Hey, so you guys probably know of Sonic Megamix, the popular fan-created game mod on the SEGA CD. Well, today it got an update! How do I know? I uploaded the video! Exclusive details, yo.
Like what you see? Good! Check out the forum thread (and relevant discussion) for more.
If you’ve been bummed lately by the download-only nature of Sonic the Hedgehog 4‘s release, Barry the Nomad has a pleasant surprise for you–a custom conversion of Genesis box art to make a slick companion to the other Genesis boxes on your shelf. Grab a copy of the required files to print out your own art and labels and get your arts and crafts on this Friday.
[via our Sega Network friends at The Nomad Junkyard]
This is a neat one. Forum member Neo Hazard made this way past cool mosaic of the classic Sonic title screen after two hours of work and over 495 individual gameplay screenshots from the original Sonic the Hedgehog for the Mega Drive:
Check out the full-sized image in the forum topic.
So, I was browsing NicoNicoDouga earlier today looking for some specific footage that I ultimately was not able to find. That’s OK, though.
What I did find was much more awesome.
NicoNico user まっくろくろいの has made a series of videos involving Sega hardware and puns, which, of course, require hardware modifications to fulfill. The Saturn mouse becomes…a mouse. Saturns attempt to fly. Sense fails to be made.
You can catch several more of these videos uploaded to YouTube here or, if you have a NicoNico account, can see the full set here.
For many players, the Special Stages of Sonic 1 can be particularly frustrating for a number of different reasons–rotation, steering, and jumping are the most common reasons listed. Forum member Mercury, best known for the Sonic Physics Guide and Sonic: The One Ring, examined the stages and realized that Special Stages don’t have the variable jump height present in the rest of the game. He investigated and found there was an unused routine for reducing Sonic’s jump height in the Special Stages within the code of the game. Using the power of trigonometry, he repaired and enabled the routine, leading to a fix that combines the X and Y speed using cos and sin to find how fast Sonic’s moving upward at the current angle in a Special Stage. It compares this combined speed with the jump release speed ($400) and if it’s greater, then it uses similar code to the normal jump to make Sonic move at $400 in the current angle. Simple.
You can read more about this fix and download a patched copy of the game at the Sonic Retro forums.
When browsing through the forums earlier, I noticed a new link in forum member Mercury‘s signature where he linked to a post on his blog reviewing several of the games presented at this year’s Sonic Amateur Games Expo. Among the games he gave feedback on, he praised one heavily in particular–Sonic Axiom, one of the later entries into the expo, having appeared on the second day of the event as opposed to on its premier; as a result, I–and assumedly others–ended up missing out on this little underrated gem. By his suggestion, I decided to give it a shot.
What I found after a few hours of play was an extremely solid fan game that, despite its issues, was graphically stunning (despite its re-use of existing Sonic level graphics), fun to play and–most importantly–complete. Or, well, as complete as it can get as a work in progress.
Featuring 5 fully playable levels, some pretty great level design, fantastic music choices ranging from remixes to original music, and a mix of familiar and innovative level tropes and gimmicks, Sonic Axiom does what few fan games seem to accomplish these days–pure, completely unadulterated fun, totally in the Sonic spirit.
The abundance of one-level demos in the history of the Sonic fan-gaming scene has proven to be both underwhelming and tiring over the years; Axiom delivers by offering the experience of a full game despite not having even reached completion yet! I felt that I could fully appreciate the game having been given more than a fair taste of what its creators had to offer. While there are a few things that hold the game back–the use of the outdated and rather wonky Sonic Worlds engine, the poor performance of some of the additional level elements, the natural performance and space hogging of MMF/Game Maker games–Sonic Axiom provides a Sonic experience that many of us haven’t seen in a long, long time.
Check out Axiom‘s SAGE booth this year here, where you can download a playable demo of the game.
Crossing London and heading out of Zone 1 with my newly aquired Oyster Card, I arrived at Shepards Bush for my second Summer of Sonic (I was there for last year’s event), and after a quick loop of the roundabout by the train station (for which I blame some terrible signage on the part of London’s travel authorities), I finally crossed into the main park and spotted the Pavilion for the first time – though honestly, the crowd was more of a pointer. =P
Game Gear was one of the largest portable systems ever released in the market, causing many people in the early ’90s to look like they grew a massive tumor in their leg.
All that size helped in enabling the system to run Nintendo 64 games (and also making it even more unwieldy!)
The above video showcases Evil Nod’s mod job on the console, lovingly called the N Gear 64, running a few N64 titles like Goldeneye, Resident Evil 2 and Mario Kart 64, as well as a few additional features, such as link cable support and TV Out support, which turns off the screen and speaker for TV play.
I know what you’re thinking; “The Game Gear’s six AA battery life was abysmal at best. What the hell is it with this now?”
Because of all the hardware packed into the console, there are no battery slots. However, the mod creator demonstrates using a Power Grip rechargeable battery pack for the console that doubles as a grip for the system… and adds even more girth to the already monstrous device.
While no step-by-step instruction is given on how to create your own, you can check out photos of the system’s construction here.
Every so often a hack of a Sonic game will come along where there’s just a minor change to gameplay mechanics, but a whole new, enjoyable game is made from the result: Sonic 1 Return to the Origin, Sonic 3D: No Flickies, Sonic 1: Bouncy Edition, etc. Then, friends, there are times when a minor change will make a game more awesome.
Captain Bozo and Ranger on the forums have done just that with Sonic 2 XL, a simple hack of Sonic 2 where the game’s standard rings are replaced with…onion rings. Hilarity ensues.
You can download Sonic 2 XL at its Sonic Retro wiki page or visit the hack’s thread on the forums for more information.
Admittedly, Ice Cap Zone is one of video game music’s most re-arranged and remixed tracks out there—OCRemix released an entire album’s worth of Ice Cap remixes, for goodness’ sake. However, the saturation of fans’ takes on the song does not in any way dilute how amazingly awesome Ice Cold Retro is. Written by Joshua Morse, the remix was composed for Obligatory Ice Level Day at TheSpeedGamers and has a wonderful electro-funk flavor to it that feels both fresh and right at home in the Sonic canon of music.
Download it now at OCRemix. You won’t be disappointed.
