[TUTORIAL] Ripping Sonic 2 HD Sprites

[FallenLogic]

You will need :


-binwalk https://github.com/ReFirmLabs/binwalk or use apt to install on Linux
-Sonic 2 HD
-Patience
-(Optional) a hex editor (GHex, Bless)

STEP 0 : Build and install binwalk
    apt-get install/apt install for Linux
    
    Windows or building from source (see step 3 for opening CMD):
    python setup.py install    

STEP 1 : Find the sonicorca.dat file. This will most likely be in the 'Data' folder in your Sonic 2 HD folder.

STEP 2 (optional, this is to find files) : Open this in a hex editor (you will notice that there are PNG headers that say ".PNG"). This is how I found the file type for the sprites.

STEP 3 : Open Terminal/CMD - in Ubuntu, right-click, Open Terminal Here.

In Windows, select the file path at the top of explorer and then type cmd.exe

Alternatively, press Win+R, type cmd.exe and use the cd command to get to the directory.

STEP 4 : Run binwalk --dd='filetype:extension to use' input file.dat (for PNG files: binwalk --dd='png:png' sonicorca.dat)



STEP 5 : Organize - the files will be in _sonicorca.dat.extracted, and named their address. Every sprite in PNG format will have been extracted. Notably, only part of the Tails sheet is in PNG form.

STEP 6 (optional) : Enjoy! If a game has unused files, that just makes it more fun to rip from. See: The Casino Night Zone and pixelated Sonic & Tails.

Note: the zlib archives are how the PNG files are compressed and are left by binwalk for the sake of structure.

To delete them:
CMD > del *.zlib
Terminal > rm *.zlib