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Difference between revisions of "Sonic Adventure 2: The New Challengers"

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There are also a few additional changes that replace existing files, and therefore also apply to the vanilla installation of ''Sonic Adventure 2'':
 
There are also a few additional changes that replace existing files, and therefore also apply to the vanilla installation of ''Sonic Adventure 2'':
  
*Restored the missing lyrics to Aquatic Mine's music from the official soundtrack.
+
*Restored the missing lyrics to Death Chamber's music from the official soundtrack.
 
*Modified object layouts for Final Rush which fix the notorious broken vertical rail at the very end of the Chao route.
 
*Modified object layouts for Final Rush which fix the notorious broken vertical rail at the very end of the Chao route.
 
*Replaced one of Green Hill's sound banks, which broke the 2P characters' sound effects and gave Sonic that ear-bleeding jump sound.
 
*Replaced one of Green Hill's sound banks, which broke the 2P characters' sound effects and gave Sonic that ear-bleeding jump sound.

Revision as of 15:31, 28 March 2013

SA2TheNewChallengers.jpg
Sonic Adventure 2: The New Challengers
Last release: March 28th, 2013
System: Microsoft Windows
Original game: Sonic Adventure 2 (2012)
Credits: Neo
Thanks: MainMemory

Sonic Adventure 2: The New Challengers is a hack of the PC version of Sonic Adventure 2 by Neo. It aims to add replay value to the original game by allowing players to play any stage with any one of its same-gametype characters.

Origin

The project's roots lie in
Sonic Retro
MainMemory's character select hack
, which MainMemory created on his own after Neo pitched the initial concept to him. Sonic Adventure 2: The New Challengers is directly built on top of MainMemory's hack, and therefore inherits the following features:
  • Holding the L and/or R buttons during level load will allow you to select a different character. Conversely to MainMemory's hack, holding down the R button will flip the hero/dark faction, while holding down the L button will instead select the alternate 2P character.
  • 2P characters have been given several fixes so they don't crash the game at every turn, including but not limited to: levels that start with a cutscene, Amy/Metal Sonic doing fire somersaults, Chao/Dark Chao firing their bazookas, Dark Chao's lives icon.
  • Various usability fixes, such as loading the 2P sound and voice banks when appropriate, and merging the character start/end position arrays so opposite-faction characters don't appear in the wrong place when they're outside their set of levels.

However, in MainMemory's hack, various unforeseen situations still resulted in a crash or otherwise incorrect behavior that resulted in some stages being impossible to clear.

Bugfixes

In Sonic Adventure 2: The New Challengers, all stages are now possible to clear as all characters, as all known game crashes have been excised, and other obstacles have been worked around. The following is a full list of bugfixes:

  • Fixed Knuckles/Tikal crashing in Dry Lagoon's water
  • Fixed Knuckles/Tikal crashing in Cannon's Core 3's water
  • Fixed Rouge/Chaos crashing in Aquatic Mine's water
  • Fixed Rouge/Chaos crashing in Cannon's Core 4's water
  • Fixed Tails crashing in Sand Ocean's quicksand
  • Fixed Tails crashing in Egg Golem's quicksand
  • Fixed Eggman crashing in Hidden Base's quicksand
  • Fixed crashing when fighting a character vs. character boss as itself
  • Fixed Knuckles/Tikal crashing when interacting with Dry Lagoon's turtles
  • Fixed Knuckles/Tikal not being able to Move/Grab Dry Lagoon's turtles
  • Fixed Shadow/Metal Sonic not regaining control at the start of Cannon's Core 5

Features

Besides the fixes listed above, there are a vast number of gameplay and cosmetic changes to polish the overall experience:

  • New custom textures for stage title cards so each of the twelve characters get their own unique color scheme.
  • Tikal's emerald radar has been ported to 1P mode. It will only start blinking when it is within 100 units (yellow range) as opposed to 500 units (green range), so the game is much harder as her. Give it a try!
  • Level-up items no longer spawn if you're playing as the wrong character. This avoids inconsistencies such as getting the Bounce Bracelet as Shadow, and then being able to bounce attack only for the duration of the stage and never again on that save file. 2P characters share level-up items with their 1P counterparts, so they will spawn for them.
  • Shadow and Metal Sonic now load custom object layouts in Crazy Gadget/Final Rush to get around their lack of bounce attack. These changes do not affect Sonic or Amy's versions of the stage.
  • Added Action Window text for actions characters don't normally have (Magic Hands for Amy, Treasure Scope for Chaos, etc).
  • 2P characters now have victory sounds when clearing a stage. 1P characters now have unique victory sounds for bosses they don't normally face.
  • Disabled Knuckles/Rouge's audible screams when the shutters open during their versus boss battle when they aren't actually there.
  • Disabled Eggman's taunts during Security Hall's 1st mission when not playing as Rouge.
  • Disabled Eggman's taunts during Crazy Gadget when not playing as Sonic. They also now play in the 1st mission in general instead of being tied solely to the story mode.
  • Disabled Eggman's (and at one point, Tails') voiceovers during Cannon's Core when playing outside of the 1st mission or as the wrong character.
  • You can no longer freely change characters between Cannon's Core segments. However, character progression in the stage is now determined relative to the chosen starting character, alternating gametype and hero/dark faction in a manner identical to the original. This balances things out a bit, as if you choose to plow through one section as Chao Walker, you'll have to lumber around another as Dark Chao Walker, while still keeping an element of strategy in deciding which character you'll want to be in a particular segment.
  • Entering Chao World from a stage will now retain your current character properly, instead of defaulting back to the stage's normal character. You can still use the L and R buttons to change it, though.
  • Chao World now loads the appropriate sound/voice banks if you're playing as a 2P character; no more file swapping.
  • Modified the song playlist in Chao World to match the Dreamcast version more closely: the old Lobby and Race Entrance music has been restored, and the new Race Entrance music is now heard in Chao Cave. Chao Transporter (or Departure Machine, whatever) music is now the unused Bulletin Board theme.
  • Disabled LoD models for Sonic and Shadow in 2P Mode.
  • Merged with MainMemory's "No Battle" hack for Dreamcast-styled menus and title screen.
  • Custom title screen with hack name and updated credits.

There are also a few additional changes that replace existing files, and therefore also apply to the vanilla installation of Sonic Adventure 2:

  • Restored the missing lyrics to Death Chamber's music from the official soundtrack.
  • Modified object layouts for Final Rush which fix the notorious broken vertical rail at the very end of the Chao route.
  • Replaced one of Green Hill's sound banks, which broke the 2P characters' sound effects and gave Sonic that ear-bleeding jump sound.
  • Restored the original "Presented by SEGA" screen, because frankly, the gigantic typeface on the new one was an eyesore.
  • Custom lives icons for all the characters based on their Dreamcast originals.
  • High-definiton item box icons, courtesy of BlazeHedgehog (except the 1-Up icon).

Download

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File: sonic2app_tnc.7z (18.75 MB) (info)
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