Welcome to the Next Level in 32X World

[Tailikku]

As many of you are aware, 15 years ago SEGA released the Super 32X in Japan. In the USA it was called the Genesis 32X, where as in Europe it was the Megadrive 32X.

But its launch title was the the only thing that mattered for it, by today's fans:

Yes, it's been 15 years since we saw our favorite disfunctional detective group, more importantly, it's been 15 years since Mighty left the games.

Any memories?

[Tori Himemiya]

Well... I did got the chance to play it resently and I like it. Pretty good game dispite it's phyics which sort of makes it stand out in a way. Vector ish the shizz. lol

For some reason I feel like writing a fan fic based on what Chaotix did for the past few years until going into Heroes. I just feel bad for Chaotix not showing up too much.

[Sean]

Horrible game.

Which is a shame because Chaotix had some of the best graphics and music in a Sonic title.

[S0NIC-Keyblade 007]

I got to play the game for the first time a few weeks ago on a kega fusion emulator. I'm not too fond of the partner system though or the level design. I personally would rather just stick with the original 16-bit Sega Genesis Sonic games. Though I was happy to be able to play a game where Knuckles is for the most part the star of the game.

Edit: Though I thought Mighty played waaaaay too much like Sonic, he felt too much like a Sonic recolor. I'd rather just play the hacked game, Sonic in Chaotix.

I don't have anything against Mighty, I just think he needed more originality.

Edited February 15, 2010 by S0NIC Toadstool

[JezMM]

I admit, what I've played of Chaotix I found a little dull. I prolly played it on emulator for about an hour or so before getting bored. Every level I played seemed to be an endless maze of elevators, teleports and quarter-pipe slopes.

Great special stage and soundtrack though, and I do like the characters.

[Badnik Zero]

Hell yeah! I love this game, even though it's a little strange. Definitely not your ordinary Sonic game.

I was trying to figure out how to get it to save on my Kega. It used to, but I moved some files around and I can't be bothered to figure out where they're saving to. So what I did instead was play through the whole game. I've never done it before, but you notice a lot of new things. Level progression is pretty interesting. Since there's five acts per level, it might feel repetitive. The layout is really very different though. I also noticed the backgrounds change depending on the time of day in the overworld. People also say there's not enough Badniks in the level. That's true for the early stages (and the roulette will keep you on the early stages for a while), but later levels like Marina Madness seem to spawn endless flying shark Badniks from left and right of the screen. You also learn some neat tricks with the rubber band when you play it through. Pressing "hold" while you're dangling or even while both characters are in the air gets you some interesting spins that can take you several floors up in the level. Many of them are much more vertical than your average Sonic game. I guess that was to keep Knuckles from gliding over entire levels. I also think the game is easier to play on a keyboard, since carrying your partner and jumping at the same time is a necessary maneuver.

Anyways. How about those special stages. The floor-ceiling perspective is crazy. The bosses in this game are alright too, if you have the patience to go that far.

[Tori Himemiya]

I got to play the game for the first time a few weeks ago on a kega fusion emulator. I'm not too fond of the partner system though or the level design. I personally would rather just stick with the original 16-bit Sega Genesis Sonic games. Though I was happy to be able to play a game where Knuckles is for the most part the star of the game.

Edit: Though I thought Mighty played waaaaay too much like Sonic, he felt too much like a Sonic recolor. I'd rather just play the hacked game, Sonic in Chaotix.

I don't have anything against Mighty, I just think he needed more originality.

Techincally Mighty was gonna be Sonic at first but they didn't go with it. Mighty was recycled in SegaSonic. But I don't get why they reused him in Chaotix. Oh well.

Now if they would bring back Ray...

[Fox Gungrave]

Now if they would bring back Ray...

Well, if they can't remember who is Fang/Nack (remember the rumour about his return in Unleashed), I'm sure they completly forgot Ray and also Mighty... Too bad 'cause I think they can make great things with the three of them and don't need to create moar characters to replace them.

Anyway, Chaotix was not a perfect game but interesting with the elastic band of ring energy. Sonic Heroes before it was... But my best memory is about Metal Sonic which attacks you if you do nothing for a while.

[Badnik Zero]

They probably used Mighty because they knew the 32X sucked hard and didn't want Chaotix to be the next Sonic game. At least that's what I would've done.

In game though, Mighty is awesome. He's the fastest (yeah, clone clone, Shadow, clone clone) and he can wall jump vertically, which works like a lightning fast Knuckles climb. Vector's a second favorite, and he used to be my main because of his dash jump until I realized he was also the slowest in the game.

[Kaz-Za-Urufu]

Yes, this is not the greatest spin-off ever created but d'you think this is why Chaotix was never released in a compilation ? They manage to create a great band of characters with some of them reused years later so it could not be considered as a failed game.

[Tailikku]

Considering th possibility of Ray in Chaotix, he could fill in the spot left by Wechnia.

[BaronSFel001]

Games like Chaotix, Shadow Squadron, the AM2 arcade ports and the sports titles all totally justify the existence of the 32X (by the way, Chaotix was not a launch title). So much potential cut short...

[Adamis]

I remember discovering the first pictures of the game in the french magazine "Consoles +". I was surprised and excited to see that Knuckles was going to get his own game, with a few new characters that looked awesome (Vector and Espio especially) and I was happy to see Mighty back...but saddened at the same time because it was to be released on the 32X, which I didn't have at that time. I remember drawing these new characters a lot and even creating a whole, 40-pages comic about the game, based on a walkthrough found in another magazine.

Later, I discovered the game via emulation and a few weeks later, got myself a 32X from Ebay with a copy of the game.

It's not the best Sonic game, but not the worst. The gameplay is a bit shaky, but the graphics and the colours are beautiful, the soundtrack is unique and you have a good variety of characters.

[DaBatGuy]

Chaotix is really an interesting game mostly due to it's relative obscurity and unique gameplay mechanics like Sonic CD. It's not the most fun Sonic experience especially if you were expecting a successor to S3&K but it's definitely worth playing at least once for the absurdly surreal levels and music.

[eXtaticus]

But its launch title was the the only thing that mattered for it

The ONLY thing that mattered? Okay, so we'll just forget about Doom, Virtua Fighter, Space Harrier, After Burner Complete, DarXide, Star Wars Arcade, Kolibri, Virtua Racing Deluxe and Metal Head, shall we?

[Badnik Zero]

Add-ons are a completely crap concept. People don't want to upgrade their Genesis when they can buy a brand new console. Especially with the Saturn on the rise the next year, the 32X never should've been released. In the end it just felt like a con. It did allow more colors and tricks like the sprites moving from the foreground in Chaotix, maybe some polygon bullshit, but it wasn't worth the effort from Sega or the money from gamers. This was the beginning of Sega punking out on their hardware, just like the short life of the Saturn and Dreamcast. I love Chaotix, but the 32X was a disaster. You couldn't expect people to buy it.

[Octarine]

I think interesting is about the best thing I can say for Knuckles' Chaotix and the 32X in general. Chaotix just feels sluggish to me, even when moving at a decent speed, and I find the music unique but not nearly as catchy as most Sonic soundtracks. The rubber-band gimmick is fun for a while, but it requires the player to stop outright far too often, and the level design can be pretty messy. Chaotix is one of those games that I'm glad exists (for the cast, mainly), but that I'm rarely compelled to actually play.

I'll defend the SEGA CD to the ends of the earth, but the 32X really was pretty awful. Maybe if it had been released a little earlier it would have seen some better releases, but it wasn't and it didn't. Alas.

[TrueBlue]

One game i've always wanted to try out. The whole tag team element fascinated me when i saw some gameplay clips. I hope the Chaotix appear in future games like Chronicles, especially Espio.

[Tailikku]

The ONLY thing that mattered? Okay, so we'll just forget about Doom, Virtua Fighter, Space Harrier, After Burner Complete, DarXide, Star Wars Arcade, Kolibri, Virtua Racing Deluxe and Metal Head, shall we?

Well DOOM 32X was utter shit, but the others were pretty good.

[eXtaticus]

Well DOOM 32X was utter shit, but the others were pretty good.

I though it was great; despite the fart-like audio (although I actually liked it) and the ripped stages, it was an amazingly solid conversion of Doom, and was probably the only decent FPS available for the MegaDrive or any of its add-ons.

Just play the MD version of Duke Nukem 3D if you don't believe me...

[Tombi]

Chaotix is an interesting game for sure. I'd say in terms of overall presentation it's very well done, in my opinion easily trumping the Mega Drive Sonics. (bar 3&K, anyway)It had cool special effects, stuck to sprites and 2D artwork and looked beautiful because of it, and along with a lovely soundtrack, sprites full of character, and nicely put together cutscenes - it really makes an impression. The gameplay is a novel concept that works well enough, but does start to grate by the time you're getting to the end of the game. It's not even that it's badly made, just the very idea of being somewhat restrained and thrown off cliffs because of your partner does get annoying. (especially if paired up with Heavy or Bomb)

But yeah, it's a pretty damn good game - and I'm glad we got it. It has a strange almost nostalgic value for me since I was playing an emulated (of varying quality) version pretty much all throughout my teenage years. I mostly just played the opening stages, since they're very chilled out and don't have a lot to get in your way, but I did actually bother to finish it properly last year. Things do indeed get a lot harder as the game progresses, and some of the special stages are just freaking ridiculous and not something I'd ever attempt without a save state or two.

Only issue is I've always wanted to actually play it on my TV on a proper console, but somehow it hasn't been ported yet. I figure it'll show up eventually, but SEGA will either need yet another excuse for a compilation, or it'll get on the Virtual Console (which is unlikely considering the more sophisticated hardware). Either way, it's a nice game. Can't say a lot for the rest of the 32x range, but its versions of Virtua Racing and Night Trap were very enjoyable.

[Tailikku]

Nicely siad, Tombi. There was going to be a 32X Sonic game called Sonic Mars, based upon SatAM. Eventually that game was moved to the Saturn and renamed Sonic Xtreme, and yes the unknown SatAM game on the Genesis was the forerunner of Sonic Mars.

[thesketchsector]

I liked Chaotix, it being the only Sonic game to provide Co-operative gameplay on the same screen makes it a fun day with a friend.

It's underrated IMO as it's rather obscure but offered some varying gameplay, wonderful levels and music, and Mighty.

/game connoisseur speak

Edited February 18, 2010 by Mr. Needlemark

[Tailikku]

I liked Chaotix, it being the only Sonic game to provide Co-operative gameplay on the same screen makes it a fun day with a friend.

It's underrated IMO as it's rather obscure but offered some varying gameplay, wonderful levels and music, and Mighty.

/game connoisseur speak

That is until Sonic Advance 3.

[edge.]

All I can say is Chaotix is the 'Earthbound' of the Sonic series.