Would a Sonic Powered Up work?

[TB100]

So just to get right to the point, Something like this basically.

 these are images from Mega Man Powered Up, a game for the psp from capcom, which is a reimagining of The nes classic Mega Man 1 

But this little psp game, isn't just a simple reimagining, oh no, it's got brand new stages, new characters, an expanded Story, a classic Mode, & a whole bunch of new content.

So imagine if something like this woulda happen to let's say Sonic 1 or 2, where there are brand new stages, an expanded story, new characters that weren't in the original, and just new content in general

Basically, My question is, Would something like this work for Sonic? & would you like to see something like this happen to any of the Classic Sonic Games? 

(Yes i know there are the taxman ports, but those are more like remasters)

 

 

[JezMM]

Just not necessary really.  The original Mega Man was balls hard and doesn't hold up all that well today as a result compared to the later games, and the 8-bit graphics were extremely primitive so the upgrade was very substantial.

Sonic 1 however still looks and plays great.  There's no denying the harsh difficulty jump in Marble and Labyrinth, but that's about it.  The ability to save your game and added spin dash in Sonic 1 3D Classics and the Mobile Remaster is all that's necessary really to make it reasonable difficulty by modern standards.  Any other upgrades would be gravy, but at that point I feel I'd rather they just spend that kind of time and budget on making a brand new experience rather than trying to recreate and tweak something we've all played a million times before in several different ways.

[MetalSkulkBane]

I don't see anything that wasn't added/couldn't be added by Taxman. Maaaaybe opening/ending anime cutscene ala Sonic CD.

But Sonic 1 doesn't need new graphics, story is too simple for more cutscenes and normal remastering can easily add playable Amy or stuff like that.

[Diogenes]

I feel like that direction is already saturated enough, between ports/emulations of the still-plenty-playable originals, Taxman's upgraded ports, and Mania's heavy classic focus. If the series hadn't already been leaning on the classics for a while now something like this could have worked, but we have more than enough ways to play the classic games at this point.

[Multikaris]

If anything, it's Sonic Colo(u)rs that deserves this treatment. The game has aged as well as milk. Common complaints include Sola Sonica, blocky platforming, quick-step to win, and failed humor at the cost of actual payoff. Regardless, it was reviewed well. I think this game needs a powered up version so people can be on the same page. Add in actual payoff for Sonic and Tails's disagreement, Yacker vanishing, and the corruption of planets, plus some extra playable characters, the SLW Wisps, and all the Wisps from both versions of each game. 

[Hyp3hat]

8 hours ago, Memento Miru said:

If anything, it's Sonic Colo(u)rs that deserves this treatment. The game has aged as well as milk. Common complaints include Sola Sonica, blocky platforming, quick-step to win, and failed humor at the cost of actual payoff. Regardless, it was reviewed well. I think this game needs a powered up version so people can be on the same page. Add in actual payoff for Sonic and Tails's disagreement, Yacker vanishing, and the corruption of planets, plus some extra playable characters, the SLW Wisps, and all the Wisps from both versions of each game. 

'Sola Sonica'? 

A lot of my problems with Colours, such as they are, could simply be fixed with the bump in resolution an HD port would make - the camera zooms out so far at points that Sonic can disappear, which is a problem I don't have nearly as much in Dolphin. Sonic and Tails don't have a fight in Colours, either? 

The planets are corrupted, Eggman's put robots and shit all over them. Unless you think a factory with lasers is a native structure in Sweet Mountain, or giant robot fish live in the ocean of Aquarium Park.

I will agree with you on the scoring system being slightly rebalanced, though. You shouldn't really have to mash quick step to get S ranks on boss fights. 

And, surprise, humour is subjective - I find Sonic and Tails being dorks in space fine, it's not ballbustingly funny but I don't hate it. I'd rather that than 'Sonic is serious action dude', being an egotistical doofus suits him... in my opinion, of course. 

I think adding more Wisps would be a mistake, because the Wisps in Lost World have a very different purpose to the ones in Colours. In Colours, they are unlocks that encourage you to replay levels and explore, and there are several different routes through some levels that you can't access without Frenzy or Drill or Spikes. They also encourage smarter play - some secrets need you to hang onto a wisp for a while until you get to the relevant section. They're nicely incorporated into the game in order to keep people playing past the credits. It worked for me... 

Lost World's wisps have none of that, they are simply alternate ways to get from A to B with no reward for using them  except rings (not even points, as grades are no longer a thing). There is barely any advantage to using the Rhythm, Asteroid or Eagle Wisps (besides blissing the fuck out to the latters song), and in fact you are more easily killed by them. I suspect that they pared back their role in exploration due to the level design not being suited for it and the Wii U touchpad/gyro controls for them. 

I think if they did add a bunch more wisps, the game would have to be substantially redesigned in order for them to organically fit with the existing levels. And again imo, those new Wisps suck and would not be close to worth it. 

TL;DR it just needs an HD remaster and maybe some score balancing, no major changes necessary. It reviewed well for a reason, I guess. 

[Multikaris]

42 minutes ago, Hyp3hat said:

'Sola Sonica'? 

A lot of my problems with Colours, such as they are, could simply be fixed with the bump in resolution an HD port would make - the camera zooms out so far at points that Sonic can disappear, which is a problem I don't have nearly as much in Dolphin. Sonic and Tails don't have a fight in Colours, either? 

The planets are corrupted, Eggman's put robots and shit all over them. Unless you think a factory with lasers is a native structure in Sweet Mountain, or giant robot fish live in the ocean of Aquarium Park.

I will agree with you on the scoring system being slightly rebalanced, though. You shouldn't really have to mash quick step to get S ranks on boss fights. 

And, surprise, humour is subjective - I find Sonic and Tails being dorks in space fine, it's not ballbustingly funny but I don't hate it. I'd rather that than 'Sonic is serious action dude', being an egotistical doofus suits him... in my opinion, of course. 

I think adding more Wisps would be a mistake, because the Wisps in Lost World have a very different purpose to the ones in Colours. In Colours, they are unlocks that encourage you to replay levels and explore, and there are several different routes through some levels that you can't access without Frenzy or Drill or Spikes. They also encourage smarter play - some secrets need you to hang onto a wisp for a while until you get to the relevant section. They're nicely incorporated into the game in order to keep people playing past the credits. It worked for me... 

Lost World's wisps have none of that, they are simply alternate ways to get from A to B with no reward for using them  except rings (not even points, as grades are no longer a thing). There is barely any advantage to using the Rhythm, Asteroid or Eagle Wisps (besides blissing the fuck out to the latters song), and in fact you are more easily killed by them. I suspect that they pared back their role in exploration due to the level design not being suited for it and the Wii U touchpad/gyro controls for them. 

I think if they did add a bunch more wisps, the game would have to be substantially redesigned in order for them to organically fit with the existing levels. And again imo, those new Wisps suck and would not be close to worth it. 

TL;DR it just needs an HD remaster and maybe some score balancing, no major changes necessary. It reviewed well for a reason, I guess. 

1) Sola Sonica is Sonic being the sole playable character. 

2) Alright. Also, watch sonic Dissected, and I agree a showdown would have been cool. And what about Yacker?

3) As in more clues to what they were like before corruption or whether Eggman outright made them. And the ability to undo it in part.

4) Very good point.

5) It'a not that the humor is awful (which it is), it's that there is too much. Either cut some or balance it out with seriousness. 

6) Weren't there some areas without optional added Wisps? I suggest hiding these new wisps as secrets for players to discover, or something only certain characters can use. They could also provide more general boosts as opposed to just hidden sections. (E.G.; to get Burst, use Hover in Tropical Resort. You need Burst for Lightning and Quake)

7) Just retool the SLW wisps to be like Colors ones. Rhythm is now just for alternate paths, for example.

8) Again, just use them for new side areas.

 

[Menace2Society]

It'd be really cool to see something like that being made, but considering the fact that there's multiple rereleases of the first Sonic game, some that improves on some of the game's issues, like the 2013 IOS port and 3D Sonic the Hedgehog on the Nintendo 3DS, I don't see the need for it, really.

[Hyp3hat]

8 hours ago, Memento Miru said:

1) Sola Sonica is Sonic being the sole playable character. 

2) Alright. Also, watch sonic Dissected, and I agree a showdown would have been cool. And what about Yacker?

3) As in more clues to what they were like before corruption or whether Eggman outright made them. And the ability to undo it in part.

4) Very good point.

5) It'a not that the humor is awful (which it is), it's that there is too much. Either cut some or balance it out with seriousness. 

6) Weren't there some areas without optional added Wisps? I suggest hiding these new wisps as secrets for players to discover, or something only certain characters can use. They could also provide more general boosts as opposed to just hidden sections. (E.G.; to get Burst, use Hover in Tropical Resort. You need Burst for Lightning and Quake)

7) Just retool the SLW wisps to be like Colors ones. Rhythm is now just for alternate paths, for example.

8) Again, just use them for new side areas.

 

1) Aye, I thought so. I don't hate the idea of Sonic being the sole playable character, because the series has demonstrated that throwing a bunch of different of different playstyles at the same levels just drags the whole thing down - it worked in the Adventure games due to them thinking it through, but 06 shows how it can go horribly wrong. I'd like a system where beating the game unlocks Tails or Shadow, or another character where you don't have to drastically fuck up the level design to make them get from start to goal ring.

3) A Sonic CD esque thing would be a great thing post credits, but considering how short the game is it clearly wasn't feasible. 

4) Sort of think seriousness was overdone at that point in the franchise - Where do you go from Dr Robotnik blowing up the earth in the opening cutscene? It was a nice pivot. Honestly, I think the last few years of light hearted romps have done a lot to mend the franchise, and Project 2017 should look better next to that. Again, questions of tone and things are something we're not going to convince each other on. Which is OK!

For your last few points, if you're retooling the game to add a whole bunch of new wisps, which would be a drastic change with loads of new content... why not just make a new game? With all that stuff properly balanced? Colours is a fine game, in an nice minature sort of way. 

[DeadAccount2]

It would be a very interesting idea, but I'm not sure if it's entirely necessary given that they hold up fairly well

I suppose if the Genesis trilogy for example was to get the MegaMan Powered Up treatment, they could add a smorgasbord of new extra content and carry over the additions from the mobile port as well. Maybe throw in a new sleek hand-drawn art style similar to Wario Land: Shake it but give players the option to toggle between it and the original 16-bit sprites, some Akira Toriyama-style intro cinematics for Sonic 1, 2, and 3 in a similar style to CD's, and maybe the ability to unlock and play as Badniks similar to how Powered-Up let you play as the Robot Masters. 

Just some random ideas, but again not entirely necessary. (Frankly I'd also like to see the Advance trilogy and Rush duo get some love too.)

[Lucid Dream]

I think that could be a cool idea for the Game Gear titles. There's no denying that they were held back by the restrictions of their devices, and they seem to be capable of becoming pretty good games. They have fairly primitive graphics, and the screen size is quite a bit too small. It would hugely benefit them to have a graphical boost, and perhaps a bit of reshuffling to their gameplay and mechanics to make it a bit better. Most importantly, It would also allow the reintroduction of Fang, and possibly other important classic characters too, which would be fantastic. 

It would be nice to have these forgotten classics come back with a pow. Though, to be fair, I don't see too much of a reason for Sega to do this, since the demand is really low... Well, I can dream.

[Detective Kaito]

*Add generic "How about we make new games instead of remastering/remaking old games?" here*

Tbh, I would love to see something like this. Sonic 1/2 being remade with new graphics, new stages, extra characters, online mode, and the ability to create your own stages and share them online (Powered-Up let's you do this) would be so damn great.

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

19 minutes ago, Detective Kaito said:

Tbh, I would love to see something like this. Sonic 1/2 being remade with new graphics, new stages, extra characters, online mode, and the ability to create your own stages and share them online (Powered-Up let's you do this) would be so damn great.

If this much content was added, I'd be on board with it all the way, honestly, sounds like it could potentially be crazy fun...but only a fair few years down the line, since right now we're in a state where we're kind of inundated with more different ways to play these same games than we are with actual new Sonic games. Plus, Generations, despite being a few years old now, is still the second most recent of the most recent main series Sonic titles, and it does some classic-revisiting in its own way, as does Sonic Mania, which is coming out soon. Basically, it's not a bad idea, but it's not the right time for it. Wait a while, make a few more good brand-new games for people to sink their teeth into, and then it might be worth it to revisit the classics yet again, but this time with an even fresher, newer take.

[andrewtuell1991]

Like others have said, I wouldn't because the classic games are fine as they are, the classics have been rather over-saturated lately, and I'd rather see the time, resources, and effort go to a new game.  But repeating that over and over makes for a boring topic, so I'll entertain the idea of what I would do if put in charge of remaking the classic games.

*Try to remake the core four classic games (1, 2, 3&K, and CD) into one compilation, like a Sonic version of Super Mario All Stars.  I know one-by-one is more economically sound, but just in-case the first one doesn't sell too well, like Mega Man Powered Up and Mega Man Maverick Hunter X did, we'd at least have the important classic era games done all at once.

*Playable characters: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy (w/ Advance 1 moveset), and Metal Sonic (think Sonic but heavier, with lower acceleration but higher top speed, and maybe Black Shield from SA2).  Character who weren't playable in the original game will be after beating said game (ex: beating Sonic 1 remake will unlock Tails, Amy, Metal Sonic, and Knuckles).

*16:9 widescreen, 1080p HD with crisp hand-drawn sprites a la Rayman Origins and Legends, Shantae, Ducktales Remastered, etc. just anything but Sonic 2 HD (sorry but that's just painfully amateurish).

*Since we're going through the trouble revamping the sprites, why lazy out with a 1:1 conversion of the level maps?  Give em a good re-imaging like Taxman and Stealth are doing in Mania.  Marble and Labyrinth Zones definitely need revamping, the 2nd acts of Marble Garden, Carnival Night, and Sandopolis could use shortening, and just about the entirety of CD's levels could be less maze-y and more speedy.

*Each game should have at least 8 save slots with a no save option for those who like doing it the old fashion way (like S3&K did).

*Bring back Sonic Jam's difficulty selection (Original, Normal, and Easy).

*New levels:  Add Sonic 1 8-bit's level into it's 16-bit counterpart's roster (Green Hill > Marble > Bridge > Spring Yard > Jungle > Labyrinth > Star Light > Sky Base > Scrap Brain) and maybe give it a final boss that feels like a final boss.  Then add Sonic 2's scrapped levels and try to reorder the levels as originally intended (see if its in a vault somewhere at Sega) or just an order that makes sense.  SCD if enough of R2's assets exist could be added and maybe Taxman's Final Fever (Desert Dazzle's being reincarnated into Mirage Saloon so I don't see the point). 

S3K has ample levels, though maybe Knuckles' Story could be revamped into more than just a slightly abridged version of Sonic's story.  Like maybe the first part could be Knuckles working under Eggman, setting up traps for Sonic, and maybe have the two fight a couple more times throughout the story (and make sure the fights are good this time) then the second part could be the whole EggRobo, Super Mecha Sonic thing.

*Speaking of bosses, revamp them to not be piss easy or cheaply difficult from lack of rings.  Adding some extra attack patterns wouldn't hurt, maybe a pinch mode a la Sonic 4, and have them be more interactive with their environments.  Example: the Wrecking Ball (first boss of the series) could knock over totem poles or ledges and you have to climb your way up the debris to hit Eggman.  And of course, a boss rush for each game!

*S3K style Zone-to-Zone transitions for the most part with Sonic CD style opening and endings for each game.  I also wouldn't object to voice acted cut-scene in necessary parts of the games when needed.

*Since this topic was inspired by Powered Up, maybe a challenge mode for each character in each game along with a Construction Mode for building fan-made levels with online sharing.

That's all I've got for now.