Super Sonic Galaxy

[Esrever]

I liked the Sonic Rush soundtrack, although it wasn't Naganuma's best work. But I thought most of the Rush Adventure soundtrack was pretty good, too, albiet a lot safer.

[Kogen]

Oh, so it is to represent shitty trick moves and franchise-ruining boosting. I guess it fits perfectly after all.

[Radrappy]

It does not fit my vision of what a sonic game should be therefore I hate it

we get it.

Whoa, for once I agree with everything Kogen has said.

What are you talking about. You guys are like a tag team.

[CM August]

I really didn't like Rush's soundtrack either. Then again, I hadn't heard of Naganuma or his 'style' before. Maybe it would have helped to be broken in on one of his other games first, but at the time I thought it was just a noisy mess.

[Segaholic2]

You may not realise it but a lot of people greatly enjoyed Rush's soundtrack and see it as the game's high point.

Yeah, the high point of a pile of mediocre shit.

I like the soundtrack, but it's probably the worst stuff I've heard from Naganuma, whose JSR work is much more interesting.

[James McGeachie]

Your post matches pretty well with the exact response I anticipated! I'm glad you never disappoint.

I'd view myself as a critical individual in general, but man I've seen very few people on any forum be so overwhelmingly negative about virtually everything.

I don't really give a shit if it wasn't his best work, it was on the DS for a start. I couldn't have asked for much more than what he managed to produce for the game within the limitations of the system.

[Segaholic2]

I don't really give a shit if it wasn't his best work, it was on the DS for a start. I couldn't have asked for much more than what he managed to produce for the game within the limitations of the system.

This is the weakest copout bullshit excuse of an argument. Technology only limits what you can do from a fidelity or technical achievement perspective. (Which has absolutely no bearing on the summative merits of a work, because...) From a creative, or dare I say artistic perspective, there are no limits. Ever.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

On a system that gave us this, no less.

[gr4yJ4Y]

I thought the music in Rush was excellent. No, it's not as good as the JSR stuff, but it's still a great soundtrack.

[Crazy Penguin]

Sonic Rush would be nothing without the music. Ironic that Sonic Rush Adventure should improve upon everything else but take two steps back with its soundtrack.

[Kogen]

I always thought game design being at least semi-acceptable was more important than a soundtrack.

There is a reason I have never beaten games like 3D Blast despite good music.

[Rob-Bert]

You mean because you suck that bad?

[Dr. BUGMAN]

Are there significant changes to the Saturn version outside Special Zones? 'Cause, speaking as someone who has only played the Genesis version, it ain't really that hot. Not terrible, but I can't see myself ever wanting to play a slippery isometric version of Flicky again; I'd really rather just play Flicky.

[Kogen]

You mean because you suck that bad?

I am often praised for my sucking ability, so no.

As for the game, it is the same on Genesis and Saturn. Pure Travelers Tales' goodness.

[Rob-Bert]

I am often praised for my sucking ability, so no.

I've seen better, to be quite honest.

[Segaholic2]

I've seen better, to be quite honest.

Quit spying on your mother.

[Shadow Hog]

Are there significant changes to the Saturn version outside Special Zones? 'Cause, speaking as someone who has only played the Genesis version, it ain't really that hot. Not terrible, but I can't see myself ever wanting to play a slippery isometric version of Flicky again; I'd really rather just play Flicky.

Cosmetic, mostly, but Kogen's not correct - there are differences.

The Saturn version has an entirely different (and, as Rusty Ruins demonstrates, sometimes vastly superior) soundtrack composed by Richard Jacques (and unlike Sonic R, none of the songs are vocal tracks - except the credits theme, but eh, it's not that bad). In addition, the color fidelity has been increased (Sonic's actually a nice shade of blue, for instance, instead of that washed out cyan-ish-blue he was in the Genesis version), a few things animate that didn't before (some moles popping out of walls you can't reach in Green Grove, mice in the giant urns in Rusty Ruins, etc), some nifty (if meaningless) weather effects were added (rain in Rusty Ruins; fog/steam in Rusty Ruins, Diamond Dust and Volcano Valley), and you get a new pause screen which shows you an overhead map of the stage you're on, complete with where all those flickies you've dropped got off to, or Eggman holding a sign in the case of boss stages. And of course, there's the special stages, which are awesome. The level select code is also much easier (C+Start!), although there's not really a level select menu (instead you pause and push various buttons on the controller to get various different effects - largely skipping forward levels or giving those useless emblem things, though).

Is it worth playing? Well, maybe once, depending on how much you cared for the title to begin with. Honestly, it's easily the best version of the game, but this is coming from a guy who actually really likes Sonic 3D (the game never felt slippery outside of the obvious Diamond Dust), so your mileage will definitely vary. I will say I never really cared for the Genesis version but adore the Saturn and PC, but it's really the same game either way (even in controls), so...

[Kogen]

My point was that music does not matter if the game sucks scrota like Sonic 3D Blast or Sonic Rush. I could go into a nerdy multi-paragraph post about the pointless differences too, but this site has game sections for a reason.

[FlashTHD]

I hate to say this, but I can't say I would recommend going to the trouble of playing the Saturn version unless you find it fairly cheap or liked it on the Genesis. Jacques' soundtrack is the very definition of hit and miss - epic for the first four acts, then drops off dramatically until Panic Puppet (whose remixes I find to sound better than the real thing); compared to Senoue's work which was pretty much consistent awesome all the way through. As for less subjective problems, the loading breaks start to get tiring after a while and drag the game length out, especially if you play the Special Stages a lot, and there are only 3 cutscenes in the entire thing: opening, bad ending and good ending. All good candidates for the creepiest CG ever, and none of them like the neat little sequences in the original. (there is not even any cutscene between Panic Puppet 3 and the last boss anymore - just the score tally, several awkward seconds of black nothing, and whoop final battle time.)

tl;dr: awesome Special Stages and the other goodies don't necessarily make it worth enduring. Much like Chaotix, except that's several times easier to emulate.

[Kogen]

I thought the other fellow (T Maeda listed in credits) did much better work than Jun on the Genesis game.

[Isuka]

The Saturn version has an entirely different (and, as Rusty Ruins demonstrates, sometimes vastly superior) soundtrack composed by Richard Jacques (...)

*Bzzt*, WRONG.

I thought the other fellow (T Maeda listed in credits) did much better work than Jun on the Genesis game.

This. See above.

On 3D, the only time I remember beating it (on real Genesis hardware and with all Chaos Emeralds, no less) was... during a Bar Mitzvah ceremony, basically just to keep some kids entertained while my parents and their Jewish friends had ridiculously boring chats. Never really cared about going back to it, just as with Heroes (which I beat on the PC), the first Riders (PS2) and Unleashed (also PS2, never had the chance of trying out the PS360 version, although by the look of things I'm not quite missing on much). On Zero Gravity I managed to get me some gold medals, but that's about it, too.

I've come to the conclusion that I just don't (really) want any game starred by Sonic the Hedgehog that isn't a Sonic the Hedgehog game. That is, Sega could very well come up with the world's single best turn-based strategy game EVAR featuring Sonic characters, or the best RPG (with the best story, no less), or the best fighting game, or whatever... but all I really want now, is a Sonic the Hedgehog game. Even a 3D one styled after the Adventures, especially if it manages to successfully merge speed and exploration would be fine. I just don't care about what amounts to a nicer, enhanced, Werehog-free Unleashed sequel, especially since I didn't care about Unleashed, or even the Rush games, to begin with. Not that they are necessarily bad Sonic games... they aren't Sonic games, and that's the point. I really wanted to feel excited about Sonic 4, but it lacks graphics as nice as Wario Land Shake's, physics that just "felt right" on the whole original trilogy, an original creative direction that doesn't resort to shamelessly ripping off said trilogy in order to cheaply lure in "nostagic" fans, and well, no Naka-Yasuhara-Ohshima-blah blabber blah.

[Radrappy]

all I really want now, is a Sonic the Hedgehog game. Even a 3D one styled after the Adventures, especially if it manages to successfully merge speed and exploration would be fine. I just don't care about what amounts to a nicer, enhanced, Werehog-free Unleashed sequel, especially since I didn't care about Unleashed, or even the Rush games, to begin with. Not that they are necessarily bad Sonic games... they aren't Sonic games, and that's the point.

I can't help but feel like you're giving a free pass to the adventure titles just because of nostalgia. They don't seem that much more qualified to be called "true sonic games" than what we've seen of this one so far. What is it about them that is so much less offensive than these mechanics?

Something that's being taken for granted with this title is how much actual dignity the premise restores to the titular character. Gone are the tonally misleading elements (handguns, werewolves, swords) of the past 5 years and back are the surreal/colorful locales and what appears to be a story that doesn't take itself seriously. Isn't that in itself something to be pleased about?

[Rob-Bert]

Eh. Don't try to reason with him. He follows that Alex Kiriwhatshisfacegard like he's the friggin' Prophet or something.

Quit spying on your mother.

....You sir have one disturbing imagination.

[Crowbar]

The Saturn version has an entirely different (and, as Rusty Ruins demonstrates, sometimes vastly superior) soundtrack composed by Richard Jacques (...)

*Bzzt*, WRONG.

I thought the other fellow (T Maeda listed in credits) did much better work than Jun on the Genesis game.

This. See above.

What? Are you saying Richard Jacques didn't compose the Saturn soundtrack? Because he did.

[K2J]

Isuka is saying Rusty Ruin is better in the Genesis version. Then, when Kogen mentions Maeda, he calls out the fact that Maeda wrote the Genesis version of Rusty Ruin as evidence. For the record, here's the full list.