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Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
On the positive side, even if I sort of agree with Stu that widescreen isn't necessary, I do like it. I adore the Genesis Sonic graphical style, and just seeing more of it at once is pleasing. And I have to admit, I like the Sonic Mania midair spindash thing, even if it doesn't fit the old games design at all lol
 

Regulus

Sir Knightbot
The S3 soundtrack is pretty disappointing. Save Icecap, I've actually come to prefer most of the prototype tracks, but... these versions sound like ass.
 

madhair60

Video games
i'm slightly upset about how fucked this collection is. I had said a few times that I could at least play Classic mode for the original experience, but it isn't even that. Classic mode is the Taxman physics again, mashed into 4:3, with forced spindash in Sonic 1 and the same exact problems with bosses. It's just a fucking lie. "the classic original versions", it fucking isn't. They just lied. jesus wept.
 

muteKi

Geno Cidecity
Honestly the two glitches right now annoying me the most (and this is primarily built out of watching other videos as I've been busy with important stuff about my wife) are the glitch with Tails failing to properly respawn and the fact that you don't commit momentum while rolling in Sonic 3 (which is a really weird change -- previously only Sonic CD had that behavior). There's other stuff but I can live with the vast majority of it.
 

BEAT

LOUDSKULL
(DUDE/BRO)
Why the fuck does Sonic need to be widescreen. What does it add to the game, which was perfect. Why does it need to be widescreen, what about that makes the game better. I don't understand.
I generally like widescreen just so I can see more of what's coming, but these games in particular have a lot of screens that are sized for the old 4:3 screen that just feel OFF.

There are plenty of ways they could have worked around it, but the impression I'm getting is that they just... Didn't.
 

muteKi

Geno Cidecity
Most bosses are fine, but the ones that break are very significant in their breakage. Aquatic Ruin is the one that I get most frustrated by, personally, especially given that other than that the widescreen is generally a positive change to Sonic 2. Sonic 1 I think is the one that the widescreen does the most to ruin, and I've complained at length about how badly the new routes for Tails and Knuckles in Marble Zone miss the whole point of the stage's visual design.
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
Hello, Kazin here reporting from Casino Night Zone to tell you - plead with you, really - to play as a solo character in Sonic 2 because Tails is annoying as HELL in this version. He just... won't respawn very often, and his spin dashes and jumps are full volume while you play the ENTIRE LEVEL before he reappears (as just happened to me in Casino Night Zone 1).
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
There's also just weird glitches like this:

sanic.jpg


See the little platform stuck in the little tube thing, with the glowy green fire underneath it? It's just stuck like that. I have to go quite far offscreen and back to get it to pop again. But I stayed there for like 30 seconds trying to see if it'd ever move and it just... didn't. lol
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
Oh wait, is it? I'd somehow never encountered that before. I hate Oil Ocean lol
 

muteKi

Geno Cidecity
Another fun feature I forgot to mention, that originates in the mobile port: if you restart a stage in sonic 2, the starposts all reset.
With judicious restarting you can beat Emerald Hill 1 with all the emeralds. Even easier here because your ring count does not reset when you restart the stage, unlike the original

Well, you could do something similar in the original game by hitting the reset button and starting a new game specifically through the options menu.
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
The Sonic 3 special stages being super smooth when turning reminds me of the time* I played Sonic 3 drunk and my boozed mind filled in the "missing" frames and made it look smooth. So, in that sense, this collection awakened that good memory lol

*okay, times. more than once.
 

madhair60

Video games
Yeah I did that mod too lol. Makes the experience slightly better.

This package needs patches out the ass, and I just don't think it's gonna get them.
 

gogglebob

The Goggles Do Nothing
(he/him)
I played this through Story Mode from Sonic the Hedgehog 1 to Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Zone 2: The Scottish Play. I can confirm that Tails not tracing properly and just jumping around loudly forever is my number one complaint. Also, I finished one zone, did a little Tails-flying as a sort of "victory pose"... and the Tails helicopter sound looped forever for the entire next stage. Not great. Also, I haven't played much of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles yet (again, quit at second zone for the night), but it seems like the graphics are a little... weird? I don't know. It doesn't look as smooth as the other games. Like maybe it was already an attempt at being "better" on the Genesis, and it wasn't upgraded as much as 1, CD, and 2? I don't know. I don't think I ever sat down and played through the series as immediately sequentially before. Oh, and the wider screens or something now causes some of the projectile-based badniks to spawn at inopportune times. I have definitely been "sniped" by more than a few Buzz Bombers that were way the hell off in the distance.

Despite my reservations earlier in the thread, I did not notice the boss arena widths as much as I thought I would. I mean, I noticed, but it wasn't too bad anywhere but in Spring Yard.

Good things:
1. I like that you can now easily enable some Tails flight with Sonic 1-player if you so choose.
2. I like that Super Sonic is on its own button, so you don't accidentally activate it whenever.
3. Sonic CD is the game I am least familiar with. I think I played through that once before on the Gamecube. That said, it seems very pretty and pleasant on this collection, and I think better of it now than when I played it before.
4. While it is not a 100% positive change for reasons already mentioned, I do like how smooth the special stages appear.

And on that very specific note: I hate the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Special Stages. They are awful, and I do not care who knows it. I "like" that they are now smoother and wider, but absolutely nothing has been done to improve their "draw distance" around corners and turns so you can see bombs/rings easier and complete the later stages without a map/cat like reflexes. Sure, make me use up a dozen coins to repeat the stage because Tails rammed square into another cluster of explosives right at the goal post. That sounds like a great compromise.

But, hey, I did mainline the game for, like four continuous hours, so I am definitely enjoying the experience.
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
Tails can only lose rings he himself collected, so as long as you as Sonic are collecting enough rings to clear the stage, Tails can blow himself up all day and you'll be fine. It is distracting, though. And I agree, Sonic 2s special stages are the absolute worst, and they're no better here even with the higher resolution/draw distance/3D graphics.
 

muteKi

Geno Cidecity
Also, I haven't played much of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles yet (again, quit at second zone for the night), but it seems like the graphics are a little... weird? I don't know. It doesn't look as smooth as the other games. Like maybe it was already an attempt at being "better" on the Genesis, and it wasn't upgraded as much as 1, CD, and 2?

I mean very few things in any of the games have been redrawn -- a few things have been made properly transparent that were either flickering or based around dithering, but not that much (for example, those little potted plants in star light zone are left dithered). S3K of the bunch is the one most built around using composite blur to smooth out the graphics, and I am definitely a bit frustrated that none of the art has been tweaked to reflect that, but I also recognize that actually trying to make the changes to do so would be infeasible, as there's simply too much to do.
 

Ludendorkk

(he/him)
Mm. I guess I'm still reeling from a discussion elsewhere suggesting that it's ridiculous to be upset by the music changes, so minor mechanical differences being shared as a negative thing felt like they'd be met with similar criticism.

Music is valid reason for being mad, speaking as someone who thinks Super Meat Boy is unplayable with the new soundtrack


Here's the thing, OK. And I have never said this, because I knew people would rip on me, lol. But, like... why the fuck does Sonic need to be widescreen. What does it add to the game, which was perfect. Why does it need to be widescreen, what about that makes the game better. I don't understand.

You're right and you should say it
 

muteKi

Geno Cidecity

This is a good example of what I mean by the audio being screwed up. Normally I'm all for using the low-pass filter and the ladder effect on the output of the system, but when only the Sonic 3 music (not even the S3 sound effects) has that effect it's really jarring.

Especially when hackers have replaced the Sonic and Knuckles collection music code with hooks to use SMPSPlay to get perfectly clear sample playback and allowing configuration of individual music tracks.
 

ArugulaZ

Fearful asymmetry
Judging from that YouTube clip, I'm noticing the music is quieter and more muffled in Sonic Origins. I guess I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't compared them directly, but I notice a lack of punch in the new game.

Also, that particular track sounds like it would be a better fit for Ristar.
 

Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
There just... wasn't the little zipline/rappel things in Sandopolis 2. They were in the first level, but at one point in act 2 I had to do a tricky spin dash jump to progress because there were zero of those things in the entire stage. What the hell
 

madhair60

Video games
They were in Sandopolis 2?

Edit: This is serious by the way; i don't remember them being there, but they probably were.
 
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Kazin

did i do all of that?
(he/him)
Far fewer, but yeah, there are a few that are supposed to be there, at least one in the route I always take.
 

muteKi

Geno Cidecity
Yeah there's an important one about 1/3 of the way through the level because it keeps you from getting stuck in an infinite downward loop
 
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