Rev Up Those Sonic Cycles

[Cobalt Blue]

sounds just about right to me. the kind of fine where someone would later put prince of bel air on it and futher extend an useless meme.

[Rökkan]

[ZaeTelapo!]

could they not have like
just done a 16-bit genesis mix and then added vocals or something

Still would have been shit lmao.

Considering how the vocals sound.

[Koopaul]

Honestly my biggest complaint is still how the classic stages have been designed with big stretches of land where you are doing nothing but running forward.

[Vipershark]

yeah, the end of ghz is just a giant empty stretch of flat land clearly intended to give sonic room to boost at full speed without the level seeming like it abruptly ends

[GrooveMan.exe]

yeah, the end of ghz is just a giant empty stretch of flat land clearly intended to give sonic room to boost at full speed without the level seeming like it abruptly ends

But um

IIRC the actual Green Hill Zone had that too.

[a babyass man]

[Vipershark]

yeah, the end of ghz is just a giant empty stretch of flat land clearly intended to give sonic room to boost at full speed without the level seeming like it abruptly ends

But um

IIRC the actual Green Hill Zone had that too.

several screen-scrolls worth?

[Cobalt Blue]

yeah, the end of ghz is just a giant empty stretch of flat land clearly intended to give sonic room to boost at full speed without the level seeming like it abruptly ends

But um

IIRC the actual Green Hill Zone had that too.

several screen-scrolls worth?

considering the size of the original green hill, yes.

[Koopaul]

I liked the levels when they were more compact. They were smaller but richer.

[Garamonde]

Guys relax the song is great. I honestly can hardly stand to read this thread anymore. You all want SEGA to make a game with gameplay that clones the Genesis games, that's not going to move the series forward. I really haven't played the original games enough to remember some of the zones and lack Sonic knowledge. Don't even remember what Hydrocity and others are from or what they were like (but I don't feel like checking). I don't have an XBox so I can't play the demo but the trailer I saw for it was amazing and I know it will be a great game. Don't get me wrong, I liked the originals. I'll just always enjoy the newer games more.

Really this whole Sonic Cycle thing is a load of crap and is extremely irritating and I can't stand it anymore. While I can easily respect how you're all really attached to the classics, something has to give somewhere. SEGA doesn't know what the TSR community wants because you haven't told them. They're going to listen to the larger sum of fans and I think most of them are saying they're doing great with this game. As we know you can't please everyone even if you feel like the thing that you're working hard on is going to be the next wonderful thing. I feel sorry for SEGA. I don't feel like watching any of the gameplay videos that everyone's posted but I saw the short one where Sonic was Spin Dashing like mad in the originals and he slowed down in Generations. To me that was just funny. Of course it depends on the game but for the most part I'm not one to take overall gameplay (as well as tiny bits and pieces of it) so seriously and complain constantly about it. I enjoy the game for what it is. I may be easily amused to an extent but I appreciate things.

But again just MHO and it's quite obvious the majority of this thread feels the opposite so whatev. We should just wait and see the game finished before we go all "this is just the demo but the whole game's gonna suck I'll never buy it the Spin Dash isn't exactly like the Genesis and I keep running into stuff and the Classic City Escape theme reeks wah". I think their intention for the gameplay was roughly "reminiscent of the Classic games but with a few tweaks" or such. Oh and my cousin got Sonic 4 and we had lots of fun so stop hating on it. :/ I genuinely did feel like I was watching a sort of "recreation" of the original. It was a good one. I intend no disrespect to anyone in this post, I just really felt the need to shout out my feelings. Why don't we relax a little and see what more they do with it. Chances are it'll turn out better than you're expecting. Also bring back a Black Knight level.

[GrooveMan.exe]

Your points are valid - especially about the fans complaining to themselves and the developers only picking up what fans want second-hand - But there /have/ been multiple Sonic games that suffer from a lack of QA or otherwise have objective gameplay flaws. This doesn't mean the games are iredeemable; but I think I've said this once before in this thread - Being a fan of something is NOT the same thing as burying your head in the sand in regards to its flaws. At the very least, these unpleasable fans are recognising what does and doesn't work in the media they're spending their money on.

Rokkan/ShadowTH/Viper/and others, if you have complaints with the demo; please please try and get in touch with Sega's communication channels directly. Send them polite e-mails, back up your points with references; implore others to do the same. Video games as an entertainment medium are EXTREMELY LUCKY to have a developmental process where the wider community are involved, almost by default. You don't get this shit with books or movies.

You can see what happens when you only get half-involved, and I feel honestly kind of bad for Sonic Team in regards to how much hatred and scattered noise they get in regards to their work. You can't say they don't listen. Major factors of Sonic Unleashed and Sonic 4 are entirely down to them trying to please a very vocal, but surprisingly un-communinicative fanbase.

[Rökkan]

To Grooveman: All of those major complaints were echoed over and over on Retro and even on Youtube. Aaron Weber browses Retro regularly and does take notes on what people are saying - it only depends on whether SEGA will actually bother to listen and fix or not.

You really can't say that the fanbase is uncommunicative. The same complaints that we see on Youtube and on reviews about Sonic 4 were echoed over and over before its release - how it didn't play like the classics, the wonky physics with no inertia in it. SEGA said that they'd be delaying the game to fix those issues (they didn't). Fuck, Sonic Retro reverse-engineered the classics and organized a whole Sonic Physics Guide and sent to SEGA.

So, you know, don't be sorry. They're not incompetent - they're either trying to do it (Sonic Generations) or doing a lazy game with almost no original content to it to cash in more money (Sonic 4)

Of course it depends on the game but for the most part I'm not one to take overall gameplay (as well as tiny bits and pieces of it) so seriously and complain constantly about it. I enjoy the game for what it is. I may be easily amused to an extent but I appreciate things.

But again just MHO and it's quite obvious the majority of this thread feels the opposite so whatev. We should just wait and see the game finished before we go all "this is just the demo but the whole game's gonna suck I'll never buy it the Spin Dash isn't exactly like the Genesis and I keep running into stuff and the Classic City Escape theme reeks wah". I think their intention for the gameplay was roughly "reminiscent of the Classic games but with a few tweaks" or such. Oh and my cousin got Sonic 4 and we had lots of fun so stop hating on it. :/ I genuinely did feel like I was watching a sort of "recreation" of the original. It was a good one. I intend no disrespect to anyone in this post, I just really felt the need to shout out my feelings. Why don't we relax a little and see what more they do with it. Chances are it'll turn out better than you're expecting. Also bring back a Black Knight level.

This is where it makes it seem pretty clear that no one ever reads my posts and decides to read over it and jump to the conclusion that I'm complaining about minor issues and that I hate the game and that I want everything exactly like the classics because I cannot accept anything that's unlike them ever.

You know, just like how doing any sort of criticism about Sonic 4 a while back was being bitchy, anal, and was only about green-eyed Sonic.

Why do I even care to explain causes and consequences of certain design choices and try to make people understand what is the concept of the original games and what exactly made them great. It's exactly the same as saying "I like it" and "I don't", or rather, the length of your post and how passionate you are about a subject = how unreasonable you are, right?

[DioShiba]

No one really knows what they want the sonic games to be like anymore

in fact the only reason why it's kept alive is because of the fanbase.

[GrooveMan.exe]

The majority of complaints about Sonic 4 in its early stages WERE graphical decisions. That was replaced by more legitimate complaints upon demo releases; but those are obviously not as well-circulated. At the very least, Sonic Team recognising the complaints made about the leaked early version show that they're trying to pay attention - for PR if nothing else.

I will profess that I don't know Sonic Retro's community as well as you do, but it really doesn't feel like whatever complaints they're having are getting much outside coverage. When SSF4AC was said to have broken DLC restrictions, the complaints basically resonated through every online gaming news site. When there was a movement for US residents to do a mass-mail project to Nintendo of America concerning the release of some high-profile Wii titles, that also got heavy coverage. Destructoid's staff even got heavily involved.

But complaints about Sonic Generations (and Sonic 4, really) concerning how the game functions have been incredibly localised. While there's a lot of Generations coverage out there, complaints about how it plays mostly trace back to Sonic Retro. That's not so good. Maybe they're just not very good at getting the word outside the fandom; maybe those outside the fandom aren't taking them seriously; or just don't actually care. But it results in those who aren't in that community honestly not hearing any of these complaints.

I mean shit - even though I've played the Genesis games, I don't think I've ever done the 'rolling down hills for momentum' trick, and wouldn't even have heard about it if not for your posts in this thread. The absence of it in other Sonic games hasn't prevented me from enjoying them. I can see why it would be a concern for you since it's being touted as 'classic' sonic; but when a lot of the reviwers and journalists from outside the fandom are saying it satisfies their definition of 'classic', unless someone takes the time to get it out there to say otherwise, the general playerbase are gonna just shrug their shoulders.

I... think i've drifted off my initial point here. Shit.