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Sonic the Hedgehog Community Thread: Green Hills and Laughing Iizukas

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P

Pietepiet

Member
Stuff like Starlight Zone and Marble Zone are pretty straightforward, yeah, but for instance the grass and hills in Emerald Hill Zone are also built with coloured geometric shapes. They're very simple representations of what this stuff actually looks like. And I think that's cool, don't get me wrong. But especially when the series progressed to Sonic 3 & Knuckles, things started to get a bit too noisy.

The grass in this Mushroom Hill Zone screenshot, for example:
Fab7b.png


It's just pure noise to me. It makes it hard on the eye.

Also this Casino Night Zone screenshot:

8Ht6I.png


I have no idea what the hell is going on here.

Sonic CD is the most guilty of this, really. Sometimes I have no fucking clue what's happening in that game.

Also, I never claimed Sonic Advance isn't abstract. You're not reading my post correctly. I'm saying Sonic Advance has the perfect balance of using the abstract shapes and crazy colours that I like about Sonic, without losing readability. It's very easy on the eye, for me anyway.

I don't know, maybe it's just a matter of taste, but I really do think the art in the Advance games is way ahead of the Mega Drive games.
 
Q

qq more

Member
I like the post-Advance 1 style of art design on the levels. If there's any aspect I love about Advance 2/3 (music aside) is that.

Advance 1 sort of had that generic look (by comparison) though.
 
T

tiggerkiddo

Member
It's easy on the eyes because there's sometimes not a whole lot to see...those are some simplistic stages at times. The problem is whatever the Advance Series did, the Genesis ones either did it first or had a concept that was much better.
 
B

BlazeHedgehog

Member
Personally I don't really like the art direction of the Sonic Advance games. They got uglier as time went on, with Sonic Advance 3 looking like a jumbled, lazy mess. The DS Sonics look like budget cell phone games, especially Rush Adventure and Colors.
 
N

Nocturnowl

Member
ViewtifulJC said:
Did ANYBODY beat that first boss of Sonic 2 GG when they were a kid, or did I just suck ass
Click to expand...
MS version? barely beat it a few times, GG version? (and not even as a a kid) NEVER.

BlackJace said:
I remember a "leak" about a Gamestop inventory console having "Sonic RPG2: Reign of Lord Robotnik" or something. Thought it sounded legit considering (Chronicles spoiler)
when the gang returns, Eggman had already taken over everything
Click to expand...
I still can't get over how bad that ending was.

Seven Force said:
Yeah, it was hard for me as a kid. Pretty damn easy for me now, though.
Click to expand...
LIAR! LIIIIAAAAAAAR!
 
K

Kokonoe

Banned
Wow...the new Knuckles voice was the person who did Death in Symphony of the Night.

As for the ending of Sonic 2006, when I first played the game and beat it, I felt it was ridiculous how they made it as if nothing ever occurred and that there was essentially no point in telling the story to begin with.
Later on I rather enjoyed this fact for obvious reasons.
 
N

Nocturnowl

Member
Kokonoe said:
Wow...the new Knuckles voice was the person who did Death in Symphony of the Night.
Click to expand...
It's probably the new Death voice from the PSP version.
As i'm to assume the original cast are a bunch of no names who were unfortunately never heard from again.

BlackJace said:
It's like they were confident that the game would be a hit, warranting a sequel on it, based on the blatant cliffhanger.
Click to expand...
The sad things is by all means a Sonic RPG should be a hit, it would even give an outlet for all the Sonic fans that need the dramatic plotlines.
Instead they bungled it and now nothing.
 
T

TheOGB

Banned
tiggerkiddo said:
Sonic Advance was nice but it's art was nowhere close to the Genesis did pixel work. Those backgrounds in Sonic games are still easily recognizable and STILL look good to this day. I like Advance but I'm sorry but we'll remember the Genesis games more for their awesome pixel work.

Come on now...Leaf Storm? Hot Crater?! Techno Base?! Angel Island? Egg Rocket?! It took them 3 entries to finally get some somewhat decent backgrounds and those can't hold a candle to the weakest Genesis games.
Click to expand...
Heh, I see what you're saying, but then we've got all 3 million of those sprite comics using Advance-styled sprites, recolors original characters (do not steal), etc....
 
P

Pietepiet

Member
TheOGB said:
Heh, I see what you're saying, but then we've got all 3 million of those sprite comics using Advance-styled sprites, recolors original characters (do not steal), etc....
Click to expand...

Still not entirely sure how this ruined the Advance sprites for people so much. Some of the best animation on GBA.

I remember spending an entire day reading That's My Sonic. God, those strips were pretty bad now that I think about it.
 
T

TheOGB

Banned
I really do like the Advance/Battle sprites and artwork

Plus I can't say I haven't made my own fair share of sprite comics and "original characters" *shrug*
 
S

Shadow Hog

Member
Actually, I really like the spritework for Sonic Advance, and always have. The number of frames of animation is downright insane, and it pretty much never looks bad. Do have to question why they added that stray pixel on Tails's... erm, posterior during Advance 3's intro, though; it seemed like a rather unfortunate place to put it, to say the least.

I'm not so fond of the background art, though. I know you cited Leaf Forest as one of the examples of the best the series had to offer, but personally it looks so artificial; the grass, in particular. While a cursory double-check proves it to look less flat overall than I recall it looking (I honestly recalled it looking more like Splash Hill Zone's grass), it is very flat on the part you actually run on, while most of the Genesis games varied it up considerably to give it a more rough-and-tumble "natural" feeling (Chaotix didn't, IIRC, but that was the least of Chaotix's concerns). Neo Green Hill Zone is a little bit better about this, while I think Sunset Hill is even worse.

Likewise, while I appreciated how they varied the palette of the BG layers of Leaf Forest so that the foreground would stand out more, the actual BG went waaaay too abstract. Like, Sonic has always had some level of abstraction (dirt is not usually in a checkerboard pattern!), but the backgrounds always tended to be somewhat grounded in reality. Green Hill Zone has small mountains in the background across a lake. Emerald Hill Zone has an ocean in the distance, with some shoreline between you and it. Leaf Forest had these weird-ass things that look like nothing.

So yeah, I respect that you're a very good pixel artist and all, but I can't say as I share your opinion on the Advance series vs. the Genesis titles (at least, not that particular case). I'll agree that the Genesis titles can be rather busy-looking in stills, particularly to somebody who'd never played the games before, but that's about as far as I'd go.
 
P

Pietepiet

Member
To be honest, there aren't many very old games that I do like the pixel-art of, and the ones I do like are almost all on NES. I'm a fan of more modern, clean pixel-art. I think artists got a bit too wild when they were able to use more colours than what the NES had to offer (this is more evident on SNES than on Mega Drive I think), and it results in a lot of very busy looking scenes.

It's not nearly as bad in motion as I make it seem in my posts, but I can't say I'm a fan.

Also, I totally agree that the ground looks very flat in Leaf Forest. Could've had some little bits sticking out in front of the characters, at least.
 
M

Meccanical

Member
TheOGB said:
Listening to Sonic R music puts me in such a good mood. I can't stop smiling right now.

So take me back in tiiiiiiiiiiime
Click to expand...

Sonic R's soundtrack is so good.

Another day is like a new beginning...
And so today, I know that it's a new start
And all the bad times are disappearing
Because I know...that we'll never be apart!

You're the one that makes me feel so high(Just like the diamonds in the sky)

I love it!
 
D

Dark Schala

Eloquent Princess
Sorta glad the pixel art discussion ended up surfacing anyway, because I know there are a few pixel artists/sprite editors in here who could shed light in what they think is proper aesthetics and what isn't. Some seem to prefer the cleaner simpler look (ex: the Advance games), and others prefer a look that might look busy in a screen, but in motion, it's something you don't think of (ex: Sonic CD). Sooo... I'm glad some of them had some input.

I'm not very fond of the backgrounds in the Advance games either. I generally prefer the more organic-looking Genesis ones. As for the Game Gear ones... um... Triple Trouble had some good stuff. I need to look at some maps and screens again because it's been a while since I've seen stuff from Tails' Adventure, Sonic Chaos, etc.

In short, I feel like I'm learning something. I love to learn new stuff.

Pietepiet said:
Still not entirely sure how this ruined the Advance sprites for people so much. Some of the best animation on GBA.
Click to expand...
Totally agree. If there's anything I get out of sprites, it's how well they animate. There are certainly a lot of games where I could say that I was floored by sprites' animations (Suikoden II, Fire Emblem, Chrono Trigger, Garou: Mark of Wolves, etc.), and the Sonic Advance/Battle sprites are among those.
 
P

Pietepiet

Member
GBA in general had some killer animation going on. Sonic, Mother 3, Drill Dozer, Minish Cap. All really great stuff. Wish I could've worked on some games for that system :)
 
S

Shadow Hog

Member
Wasn't it the case that the Sonic Advance series was worked on by ex-SNK employees who'd worked on Metal Slug games previously? Because the animation is such that I'd actually believe it.
 
M

Meccanical

Member
Shadow Hog said:
Wasn't it the case that the Sonic Advance series was worked on by ex-SNK employees who'd worked on Metal Slug games previously? Because the animation is such that I'd actually believe it.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't doubt it, SNK was tops at 2d animation.

So much detail, so much fluidity...I miss them.
 
V

ViewtifulJC

Banned
I honestly believe the Metal Slug series are some of the most beautiful games ever made. The amount of detail and animation in...everything, is simply unmatched, even by other SNK titles. Even little jokes that appear for 20 seconds get the full treatment, like the double decker bus in Metal Slug X 4th mission

tumblr_mdrtttpTkx1rku2gvo1_r1_250.gif


MSX/3 are the best, followed by 1. 4 is the worst, 5 has it's moments, and I don't like the inventory system present in 6 or 7.
 
S

Shadow Hog

Member
Anth0ny said:
Sonicspining.gif


dat animation
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Well, yeah, when you post an animation ripped from a game and then recompiled by a newbie who doesn't know what the hell the context of the original animation was and as such doesn't have the animation offset from the ground at the appropriate times and positions, then it's gonna look like crap. Sonic's supposed to fly off the ground here, but whatever fool made this GIF decided he's just gonna spin his head on the ground instead.
 
A

Anth0ny

Member
Shadow Hog said:
Well, yeah, when you post an animation ripped from a game and then recompiled by a newbie who doesn't know what the hell the context of the original animation was and as such doesn't have the animation offset from the ground at the appropriate times and positions, then it's gonna look like crap. Sonic's supposed to fly off the ground here, but whatever fool made this GIF decided he's just gonna spin his head on the ground instead.
Click to expand...

wat

I wasn't being sarcastic I thought it looked good lol

But yeah it looks even better in game. They need to bring back sprites for 2D Sonics. I thought the DS games looked kinda crappy and we don't need to get started on Sonic 4...
 
M

Mr. Bubble

Member
I stopped by Starbucks again and grabbed about a dozen Sonic 4 Ep. 2 redemption code cards. They restocked with a lot more since the last time I visited so I didn't feel so guilty about taking a small stack.

This is for any iPhone, iPad or iPod touch device. Instructions are on the card.

rfK3O.jpg


I'll give out more later.
 
S

Seven Force

Banned
Mr. Bubble said:
I stopped by Starbucks again and grabbed about a dozen Sonic 4 Ep. 2 redemption code cards. They restocked with a lot more since the last time I visited so I didn't feel so guilty about taking a small stack.

This is for any iPhone, iPad or iPod touch device. Instructions are on the card.

rfK3O.jpg


I'll give out more later.
Click to expand...

Claimed the bottom most one, thank you.
 
N

Nocturnowl

Member
All this metal slug talk reminds me that one of the games is on my shortlist for "what am I going to do with these remaining wii points?", i'm so indecisive with them because the choice is too great.
 
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