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[Sciz]

Poor Eguchi, though. He did a lot of stuff when he was at Squaresoft, so I'm not sure why he's still stuck doing cutscene music.

Don't sweat it too much, he helped Ohtani with arrangement on quite a number of tracks.



SonicGAF's Song of the Day - #68

Song: Quick! Escape!
Game: SegaSonic the Hedgehog
Composer: Uncertain; Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Keitaro Hanada, or Naoki Tokiwa

For being the mascot of a company with such strong arcade roots, Sonic never ventured over to that side of Sega much. Kind of a shame, because SegaSonic is a nifty game with some damn fine art. Would've been nice to see more in that vein. Alas, it wasn't to be.

For those who haven't Youtubed it, every level of the game features Sonic and his forgettable friends being chased and assaulted by a wide variety of traps rather than the usual badnik bopping, so the tense, anxious tone of the stage 1 BGM here suits it well. Not the best use of FM I've ever heard though; as far as I know the Sega System 32 board had essentially the same sound hardware as the Genesis, so the drastically different sound here as compared to the console titles is purely down to stylistic differences.

And yes, every song has the percussion mixed that loudly. I don't know why either.

 

[Riffled]

Hiroshi Kawaguchi

This guy's a legend BTW.

Should be Koji Kondo level but never get's the attention.

After Burner, Fantasy Zone, Space Harrier, Hang-On, Outrun can be all credited to him

 

[Zen]

Sonic games aren't going anywhere. Seems that game sales are down in general for non-Mario branded Nintendo games, so I'm not too worried.

I'm just more so worried because traditionally Nintendo platforms were something of a safe haven for Sonic regardless of quality. With the WiiU being so toxic it seems like it might be years before the audience on the platform has expanded enough for that to come back. It's a major blow to the IP really, just look at how well the sub par port of Unleashed managed. But let's say whatever the successor is to Generations comes out and doesn't perform either, what then?

On that note hadn't we heard that Sega is looking to Skylanders Sonic?

http://mynintendonews.com/2012/04/05/sonic-brand-in-for-a-major-reboot-may-go-the-skylanders-route/

SONIC BRAND IN FOR A MAJOR REBOOT, MAY GO THE SKYLANDERS ROUTE? (2012)

Sega is apparently busy rebooting the Sonic franchise after it was revealed earlier last week that the company has suffered huge financial losses. The rumour stems from TSSZ who state that the much-loved franchise could end up taking the Skylanders route with collectible figures providing a new form of interactive entertainment. Here’s what they have to say on the matter:

Sonic Team and Sega are looking to better monetize Sonic
Potentially “massive” and “total” reboot
Sega and Sonic Team are “committed” to the reboot
Speed, platforming, and surreal environments will remain
Sonic and Dr. Eggman’s rivalry will continue
Both characters may undergo a makeover
Everything else is up in the air and may see radical changes, including Tails
May birth a new universe and characters
New gameplay methods and gimmicks
Zones would be massively expanded and become their own world
Zones feature individual levels masked as missions
Idea likened to Burnout Paradise
Includes a brand-new engine
Photo-realism is of no concern
May aggressively pursue a collection model as part of the reboot
Targeting the young audience that enjoys physical collectibles
May require physical emblems and collectibles to unlock special features
SEGA inspired by Skylanders’ success
Physical toys and collectibles may have an interactive component with a new cartoon series
May offer classic characters in-game as DLC

 

[Riffled]

I'm just more so worried because traditionally Nintendo platforms were something of a safe haven for Sonic regardless of quality. With the WiiU being so toxic it seems like it might be years before the audience on the platform has expanded enough for that to come back. It's a major blow to the IP really, just look at how well the sub par port of Unleashed managed. But let's say whatever the successor is to Generations comes out and doesn't perform either, what then?

On that note hadn't we heard that Sega is looking to Skylanders Sonic?

Sonic performs well on on Playstation and Xbox plattforms. Generations and Heroes did. Or Sonic 4.

A game with good reception, and some eye-catching graphics will flock people to it.

When the HD Generation came I always thought that Sonic should do well based on filling the gap that non-Nintendo plattforms don't provide (colorful plattformers)

 

[qq more]

that whole skylander thing was false i thought?

 

[Hot Coldman]

that whole skylander thing was false i thought?

Lost World happened instead, so yeah, it is

 

[Dark Schala]

that whole skylander thing was false i thought?

Correct. That rumour is a year old.

Don't sweat it too much, he helped Ohtani with arrangement on quite a number of tracks.

And yes, every song has the percussion mixed that loudly. I don't know why either.

That was basically the thing I was going to comment on. The mixing is weird.

Regarding Eguchi, it's just a shame that he's not being used to his fullest potential. I know he's worked on stuff like the Bouncer, Bahamut Lagoon, FFX-2, etc. which ain't something to hold up as exceptionally lofty. However, he does seem like he'd be a good contender to insert even more smooth jazz BGMs in the series.

I haven't worked in development myself so this is obviously second hand but in videos describing the making of The Last of Us, some designers mentioned how they get a lot of input into the creation of the sections they are in charge of, and their feedback is listened to by the directors etc, but often they never see entire sections of the game until it gets released and they play it themselves. Just one of the side effects of large scale production I guess. And this was at a studio considered to be fairly good as a development house for it's employees. I imagine it's even worse at studios that are less forward-thinking.

Yeah, and I think that's somewhat disappointing. There doesn't seem to be a ton of communication between departments, which seems to actually be detrimental to me and might slow production down.

Actually I read a postmortem article on Jak II last night and it kind of... well, it doesn't seem to be very good. Haha.

 

[Zen]

Timeline wise it's quite realistically to think that Lost World was already in production phases while this decision was germinating. We won't know one way or another until the next big Sonic game is revealed.

Sonic Lost World started development after Sonic Colors after all and a Skylanders-like would take a massive amount of prep time to implement and then role out in a similar fashion across platforms in conjunction with the physical production of figures and such.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/20...on_bringing_sonic_lost_world_to_wii_u_and_3ds

 

[Razzer]

Just felt I should share this as we have some music and games lovers in this thread, I wonder if there are any videos like this for Sonic?

 

[qq more]

There's this...


Mario 64 Edition

 

[Dario ff]

Sharing my leftovers from the Amazon deal. Steam Thread lurkers can enter if they want as well.

The most valuable thing there is just ASRT.

Spoiler

I actually have another Generations leftover key, but I'm saving that for something else I'm working on this week.

 

[Shadow Hog]

Only ones I know about are this Counter-Strike one and a similar one for the first Quake that I can't find on YouTube... but I don't know of one for Sonic, no.

Sharing my leftovers from the Amazon deal. Steam Thread lurkers can enter if they want as well.

The most valuable thing there is just ASRT.

Spoiler

I actually have another Generations leftover key, but I'm saving that for something else I'm working on this week.

Already have all I want from that, but thanks for the offer.

 

[Pietepiet]

You help make games. How does this work sometimes? Is it more of a group affair when it comes to game design and game creation, or is it a case where "a few dudes decide what to do, here's the plan, work on a rock for 2 months"?

My personal case is very different, because the teams I work in are usually no larger than six people. But yeah, what you're describing is I think mostly the case in AAA development. That is why there's Directors, Art Directors, Lead Artists, Lead Sound Designers, etc. If it was really a group effort and everyone had a say, the game would be a complete mess and have no direction whatsoever. This can work for a small team, but for a team in the hundreds you need leadership and direction. This also counts for the older games, though the teams were MUCH smaller back then. But don't think FF7, for example, was a group effort where everyone had a say. That's not how big game development works and will only result in bad decisions to make everyone happy, haha.

FFXIII is very much the vision of one or a handful of people. Be it good or bad, that's not the point, but it's certainly not a huge group effort. I lot of people probably got told "make this!"

 

[Sciz]

That was basically the thing I was going to comment on. The mixing is weird.

It's actually even worse in one track. There's a song under there somewhere, but good luck hearing it over the bongos.

This guy's a legend BTW.

Should be Koji Kondo level but never get's the attention.

After Burner, Fantasy Zone, Space Harrier, Hang-On, Outrun can be all credited to him

True, that.

 

[BlazeHedgehog]

Only ones I know about are this Counter-Strike one and a similar one for the first Quake that I can't find on YouTube... but I don't know of one for Sonic, no.

Let's see, there's Nyp's Sonic 3 Samples Song, and Kernel32's Sonic Mashup.

Could've sworn Nyp (or somebody!) did one for Sonic 2, too, but I can't seem to find it.

Oh! And here's a couple of really oldies a friend of mine made back in like, 2003. (These should take you to a flash player where you can listen)

https://app.box.com/s/eddoy58w4f2zctmtqhgi
https://app.box.com/s/9xgb2m2dsejw4cwxz6mm

These probably haven't been heard by more than a couple people in something like a decade now.

 

[Shadow Hog]

First and third are definitely what I'm thinking of. Second isn't, and while the fourth seems to be (at least towards the end, where Shadow's voice clip kicks in), it's skipping so much that it's practically unlistenable.

 

[Professor Beef]

So on Black Friday, I was busy being a jerk to people since we were given permission to be. The entire day, I kept answering questions in the most blunt way possible which included passing the buck to other departments. I also refused to leave the section I was assigned (the Nintendo and PC gaming aisles), so if someone tried to ask me about something else, I would straight-up tell them "not my department, go talk to someone who works there." It was pretty sweet, aside from the bombardment of stupid questions.

"Do you price match?"
"Can you check the price for me?"
*waves at me, then walks up* "Can you sell me an iPad?" *tries to pull me towards that department*
"Is $299 the Black Friday price for the Wii U?"

Luckily the Wii U demo kiosk was in my department. So during the downtime around 2-5 AM, I at least had SOMETHING to do after all of us cleaned up the store a bit. Some of us eventually got so bored, we just started bragging about mundane shit. Then someone saw the Mario/Sonic Sochi game, and he pointed at me and said

"Hey, I bet you can't beat that record."

It was probably the exhaustion, but I booted the demo up and checked the controls. I got a minute and 15 seconds in the snowboarding demo, and I spent the entire rest of my shift bragging to him about it. He couldn't even break a minute and 20.

I also ended up having to help some kids beat the Mario 3D World demo, AND the NSMB demo. Dumb kids.

 

[BlackJace]

I would love to see a Beef documentary about his job lol.

 

[Professor Beef]

The face people made each time I told them they had to go talk to someone who actually worked in the department they tried to drag me into was only matched by the amount of Spanish-speaking customers who thought I spoke Spanish.

*Spanish talk*
"...what?"
"You no speak Spanish?"
"Nope. Sorry."
"=(...you know a translator?"
"Pretty sure they're all busy right now in other departments, so they wouldn't have time."
"=("

 

[Hot Coldman]

"But Beef's black, why would they think he spoke Spanish?" - JC

 

[tiggerkiddo]

Just started up Tales of Xilia, Milla has the silliest outfit I've seen in a while and I play a lot of RPG's.

 

[CrimsonCrescendo]

I can't play Sonic 1, 2, and 3 off steam due to no control support Can't use the keyboard for it. Just not something I'm down with.

Though in happier news, I've decided to check out Bastion, Dust: An Elysian Tail, and Torchlight 2. All on sale, hell yes!

Any other Indies you guys can suggest to me? I'm rather burnt out on the unending flow of AAA mega blockbusters for the time being. Going back and playing some older titles has been cathartic, so I thought I'd go the indie rout now.

 

[Sciz]

I can't play Sonic 1, 2, and 3 off steam due to no control support Can't use the keyboard for it. Just not something I'm down with.

Though in happier news, I've decided to check out Bastion, Dust: An Elysian Tail, and Torchlight 2. All on sale, hell yes!

Any other Indies you guys can suggest to me? I'm rather burnt out on the unending flow of AAA mega blockbusters for the time being. Going back and playing some older titles has been cathartic, so I thought I'd go the indie rout now.

Noitu Love 2 is 2 bucks right now and it's amazing.

And La Mulana seems to be down to 3, and I've never heard anything but good things about it so I'll probably jump on that myself.

 

[Shadow Hog]

You'll like Dust, I hope. I sure did.

Also, Stanley Parable. Do not look up what it's about. Just play it. Play the demo if you really need some idea of what you're getting into, though. I haven't played the full game myself, but what I've gathered from everyone else who's played it is that this is the way to do it.

 

[Meccanical]

For some reason I just got around to playing the demo to Undertale and man...

This is some shit. I can't wait for the full game.

Speaking of Genesis Sonics I really need to replay those.

 

[PKrockin]

Just started up Tales of Xilia, Milla has the silliest outfit I've seen in a while and I play a lot of RPG's.

Yeah, and just wait until you see the justification for it.

I can't play Sonic 1, 2, and 3 off steam due to no control support Can't use the keyboard for it. Just not something I'm down with.

Though in happier news, I've decided to check out Bastion, Dust: An Elysian Tail, and Torchlight 2. All on sale, hell yes!

Any other Indies you guys can suggest to me? I'm rather burnt out on the unending flow of AAA mega blockbusters for the time being. Going back and playing some older titles has been cathartic, so I thought I'd go the indie rout now.

Spelunky. Kind of a roguelike platformer with randomized levels, tight controls, unforgiving difficulty, and full of crazy and unexpected deaths. The key to winning is not so much twitch reflexes as it is understanding of the many situations that can occur and balancing risk/reward.

Honestly I just play the Genesis Sonic games on Gens. It's not like I don't own 3 copies of all of them anyway--2 copies of 3&K just on PC.

 

[FYC]

I can't play Sonic 1, 2, and 3 off steam due to no control support Can't use the keyboard for it. Just not something I'm down with.

Though in happier news, I've decided to check out Bastion, Dust: An Elysian Tail, and Torchlight 2. All on sale, hell yes!

Any other Indies you guys can suggest to me? I'm rather burnt out on the unending flow of AAA mega blockbusters for the time being. Going back and playing some older titles has been cathartic, so I thought I'd go the indie rout now.

Dustforce - One of my favorite platformers ever. It controls like a dream. The level design is excellent, but beware, the later levels can be pretty brutal. I'll probably never manage to finish some of the harder stages, but replaying stuff in an attempt to perfect my time / score is still extremely fun. You also have local multiplayer and a level editor, with tons of user made stages ready to download. And I must always mention the phenomenal soundtrack.

Audiosurf - Really neat game I've been playing for years. It's essentially a puzzle game where you use your music to generate levels, with a variety of different chracters and playstyles.

BIT.TRIP.RUNNER - Addicting rhythm game. It certainly is challenging at times, especially if you decide to 100% it, but once you get in the groove it's hard to stop playing.

Gemini Rue - Great point 'n click game with a cyberpunk setting. The atmosphere is wonderful.

Hotline Miami - Stylish, violent, arcadey fun.

Jamestown - I'm not very familiar with bullet hell games, but I immensely enjoyed this. 4 Player Co-op is a blast. It'll last you a while if you decide to tackle the bonus missions.

Magicka - Really really fun co-op game. It has a rather unique combat system. You combine spells together to make even crazier spells and then use those spells to kill your friends. Lot of fun seeing what you can make. I would advise against playing solo, however. The later levels can be horrible by yourself. There's also a lot of DLC I haven't played, but I've heard good things.

Recettear - I haven't played too much of this, but it's a dungeon crawler where you run a store inbetween clearing dungeons to gather stuff for your shop. I've been meaning to jump back in, I know a lot of people who love it to death.

Offspring Fling - Excellent puzzle platformer. The mechanics really shine in the bonus levels.

...Bleh. I'm sorry, I suck at writing about stuff. I'm a dumb dumb. I do hope you find something you like though!

Speaking of Genesis Sonics I really need to replay those.

Me too. I wonder if my Genesis still works.

 

[tiggerkiddo]

True Sonic fans still having a working Genesis and actual Sonic games.

 

[qq more]

Good thing I've rebuilt most of my Genesis collection a few years back!


(i lost most of my old games many years ago )

 

[Lightning Lord]

So... yeah. I haven't been around as much lately. I caved in and bought a Vita last week along with Persona 4, and have been playing that almost religiously, with some ALBW on the side. I probably should cool it a bit. Probably.

True Sonic fans still having a working Genesis and actual Sonic games.

I only own the Genesis Sonic games on Steam.

Spoiler

im still in the cool group right guis dont h8 me pls

 

[Meccanical]

I would sell all my new consoles to purchase new ones.

Oh what a fool I was.

 

[CrimsonCrescendo]

.

.

.

.

Thanks.

 

[Razzer]

Thanks for the videos guys and gals. Not sure I like any of them as much as the one I posted but there is some good stuff there.

 

[Regiruler]

Did they ever say we were going to get a 3rd storybook game?

Maybe that's the third game in the Nintendo deal. Granted the previous two were terrible but they could redeem it somehow if the game itself is good (i.e. if Lost Worlds was moreso the rushed game to provide time to develop it).

 

[Sciz]

Did they ever say we were going to get a 3rd storybook game?

There might've been some "well, if this does well we'll consider it" talk before Black Knight tanked, but they never outright confirmed one, no, and at best it died as a design document.

 

[qq more]

IIRC, the storybook team worked on LW.

Honestly hope we won't get a storybook game and we get another new mainline Sonic title.

 

[Tizoc]

Hopefully Lost World's performance reminds Sega that people like sonic because the games are different then Mario.

He was created as the antithesis of Mario, and he should remain that way.

SEGA needs to go back to the basics and just omit Dimps for once from making Sonic games.
My idea for a new Sonic game would be 'back to basics', by having it be 2D but use what made Sonic 2 and 3&K work, some research/inspirations from Rayman Origins and/or Legends might help too.
Controls would be as follows:
Jump
Burst
Crouch

If you press Jump twice, Sonic will do his Sonic 3 2nd spin in the air thingy.

Burst would be one small gauge that refills after use. What you want to use this for is to reach certain ledges or break certain objects to take a different path to complete the stage.

Crouch is for the slide, while running, or do a dive attack when in the air. After a dive/stomp you can press Burst to regain your speed.
^This is something I'm taking from Rayman, where you can regain you speed by doing a running punch after a dive attack.

Now each stage would have varied paths the player can take to complete it, granted this'd mean some paths would make you complete a stage faster, to balance this, each path will have enemies or destrucable objects that could help in racking up your score for that stage. The last part is mostly for leaderboards and such but it can be ignored in favour of the stage design.

There'd be 8 stages/Zones, 2 acts per stage and the 3rd act would be a boss fight. All odd leveled Zones would have a battle against Cubot and Orbot piloting a mech that would resmble those from the Genesis Sonic games. The even zones would be against Eggman.
Zone 8 would be the Death Egg, the boss battle would be against the giant Egg Robo. If you got all Chaos Emeralds, you'll be able to access the true final zone: Doomsday Zone.

Knuckles and Tails would be playable, each having their own unique triats, and maybe Amy if one could find a way to get her to work with the game's design.

You can also unlock extra characters to play the stages in like Espio, Shadow, etc.

That's it off the top of my head atm.

 

[TheOGB]

In my mind Sonic Team should alternate between awesome handheld game and awesome console game. The handheld titles could be their more experimental games where they have multiplayer, maybe a few fun minigames ala Kirby, and gameplay style could be relatively inconsistent (so I could get Battle 2 AND Rush 3). The console space would be reserved for ironing out and constantly improving the main gameplay, creating some consistency, but naturally evolving over time.

But that sounds like some idealistic shit, oh well~

 

[Anth0ny]

True Sonic fans still having a working Genesis and actual Sonic games.

true sonic fans have a sega cdx and all the genesis and sega cd sonic games in the box

._.

 

[Psxphile]

true sonic fans have a sega cdx and all the genesis and sega cd sonic games in the box

._.

Doesn't play Knuckles Chaotix. Not true enough. Bring on the custom Neptunes.

 

[Pietepiet]

Any other Indies you guys can suggest to me? I'm rather burnt out on the unending flow of AAA mega blockbusters for the time being. Going back and playing some older titles has been cathartic, so I thought I'd go the indie rout now.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/242680/

Spoiler

I'm making the graphics for this

 

[OMG Aero]

Also, Stanley Parable. Do not look up what it's about. Just play it. Play the demo if you really need some idea of what you're getting into, though. I haven't played the full game myself, but what I've gathered from everyone else who's played it is that this is the way to do it.

Play the demo before as it gives you a good idea what the game is and is all original content that isn't in the full game, but then going into the full game knowing nothing more is the best way to play. Don't be afraid to look up ending guides (especially the list of achievements so you can get the best achievement in video games) once you've exhausted everything you can think of, but play as much as you can without looking anything up.

But yeah The Stanley Parable is one of my favourite "games" I've played this year.

 

[Hot Coldman]

Sciz, can we get some The Fighters music soon? Pwease?

http://store.steampowered.com/app/242680/

Spoiler

I'm making the graphics for this

Not to kiss arse, but Nuclear Throne is actually legit brilliant. Y'all should pester Pietepiet for free keys buy it.

 

[Tizoc]

http://store.steampowered.com/app/242680/

Spoiler

I'm making the graphics for this

Hmm, I don't like roguelikes but any chance of a 2-pack or the like?

 

[Sciz]

Sciz, can we get some The Fighters music soon? Pwease?

Uh, I guess, sure. I've never had a request before. :|

Not to kiss arse, but Nuclear Throne is actually legit brilliant. Y'all should pester Pietepiet for free keys buy it.

Vlambeer's never been anything but amazing. If anyone here hasn't been down the Super Crate Box rabbit hole yet, go do that (it's free).



SonicGAF's Song of the Day - #69

Song: Scrap Brain Zone
Game: Sonic the Hedgehog (8-bit)
Composer: Yuzo Koshiro

Okay, this one definitely sounds like a Wily Castle theme. Specifically it sounds like MM2's Wily 1; the chord progression matches for the first few bars, and it shares the same structure aside from looping sooner. The tempo's slower, but I'm convinced of the similarity, and given the recent revelation that more conversions from 16-bit Sonic 1 were cut, it wouldn't surprise me if Koshiro looked to prior art for quick inspiration to fill the gap.

And then Janet Jackson ripped him off in turn, but that's another story.

(Not that 16-bit Scrap Brain wasn't already just Blade Runner anyway.)

 

[CrimsonCrescendo]

I always feel like I'm missing something when people go utterly batshit over companies announcing they are investing in mobile gaming.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/242680/

Spoiler

I'm making the graphics for this

I'll check it out.

 

[Pietepiet]

Hmm, I don't like roguelikes but any chance of a 2-pack or the like?

Maybe once we're out of Early Access. The game is still being developed so we're staying clear of deals or bundles for now I think

 

[PhantomOfTheKnight]

Wait, so Sonic Generations of Skate is a yearly thing? I thought it was just for Generations' marketing.

Uh, I guess, sure. I've never had a request before. :|

You take requests? Any sort out criteria/regulations for that?

 

[Hot Coldman]

Uh, I guess, sure. I've never had a request before. :|

Vlambeer's never been anything but amazing. If anyone here hasn't been down the Super Crate Box rabbit hole yet, go do that (it's free).

Well if you're gonna be like that, forget I said anything.

Vlambeer are great, yes. Ridiculous Fishing is the best original game on iOS. Although I wasn't mad about Super Crate Box, but that's probably just because I played the iOS version with naff controls.

 

[Sciz]

Well if you're gonna be like that, forget I said anything.

Vlambeer are great, yes. Ridiculous Fishing is the best original game on iOS. Although I wasn't mad about Super Crate Box, but that's probably just because I played the iOS version with naff controls.

It's fine, just took me by surprise.

SCB on a touchscreen sounds awful. Get the PC original.

You take requests? Any sort out criteria/regulations for that?

If there's interest in making them, yeah, I'll take whatever audience participation I can get. I'm more likely to bite on something off the beaten track than one of the series' most popular, mind.