Stardust Speedway 027 - Post Mortum Report (Sonic The Hedgehog CD)

Platform: Playstation 2 (As part of Sonic Gems Collection)
Completion Time: 2 Hours 38 Minutes
Total Score from Playthrough: 340,620
Time Stones Gained: Three

Initial Thoughts Of Sonic The Hedgehog CD

This was one title that has always alluded me because to get hold of a working Mega CD Unit which was the right model for your Mega Drive console and also a working copy of the Game which at the current time are going for over £50 for a good model. So I had to find the next best thing (without downloading anything illegal like ROM files) which was buying the Sonic Gems Collection of which Sonic CD is part off, although its the PC Port of the European version which in the Sonic Community is not the best version of the game.

But I knew nothing about the title when originally playing it, I didn't know what sort of Sonic game to expect, but as it was voted the best Sonic game ever made by Screwattack.com, it must be good.

Interesting Points Discovered

1. Sonic The Hedgehog Remixed - There are six levels within this game which doesn't sound a lot compared to Sonic 2 which has nine all together but as there are four different versions of each level, the final total of levels within this single game is 24 which makes it the largest game within the Sonic Series.

The unique mechanic with this title is that Sonic has travelled to Little Planet deep within the forests of Mobius and goes into the planet to Stop Robotnik steeling the planets most precious resource; The time stones which have the power to change the course of history and ultimately stretch Robotnik's power to where Sonic cannot reach; the Future.

So Sonic has to guide himself through this unknown world, which when looked at a little bit closer are each combinations of two levels from both Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 to create this new level. This is rather a unique way to create the new levels for this game and is almost like a tribute to these two games as it was released before Sonic The Hedgehog 3.

One example of this finding can be found with the Tidal Tempest level which when looked closely with other levels in the first 2 Sonic games, it can be seen that its a combination of the LABYRINTH Zone and MARBLE Zone from Sonic 1 or HILL TOP and AQUATIC RUIN Zone from Sonic 2.

2. Family Ties - This is the first game that will feature two characters that will stick around with Sonic deep into the series and beyond into new titles, these characters are Metal Sonic and Amy Rose. Now this game does not feature Tails so might suggest that it is set before Sonic 2, so Amy Rose can be considered to be Sonic's first companion within the series. He finds her at the beginning of the second level in the game; Collision Chaos and love hearts are hovering above her head to say that she fancies him and follows him around this section of level much like Tails does within Sonic 2.

But before the level can continue, she is taken by Robotnik's latest creation Metal Sonic who is identical to Sonic in every way, but a mechanical version of him which also provides his greatest challenge yet and one that he cannot afford to give up on. But also within the Sonic The Hedgehog Film (Please See Blog For Details) He has a mental bond with Sonic and he is considered his twin brother by Robotnik as he is like him in every way.

So even though he has brought himself up and doesn't have any parents; he starts to build up his family of similar characters which will be carried over to other titles in the series; so this is a crucial point within the Sonic Universe.

3. No Rings....No Service - This was a very strange thing to find within a Sonic game and could be considered to be an Easter Egg within the game itself, but a very interesting one indeed. At any part of the game, even during the final boss battle which is very interesting indeed as you think Sonic would keep on playing during that part. But if the player keeps Sonic perfectly still for approximately 3 Minutes during the gameplay, Sonic will tell the player "I'm out of here" and then he jumps off the screen into the abyss, taking all his lives with him and the Game Over screen appears out of nowhere and takes the game back into the Start Screen.

Now this element of the game is very strange as Sonic is always been portrayed as the White Knight of Mobius compared to Robotnik as the Dark Knight, always being there to stop his plans and protect his friends and new found family from danger. But this is the first time that he cannot be bothered with his work, even though he knows that this is Robotnik's most dangerous scheme yet, so if the player does not continue to help Sonic get to the end of the level racking up points and collecting rings along the way; he will just go away and do something else. So has this always been his mindset during the course of the games, is he just in it for the money???

4. 88 Miles Per Hour- As discussed before, the main mechanic of this game is that Sonic can time travel back in that particular levels time frame and Sonic can change back what Robotnik has left in the past e.g Badniks Portal and Metal Sonic Projector. The only way that he can go back in time is hit these lampposts which say Past and Future and run at Sonic's trademark speed* to hit the time warp and jumping back into that time zone.

(*Maybe that is the reason why Robotnik created Metal Sonic, a product that can recreate Sonic's level of Speed and jump back and forth in time)

This is a great mechanic to have in a Sonic game and does effect the player and urges them to get the good ending of the title, for one reason. If the player goes into the past of the level, they can see what it once was usually very green and natural. While if the future if unchanged by Sonic, the world has turned into a dark and damp world that is overrun with Badniks and all sources of Currency have been taken for Robotnik's personal gain. Also the music goes from its normal jingle type rhythm to a dark and sinister theme, to symbolise the evil that has spread over the land.

This could urge the player to get the good ending of the game once again as even if he defeats Robotnik at the end of the game; it will not go back to normal; the timelines will not return to normal and Robotnik's evil will still remain making it one hell of a challenge compared to previous Sonic Games.

Concluding Thoughts

I rearly enjoyed this title, you can tell that a lot of time and care has been put into this game by Sonic Team to make this game the most challenging yet, but it is also the most revealing as it details a lot of Sonic's personality and sets a large chunk of his future story lines in the form of Metal Sonic and Amy Rose.

There might not be a lot here in the themes of Capitalism (rings collection, Time Stone Collection) but it is an important title when looking at the character of Sonic and what is true intentions are within his world.

Stardust Speedway 026 - Post Mortum Report (Sonic The Hedgehog 2)

Platform: Sega Mega Drive (Version 1 Model)
Completion Time: 1 Hour 37 Minutes
Total Score from Playthrough: 220,320
Chaos Emerelds Gained: Seven

Initial Thoughts Of Sonic The Hedgehog 2

I have got to admit this before starting this blog entry; This is one of my favourite games ever, I know this game like the back of my hand and I can complete the game in under 1 hour if played quickly; but for this play through, I played the game slowly enough to take notice of anything which could be useful for the project.

Also, for this game I am playing the title on its original platform, The Sega Mega Drive. I originally wanted to play all of the chosen research titles (Apart from Sonic CD) on their original platforms to get the popper experience that Sega and Sonic Team wanted to achieve during the time of release, but on reflection playing these games on Compilation Disks such as Sonic Gems Collection and Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection so that I can go back to specific levels in any of these games for further examination (Especially Spring Yard Zone for more scoring combinations)

Interesting Points Discovered

1. Möbius 2.0 - As a big Sonic Fan, I do know as the player that the first two titles of the series are set on the Planet of Mobius, but when compared to the levels of the first game, you can see these original levels have been evolved by Sonic Team in this game. This might indicate the passage of time which has passed between the two titles and also how Robotnik redesigned his Zones to try and capture Sonic and stop him in his tracks.

The following is a list of levels which show the evolution of Mobius from the first game to the second:-

SONIC 1 Levels/////////SONIC 2 Levels

Green Hill Zone (Into) Emerald Hill Zone

Scrap Brain Zone (Into) Chemical Plant Zone

Labyrinth Zone (Into) Aquatic Ruin Zone

Spring Yard Zone (Into) Casino Nights Zone

Marble Zone (Into) Hill Top Zone

Marble Zone (Into) Mystic Cave Zone

Scrap Brain Zone (Into) Metropolis Zone

Warps of Confusion (Special Stage) (Into) Sky Chase Zone

Final Zone (Into) Death Egg Zone

(* Oil Ocean and Wing Fortress Zones are like nothing featured in Sonic 1 and are exclusive to this title)

2. The Rainbow is Complete - Within the Wing Fortress Zone's Special Stage (The Hardest One in the Game) lies the fabled 7th Chaos Emerald which makes its first appearance in the series and is the most important emerald of the collection as it negates the evil energy of the remaining Six and makes them into a force of Good instead of evil.

Now within the official storyline, both Dr Kintobor and Sonic were creating the 7th Emereld to negate the evil powers of the six others, but the experiment went wrong releasing the evil energy back into the world and changing Dr Kintobor into Dr Robotnik, making him evil in the process. Now it was said that the 7th did not exist but Robotnik must have found a way to create the Emereld without the use of Sonic to power his machinery and hide it within this special stage on one of the hardest levels in the game.

When Sonic collects this emerald with the other Six, He can completely defeat Robotnik and turn into his alter ego; Super Sonic (Hints of Dragonball Z here me thinks)

3. Return of the Pinball Wizard

This recouring theme started within Spring Yard Zone (In Sonic 1) in which elements of a classic pinball table are scattered within the zone itself and can be used to Sonic's Advantage e.g using a pinball flipper to jump higher in the air than usual. These themes can be found once more within the Casino Nights Zone but is also taken a step further with the Slot Machine elements that can be found. Not only can Sonic gain extra points/rings in these slot machines, but these elements when looking at the entire level map can be seen as a bonus pocket in a Pinball Table which is very interesting in a game such as Sonic and is taken further in Sonic Spinball.

Concluding Thoughts

I have always loved this game and everything about it, especially the ending where you think Robotnik won the war against Sonic with him dying in the atmosphere above Mobius (Sorry for the Spoiler), but when looking at the game even closer and looking at the entire level maps which I didn't know existed until the research taken for this project you can see this game in a very different light.

I only noticed the extended Pinball themes in the Casino Nights Zone in more detail since playing this run-through (Especially when looking at the level maps) that have been brought from Spring Yard and this specific element will be very useful during the project as a Pinball machine is one vary early example of a capitalist device within the entertainment industry as the first recorded Pinball Machine created goes back to 1931.

Stardust Speedway 023 - Game Post Mortum Report (Sonic Spinball)

Platform: Playstation 3
Completion Time: 2 Hours 47 Minutes
Total Score from Playthrough: 36,500,725
Chaos Emerelds Gained: Seven

Initial Thoughts Of Sonic Spinball

Even though I have played a lot of Sonic titles during my years as a gamer; This was one that eluded me; but is is a good title in its own ways. The basics of the story is that Sonic is trying to defeating Dr Robotnik who has taken over Mt. Möbius and is using its lava to house his new version of the Robotasizor; the machine which turns animals of the forest into his badniks. But he has to battle his way through Robotnik's Pinball defence system to stop his rivals plans.

But this is nothing like any Sonic game been played previously and breaks a lot of the common rules that are normally featured within Sonic Games. So I am expecting a lot of changes to accomidate the pinball theme of this game.

Interesting Points Discovered

1. All about the points - This game is all about point gathering and nothing else; it is a typical pinball game and plays like a very accurate one as well. Points can be gathered from doing the littlest tasks such as gathering rings (12,500 points each)and collecting Chaos Emeralds (500,000 a piece).

2. Bulletproof Gameplay - Sonic is basically indestructable in this game; the only way he can be killed is if he falls beyond the flippers at the bottom of the table or hit some toxic waste/lava depending on which level you are at (Toxic Caves or Lava Powerhouse). Enemies cannot defeat him; he can just automatically jump off them as it is a pinball table and boss characters just move him further down the table and not actually stop him from coming back up.

3. Breaking The DNA - Before this research started; I stated what I thought made up a traditional Sonic Game and called these three points; The Sonic Series DNA. Now one of the points that I stated was collecting items such as Golden Rings and Chaos Emeralds which is still in this game; but instead of protecting Sonic during his battles against Robotnik; they just add to the score at the end of the level which breaks this rule.

4. Robotnik's Secret Stash - One common theme within the Sonic games is that within each level there is a bonus item which can be collected such as the Chaos Emeralds and in Sonic CD The Time Stones; these are spread out over the space of the title and are not usually out together so closely before.

5. The Seven Chaos Emeralds + 11 more in this one

There are three on the first level alone; with an additional three on the next and five on the last; these are suppose to be the stabilisers for Robotnik's complex and keep the site up and running without anything going wrong; but that makes 11 in total and in any other Sonic game there are Seven (Eight including the Master Emerald) but why haven't these emeralds been talked of before and who created them. But also if these emeralds are not counted from the original Seven, then there would be 18 emeralds so where have these come from also?

Concluding Thoughts

This is a very weird title for Sonic to be in as it just feels as Sonic has been plastered on top of this title; but this was created by Sega technical institute and Sonic Team themselves so it has their seal of approval on it as it was created by them. Also this game is all about point scoring which is one element of the other games but there was some sort of challenge in the other Sonic games but I feel there is no challenge in this title; it feels a bit to easy to rack up all these points and beat Robotnik.

It is a good title in my opinion though and a good comparison to other Sonic titles as a flipside/counter argument; but it is not of much of a challenge as Sonic 2 or Sonic CD* is.

(*Especially Stardust Speedway which is one of the hardest zones in any Sonic game I have encountered)

Stardust Speedway 014 - Sonic 1 (Post Mortum Game Report)

Well; I have finished my research on the first Sonic title this afternoon and I have got several pages of relevent infomation that will come in handy for my dissertation; but as well as this I am going to write a Post Mortum Report about the game and tell you a few interesting elements that I have found during my playthrough and also what I have interpeted from the game itself.

Platform: Xbox 360
Completion Time: 1 Hour 22 Minutes (Using the Xnox 360's save function so that I can go back to essential levels in the future for future reference)
Total Score from Playthrough: 145,350
Chaos Emerelds Gained: Three

*Now I have to note that I have played the title on the Xbox 360; I would have liked to play the game on the original platform (The Mega Drive/Genesis) but I could not find all the essential cables and my copy of the game itself so I thought this would be a good substitute insted.

Initial Thoughts Of Sonic 1

Well going into my several hundereth runthrough of the title; I thought it would only take me a few hours at least to get through; but before I have only played the game to complete it in the quickest time and collect all of the chaos emerelds, but this would be the first time that I have played the game for analysis only, So I suppose that why it would take so long to complete a runthrough.

Interesting Points Discovered

1. Money in the Bank on some level. Analysing the layout of the game itself; I have discovered that a few of the levels have been created as filer levels only to connect the more important levels with the rest of the game without disrupting the flow of the fast gameplay. I have broken down the levels using this formula as follows and a reason why

Relevent Levels

Green Hill Zone - The Beggining Level of the game so would be an important level, but also there are more rings on this level than any other in the game as is 125 rings just on the first level alone.

Labarynth Zone - The mid-point of the game and a very difficult level for Sonic as most of the level is submerged under water and as Sonic cannot swim (according to the games design document and instruction manual) makes the gameplay very difficult as one wrong move can instantly kill Sonic. Also this is the only level where you don't fight against Dr Robotnik, but you race against him to escape the level.

Scrap Brain Zone and Final Zone - One very large and extreamly complex level, suited to the home of Dr Robotnik. This level is actually spread over two levels with the final zone taking place at the end of the Scrap Brain Zone. Also Dr Robotnik pulls out one last trick and places you straight back into the Labarynth Zone within Act 3.

Filler Levels

Marble Zone
Spring Yard Zone
Star Light Zone

I feel this levels are only for filler because the player doesn't have any real threat against Sonic and if played correctly can be used to rack up the scores and gain several chaos emerelds without having to do much work.

2. Loss of Rings = BIG SIGN. I did notice one thing that was very interesting which was if Sonic gathers up a large ammount of rings above the ammount of 50, they will scatter over the screen in the shape of a large ring, which is a sort of signal to the player that they have lost their rings and they will need more rings in order to play through; more experienced players would not need rings but they would collect them to increase their score at the end of the level.

3. Badnik Multiplyer. If you do the timing correctly and in the right level (Spring Yard Zone is particulary good for this) when Sonic destroys the badniks and destroys another one straight away, their score for destroying them will double up everytime which is easy points in the long run of the game.

4. Missing Emereld - Reward 1 Life. As the player goes through the game; they can collect some or all of the Chaos Emerelds, but there are only six in the game while in every other Sonic game after Sonic 1 have seven to resemble the colours of the rainbow (and what do you find at the bottom of the rainbow?) it does state that Dr Kintobor (Dr Robotnik after an accident in his laboratory with Sonic) was working on the seventh emereld; but if he can create large pieces of machinery and turn animals into robots; what is stopping him creating the seventh?

5. Aladdin's Cave down in Spring Yard. In every nook and cranny of the levels; there are several different places that Sonic can access that hold lots of treasure like extra rings, extra lives and item boxes that will help him throughout the level and there aremor eof these throughout the game (if you know where to look) giving the player more chances to gather more scores

Concluding Thoughts

I didn't think that there wasn't much about this game that I didn't know about as it has been out for almost 18 years; but one you play them enough and stop to notice what is around them; there are a lot of items and relevent points than be brought up for discussion and more chances to rack up the points and now I will never play this game in a different way again

Stardust Speedway 005 - A Late Entry and Personal Reviews

I have decided to include the original Sonic The Hedgehog title within my game research; as when replaying the title. Some of the elements that I am trying to uncover are more visable within this game and also it was the first title; so I would have to look at it and then I could compare it to the other two titles that I am looking at which are Sonic CD and Sonic The Hedgehog 2.

Also I have started to replay all of these titles; and when I have played each title a few times each; I am going to write up a small post mortum report to discuss what elements I have found within each title.

(I can breath now I have got that miniture rant out of my system) :)