[DOUBT] Act vs Mission in Sonic Games.

[rudolfhedgehog]

Hello! I have not had chance to play some Sonic games, for example: Adventure 1, 2, Heroes...

I do not have much knowledge of how they are divided the levels.

In early life of Sonic games, I know that the Acts were used in the levels, also in Sonic Colors and all Handheld games.

The Act were also sometimes used in the Adventures, Heroes, 2006 too?

And exists any difference between Act and Mission in the games?

[Semi-colon e]

Sonic 2006 was weird about this, each stage was called an Act, so Wave Ocean was Sonic Act 1, and Dusty Desert was Act 2. This makes no sense compared to Colours or the Classics where the two Acts would be in the same zone/stage.

 

Let's just say Sonic games are inconsistent about this sort of thing, Sonic CD had "Rounds" with three "Zones" rather than "Zones" with three "Acts" like Sonic 1.

 

Missions generally tend to be side missions, like Sonic Adventure 2's extra missions or the optional missions in Sonic Generations.

 

In the Adventure games and 06, there is a single stage for a zone, but Adventure and 06 had each character have their own version of the stage. Heroes had effectively 2 acts for a zone, but they're both differently named, like Hang Castle is Act 1 to Mystic Mansion's Act 2, and the boss is after "act 2", which makes it closer to the Classics in that aspect.

 

Sonic Team can't keep their shit consistent.

[JezMM]

I personally always use the Zone and Act terms where they fit, regardless of what the game uses, but emphasis on where they fit.  Sonic Adventure 2 doesn't really have anything to categorise as Acts as oppose to Zones, but in Sonic Adventure I would think of the Snowboard area as being Ice Cap Zone Act 3, so to speak.

 

Likewise I ignore it in Sonic 2006 too.  The mach speed section is Crisis City Zone Act 4 to me.  I kinda like categorising things all neat and tidy so uhh... yeah.

[SoulSlasher]

I personally prefer the Zone, Act method of naming in levels. It just has something to do with the way it rolls of the tongue to me. I look at it this way, would I rather have a level named Chemical Plant Zone: Act 1 or Chemical Plant: Mission 1. Adding mission to the title just doesn't sound like it would belong in a Sonic title. 

[Autosaver]

Sonic CD flipped Act/Zone iirc.

[Salamander]

A mission is an objective that takes place in an act.  Acts to me are the divisions within Zones.  No matter what they're actually called.

 

...I wrote this two hours ago and then apparently closed the tab without posting it.  Thanks for the Auto Save, SSMB, and no thanks to my attention span.

[Jet Prower]

I think I just tend to agree here for the most part. Zones with Acts inside them is honestly the best way to go. Changing it up just confuses people. For example, just have your over world or hub world that is technically the area or zone. All the levels in this region are all the acts to that zone. It pretty much keeps it consistent I would say. You have all three parts: The over world as the entire world, the Zones as the regions, and the Acts as the levels. I know I spelled it out twice there, but that is honestly the best way to do it. Missions are just always something you can do in specific places. I don't think the word mission really falls well in any place in the world, other than things you need to do in the zones or acts.

[rudolfhedgehog]

Hmmmm, so, in latest Sonic games again adopt the terms Act and Zone?

[JezMM]

Sonic CD flipped Act/Zone iirc.

 

Not quite.  What are generally known as Acts were indeed called Zones, but what are generally known as Zones were called Rounds.  So the first three levels were Round 1: Palmtree Panic.  The first LEVEL was Act 1 of Round 1.  The Round name only appeared in menus though.

 

Hmmmm, so, in latest Sonic games again adopt the terms Act and Zone?

 

It's varied wildly in the main console games.

 

Sonic Adventure, Adventure 2, Heroes and Shadow's levels were called Stages, though the SA1 Sky Chase minigame's two iterations were called Act 1 and Act 2 in the menu I think.  In the Sound Test of Heroes, the music tracks were referred to as Seaside Hill Zone, etc (excluding BINGO Highway for some reason).

 

In 2006, individual stages were called Acts (with each storyline having 1-9 Acts rather than "Stages" or "Zones"), but only in the menus.

 

In Unleashed, each country had the action stages split into Acts, numbered for that particular country, excluding Eggmanland which had just one Act called "Eggmanland".

 

In Colours, Acts were again used for individual stages of a particular area.  On DS, each region of the Amusement Park was explicitly called "Areas".  So the first level's title card said "Area 1 Act 1".

 

Generations didn't use Zone but did use Acts.

 

Sonic Lost World doesn't mention the word Acts, but did mention Zone.  I personally read the level title cards of "Windy Hill Zone 1" as "Windy Hill Zone: 1", but most read it as "Windy Hill: Zone 1", with individual levels being called Zones.

 

 

 

TL;DR Version:

 

There is no consistency and why does this matter so much to me

[rudolfhedgehog]

In Unleashed, each country had the action stages split into Acts, numbered for that particular country, excluding Eggmanland which had just one Act called "Eggmanland".

 

Wii/PS2 versions = are Missions

360/PS3 versions = are Acts

 

That's right?

Edited November 2, 2013 by rudolfhedgehog

[JezMM]

Oh, on Wii/PS2, the Night stages were divided into Acts, and the Day Stages were just called "Day Stage".  Then all the rest were Missions, yes (a few Day Missions were unique Acts, but they could only be played under Mission conditions and were not part of the main story playthrough).

[rudolfhedgehog]

Well, to finalize, an last question:

I was told that I did not play all Sonic games, so I have a doubt!

SEGA is making a lot of nostalgia references in Sonic games, like Nintendo is doing with Mario in recent years (rehash/reuse)? or SEGA is more authentic and original with Sonic?

 

Examples:

 

All Ending Levels Mario 2D:

 

Super Mario Galaxy - Toy Galaxy

 

Super Mario Galaxy - Game Over

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMyNwMgnSjU

 

Super Mario 3D Land - S3-1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d_6gx2dVlc

 

 

PS: Is not necessarily Spoilers, just wanted to avoid displaying the contents.

Edited November 17, 2013 by rudolfhedgehog

[Sonictrainer]

Well, to finalize, an last question:

I was told that I did not play all Sonic games, so I have a doubt!

SEGA is making a lot of nostalgia references in Sonic games, like Nintendo is doing with Mario in recent years (rehash/reuse)? or SEGA is more authentic and original with Sonic?

 

I believe Sonic Team is more authentic and original, except in the case of Sonic 4: Episode 1