Sonic After the Sequel
From Sonic Retro
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Sonic After the Sequel |
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Latest version: V1.1 |
Latest release date: 2013-06-16 (Original) 2017-08-26 (DX) |
Engine: Sonic Worlds |
Credits: LakeFeperd |
Sonic After the Sequel (abbreviated Sonic ATS), is a fan game created by LakeFeperd that, like its predecessor, acts as a interquel, this time between Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles. The player races through numerous Zones as Sonic and Tails go out to stop Dr. Eggman from crashing the Death Egg into (and attacking) the mysterious island known as Angel Island.
On August 26, 2017, an updated version of the game titled Sonic After the Sequel DX was released. This version of the game uses the hardware renderer, has several physics tweaks and the inclusion of the Drop Dash from Sonic Mania.
Contents
Story
After the events of Sonic 2, Sonic is caught by Tails, who is piloting the Tornado. The duo then sees an island with a large metal ring hovering near its snow-covered mountain. They then decide to go and investigate this new island. After getting through Horizon Heights, Sonic encounters a small robot resembling Tails. It then activates and attacks Sonic, and after a brief duel, it's revealed to be a trap by Eggman.
Sonic is trapped in a magnetic forcefield, unable to stop Eggman from stealing the Chaos Emeralds. Just before Eggman could get his hands on them, Tails knocked the emeralds away, sending them back to the Special Zone in the process. Eggman then makes a hasty retreat to his temporary base, Storm Station Zone, with Sonic and Tails in hot pursuit. In the process, the two take out Eggman's Flying Battery Fleet, stop construction on a nearby forest (with the help of a certain red armadillo), and fight the orb robot from the previous game. Along the way, they catch sight of a mysterious feathered object and find some oddly prophetic murals depicting a dragon and a golden warrior.
After breaking through Eggman's defenses at Storm Station Zone, the feathered object is revealed to be another of Eggman's machines and tries to speed toward Angel Island. Sonic goes super once more, and after chasing the machine into Dream Dance Zone, finally destroys it. Sonic comes out of a Giant Ring and meets up with Tails. The two head to Angel Island, and thus, the events of Sonic 3 & Knuckles begin.
Characters
Sonic the Hedgehog: Sonic the Hedgehog is a 15-year-old blue hedgehog who lives in no particular locale on the planet Earth, instead choosing to travel the world looking for fun and adventure wherever he goes. While he may be a drifter, that doesn't mean he only cares about himself. Sonic is known for his 'attitude', which is shown through his smugness and sarcasm. Sonic sometimes likes to show off in order to 'look cool'. He is often shown posing or adjusting his gloves or shoes. He is also often noted to be impatient and sometimes have a hot temper.
Miles "Tails" Prower: Tails is an 8-year-old orange fox whose most recognizable trait is his twin tails. While he was originally teased for them, he has learned to appreciate and love his tails, especially since they have come in handy once joining Sonic the Hedgehog in defeating Dr. Eggman's plans time and time again. Tails is sweet-natured and humble, not one to grab the spotlight for himself and instead, ready to help out his friend and idol Sonic whenever necessary. While he isn't the bravest, he has become more outgoing since he has met Sonic, becoming the hero when need be. Regardless, Tails hopes to one day be self-sufficient, and not constantly rely on others, and be just as independent as Sonic.
Dr. Eggman: The grandson of Professor Gerald Robotnik, Dr. Eggman was born as Ivo Robotnik. While much of his past remains a mystery, it is known that in his early years Eggman looked up to his grandfather, hoping to one day be as great a scientist as Gerald ever was. It was later on in life that Dr. Robotnik would meet his long-time rival and arch-nemesis Sonic the Hedgehog. While he could be anything, Dr. Eggman has set his sights on the highest prize of them all - global domination. Dreaming of the day he will be able to erect Eggmanland, Eggman tires endlessly at accomplishing this, though his plans are foiled time and again by the blue blur himself, Sonic the Hedgehog.
Gameplay
Much like Sonic Before the Sequel did, the game plays very similarly to the Sega Mega Drive Sonic games. Sonic and Tails have the Spin Dash. Sonic has the Super Peel Out, but not in the form of a figure eight. Tails can fly, much as he did in Sonic 3. There are 3 Acts per Zone, with the boss having its own separate Act. In this game however, the player does not alternate between characters for each Zone, and instead chooses which character to play as for the whole game much like other Sonic games, thus allowing almost all Zones to be played as either Sonic or Tails.
There are 2 modes in this game: Story Mode, which allows the player to play through the game and automatically get the Good Ending, or Classic Mode, which allows the player to access the Special Stages and get the Chaos Emeralds to earn the Good Ending. The Time Points system from the previous game does not return. The game has 3 types of Shields: Spike (gives Sonic a ground pound), Water (gives Sonic a double jump), and Fire (gives Sonic an air dash).
Two powerups from the Kirby series, Beam for Sonic and Mirror for Tails, are also hidden in the game.
Zones
Horizon Heights Zone | |
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An improved version of the previous game's Hilltop Heights. Act 3 has a gimmick involving platforms that are only visible when lightning strikes. | |
Sugar Splash Zone | |
A large sugar factory, with some waterlogged areas toward the bottom. Touching the piles of sugar makes Sonic look like he's having a sugar rush and move very fast for a short time, however Tails is unaffected. This is the only zone in the game with no boss. When the Zone was first revealed, some people jokingly called it Cocaine Coast Zone. | |
Cyan City Zone | |
A large futuristic city, taking inspiration from Grand Metropolis. Sonic must storm Eggman's Flying Battery Fleet in the Boss Act. | |
Foliage Furnace Zone | |
A crystal-filled forest with a lava-filled factory. Resembles Planet Wisp in many ways. Mighty the Armadillo also helps Sonic and Tails out throughout the Zone. | |
Technology Tree Zone | |
A large highway in the middle of a forest. Happens to be Falk's favorite level. | |
Moon Mansion Zone | |
A haunted mansion, much like Mystic Mansion. The orb robot who stalked Tails in Sonic Before the Sequel returns to take its revenge as the boss of this Zone. | |
Redhot Ride Zone | |
A series of lava-filled caverns. A Fire Shield is immensely helpful here as it allows Sonic and Tails to safely enter the lava as if it were water (however can still drown). | |
Parhelion Peak Zone | |
The city atop the island's snow-covered mountain peak. Act 3 has a tribute to Frost Man's stage from Mega Man 8. | |
Storm Station Zone | |
Eggman's weather control station of a fortress. The weather here cycles from normal to cloudy to absolutely random. Lilac, the main character of Freedom Planet, makes a cameo appearance in a secret room in Act 1 accessible via a secret in Parhelion Peak Act 3. | |
Dream Dance Zone | |
The final showdown against Eggman's owl-like robot for the fate of Angel Island! This Zone is played as Super Sonic regardless of the player's character choice. |
Special Acts
There is a single Special Ring hidden in every Zone (except for Dream Dance, obviously). Touching it unlocks a special version of that level for play. The special Acts have different weather than their normal counterparts, due to Storm Station Zone's weather manipulation, and are played outside of the main game.
The reason for most of the special Acts having snow is that LakeFeperd sees very little snow in his home country of Brazil.
Soundtrack
Like the previous game, Sonic After the Sequel has an original soundtrack composed by the team of Falk, KgZ, Funk Fiction, and Andy Tunstall. This time, they were also joined by Mr. Lange (otherwise known as ShortFactor), DJ Max-E, and Li Xiao'an. Since LakeFeperd works extremely fast, the game itself was already finished in October 2012 and the only thing that held up the release was the soundtrack.
The soundtrack was once again praised as one of the best parts of the game. It can be downloaded here.