Monthly Archives

August 2011

Game News

Gamescom 2011 Superpost: Sonic Generations, Mario and Sonic 2012

Of course we didn’t forget about Gamescom currently going on in Germany, sporting new demos for all three versions of Sonic Generations as well as a new demo for Mario and Sonic’s latest (friendly) battle to the death.

Courtesy of forum member TimmiT, we have a few more details about changes in the games along with extra gameplay videos including a full run of Modern Sonic’s City Escape. With all the tasty morsels of media beginning to spill, we advise not watching the videos if you want to keep the gameplay unspoiled.

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Game News

Generations 3DS Brings Mushroom Hill, Reminder It Still Exists

With all the hullabaloo about Chemical Plant, Seaside Hill, Spagonia’s Rooftop Run and yet another return of Sonic 2’s Giant Robotnik mecha, it’s understandable that the hype levels for the console version of Sonic Generations are slowly inching toward critical levels.

But then there’s the forgotten black sheep, the 3DS version, pining for attention after a mostly dud performance and reception at this year’s E3. But as a reminder that it’s still alive and kicking and is begging for a home this November, Sega has revealed that 3DS owners will forgo scaling Sky Sanctuary’s heavenly heights in favor of stumping through Mushroom Hill’s seasonal segues.

In this case, Classic Sonic will run through the fungi forest in its Spring time prime while Modern Sonic tackles the level in its waning Autumn form, including an on-rail grinding section and giant flower propellers.

Check out the gallery for full shots of mushroom bouncing goodness.

[Via Sonic Stadium]

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First Gameplay Footage of Chemical Plant, City Escape

You waited patiently enough and, as is the nature of online games reporting, it’s just not good enough to wait until the game is out to absorb every detail of it. So, to feed your insatiable hunger for all things Sonic Generations, we bring you this video courtesy of German website Gameswelt.

Thanks to a tip from forum member TimmiT, we get our first look (and listen!) to both the classic and modern version of Chemical Plant and City Escape. Let me tell you, Chemical Plant has never looked better–or worse, if you approach it from a pollution-generating plant. The modern version, which looks to be Chemical Plant in the middle of a critical meltdown, has quite a few references to Sonic Unleashed‘s Eggmanland in look.

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The Hard-To-Please Old Fans According To Iizuka

It’s been slow, so why not.

Takashi Iizuka, the long time target for everything older fans perceive wrong with the series, sat down for an interview with Official Nintendo Magazine to talk up the 3DS version of Sonic Generations. He dropped that the fans of the old Mega Drive games are very much hard to please. He hopes that Sonic Generations will fix that.

“Our team are always trying to present new gameplay innovations so it’s hard to please fans who like the gameplay from the older games,” said Iizuka.

“However, we have included the older gameplay as part of Sonic’s 20th Anniversary, so we think the fans of the older games will enjoy it [Generations] as well. We are also looking into continuing the Sonic 4 series which was released on WiiWare, and we’ll keep developing titles so more fans will enjoy the games.”

Easy on the Sonic 4: Episode 2 comments. Lord knows the fire wave it will bring with it will be enough further down the road.

It may not be necessary to keep trying to please the older fan base by trying to recreate a 1:1 variant of the Mega Drive games in a 2.5D environment, as some of the demands (and believe us when we say we are certainly no strangers to seeing some of these on this very site) border the point of just rom-hacking Sonic 1 or 2 and releasing games in that manner.

At the same time, trying to shoe horn in mechanics such as the Werehog, swords, angsty characters with guns, or even shoddily implemented team-based game play isn’t necessarily the way to go. When thinking of “gameplay innovations”, as they call it, the best strategy is to see what can work with the base gameplay instead of throwing darts at post-it notes on the wall and going with it. Knuckles taking the Werehog’s place while keeping similar play style and calling it Sonic and Knuckles 2? Bank.

If Sonic Colors was anything to go by, just release a game that’s charming and genuinely fun to play and everyone will be happy. You could even argue that the formula was within reach as early as 2002.

[Image Credit: Cyrus Parker]