The Hacking Contest for this year has concluded, and the results are in! Spanner a.k.a. SOTI has provided a write up on the forums for this year’s winners as well as some general thoughts on this year’s contest overall. You can read more information on the results on the Retro forums here. You can also hear reactions from the contest judges and see the winners in action on the Results Show hosted by MegaGWolf here. Hit the jump to see the winners for all the trophies of this year chosen by both contest judges and community members.
Hidden Palace Trophy
1st Place
Sonic: Scorched Quest (SHC’16 pre-final) by Team Painto
Wood Zone trophy
2nd Place
Sonic: Virtual Adventure (SHC 2016 Demo) by Ladego Team
HONOURABLE MENTION: Sonic 2 ReMastered by MrCat (very split decision with this trophy)
Dust Hill Trophy
3rd Place
Untitled Sonic 1 Hack by jubbalub
Windy Valley
SEGA Channel Retro: Windy Valley Mod for SADX, Featuring CorvidDude
The live show is already over, but you can check out the archived stream above as well as more content below!
This week’s live show on SEGA Channel Retro is a tour through the Windy Valley Beta Mod that was released recently for Sonic Adventure DX. We’ll also have CorvidDude, the author of the mod bringing his insight on restoring the level from the AutoDemo.
If you want to check out the mod for yourself, you can hop over to CorvidDude’s YouTube channel and check the links in the description of this video.
I’m joined by Overlord, GeneHF and OverlyEquippedin our little venture as we also check out the latest Sonic title, Sonic Jump Fever as well as catch up with Sonic Dash with Andronic. Also say hello to me as I try to roll eggs with Billy Hatcher in SEGA Superstars. Finally I take a blind look at Atlus and ACE Team’s latest offering, Abyss Odyssey.
Sonic Adventure DX: Windy Valley Restoration Mod with CorvidDude [Twitch] [YouTube]
Sonic Jump Fever, Sonic Dash, SEGA Superstars [Twitch]
Abyss Odyssey [Twitch] [YouTube]
Windy Valley Beta Restoration Released for Sonic Adventure DX PC (2004)
Back in 1998, our first glimpse of Sonic Adventure showed what would be the first true 3D experience with Sonic and friends. After the game’s release, the level we were told was Windy Valley was nowhere to be found in the final game, instead having been completely reworked before hitting store shelves. Even though shots of the original design were used to advertise the GameCube rerelease Sonic Adventure DX, the original look and feel of Windy Valley became one of the holy grails for Sonic enthusiasts interested in the development process.
After the retrieval of the AutoDemo, work has been performed by several people including many dedicated members of the Retro community, who have pooled their efforts to get these stages back up and running. Finally, after fifteen years we can witness this one of a kind experience with a mod for the 2004 PC edition of Sonic Adventure DX, with a fully playable beta version of Windy Valley. With recreated graphics and fully functioning camera angles, CorvidDude wants you to jump over to his YouTube video for more information as well as instructions on how to download and install the mod. Special thanks go to CorvidDude, MainMemory, ItsEasyActually, Catley, Melpontro, and many more who were involved with this project.
[Source: YouTube]
Almost a year ago to the day, Sonic Retro forum member Orengefox shared with the world the discovery of two prototypes for Sonic Adventure and its sequel. While to the untrained eye the Sonic Adventure AutoDemo might not have seemed all that special, we here at Retro know better, our elite crack team of technologically-inclined persons more than excited to tear apart reams of code to find the secret caramel-filled goodness hiding underneath.
Indeed, it wasn’t long before all sorts of secrets were uncovered, including earlier versions of Ice Cap and Speed Highway’s “At Dawn” segment. But the deepest, most enticing artifact uncovered was the level architecture from a far earlier version of Windy Valley. Unlike the previously mentioned levels, the prototype Valley couldn’t easily be turned on, what was there full of pointers directed towards a build much earlier than what the AutoDemo used. While other people would get frustrated and walk away, I already stated above how excitable our crack team can get. It was only a matter of time before someone figured out the next step, with Retro Researcher evilhamwizard putting the pieces together, importing the third segment of Windy Valley into the PC version of Sonic Adventure DX:
More after the jump.