I hooked up my SNES the first time since forever (ITT we talk about retro games)

[I_am_awesome]

Cartridges are ok as long as you don't lose all your shame and go collecting a thousand of them

I mean it's ok to buy a cartridge of a game you really loved but do you really have to buy every single game ever

destroying the industry gfgasfgartgasgasd



lololol buying games

[BassMakesPaste]

Cartridges are much longer lives than discs and can take quite a beating.

But I don't really care because hard drive data lasts forever.

[Buraito Supāku]

Cartridges are much longer lives than discs and can take quite a beating.

But I don't really care because hard drive data lasts forever.

>magnetism can be lost over time
>ROM chips in cartridges are still readable in 1000 years as long as the contacts work
>"HDDs are better than cartridges"

[I_am_awesome]

^doesn't remagnetize his hdd

[aptanananananator]

Cartridges are ok as long as you don't lose all your shame and go collecting a thousand of them

I mean it's ok to buy a cartridge of a game you really loved but do you really have to buy every single game ever

I just love collecting stuff, it's fun for me.

[Buraito Supāku]

In honor of the nearing release of Sonic Generations, I'm currently replaying a few selected Sonic classics.

Currently, I am playing Sonic Advance.
Yeah, it isn't exactly nostalgic for some of you, not even to me, but I am playing it because, IMO, it is one of the best portable Sonic games ever made.
It is like a cross between the Sonic games for the Genesis and some elements from Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, like rails.

I am going to say this here, and nobody is going to stop me:

It is what Sonic 4 tried to be: A spiritual sequel to Sonic 3/Sonic and Knuckles.

The Stage tropes are there, the classic moves are there, the physics feel right, the level layout is, for the most part, non-linear and makes you want to explore. The game also it isn't filled with friends of Sonic noone could care less about. The story is as simple as back then as well:

Dr. Robotnik is up to no good again, go kick his fat ass!

That's all! No time travelling bullshit, no werehog, no Excalibur, no Johnny 5's fighting brother suddently appearing at the beach, just Robotnik at what he's not-so-good at: Taking over the world! mbison_ofcourse.avi

Alongside with the Story, Sega also reused all those classic themes, jingles and tunes (Invincibility, Drowning, 1up, revving up for a spin-dash, etc.), with the exception for the classy "SEEEEEGAAAAAA!!!!" when you boot the game up.

There are also a few more hints to earlier Genesis titles hidden in this gem. For example, quite a few menu themes are remixes of Genesis tunes, like the Options Menu (Scrap Brain Zone), Vs. Menu (Emerald Hill Zone 2P version), Player Data Menu (Star Light Zone) and 2/3rds of X Zone.
Also, the first stage is named "Neo Green Hill Zone", a hint to both Sonic 1 and the development history of Sonic 2.

Now to the cast: All characters are fun to play. The only one I dislike, if not HATE to play as is Amy "Won't roll for a million ring" Rose.
Another exception is Angel Island Zone's Act 2. There is one jump, one freaking jump which could as well originate fron Sonic Rush.

There, you are falling from a sand slide onto a spring which catapults you into the general direction of a moving platform from which you have to jump to a rail on the ceiling. Should you miss, it is instant death for you.

I am not saying that it is hard. The jump itself is easy, just sometimes the movement of the platform is a dick and you slide withthe last step of mementum off the platform. Sure, you could use Tails and just fly across that part. But when I play a Sonic game, I prefer playing as Sonic, though Tails is just as fun.

Beside that jump, the game is easy, maybe even a bit too easy.
And since I don't consider myself as a good gamer, it is probably piss-easy.


If you want to have a break from all the high-sped action, you can raise your Chao in the Tiny Chao Garden and even transfer your Chao to the GameCube versions of Sonic Adventure DX and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.

In conclusion, Sonic Advance is a blast. It has various hinto to the Genesis titles, plays similiar to those and in general lives and breathes "Old School Sonic", though it has some hints of what awaits us in...*shudder* Sonic Rush and it's "siblings".
I, for one, recommend this one for those who like the classics but want to play a new title without resorting to Rom hacks or waiting for Sonic Generations.

[Meower]

I never played the first Sonic Advance but played all the other Sonic games for the game boy advance myself. From what I've heard though, it seems the first one would have been the most enjoyable.

Who am I kidding, I am a sucker for Emerl and beating the crap out of people.

[Buraito Supāku]

Okay, I've beaten Sonic Advance.
In the credits, I came to a shocking realization:

Sonic Advance was made by Dimps as well.
But...it didn't have shitloads of bottomless pits!
It didn't have weird physic glitches!
It was actually FUN!

So, let me ask one question:
WHAT THE HELL WERE THE GUYS AND GALS FROM DIMPS ON WHEN THEY MADE MOST OF THE DS TITLES?!?

[Meower]

Cold hard cash and a lack of time to finish developing levels

[aptanananananator]

You know the chao raising from Sonic Adventure on the Gamecube with the GBA was just a horribly gimped version of the chao raising from the original Dreamcast version using the VMU, right?

[Smokey Joe]

I would call Sonic Advance a good game. Not incredible by any means; the special stages were crap, you couldn't go super, melee attacks were mostly pointless, and the game did have some cheap deaths that would have benefited from a wider screen/better camera or tweaked level design. But even with that said, the mechanics are good, the game's got a fair amount of variety and level gimmicks, pretty standard bosses. Worth playing overall.

What I would have liked to see more from Sonic games was the kind of gameplay Amy had on Sonic Advance; it's still your old-fashioned pinball physics, multilinear levels, etc. but the moveset is completely different. She wasn't fast and didn't have spindash, but she had an array of features such as short hop and high jump that changed the way you played the levels. There was a hack on Sonic Retro which was basically Amy in Sonic 1, which I honestly think is a perfect fit, since you now had a character that encouraged slower-paced exploration gameplay in a game... that was actually not as fast-paced as its successors. Would be great if Sonic Team/Dimps/SEGA/fuck could solidify their physics so that ingenuity like this could shine through.



I have all of the Sonic Advance games (unfortunately), and honestly, the first is the best. Sonic Advance 2 is pretty much where the development team pretty much decided "Sonic is all about speed", so the game is fast paced and it's all about trying to time attack levels. This mostly renders some of the characters' abilities as almost useless (Tails and Knuckles had what they had for the sake of exploration, not speed), the levels are comparatively "short", there's almost no backtracking ability, and there's pretty little in the way of actual challenge or gameplay variety (unless you count the occurring cheap death pits)... and also the special stage tokens are completely fucking stupid and nobody who doesn't have autism is going to collect all seven in each stage just for a single shitty boss fight. Speaking of which though, I did like the running boss fights thing, up until the god hand that raped your ass at zone 5.

Sonic Advance 3 is just weird, because it runs on Sonic Advance 2's engine but tries to build off of it as if it was Sonic Advance 1, so any attempt at platforming just feels awkward in comparison. The pairing system introduced certainly makes the game interesting, but the ai is stupid as hell and the game just feels unnatural compared to SA1 or SA2. If they went back to Sonic Advance 1's engine and used the same basic concepts/design, I think it would have been a much more enjoyable game.



Also the chao garden was stupid in all of the games, the end.

[Starky]

Haha.

The GBA counts as a retro system now.

I feel old.

[Theta Zero]

When the Wii U comes out, the Gamecube of tomorrow will be the N64 of today.

Do you feel older now?

[Meower]

When the Wii U comes out, the Gamecube of tomorrow will be the N64 of today.

Do you feel older now?

No
Only prouder

I can't physically feel older, I'd end up in a singularity and reach infancy again

[Orangestar]

In conclusion,

this isn't a fourth grade paper, you inbrained simpleton