Level cliches that Sonic Games Haven't Used Enough or Haven't used at all?

[Sarah Jane Smith]

I'd really like to see a human body themed level. Come on, it might be a bit gross but it would be cool to see.

Heinous Anus Zone...

[Johnny Boy]

Heinous Anus Zone...

Joking aside, I was actually thinking of a more "Osmosis Jones" esque human body level.

[Jix Hedgehog]

X

Edited August 14, 2015 by Jix Hedgehog

[trizob]

As a New Yorker, I always thought it'd be cool if there were a level with Sonic running through the subway tunnels. At first it might seem kinda linear, but I think it if it were done right it could be good. It might play sorta similar to Rail Canyon, with some similarities to something like Mine Cart Madness in Donkey Kong Country or the parts in the subway in Mirror's Edge. Like there could be a part where you have to outrun a train for a little bit, and there can be a part where the floor drops out and you can be in a deeper tunnel. And I suppose you'd have to go subway surfing at some point.

[Chaos Warp]

As a New Yorker, I always thought it'd be cool if there were a level with Sonic running through the subway tunnels. At first it might seem kinda linear, but I think it if it were done right it could be good. It might play sorta similar to Rail Canyon, with some similarities to something like Mine Cart Madness in Donkey Kong Country or the parts in the subway in Mirror's Edge. Like there could be a part where you have to outrun a train for a little bit, and there can be a part where the floor drops out and you can be in a deeper tunnel. And I suppose you'd have to go subway surfing at some point.

I think I would excuse linearity in that case because it makes a lot of sense in the setting. And you could still have a expansive level with lots of subway tunnels to go through. I really like this idea!

[Lady Soniko]

I think we have a lack of "indoor" levels. Sure, sonic's been in eggman bases, twinkle parks and what-not, but to my knowlage he's never run through an old curio shop, a restraunt or a muesum.

And I'd love to see him run through a muesum. Just imagine grinding down this:

http://www.nms.ac.uk...e28a&version=-1

Wouldn't that be cool?

back reading aside...

didn't few of Sonic and the Secret Rings levels do this? the majority of time was spent indoors on levels likes Skeleton Dome, Evil Foundry and Night Palace at least 90% of the time!, plus being indoors limits the whole "unleashed/generations" type gameplay SEGA have been going for recently.

[Chaos Warp]

back reading aside...

didn't few of Sonic and the Secret Rings levels do this? the majority of time was spent indoors on levels likes Skeleton Dome, Evil Foundry and Night Palace at least 90% of the time!, plus being indoors limits the whole "unleashed/generations" type gameplay SEGA have been going for recently.

I don't see how it would......

[Lady Soniko]

wouldn't he need big flashy areas to run at the speed of sound? instead of cramped indoor quarters with an awkward camera angle for a whole level?

[Chaos Warp]

wouldn't he need big flashy areas to run at the speed of sound? instead of cramped indoor quarters with an awkward camera angle for a whole level?

They could make impossibly big indoor areas, we're not limited to real world logic......

[- Eternal Paradox -]

didn't few of Sonic and the Secret Rings levels do this? the majority of time was spent indoors on levels likes Skeleton Dome, Evil Foundry and Night Palace at least 90% of the time!, plus being indoors limits the whole "unleashed/generations" type gameplay SEGA have been going for recently.

I forgot about Secret Rings. But it's a spin-off, and most of controls for me were on rails. We didn't have any control over where sonic was going. Night palace was quite nice though.

wouldn't he need big flashy areas to run at the speed of sound? instead of cramped indoor quarters with an awkward camera angle for a whole level?

They could make impossibly big indoor areas, we're not limited to real world logic......

Like this?

http://0.tqn.com/d/gouk/1/0/U/e/-/-/51762155.jpg

Big areas actually work in favor for places like Muesums, country halls and shopping malls, as they're naturally quite big. And as Chaos Warp says, we're not resricted to logic here. Why not have an unfeasably big restraunt or hotel? As long as the setting can pull it off...

I think I now know what my first project will end up being once I get Sonic GDK working...

[Marcello]

How about a garbage dump of Eggman's? It could have old half broken Badniks, hills of garbage that are harder to go up and use garbage for stage gimmicks. Like a washing machine could open it's door and shoot Sonic in a certain dierection, Sonic could use an ironing board to "snow"board down garbage and there's a lot more that can be done.

See, I'm really going to have to disagree with this one, personally.

Whilst Colours had an excuse for it since it was basically Eggman's theme park, other 'crazy' levels like Music Plant and Toy Kingdom just bug me. Not because they're bad levels per se, but because they just look so ridiculously out of place in a Sonic game. It looks like they don't fit with the rest of the game, or even the Sonic series in general. They look like stage themes taken from Rayman/ Ristar/ Mario and thrown kicking and screaming into a Sonic game.

Even at their wackiest, Sonic stages generally always have at least one foot somewhat grounded in reality, but stages made out of toys and musical instruments is a bit too out there and doesn't have enough context that it should exist, in my opinion. Again, it's not to say I dislike them, I just feel that they're uncomfortably out of place and unfitting for Sonic stages.

I don't really agree. To me, they're amusement parks. I don't see how they're all too different than something like Casino Park with it's giant pinball tables and slot machines.

Edited June 30, 2012 by MarcelloF

[Sarah Jane Smith]

Joking aside, I was actually thinking of a more "Osmosis Jones" esque human body level.

I'd be quite curious to see how that would be implemented in a Sonic game... could be pretty interesting!

... Anyone else read "Level glitches" not "cliches"? lol

They've easily overdone the "green hill" zone setting, but that's what people recognize when it comes to Sonic

What I really would love to see is a return of the hang gliders (MS/GG Sonic 2), friends and I spent hours trying to figure out how to maneuver them and when we did we would return to that zone to see what each of us could do while using them

Loving the nostalgia going on tonight, great memories of both Sonic Adventure and Sonic 2 Love it!

Yeah, hang gliders were fun. I'd like to see more "items" like them, such as that rocket you could get in an item box in one of the Game Gear games, maybe skateboards like in Generations, snowboards, and other things. They could just be optional things you could use (if you're good) to reach different paths.

As a New Yorker, I always thought it'd be cool if there were a level with Sonic running through the subway tunnels. At first it might seem kinda linear, but I think it if it were done right it could be good. It might play sorta similar to Rail Canyon, with some similarities to something like Mine Cart Madness in Donkey Kong Country or the parts in the subway in Mirror's Edge. Like there could be a part where you have to outrun a train for a little bit, and there can be a part where the floor drops out and you can be in a deeper tunnel. And I suppose you'd have to go subway surfing at some point.

That is a good idea, and it wouldn't even necessarily have to be linear. Subways tend to have many branching paths and side-tunnels, as well as multiple floors. Outrunning a subway train would definitely be a must for a level like that. There could be electricity hazards as well.

[colorfulzones104]

Hmm..I liked some of the levels in Unleashed, because they took place in different parts of the world. I really likes ruins levels, like the babolyn city in Sonic Riders. What I'd like to see are some more levels to do with weather, but by this I mean more like natural disasters. There was already a tornado in both Sonic Adventure and Sonic 06, but it would be interesting to see things like hurricanes(if that would be possible) on islands or blizzards in the more cold areas that you play through.

But I also think Jango's idea for the cold levels is good. The ice levels in Sonic can sometimes get a bit boring because they often take in place in ice caves or mountains.

Also..I know Sonic Colors already did this, but what about food based levels? However, I think if we were to use a food based level again, we should do it with things other than candy or sweets, but rather with fruit, vegetables, etc. I'm thinking of something like giant carrots to walk on, green beans being used as vines, etc.

Maybe it wouldn't be as appealing as Sweet Mountain was, but I think it would be interesting nonetheless to see how the different foods could be used to make a level.

Also, what about the part in Sonic Fighters where you fight on the flying carpet? I think an actual level where flying carpets(or rugs) are used for plat-forming would be cool.

Edited July 5, 2012 by colorfulzones104

[Johnny Boy]

I also think a sports themed level would be interesting. It could be like a giant sports themed city where the roads are tracks, the buildings are giant arenas, and you can see flags and signs of fictional sports teams appearing as sonic blasts through the city, such as The "Ice Cap Bears" (with Bark as their mascot!) and The "Chu Nan Dragons". There will be a bunch of sports themed gimmicks such as giant golf clubs or baseball bats whacking sonic to another part of the stage if be doesn't move quick enough, forcing him to take another route. And at the end of the stage, a soccer or football player will kick sonic (in ball mode) into the goal ring. And as an added bonus, you can see cheerleaders in the background dancing, flipping, and shaking dat ass.

[Salamander]

I haven't read the full topic, but how about a destroyed version of the traditional Green Hill cliché? Blackened grass and burnt trees, dark colours everywhere, smoke in the skies. Craters. I guess Angel Island Zone tried this, but the result was just the same thing only orange. Come to think of it, I'd also like this to be a final level, as it'd be fairly original to have a hard version of the traditional opening zone type. I guess there's Planet Wisp, but Planet Wisp is... there are lovely green grassy bits, and mechanical bits, but the two don't really have anything to do with each other. There's no real sign of encroachment or destruction.

[Gabz Girl]

A Japanese themed stage would be really cool. Something set around a mountain similar to Mount Fuji, or a Tokyo based stage at night. Something in Akihabara maybe, that would be awesome! The closest we got to an Asian stage is Chun Nan. It's unbelievable that this hasn't been made yet.

Edit: I just remembered Aquatic Park which has pagodas and Eggbots with Samurai helmets. >.> But something like Tokyo at night can still be done!

Edited July 1, 2012 by Gabz Girl

[Tobbii]

More stages looking like this would be nice:

I love me a pretty desert stage, far too often they get too much indoors, I don't like that (though Pyramid Cave rocks).

[JezMM]

How about a garbage dump of Eggman's? It could have old half broken Badniks, hills of garbage that are harder to go up and use garbage for stage gimmicks. Like a washing machine could open it's door and shoot Sonic in a certain dierection, Sonic could use an ironing board to "snow"board down garbage and there's a lot more that can be done.

Sonic Rivals did have the Death Yard Zone, but that was more of exclusively a scrap heap rather than all sorts of fun garbage like you suggested.

[Marcello]

A Japanese themed stage would be really cool. Something set around a mountain similar to Mount Fuji, or a Tokyo based stage at night. Something in Akihabara maybe, that would be awesome! The closest we got to an Asian stage is Chun Nan. It's unbelievable that this hasn't been made yet.

Edit: I just remembered Aquatic Park which has pagodas and Eggbots with Samurai helmets. >.> But something like Tokyo at night can still be done!

Speed Highway maybe?

Sonic Rivals did have the Death Yard Zone, but that was more of exclusively a scrap heap rather than all sorts of fun garbage like you suggested.

Forgot about that. But, yeah, it's not quite what I meant.

[-blank-]

Someone mentioned a subway level. While I'm not sure how much I would like a subway level, there could be a section where Sonic goes through one as part of a large city level.

[Blue Blood]

Someone mentioned a subway level. While I'm not sure how much I would like a subway level, there could be a section where Sonic goes through one as part of a large city level.

It would make a very cool stage in an actual game. People were hoping that subways would be a part of the New York stage in Unleashed was Skyscraper Scamper was unveiled. Also, Zero Gravity:

[Kuzu]

There was also a "train" section in Heroes if that counts, speaking of trains if there is indeed such a level in needs this music:

[-Robin-]

A combination of caves and valleys and valley gorges has been an idea I've had in mind. Maybe get creative and make the level a quarry of sorts for mining jewels, and include some mine carts for neat little automated sections like Chemical Plant's tubes, or maybe Ice Paradise's metal slides.

Edited July 2, 2012 by Qwilfish

[colorfulzones104]

What about a level that takes place in the sky? By this, I mean like in the clouds--though for that, maybe the characters would need things like rocket shoes. Or there could be floating pathways. Or perhaps you could run on the clouds themselves?

I've also been thinking about a level where the level changes to become either very small or gigantic, depending on which part of the level you are going through.

Furthermore..how about a magic-based Sonic level? Sonic games already include a lot magic(particuliarly Sonic and the Secret Rings, which includes genies) but I'm not sure if there have already been Sonic games with a level that is completely based around magic, from wands, to spells, etc..

And how about a level that is basically about shapes? Where most of it is cubical, and there is a lot of plat forming involved in it? (Jumping from cube to cube, for example..)

Edited July 5, 2012 by colorfulzones104

[Rally the Cheetah]

Haunted area levels. LOVED Mystic Mansion and Hang Castle, Pumpkin Hill and the ghost ship in Rush Adventure. Also loved the ghosts in Sonic 3 and Knuckles.

I recall a while back someone suggesting a Haunted Forest level in one of the topics. I'm totally for this as it done correctly could be a ton of fun.