version of the game within two days of getting it for Christmas.

Also really bad boxart


Seriously, what is with that head. Worse is how the European Sonic the Comic started using it as a reference for Sonic when viewed from the front (well, Mick McMahon did, anyway):

No it didn't. Still Saturn-exclusive, sadly. The first Panzer Dragoon did, but that's mostly because there was a PC version to work off of.

Thank you for the correction on that Panzer Dragoon game. Sorry for that mistake everyone .

But note the reason why I didn't use a box art for this game; the Saturn one bites and I thought the title screen did a better job showing off the game

 

[Ferr986]

Underrated game. Not great, but hell, I still love it. Very fond memories of clearing the PC version of the game within two days of getting it for Christmas.

Also really bad boxart:



Seriously, what is with that head. Worse is how the European Sonic the Comic started using it as a reference for Sonic when viewed from the front (well, Mick McMahon did, anyway):



No it didn't. Still Saturn-exclusive, sadly. The first Panzer Dragoon did, but that's mostly because there was a PC version to work off of.

Once again, JP version had the better cover (artwork done by Uekawa from Sonic Adventure).

I think game released later than Sonic Adventure in Japan? or atleast really close!

I didn't like the game very much, but looked very good for a Mega Drive.

 

[capylikesgames]

Most people I've seen reflect on this game don't seem to have much good to say on it, but I honestly have good memories of playing the Genesis version. One thing that always stood out to me is that the visuals have that Mario RPG feel, where they're clearly early 3D, but still manage to have a bit of charm to them. Thanks for the thread! This game deserves a little more love, and you've definitely delivered. I should probably revisit it sometime; might go for the Saturn version, since I've yet to experience it.

By the way, the Toy Story game was alright. It's nothing special, and it has its flaws. I still had fun with it, though. Not sure if I could recommend it, but I wouldn't discourage those who want to give it a look.

 

[Teknoman]

I still think the Saturn version OST tops the Genesis. Not just because CD sound either, the themes are just better overall.

On a side note, Sol Deace OST on Genesis is better than Feace on Sega CD.

 

[Shadow Hog]

But note the reason why I didn't use a box art for this game; the Saturn one bites and I thought the title screen did a better job showing off the game

To clarify, the box art I posted was the European version. And it's the same across all (physical) versions of the game; Mega Drive, Saturn and PC.

The US box arts aren't that bad, actually. I'm rather fond of the US Saturn box art. And the Japanese box art (only the Saturn version, because that's all they got - after Sonic Adventure had come out there, no less) is spiffy too, featuring some good Yuji Uekawa work.

 

[Rapscallion]

Did it actually not receive an official release outside of Japan?

I first came across it at the basement level arcade of Hamleys back in the day (London, UK). I'm pretty confident that I encountered it at least once more within London's Trocadero at some point too (either in Funland or SegaWorld).

EDIT: A quick Google search tells me that the basement level arcade of Hamleys was actually named Metropolis, and later was renamed SegaWorld also... so I guess it was just a case of the arcade being available at SegaWorld locations, maybe.

Apparently I'm wrong. Maybe it was confined to Sega owned/sponsored arcades? I know there were a lot of them in the 90s. I can't this arcade cabinet imagine it was easy to come by in North America.

I've actually been doing some research into the "SegaWorlds" in my spare time. I'm fascinated by these mostly defunct pseudo-Sega amusement parks from the 90s. They seem like most of them were just large arcades, with a few in Europe and Japan having actual rides and park specific attractions.

 

[kinn]

Sonic the Fighters I will cover (if you vote for it in the Twitter Poll I have, I might cover it sooner then I expected XD!) for sure!

Segasonic the Hedgehog I have no idea how to play, so that might not happen :l. Will talk about it either in the Sonic the Fighters or Sonic Jam threads though.

Sonic Jam I will be covering for sure and that will be the 'cap off' to the classic era for the blue blur .

For the GBA Port of Sonic 1, why not? How doesn't love playing shitty games XD?

For reference, these are the games I covered thus far:
Classic/Saturn: Sonic 1, 2, 3&K, CD, Knuckles Chaotix, Sonic R, Mean Bean Machine, 3D Blast, (by this weekend) Spinball
Dreamcast: Adventure 2, Heroes, Riders
Modern: 06, Unleashed, Black Knight, Colors, Zero Gravity



I completely agree, sets such a great tone that 'This is IT man!' for the final series of levels. Really great track and could fit like a glove for any Robotnik base in the series.

Voted for Sonic Drift games! Forgot about them. Think I read somewhere that 1 was pants but 2 was good.

As for Sonic arcade...guess the only option is emulation. With the Steam controller it might be playable.(or a trackball)

 

[RK128]

Voted for Sonic Drift games! Forgot about them. Think I read somewhere that 1 was pants but 2 was good.

As for Sonic arcade...guess the only option is emulation. With the Steam controller it might be playable.(or a trackball)

Don't have a Steam Controller and not enough of a PC gamer to warrent getting one :l. Will still cover the game, but it won't be nearly as indepth as my other ones (might just lump that with Sonic Jam when I get to it).

But thank you for voting ! The way its going to work is that I will cover the games in the order of the winner-to-loser. So if Sonic the Fighters wins, I will cover that first then the second place/tied place comes second, and lastly the 'loser' will be covered last.

 

[Rapscallion]

I voted Triple Trouble, which is losing.

Trying to save you the burden of playing Sonic 1 and 2 MS/GG. Those games are baaaaddddd and unnecessarily difficult.

 

[Ferr986]

Voted for Sonic Drift games! Forgot about them. Think I read somewhere that 1 was pants but 2 was good.

As for Sonic arcade...guess the only option is emulation. With the Steam controller it might be playable.(or a trackball)

I had 2 as a kid (1 never launched here) and I absolutely loved it. But maybe because well.... I was a kid lol

Trying to save you the burden of playing Sonic 1 and 2 MS/GG. Those games are baaaaddddd and unnecessarily difficult.

wut? Sonic 1 SMS is an awesome platformer, and it's not that hard. Sonic 2 is harder yeah, and playing the SMS version is a must. I think it's good too, just not as good as Sonic 1.

 

[Rapscallion]

I had 2 as a kid (1 never launched here) and I absolutely loved it. But maybe because well.... I was a kid lol




wut? Sonic 1 SMS is an awesome platformer, and it's not that hard. Sonic 2 is harder yeah, and playing the SMS version is a must. I think it's good too, just not as good as Sonic 1.

You're right, the unnecessarily difficult applies more to 2 than 1. Sonic 1 MS, I just could never get on board with. It's probably because I played it years after the Genesis games and even other GG games and I probably harshly compare it to the original title. It's been years since I've tried to actually sit down and finish it. In comparison to Chaos and Triple Trouble, 1 and 2 are definitely the weaker of the bunch.

This piece of crap is another story:

 

[RK128]

I voted Triple Trouble, which is losing.

Trying to save you the burden of playing Sonic 1 and 2 MS/GG. Those games are baaaaddddd and unnecessarily difficult.

I'm going to cover all the games I put in that voting list regardless if the win or lose, just that what wins/lose determines which comes after Sonic Spinball (which I'm making the thread on that game on Sunday).

Master System Sonic 1 and 2 are different, hard games.....but I always wanted to play them .

 

[Daingurse]

As a kid playing this on Genesis, I really couldn't stand this game.

 

[spunodi]

I found out the barracuda cheat much later on. I always got the level select by knocking the cartridge.

I think I saw it on Sonic Retro that this was because to handle exceptions it went straight there but as a kid I thought I was magic.

 

[MaverickHunterAsh]

I legitimately love the Saturn version of this game. It's certainly flawed, yeah, but it's still a great deal of fun and the soundtrack is absolutely killer.

 

[RK128]

I legitimately love the Saturn version of this game. It's certainly flawed, yeah, but it's still a great deal of fun and the soundtrack is absolutely killer.

Glad you enjoyed your time with the game ! The Saturn version has an amazing score and while it doesn't always fit the game, it adds so much to the atmosphere and changing the game into something very different compared to the Genesis version.

The Genesis version is a fun take on Sonic in a new way while the Saturn version is an atmospheric take on the Sonic series.

 

[MikeMyers]

Saturn version w/ NiGHTS pad is the best way to go about it IMO.

No where near as good as 1-3 but overall I still kinda dug it.

 

[RK128]

Saturn version w/ NiGHTS pad is the best way to go about it IMO.

No where near as good as 1-3 but overall I still kinda dug it.

Heard that using analog control for the game makes it feel better to play .

It is a fun game that despite its flaws, still stands as one of the better Sonic games on the market . The presentation, music, level design and most of the time fun gameplay help the game become a really fun time.

 

[MaverickHunterAsh]

Glad you enjoyed your time with the game ! The Saturn version has an amazing score and while it doesn't always fit the game, it adds so much to the atmosphere and changing the game into something very different compared to the Genesis version.

The Genesis version is a fun take on Sonic in a new way while the Saturn version is an atmospheric take on the Sonic series.

True, the Saturn version definitely emphasizes atmosphere! What songs wouldn't you say fit the stages they play in, though? I'm going through the whole soundtrack in my head right now, and the only songs I can maybe see not totally fitting their stages are the Gene Gadget themes, but even those are pretty fairly appropriate. Curious to hear your thoughts on this!

 

[celsowmbr]

Oh yeah and the Generations mod, Rusty Ruin:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7bOyE8Sj5Ik

 

[A Black Falcon]

Heard that using analog control for the game makes it feel better to play .

You can use the analog stick on the 3d controller, but control isn't precisely analog -- you still have only one movement speed, so there isn't analog speed control, and I think you have the same eight movement directions too, if I remember right. It is a nice option, but it's not full analog controls.

 

[IronicSonic]

Without that pinball stage, is a solid 8

I really like this game

 

[RK128]

True, the Saturn version definitely emphasizes atmosphere! What songs wouldn't you say fit the stages they play in, though? I'm going through the whole soundtrack in my head right now, and the only songs I can maybe see not totally fitting their stages are the Gene Gadget themes, but even those are pretty fairly appropriate. Curious to hear your thoughts on this!

Mmm......I guess Green Grove is the one part of the game where the music doesn't match. Unlike the Genesis version which screams "First Sonic Zone!", the Saturn version of the track is great....but doesn't really match the stage. To be fair though, the updated visuals match the more 'earthy' tone that they are getting across with the track, so it might just be me .

I guess Volcano Valley could fit this too, same with Spring Stadium Act 2, but that is only because I personally prefer the Genesis versions of both stages themes. Volcano Valley is setting this 'Epic location' tone and it matches, but the Genesis version, like Green Grove, matches the 'Sonic' tone that I hear when entering a zone. Like my thoughts on Green Grove, I feel its a really great track (have Act 1 of Volcano Valley on my iPod for crying out loud XD!). Spring Stadium Act 2 is honestly just annoying, but it does fit the idea of being stuck in this chaotic place (though I really don't like that stage sadly ).

 

[kinn]

Don't have a Steam Controller and not enough of a PC gamer to warrent getting one :l. Will still cover the game, but it won't be nearly as indepth as my other ones (might just lump that with Sonic Jam when I get to it).

But thank you for voting ! The way its going to work is that I will cover the games in the order of the winner-to-loser. So if Sonic the Fighters wins, I will cover that first then the second place/tied place comes second, and lastly the 'loser' will be covered last.

That sounds great mate. I appreciate the effort you put into these threads. Looking forward to the MS\GG games on the list also. Often heard they were really good and even better than the MD equivalents (to some people), and were really different in terms of levels etc.

I had 2 as a kid (1 never launched here) and I absolutely loved it. But maybe because well.... I was a kid lol




wut? Sonic 1 SMS is an awesome platformer, and it's not that hard. Sonic 2 is harder yeah, and playing the SMS version is a must. I think it's good too, just not as good as Sonic 1.

Drift 2 always looked really good graphically to me. Was it on just GG or SMS also?
Was sonic 1 SMS the same as the GG Version? I remeber playing that.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Was sonic 1 SMS the same as the GG Version? I remeber playing that.

They are generally the same, yeah. I think the only major difference was that Green Hill Zone in the GG version, due to the smaller screen, had stop signs telling Sonic where to stop to avoid running into spike pits?

As for Sonic Drift 2, it's only been officially released for the GG and on the 3DS VC, although fans have ported it to the MS.

 

[RK128]

That sounds great mate. I appreciate the effort you put into these threads. Looking forward to the MS\GG games on the list also. Often heard they were really good and even better than the MD equivalents (to some people), and were really different in terms of levels etc.

Drift 2 always looked really good graphically to me. Was it on just GG or SMS also?
Was sonic 1 SMS the same as the GG Version? I remeber playing that.

Thank you buddy ! Love the Sonic series and want to do a great job covering the series for the anniversary. Grew up with these, so want to give the series the respect it deserves .

Drift games were Game Gear only AND released only in Japan. We got them over for the first time with Adventure DX on the GameCube and latter, Mega Collection Plus for PS2 & Gems Collection on PS2(EU)/GC(NA).

 

[atbigelow]

I loved the pre-rendered graphics in this game, although you can tell they had typical issues (for the time) overlaying sprites and tiles.

Saturn version also looks like they didn't have the original assets in places so had to filter them.

 

[RK128]

I loved the pre-rendered graphics in this game, although you can tell they had typical issues (for the time) overlaying sprites and tiles.

Saturn version also looks like they didn't have the original assets in places so had to filter them.

Considering Sega likely produced the assets for the Genesis version (considering how Sonic-like they were), them losing it and TT making new ones for the Saturn version doesn't surprise me.

The visuals do look really impressive for the Genesis for sure though !

It even looks great on the Saturn with the more realistic-assets, some little details (moles digging into holes in Green Grove) and added effects (Fog and Rain in Rustic Ruins).