Sonic Generations

[gr4yJ4Y]

The length of Knuckles' dreads is about the same between the classic and modern designs, but it looks a lot different when paired with the different proportions. With classic Knuckles it looks appropriately "edgy" for his size, but with modern Knuckles it looks almost like he's wearing an oversized hat. He went from tough to goofy.

I also felt like his head was never shaped right after SA.

Modern's blocky shoes with that simple, straight yellow line on each are less visually appealing than the yellow curve to the back on classic's rounder shoes. It'd be more cumbersome to try to run in Knux's shoes than the rounder shoes that Sonic wears. It's all in the details!

[Radrappy]

What was so appealing about the classic designs of the three main characters (tails, knuckles, sonic) was the specific shape language. That is to say,

sonic - circle
tails - square
Knuckles - triangle

http://classiccartoonreviews.blogspot.c ... heets.html

They were reflective of their personalities to a point and looked beautifully recognizable in any silhouette.

The modern knuckles design we have now has done away with that triangle motif entirely. His snout has been shortened, his body elongated, his skull rounded to the point where he hardly retains any of what made him so radically different from sonic in the first place. They also have decided to bluntly blow up the size of his fists. The Sonic Adventure design isn't quite as bad, but what we have now is completely trash.

Whoops, sorry here is the link I meant to sent. http://classiccartoonreviews.blogspot.c ... heets.html

It's just a nice collection of the classic designs. They look phenomenal even to this day. Anyone who prefers modern sonic is just flat out wrong. Not to say that I hate modern sonic. I don't. He's just worse in every way. every way.

[FlashTHD]

Anyone who prefers modern sonic is just flat out wrong. Not to say that I hate modern sonic. I don't. He's just worse in every way. every way.

Real nice sense of subjectivity.

[cjmcray]

Anyone who prefers modern sonic is just flat out wrong. Not to say that I hate modern sonic. I don't. He's just worse in every way. every way.

How so? I think Classic Sonic's shoes look a bit cheap by comparison to his Modern look. Sonic's shoes now have those gray soles on the bottom, making them look like.. real shoes. They also have a metallic sheen to them in certain games. I think that's a nice effect.

Sonic's leaner and less chubby, and his SA-style grin, which, while hated by some, I think exudes a level of cockiness and attitude that fits his character perfectly. I love the SA1 teaser poster of Sonic's grinning face on a black background.

Both characters are fine, Classic Sonic was my introduction to the franchise, and I adored him growing up. But once Sonic Adventure came along, I fell in love with Modern Sonic. He just seems cooler and tougher to me. (When he's not talking anyway.)

The green eyes.. eh, I don't really care either way about them. I don't HATE them, but I don't like them all that much either. I think they were a unnecessary change.

[Crazy Penguin]

Whilst we're on the subject of the style guides.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KZfq7Wgd_bQ/T ... c%2B24.png

What does the text say at the bottom? And was that vehicle ever used anywhere?

[Crowbar]

snipped for length

Whoops, sorry here is the link I meant to sent. http://classiccartoonreviews.blogspot.c ... heets.html

It's just a nice collection of the classic designs. They look phenomenal even to this day. Anyone who prefers modern sonic is just flat out wrong. Not to say that I hate modern sonic. I don't. He's just worse in every way. every way.

Wow, I see what you mean now. That's actually pretty interesting. I've also never even seen those model sheets!

[Locit]

Awesome, they even post a link for the rest of the Sonic Jam gallery. Great reference, radrappy.

CP, I can't read the text at the bottom, but I'm almost certain that 'mobile was never used, unless it was in some obscure GG title I've never played.

[Wombatwarlord777]

@ Locit - Eggman rides something similar around in the bad ending to Sonic CD.

[Crazy Penguin]

That was my thought the first time I saw it, but looking at them side by side they're clearly not the same vehicle.

[Edgerock]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsKwNWYowwY

Classic & Modern Chemical Plant Zone gameplay.... that remix for Modern CPZ...

[Esrever]

The colour scheme for the classic Chemical Plant does seem a little off, but the level design itself looks really fun!

The surprising thing about the Modern Sonic version, or at least what little it shows of it, is that it shows some very Colours-esque moving platform and block sequences. I was expecting the modern stages to stick to a more Unleashed-style mold, so that's kind of a pleasant surprise. Maybe it's just something they were more-or-less forced to do by including underwater sequences, which by design have to be slower and more platformy 2D affairs. (God, that purple water terrifies me, though.)

Chemical Plant has one of my favourite songs in the history of the franchise, so it's fun to hear it again. The Modern remix went in a pretty different direction than I would have expected, though... that's a very Adventure-y synth sludge rock take, like something straight out of Final Egg or Final Rush.

[Crazy Penguin]

I think it looks great! Really spot on. Visually the Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic acts are a lot more differentiated than they are in Green Hill and City Escape, whilst still being recognisable as the same location. Is this the first gameplay video we've seen with the red rings? That system worked so well in Sonic Colours. I wonder what they'll unlock this time around though.

It looks as though Modern Sonic's underwater multiple jumping ability from Sonic Colours is gone. I loved it in Colours, but it makes sense to drop it, since it was essentially just an alternative to the drill Wisp that Colours' underwater sections were built around.

[FlashTHD]

Is this the first gameplay video we've seen with the red rings? That system worked so well in Sonic Colours.

The same red rings system that didn't bother to remove previously collected rings, resulting in confusion if you stop playing the game for any length of time? The red rings that unlocked nothing of interesting value (unless you were enthralled by the lame co-op maps) unless you got all of them? Those?

Yeah I didn't care for it.

[Edgerock]

Is this the first gameplay video we've seen with the red rings? That system worked so well in Sonic Colours.

The same red rings system that didn't bother to remove previously collected rings, resulting in confusion if you stop playing the game for any length of time? The red rings that unlocked nothing of interesting value (unless you were enthralled by the lame co-op maps) unless you got all of them? Those?

Yeah I didn't care for it.

The Co-Op maps were kind of lame... the retro versions of the main level music was nice touch though. Especially Planet Wisp which was already great normally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytfARhLx ... re=related

[j-man]

Wait, shut up a second. This.

[Radrappy]

Looking pretty good. There's still some dumbass modern sonic hijinks (running face first into a wall because no human being could ever crouch in time, seemingly shitty controls for the skateboarding in city escape) but whatever.

[Esrever]

I liked the red rings a lot. It didn't really matter what they unlocked. It was just fun to find them all. With a few exceptions, they were creatively and intelligently placed in a way that let you really discover/appreciate all the various branching level paths and hidden areas. That's something they never managed to do with, say, the day/night emblems in Unleashed or the various hidden widgets in the Advance game, which just seemed like they were dumped at random and were not very interesting to find.

(Also, Flash, they rings you'd already collected became transparent, so I'm not sure why that would have led to any confusion.)

[Crazy Penguin]

I agree. The red rings added a lot of replay value to the game. They made me appreciate just how large and generally well laid out of the stages were.

The same red rings system that didn't bother to remove previously collected rings, resulting in confusion if you stop playing the game for any length of time?

You're shown which red rings you've already collected on the map and at the bottom right of the screen during gameplay. And, as Esrever said, the ones you've already collected become transparent. They're not removed from the levels because they offer a lot of bonus points, making them an integral part of high score attempts.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

Why's there a dash panel on that incline?

[Radrappy]

The red rings were the best part of colors. Collecting them was almost as/more fun as the main game. Whens the last time you could say that about a collectable item in a game?

FlashTHD wrote:
The same red rings system that didn't bother to remove previously collected rings, resulting in confusion if you stop playing the game for any length of time?


You're shown which red rings you've already collected on the map and at the bottom right of the screen during gameplay. And, as Esrever said, the ones you've already collected become transparent. They're not removed

Don't bother. The dude HATES colors.

[FlashTHD]

You're shown which red rings you've already collected on the map and at the bottom right of the screen during gameplay. And, as Esrever said, the ones you've already collected become transparent. They're not removed from the levels because they offer a lot of bonus points, making them an integral part of high score attempts.

Whoopdedoo, I collected rings 1, 3, and 4 in a stage. That alone is not useful information, especially in stages that aren't one straight route, all it tells me is I got three of them. If they turn transparent, I could be wrong but I don't recall that being noticeable. I wasn't able to make sense of Colors' scoring system - it affected nothing anyways besides throwing mountains of 1ups at you - so that means nothing to me.

I liked collecting the Photo Pieces in Pocket Adventure. That was a fun a little sidequest and the pieces immedeately were used for something when you had them. Conversely I found the Red Rings to be just a collectathon of minimal gratification, made worse by being in a boring game.

But by all means, take my opinion on it as offensive!

[j-man]

Suggestion noted. I understand the subjectivity of opinion, but you... you are just plain wrong.

[Crisis]

I can't say I personally found collecting red rings to be a lot of fun and so I stopped pretty quickly. Maybe it's an acquired taste?

[FlashTHD]

Suggestion noted. I understand the subjectivity of opinion, but you... you are just plain wrong.

Yes, that was a little harsh I guess. I see what they were going for with the rings, it's just a flop of execution.

Like I said, the scoring in Colors baffles me. Of the S-ranks I did get (about 17 IIRC), I mostly ignored the Red Rings. Either those were the really easy S-ranks, or the Red Rings aren't all that consequential to a high rank. So there's not much point to leaving them in a stage after you collect them, transparent or not. Thus, confusion just for points you may or may not even need, and it devalues the whole scheme of it. It's not that it's an acquired taste; the photo pieces were very similar - the difference is it was done badly in Colors.

[Crowbar]

I noticed in the underwater portion of modern CPZ that there's a periodic radar-like "ping", which I assume is similar to the classic "di-ding" the classic games gave you in the same situation. Was that in Colors or anything? It's a nice touch.