The collision course.

Between playing Sonic and watching people's playthrough and review of Sonic games, lately I seem quite focused on what happened since I started to stop paying attention to the franchise.

Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, and Sonic Heroes... Sonic's jump into 3D was indeed a rough one.  The only 3rd generation consoles I owned were the Dreamcast and the PS2, and I think I must point this out for the sake of Sonic Heroes.  Unlike the 2D predecessors which I still love to this day, SA1, SA2, and Heroes especially all annoyed me for similar reasons.  The first would be the disobedient camera and clipping through the floor.  Now, that's not to say the classics were free from the floor clipping, but it was extremely minimal.  Also, it's not something I hold against the game designers now, but when I think about everything I disliked about those 3 games where SA1 and SA2 had me with their music, sort of had me with their graphics, and hit or missed me with their gameplay and Heroes just...

When I think of summing up my experience with Heroes, all I see is Team Sonic just clipping through the floor for no reason whatsoever and the lack of collision detection makes me want to call this Dreamcast Era, "The collision course."

Because by the time I finished Heroes, I decided that I was finished with Sonic.


By the time Shadow The Hedgehog came out, I remember the ads.  All I could think of was, "Yeah, I'm probably not going to buy this game."  In 2004 and 2005, I was extremely curious about the Advance series while I was working in the video games department of Target.  Eventually somewhere down the line, I played these games and they were truly awesome.  They were so good (or more specifically, a much better experience than SA1 to Heroes), I couldn't fathom how unpopular they were (and still are).

However, it eventually made sense to me when I thought back on Sonic's reputation on handheld games during the 16-bit console era.  Yeah, handheld gaming in general didn't always have the stereotypical legitimacy found in console gaming.  In spite of the fact that by the time the Gameboy Advance was hot, when it came to Sonic fans, the expectation actually didn't meet the old reality.  Well, in a way it met the old reality that there was actually a legitimate classic Sonic experience being produced very well.

I find it strange to think about where I was in life in 2005 and 2006.  I won't get into it too much, but I will say that like Sonic, they were not the best years of my life either.  Shadow The Hedgehog was avoided and Sonic 06 was completely off my radar, and now they seem to have my attention.  After watching Clement's playthrough of Shadow and Johnny's review of the game, I conclude that story in this series... is worthless.  It raises too many questions in my mind about how the game even came into fruition and the million dollar question is why did anyone, especially Rouge just simply tell Shadow what happened?  Because they didn't: Shadow The Hedgehog (2005).

This is the point of the series where it just collides into chaos and I was somewhere off in some MMO far away from the accident.

Due to my absence, ShTH and 06 are deserving of some attention due to my undying love for the franchise.  I think I've seen enough, though.  It's sad that in spite of 06 arguably being the worst game in the series, I find Shadow was just the most unnecessary.  I wouldn't mind seeing a game starring Shadow, but I believe it would've made a better handheld game.  A competent 3D Sonic gameplay should have been produced first because there truly was no need to release this game asap.

But at least I can credit it for being the last main series game with characters that were remotely confident (aside from them being able to be thinking characters in a serious plot, at least SA2 did that right), because after this?  Well... there's still Amy.

And by the time Sonic 06 was released, it's clear that unlike the scene in SA1 where Chaos destroys the city, or when Eggman splits the planet into 7 parts... this time, there were casualties for real, Sonic among them.  I would call this era of Sonic games "The crash site."


My return to console gaming in 2011 would eventually lead me to Sonic Unleashed.  If the PS2 version of Sonic Heroes at best succeeded in annoying me, then the 360 version of Unleashed would succeed in ultimately pissing me off.  If I were to review the game based on my first playthrough of the game, I'd probably rate the game a 4 out of 10.  What did I dislike most about it?  Certain werehog elements like the camera and no shadow or light beneath the werehog indicating his position if he were to jump.

Sonic 4... at first, I thought the game was okay, but eventually it began to bore me.  Never has a Sonic game that I've played, done that.  It was and still to this day, ununderstandable how Jun Senoue is responsible for the music.  At first I thought it was the composition, but later I realized it was actually the instruments that made most of the music sound so terrible.  I had never played a Sonic game before where the music was just an insult.

Generations was... good.

Yeah, really.  That's all I'm going to say for now.

Oh, and Colors was great.  Still need to play it more, though.

What would I call this era of Sonic games, though... from Unleashed to Generations... (or Episode 4.)

Probably "The Ego (False self) vs The Soul (True Self)".  More than just gameplay-wise, most of Sonic 4 easily represents a false Sonic to me.  A lot of Sonic in his 3D games represents his true self, granted he was definitely best in Unleashed.

endrant.

Sonic games I would like to play that I've never played before.

This will be ultra brief.

Sonic Rush Adventure - I like the artwork (not so much the 3D artwork), the characters, and the rush gameplay does interest me.  Blaze The Cat kind of interests me.  Currently, I own no handheld system, so who knows when this will occur.

Sonic Colors (DS) - From what I've seen, the story isn't... all that memorable.  Again, gameplay curiosity.

Sonic The Hedgehog (2006) - This is seriously up in the air right now.

Sonic Pocket Adventure - My pleasure button could possibly be pressed very firmly with this title.

Sonic Generations (3DS) - I'm actually kind of pessimistic about this title.  It couldn't possibly be as bad as Sonic 4.

Let's uh... look at Sonic Generations?

So I had a friend who doesn't really enjoy the concept of speed running... for they try their hardest to enjoy the beauty and detail that's put into the game while the game is played at their fastest.  It's not something worth ridiculing, it's just that some people actually don't know what to look at when it comes to a game they do not play... naturally.  It's kind of like showing someone gameplay of an MMORPG they've  never played and almost everyone's interface is different and some are just cluttered with all sorts of incomprehensible shit.  You don't get what's going on or who's killing who, or who did that spell, let alone what that spell was or how much damage was done or how someone got 1-shot.  I get it.  Sometimes when you see something for the first time, you want to absorb the atmosphere slowly and possibly have some type of understanding at a reasonable pace how the game works.

One of my suggestions was to just focus on Sonic as he ran opposed to the surroundings he runs through at a few hundred miles per hour which proved effective, but I digress.  Generations without a doubt is a game worth slowing down and enjoying... to a certain extent.  I had always wondered why you couldn't turn the camera like you could in Unleashed, but once you reach the very last section of Green Hill 2 and can get the cam to rotate to see where you came from... okay, I get it.  Basically, not everything was made to be looked at going backwards.  For the most part, I think we can all be grateful to play a 3D Sonic game that has zero camera issues (at least I've heard of none).  Still, that doesn't stop someone from... stopping and smelling the flowers even if you can't see how it'll play out going backwards.

My friend was pleasantly surprised that I had made a 10 minute video of what's possibly the shortest stage in the game.  Well, that's not too surprising, is it?  After I made it, I tried thinking of all the things I could've shown off in 3D that were not alternate paths.  It had crossed my mind that I could make a second video that covered areas that I missed.  Is this something worth doing for the other stages?  Well, maybe.  Personally, it would all come out better if it was the PC version with it's superior textures.

And that's all I have.  Think I'll tinker with Jungle Joyride 1-2 for a bit.

S-rank & Unleashed (Daytime) vs Generations (Modern) gameplay

One thing I have to give Sonic Unleashed over Sonic Generations is that the grading system isn't so... unrewarding.  Honestly, I wonder why S-ranks were literally handed to you simply for completing a stage within a reasonable amount of time without dying in Generations?  You could S-rank any stage with 0 rings if you reach the finish line fast enough.  Meanwhile in Unleashed, you actually get scored properly and unlike Colors (Wii), it wasn't abusive by spamming wisps constantly.  Hmm... either I've never tagged Sonic Colors or this is the first time I've ever spoken about it in this blog.

About 24 hours ago, I set out to get all S-ranks on all the main daytime stages (did not bother with Eggmanland, I can't stand that stage... yet).  Windmill Isle (Act 2),  Rooftop Run, Dragon Road and Arid Sands were S-ranked, so that left Windmill Isle (Act 1 - for the hell of it), Savannah Citadel, Cool Edge, Skyscraper Scamper, and Jungle Joyride.  Honestly... this is what it's all about.

When I check out Unleashed speed runs on YouTube, very commonly I see comments of on videos of people saying, "C?!  He got a C for finishing THAT fast?"  At first, I didn't understand it either, especially considering I started taking this Unleashed gameplay seriously in Generations.  Grading in Unleashed required finishing the stage while meeting certain requirements, and although I do not have how it's calculated down to a science, you cannot overlook the results screen.  Score depends on:

• time completed
• rings collected at the end
• your speed as you passed checkpoints
• how many enemies you obliterated
• and how many trick rings (the rainbow colored ones) you used

I'm quite certain that if you die, your score is resat, making S-rank impossible from certain checkpoints (if not all).  Every stage seems to have different requirements.  Speed running means:

• points in time will be maxed out
• you will most likely skip a lot of rings if not lose some on accident or purposely if it makes you go faster
• checkpoints might be skipped because of their placement or unnatural shortcuts taken
• you will skip lots of enemies and kill only what's necessary
• you will likely skip various trick rings unless you have to go through them

All in all... this means the game has some replay value in it, and being that this is a grading system that takes your overall performance throughout the stage into consideration, that makes it rewarding.  Unleashed also not an easy game.

So, how'd it go?  Well, I don't play Unleashed a lot, but as of late I am definitely appreciating what it has to offer over Generations, but I'll get to that later.  In spite of a bit of frustration, it was rather quite fun and it's always cool to see Sonic get an S-rank and run through these stages.  It was quite the learning experience, though my LB button on my controller seems to be responding randomly.  The casual approach fortunately was more fun than frustrating but... one stage in particular had me on edge and yeah, you guessed it.  Jungle Joyride Act 1.  Oh, I have a lot to say about Jungle Joyride.

Jungle Joyride Act 1 is... so hard.  It makes Act 1-2 look like icing on the cake and when I compared both levels in my mind, I swear - there are only two areas in Act 1 that are actually easier than Act 1-2 and the first one is the 2D section after homing attacking the springs that switch from springs to spikes and the 2D sections before the last Quicktime ramp where you can get squashed.  There might be more but when I run 1-2, it's always a speed run so I take the fastest route across the water (which is hell due to the intense slowdown).  Everything else in Act 1 is hard.  Honestly, I wonder if these stages were switched at birth and given the wrong act.

Eventually, I got an S-rank...  that time!  If I actually speed run Act 1, hell must have frozen over.

Aaaaand, we're not done with Jungle Joyride just yet.  Not too long ago, Millernusgaming did a speed run of Act 1-2 to where I responded with a question as to how on earth does one get Sonic to 3D->2D glitch the first 2D section. (Actually I asked on sobatsuyu100's video, which is just below.)  Days later, someone by the YouTube name of SONICADVENTURE1999 left a comment in a Sonic Generations videos of mine I've yet to discuss here about with the how-to on the glitch.  I've only done this glitch on accident and it's not like your usual jump in 3D just before 2D switches over to exploit and expel some time off the clock, oh no.  Who would've ever thought that doing this allowed you the opportunity to go through all of that whole section.  The first time I saw a speed run of that glitch was by SHINTARO917 - and that was made in '09, haha.  I'm sure I've mentioned this before.  But yes, I finally  have the power!  But I swear, to this day, I have yet to truly understand the fastest path over the 2nd water section, but when I do, I will try to make a speed run.  That, and of course I have to get better at what's sometimes the trickiest part of the stage - the very beginning.

Not too long ago, sobatsuyu100 ran the stage...

... into the ground... sub-3 minutes?! o_O

And yes, if you speed run 1-2, it will result in an S-rank.  Why?  Noooooo idea.  Rooftop Run 1-2 might be the same?  Dunno, but either way...

Before I close this, I mentioned earlier what it was about Unleashed that has me appreciating it more than Generations?  In a discussion on the official Sega forums (yeah, I haven't been there since after the release of Ep2) talking about how Generations gameplay can be rewarding, I decided to make a comparison between how this Unleashed gameplay over time has become kind of worse.  Basically:

1. Generations is just a condensed version of Unleashed and Genesis gameplay.
2. Generations offers everything Unleashed needed - improved controls, speedy platforming, less automation, some online modes, etc.
3. Generations lacks a lot of key elements that made Unleashed strong such as an involving 2D gameplay.
4. Generations lack of an involving gameplay for casual players leave something to be desired, thus for casuals to earn a sense of involvement, it means they have to learn how to play the game as it is meant to be played: a speedy platformer.  Unfortunately this means they have to play like skilled speed runners and well... I know how that can turn some people off.

It's the same with Colors Wii, which was just an even more condensed version of Unleashed which had a platforming scheme similar to Sonic CD (which didn't allow for much speed) and lacked an involving 3D gameplay.  A lot of people talk about how "linear" Unleashed is because it's 3D gameplay aspects are mostly trapped in narrow hallways, but if you compare that to Generations, you're basically just running and jumping.  Why couldn't Generations have been a bit more like Unleashed by making better use of Sonic's abilities such as side-stepping and allowing better use of the Light-Speed dash?  And why did they nerf the light speed dash in the first place?  From what I've seen, it seems to work better in Sonic 06! (At least in the 3D view.)  The closest you can get to Unleashed-like gameplay in Generations is the Planet Wisp mission called Action Master.  It is probably the best stage in the game.

In spite of Unleashed's broader use of 3D pre-rendered backgrounds, Unleashed may not be the better looking game technically, but it is the better looking game aesthetically.  I mean, everything else about the graphics is about as absorbing as a 3D Sonic could get on a console.  Generations on the PC is very impressive, but Unleashed... you know, if graphics weren't so ridiculously praised these days, I could get away with saying that the work here is quite memorable.   It is arguably the best looking 3D Sonic game ever made.  I really appreciate how much more dynamic the cameras are in this game.  My favorite use of the camera just  happens to be in Jungle Joyride after the last QTE and Sonic is just running down a slant coming out the forest and pretty much the use of the camera through the trick rings.  Why couldn't Generations have been this thoughtful?

The way I see it, Unleashed was still overall a good game, though the daytime segments were great after you come to understand the game more.  The ranking system was a challenge, the stages were a challenge without the need to speed run them, they were more involving, they looked better, most of them were longer.  I mean, just the overall experience from the Daytime levels felt so much more rewarding than Generations.

But the real question is, will the next Sonic game be another nerfed, better safe than sorry version of Sonic Unleashed daytime?  Or will it be another synthetic successor with Ep2-like "improvements?"  Guess time will tell given Sega's budget.

Yeah, why not...

Seems like taking a break from speed running Sonic (or just games in general) wasn't such a horrific idea.  At first I was convinced that I'd have to keep playing to stay sharp.  Eh... perhaps if it meant me trying to execute a speed glitch, maybe.  Otherwise, I can't say that I've really unlearned anything.

Throughout January and December of 2012 (Happy Belated New Year, btw) I was occasionally playing Generations, and instead of taking on something new and large like a main stage, I decided to focus on taking on something new and small, like a mission.  It wasn't something I was doing too often, just whenever, really.  I had always wanted to speed run the Way Past Fast mission in Green Hill Act 2 and 1 minute turned to 58 seconds... which turned into 57 seconds... and eventually turned into 56 seconds, and here I thought that it's probably a good time to start recording.

And the result is that I believe this is the fastest non-glitched run of the stage (so far).  I think it can go faster.  It may seem minor, but the mistake I made here was holding on to the boost button after Sonic was launched where the drift section ended.  That small amount of boost could've been used at the end of the run.  I can't help it if he looks so cool covered in his own blue speedy element.


After that, I gave my favorite stage another run and almost effortlessly broke my old record.  Time to record again?  Yeah... and what semi-strange times I trapped...

Even after I record a run, I look back at it over and over and ask myself, "Can it go faster?"  For a much more complex stage such as this one, the answers come clear (also after looking at other people's runs not so compulsively).  There are quite a few things I could've done better.  The difficult air boost to platform->jump to next platform thing I pointed out at the start is still weird, but after a thousand deaths I realized it seemed a bit more successful not only boosting as late as possible but to the far left of it as well.

On the same token, I feel like it's possible that Sonic's jump height from the platform is almost always high enough (though it does fluctuate).  It's just that if it's low, then I might have to air boost earlier.  I decided to play with the skill that slows down time and tell me... why is it that when I used that skill to play in slow motion, 3 out of 3 times when I landed on the platform, I made that jump every - single - time.

I made a mistake after the first pulley because I hadn't practiced that part with boosting it and that resulted in a late homing attack on the spring (and I know now to aim for the far right one).

The cloud... oh... I hate the cloud.  It's always more rewarding to hit the cloud as early as possible, but it's placement + Sonic's controls after hitting it just make it much easier to land on the far left of it so you line up with the tick launcher.

Maybe I should've tapped boost going down the rail or attempt the new way of leaving the rail with an air boost in 3D... because I was a full second behind to the next checkpoint, geez...

After landing on the rotating platform, I could've air boosted a bit earlier to that brief narrow hallway as it's not that high.

And when I air boosted to the transport thing - that was completely spontaneous and was the first time I did it while recording.

Just before the side-step area, I was able to do that faster by boosting as soon as I landed on that area.  It can go faster if your jump to there lines up right in front of the dash pad so you can just boost right on it's path (or maybe side-stepping to the right as you boost, maybe - though I think side-stepping in this game without skills slows you down a bit).

And everything else after that went pretty much the way I wanted it to.  I ended the stage with a lot more boost meter than I expected.

I will be attempting Sky Sanctuary with skills along with another mission.  SS2 will be my first serious skills run.  The Green Hill skills run with the Unleashed run I did back in November '12 wasn't really serious.  It was really just filler and seeing how tieing two speed runs in 1 video would work. (The Unleashed run however was serious.)


Outside of my speed runs, anything in the Sonic universe that concerns me?  Actually, yes.  But that will be in a near future post where I'll be talking about what I've come across in what is known as the worst Sonic game of all time.  The speed runners I keep up with still seem pretty active and I've managed to collect a few new names that have come out and even best one of sobatuyu100's times.  Who in the world Japan could do this?  Find out next time!

Some fun with Generations and Unleashed + which racer?

A few days ago, I made a very unimpressive Green Hill Act 2 speed run on Generations.  I wasn't really looking towards getting a specific (let alone a spectacular) time.  Because it's been so long since I've really played, I decided to practice with a skilled run, and after about 25ish tries with 1 glitch, I managed a mid 1:34.  This was after I had re-ran Skyscraper Scamper Act 3, and instead of putting them into separate vids, I decided I would experiment one time by putting both in one video.  There was about 20 times the effort put into simply making the vids as a while ago, Craigolette suggested I try a different method of rendering.  He's been an excellent help for me with this, as I also got to learn a bit more about my video editing options.  Unfortunately, I didn't have much success in making videos of a higher quality (yet!) but I still had fun.  Admittedly, I'll have to use a more efficient way of experimenting with rendering, but I think I was always hoping that the next video would be the one that would be free from desync issues.  So I wound up doing it the old fashioned way, except I paid attention to the bitrate this time!  It wasn't set at 400 this time!

Street Fighter EX + Alpha music - the composer of that OST... is so friggin epic.  Literally one of the greatest soundtracks of all-time to me and aside from a lot of Asian influence being thrown into most of the songs I enjoy, it just felt right to use for Sonic.  It's fast paced, it's energetic, it changes and stays interesting most of the time.  For as long as Sega has made games, from my experience, they know what a great composer is and this is one of those composers who I probably wouldn't mind doing music for Sonic games. Gosh, I feel so disrespectful... let me Google this guy's name... credited are:

Takayuki Aihara, Shinji Hosoe, and Ayako Saso.

I don't know who did what, but I'm guessing Takayuki was the lead composer.  Definitely an EPIC soundtrack.  If you are a fan of the Street Fighter 4 series and have never played EX Plus, the game pretty much laid the foundation of Street Fighter 4.  It's a really fun game and I still have my PS1 disc of it.

But, back to Sonic.  When I was out today with my sister, I found this little Sonic The Hedgehog themed vending machine.  It gave out these little ornament-like heads of the main cast (I don't think this included Amy or Blaze but it did include Silver, Big, Metal Sonic and Super Sonic along with everyone else you'd expect.)  Who did I get?  Out of about 10 different outcomes, I got Tails!  A dollar well spent.  It's so tiny, though... in fact, I was going to take a picture of it, but I can't even find it...

I'm looking forward to getting some racing games and right now, two have my attention.  The first would be Forza Horizons and obviously, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed.  The new All-Stars Racing game has me hyped after seeing the gameplay and the levels and it appears to look like it's going to be really, really good.  I've never played the full version of it's predecessor (which I found okay, didn't really give it enough time to grasp it too hard) but this just seems so much better.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting back into the speed run game.

OH!  I MUST SEE WRECK-IT-RALPH THIS WEEK.  NO, TOMORROW.

Resurrection?

It's been a while.  Admittedly, I decided to take a break from focusing on Sonic.  Information overload?  More like information motherload.  What does that mean?  I think that staring into the screen, peering through various fan sites, various forums, certain youtube accounts (NOT youtube comments, most people on YT are just dumb kids) and my own efforts towards expressing my love for this franchise, simply got a bit overwhelming.  It was also the first time in a long time that I was consistently playing a Sonic game at a high level.  A part of me was yearning to play something more laid back as I seem to have forgotten how to do that with a Sonic game (until recently).

What I wanted was an RPG.  Sonic Chronicles?  No.  In fact, I don't really see myself enjoying that game.  I tried to watch a playthrough of it (something that's become somewhat of a past time for me this year, watching playthroughs of video games) and I didn't get far for two reasons.  First of all, the story was poorly written, and secondly... I was not in the mood to watch a Sonic game of Sonic doing something that doesn't express his speed.  It's a deal breaker because how he expresses his speed is a big deal.  (Why do you think there are so many people throwing in custom Sonic voices in Generations?  Voices from Unleashed and Adventure 2.  To put it simple, it brings him to life.)  So I picked up FF13 - yeah, I said it.  A non-Sonic game in my blog.  You know... this is actually something I've been wanting to point out, actually (especially since I've been playing Unleashed lately).  When I was looking at what people were saying about Final Fantasy XIII, they seemed to say two things about the game that were very similar to what some people were saying about Unleashed.  Yeah, you guessed it.

1. Linearity: Now, if Role-Playing Games happen to be something new to you, or you've never played any games in the FF series, I'll try to keep it simple.  RPGs such as FF have always offered a sense of diversity and openness.  On a large scale, you get a world map with plenty of exploration, a variety of ways to travel, a long story, a battle/character development system and hopefully a thoroughly developed cast.  On a smaller scale, you get various vehicles, various mini-games, side-quests that have various tasks that offers either a reward or if you're lucky, it can add to the story, sometimes optional characters, a ton of monsters (some of which may aid you in battle), tons of items that rank from useless to too good to use unless it's the hardest battle in the game (though it still may never get used), side-bosses, weapons/armor, etc..  13 was in fact missing a lot of things longtime fans were accustomed to.  No world map, no various transportation, no sense of exploration (everything's mostly a long narrow hallway), no mini-games (maybe one).  Final Fantasy XIII is really an all or nothing game, and people bitched.

Sonic Unleashed's linearity was criticized in it's level design of course and people bitched because it didn't have much of a platforming game.

2. Auto-play:  In FFXIII, people said that the battle system requires little to no effort thanks to auto-battle.  Now this was only true up to a certain point.  First, if you didn't reach the part of the game where the character development system opens up (give it an hourish) then you'd eventually learn that you can not just mash autobattle.  The irony of this is that most people who started the series (like myself) played FF7, and honestly, that game's battle system in comparison was extremely linear.  Everyone pretty much leveled up the same and your physical power would eventually reach a point where you could just HOLD down the button that selects the command while you waited your turn and just auto-attacked with your normal attack.  I have never, ever died so much in a FF game like I have in FF13.  It does to a very solid degree, require a lot of micromanagement to develop strong characters and to earn high scores in battle, you must be strategically efficient with your attacks (which will also depend on how you developed your characters).  It does boil down to making the right decisions fast enough.

Sonic Unleashed's auto-play, you've heard it... boost-to-win.  I've probably already given my opinion in the past on what I think of that term.  Personally, I think it's a scrubby term that suggests to me (when referring to Unleashed) that the game requires little or no effort to get from point A to point B.  Some people may argue back that old school games were just hold right-to-win in some cases.  Again, like in FF13, if you do not reach a certain point of the game, you will soon find out that braindead boosting doesn't work for very long.  The linear level designs won't allow it.  Another thing is that there is a reason why in Sonic games, the clock ticks forwards instead of backwards.  There is a huge gameplay in Unleashed that's still to this day being developed which dictates how fast Sonic gets from point A to point B to point Z.  I don't think many people get it.  Just because you get from point A to point B in Sonic Unleashed by holding down the boost button doesn't mean you win.  It means you just aren't able to figure out the other things Sonic is capable of in terms of creating speed.  It's not that simple as pressing a button in Windmill Isle Act 2.  (I had something else to say, but I forgot.)

In the end, FF13... for what it was worth, I felt it was a pretty decent game.  It may not have been closer to it's roots, and it did have room for improvement (yeah, 13-2 pretty much let me down by dumbing down the battle system and making a story I could hardly consider captivating.).

Unleashed on the other hand... yeah, you think I'm going to start bitching about the Werehog?  No.  For what it's worth, it took a while for me to appreciate Unleashed, but it somehow seems to surprise me to this day (even moreso than Generations) what people can do in that game to make the fastest time.  It's NOT EASY.  I felt like Generations sort of closed the gap a bit with how advanced you  can be in the game (granted it's newer and yeah, I've still been paying attention to it - the D and even M-speed is possible in Generations, though it's harder to execute.)  Unleashed really had the makings of a great 3D Sonic game with the daytime levels.

Well, that is all... oh wait... almost all.  Yeah, I made a vid.  I'll go into details about it later.

Happy 21st Birthday, Sonic.

I've liked Sonic since Sonic 1 and I have never, not once in my life ever within the 21 years of this franchise have celebrated his birthday.  Well... today is going to be different.

Unfortunately, I don't have anything all that spectacular to express my love for Sonic... well, neither did the people from The Sonic Show but I'd give them an A for effort.

Meanwhile, I'd been wanting to record this long before I had a PVR, long before the Spring season.  Long before 2011 as I found that out shortly after purchasing and playing this game on day 1.  I was just gonna upload the raw file with no music to it, but lately YouTube has started desyncing my MP4s.  Not too long ago I was uploading a bunch of OLD Super Street Fighter 4 matches I'd wanted to put on YouTube since 2010 and nearly every one of them failed to sync correctly.  Only one of them synced and unfortunately it wasn't even a real match.  No luck today with that either.  It sucks because eventually I'd love to upload some quality MP4s that I can edit in the future, but if I can't upload them with such quality, then I suppose there's no use worrying about it now.  However, I don't get it.  I'll never understand why I always have syncing issues.  I had them a long time ago when I had my first capture device and the quality was terrible.  Now it's just hit or miss.

Anyhoo, enough doom and gloom.  I hadn't really given it much time what I'd do today as I only considered recording stuff yesterday.  I thought perhaps I'd do something with Sonic CD thinking it was released in '92 so it would be on it's 20th anniversary, but it was actually released a year after Sonic 2 in '93.  Do something with Sonic 2?  No.  Sonic 2 is an awesome game of course, but it's really my least favorite between 1, CD, 2, 3&K.  Of course I could still do something with CD anyway, but I have the least amount of off the hand knowledge of the game unlike the Genesis titles.

There was one idea I had originally, and I had started on it already, however things aren't looking very promising with editing.  I'm also worried that I don't have enough content.  I really can't forsee the scope of it yet as it's just something that's gonna require more time I unfortunately don't have today.

Well, I'll figure something out.  My mind is so convinced that I need to record, record, record, but really... what I think I need to record probably isn't mandatory at all.

I decided to start recording in 1080i instead of 720p to see how it would work out.  I really didn't like the quality of the last speed run that I did.  It was recorded in 720p, but it was compressed pretty hard.  In fact, all of my videos post Sky Sanctuary wound up that way because I have to compress the MP4 into an MP2 so it can get edited in Windows Move Maker - and then it gets saved into a WMV file (more compression I assume) and it just looks bad.  I may have to look into better hardware soon, or recheck my options saving files in Movie Maker.  But how did recording in 1080i work out?  Since it's interlaced, there seems to be a bit more motion blur in the videos which I found extremely difficult to NOT notice when I was recording Unleashed.  For reasons beyond me, my PVR won't do 1080p.  The console flickers off and on until it just won't display it.  In spite of starting from a larger resolution, the quality of the edited video (as you can see from above) isn't really much different than from what I've been uploading.  Personally, I'm not much of a fan of this interlaced look along with the motion blur.  I might feel different about it in the future, but honestly, all that blur doesn't really help games like Sonic easier on the eyes when everything's moving so fast.  To watch, it's okay, but to play with... that's another story.

Okay, that was a useless rant, but I feel better~

How to M-speed in Sonic Unleashed and Generations.

Roman gives a visual example on what speed Sonic needs to be walking at to perform the M-speed glitch.  Have fun with it.  Some people have found it to be easier in Unleashed, and if you must know, it works for any version of Generations - even the 3DS version!

Modern Red Ring attack, via KAKIPI1000.

Kakipi seems to be flexing his muscles still with performing red ring attacks.  It may seem he's been somewhat quiet as of late since his full speed run of Unleashed a month ago.  However, it's really just me seeing that everyone else has been pushing speed runs out left and right and not really knowing what to expect of his future runs.  With all that he has done between Unleashed and Generations, it's just a complete wonder what he'll pull out next, but this seems to be his focus lately.

 Kakipi usually pushes videos out maybe a few times a month, so actually all is quite normal. :)

Melponterations!

PC Generations makes me sad.  Sad, not because I don't own it... but I can't exactly run it just yet.

It's really nice that there are people willing to create an experience through the latest major Sonic release like this and let the public play around in it.  Everyone wants that sense of freedom in a Sonic game and though this isn't very fast, it could definitely be a step in the right direction.  In the present, I'm glad that we actually have a nice 3D Sonic that people can do this with.

Well, I'm too sleepy to say anything else, so... gooooodnight!

Effort.

I read somewhere in a YouTube comment someone (it was posted by one of the speed runners I track, no worries - except that I don't recall exactly which one) said, quote...

"It takes diligence to speed run."

That is pretty obvious, yes.  But it made me think about my efforts toward Seaside Hill.  Every other stage that I did a speed run for (except Speed Highway), I put a lot of time into before I had my PVR.  Green Hill... I ran for a long time since the Generations demo as the whole Havoc engine was still new to me.  Sky Sanctuary, I ran for at least two weeks.  City Escape... I don't remember though my first serious time which was top 50 may have taken at least two days and a few more days to top ten.  Crisis City... MONTHS, and I loved every bit of it.  Seaside Hill - 5 days from scratch with minimal hours of play.

Honestly, I don't know why I was in such a rush considering I had previous experience in other stages.  This was the quickest I've ever learned a stage, and simultaneously... it's the highest I've ever put myself on a Sonic leaderboard.  It really was a stage I could have simply been patient towards. Perhaps a part of me was convincing myself that the actual stage wasn't as hard as I thought it was... or maybe I'm getting better at the game... or both?  Maybe I created my own sense of urgency to make a recording of it by always talking about it?  Who knows.

After I had finished uploading the video to YouTube, I just watched it... over and over.  When I had to leave the computer, I was watching it over and over.... over my phone.  My brain was feeling some sort of release from the experience.  That was probably the stress of practicing it a few days ago being liberated.

I saw some missed opportunities in the run (at least the last 2D and 3D sections where I dedicated the least amount of time to) but in the end - it made the music sync with what was going on quite well from start to finish.  Didn't even have to move the track.  I just started it when the video started.  Must give thanks to my good friend for throwing that song in my direction.  Again, in the end, it's not so much about having the fastest time more than a good looking run with some nice music... and I'm glad just how well it turned out.

From the exception of Crisis City Act 2, that one mission where you hit the music notes and Action Master, every other stage that winds up recorded from this point on in Generations will be from scratch.  By that, I mean every stage up to now will be taken seriously for the first time.  So when I start Unleashed.... man... there's probably going to be a lot of downtime in between Generations and Unleashed, let alone between Unleashed itself.  I've BARELY scratched the surface with that game.


Speaking of Sonic Unleashed, lately I feel like I haven't been sharing enough speed runs from other people, and I want to throw this one in because it's a stage I never really liked (at least the non-DLC version of it).  But I think I've changed my mind now.

Man, Unleashed is so fast.  Miller states in his description that it took him over 5,000 tries and he's very proud of this.  I don't know how accurate that statement regarding the number of tries is, but hey... can't say I don't relate to him about how he feels in the end.  It's just the love for the game... and when it comes to love towards anything, in spite of how frustrating it is and how many fails you have to stack up before you succeed, you just don't know how far you can go...

... unless you are willing enough try and keep trying.

Seaside Hill Act 2... R.I.P.

Man... I'm telling you - I was so stressed making this, but the music I put in makes it all worthwhile.

So what's next?  I think I'm going to go for Chemical Plant Act 2.  Why not?  It's the only stage I haven't recorded from the Genesis Era and I've covered all of the Dreamcast Era stages.  I believe my current time is something around a 1:41ish.  There's plenty of room to improve and I still want to save my favorite stage for last.

Cheap.

(Source)

Yeah, I was actually interested in a 20th anniversary statue, but when I heard what this particular one was made of shortly after it's release, I was like... no.

... and it wasn't even hot.  So basically...

After 3 hours of recording.

Never made it to the last 2D section of Seaside Hill 2.  The furthest I made it was to the side-step area where I either hit a bomb because I brain-farted or didn't jump or mis-jumped.

Normally, I could try recording a bit longer, but - I really hate this stage.  Even though it took me literally months to get down Crisis City Act 2, it didn't stress me out like this stage does.  This was the first stage to actually upset me to that extent - which is feeling stressed.  If I reach that point again, I'm just going to stop because there is frustration and then there is stress (and unlike frustration, stress kills).  After taking a break, I was too tired to try again.

So, what are my problems?  Honestly, nothing I haven't already said before, though there's more to add with one crucial discovery.  The biggest challenges is still the section after the killer whales and then grinding.

• It seems that once Sonic lands after the display of orca, if you boost too early, you will fuck up the camera which causes it to zoom more on Sonic and less on the surroundings.  This is easily avoidable if you slightly delay the boost when he lands.
• That whole part where you are aiming him to collect rings, drift over water and then smash enemies & collect rings to fill the boost meter before hopping into the cannon is very tedious and was the center of my issues this morning.  Aiming Sonic at the rings properly is a challenge.  Water treading is okay, it's just that the camera doesn't point at what's ahead of Sonic after he's done drifting on the water.  With a bit more attentiveness I believe I can fix that issue.

• However, in the first 2D section where you wall jump and air boost into the trick ring is so ununderstandable when it comes to getting Sonic consistently high enough on the wall jump platform after destroying that enemy.

Fortunately, I was able to figure out on my own why Sonic refuses to air boost after entering  the cannon and hitting the springs.  See that enemy that's standing next to the cannon - DON'T TOUCH IT.  It was only because I was killing before landing in the cannon that the air boost wouldn't work.

Unfortunately, that opened up a new problem - getting used to using it.  After the air boost, if I want to hop off the platform and on to the rail (providing I don't air boost over the platform, though that may suggest I'm doing it too late) I'm going to have to air boost again just before landing on the rail to get the most out of it.  I find this to be very tricky to simply perform since the camera is mostly above your head. If you reached the cannon with say, less than half boost meter, the two air boosts will destroy your meter, and you can forget about running on water in the next section.  Alternatively, I can just air boost immediately after hitting the last spring and land on the speed booster... and it didn't seem all that much slower, honestly (helluvalot easier.)

And of course there are times the controls don't want to respond...

All these things really make me realize that this stage is really good at revealing the problems within this gameplay from the camera to the controls.  Seaside Hill is super stingy when it comes to meter and it sometimes made me wish that Sonic's boost was more useful when it comes to magnetizing rings (not like Unleashed HD, just better balanced.).  The only reason why the last 2D section is so easy is because the top section is just so simple, all it's good for is to just prepare you for the last 3D section of running on water.  It's just wall jump, air boost, kill an enemy, go through the 180, air boost late, collect rings on rails, fall, air boost, boost, run the 3D section.

I really hate speed running this stage.  At first it was fun, but I wasn't going nearly as fast at first... and maybe Sonic Team wasn't either.  I was thinking practicing it with skills might be nice (or just doing a skilled recorded run instead).  I'm not discouraged... just frustrated.

Good night.

Seaside Hill Act 2.. Take 4...

Yeah, I know what you're thinking...

I'm on it!  The good news is that this took me less than 2 hours to pull off (for once) and I'm confident I can do it again.  Couldn't record earlier sadly.

But can it go faster?  It can, but I don't know if it will go faster than 3rd place.  Gonna test some things in the stage before I start recording to make sure everything goes as smooth as possible.

Seaside Hill Act 2... take 3... I hate running on water.

If I ever said I liked Seaside Hill 2... I'm sorry.  I don't feel that way anymore.

First of all... I know it can't just be me (or maybe it is) but I find the stage rather boring when you're taking the speed run route.  Not that my heart doesn't beat out of my chest when things are going right and Sonic's going consistently fast, but... idk.  Maybe because the challenging areas are rather... uninteresting (not all of them).  I can't say that about the rest of the stage's alt paths because the stage is actually quite flexible overall.  Although I now completely understand what it takes to get on top of that falling orange platform after running over water (stop boosting before you turn right or you'll cause Sonic to "understeer."), I dunno... just seems so plain.  Secondly, to add insult to injury, after hitting the black speed booster that launches Sonic, you boost down to the end, only to jump and stop all of Sonic's momentum because for some reason, Sonic Team doesn't want Sonic to... go relatively fast around a corner to the left.  For a shortcut, it sure does seem rather bland to kill Sonic's flow.  Last but not least, I'm annoyed at the territory of this game when it comes to the controls in this stage.  Again, air boosting after the cannon launches you to the springs, air boosting seems to be an option on and off like.  It's just like Green Hill 2's last set of springs before hopping over the trip step which you can overcome any control issues by air boosting before hitting the springs.

Well, I've got the early morning ahead of me and after getting 6th on XBL (as I said, I should at least get 8th or 7th), I felt it was time to actually show some progress.  I actually ran out of meter in the final part of the stage and if I didn't, I possibly could've snatched 4th.  Well... that's the plan when I record the run.  The current ruler of the XBL leaderboard is none other than KYUURI999@ 1:30:44.  Right now, I don't see myself knocking 5 seconds off my time.  Still have a lot of work cut out.  Right now, my biggest concern is making the most out of the last 2D section with the wall jumping as it doesn't make much sense to me yet.

... I actually look forward to getting through this stage so I can focus on Crisis City Act 2 again.  I think this stage is definitely more fun to watch played than it is to play it as a speed run.  Maybe a red ring attack would be better...?

Just when I thought I was done with Ep2... and Let's Play?

(Thanks, Kokonoe.)

Seeing how I forgot to publish this post many stars ago (meh, I'd say roughly 6 hours+ ago) and I just got done playing through Generations, I think I'll share some of my thoughts of the game.

No, it wasn't me practicing or recording for a speed run.  This time, I thought for the second time since I've owned the game (which was on it's Xbox/PS3 release date in the US) I decided to run through the entire game from start to finish.  While in the midst of playing, it had made me wonder if I should saturate YouTube with my own "Let's Play" of it.  I honestly have no idea how that would even work out.  Pulling off commentary for instance - I'm not that big on the idea of performing it, but I do appreciate it when I know it could be helpful (and I won't be vulgar or say completely unnecessary things).  However, I don't think I'm that great at explaining things verbally.  Reason why I'd do it is because from start to finish, I must say, it is a very enjoyable game (didn't die to Time Eat once! *success kid image*).   It wasn't as enjoyable running casually as Sonic Colors was, and I mostly feel this way because I don't get a kick out of classic Sonic in Generations.  The best way to sum up Classic Sonic's gameplay is this: It is a slightly dumbed down version of the classic games.  It's not bad.  I'll gladly take this form of 2D gameplay over Sonic 4 in a Sonic second.  It has the fundamentals down pretty good, but I can't help but feel like the Generations version comes off as a whole, a gimmick.  It's much too simplified for me to take seriously.  Although the 3D/modern gameplay technically is a dumbed down version of Daytime Unleashed, for me it's offers some refinements to make up for it. Things such as the new level design and a Sonic that's easier to maneuver (for better or for worse, this one actually STOPS when you want him to) is something I can appreciate but I'm sure was a given.  I'm not praising the controls of Generations.  If you play Generations hard enough, you will eventually realize that sometimes the controls don't want to work and all you can really do is find ways to work around them next time.

Well, LPing the game is not really something to consider, but just a thought.  Come to think of it, I'm sure what would be even more appreciated would be LPing Sonic Unleashed HD because I don't think there are any HD LPs of the entire game on YT... at all, and if there are any, there aren't many.  However, I really suck at the game.  Like Generations, I've only ran through it twice and I don't find the game outside of it's Daytime stages all that entertaining.  The story is quite bland and I never really felt a sense of completion for beating the game (could be worse *coughep2cough*).  The werehog stages for me were just the worst gimmick in a Sonic game I've experienced.  Still, the game is aesthetically charming to the point one can only yearn for more... or if you're like me, personally would just wife Sachiko Kawamura. Don't know who she is?  She created one of the most loved and hated things in the Sonic franchise.

Yep, the Chao.

But yes, she is why Unleashed (and Generations) look as amazing as they do on your PS3/360.  I just checked YT and there aren't too many Sonic Unleashed LPs.  Well, that's definitely an option.  Even though the game is shunned by many reviewers, many fans... even Sega themselves, it was a step in the right direction from the previous main series game.

Between Unleashed, Colors and Generations, Unleashed seems to be favored among speed runners and it's really not difficult to see why.  Generations is still a game meant to be played hard, and Colors?  Yeah, not so much.  I see so many TAS runs on it.  It's difficult to appreciate TAS runs.  Entertaining, they can be... yes... but, it's like watching a robot that knows exactly how to do perform everything and it winds up being better than human play.  The sense of challenge seems to be dumbed down.

Wooo, this has gone on for too long and it's quite late... so I better stop while I still can.  Oyasumi~

Me vs Seaside Hill 2... part 2.

Haven't gotten a chance to play in the past few days so I'm getting used to the stage again.  I managed to complete a run that brought me to the top 15, but... if you don't know, readers... I want a top 10 run unless I don't think I can do better.  This means getting below 1:36:23 and I am currently at 1:36:88.

...

Which means if I do this right, I should get no lower than 7th or 8th.  I really want something that'll put me at 4th, but... there are a few problems.

This majority of the stage before the last 2D section is very hard on your meter.  To speed run, every 3D section requires Sonic to run over water.  The first 3D part at the beginning of the section is moderately difficult, but everything is fine if you simply collect all the rings over the water.  Sometimes I have more problems timing the jump into the cannon which seemingly works better from the water opposed to from the land around it.  (I assume that when Sonic is running on water, he is somewhat higher.)

The first 2D section is weird.  I do not try to get off a homing attack dash on the platform because if I kill the 2 enemies starting from that pillar, I cannot get Sonic high enough to land on the right wall jump pad or on the platform to the left.  Instead, I let him fall and the result to getting him high enough after defeating the second enemy seems to mostly be based on how high Sonic's jump was on the first enemy.  It's weird, but the success rate seems around 70%.

The second 3D section is ALL about meter management.  By the time you get to the 2nd cannon, you need at least 90% meter to run over the body of water to the orange platform.  Most of this will successfully depend on whether you collected enough boost energy and you'll want to collect as many line of rings you come across before the first cannon.  The first line on the beach and the second on the water are mandatory.  There are two lines of rings on the next part of the beach, but there are also two enemies together, so destroying those gathering the last line of rings before the first cannon really helps out tremendously.  Before getting on this beach area, it's a good idea to hop from the water on to the beach because sometimes Sonic flies up as if he hit a slope, and that will not help at all.  After getting into the cannon and hitting the last spring, my challenge here is whether the air boost will work or not.  It seems random.  If it does, getting the most speed out of the rails is a bit tricky as hopping on it won't give you immediate access to boosting for some reason (so I guess you have to do it right as you land on it.)  Last but not least is the water section.  In a previous entry, I stated that it wasn't too hard once you get it down, but that was then.  Today, it's a challenge. If I accidentally cause the camera to get caught behind a part of the level, I'm pretty much playing a guessing game at this point.  Other than that, I've yet to really cement it.

The rest of the stage seems pretty much like a cake walk, but that's yet to be determined because I made mistakes the last time I went through it and that only happened from lack of experience there.  Meter is no issue.  The only challenge seems to be based on whether my wall jumps will get Sonic high enough for an air boost on the top platform.

Time will tell if I get this done tonight.  If not, I'll try again tomorrow.

Is glitching automatically = cheating?

Using glitches is not cheating because it doesn’t give any advantage over the competition. Since it’s still within the framework of the game, anyone with the skill and knowledge can perform them. -SigmaAlpha via TSSZ

A lot of people tend to think that using glitches is "cheating."  To some extent, glitches can be used to cheat.  We see it a lot on the leaderboards of certain games and Sonic games are no exception (Ep1, Ep2, CD, Generations PC, etc.).  Though it will always be based on opinion, there are glitches that either take away the effort in the speed running experience in exchange to make it past the finish line (i.e. in 00:00:00).  Then there are glitches that do the opposite, being that they usually add to the effort for actually completing the stage.  There is still the possibility of error for making it through a section 00:00:50 to 00:05:00 seconds faster because of that glitch.  Basically, you're still playing the game.  Even though this is two ends of glitching where one is simply get the fastest possible time without playing the stage and the other plays the stage to exploit the stage, how far those glitches can go for the sake of shaving off time varies.  Some prefer using a glitch or glitches to conquer small bits of the stage, while others, a large chunk. (Note to reader: performing that glitch in Sonic Unleashed which skips a large chunk of the level makes your game prone to physically breaking within your console.)

Cheating is defined by breaking the rules through deceit.  When it comes to speed running... are there any rules?  Is there any form of deception being used?  First of all, if we are talking about the people who get 00:00:00ish times, well... they're not speed running at all more than they're just deceiving the game and the people that actually play the game.  Their focus is not the stage, just the leaderboard.  They want to appear superior at simply doing something not many people can do.  It's not a speed run more than it is a leaderboard hack.  Secondly, if people are conquering the stage by using glitches to go faster within the realm of the game, be it in small bits or large chunks, it cannot be considered cheating as they are doing something anyone can do.  Sometimes I feel that there is a lack of understand that goes in the word cheating where if one person sees another person perform something unusual (feeling deceived), they get labeled a cheater.  The accuser most likely never attempted to even perform such a glitch to understand the depth behind it even though the person who performed it makes it look easy when it's very possible for it to be difficult or have huge consequences if performed wrongly.  There is only one rule most speed runners go by, and that is to play the stage as fast as possible, and I personally believe that the legitimacy of the run is weighed in by the amount of effort that's put in to playing the stage.

It is just me, but I believe glitching is not always synonymous with cheating.

Not everyone is going to know the best methods for what makes a speed run faster (and developers don't always know all that's capable within the framework of their game).  There is usually a lot of knowledge that goes into speed running a stage in these types of games as it's usually never as simple as it looks.  If those methods are understood as ways to expand the experience for any competitor (opposed to taking away the experience) who's goal is to be the one to make it first to the finish line, why shouldn't people use glitches?  If we limited our efforts, the game grows stale because there would be limitations instead of plateaus.

And right now, I think that's what makes Sonic Unleashed more favorable than Sonic Generations for speed running among the top speed runners on YouTube.  It's not only allows Sonic to do a lot on his own while moving fast, but after much time, people are just finding ways to make him go faster.  It doesn't make Unleashed unique to other Sonic games, but it definitely stands out as the more complex game compared to Generations.

But if you're a fan of Generations and not Unleashed, don't worry... it's time just may come sooner than you think.