Homing Attack. (+ Insta-shield / Twin Spin Attack)

[a mystery]

Ah, the homing attack. From its subtle early days in 3D Blast, to its helpful times in Adventure and to its controversial infamy in Sonic 4, This move has been with Sonic for the better of his days.
Now, I'd like to hear your thoughts of the move in not only 3D, but 2D. Personally, when it's in 3D, I don't mind it too much, but as I'm designing a game with the homing attack as an optional ability, I have quite a few things to say about it.

Currently, the Homing Attack is used very ineffectively, missing the potential that it has. The biggest problems it has are the loss of momentum every time a homing attack is done successfully, and the ways that it is used.

Normally, I don't use the Homing Attack too much in Sonic 4. Being a 2D game, the precision the ability gives you is very redundant, as aiming in 2D is much easier than in 3D. I don't see why anyone even has to use the ability until one very hated aspect of the game comes up.
Homing Attack chains. Unless you like the homing attack or mastered the recurling glitch, you are going to hate them. Unnecessary and tedious, this just has to show up fairly often. I personally think that unless they are shortened and put less frequently, they will keep getting the hate they currently deserve.

Like I previously said, I'm designing a game (that I'm looking programmers for) that utilizes the homing attack optionally. In there, the homing attack does not take your momentum away, and is more of a aiming aid than a 'do all the work for you' tool. If holding right or holding nothing, it propels you towards your target temporarily but loses power soon. This makes it so that you actually have to aim the thing instead of just using it mindlessly. Though, it has a larger range, though that's for comboes in combat. Oh, and no, it's not a Sonic fangame.

Well, what are your thoughts on this infamous ability of Sonic?

Edited May 13, 2013 by Can of Nothing

[Alice Twilight]

The homing attack isn't really needed in 2-D as it's easier to estimate how far you need to jump to hit an enemy.

In 3-D I can see why it would be needed, play Sonic Adventure and try hit an enemy without the homing attack it's pretty tricky if you ask me.

Even this heroine of justice can't pull it off.

[Wentos]

The reason it was even implemented was to make hitting enemies in 3D an easier task, so it serves pretty much no purpose in 2D games. I also find it a disappointment that the homing attack is no longer an air boost when there are no enemies nearby, it doesn't serve to build and keep momentum, which is something the games are starting to feel more and more devoid of with every passing entry.

I will probably faint the day I see a Sonic game based around using acrobatics to build and maintain momentum.

[TheOcelot]

The homing attack in Sonic 4 Ep1 made progression feel very lazy. Having said that, with the dreadful momentum-less physics in Ep1, the homing attack makes it a bit more bearable to progress through levels. In Ep2, the homing attack was not needed as much to progress, so using it occasionally doesn't seem so bad.

I don't mind having it, but it's use could be more creative rather that being used on bubble chains, like in Sylvania Castle Act 3 where you sometimes could use it to move/turn platforms to help you progress.

Edited November 4, 2012 by NightwingFox

[a mystery]

In my game, it's supposed to be a kinda tricky move to maneuver, but is especially handy for comboes, especially when your target (carrying Smash Bros.-esque physics) is launched out of your normal range, since it's faster than pretty much anything else. Then again, that's not very Sonic.

The homing attack in Sonic 4 Ep1 made progression feel very lazy. Having said that, with the dreadful momentum-less physics in Ep1, the homing attack makes it a bit more bearable to progress through levels. In Ep2, the homing attack was not needed as much to progress, so using it occasionally doesn't seem so bad.

I don't mind having it, but it's use could be more creative rather that being used on bubble chains, like in Sylvania Castle Act 3 where you sometimes could use it to move/turn platforms to help you progress.

Edited November 4, 2012 by Can of Nothing

[StaticMania]

The homing attack isn't really needed in 2-D as it's easier to estimate how far you need to jump to hit an enemy.

In 3-D I can see why it would be needed, play Sonic Adventure and try hit an enemy without the homing attack it's pretty tricky if you ask me.

[Takkun]

Homing chain Attacks. Tedious? You just have to press a button at a right timing dont see what is tedious about that lol anyway i like homing attack in 2-d too never complain about it and never will

[a mystery]

As much as I like the concept of a homing attack (and loved how it was used in de Blob 2 DS), I still think the version used in Sonic games need a bit of fine-tuning, but if you think having your speed and momentum taken from you by homing attack chains. They don't need to exist, so I don't really like their existence.

[PickleBrows]

Unless you like the homing attack or mastered the recurling glitch, you are going to hate them.

[Blue Blood]

Sorry but what is this recurling glitch, I've not seen it before.

[a mystery]

This.

Edited November 4, 2012 by Can of Nothing

[PickleBrows]

This.

[hangarninetysix]

It sucks all the fun out of it in 2d. In 3d, it's bearable but I feel like the range is WAY, WAY too large.

[Diogenes]

In 2D it isn't necessary, but with some fiddling I think you can make something interesting out of it (no, dropping it in unchanged and adding chains of Bubbles does not make it interesting). In 3D I think some kind of aiming aid is necessary, and the homing attack is a viable option, but it's too rigid and it's become too powerful.

First thing I'd do is have you keep your momentum when hitting an enemy, giving you a bounce similar to if you had attacked them without it, instead of bouncing straight up. It'd keep the player moving, and require them to think about how they're attacking rather than always ending up in the same place regardless. I'd also reduce its range in the 3D games, and I've thought about being able to homing attack in any direction in 2D. It'd also help to have more enemies that aren't completely defenseless against it.

[JaidynReiman]

I don't see what's wrong with Homing Attack chains if they're used to allow Sonic to access an alternate path that other characters normally would not be able to. In the classic titles, for example, Tails and Knuckles had alternate paths they could access, but they could also use any normal path that Sonic could.

Homing Attack could be used in such a way that it makes a path only Sonic can go through (or other characters that can use Homing Attack). It doesn't have to just be Homing Attack chains, either; as others stated, it could be a switch that only a homing attack can open up. I don't see what's wrong with having Homing Attack chains, though, so long as they are not REQUIRED to progress (which they often are). If they simply unlock an alternate path, I see no harm in that.

[Diogenes]

I don't see what's wrong with Homing Attack chains

A

A

A

A

(if you found that boring and pointless, congrats, you now understand why homing attack chains suck)

if they're used to allow Sonic to access an alternate path that other characters normally would not be able to.

Sonic should have an ability that is not boring as fuck.

It doesn't have to just be Homing Attack chains, either; as others stated, it could be a switch that only a homing attack can open up.

Also boring. I don't want an ability that simply functions as a key, I want an ability that allows me to do interesting things.

[Alluusio]

If I recall correctly, Sonic Rush actually had a homing attack which did let you keep your momentum after you had hit an enemy. Also, the angle you bounced off of the target was the same angle you attacked from. However, the homing attack was slow (at least slower than boosting into the enemies) and there were no homing attack chains so there wasn't really any reason to use it since it was just an attack and it was often easier to just boost or roll into the enemies. I kinda liked the homing attack in Rush and I hope that we'll sometimes get something similar since it is the best implementation of the homing attack in 2D games by far. Well, in my opinion at least.

[PerfectChaos]

First thing I'd do is have you keep your momentum when hitting an enemy, giving you a bounce similar to if you had attacked them without it, instead of bouncing straight up. It'd keep the player moving, and require them to think about how they're attacking rather than always ending up in the same place regardless.

How about having Sonic bounce forwards and keeping momentum after a homing attack, and bouncing upwards if you simply jump on them (like in Colours)? That way skilled players can reach higher areas, and it gives an incentive to jump on enemies sometimes, but at other times it's better to use the homing attack.

[Tails spin]

I'm sorry but this isn't the first topic that has covered this right?

[SenEDDtor Missile]

I just got out from playing Shadow the Hedgehog, and in spite of that game's stiff controls, there is one thing I kinda like:

When you use the homing attack, you can build up speed pretty fast if you use it repeatedly when not aiming at an enemy. You think they could figure out how to implement this somehow, considering the nature of 3D environments?

With that said, I hate how the spindash in that game is so heavily gimped that I can barely even use it on flat ground without grinding to a halt.

[iDEATH]

I've no major issue with the homing attack in either 2D or 3D (Though i can see why people hate it in the 2D games, it is pretty redundant) as long as it works properly, the homing attack in Heroes tends to send you hurling to your death more often than it links you to your target. Especially during the boss levels where you're dealing with a whole pack of robots.

The chains do annoy me however, I wouldn't mind too much if they only occurred every so often but they're getting as bad as the rail sections. Big chunks of nearly every level that take the playability out of the hands of the player.

Nothing wrong with them every so often, they can be quite fun, just not if you have to do them constantly in every level.

[a mystery]

When you use the homing attack, you can build up speed pretty fast if you use it repeatedly when not aiming at an enemy. You think they could figure out how to implement this somehow, considering the nature of 3D environments?

Actually, having played the DS games before the modern games, I actually expected the Jump Dash would accelerate you (it does in Rush and Colors), but to my surprise, sends you to a complete halt. By its name, it would be obvious that it should accelerate you, but I was proven wrong.

The 2nd-to-last cutscene in Generations actually does a good replication of the in-game Jump Dash, in that sense, but it's one Jump Dash I don't want.

[Potada]

You know, I saw in another thread how people hate the "enemy chains" the game developers make for you to cross gaps. I'll admit I'm not too crazy about them, either, but it's not like they couldn't implement them in an usual way, right?

[Spin Attaxx]

I find it funny that, in the first game, the reason why Sonic could kill enemies by just jumping into them was so the flow of the game wouldn't be broken.

Then, when the transition into 3D happened, they gave Sonic the Homing Attack as a way of saying "Hey, we know that jumping into enemies at 3D high speeds might be tricky for newbies, so let's make it easier for them".

And now, in 06, Colours and I assume Unleashed and Generations, they say "Just jump into enemies?! lolnope, you HAVE to stop and Homing Attack, breaking your flow in the process, because we removed a trait Sonic's had since the beginning for no arbitrary reason!".

[Diogenes]

Sonic can still jump on enemies in Unleashed, Colors, and Generations. It's just not very efficient or useful.