Tails Adventures
From Sonic Retro
| Tails Adventures |
|---|
| System(s): Sega Game Gear |
| Publisher: Sega |
| Developer: Aspect Co. Ltd |
| Genre: 2D Platform |
Tails Adventures (also known as Tails Adventure) is an adventure game for the Sega Game Gear. The game was developed by Aspect Co. Ltd and released in 1995. It was Tails' first lone adventure game and a departure from the usual high speed action common in many games of the Sonic franchise. The story serves as a prequel to his first appearence in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 thus he lacks his spinning attacks at the start of the game. It is widely considered to be one of the best Sonic Game Gear games. This game was released four years before Sonic Adventure.
Contents
Storyline
In the southern Pacific, there exists a tiny island that cannot be found on any map: Cocoa Island, a beautiful little paradise that rests atop a coral reef. It's said that the legendary Chaos Emeralds rest here... And so did the hero of our story, once upon a time before he met his speedy blue idol. The following events take place prior to Tails' first encounter with Sonic:
It's a sunny afternoon on Cocoa Island, and Miles Prower is taking a nap just outside his research lab, Tails House. His slumber is interrupted by a huge explosion, and before Tails can say "stop, drop, and roll" the whole place is ablaze. A frantic Flicky bird reports the bad news to a confused Tails: the imperial Battle Kukku army has invaded Cocoa Island. The dictator Great Battle Kukku 15th has discovered the Chaos Emeralds on the island, and intends to use them to conquer the entire world (clever, that). Tails is the only one who can put a stop to the imperial army, but he has never faced this kind of danger before... is he up to it?
Gameplay
Contrary to the classic speedy gameplay in the Sonic series, Tails Adventures is a puzzle-based platformer with a strong emphasis on item collecting and backtracking, like a side-scrolling action RPG.
Tails can walk, jump (but he doesn't spin), duck, look up, fly, hang on ledges, and throw all manner of bombs. His health is measured numerically by a Ring Item Box at the top left corner of the screen. HP is replenished by collecting Rings, which can be found by blowing up rocks or defeating enemies. He starts with 10 HP, but that number maxes out at 99 when all six Chaos Emeralds have been collected. His air time is limited by the flight gauge, which starts at about 3 seconds and maxes out at about 15.
In total there are 12 stages to complete. There are 26 items to collect over the course of the game. Each one serves a different purpose, but Tails can only bring 4 items with him into any stage. Knowing which ones to bring along is a matter of tactic.
Essential to complete the game in most parts however is Mecha Tails. Mecha Tails is a tiny, all-terrain robot pup who can squeeze into a lot of places Tails himself can't. When using Mecha Tails, Tails stands in place while player control is switched to the vehicle. The robo dog can walk, jump, fly, and squeeze into tiny places, but if he takes damage from an enemy or a blue laser, he'll automatically return to Tails. Nearly all of the game's puzzles involve maneuvering the robot to open the path for Tails himself.
Under water, the Mecha Tails changes into the Sea Tail, a small submarine that moves in much the same way the Mecha Tails does.
Items
- Normal Bomb: Blows up enemies and basic stone barriers.
- Great Bomb: Kills all enemies on screen and is the only way to destroy strong barriers.
- Remocon Bomb: Bomb that does not explode until detonated by pressing
, it will also explode automatically if it hits an enemy. - Napalm Dan: Creates a flame wave that destroys everything in its path, including objects above. It's the only way to clear through tall grass.
- Combo Bomb: An enhanced version of the Normal Bomb with a wider explosion radius.
- Pikkon Hammer: Mallet weapon to attack enemies with.
- Boots: Running is enabled while holding button .
- Helmet: Holding button with this equipped will grant invulnerability as Tails ducks under a helmet. Unfortunately, movement is not possible during this time.
- Radio: Change the Background Music by pressing .
- Item Radar: Gives status on unaquired items remaining in a stage.
- Spanner: Reverses the direction of the conveyor belts in Battle Kukku 2.
- Tebukuro: Lift and place rocks with button and throw them with button
. - Night Scope: Light up pitch dark passages by pressing button .
- Tensouki: Press to warp back to Tails House.
- Sonic: Tap button to roll into a stationary spin and release to zip forward with a sort of Spin Dash like move. It can also be used to destroy blocks.
- Knuckles: Press button to use a close range punch attack.
- Fang: Increases the chance of a destroyed enemy dropping a Ring.
- Mecha Tails: A tiny all-terrain robot can squeeze into tight passages. Mecha Tails can walk, jump, and fly, but has no offensive techniques and will warp back to Tails upon taking damage. Pressing will toggle control of Tails and Mecha Tails. This item also transforms into the Sea Tail, allowing access to the submarine stages.
- Chaos Emerald: There are 6 Chaos Emeralds hidden throughout the game. Each one extends Tails' life meter by 10 points and his flight gauge by a few seconds. If you've got 5 Emeralds and procure the sixth, Tails' life meter will max out at 99.
Manuals
Also Released On
- Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut for the Gamecube (2003)
- Sonic Gems Collection for the Nintendo GameCube and Sony Playstation 2 (2005)
- Playpal Plug and Play for the Coleco Plug and play console (2006)
Production Credits
Producer/Director: Katsuhiro Hasegawa
Game Designers: M. Simamura, O. Kodera
Artists: Nobuhiko Honda, Shinichi Higashi
Programmers: Kazuyuki Oikawa, Hiroyuki Saigusa, Yoshiaki Makishima
Sound Composer: Kojiro Mikusa
Special Thanks: Tadashi Ihoroi, P. Tezuka, Hisayoshi Yoshida, R. Fujimura, Ryoichi Hasegawa, Osamu Nakazato, T. Kojima
Resources
Box Art
- TA US Boxart.jpg
US cover
US cart
EU cover
JP cover
JP cart
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| Sonic the Hedgehog games for the following systems | |
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1991 Sonic the Hedgehog 1992 Sonic the Hedgehog 2 1993 Sonic Chaos | Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine 1994 Sonic Drift | Sonic Spinball | Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble 1995 Sonic Drift 2 | Tails' Skypatrol | Tails Adventures | Sonic Labyrinth | Sonic 2 in 1 1996 Sonic Blast Prototypes Sonic the Hedgehog (Game Gear prototype) | Sonic Chaos prereleases | Sonic Spinball (8-bit) prereleases | Sonic Triple Trouble prereleases | Sonic Blast prereleases Unreleased Sonic's Edusoft
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