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[OmegaDL50]

Let's hope this 2016 Anniversary game is a Hedgehog Engine title.

Considering how Sonic Generations looks on PC. It scales fantastically on PC hardware.

So a modern gen, Hedgehog Engine title (Unleashed and Generations) would be best decision to make this especially means we get more stuff like Unleashed Day Time levels and generally more of Generations.

I am probably asking to be disappointed when I know we probably won't get another Hedgehog Engine title.

 

[RK128]

The "Wii Team" was straight up Dimps. They worked on Handheld Lost World.

And also co-developed the PS2/Wii Versions of Unleashed (Day Levels). But Sonic Team worked on Secret Rings, Black Knight and Colors; that was the 'Colors/Wii Team'.

 

[Twilightzoney]

No, I had this confusion myself for a while but learned how Sonic Team makes games.

Since Sonic 06 and Secret Rings, we got two teams; HD Team and Wii Team. HD Team produced Sonic Unleashed and Generations, while Wii team produced Sonic & the Black Knight and Sonic Colors.

After Generations, they folded the studios into one unit and they started working together on projects. Sonic Team developed concepts/ideas for a Sonic title for all platforms while they pushed a head with most of the staff working on Lost World. After that released, they came back together to continue fully working on the multiplatform project (anniversary game) for 2016.

A smaller sector within Sonic Team worked on Sonic Runners under the request from SEGA Japan to release some mobile Sonic title.

Well looking at the files of colors And lost world suggests that it was the Wii team that made the game mostly but adapted the pipeline of the HD team. Colors was a halfbaked Hedgehog Engine.

Then they brought more elements if the engine in Lost world example the shaders and the HD teams model format. The downside To Lost World and the huge point to the hedgehog engine besides the lighting was the terrain streaming. To load in terrain real fast and efficient. But this is missing in Colors and Lost world. They have no streaming at all. So no terrain streaming or global illumination streaming.

Hopefully for the anniversary game They bring in real time shadows and global illumination for sonic and terrain. They've shown interest in doing this hopefully it comes through for the new game. Because that's what really takes the most time when making these types of levels. Rendering out gi can take days to do for sections of a level. But consoles couldn't handle real time. Hopeful the new consoles can to show some new graphical fidelity for sonic. Since unleashed is still a beautiful looking game.

I will say I loved your threads that you've made thanks they've been a great read.

Edit: also the Olympic games sing Sochi have been using a modified Hedgehog engine as well. Which is pretty cool.

 

[Blueblur1]

Sonic Generations was alright. I was still largely disappointed by it. The 2D Sonic levels were decent but not amazing. The 3D Sonic gameplay was already wearing its welcome for me so I wasn't exactly thrilled by it in Generations. It felt it was worse actually; 3D Sonic controls like a truck when he's not boosting and the game is set up to not allow boosting at certain grinding sections. I also felt that 'alternate' paths didn't really add much to the gameplay. And finally, the side missions were boring filler. I never completed most of them because they were so repetitive.

At the end of the day, it's not a bad game. But Generations could easily be improved upon in a multitude of ways. I'm tired of 3D Boost Sonic though. I hope whatever they're making is more akin to Sonic Adventure than Unleashed/Generations.

 

[TheDinoman]

I'm tired of 3D Boost Sonic though.

Don't worry, Sonic Team has the game just for you!

 

[Blueblur1]

Don't worry, Sonic Team has the game just for you!

That game is even worse.

 

[RK128]

Well looking at the files of colors And lost world suggests that it was the Wii team that made the game mostly but adapted the pipeline of the HD team. Colors was a halfbaked Hedgehog Engine.

Then they brought more elements if the engine in Lost world example the shaders and the HD teams model format. The downside To Lost World and the huge point to the hedgehog engine besides the lighting was the terrain streaming. To load in terrain real fast and efficient. But this is missing in Colors and Lost world. They have no streaming at all. So no terrain streaming or global illumination streaming.

Hopefully for the anniversary game They bring in real time shadows and global illumination for sonic and terrain. They've shown interest in doing this hopefully it comes through for the new game. Because that's what really takes the most time when making these types of levels. Rendering out gi can take days to do for sections of a level. But consoles couldn't handle real time. Hopeful the new consoles can to show some new graphical fidelity for sonic. Since unleashed is still a beautiful looking game.

I will say I loved your threads that you've made thanks they've been a great read.

Edit: also the Olympic games sing Sochi have been using a modified Hedgehog engine as well. Which is pretty cool.

Thank you for sharing that information ! Great to learn more about the tech side of game development. And I'm glad you've enjoyed my Sonic Threads . Had a blast making them !

Really nice seeing that the Olympic games since the first Wii U one (I think?) have been using the Hedgehog Engine; nice seeing it being put to good use!

 

[balladofwindfishes]

So many great little details in the game. Endless Mine being seemlessly implemented into City Escape Classic, Knuckle's grapes, the nod to the annoying pink water, the recreation of Chaos' reveal, the recreation of the opening of Sonic Adventure 2, wanted posters for Fang and missing person's posters for random obscure characters who haven't been around in awhile. Even abilities, where Classic Sonic can basically use every ability he had in the old games via badges. And many, many more references.

It really feels like a labor of love, and I'm not sure such a game will ever come out again. I hope one does, but it seems the game came at the right place and time.

 

[OfTheOverflow]

Totally agree with your retrospective, this game was amazing and it shows that with room to breathe and a solid development team to boot, that's how great Sonic games are made. Unfortunately, SEGA has remained wilfully ignorant to this and has lately just shit out the occasional Sonic without any forethought or respect.

I never played a whole bunch of Generations but from what I have on PC I really enjoyed.

 

[IronicSonic]

This retrospective was an excelent work of love and dedication. Congratulation RK. Ive never seen somethinh like this in GAF and I really enojoyed it a lot

Sonic Generation was a great game. Probably I never forget that final boss but all the stage were incredible fun and show how Sonic Team understood whats great within boost-Sonic gameplay

Still baffles me no current gen port. I hope Generation can make it in the Xbox BC program. Probably frameratw and IQ will improve

 

[RK128]

This retrospective was an excelent work of love and dedication. Congratulation RK. Ive never seen somethinh like this in GAF and I really enojoyed it a lot

Sonic Generation was a great game. Probably I never forget that final boss but all the stage were incredible fun and show how Sonic Team understood whats great within boost-Sonic gameplay

Still baffles me no current gen port. I hope Generation can make it in the Xbox BC program. Probably frameratw and IQ will improve

Thank you man . I love the Sonic series and I wanted to celebrate it in a big way......50+ threads later, I feel like I did the series justice XD!

I think others tried making retrospectives like I did here before, but I covered ALOT of games, so I can see way the amount of games I covered in 2 months might be impressive :').

Generations is a fantastic game that I hope gets a remaster containing the Unleashed Day Levels for current gen systems in the future. If we are not getting a Modern Sonic game for the anniversary, a port of Generations with locked 60FPS/1080p and the Unleashed Day levels would be awesome for us to get .

So many great little details in the game. Endless Mine being seemlessly implemented into City Escape Classic, Knuckle's grapes, the nod to the annoying pink water, the recreation of Chaos' reveal, the recreation of the opening of Sonic Adventure 2, wanted posters for Fang and missing person's posters for random obscure characters who haven't been around in awhile. Even abilities, where Classic Sonic can basically use every ability he had in the old games via badges. And many, many more references.

It really feels like a labor of love, and I'm not sure such a game will ever come out again. I hope one does, but it seems the game came at the right place and time.

My favorite touch is the cut-scenes you see when you complete two acts for each zone; they change completely if you clear the second act with one of the Sonic's. Classic Sonic's reaction to Knuckles and Rouge is priceless XD! Modern Sonic's reaction to Amy and Charmy is also gold too :').

Generations really was a labor of love on Sonic Teams part and it really was a game, as you said, that came out at he right place and time for the franchise .

Totally agree with your retrospective, this game was amazing and it shows that with room to breathe and a solid development team to boot, that's how great Sonic games are made. Unfortunately, SEGA has remained wilfully ignorant to this and has lately just shit out the occasional Sonic without any forethought or respect.

I never played a whole bunch of Generations but from what I have on PC I really enjoyed.

When you don't rush a studio and give them time to make the game they want to make, they will most of the time produce a quality product filled with love and care . That is what happened to Sonic Unleashed, Colors and Generations, leading to all three being some of my favorite Sonic games .

 

[Zomba13]

Just played a bunch. Still a great game. I really do love the 30 second game mode, where you compete with your friends list to see who can get the furthest into a stage in 30 seconds. Such a great mode that makes you hone your skills to get millimetres more out of the 30 seconds. Managed to finally actually get to the top of all my friends (minus Chemical Plant Act 1 where we tied because there is that little area with the speed shoes and if you go further it's actually backwards a bit so that seems to be the best I can do).

Still can't S rank Planet Wisp. I just don't like it. Too long and the last part (climbing in a circle around the thing then rocketing up to the goal ring) is boring.

 

[Peterc]

The transformations from 2d to 3d sonic games failed. The art was great, one of the best. But the music and the gameplay are really bad.

The fixes that needs to be done to make a great 3d sonic game:

- get good sonic music like the first 2d sonic games.
- I understand sonic is about running, but somehow it didn't feel to be a issue in the 2d sonic. You still got an adventure feeling like mario, donkey kong country. The 3d seems to be flying through the level. Maybe they need to look at mario galaxy with yoshi on speed, but with sonic feeling.


Thats why i think that they need to make a 3d sonic game with nintendo, to make the perfect 3d sonic game.


Still, I hope sonic will somerime be a big name again, the game deserved it to be

 

[RK128]

The transformations from 2d to 3d sonic games failed. The art was great, one of the best. But the music and the gameplay are really bad.

The fixes that needs to be done to make a great 3d sonic game:

- get good sonic music like the first 2d sonic games.
- I understand sonic is about running, but somehow it didn't feel to be a issue in the 2d sonic. You still got an adventure feeling like mario, donkey kong country. The 3d seems to be flying through the level. Maybe they need to look at mario galaxy with yoshi on speed, but with sonic feeling.


Thats why i think that they need to make a 3d sonic game with nintendo, to make the perfect 3d sonic game.


Still, I hope sonic will somerime be a big name again, the game deserved it to be

I can understand people not liking the Boost gameplay but not liking the MUSIC O_O!

......You DO realize that Generations has 1/3rd of the game focused on making Classic Sonic music, right? If you don't like that music, how can you want more Classic styled music, when its already in the game and you don't like it.

Sonic IS a big name in gaming and the series while flawed at times, is a ton of fun and rewarding .

Sorry you didn't enjoy the game but if you want a Nintendo-like Sonic game, give Lost World Wii U a shot.

 

[MisterSamMan]

Really awesome post OP! Generations is a great game and I'm going to redownload it on my PC now!

 

[RK128]

Really awesome post OP! Generations is a great game and I'm going to redownload it on my PC now!

Hope you have fun playing the game again !

 

[balladofwindfishes]

How can anyone who likes classic music hate the music in Generations

What other chance would we ever had gotten for a jazzy Vegas style remix of Casino Night Zone's theme (with a sick improve clarinet solo in the middle)? Sega doesn't even own that song

 

[scitek]

The Chemical Plant Zone Modern music is such trash. Way too slow compared to the original.

 

[RK128]

How can anyone who likes classic music hate the music in Generations

What other chance would we ever had gotten for a jazzy Vegas style remix of Casino Night Zone's theme (with a sick improve clarinet solo in the middle)? Sega doesn't even own that song

Exactly man. That post was.....really head scratching to be honest :l.

The Chemical Plant Zone Modern music is such trash. Way too slow compared to the original.

Guess I'm nuts because I love the Modern Remix . Not that fast, but it sounds sooo good .

 

[ThoughtsOfSpeaking]

The Unleashed speedrun you linked makes use of a glitch to go faster. I don't think anyone outside of incredibly talented speedrunners would play the game like that. :V

The drift tech is in both videos. Thats besides the point.

 

[Shifty]

The Thread title was originally supposed to be "Happy Birthday Sonic!" but I posted the thread before I finished typing the title X(. I asked a moderator to change it though, so I hope it goes into effect soon .

Honestly, I think 'Happy' works as-is. It's an effective single-word summation of this game in the context of the Sonic franchise and its long, sordid history.

 

[Linkstrikesback]

That game is even worse.

Sorry, but you forfeit your right to complain about games on a scale of good/bad when you ask for another adventure title.

 

[RK128]

Honestly, I think 'Happy' works as-is. It's an effective single-word summation of this game in the context of the Sonic franchise and its long, sordid history.

I think that is why the Moderators never changed it; thought it was a fitting enough sur-name .

 

[Blues1990]

No, I had this confusion myself for a while but learned how Sonic Team makes games.

Since Sonic 06 and Secret Rings, we got two teams; HD Team and Wii Team. HD Team produced Sonic Unleashed and Generations, while Wii team produced Sonic & the Black Knight and Sonic Colors.

After Generations, they folded the studios into one unit and they started working together on projects. Sonic Team developed concepts/ideas for a Sonic title for all platforms while they pushed a head with most of the staff working on Lost World. After that released, they came back together to continue fully working on the multiplatform project (anniversary game) for 2016.

A smaller sector within Sonic Team worked on Sonic Runners under the request from SEGA Japan to release some mobile Sonic title.

Huh. That actually explains quite a bit, & it definitely makes a lot more sense, resource-wise. Still, I wish them all the best with whatever they will produce for Sonic's 25th B-Day, and hopefully they will take the time needed to make it as memorable as Generations was.

 

[RK128]

Huh. That actually explains quite a bit, & it definitely makes a lot more sense, resource-wise. Still, I wish them all the best with whatever they will produce for Sonic's 25th B-Day, and hopefully they will take the time needed to make it as memorable as Generations was.

I think that this years game will be great .

2016 points toward being a great year for Sonic for a lot of reasons !
-Sonic Boom Fire & Ice getting pushed back enough to ensure it releases in good/great state
-The Olympic games are solid for both Wii U and 3DS
-The anniversary game having a very long development cycle and Sonic Team not being rushed in making it
-Social Media and SEGA having fun promoting the IP in cool ways (various anniversary events, letting fans make a Big the Cat 'joke' game, ect)
-Boom Season 2 launching this Fall and it hopefully being even better than Season 1

 

[chemicals]

They almost nailed it with this game. Could have been so great. It is a really good game, but I still can't understand why they can't just make something with the original sonic physics (Sonic 1, 2, 3, Knuckles, CD). Heck they should do a Megaman 9 and 10 move with Sonic and just start putting out new games with the old Genesis graphics.

I think I would weep.

 

[djtiesto]

Easily the best Sonic since 1994, the simple hub world and lack of storyline was extremely beneficial, imo. Even though some of the fanbase complain about the lack of that. Ignore those people

My biggest complaints with the game, aside from the real sloppy and glitchy final boss fight, were that there seemed to be a few too many 'city' levels - SA1's night city, SA2's San Francisco, 06's post-apocalyptic NYC, Unleashed's southern European city. I'd have wanted some more variety there... I wish we had Ice Cap zone for instance. I am still hoping for a Generations 2 with more levels coming back.

 

[Lucky Seven]

Great Sonic game. Even people who don't like Sonic liked it. Damn, this game is great.

 

[Ristifer]

I'm going to have to replay this a bit tonight. Even a lot of the challenges are awesome in this game.

 

[Tailzo]

Sorry for the bump, but I keep searching for the Sonic generations threads where it mentions the mods for the pc release. I really loved Sonic Generations, and I've tried some of the mods, but I want to try more Any ideas?

 

[Zomba13]

Sorry for the bump, but I keep searching for the Sonic generations threads where it mentions the mods for the pc release. I really loved Sonic Generations, and I've tried some of the mods, but I want to try more Any ideas?

You tried the Sonic Unleashed daytime levels fan port? Just rips the Sonic Unleashed daytime levels out and puts them in Generations and they function and run perfectly. Unsure about the legality and all that if you don't own Unleashed but I guess if there was any kind of issue there then morally it's the same as downloading a ROM of a game you already physically own.

http://www.moddb.com/mods/sonic-gen...nic-generations-unleashed-project-10-released

They are also working on a 2.0 version which brings over more stages than the 1.0 release. 1.0 mainly focusses on the main Daytime Act.

 

[Mabufu]

nvm.

 

[Mr Swine]

It always gets me when classic Sonic defeats Classic Eggman in his Death Egg Robot, he screams "What?! no! Sonic Saaaavvveeee ME!" While being kidnapped by Modern Eggman.

😂😂😂

 

[Saladinoo]

Never played this, hmm maybe I should actually give it a go!

So, is the 3ds version worth playing or no?

 

[Hitlersaurus Christ]

Never played this, hmm maybe I should actually give it a go!

So, is the 3ds version worth playing or no?

The 3DS game was made in less than 8 months and has terrible level design and later on a mandatory homing attack for classic sonic.

 

[Magnetic_North]

I love this game so much <33

It's visually stunning on PC and 60fps SO . GOOD .

As soon as i played as classic Sonic and the remix Chemical Plant zone music kicked in i had the biggest smile on my face it took me back to my childhood

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

I thought it was mediocre. 3D sections weren't amazing, though better then usual for 3D sonic. 2D sections were the best 2D sections since knuckles chaotix, though not as good as just playing the originals. Perhaps their best 3d game, I'd have to go back and replay heroes & adventure 2 to be sure.

Aesthetic still seems a bit too realistic to me. I think Sonic Team has only ever really come close to getting that right in Lost World since they moved to 3D.

 

[Stalk]

So, is the 3ds version worth playing or no?

If you can get it for like £5 (or the equiv in your local currency whatever) maybe. I have a soft spot for it because I know it's not very good but there's something about how glitchy and cheap it feels to me. It made for a good distraction.

 

[Tailzo]

I love this game so much <33

It's visually stunning on PC and 60fps SO . GOOD .

As soon as i played as classic Sonic and the remix Chemical Plant zone music kicked in i had the biggest smile on my face it took me back to my childhood

True, 60fps does a lot for this game. I am very happy that we got a pc release. I hope the new game will be 60fps for ps4, or get a pc release too.

You tried the Sonic Unleashed daytime levels fan port? Just rips the Sonic Unleashed daytime levels out and puts them in Generations and they function and run perfectly. Unsure about the legality and all that if you don't own Unleashed but I guess if there was any kind of issue there then morally it's the same as downloading a ROM of a game you already physically own.

http://www.moddb.com/mods/sonic-gen...nic-generations-unleashed-project-10-released

They are also working on a 2.0 version which brings over more stages than the 1.0 release. 1.0 mainly focusses on the main Daytime Act.

Yes, thank you for replying. That is the one I tried. I'll keep a look out for the update

 

[marmoka]

You tried the Sonic Unleashed daytime levels fan port? Just rips the Sonic Unleashed daytime levels out and puts them in Generations and they function and run perfectly. Unsure about the legality and all that if you don't own Unleashed but I guess if there was any kind of issue there then morally it's the same as downloading a ROM of a game you already physically own.

http://www.moddb.com/mods/sonic-gen...nic-generations-unleashed-project-10-released

They are also working on a 2.0 version which brings over more stages than the 1.0 release. 1.0 mainly focusses on the main Daytime Act.

Great to know that they are working on more stages. That mod is awesome!!

If I'm not wrong, they worked earlier adapting night stages to play with Classic Sonic, but it looked like the project was finally canceled: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEBItCl0BDU

I hope they show more of that new mod soon.

 

[Par Score]

4 pages in and no mention of the best damn piece of music in the game?

Generations is my favourite Sonic game, and I've played pretty much all of them as they came out.

S3&K would beat it if that had been a single release, but while it's easy to combine them today, and even easier to combine them in your memory, having them come out separately at the time really sucked.

 

[MrBadger]

Never played this, hmm maybe I should actually give it a go!

So, is the 3ds version worth playing or no?

I actually like it. The low budget is very obvious but there aren't any big gameplay-ruining flaws and it's pretty fun throughout. If it's worth anything, it's much better than Sonic 4. But you'll probably finish it very quickly.

 

[Kyzer]

I got this game in the bin time to fire it up in honor of his bday?

 

[Tailzo]

I got this game in the bin time to fire it up in honor of his bday?

Sure, it's a great game

Have fun!

 

[BocoDragon]

First Sonic game I loved since 1995.

It's funny because I remember when they announced it, it was the first time I internally said HELL NO, YOU AREN'T FOOLING ME.

I jumped off the Sonic Cycle at the exact moment the Sonic Cycle ceased to be a reality

It took me a few years to realize this game was good.....