Sonic Classic Heroes

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Sonic Classic Heroes
Version: 0.07 beta 5 revision a
Last release: 2012-07-26
Status: in progress
System: Sega Mega Drive / Genesis
Original game: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit)
Credits: flamewing, ColinC10, Various others

Sonic Classic Heroes is a ROM hack for the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis that is the result of a collaboration between flamewing and ColinC10, combining their respective hacks Sonic 2 Heroes and Sonic 1 and 2. It therefore is a single ROM containing all the levels from Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and enabling the player to use anything from one to all three of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. The hack is named after the ability to use all three characters in-game, which is reminiscent of the more recent 3D game Sonic Heroes.

The hack is built on Sonic 2’s engine, which has been enhanced by both flamewing and ColinC10 to have new features, including multiple gameplay elements from Sonic 3 & Knuckles such as element shields and character-specific abilities. There will also be the ability to save progress, scores, etc. to SRAM (something that has rarely been implemented in Sonic 2, with the other notable example being Esrael’s Sonic 2 Delta).

History

Background

Beginning

almost immediately after the initial release of the first version of this project, Sonic 2 Heroes, posters to its official thread on the Sonic Retro forums suggested (with varying degrees of jocularity and seriousness) that flamewing and Sonic 1 and 2 author ColinC10 combine their two hacks, with the result that the hack would cover not only the levels of Sonic 2 but also those of Sonic 1. Reminded of this suggestion several months later, flamewing

posted expressed interest and an intention to ask ColinC10. The two agreed to collaborate. flamewing took most programming responsibility to integrate the source code of the two hacks and only

announced the existence of the project once it was well underway, on 19 December 2011.

First release

On 20 July 2012, flamewing

announced the first public release of Sonic Classic Heroes. This was the same version that he submitted to that year's Sonic the Hedgehog Hacking Contest. Although the new title of Sonic Classic Heroes now replaced that of Sonic 2 Heroes, the existing numbering scheme was maintained, making this version 0.07 beta. Several revisions fixing bugs and/or improving features have since been released, bringing the current version to

version 0.07 beta 5 revision a.

Features

Although this is by no means an exhaustive list, here are some of the things that are, or in the future have been planned to be, included in Sonic Classic Heroes. Until this page is updated more thoroughly, please see the forum post linked in the above paragraph for an extensive changelog.

Characters

• The player can choose to use one, two, or three of Sonic, Tails and Knuckles. When using more than one character, the player controls the character who is leading the group. The leading character can be changed at any time, using the additional buttons on the six-button Control Pad.
• Other teams besides the above Team Sonic may be included.
• A new options screen will enable the player to select their characters and their initial order. Future versions will include multiple save slots and several other options.
• Up to three players will be able to play co-operatively, via the Multi-Tap. Special Stages will be playable in this way, too. Moreover, the player will be able to choose how many of their characters appear in Special Stages; currently, all characters appear in the Special Stage, but in the future this will be optional, thus satisfying players who don’t like CPU-controlled characters losing their rings.
• Sonic can use the Insta-Shield and Super Peel-Out, and he has a higher top speed than either of the other two player characters.
• Tails can fly, swim, and carry Sonic or Knuckles – or both!
• Knuckles can glide and climb, and will also be able to carry his friends.
• When player 1 is controlling Sonic, Tails and Knuckles share his top speed, acceleration, deceleration, and jump strength (which are even more meaningful when one considers Super Sonic’s enhanced stats). This is especially useful for Knuckles: when he is CPU controlled and thus is following Sonic or Tails, his usual reduced jump height might make him unable to follow the other characters onto some higher platforms to which they could jump.

Items

• Power-ups are awarded collectively to all of the player’s characters when a monitor is broken. However, shields are lost individually: if a character is hit, only they will lose their shield, whereas the other character(s) will retain their individual shields until they are hit.
• Elemental shields from Sonic 3 have been added. The standard blue shield from Sonic 2 remains and has been upgraded so that, like the elemental shields, it awards Sonic a power while he has it: in this case, the Homing Attack.

Downloads

Sonic Classic Heroes version 0.07 beta 5 revision a, released by flamewing via Mediafire

on 2012-07-24

External links

Announcement of project in the hack's dedicated thread (formerly titled Sonic 2 Heroes) on the Sonic Retro Message Board