Messages

1

Maps In Progress / Someone's Resumed Mapping Shovel Knight! :)

« on: November 23, 2025, 02:43:00 am »

Well, it seems someone's already began to resume work where TerraEsperZ left off, and it turns out that, aside from others waiting, I won't have to be disappointed about this at all.

I took a look at the game's maps, and found that a mapper, David Tait, has mapped Pridemoor Keep, King Knight's stage, and has been added to the Atlas' PC page.

I'm more relieved there's someone able to contribute to this, but more happy to see more of the game's maps documented! And, as always, it still helps for those still trying to find all their secrets hidden.

David Tait, if you're around, I commend you for tending to that task! Plenty ahead, yes, but, I'm looking forward to seeing more!

Small time-saver advice: Shovel Knight's stages are made with Tiled, the map editor. It's pretty much evidential when you go to its website. If it helps, use it to cut down on trying to document the stages' maps by using their tilesets without needing to use the backgrounds to occupy them, unless its for decoration. After all, the background layers aren't entirely static like numerous NES games; they're free roaming. Give it a try, if you want.

2

Mapping Tips/Guides / What Tools to use for ripping Inti Creates' game maps?

« on: November 21, 2025, 11:33:47 pm »

I have no idea, but if anyone has any input, what are the key tools/programs needed to do maps made from Inti Creates' games to document on?

So far, they're known for their original games, like the "Azure Striker Gunvolt" series, "Mega Man Zero", "Mega Man 9" and "Mega Man 10" and the "Blaster Master Zero" trilogy, but after many games, my curious mind got me thinking lately, "Why haven't their game's maps been documented yet?".

The thing is, while Inti Creates' 2D games are enjoyable, there's still some lingering confusion to how long their stages are, what hidden secrets to uncover, and what paths to take in certain stages that can be confusing, like False Zonda's(GV2 explains why later on) stage, "Sinner's Row", in "GV1", where certain mirror panels are touched to progress, sections of the intermission stage has been flipped upside down to create disorientation to anyone's perspective before facing the actual boss, Copen, for the first time.

I can pretty much tell from sight that the Gunvolt games' tilesets are entirely Photoshop made, rather than handmade pixel art, although the characters themselves are made and animated through it in-game.

Inti Creates' games are all made through their own in-house engines, one of which is called, well, "Inti Creates Engine"(I.C.E.; yeah, yeah, a pun.), the second, "Imperial Engine", used for other games, like "Gunvolt 3", and the third, is used for "Luminous Avenger iX 2".

If, by chance, no compatible tools are present, maybe somebody can make some to streamline the process.

Hope there's good recommendations for anyone to get into documenting them soon.

3

Message Board Help / Re: help with submitting

« on: November 21, 2025, 11:08:34 pm »

It's found directly at VGMaps' home page. You can see it on the left side, called "Contribute". Its synonym follows the same as, well, "Submit".

4

Map Requests / Freedom Planet 1 & 2 Stage Structure Comparisons

« on: November 18, 2025, 03:46:23 am »

A little food for thought on this, but...

Well, albeit centered on the game's structures to stages, I already know that Freedom Planet was modeled after Sonic the Hedgehog 3's structure, with each Zone made into 2 Acts, it was modified to be continuous, rather than doing Act clear tallies after defeating the end-Act miniboss and major boss in each Zone, but the notable difference between that game and Sonic 3 is, unlike the latter, the former's stages have their melded Acts continue seamlessly moreso than Sonic 3's act-to-act transition process, and they have their own numbers of sections/areas that harbor large maps at their time, but some people that played through them, prior to, well, many past Sonic stage's maps being far more longer/larger than their previous(not even surpassing Asteroid Coaster Act 2's length from Sonic Colors DS), and even Freedom Planet's(in map size, that is), complained about their length and how long it took them to complete.

Me, I handled them very well after playing them over and over. And, I took a little thought about their maps' length for each stage, aside from their amounts, many were kinda long horizontally, for very little, vertically, and I figured they'd be about within or slightly above the 10,000s range, and given how speedy anyone can be for speedrunning stages, it mostly takes about a minute or so for them to reach the exit point of each stage's map, and continue on to the next from their start point, and etc. until they reach the end-stage major boss.

Freedom Planet 2's stage structure, on the other hand, does away with the former, and has only each stage made into a single, albeit still continuous in its own matter, and oftentimes, larger map, and escalated their size range beyond 10,000s... well, for stages that are mostly horizontal, anyway. And, given their larger tilesets, I've no idea how much longer that made their stages' maps in size.

It did, though, include some emphasis on exploration and lateral traversal for the lengthy, quite expansive stages, but the overall goal is more or less the same, reach the stage's end and defeat the boss. And, most only lay on the regular "Point A to Point B" goal, but not all stages simply focus on, well, running to the right all the time... not that it gets too tedious or anything, don't get me wrong. The only thing is, the mid-stage and end-act minibosses aren't in most stages the former had, and given that they're not made into 2 Acts like FP1, they don't signify the immediate, seamless act-to-act transition trigger procedures after defeating them.

Their stage design may differ, but harboring larger level maps remains the same.

Also, Spark the Electric Jester did harbor stage maps that are indeed larger and longer than Freedom Planet's; their own maps are indeed continuous on their own, but their map amounts are fewer than the former, and more than one miniboss are present, and given it was made in Clickteam Fusion, like the former, reaching the exit point in each stage's map, for those that have more than one map, until being able to get to the end-stage major boss still remains the same. And, given the fatigue some people actually felt while playing through them, it was rather justifiable, but they only need to build endurance to truly handle it.

It's understandable to say that people have their own feelings of handling long and/or large stages in games, but their ability to build up their endurance is surely to be noted and acknowledged.

My question, I ask you mappers out there, is this, if such a game as these does continue with longer/larger maps, even with section/area amounts in them, would they be able to handle them without complaining much? I'd build up more endurance for it if I need to.

5

Gaming / Heads-up! New Barcode Battler Card Game!

« on: November 09, 2025, 03:17:44 pm »

I just happened to come across a rather neat new card game and set on the way to the Barcode Battler II, and I read it's Tanukii Studios, who approached Epoch Co., inventor behind Barcode Battler and Barcode Battler II, making that game.

The new card game set's called "Riot Gunheads - Hyper World Injustice Fighters"!

I just took a moment to think this, if you're reading... You're probably thinking these questions in your heads, "What is Barcode Battler?", "What card games does it have?", "Do we even know how to play it?", alongside a few other questions.

Well, perhaps for those that don't know(or even remember if you've not played it in a very long time), it's time to give you a crash course.

Barcode Battler is a handheld game console that works very uniquely compared to other handhelds, like Game Boy, Game Gear, or even DS. While the controls are different, the system does have card sets sold at retail, comprising of players, but they also comprise of enemies, power-ups, even bosses.

The first model only had stats appear on-screen, for players seeking to battle against each other with their own playable warriors of their choice.

All anybody has to do, upon finding said cards in sets, is to scan by swiping them on its scanner while playing their barcode games in order to progress in their own adventures and face dangerous threats standing in their way.

The first model, unfortunately, while popular in Japan, didn't had actual graphics, sounds, and controls of its own, and its quickly forgotten by people...

Later, Barcode Battler II came along, and improved lot from the first model, to deliver better enhanced functionality to that handheld, including having single player mode. That model also gave way to link up with the Famicom and Super Famicom via an adapter, and allowed them to play games using the handheld's card battle system mechanics(too bad other regions' versions, like NES, didn't receive it), thanks to Epoch's partnership with Nintendo. It also brought up created card sets based on Nintendo's IPs, like, Super Mario and Zelda, along with other games based on T.V. IPs, like, Spider-Man, for instance.

No other new Barcode Battler game was made after '95... until now.

Tanukii Studios' hand in reviving the Barcode Battler itself could pave for later new games and card sets... but of course, their success may also well lead to the rise of Barcode Battler III, a more better model that pars very well to other stronger gaming handhelds(not counting mobile phones) and improved connectivity for multiplayer.

There's an interview done by Time Extension featuring Epoch Co. and Webb himself. You can take a read at that with this link I've left for you here - https://www.timeextension.com/features/we-live-in-an-age-where-even-bubsy-can-make-a-comeback-meet-the-developers-trying-to-resurrect-the-barcode-battler

There's another card game set coming up, called "Woggle Ball '94 SuperSports Cards", but I'm not certain its Barcode Battler material. Still, its fun for anybody to try.

So, with that history trip done, I ask you this, would you give Barcode Battler a try? And, what cards would you collect?

Anyone around in here, would you please take some time to support Tanukii Studios' latest card games when they come out? It'd be neat to see some people get into the Barcode battling games once more. Hope you'll get your sets soon!

6

VGMaps Social Board / If "Sonic: Mega Drive" gets adapted as a real game, would you play it?

« on: November 07, 2025, 11:18:08 am »

I can honestly admit, when Archie Comics had the Sonic license for comics, and after it got a severe continuity redoing(don't ask, but some that heard of what happened behind the scenes might know that rough story), I've heard of an original Classic Sonic adventure that commemorates Sonic's 25th anniversary, not throwing Sonic Mania in it to count, "Sonic: Mega Drive".

Yes, it is obviously references to the first game and the console's name outside of America, but what's beneath that adventure's name is its actual originality of its contents.

That adventure featured an all-new setting, Eastwatch Islands, and had actual original Zones Sonic and his friends traversed through, and had its story centered on Dr. Robotnik's next world conquering effort; finding and harnessing all the Ancient Gears to power his most powerful creation, the titular Mega Drive itself, deploying his newest batch of Badniks and Super Badniks to try and stop Sonic again.

I only watched it through online YouTube videos, but I gotta say, it was brilliant! Sonic and his friends trashing more Badniks at every corner, outwitting the mad scientist from one Zone after another, and collecting the Ancient Gears to stop his plans was great... however, Metal Sonic ambushed them and stole these gears and delivered them to Robotnik at his deep sea base, and the twist was that after Sonic gave the 6th Ancient Gear he held, Metal Sonic REALLY had the 7th Ancient Gear installed in him all along as his latest opportunity for a revenge rematch, which ended in another loss for Metal Sonic, but I never got to see him actually unleash that gear's full power for his once-looming final fight in Robotnik's deep sea base.

In my mind, I imagined Metal Sonic undergoing a new, original transformation into a more larger, far more faster form of himself, fittingly called "Overdrive Metal Sonic"(and, no, its not meant to be deriving from Metal Sonic Kai from "Knuckles' Chaotix", an actual new form), with loads of all-new attacks and powers, but he'd still get defeated and finally lose that last gear, only to get plugged into Robotnik's Mega Drive in the actual final battle we never got to see. I really enjoyed seeing Robotnik's latest well-armed aerial fortress, said to be not quite sleek as Wing Fortress, but bigger than Flying Battery.

What I could still imagine in Robotnik's deep sea base we could've seen in the finale, it would've been quite massive(mainly to me, massive that 2 Acts, not even 3 Acts could be considered enough for it; I'm thinking 4 super-huge Acts), and it would have had a new collective group of robots more powerful than Super Badniks Robotnik created to protect that base before confronting him again. I mean, he does build great bases Sonic and his friends came by to destroy, but he could still learn and fortify his strongholds quite more.

That celebratory mini-series had 2 issues made, but sadly, the 3rd issue meant to conclude it never got launched after Archie cut ties with Sega and lost that license. I felt great disappointment in my heart there and then, as others have. Never even got to see the potential all-new Special Stages, too.

However, I do have strong hopes of that adventure getting revived and potentially adapted as another 2D Sonic game... but, I think it might be better suited as part of a NEW Sonic anthology game, likely in the veins of Kirby's own anthology game, "Super Star", and its DS remake, "Super Star Ultra". By the meaning of its veins, I meant only the blueprint of an actual anthology game. Not sure if we have more anthologies outside of Kirby so far...

I didn't even think of Sonic having an actual anthology game consisting of only all-new adventures before, honestly... but the possibilities are intriguing.

And, had Sonic 4's 3rd episode not been cancelled, I can collectively count that we'd have about over six times Knuckles had been tricked by Robotnik, rather than four(TailsTube's 5th episode missed that count by one, "Sonic Advance 2").

I did enjoy Sonic Mania that brought back the original pixel art aesthetic, but I still feel more new Classic Sonic adventures should still continue that aesthetic on, and they really don't have to adhere to the Genesis' tech limits, even for parallax background layers.

So, I ask you this, if "Sonic: Mega Drive" gets adapted as a game, or as part of an anthology game for Sonic, would you play it? I would, and it would be one of the more brilliant Classic Sonic adventures yet!

7

Map Gab / Re: I found Rayman Maps through one site...

« on: November 05, 2025, 01:23:11 pm »

Really appreciate the research you put into this.

Speed Stars

Do you think Ubisoft will ever revive the series properly? It’s wild how long it’s been dormant.

(SIGH...)

Given Ubisoft's... recent, negative decisions and prioritization changes towards their IP treatment and heightened negligence of said IPs, not to mention the series' creator, Michel Ancel previously leaving the gaming industry to dedicate his time preserving wildlife, and the series' complete lack of canonical cohesion with each game, in terms of art style, gameplay formula, and character personality changes, I feel uncertain about that series' future...

I'd honestly feel that if it's actually getting a proper revival, anybody would've thought of saving enough money to commence any video game IP rights transfers from one holder to the other.

Not saying its impossible, but that can be pricey, depending on the matter. ...I'm no expert on this.

8

Gaming / Re: Mini-Bosses... Favorites?

« on: November 02, 2025, 03:21:55 am »

I guess I do have another miniboss favorite group to say, anyway...

We've seen many powerful robots that became mini-bosses, but I feel the more collective group I'm referring to are Dr. Robotnik's Super Badniks, a branch of his ever growing Badnik army that are more powerful than regular Badniks, even going far as not needing animals to power them in most cases, their power sources are self-made.

Technically, Super Badniks did debut in Sonic 2's 8-Bit version, but the batches seen in that game, Sonic Chaos, and Triple Trouble were classified as regular bosses, because Robotnik's been busy dealing with Sonic, and later Tails, to deal with them. Rather, he created and sent Super Badniks to try to destroy them or slow them down while his scheme goes along in his bases.

Archie Sonic did label Antlion Mecha as a Super Badnik in Issue #268, so I stood to realize that those robots from those 3 Sonic Game Gear games ARE indeed Super Badniks. I think their former labels, "Master Robots" and "Boss Robots", are kinda rendered unnecessarily needed, because they have a proper robot line name now, and it contradicts these former labels they had.

Their more prominent appearances and additional role as minibosses came to be in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and continued onward. Their designs are all original and well-made as more robots Sonic and his friends can demolish.

Well, I can say one of the more favorite Super Badniks is Red Eye, the final miniboss of Sonic 3, in Death Egg Act 1. That was the most powerful Super Badnik in that game, as it's the Death Egg's miniature reactor core and internal defense system made in one. It was encased in its metallic, tall, cylinder-like housing structure that encompasses its outer body.

The weaponry I can still remember is its metallic spheres Red Eye controlled telekinetically to attack its intruders onboard the Death Egg, and upon each hit dealt to it, each sphere explodes to shoot out spikes loaded in it as a countermeasure.

Once its housing broke off, its actual body appears, a robotic pod with its singular eye-like core built into it, with hovering spiked platforms accompanying it, and serves as that miniboss' second phase. Dealing each hit makes Red Eye enraged and spins the platforms crazily as it fires its laser for a short time before calming down, though, more hits can leave its laser firing a bit more longer.

It still remains to me a favorite miniboss in the Sonic series, among others, like Fire Breath, Big Icedus, Uber Caterkiller, in both states of attack, Hey Ho, and of course, the most memorable Super Badnik, Gapsule!

Wonder what other Super Badniks are your favorite as minibosses?

9

Gaming / Re: Open World Maps... Sizes and Comparisons

« on: October 27, 2025, 07:03:39 am »

I haven't played GTA V yet, but it having a world almost twice as big as Oblivion sounds insane to me.

HA!

You think that's insane? Wait 'till you see and explore GTA VI's map! Said terrain's spoken to cover about 125 sq kilometers, and about closely 3x bigger than GTA V's map. Don't know how it is compared to previous open world games, but, that'll hit the spot as the biggest open world map yet... unless another game says otherwise.

On the other hand, there were the well-known Batman: Arkham games and its follow-ups that had their maps bigger than the previous, but they've been behind in their sizes compared to GTA's games.

For Arkham City, it was made five times bigger than Arkham Asylum, which, is kinda like a confined world of its own, but technically holds the makings of one. Then, Arkham Knight, which arrived later, made it, well, five times bigger than City, as well, to better accommodate anyone being able to ride the Batmobile across it.

Small fact: There was a prototype Batmobile made to see how it would flow well driving into Arkham City's already existing map, but the city's size was claustrophobic for Batman to glide and using grapple didn't work well. Meaning, the city was too tight to drive the Batmobile in that map. So, the city was redone with wider streets and taller buildings to accommodate ejecting the vehicle.

Don't know how big Sunset Overdrive's map is, but some guessed it's about 8 square km, bit more than Arkham Knight's.

Later came Gotham Knights, said to be bigger than Arkham Knight's, but Suicide Squad, which got out later, too, also had its map bigger than that. Don't know if SS is bigger than GH, but I hope for a comparison to see which is bigger than the other.

And, last, uninvolved with the whole Arkham series, there is another next game in the LEGO game series from Traveller's Tales, Lego Batman: Legacy of Dark Knight. That game is primed to have its map much bigger than Arkham Knight, even quite moreso than SS's map.

Funny you should say that since moving around is how you increase some skills in Oblivion. Considering also how much inventory (weight) you can carry the player must get a real workout.

Makes us wonder how other heroes, or even villains, if they have no vehicles to go around, have felt they've done the same after running through all those more and more bigger landscapes in each of their adventures.

10

Gaming / Re: Open World Maps... Sizes and Comparisons

« on: October 22, 2025, 11:23:32 pm »

I've been playing Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion recently and its open world is huge. By far the largest world I've experienced in a game. According to the numbers I could find online, Oblivion's world (Cyrodiil) is roughly 41 square kilometers (about 16 square miles).

The Shivering Isles DLC adds another 10 square kilometers. It's a separate island that you can warp to from Cyrodiil so it doesn't really expand the borders of the original world though.

Good. Not sure it surpasses GTA V's size, but, that does place it above San Andreas' size by a few miles.

I should say this, with all the bigger landmasses, any playable character's already bound to have their own physical workouts from all the running they've done without using vehicles... not that I've thought of such little outcomes before.

11

Gaming / Open World Maps... Sizes and Comparisons

« on: October 21, 2025, 03:01:21 am »

Mappers of the VGMaps community, I got a good challenge in mind about keeping track of open world games' maps' sizes and comparing them, from smallest to the biggest maps yet.

In open-world games, mainly 3D, they comprise of singular, vast landscapes that are sort of like playgrounds, mere sandboxes for people to roam about and explore, but they provide loads of missions, secrets, and loads and loads of optional tasks to take on.

What people take in charting their maps, they calculate by square miles, or alternatively, square kilometers, and they center on how far they've explored, and how far can anyone go.

As far as many know, we had not many open world games, because many games were platformers, and others different, but we also had hardware that limited scope, size, and scale of said maps, mainly is that to those working on games, they didn't had much RAM memory and strong CPUs to work with. Time went on and we were able to have it. The question is, how would people utilize all the increased RAM and CPU processing power to create more massive maps in open world games?

The more prominent game series that propelled the open world genre to elevation is the Grand Theft Auto series, likely GTA III. Mature as they are, they do provide vast landscapes for freedom of exploration, though they do have stories to progress through in order to unlock particular methods of traveling, and later abilities to reach other places.

Later games gave out more bigger maps to explore and more missions to undertake, but other than that, people do have their fun ideas on experimenting with traveling to heights normally deemed impossible by normal means of playing these games. I also think others like to see how long their playable characters can fall from extreme heights before they go splat out of boredom.

Of course, there are many other games that follow the open world blueprint, including others that had the maturity toned down to broaden to slightly younger people, but how they make their maps' sizes can be less than those, but there are those trying to come close to matching them, or even surpassing them, even if its not a GTA game.

On top of all that, so far, there's no patch update and DLC that expands any existing open world game's maps by adding extra land mass outside of regular borders. I don't know of any game that did it, but until there's one, I don't think I can count them. Of course, it would be interesting to see any open world game to do it...

So, I simply issue our challenge to keep a collective track of any open-world game that have the biggest maps yet.

I do have a couple inputs in mind, in order from biggest to smallest...

1. - Grand Theft Auto V (75.84 sq km/29.28 sq miles)
2. - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (38.2 sq km/14.75 sq miles)
3. - Grand Theft Auto IV (16.14 sq km/6.23 sq miles)
4. - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (9.11 sq km/3.52 sq miles)
5. - Grand Theft Auto III (8.12 sq km/3.14 sq miles)

I can't place in GTA VI's map size, but I can say it's going to be bigger than GTA V's.

The many 3D Spider-Man games, on the other hand, all do tend to take place in New York, but how their differing sizes between them besides them sharing New York's layout is puzzling me.

If anyone has their own input, please go ahead. I welcome the effort. Show us what you can find as the biggest open world map yet.

ADVISORY: Flight simulations, sandbox only games, life simulation games, MMOs and such, cannot count to this.

12

Map Requests / Re: List of Looney Tunes Video Game Map Requests

« on: October 19, 2025, 10:37:18 pm »

A nice lowdown on mapping games, but many of them LTIan requested, albeit repeatedly, are 2D, the others are 3D.

I already knew there are tutorials about doing 3D maps before, but just for those that don't know, how do they do it?

And, to further add, there have been more 2D games made besides Looney Tunes games, despite not being mapped yet. While we do have other tools, I feel using Tiled, the level editor, is a more necessary choice in easing anyone's map ripping workflow.

The small matter of using Tiled for any past 2D game, even DS/DSi, is the low amount of custom-made tools needed to bridge particular gaps to rip their maps more efficiently. Meaning, how would anyone rip DS games easily without them, besides the regular procedure, of course?

13

VGMaps Social Board / Sonic 3's

« on: October 10, 2025, 01:36:31 pm »

A bit of an insight, but, didn't any of you know about what was Sonic 3's planned launch date?

Well, after watching Splash Wave's look into Sonic 3's development history on YouTube... I'm kinda sure some of you are quite familiar of what some of Sonic Team and S.T.I.'s devs went through, but, just in case...

It was not Feb 1994, but the game as a whole, if it wasn't split into 2 halves, WAS actually planned to be launched in Summer 1994, but, thanks to the promotional deal with McDonald's Sega made, that date got thrown off by many months, and we know where it led, to the invention of Lock-On Technology, to take care of such problems.

We also knew Sonic 3 started previously as a 3D game, planned with its Virtua Processor chip installed, which didn't happen because of it being too costly.

The dev work actually began in Jan 1993, shortly after Sonic 2's launch, but, thanks to mentioned complications, including the promotional deal, all that work got canned in June '93. Very shortly, though, it got restarted back to the 2D blueprint in about Jul '93, but improved from Sonic 2, including having mini-bosses in each Zone's 1st Act, instead of some.

Thanks to the pressure of launching the game to meet that deal's deadline, the game got split, with the 1st half to be launched in Feb. '94, and the second half in Fall '94, months later. At least, we had the first of its 3 Bonus Stages in the 1st half.

Then, after 3 more Sonic games got launched in later '93, its second half was given about enough time to finish all remaining Zones, resuming from Spring 94, including the Extra Zone, Doomsday, along with the additional 2 Bonus Stages, done in the next month, then, the remaining months spent building Lock-On Technology in the cart before its launch on Oct. 94.

Yes, you're already educated on that, but I felt a bit more history of Sonic 3, at least about the intended launch time, should be shared.

If you'd like, you can watch that video here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdvtssb10Q8

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Gaming / Comparisons between past true 2D Sonic games & Sonic Superstars

« on: October 10, 2025, 02:17:05 am »

There's a couple minor comparisons to remember between the many past 2D Sonic games(those from the Classic line, not counting Modern's own 2D games, even the "Advance" and "Rush" games in that line) and Sonic Superstars, most of which favor above Superstars' own. I may include Zone amounts in them, too.

Sonic the Hedgehog had 6 Zones, each having 3 Acts at the time, with only Final Zone holding the last fight against Robotnik.

Sonic 2 had 11 Zones, most being 2 Acts, Metropolis having 3, and the rest having 1, most of which were a bit longer than Sonic 1's.

Sonic CD had 7 Zones(though, if DLC for the 2011 port wasn't cast aside in favor of it being too faithful to the regular's amount, 9 Zones, with Zone 2 maybe being Dubious Depths being added, and the last being Final Fever with a satisfying conclusion to the time-traveling adventure on Little Planet), 3 Acts, most of which had time periods suiting to the time-travel theme.

Sonic 3, as the whole game, had 14 Zones, the last of which is the first Extra Zone Sonic only went to by having all Chaos/Super Emeralds. They were three times larger than Sonic 2's, and they were all enjoyable.

Sonic Mania had 13 Zones, 8 from past games, 5 original. Again, the last is an Extra Zone, and is focused on the anniversary aesthetic, but having the pixel art graphics upped to solidify the thrill of a 2D Sonic game on the Sega Saturn, if such a one was made. The Zones were made quite long, but to compare on their size and length, not quite more than Advance's, Rush and Rush Adventure and even Colors DS'. They were all still enjoyable, though.

Of course, Mania Plus' Encore Mode felt a bit lacking in what we often expect as a New Game+ mode of some sort; none of the bosses were given their own upgraded counterparts(but I don't mean needing bland palette swaps to call it that), not like how later Kirby games did after Super Star Ultra(I quickly imagined DD Wrecker becoming QQ Demolisher and Hotaru Hi-Watt becoming Hotaru MAX-Watt), nor an actual exclusive final boss, and hardly the levels' layouts were changed to become more challenging than Mania Mode's levels, save for Mirage Saloon giving a different Act 1.

Sonic Superstars only had 11 Zones, all original, but same amount as Sonic 2's, but their Act amount differs through many Zones. The true final fight against the Great Dark Dragon is claimed to be a level, but isn't.

What is truly common for those 2D games, they're all made from the original pixel art style and aesthetic, of which Sonic was originally made from. The animation frames in Mania are more fluid, and there are more background layers that moved freely in all directions, even those that replicated line scrolling, due to them being free from the Genesis' past constraints.

Sonic Superstars was made in 3D, but placed in 2.5D view. Aside from numerous misses in different aspects, the aesthetic doesn't work well for those still expecting for more 2D Sonic games to retain the pixel art style, and no, I don't mean sticking too close to the limits of the Genesis, nor Saturn's, but not too high from the latter. It also does not deliver the atmosphere and excitement felt and seen in an actual 2D Sonic game.

There's certain things 3D can work, but others, well... they just plainly won't. Just only saying.

For the record, in my perspective, I'm strongly against Takashi Iizuka's quite out of touch mindset about pixel art games' viability and relevance(which is an obvious bland cop-out to the opposite and to the talents people held from growing up with these games), because we have NUMEROUS games made in said style, PC and console, and they don't really need to adhere to the tech constraints of many past consoles, nor their singular sound chips' channel amounts(of course, Furnace does retain said fidelity to numerous sound chips, but the freedom to use a lot as we want, even the original chips that Sonic's music and sounds were made from, is much more widespread).

I do, at the very least, agree about only one thing(nothing more than that). Sonic Mania, still being actual 2D in its own right, is made as a commemoration to Sonic's 25th Anniversary, and it's only made to be exactly that. Another Sonic game that continues said anniversary adherencies as a sequel to it(complete with the obvious name and number to boot) can be dismissed as a rehash of the previous.

It's been nice to celebrate, but original 2D Sonic games still retaining the original pixel art aesthetics would still be the best choice, with the exact tools an engine that would've still been used, too, and the stories all still need to be well-made and original, and sometimes, have new villains to face instead of Robotnik a lot. It does not really have to be called "Sonic Mania 2" at all.

The continuity arrangement for Superstars doesn't really make sense being placed before Adventure(we really don't even get an explanation about how Robotnik escaped from the Phantom Ruby's grasp in Encore Mode's good ending). I'd been more content having Classic and Modern Sonic's canons still being separate on their own, but co-existing. Makes their storylines and continuities less convoluted that way. Superstars tried to have Classic Sonic remain independent from Modern's games, but I'm not sure how that went.

And, so far, no 2D Sonic game has its Zone amount went past 14, if I'm not counting Extra Zones. I handled longer Zones, as many of you have, but what can you imagine if a new 2D Sonic game, still made in pixel art and with Retro Engine, had about, at the very least, 17 Zones, and they were longer and/or larger than Colors DS, even Asteroid Coaster Act 2's size(well, not too crazy large than what we've been through so far, but still...)?

I could imagine some of you being fatigued after a few runs.

If Classic Sonic got another new game, which still needs to retain the 2D pixel art aesthetic, it'd best be an interquel that takes place after Mania Plus' events, where Robotnik and all of his remaining Badniks finally got out of the unstable, self-created pocket void the haywire Phantom Ruby created and re-enacts his conquering plans, but having been landed on an unknown alien world, he attempts to go intergalactic, and Sonic and his friends would go on a planet-traveling adventure to stop him.

Wouldn't that be really neat?

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Gaming / Re: Broken Relic (point-&-click adventure game on Kickstarter that I'll appear in!)

« on: October 08, 2025, 09:03:07 am »

He's right! If anyone's willing to donate more money to reach those stretch goals, now is the time! The countdown's begun! Make Jon's dream come true!