SPG:Animations

Sonic Physics Guide
Basics Positions And Speeds Angles Variables Calculations (Technical) Pixel and Subpixel Hex Angles Characters Sonic Tails Knuckles
Collision
Solid Tiles (Terrain Part 1) Sensors Solid Terrain (Terrain Part 2) Layers Loops Slope Collision (Slopes Part 1) The Player's Sensors While Grounded 360 Degree Collision While Airborne Hitboxes The Player's Hitbox Trigger Areas Solid Objects Solid Objects Sloped Objects Jump Through Platforms Pushable Blocks Item Monitor
Physics
Slope Physics (Slopes Part 2) Moving Along Slopes 360 Degree Movement Falling and Slipping Down Slopes Landing On The Ground Air State Running Jumping Rolling Getting Hit Rebound Underwater Air Physics Super Speeds
Gameplay
Main Game Loop Game Objects Game Enemies Badniks Bosses Ring Loss Special Abilities Spindash Super Peel Out Drop Dash Insta-Shield Flying Gliding Climbing Elemental Shields Flame Shield Bubble Shield Lightning Shield Player 2 Player 2 CPU Respawning Special Stages Rotating Maze
Presentation
Camera Animations Animation System Variable Speed Animation Timings Normal Animation Timings Animation Rules
Special
Overlay Scripts Sonic 1 Overlay Sonic 2 Overlay

Notes:

• The research applies to all four of the Sega Mega Drive games and Sonic CD.
• Animation notes for Tails and Knuckles are not yet included.
• "subimage" refers to an animation frame, while "frame" refers to a game frame, or 1/60th of a second.

Variable Speed Animation System

The animation system in the original Sonic trilogy may differ from that offered in modern IDEs by default. While knowing the specific subimage durations may be enough for a rough emulation, animations which are dynamically sped up and slowed down and thus may require more depth to achieve the same timings. This applies to the walk, run, pushing, & ball (rolling & jumping) animations only.

The variable animation system works as a counter, counting down the animation subimage's duration, then updating the animation upon completion, and resetting the counter. For example, a subimage which has a duration of 8 frames sets the duration counter to 7, and counts down every frame. On the frame this counter reaches -1, the duration counter is reset and the subimage is increased. You could set the timer to 8 and have the counter terminate at 0, but this isn't how the original games perform and results may differ if you do.

Process

For animations that have variable speed, this speed is based on Sonic's ground speed. On a frame that the subimage duration is set, the following will happen:

For walking and running

    duration = floor(max(0, 8-abs(GroundSpeed)))

For rolling and jumping

    duration = floor(max(0, 4-abs(GroundSpeed)))

For pushing

    duration = floor(max(0, 8-abs(GroundSpeed)) * 4) //this is because sonic can be moving while pushing, such as when pushing a block in MZ

So with that out the way, here's the process.

On the frame that the animation is first changed to a variable animation, the subimage will be set to the first of the animation (or another if specified), and the subimage duration timer will be set. On the next frame, the duration counter will begin decreasing by one each frame. Once the counter reaches -1, on that same frame the animation moves to the next subimage and the duration counter is set. On the next frame, the counter will begin to decrease again.

A simplified code example for variable speed animation would go as follows:

    if ((Animation != AnimationToBeSet)) //on the event of an animation needing to change
    {
        Animation = AnimationToBeSet; //set animation
        AniSubImageDurationTimer = AniDurationSet; //reset subimage duration counter, "AniSubImageDurationSet" would be whatever the duration should be at that moment
        AniSubImage = 1; //1 being the first subimage
    }
    else
    {
        //subimage handling
        if (AniSubImageDurationTimer > 0)
        {
            AniSubImageDurationTimer -= 1; //count down subimage duration
        }
        else
        {
            //move to next subimage
            AniSubImage = AniSubImage+1; //next subimage
            if (AniSubImage > AniSubImageNumber) AniSubImage = 1; //animation has ended, loop animation
    
            AniSubImageDurationTimer = AniSubImageDurationSet; //reset duration counter, "AniSubImageDurationSet" would be whatever the duration should be at that moment
        }	
    }

Notes:

• When rolling in the air or jumping, the animation speed will remain constant due to the fact that ground speed does NOT update in the air. In other words, the animation remains the speed it was when you left the ground until you land.
• Once the subimage exceeds the amount of subimages in a looping animation, on that frame the subimage is simply set to the first subimage.

All other subimage delays

Shown below are the subimage durations of the animations featured in the Sonic games. These predetermined durations use a different system and timer to variable animations, so here, 24 frames per subimage means 24 frames on screen exactly.

Idle

Sonic 1

Every sprite subimage in this animation lasts for 24 frames. Sonic stays still for 288 frames (the subimage occurs 12 times in the animation code) before entering the waiting subimages of the idle animation. When the waiting portion begins, Sonic enters a subimage for 24 frames, then has his eyes wide open for 72 frames. Afterwards, he will alternate between two subimages every 24 frames, making Sonic appear to tap his foot on the ground. This will loop until the player takes action.

Sonic 2

Every sprite subimage in this animation lasts for 6 frames. Sonic stays still for 180 frames (the subimage occurs 30 times in the animation code) before entering the first set of waiting subimages of the idle animation. He then blinks, which lasts for 6 frames, then has his eyes wide open for 30 frames. Afterwards, he will alternate between two subimages every 18 frames, making Sonic appear to tap his foot on the ground. This will loop until the player takes action.

Should the player NOT take action after Sonic taps his foot 3 times (126 frames) (Note: the animation starts with Sonic's foot down and ends with it pointing upwards), he will then look down at his wrist(watch?) for 60 frames, then resume tapping his foot. This foot-tapping/wristwatch sequence will continue 3 more times (204 frames/sequence*4=816 total frames). Afterwards, if no action is taken at this point, Sonic will enter a new animation where he lies down on the floor. It takes 6 frames for him to drop to the ground. He then enters a final alternating sequence tapping his finger against his shoe. Both subimages in this sequence last for 18 frames each.

Sonic 3K

Every sprite subimage in this animation lasts for 6 frames.

Balancing

Sonic 1

While balancing, the animation waits 32 frames before advancing to the next subimage.

Sonic 2

In Sonic 2 each of the 3 balancing animations have different animation speeds.

The facing forward balance animation waits 10 frames before advancing to the next subimage.

The backwards balance animation waits 20 frames before advancing to the next subimage.

And the last balance animation waits 4 frames before advancing to the next subimage.

Sonic 3

In Sonic 3 there are only 2 balancing animations, the one when you're at the edge, and the one when you're further down the edge.

The first one waits 8 frames before advancing to the next subimage.

And the second one waits 6 frames before advancing to the next subimage.

Braking (Skidding)

Skidding is merely an animation, with no deceleration or friction calculations exclusive to it. In other words, it uses the same physics described in SPG:Slope Physics. In Sonic 1, the animation waits 8 frames before advancing to the next subimage while braking. It will continue to loop between the two subimages until Sonic has stopped. In Sonic 2 and Sonic 3K, the animation will stop when it finishes, instead of looping.

Note: Sonic can only brake ("screech to a halt") in Floor mode.

Spindash

The spindash animation itself waits 1 frame to advance a subimage.

When a button is pressed to charge up the spindash, the subimage is set to 1 (therefore resetting it).

Animation Rules

Of course, it's not enough to simply know how these animations play, you have to know when and why they play (for those where it's not exactly obvious).

Idle/Walking/Running Animation

If you include Sonic CD in the mix, Sonic has 3 different running animations. He is depicted as standing still only if gsp is exactly zero. If he has any gsp whatsoever, he enters his walking animation, the frame advances in relation to his ground speed.

Once his gsp equals (or exceeds) 6, he enters his running animation, with the whirling feet. Once his gsp equals (or exceeds) 10, he enters his Dashing animation, with the figure-eight feet. Of course, the Dashing animation is only in Sonic CD.

Rolling and Jumping Animation

Typically Sonic's jump/ball animation includes one full ball subimage and 4 detailed subimages of his body rotating (once every spin). However if gsp equals (or exceeds) 6, even while in the air, the animation will include a full ball subimage after every 2 full body subimages (twice every spin).

Spring Animation

The "up" springboard animation waits 48 steps before changing to the walking animation.

For all of the diagonal springboards, Sonic doesn't change to the walking animation in the air at all. Instead, he remains in the corkscrew (3D spinning) animation, this animation waits 5.5 steps before advancing a frame.

Braking Animation

Sonic enters his braking animation when you turn around only if his absolute gsp is equal to or more than 4. In Sonic 1 and Sonic CD, he then stays in the braking animation until gsp reaches zero or changes sign. In the other 3 games, Sonic returns to his walking animation after the braking animation finishes displaying all of its frames.

Simpler Method For Displaying Subimage Durations

For programs such as GameMaker or MMF, to display an animation properly without an advances system you may need the speed of the animation instead of the duration of the frames.

• This is a very rough way to animate the sprites closely but may result in off-speed variable speed animations, and other differences.
• In GameMaker, the animation speed (image_speed) is how many subimages will be advanced per frame, so a speed of 1 will advance a subimage each frame,and 0.5 will advance a subimage every 2 frames. Although it's better to just set the image_speed like this in the first place.
  • To convert a frame duration to a GameMaker image speed, simply divide 1 by it.

     image_speed = (1/frame_duration);