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Difference between revisions of "Spike damage behavior"

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In ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' for the [[Sega Megadrive]], [[spikes]] were originally presented to be as lethal to Sonic as falling down a pit or being crushed to death. When Sonic is injured by anything, including a set of spikes, he will become invulnerable, indicated by his sprite flashing the moment he touches the ground. However, if he lands on spikes, he will be harmed, regardless of whether he is flashing or not. This behavior is refered to as the ''Spike Bug''.
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<div class="thumb tright" style="width:330px"><div>[[Image:Sonic 1 rev00 spike damage behavior.flv|320px]]<div class="thumbcaption">Spike damage behavior in the original revision of ''Sonic the Hedgehog''</div></div></div>
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<div class="thumb tright" style="width:330px"><div>[[Image:Sonic 1 later rev spike damage behavior.flv|320px]]<div class="thumbcaption">Spike damage behavior in some later revisions of ''Sonic the Hedgehog''</div></div></div>
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In ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' for the [[Sega Mega Drive]], [[Spikes (obstacle)|spikes]] were originally presented to be as lethal to [[Sonic]] as falling down a pit or being crushed to death. When Sonic is injured by anything, including a set of spikes, he will become invulnerable, indicated by his sprite flashing the moment he touches the ground. However, if he lands on spikes, he will be harmed, regardless of whether he is flashing or not. This behavior is most often refered to as the "'''spike bug'''".
  
The most frequently encountered (and argueably most annoying) occurance is when a number of spikes are placed together horizontally, causing death upon landing on the second spike after 'bouncing' off the first. This is not the only way to trigger it however; if Sonic jumps or falls into a set of spikes, he will still be harmed or die, even if flashing at the time of impact. This is cause of debate as to whether it was indeed a 'bug' or an intended feature.
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The "spike bug" is most frequently encountered when a number of spikes are placed together horizontally, and Sonic lands on one of the spikes, recoils, and lands on another. There is debate as to whether this is indeed a "bug" or an intended feature, considering that the behavior was changed in ''[[Sonic 2]]'' and later. However, many factors (including the actual coding for the spike object) lead to the conclusion that the "spike bug" is, ultimately, intended behavior that was removed by the ''Sonic 2'' developers. Another factor is how the spike object can harm Sonic while having invincibility in the [[Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit) (prototype)|prototype]] of the original game.
  
First chronological evidence of removal was in [[Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Beta 5|Sonic 2 Beta 5]].
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The reason the behavior was changed in later, unofficial ''Sonic 1'' revisions is likely due to the developers acting under the assumption that the alternate behavior was unintended, and they changed it as a result. Another possibility is that it was changed because the behavior made the game "too hard," or to maintain consistency between ''Sonic 1'' and other games in the series. However, it is worth noting that the only official revision of the game that ever changed the behavior of the spikes, in ''[[Sonic Mega Collection]]'', was released more than a decade later. It was also changed in ''[[Sonic Jam]]'', another compilation which was released much earlier. However, toggling the spin dash on will revert the behavior.
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The "spike bug" is caused by spikes calling a special routine to hurt Sonic, different from the routine used by every other object in the game that damages him.
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The first chronological evidence of the removal of this behavior was in [[Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Beta 5|Sonic 2 Beta 5]].
  
 
==Removal==
 
==Removal==
*An official [[ROM]] hack was released as part of ''[[Sonic Mega Collection]]'', called "JP2", where the bug was removed.
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*[[User:Drx|drx]] created his own ROM hack before the release of ''Sonic Mega Collection'' with the behavior removed. He later released instructions for removing the behavior in a [[disassembly]].
*[[drx]] actually created his own ROM hack before the release of ''Sonic Mega Collection'', with the bug removed. He later released the source code, or rather instructions for removing the bug in an [[ASM]] file ([[disassembly]]). drx's bugfix has been implemented in [[Hivebrain]]'s ''[[Sonic 1 Plus]]'' and ''[[South Island Adventure]]'' ROM hacks.
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*[[SCHG How-to:Change Spike behavior in Sonic 1|A tutorial]] written by [[User:FraGag|FraGag]] details how to change this behavior using a disassembly.
*[[FraGag]] made a tutorial on how to remove the bug, it is avaliable [http://info.sonicretro.org/SCHG_How-to:Fix_the_Spike_bug_in_Sonic_1 here].
 
  
[[Category:Hacking Information]]
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[[Category:Hacking information]]

Latest revision as of 21:57, 5 April 2021

File:Sonic 1 rev00 spike damage behavior.flv
Spike damage behavior in the original revision of Sonic the Hedgehog
File:Sonic 1 later rev spike damage behavior.flv
Spike damage behavior in some later revisions of Sonic the Hedgehog

In Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Mega Drive, spikes were originally presented to be as lethal to Sonic as falling down a pit or being crushed to death. When Sonic is injured by anything, including a set of spikes, he will become invulnerable, indicated by his sprite flashing the moment he touches the ground. However, if he lands on spikes, he will be harmed, regardless of whether he is flashing or not. This behavior is most often refered to as the "spike bug".

The "spike bug" is most frequently encountered when a number of spikes are placed together horizontally, and Sonic lands on one of the spikes, recoils, and lands on another. There is debate as to whether this is indeed a "bug" or an intended feature, considering that the behavior was changed in Sonic 2 and later. However, many factors (including the actual coding for the spike object) lead to the conclusion that the "spike bug" is, ultimately, intended behavior that was removed by the Sonic 2 developers. Another factor is how the spike object can harm Sonic while having invincibility in the prototype of the original game.

The reason the behavior was changed in later, unofficial Sonic 1 revisions is likely due to the developers acting under the assumption that the alternate behavior was unintended, and they changed it as a result. Another possibility is that it was changed because the behavior made the game "too hard," or to maintain consistency between Sonic 1 and other games in the series. However, it is worth noting that the only official revision of the game that ever changed the behavior of the spikes, in Sonic Mega Collection, was released more than a decade later. It was also changed in Sonic Jam, another compilation which was released much earlier. However, toggling the spin dash on will revert the behavior.

The "spike bug" is caused by spikes calling a special routine to hurt Sonic, different from the routine used by every other object in the game that damages him.

The first chronological evidence of the removal of this behavior was in Sonic 2 Beta 5.

Removal

  • drx created his own ROM hack before the release of Sonic Mega Collection with the behavior removed. He later released instructions for removing the behavior in a disassembly.
  • A tutorial written by FraGag details how to change this behavior using a disassembly.