The Dimps topic.

[Doc]

Aaah Dimps. I'm confused how they can make both Sonic Advance 1 + 3 and Sonic 4 Episode 1 + 2 and Generations 3DS. Seriously, they don't even feel the same. I adore Sonic Advance and 3 but I have yet to try 2. It's just so weird and URGH...

lol whocares though. I still don't get why DIMPS get to make Sonic 4 though. It's not like they made Sonic 1-3K and CD.

 

LOL, TEH IRONY OF THEM BEING CALLED "DIGITAL INNOVATOR"!

[ChikaBoing]

I guess it's also important to know the actual directors at Sonic Team behind those games, that Dimps "coded" essentially under their command.

 

I say command, since everytime it flashes  "CREATED BY SONIC TEAM"; which has a certain weight for authority I would think.

 

Anyways the director for the Advance and the Rush series was Akinori Nishiyama. Not so much known for work on the Sonic series, but he did have a major hand in the Phantasy Star series (both classic and online), and was also script writer on Sonic Adventure. So he has a knack for games with their own idendity and vision and a certain history, (that guy is now Producer for Sega as a whole)

 

However for Sonic 4 and other Dimps work afterwards "no-names" have taken the director role, or at least people that worked on minor roles. So that would explain drop in quality.

 

Not a Sonic game but I did enjoy Spikeout: Battlestreet that Dimps did even if it is sort of like a very hard 3D Streets of Rage beat em up type game. Then again wasn't Dimps founded by the same people who invented Street Fighter and later went to SNK so they must know a thing of two regarding fighting?

 

That was a game trying to emulate the Arcade beat-em-up from Sega. And the imitation wasn't as good.

Edited October 29, 2013 by ChikaBoing

[8ther]

Forgive me for sounding clueless but...I don't really get the most of the hate for Sonic 4,Rush, Colors 3DS, or any other post-Advance Sonic game made by Dimps, Gameplay wise what mistakes did Dimp made with their recent Sonic games.

[spinny]

Forgive me for sounding clueless but...I don't really get the most of the hate for Sonic 4,Rush, Colors 3DS, or any other post-Advance Sonic game made by Dimps, Gameplay wise what mistakes did Dimp made with their recent Sonic games.

 

Dimps' main issue with Rush onwards (Rush Adventure aside in my opinion) is their speed-crazy influence. They lack knowledge of how Sonic level design should work and just clutter it with cheap bottomless pits, useless springs and speed booster chains and, notably in Sonic 4, homing attack chains. Sonic 4 is the glaring example of this along with its piss-poor physics with how it was supposed to follow in the classics' steps, which it fails abysmally at.

Edited November 11, 2013 by Dealer Spindash

[Spin Attaxx]

The mistakes by Dimps generally involve the level design (such as the Rush/Advance games having boost2win/bottomless pit spam and Sonic 4's Bubbles chains and booster spam) and in Sonc 4 Episode 1's case, the horrible physics that are inaccurate to the Mega Drive games despite being billed as what amounts to a modern day sequel to S3&K.

 

EDIT: OH GODDAMMIT SPINDASH >:U

Edited November 11, 2013 by Spin Attaxx

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Forgive me for sounding clueless but...I don't really get the most of the hate for Sonic 4,Rush, Colors 3DS, or any other post-Advance Sonic game made by Dimps, Gameplay wise what mistakes did Dimp made with their recent Sonic games.

Can't say for Rush personally, but Sonic 4 is a case of a sequel that fails to live up to the standards of it's predecessors in nearly every aspect. Questionable physics when the classics emphasized physics, overuse of boost pads and springs and heavy automation when it wasn't anywhere near as prominent in the classics, forgettable/okay music with terrible/ridiculous instrumentation, the fact that the game CALLS itself Sonic 4 despite being a cheap cash-in of a game, a lot of bottomless pits...

 

The list goes on really.

 

Colors DS is generally considered alright, but to some groups, it is considered the point where DIMPs' quality of work started to plummet due to it being a "lesser" version of a main game, in this case Colors Wii. This trend is noted for both Generations DS and Lost World 3DS.

[azoo]

The first Advance is probably one of my favorite Sonic games. Advance 2 is okay, if a bit repetitive and mundane, and Advance 3 is pretty much garbage. The Rush series are pretty good games (Rush Adventure being all-superior besides maybe the OST), and the portable versions of Colors, Gens and Lost World seem overall pretty meh.

 

Sonic 4 though.. you guys know how it is, I don't have to go on a tangent.

Edited November 11, 2013 by Azookara

[Milo]

A more game-focused post on my opinions on the titles of Dimps games I've played.

 

Advance 3 was the only Advance game I played-and even then, it wasn't mine, it was a copy of one of my step-brothers. I don't remember much of it, but from what I do remember I believe I liked it. I didn't really (help my brothers) advance far in the game-Amy was I think the only other character that was unlocked, and Cyber Track and it's music is the only level and song I remember. I think I recall dying a lot-either I sucked at the game, or maybe I was a victim of the so-called bullshit level design of Advance 3 I usually hear about, I dunno. I would like to play it again someday tho along with the other two titles.

 

Sonic Rush was my first officially-owned Dimps Sonic game, and so far will be the only retail one I have. I actually liked this one a lot (then again, I didn't really have a lot of DS games-for quite a long time NSMB was the only other game I had). I didn't mind the full-emphasis of speed and the boost. Catchy music, nice visuals/level tropes, and a decent story. I also recall having quite some fun speedrunning (which the game is more or less built upon) and performing tricks). Some of the bosses and boss battles were a pain tough. I found it a lot of fun.

 

Then came Sonic 4: Episode I, which was the second and I assume will be the last Dimps game I will spend (or in this case, waste) money on. Holy shit this game. Of all of the games I played, if there was one game I played that I actually hated (and for the most part I usually find some enjoyment out of the games I played, so that's saying a lot) Sonic 4 Episode I would have that crown of dishonor resting upon it's head. Such a pathetic nostalgia cash grab by Sega and their PR to bill this clusterfuck as a sequel to one of their greatest games of not only the franchise, but arguably the company as a whole.

 

Regardless whether you care for them or not, physics were and still are a fundamental staple of the classic Sonic gameplay and level design, and in Sonic 4 they just didn't give two fucks about them. Automation and scripts were more or less padded everywhere that attempt to paper up the cracks of the flawed physics. The homing attack was more or less forced on the player to the point of near-compulsion, with the air dash arguably the only way to build proper speed; and along with the aforementioned automation and scrips define the mentality of the level design. Every essential addition to the gameplay made Sonic 3 & Knuckles (additional playable characters with cast speciation, bonus stages, element-based shields, storytelling through in-game cutscenes, mini-bosses, etc.) and arguably Sonic 2 as well (multiplayer) was chucked out the window. Any means of the game to be/look creative or original in terms of level tropes and gimmicks, visual design, bosses, and badniks was chucked out the window as well just so the game could function as a shallow remake of the first game. Decent music compositions were undone by an awful soundfont, and although I didn't overreact over it to the point to helping the strawman it formed into to discredit those with a negative opinion of the game (BAW GREEN EYEZ), I still think they should had (primarily, if it was an option) used the Genesis/Saturn designs, especially in terms of continuity.

 

Even though I actually haven't played it; going by what I've read, heard, and watched I'm not a fan of Episode II either. I arguably dislike it more than Episode I because when it had the chance of actually being a Surprisingly Improved Sequel and making up for all of Episode I's mistakes (Sonic Team's track record of higher-quality games in the form of Sonic Colors and Generations as well as Taxman's CD remake all coming about between the two episodes only made things worse), it was effectively more of the same bullshit from the first with more bullshit (Tails stripped down to a conpulsory co-op powerup, and dash panels streamlined all over the level design are only the tip of the iceberg) thrown on top of it by the game design choices and the PR (but that's another story entirely).

Edited November 11, 2013 by Gabe Scrooge

[MegaMan_EXE]

I see Dimps as a sort of "B studio" when it comes to Sonic games, which means that a lot of the time, their games can range from pretty cool, to horrible. The first Advance is a pretty sweet game, and my favorite handheld Sonic game. Advance 2 didn't really hook me, but I still enjoyed it to an extent. I believe Dimps's first horrible game was Advance 3. Pointless tag team feature, horrible stage design, unneeded hub world, and awful boss fights makes this the worst game in the Advance series, and in my opinion, the worst Dimps game. Sonic Rush was decent, in my opinion. I love Blaze, the Boost was well implemented, but I feel that the stage design is a bit too linear and simple for my tastes. Rush Adventure isn't all that bad, but I don't like the grinding aspect, nor do I like Marine... why is she in the Archie series? I haven't played Colors DS, but I have played the 4 series, which I believe Dimps made. Episode 1 was a bit too much of a rehash, and I hate the physics, and Episode 2 isn't much better, with its drawn out bosses, and the overuse of springs and boost pads annoy me. Generations 3DS... meh. I don't hate Gen 3DS, but it's very bare bones. I haven't played LW 3DS, but I will during Christmas, and I do think it does look pretty interesting.
So... that was Dimps. They've had their good games, their okay games, and their flawed or awful games. So, I still call Dimps a "B studio."