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Sonic Adventure 2 HD |OT| googoo g'joob googoo g'joob
- Thread starter Hot Coldman
- Start date
Does anyone actually remember this little game for the GBA? I really liked it, the story was fine and the ability to customize your robot was a welcome addition, the battles were fun and had interesting mechanics iirc.
I wish they made a sequel, be it spiritual or direct.
Yes. Consensus in SonicGAF is that it was awesome.
Rodney McKay
Member
I hope the PC port is better than the first Sonic Adventure. Playing it in a small window was fine, but it was a nightmare getting it to run in a resolution other than the 3 or 4 presets it gave you. I eventually got it to run full resolution, but then it ran like crap (awful screen tearing+framerate) and I have a decent PC. Should be able to handle SA1 at any rate!
I really do love Sonic Adventure 2 so I want it to be perfect! The Gamecube was the first ever console I bought myself and Sonic Adventure 2 was the first ever game I bought for it. I had liked the 2D Sonic games, but I only played it a bit at friends' houses. The sound effects are the thing I love the most about the series. The coins, the bouncy pads, just so iconic and satisfying. So from my prospective I have nothing against playing as other characters or even playing a minority of the game as the title character.
I liked the Sonic/Shadow levels a lot, but I only really remember the first ones. I think my stats said I played City Escape over 100 times. I loved the homing attack in the game, it just felt so satisfying stringing them together and blasting onto rails for huge speed boosts.
I didn't really like the Treasure finding objective for Knuckles/Rouge levels, but I LOVED how the characters controlled and quite a few of the levels themselves.
They really should have given the levels a Mario 64 type structure, just replace the Stars for emeralds.
Tales/Eggman? Whatever. They were fun enough and I remember them being a good way to farm Chao stat boosts quickly.
My only regret is that even with how much I played the GC version, I never S ranked everything and unlocked the
. I remember never being able to do the "collect 100 coins" in the Knuckles/Rouge levels fast enough, and some of the others were really tough as well. I intend to rectify this mistake with this version! 
I really do love Sonic Adventure 2 so I want it to be perfect! The Gamecube was the first ever console I bought myself and Sonic Adventure 2 was the first ever game I bought for it. I had liked the 2D Sonic games, but I only played it a bit at friends' houses. The sound effects are the thing I love the most about the series. The coins, the bouncy pads, just so iconic and satisfying. So from my prospective I have nothing against playing as other characters or even playing a minority of the game as the title character.
I liked the Sonic/Shadow levels a lot, but I only really remember the first ones. I think my stats said I played City Escape over 100 times. I loved the homing attack in the game, it just felt so satisfying stringing them together and blasting onto rails for huge speed boosts.
I didn't really like the Treasure finding objective for Knuckles/Rouge levels, but I LOVED how the characters controlled and quite a few of the levels themselves.
Wasn't there a Mario Galaxy type level with little planetoids? I thought that was AMAZING. And there was some space station level where you are able to climb ridiculously high up, but that's about all I remember about it, haha.
Tales/Eggman? Whatever. They were fun enough and I remember them being a good way to farm Chao stat boosts quickly.
My only regret is that even with how much I played the GC version, I never S ranked everything and unlocked the
Green Hill Zone level
you really are enjoying yourself
I'm really not. The only part of this game I like is a few of Sonic's stages and Chao Garden.
Sonic Unleashed is almost like a test release for what would become Generations. After playing so much Generations I actually find that the Sonic level design in Unleashed is kind of lacking in comparison.
Generations is just so well thought out and well designed. It's a genuinely great game and perhaps the first truly excellent 3D Sonic game to date.
Nocturnowl
Member
Unleashed lacks true variety in its stages for the most part, the settings change but the game plays out similarly in each stage. Some are more varied than others, but it reuses a lot of the same ideas across all the stages and that's what I feel is lacking. Though that aside each stage is pretty enjoyable to run through.
BlazeHedgehog
Member
For me, it's the opposite. Generations has some great levels but I feel like they are missing a certain purity and flow that the Sonic Unleashed levels have.
It's actually kind of hard to really nail down what I'm even talking about, but there's something about the Unleashed levels that just edge out the Generations levels as far as fun goes.
It's actually kind of hard to really nail down what I'm even talking about, but there's something about the Unleashed levels that just edge out the Generations levels as far as fun goes.
Nocturnowl
Member
The lack of any central stage gimmicks make them pretty pure to just run through I guess, I believe you've said before that you sort of view them like time trials? in a way they feel more like a race track with a few obstacles and hazards, as such they also maintain the flow you speak of as they pretty much go non stop with little platforming as well aside from bits like the out of place switch stomping of cool edge.
Diablohead
Member
Sonic Battle 2 for iOS pls
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
Haha, that quip a while ago about this thread turning into the Sonic Community Thread might've been onto something.
But at the same time, I think the most fun I had in Unleashed was trying to get S-ranks and stuff, which was much harder in practice than it was in Generations. Mostly had to keep on your toes and try to stay on the path you want without screwing up, and that was fun in itself. With that said, I don't like the QTE stuff, though. I never liked QTEs much in any game.
Well, Generations truly does have the best Modern level design in general, with stuff like Sky Sanctuary (platforming), Rooftop Run (speeding the way through), Crisis City (platforming), and maybe Seaside Hill (taking different routes). I'm definitely in agreement with that. They nailed it here in most cases.
But at the same time, I think the most fun I had in Unleashed was trying to get S-ranks and stuff, which was much harder in practice than it was in Generations. Mostly had to keep on your toes and try to stay on the path you want without screwing up, and that was fun in itself. With that said, I don't like the QTE stuff, though. I never liked QTEs much in any game.
Nocturnowl
Member
I can steer this ship back on topic later on as I plunge into the dark story, yo sonic gaf you ain't helping by not playing the game!
Yet a few of you will make special efforts to suffer through 2006, that's crazy backwards.
Yet a few of you will make special efforts to suffer through 2006, that's crazy backwards.
Does anyone actually remember this little game for the GBA? I really liked it, the story was fine and the ability to customize your robot was a welcome addition, the battles were fun and had interesting mechanics iirc.
I wish they made a sequel, be it spiritual or direct.
Yep, great stuff. Very impressive visually too, and I liked the art style. I only knew one other person with it though, so I never got to try any 4 player multiplayer. Very underrated.
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
My weekend hasn't come yet! Lemme finish this report and then I'LL GET A LOAD OF THIS.
Speaking of stuff SonicGAF likes to pay attention to, Kakipi probably isn't going to speedrun this, is he?
The last time was pure accident, I swear! Damned football bets.
Sonic Battle's character tiers go like this
(Emerl would be banned)
S
Shadow/Gamma
A
Sonic
Everything else
Also thought it was weird that Sonic Battle would make you immune to one of ABC's attacks if you picked one of the ABCs. I just can't say it's "great". Yeah, it has great spritework, but the fighting game there is very shallow compared to Smash Bros.
I did enjoy it, though. Don't let my words fool you.
(Emerl would be banned)
S
Shadow/Gamma
A
Sonic
Everything else
Also thought it was weird that Sonic Battle would make you immune to one of ABC's attacks if you picked one of the ABCs. I just can't say it's "great". Yeah, it has great spritework, but the fighting game there is very shallow compared to Smash Bros.
I did enjoy it, though. Don't let my words fool you.
Nocturnowl
Member
I can't think of a better way to spend a hard earned weekend.
Placing any wagers with sonic 06 is like betting your very soul, it's not worth the gamble.
Enough of this sonic battle nonsense, we've got some Dark Story to relive.
But first to recap...
Hero Story 1: It's all downhill from City Escape
Hero Story 2: MEANWHILE IN THE MOUNTAINOUS REGION
Hero Story 3: Tails is the biggest villain of all
Hero Story 4: Suicidal Shuttle Shenanigans
Hero Story 5: Just a guy who loves adventure!
Dark Side Story
Oh yes, its time to finally let the villains win for a change, except they dont actually win or anything. By playing through the other half of the story we can piece together the riveting tale of SA2 and the accident at Space Colony ARK, get that serving of hype ready.
We kick off with a bang as Eggman strolls into a GUN base to look into his grandeggs abandoned weapon research, super duper top secret stuff which is defended by easily destroyed doors and a few chassis bots, cracking work GUN. Eggman is surrounded by many out of place looking explosions with a completely different graphical style like its some sort of low budget movie maker, he also apparently has a machine gun for his cannon as he guns away at something unseen chortling like the mad man he is, no we dont get to keep this gun when the game starts.
Iron Gate
A basic slaughter session stage where Eggman will use his mech to steamroll through, security doors of complete uselessness are shut down as you progress which are easily blown to bits. Eggman feels better to me than Tails for some reason, since Eggman's stages actually take the main role in Dark Story you actually get ones that tend to be better than Tails dreck so its not all bad.
The stage ends bafflingly with a final gauntlet of security doors that Eggman cannot break through, if only there were a giant missile in front of said doors that could be fired into them! Whats that? There is?! Well thats handy and also completely fucking stupid, who the hell leaves a missile there?! If its supposed to be used on intruders then why wasnt it? ARRGH never mind!
oh ho, We have found the goods, turns out it is in fact Shadow the Hedgehog, he apparently can grant one wish, yeah I guess that is pretty powerful stuff except he never quite follows up on this statement in any real wish giving way, no time for make believes reborn I guess, and yes that was a shitty sonic and the secret rings reference, you know genies? wishes? What the hell do you want from me? A bunch of handkerchiefs? Alright enough secret ring ramblings because its boss battle time, Hot Shot has arrived and Shadow literally jets off to fight him, why the hell cant I fly when I play as him with those hoverboots?!
Hot Shot is basically the same as Sonics first boss with like one easily avoided charge attack that leaves it wide open, we take control of Poochy and follow the Sonic strategy of using the crates for extra height to speed up the winning process because Poochy aint stupid.
Now the battle is done Eggman enquires about the wish which Shadow basically hand waves away by simply telling Eggman to bring chaos emeralds to ARK, yeah he doesnt do real wishes, the liar.
Also I have to imagine Shadow simply assumes whoever freed him will just so happen to have like a space shuttle to travel to the space colony or else hes going to be waiting up there by himself for a loooong time.
And then we jump to the old Knuckles and Rouge emerald shattering scene, except this time the rap is replaced by whatever the hell genre Rouges music is, its pretty nice music though and a refreshing change from the wailing guitars, secretly she has some of the best stage themes, speaking of which.
Dry Lagoon
This stage is actually incredibly similar in layout to Wild Canyon, just that instead of taking an air vent to reach the upper areas we take a turtle through the water to reach another area laid out similarly to the upper Wild Canyon. Though there are of course many differences otherwise such as water being all over the place, its a bit more interesting than Wild Canyon but its easy stuff anyway. To actually use the turtle you have to save it from killer robots who are aiming guns at the turtle for reasons unknown, this crazy military. Rouge plays like knuckles for the most part, she kicks instead of punches and despite having proper wings she cant actually fly it seems, must be that bust weighing her down.
Sand Ocean
Eggman is returning to his base, he remarks how the military will NEVER find his hidden base in the pyramid which is odd to say when there are freaking GUN banners and robots all over the place and they are actively trying to kill him, yeah I think they know something is here all right. Maybe Eggman meant that theyd never find the entrance itself? Who knows but leaving your face on everything kind of gives it away. This stage has a fair bit of platforming and not much else, I still like it a lot more than Tails version of the desert stage though.
Eggman arrives at his hi tech computer terminal to receive a very British news report detailing that Saawnic the Hedgehawg (thats how us Brits say it apparently) has robbed a bank for a chaos emerald, it is of course Shadow but I guess all those damn hedgehogs look alike to these pitiful humans.
Shadow stands atop a bridge while a bunch of idiotic police cars pile up at the edge of death since the road is seemingly unfinished, roads in Sonics world suck as evidenced by the two route stages as well. Shadow has a moody flashback to his TRAGIC PAST where his beloved waifu Maria launches Shadow off the ark to save him from being slaughtered by a bunch of ARK invading Genesis/Mega Drive era sonic fans who have come to eliminate Shadow before he could bring the downfall of the series, or maybe it was GUN, its not really explained at this point. Anyway Maria leaves Shadow with one wish and Shdaow promises to fulfill it, he promises REVENGE! Which i'm sure is incorrect but Shadow is a regular Sasuke Uchiha and likes to misconstrue peoples dying wishes so he can act like a prick and be more brooding and cliché badass.
Radical Highway
RADICAL, Woah this stage is gnarly man, how outrageous and tubular? Man fuck tubular, I hate that SMW stage. Okay so this is probably the best of Shadows stages though the next one isnt a slouch either, its sort of iconic enough to be used in Generations 3DS and as a snowboarding track in Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympic games. The progression has some nice fast flowing moments with better routes attained by succeeding with the swing bars, its fast, pretty fun and has grinding down the side of bridges so I can give this stage a thumbs up, music is kind of bleh but Shadow brings with him some blandtastic tunes if you ask me.
Once again we can relive the Sonic and Shadow first encounter, you know the drill, cutoff lines, a jewel containing the ultimate power and a very slow to start chaos control. And this will be the last time we control Shadow for a while because this game wouldn't want me to have too much fun.
Diablohead
Member
So half of the cut scenes are 4:3 while some are 16:9, what the feck sega.
Watching footage of this game again, much as I love it I might pass, it's HD yeah but it's got sloppy widescreen support.
Watching footage of this game again, much as I love it I might pass, it's HD yeah but it's got sloppy widescreen support.
I couldn't believe it myself, actually.
The cutscenes in 4:3 are video, man. Every other cutscene is 16:9 if it's using the main game engine.
Biolizard am cry.
Nocturnowl
Member
The biolizard makes me cry, the first fight at any rate.
Now lets all cry together with another update.
Egg Quarters
Rouge is sneaking into the HIDDEN BASE of Eggman on orders of some folks who will remain a mystery in the meantime. But much like Knuckles in the Death chamber you need to go pick up three keys to enter the heart of the base. This stage is set up like Death chamber junior with the colour coded areas except more basic and with roaming security droids. Rouge gets her dirt digging ability here as well. Even with the idea of a stealth focus its far easier just to run past the droids.
Rouge breaks into the heart of the not so hidden base and tinkers around on Eggmans computer thing to find out about the ARK related antics, also its a space transporter which is highly convenient, so Eggman just so happens to have a transporter to ARK? Then why is he so surprised when Shadow first mentions ARK? Or does a space transporter simply send you anywhere in space? Maybe he only just built it during his return to the base, who knows but Sega and their gifted script writers. Apparently its not password protected like many things in the game so Rogue can just use it herself, meanwhile Sonic and chums needed to use a space shuttle Eggman just also happened to have for emergencies I guess, I got to stop overthinking on this mess.
Lost Colony
Back to Eggman as we journey through the dank and dark ARK, Eggman lowers himself down over a laser grid using a pulley and blasts open a door like its some secret agent stuff going on here, except in a mech just to make it look unsuitable. The stage also includes a locked door with a switch to open it located quite literally in front of the door, why?
Eggman obtains his hover upgrade which is probably about 50 years old if it has been sitting up here all this time but I guess professor Gerald builds things to last. The darkness is pretty much the stages gimmick, you cant see very far in front, its hardly survival horror but the mech gameplay is a sort of horror unto itself.
Eggman meets up with Shadow where he grants Eggman the wish he promised, turns out naughty old Grampa Eggers was building weapons of mass destruction (I like how this game is 3+ by the way) like any reasonable mad scientist would, the eclipse cannon is his legacy and it can destroy entire planets, not sure how much use it has outside of destroying earth considering ARKs placement in space or what benefit one gains from blowing earth to smithereens when theres nowhere else inhabitable nearby but mad scientists gonna do mad scientist stuff. Just like everything requiring energy in the Sonicverse they need chaos emeralds to reactivate the weapon and with its power in Eggmans hands Shadow states the world could be yours! only could be? Well thats not that reassuring, maybe he factored in the fact that blowing up the world kind of makes taking it over sort of impossible if Eggman's threats fall short later on and he goes loco but regardless this is one shitty wish, boy hed look quite the fool if he granted this wish to someone who doesnt have any world domination plans and was just curious about the militarys secret weapon.
Rouge having been eavesdropping so far drops in, Eggman is pretty cool with this, no surprise or anything that some random bat hes seen just once has managed to tail them up to space. Rouge has a deal to make and Eggman caves in pretty easily even though she could just be lying about knowing the chaos emerald locations, what a trustworthy villain he is, also Rouge spends this scene flying so she can indeed fly which only serves to make the whole Rouge/Knuckles fight aftermath scene even stupider than it already was.
Holy plot dump, theres more to come. Back on solid ground, at prison island specifically team dark prepare their dastardly scheme, Eggman will distract the military allowing Rouge to sneak in and nab the emeralds, Shadow will plant dynamite in the armory and then when theyre done they will blow up the dynamite which levels the ENTIRE island, must be some pretty heavy stuff in that armory. And with that its time for ANOTHER EGGMAN STAGE, Dark story has no time for fun!
Does anyone actually remember this little game for the GBA? I really liked it, the story was fine and the ability to customize your robot was a welcome addition, the battles were fun and had interesting mechanics iirc.
I wish they made a sequel, be it spiritual or direct.
That game was awesome, best Sonic spin off ever.
Question, are any of the upgrades missable?
I'm having an annoying time with Mission City as Tails. Mostly annoying jumping puzzles and blind camera angles, but still. It's funny to play this, though, it's pretty much watching the Original Sin of the Sonic franchise. I've never played the Adventure games until they go re-released, but I can see where Sonic 2006 came from now.
I kind of like Shadow's voice, though. Even if the lines are cheesy. Gloriously cheesy.
I'm having an annoying time with Mission City as Tails. Mostly annoying jumping puzzles and blind camera angles, but still. It's funny to play this, though, it's pretty much watching the Original Sin of the Sonic franchise. I've never played the Adventure games until they go re-released, but I can see where Sonic 2006 came from now.
I kind of like Shadow's voice, though. Even if the lines are cheesy. Gloriously cheesy.
Professor Beef
Banned
You can always go back to a stage and get any upgrade you missed.
Nocturnowl
Member
Hey Schala was right, people do just like the song.
Wait you got 100%? you're a stronger and madder man than me Soul. A ranking all the stages was where I bailed out.
Well, I can say that about any level really! (except Crazy Gadget)
White Jungle is pretty good, though. Especially the music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XVYtkvpt2Q
Diablohead
Member
I thought the scene with the fake emerald was in-game? that is 4:3, i know the fmv stuff is and can't really be avoided but there are some others.
Weird, I didn't see that happen at all? Maybe it's a weird bug..
I just read something on Sonic Retro from someone else who has the HD release and bought the Battle DLC that might be crushing to some folks who want to get all A ranks aside from getting the trophy/achievement:
The Alt Skins for MP, when you buy the Battle DLC, are unlocked from the get go. Yes, that means getting all A ranks has no in-game incentive now. gj, Sega...
Source
Granted, buying MP is buying MP but seriously, this makes one of the hardest challenges in the game not rewarding whatsoever.
The Alt Skins for MP, when you buy the Battle DLC, are unlocked from the get go. Yes, that means getting all A ranks has no in-game incentive now. gj, Sega...
Source
Granted, buying MP is buying MP but seriously, this makes one of the hardest challenges in the game not rewarding whatsoever.
It's not Friday yet.
tiggerkiddo
Member
City Escape has the best music but the level is really fun too. And...while the lyrics are hilariously bad like the DK Rap, I like the music to Pumpkin Hill too.
Even thought that level...okay I'm through hating on that level.
Even thought that level...okay I'm through hating on that level.
I haven't bought the Battle DLC yet, only the game so I guess I'll wait and keep it like that so I have an incentive to get those A ranks.
You won't get them either way through the A ranks, to my understanding.
MisterLuffy
Member
I wonder if SA2 HD is going to have online? You know, playing multiplayer by racing each other or who ever searches 3 or 2 emeralds wins?
No, not at all. You just have to beat the missions and the chao races/karate iirc, doesn't matter what rank you get. Which is more tedious than it is challenging.
Shadow Hog
Member
I'm pretty sure there are emblems tied to getting all As, and Green Hill is tied to all emblems.
Seven Force
Banned
I'm more familiar with the Dreamcast version of the game, but I'm pretty sure you get an emblem for A ranking all stages with a character. (For a total of 6.) I think the GC (and by extension PSN/XBLA) version switches it up and makes you A rank Cannon's Core for another emblem, bringing it up to 7.
...And it just dawned on me that I'd have to buy the DLC if I want to unlock Green Hill. Fuck.
...And it just dawned on me that I'd have to buy the DLC if I want to unlock Green Hill. Fuck.