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Sonic 2 Recreation

From Sonic Retro

Revision as of 06:11, 6 August 2012 by KingofHarts (talk | contribs) (Credits: Made this look nicer)
S2R 2012Title.png
Sonic 2 Recreation
Version: Demo 2
Last release: 28th March 2009
Status: Active
System: Sega Mega Drive/Genesis
Original game: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit)
Credits: redhotsonic, ValleyBell, StephenUK

Sonic 2 Recreation is a hack of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit) by redhotsonic. It sports an ASM overhaul, multiple characters, new zones, a new boss, a new DAC driver that supports many different sound features, new zone art, etc.

History

After a year of not hacking, redhotsonic missed working on Red Hot Sonic 2, and decided to start hacking Sonic 2 again from scratch using ASM. At the time, this hack had a different objective than most others: you must find the emerald in the level before you could finish it. The levels were not of the best quality, graphics-wise, though the emerald hunting aspect proved to be a true challenge. After the second demo release in 2009, the hack sort of went under the radar. On March 28th, 2012, RHS formally announced that the hack was back in the making, citing it as his entry in the 2012 Hacking Contest... this being his first ever entry. In this thread, he showed off some screenshots of some MUCH NICER looking zones, this time having their own names and identities, though they were criticized at first for appearing too similar to Advance art, and thus clashing with the Mega Drive Style objects & characters. It also gave a first look at a brand new boss. He would go on to show video footage of the game, which gave us a listen to the work of ValleyBell's DAC driver imported into the hack, allowing for Sonic CD tracks to play, and underwater effects to be applied to music and sounds. In early May 2012, it was reavealed that StephenUK jumped on board to assist with art, as RHS himself would inform you that he is not a great artist. The result was much nicer looking zones than the initial re-reveal. As of this writing (August 6th, 2012 - Beijing Time Zone), the latest revision has NOT been released publicly, as the hack is a partially private entry in the Hacking Contest, and no release date has yet been given. I'm sure it'll be out soon though, so be patient.

Game Overview

Starting the game brings you to the Portal Zone which, as those who have played the 2009 release already know, contains portals for 4 different zones. Portals 2, 3 and 4 are blocked until the first zone is completed. After all 4 are completed, all zones are available for free play. To the left, a portal will lead you to the options menu, where you can select your character, turn on/off the time limit, and utilize the Sound Test.

The emerald hunting objective in the previous release is no longer present. You may now run through and finish the levels as you desire.

Sonic 2: Recreation features Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and redhotsonic as playable characters. Each character can be played as individually, and additionally Tails can pair up with Sonic or Knuckles, acting as a sidekick, and Knuckles can also pair up with Sonic. Cream the Rabbit was originally going to be present in the hack as well, but was soon scrapped due to a bad spritesheet and people disliking her. Mighty was available in the 2009 release, but will NOT be available in the upcoming release, and it is unknown at this time when/if he will return to the hack.

Updates on this hack are mainly posted on the SSRG and RetroHack forums, and occasionally on the Sonic Retro forums. Sonic Retro updates have occured much more frequently this year. You can find the official topic thread here. [1]

Demo release features and information

2012 Hacking Contest Demo (Demo 3)

The third demo has been completely overhauled are redesigned. It has the following:

Redhotsonic facing the brand new Gem Runway Zone boss. This boss drops red balls that must be spun into to turn yellow. Yellow balls damage the boss. Watch out for spikeballs!

ON THE SURFACE

  • A new original SEGA screen and modded SSRG screen with RHS featured.
  • A new title screen with the "PRESS START BUTTON" from Sonic 1, that will take you right into the game.
  • A brand new title card, with matching colors and names for characters.
  • Play as Sonic (with/without Tails), Tails, Knuckles (with/without Tails), redhotsonic, OR Sonic & Knuckles!
  • Sonic is faster, has an air-dash ability, and can "burst".
  • Tails retains his S3K moveset, and can instantly descend from flight in the case of wanting to drop to the ground quickly.
  • Knuckles plays as he does in S3K, though he doesn't retain his abilities as a sidekick (YET).
  • RHS has no abilities at the moment, though there may be a lava level in the future that sees him invulnerable to the lava...
  • A cleaned up, bug free Portal Zone is your home. Here you can enter options to change character, switch time-over on or off, or use the sound test. Portal Zone is also responsible for getting you to new levels. At first, only one level is available. After completing one, the next one is available. After you've completed all 4, all portals become available, and the cheat is enabled (press start then A to exit game, and then at title screen, press start whilst holding A, and you're at the level select. Picking a level, hold A to enable debug).
  • From level select, you can take a peek of what may appear in the future. Please be aware that any of these levels can contain bugs and are most likely not complete-able.
  • You can enter the cheat code yourself, good luck getting it.
  • So far, there are 4 new, completed levels; West Bay Zone, Great Gate Zone, Gem Runway Zone and Chaos Angel Zone. Gem Runway has the new boss. Each level contains two main acts, and a boss act. Gem Runway contains the brand new boss. Chaos Angel has 3 main acts but no boss as yet. The emerald hunting aspect has been removed as well, allowing one to run through the zone as they wish.
  • Each boss, old or new, has a new Pinch Mode twist to add to the difficulty, and to freshen things up a bit.
  • Each main level and act will have a "B" portal right at the start. This will take you back to Portal Zone. This means you can go back to Portal at any time.
  • Dying results in a quick scrollback to the previous checkpoint, OR the start of the level... no more constant fade outs OR music restarting.
  • 2 Player no longer exists. All code has been taken out. This includes all checks, which can help improve the speed of the game (barely).

UNDER THE HOOD

  • Many Sonic 2 bugs and inferior design choices are gone, and replaced with better coding.
  • S3K-RM Object Manager. Described as "The S3K Object manager with more oomph." (by redhotsonic and MoDule)
  • S3K Touch Response (by Module)
  • S3K Priority Manager
  • Improved S3K Rings manager (original guide by shobiz, improved and optimized by RHS)
  • S3K ObjectMove(and Fall) routines... see the updated SCHG.
  • Improved layer deformation code.
  • A huge improvement to the S2clonedriver, and optimized greatly. For details, read on (by ValleyBell)
  • Uneditable SRAM - Saves your progress after each level or character selection. Loads up your progress when you next play the game. The SRAM in S2R is jumbled and data gets shifted and changed all the time. A lot of the data is dud. If you make an edit yourself to the SRAM, when you next load the game, the SRAM may delete your progress without warning, and you'll have to start again.
  • Extra security to the game on top of that, so you can't cheat your way through! (RAM changes, code changes, conversion, etc).
  • Many more misc optimizations here and there (too many to list).
  • Underwater mode. When the main character goes underwater, the sound driver changes its properties to make the music and SFX/DAC's sound like you're underwater. (by ValleyBell)
  • Improved screen fading routines. (Thanks to MarkeyJester)
  • Improved music fading. Music/PSGs/FMs/DACs are now more balanced when fading in and out. Also, can change the speed of the fade in/out to really fast to really slow. (by ValleyBell)
  • SFXs are no longer affected by the fading in/out of music or by the 1-up jingle.
  • NTSC initially, but compatible with PAL. Music will be the same speed in PAL mode as it was in NTSC mode. Timer is still synced with the game in either mode.
  • Main level music will NOT restart after invincibility music or drowning music, instead, it will resume from where it left off (by ValleyBell)

Demo 2

The second demo was released about a year later. It was more "complete", and had the following:

  • Level select level (replaces Hill Top Zone. The unerased parts of Hill Top Zone can be found to the right, in very garbled form.)
  • The first four emerald finding levels (In order of Emerald Hill Zone, Chemical Plant Zone, Casino Night Zone and Metropolis Zone.)
  • A ton of different character combinations, including Redhotsonic and Cream alone (which is garbled Shadow and Cream.)
  • All the moves and features in the last demo.
  • Knuckles has gliding and climbing ability.
  • Mighty has a sort of "Wall Stick" move (Mighty sticks onto the wall when you press jump near one, but you can't leave the wall without waiting for Mighty to drop off.)
  • Glitches and hidden things:
    • The Casino Night and Emerald Hill Zone's new tiles aren't made for getting compressed in 2P mode. They look weird.
    • Selecting the Hill Top Zone Act 2 will bring the player to A very garbled form of Hill Top Zone.
    • Aquatic Ruin Zone is accessable via level select and It might be based on a zone like Sunset Hill Zone because that those tiles are found there and the very start of the level is complete (but the rest isn't.).
Mighty on the OLD Lightning level from the 2009 release. This barrier would block the end-of-act sign and remain until the emerald was found. The warp would take you back to the start of the level, to search the entire level again to find the emerald. This aspect has since been removed.

Demo

A demo of Sonic 2 Recreation was released on the 19th of April, 2008. Not all planned features are present in this demo, which only features:

  • Level select level (replaces Hill Top Zone)
  • First emerald finding level (Emerald Hill Zone)
  • Sonic and Tails/Sonic Alone/Tails Alone as playable character combinations
  • Sonic's air dash (a double-jump action)
  • Tails' flying ability (keep pressing A or C whilst in mid-air)
  • Tails' drop ability (while flying, press the B button to drop to the ground quickly)
  • Tails' carrying ability (while flying, make Sonic jump into Tails' arms and Tails will carry Sonic)
  • A sneak-peek at Knuckles with Tails on the second level (which is incomplete, although the emerald is there)
  • Knuckles' gliding and climbing ability
  • New Eggman explosion art
  • Act 1 of each level uses the 2P mode death mechanism (the level scrolls back to the beginning instead of restarting)
  • Back logo (to go back to the level select level)
  • Warphole (to go back to the beginning of the level if you do not find the emerald)
  • Barrier (disappears when emerald is found)
  • New art
  • Some different music from other Sonic games
  • Question.png monitor, which gives a variable amount of rings
  • Different waiting animations: Sonic blinks and taps his foot, while Knuckles blinks and punches the air
  • Knuckles can break monitors by walking into them
  • Different title cards for different characters.

Level one is completable, level 2 is not: although the emerald is present, the end-of-act sign is inaccessible. In addition, level 2 can also only be played with Knuckles as a main character and Tails as his sidekick.

Planned features in the future

  • More new levels
  • More new bosses
  • New badniks
  • Time-attack mode. Show us your fastest times in S2R.
  • More cut-scenes!
  • More thrills that other Sonic hacks can't bring to you.
  • A proper story line, as there isn't one at the moment.
  • Brand new special stages

Credits

The Team

  • redhotsonic - creator, programmer, designer, beginner-artist
  • ValleyBell - musician, sound programmer
  • StephenUK - artist

Also...

  • ValleyBell and StephenUK, helping making this game go to the next level.
  • All the creators of programs that I used in the creation of S2R.
  • SMTP, even though I haven't spoken to him properly for a while, he helped me with this many years ago. And frankly, this hack wouldn't have got far without him.
  • Module, for the guidance he gave me.
  • flamewing, for his advice and tips
  • Zana, for creating Gem Runway's background art
  • Jamie Bailey and Dragon XVI, for permission to use the midi for Gem Runway act 1 (act 2 remixed by ValleyBell)
  • Sonica and jasonchrist for permission to use their monitor art

Special Thanks

  • MarkeyJester, PsychoSk8r, KingofHarts, SOTI (Spanner), and anyone else I may have forgotten. (Let me know)
  • OrdosAlpha and the other SSRG admins; for giving me my own webspace so I can show the world S2R
  • My girlfriend, Kate; for putting up with me being on the laptop creating this game. And for supporting me, of course! And her brothers for testing the game out and my siblings for testing the game out.
  • And at last, but certainly not least, the members of SSRG and Sonic Retro, for your support.

Downloads

Download.svg Download Sonic 2 Recreation
File: Sonic_2_Recreation_Demo_2.zip (1,017 kB) (info)
Current version: demo

Previous Versions