Random Sonic Battle Thread

[WhoopA]

After a bit of waffling, I decided to buy the US verison of Sonic Battle. Here's what I've found so far.

* The voices are just snippets like the original version, but I haven't played through far enough to determine voice quality for all characters. Tolerable so far (though I worry for when I hit Cream).

* Some spelling errors form the original were corrected. Yes, Knuckles' home is supposed to be Holy Summit.

* An interesting factor in the battles themselves that I don't think is recorded in the GHZ files is that the attack style set to Defend (that is, not Ground or Aerial) will not damage the character using it. That is, if Sonic uses Ground Set / Air Shot, then Power attacks will not harm him period. *checks * Nope, not mentioned.

* Strangely enough, the name "Ichikoro Gauge" was not translated. It is, in the US manual, still Ichikoro Gauge.

[big_smile]

After a bit of waffling, I decided to buy the US verison of Sonic Battle. Here's what I've found so far.

* The voices are just snippets like the original version, but I haven't played through far enough to determine voice quality for all characters. Tolerable so far (though I worry for when I hit Cream).

Tails' dying sound is really irritating, especially when you hear it multiple times in the Virtual Training mode.

* Strangely enough, the name "Ichikoro Gauge" was not translated. It is, in the US manual, still Ichikoro Gauge.

It says that in the UK manual too (Not surprising, as SOE usually re-use the US copy). ^_^

[BlazeHedgehog]

Oh wow. That third option makes a whole lot more sense now, I suppose. Thanks for the heads up.

[Owen Axel]

Notice how the enemies would also set certain attacks to defend, and switch which ones between each KO? I liked that, since you had to tweak your strategy a bit in mid-battle. Though you basically just needed two effective attacks to switch between.

Kinda boring that you could win every single battle in the game short of the Eggman one by using one attack over and over, and then a different attack over and over if the enemy was defending against the former.

[WhoopA]

Some battles are just ugly though. RougexEmerl v. AmyxSonic GRR!

[Spazz]

That was the hardest battle in the whole game! Grr >_<

[Light Speed]

Is it worth buying? I decided against Sonic Advance 3. I've finally reached the point where I won't buy a shitty game just because Sonic is in it. Unless of course it is the next main Sonic game.

[Owen Axel]

I'd say Sonic Battle was the best game of the Gameboy Advance series, even though it's completely unlike a traditional Sonic game, or perhaps because of that. The one game where Sonic Team didn't make a failed effort to try to figure out what the hell it was they did so right with the original games, would be SB and it's quite alright for a fighting game as well.

My only main beef is the annoyance of so frequently having to fight certain battles twice, with twice as many KO's to win for the second fight. If you could beat 'em 5 times, then why not just accept that instead of demanding to know if you could beat 'em 10 times as well.

Also, the only game in which Shadow isn't a Sonic clone. He's got more than enough unique moves to make him a completely different opponent and player character respectively, compared to Sonic. That's pretty cool. I rather like Shadow provided he's not just a palette-swap of the title character.

[WhoopA]

Oh yeah, Cream is the single cheapest fucking character, period. Her low defense and power is offset by the single highest charge ability (and a pretty damn good heal too) of the game. Five seconds and your ichikoro is FULL FROM EMPTY.

Needless to say, once I started controlling Cream in her chapter everything was slaughtered.

[Spazz]

Other than what Owen said, the game is definitely worth buying. It has it's querks, but undeniably a solid title. Maybe this was the game that they they should have released for the major systems and instead make Sonic Heroes for the GBA? Maybe that might actually work? Now that I think of it, Sonic Heroes seems like a 3D version of the Sonic Advance series, and Sonic Battle with it's in-depth storyline would be the game for the major systems. I mean, it already has some 3D elements in it.

[BlazeHedgehog]

Yeah. Sonic Battle is a great game, but be ready for some of the cheapest piece of shit tactics you ever saw. Once you hit that Rouge/Emerl vs. Sonic/Amy battle the whole game flips upside down and suddenly no matter how fast your reflexes are, the CPU is always faster. You pretty much HAVE to resort to the flip/flop tactic (kill the enemy with power, then kill them with shot, then kill them with power, then shot, always alternating between two specials).

And even THEN, by abusing a bug in the game's AI, you can get 31 flavors of ass handed to you from the CPU if you aren't careful. If not for the excruciatingly steep difficulty curve, I'd probably frequently replay Sonic Battle. But I went through once, and... every time I think about going back, I just remember how difficult it gets and it turns me off.

[WhoopA]

Agreed. Once Emerl learns Cream's heal a lot of the pain subsides, but it's still there.

[Esrever]

I don't understand the appeal of Sonic Battle. It's just exactly the same thing over and over again, and it isn't even fun the first time. It's possible for such a one-note game to be fun, but in Battle the combat is completely unbalanced and about as deep as a mud puddle. The story was cool, though.

[big_smile]

Is it worth buying? I decided against Sonic Advance 3. I've finally reached the point where I won't buy a shitty game just because Sonic is in it. Unless of course it is the next main Sonic game.

If you enjoy the stories of the Sonic series then Battle is a must have. The story seamlessly combines comedy, enigma, adventure, action and sorrow while staying true to the characters of the Sonic universe. It even manages to transform Shadow and Cream into interesting and likeable characters.

If stories have little importance for you, then Battle should definitely be avoided. The fight sections involve little more than tapping the R button (or A and R together), as the computer players fight too perfectly to be tackled with any other moves. On the plus side, you can never really get ‘stuck’ as if the computer players are too powerful, you can simply replay earlier chapters until you have captured enough moves to beat them. Capturing moves adds the enjoyment of collecting, but it can be frustrating at times, especially when you obtain the same moves multiple times. Overall, the fight sections are just too repetitive and simple – seeing the story unfold is the only motive for enduring them. ^_^

I don't understand the appeal of Sonic Battle. It's just exactly the same thing over and over again, and it isn't even fun the first time. It's possible for such a one-note game to be fun, but in Battle the combat is completely unbalanced and about as deep as a mud puddle. The story was cool, though.

I think the story is so absorbing that it masks the boredom of the actual fighting sections. ^_^

[Segaholic2]

If big_smile can make Sonic Heroes sound good like that, he should work in advertisement.

[Team Mecha]

If you enjoy the stories of the Sonic series then Battle is a must have. The story seamlessly combines comedy, enigma, adventure, action and sorrow while staying true to the characters of the Sonic universe. It even manages to transform Shadow and Cream into interesting and likeable characters.

Are you kidding me? Any sort of character development in the Adventures went completely out the window with the sheer amount of dumbing down in this game. Amy went from being semi-independent to being the most obsessed psycho stalker in history. Whatever happened to Rouge went from being a double agent with a weakness for jewels which she said she got over to wanting to become some master thief, using the most powerful weapon ever made to steal a few gems. Knuckles is a ****ing joke, no longer consider a badass by anyone these days. Chaos Gamma, nuff said.

[Owen Axel]

Fuck? Just testing if this forum has acquired one of those silly censorship dealies.

Fsck? Fsck? Fsck? Shst?

EDIT: Okay, it works. That's a relief. I was almost worried there for a second.

[Bo]

Couldn't resist.

[BlazeHedgehog]

Are you kidding me? Any sort of character development in the Adventures went completely out the window with the sheer amount of dumbing down in this game. Amy went from being semi-independent to being the most obsessed psycho stalker in history. Whatever happened to Rouge went from being a double agent with a weakness for jewels which she said she got over to wanting to become some master thief, using the most powerful weapon ever made to steal a few gems. Knuckles is a ****ing joke, no longer consider a badass by anyone these days. Chaos Gamma, nuff said.

Uh. People change? Plus, if memory serves me right, the Sonic Adventure games have always erred on the side of "shakey translation".

Besides, Sonic Battle seemed to take place in a more "Sonic X" sort of setting - where these personalities, do, indeed, fit like a glove.

Don't be so picky. You can't shove Sonic Battle off just because it ignores some threadbare character development (that not even Sonicteam themselves ever acknowledged).

[Team Mecha]

Can I shove it off for making me fight 3 Guard Robos with Knuckles?

[BlazeHedgehog]

That's perfectly valid, yes. ;D