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Post by retrokevretro on May 2, 2017 13:28:29 GMT
Game Club 2017 (May) - Sonic Chaos
The original Sonic the Hedgehog is my all time favourite sms game but having played it to death, I wanted to explore another Sonic game that I never played back in the day as like many others, I had moved on to the megadrive before it's release. From what I have heard, this is quite a simple and easy game to complete but if it's anything like the original Sonic, it should have plenty of replay value. Unfortunately this game didn't see a release in the US but hopefully you guys have emulators or everdrives.
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Post by nearbythiscafe on May 2, 2017 14:45:27 GMT
Another game i have yet to play.. Will boot it up this week
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Post by Rastanfarian on May 2, 2017 15:13:21 GMT
Another game i have yet to play.. Me too! Anyone want to send me a copy?  |
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Post by Transatlantic Foe on May 2, 2017 16:35:30 GMT
I was so excited to get this when I was a kid. It looked more like the MD version - spin dash, larger sprites, moebius strips, icons that jump out of the box when you break them.....
Alas it was not to be. The levels are really small and the enemies barely threatening. Tails as an easy mode was a nice touch, but it makes an easy game very very easy. Part of the ease is that it's so easy to not die and get tonnea of extra lives as there are so many rings in each stage, the other part is the bosses are so hapless.
Like MD Sonics you have rings for boss fights. SMS Sonic 1 and 2 the boss fights were tense because you couldn't make a mistake. In this, most bosses aren't threatening even if you couldn't take any hits. A giant spring moto-bug that... erm... slowly moves towards you? A bug climbing a tree that you can literally jump onto its head once and you stay there, bouncing 'til it dies? It's really disappointing next to some of the nasty bosses SMS Sonic previously faced.
Sonic's game lets you collect chaos emeralds through special stages, accessed automatically when you collect 100 rings and required to get the true ending. They are entirely a formality until the very last one. Remember those pipe mazes in Scrambled Egg Zone in Sonic 2, where you had to frantically press directions to take the right path? This last special stage has one such maze... but the solution is basically two quick directional presses. Even if you mess up any of them, the game gives you so many rings that you can easily get most of the emeralds by stage 3. It's harder to not get the emeralds come the end of the game.
It's still a fun game. The controls are great and the presentation is superb... but it's just so insultingly simple to clear.
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Post by nearbythiscafe on May 2, 2017 17:58:18 GMT
Another game i have yet to play.. Me too! Anyone want to send me a copy? Maybe |
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Post by ryanretro on May 2, 2017 18:41:29 GMT
When Sega used to say " the challenge will always be their " they can't have been talking about Sonic Chaos .
When I first got into collecting I was surprised to find out this game existed as I had moved on to the megadrive at the time of it's release .
As with the other sonic games it looks and sounds great , but it's lack of any real challenge spoils the game for me . I think I lost a few life's on the second boss but other than that it was plain sailing , you just coast through it really .
I also hate that the level abruptly ends and you reach the bonus stage upon getting 100 rings , at least make me have to finish the level .
The chaos emeralds are also to easy to obtain , I preferred having them hidden in the levels like sonic 2 , as it means you have to explore and not just rush through it .
On a positive note it's good to see Tails making an appearance on the sms , although I loved sonic 2 as a kid it bugged me that tails was missing .
It's still sonic so it's enjoyable but it's kind of sonic light for me .
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Post by Retrobob on May 3, 2017 6:01:37 GMT
I agree with your assessment - I am not exactly great at games but recall blitzing through this on the Game Gear when my bro got it BITD.
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Post by Kaunisto on May 3, 2017 16:03:14 GMT
Another proof I suck at platformers... and have no patience for them.
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Post by ShadowAngel on May 4, 2017 11:10:25 GMT
It could be a great game if it weren't for two monumental flaws:
- The pathetic "difficulty", i've played a good 2000 games in my lifetime and this one still ranks as one of the easiest i've ever played. That kills a lot of the fun for me.
- The music. It's horrible, especially compared to the awesome soundtrack the first Sonic had.
Otherwise it has a lot of nice idea like that flying board or whatever it is and the level design is good. Excpept for the Bonus stages but then again, with the exception of Sonic 1 (Master System) and Sonic 2 (Mega Drive) they were always kinda bad.
A shame really, add in more challenge and bosses that deserve that name and some good music and it would be better than Sonic 2...
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Post by Centrale on May 4, 2017 20:01:34 GMT
Haven't played it yet, but just from watching the demo mode it looks amazing, like the programmers have full familiarity and command of the SMS.
Regarding what everyone is saying about the difficulty, that makes it sound appealing to me as something that I can share with my 5-year-old. She's interested in Sonic - we tried out Sonic 1 on the Gen/MD - but was asking me to show her some easier games. She'll also be excited to play as Tails. So far the game she's enjoyed the most has been Ecco Jr.
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Post by Kaunisto on May 6, 2017 14:18:27 GMT
I didn't actually love Sonic 1 back in the day. The great playability is the whole reason for Sonic's success, but level design left something to hope for.
Same goes for Sonic Chaos. It's hard to choose between bothering to look around and just rushing through (when like me you know you're not actually going to get to the end anyway). The difficulty may be minimal otherwise, but there were too many spots where I jumped to unseen territory to find nothing but death; it was hard to tell when there's a lower level to go to and when you just die stepping over an edge.
The boss fights are definitely worse than in Sonic 1. Some are ridiculously easy, some clearly harder than any but the last in Sonic 1 (which tbh I never survived).
I don't think I would've enjoyed SC back in my teens any more than I did S1.
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Post by flatapex on May 6, 2017 14:40:50 GMT
Sonic Chaos is for me the friday afternoon of sonic games, people don't want to be there and half the office has gone home.
In my eyes sega took some nice level design, challenging bosses and threw them away.
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Post by ryanretro on May 6, 2017 14:51:39 GMT
Sonic Chaos is for me the friday afternoon of sonic games, people don't want to be there and half the office has gone home. In my eyes sega took some nice level design, challenging bosses and threw them away. Yeah I would agree with this , it's called sonic chaos but their is sadly precious little actual chaos . It's a bit " all fart but no stink " for me . |
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Post by ian on May 6, 2017 16:19:12 GMT
I remember originally playing this at a cousin's house around the time it came out and I seem to remember then thinking it was easy after completing it on my first attempt (I would have only been about 7).
I haven't really played it that much since, but as per the spirit of Game Club, I gave it a good go today.
Generally it's a pretty good game. The graphics are good with some nice level themes/colours. I'm pretty sure the physics are the same as the first 2 Sonic games, as it controls really well. It has some great new features like playable Tails, the spin-dash, the peel-out, rocket boots and the pogo. The music isn't particularly good though.
The biggest let-down of the game is what everyone has already mentioned; it's extremely easy. There's so many rings and few enemies. Some of the bosses are laughably easy. The level design seems to focus on having taller levels where you can explore, but if you just run from left to right you can breeze through them in seconds.
The only challenge is collecting the chaos emeralds. On my first run through the game, I didn't manage to collect them and got the bad ending. For some reason, it took me like 6 attempts to get that second chaos emerald. On my second run through I managed to collect them all. Which was completely pointless as you don't even get an extra level! (like in Sonic 2). It's a short game with little replay value. You can tell it's a really well-made game, so it's a major shame it didn't reach its potential of being really great.
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Post by Transatlantic Foe on May 6, 2017 18:11:12 GMT
I just had another playthrough so a few more thoughts
On graphics:
There's some nasty slowdown when (if?) you get hit but otherwise it looks superb with some creative new enemies - like moto bugs with springs!
Sonic 2 suffered from a garish couple of opening stages but here the colour combinations are much more pleasant
On level design:
There's a stage called Aqua Planet but it's really hard to end up underwater for any length of time!!
Levels are often as high as they are long, but this means that a missed jump frequently cuts off a large area of the act. I assume it's for replay value but the game is so easy you don't need to hunt for extra lives or find optimum routes for ring collection
Said level height also means that sometimes a missed jump on the highest route sends you falling several screen heights, past other platforms with no chance to get onto another route, into a bottomless pit you never knew was there
On difficulty:
It's clear that this mostly suffers deliberately from easy difficulty. Later (1993ish) the SMS was often presented as a "starter console" for younger kids, aided by its lower price point. See also: the change in writing style between Sega Force and Sega Master Force, and a lot of cutesy platformers later on
However the boss exploits are dumb, regardless of whether it was by fault or design
So many extra lives are handed to you without having to put any effort in
On music:
I like most of it, why do so many of you hate it so much? Aqua Planet is really irritating but the others are fine - Mecha Green Hills' remix of Sonic 2's Green Hills theme is quite fun, the final stage is suitably sinister
On special stages:
What even is the point? There's no challenge and little thought required. The third one is a bit annoying because I don't think you can get back to the right pipe if you miss literally the only button press you need to make. Otherwise they're possible in one go even with mistakes
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