Sonic Generations: New Screenshots and Arts [Archive]

[Mega]

Well, Sonic can run on water.

[Scar]

That doesn't mean we should be restricted to narrow paths. I don't think it's a bad thing to have the player find their way from A to B, rather than it being mostly one very clearly defined path.

The problem is, if you make a wide open stage where the player can find his own way to the end, it becomes either too easy, because you can just avoid all the platforming, get the bottom of the stage and just run to the end (which is why Bottomless pits exist). Another problem is filling the wide open space with level design. This is so difficult not even Mario can do it. The wide open stages in M64 and Galaxy are just vast empty spaces where you have to run from one end to the other.

Most of the stages are linear, to keep things streamlined, so that all the level design is compacted so you don't have areas with good level design and areas with no level design to speak of at all.

[Voyant]

The problem is, if you make a wide open stage where the player can find his own way to the end, it becomes either too easy, because you can just avoid all the platforming, get the bottom of the stage and just run to the end (which is why Bottomless pits exist). Another problem is filling the wide open space with level design. This is so difficult not even Mario can do it. The wide open stages in M64 and Galaxy are just vast empty spaces where you have to run from one end to the other.

Most of the stages are linear, to keep things streamlined, so that all the level design is compacted so you don't have areas with good level design and areas with no level design to speak of at all.

This preety much. Not saying that generations could not use a bit more platforming...I rather have 3 well done alternate paths than a mediocre game with a wide space. This is what Sonic Labyrinth tried to do and people didn't like it.

If a big company like Square Enix isn't willing to remake Final Fantasy 7 due to the fact of how much TIME and MONEY it takes to not only render good graphics, but to fill in all that space so that people have the same experience as Final Fantasy 7 without having a shit storm....what makes people think that Sonic Team going to be able to dish something out like that. Nintendo doesn't even do that with Mario and they don't even have to WORRY about rendering in HD on the Wii.

With the HD era we live in now its hard as hell to render decent 3D graphics even with the most competent of development teams and I'm sure Sonic Team has a certain budget they have to fall under with SEGA.

Realistic expectations is all I ask for and right now that being better than Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Colors. You can't expect something astronomical from a team that just got back on their feet.

Edited April 29, 2011 by Voyant

[Diogenes]

The problem is, if you make a wide open stage where the player can find his own way to the end, it becomes either too easy, because you can just avoid all the platforming, get the bottom of the stage and just run to the end (which is why Bottomless pits exist).

It doesn't have to be "too easy". Yes, that is why pits are used; put pits there, on the bottom level, along with a bunch of spikes and a bunch of enemies and now, suddenly, the bottom route is harder than the top. But of course you don't have to go that far; you can make both high and low routes a fair challenge, but make the higher routes more rewarding (in score, in speed, in visuals) and the lower routes less (slower, less points, a crappier view) and people will naturally gravitate towards the higher routes, even if it's harder to stay up there. And for the people who, for some reason, forgo those rewards and simply take the easier lower route...why is this such a bad thing? Let 'em play how they want.

Another problem is filling the wide open space with level design. This is so difficult not even Mario can do it. The wide open stages in M64 and Galaxy are just vast empty spaces where you have to run from one end to the other.

I'm not asking for one entirely open field, but it can certainly be a hell of a lot more open than what we've been getting. Have paths (significant paths, not 3-second diversions) split off from each other, and have areas wide enough for 2 or 3 paths the player can take either by choice or by skill.

This is what Sonic Labyrinth tried to do and people didn't like it.

Oh come on, seriously? I'm not suggesting anything that even vaguely resembles Labyrinth, there's absolutely no comparison. Labyrinth is shit for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with what I'm suggesting.

[Scar]

My suggestion has and always will be "Several wide paths that are interconnected at various points"

Having a massive feild would just be redundant and boring (Soleanna Forest).

Also, I don't think consoles are powerful enough to render a massive, intricate level with High-poly models and High-res textures on the move. Maybe next generation they will be, but right now, it just wouldn't work without the framerate dying.

[ChikaBoing]

The problem is, if you make a wide open stage where the player can find his own way to the end, it becomes either too easy, because you can just avoid all the platforming, get the bottom of the stage and just run to the end (which is why Bottomless pits exist). Another problem is filling the wide open space with level design. This is so difficult not even Mario can do it. The wide open stages in M64 and Galaxy are just vast empty spaces where you have to run from one end to the other.

Most of the stages are linear, to keep things streamlined, so that all the level design is compacted so you don't have areas with good level design and areas with no level design to speak of at all.

Yeah this is the case with the Knuckles/Rouge Levels, I laugh when people say they have alot of plattforming.

[EXshad]

I see no problem with the Modern level being a glorified speed run. I mean, Classic Sonic is simple, momentum-based platforming (although his base speed has gotten a massive boost so he can keep up with his modern counterpart), while Modern Sonic is basically just focused on fluent, reaction-based levels that encourage speed running. Now, my only problem is if they don't have any way of taking different roots to get to your goal. I mean, it could be a simple as quick stepping to the left or right to take a different path, or jumping at the right time to make it on a higher road, etc. But without that, there would be no incentive to replay the levels.

All that said, based on what we've seen, and heard from Ruby and other representatives, I highly doubt that'll be a problem. Like I've said before, I bet this is just a tutorial stage, and the levels will open up a bit more later on. At least, that's what I'm hoping. I really, really, really don't wanna play a linear as hell remake of Sky Sanctuary, or Emerald Coast, or the Death Egg. That would just be a waste of the concept driving this game. I wanna see multiple roots and some big areas (a la Adabat) galore; I don't wanna have my hand-held the entire time like I'm on a roller-coaster paced tour of only the most basic aspects of levels that should be fleshed out to perfection. Green Hill zone , at least in my opinion, is an exception because the original version was a very simple level as well, at least in comparison to what was coming.

But I digress, we gotta wait and see, but I'm seriously sick of seeing this "argument" popping up everywhere.

Edited April 29, 2011 by EXshad

[ProfessorZolo]

Has everybody stopped being impressed by the graphics already? That latest screenshot was beautiful! Games these days are full of dirt brown and gunmetal grey, it's refreshing, and awesome (I genuinely mean AWEsome, not just in the way that the Internet throws the word 'epic' around), to see a game this bright, this colourful, and NOT on a Nintendo platform!

...Don't get me wrong, I love Nintendo. I just don't see why the 360 and PS3 should be excluded from having games like Mario Galaxy on them.

And no, I don't mean that I can't see why Nintendo wouldn't allow Sony or Microsoft to use their mascot. I mean games LIKE Mario Galaxy. I was using it as an example, see?

_{God, you have to be so PRECISE with these Internet people...}

[SuperGuzzi]

Has everybody stopped being impressed by the graphics already? That latest screenshot was beautiful! Games these days are full of dirt brown and gunmetal grey, it's refreshing, and awesome (I genuinely mean AWEsome, not just in the way that the Internet throws the word 'epic' around), to see a game this bright, this colourful, and NOT on a Nintendo platform!

...Don't get me wrong, I love Nintendo. I just don't see why the 360 and PS3 should be excluded from having games like Mario Galaxy on them.

And no, I don't mean that I can't see why Nintendo wouldn't allow Sony or Microsoft to use their mascot. I mean games LIKE Mario Galaxy. I was using it as an example, see?

_{God, you have to be so PRECISE with these Internet people...}

Yeah, you are totally right, that's why i didn't buy a PS3/360, i can play fps or blood/violence-based game, bad i hate how the people says "oh god how much blood, i love this game", but with this game, (and few other) i think i going to buy a 360 at last, but still, i think is better idea wait if Generation will be in proyect cafe, you know i preffer the Nintendo+HD formula (even without the HD, that's why i own only a Wii)

(Don't get me wrong, i still think teh HD consoles have a lot of great games, i'm just talking about colorfull-plataformer-hardcore)

Edited April 30, 2011 by SuperGuzzi

[Mega]

You know, Classic Sonic is more than three feet. He's a meter tall.

So how tall does that make modern, I wonder? The screenshots give them a pretty big height difference.

Edited April 30, 2011 by Mega

[Voyant]

You know, Classic Sonic is more than three feet. He's a meter tall.

So how tall does that make modern, I wonder? The screenshots give them a pretty big height difference.

LOL Amy is taller than tails? REALLY? Come on now that's BS.....

Edited April 30, 2011 by Voyant

[Mega]

It's official art by Oshima. No BS at all!

EDIT:

Also official art! Apparently Classic Sonic art sometimes had blue eyelids.

Edited April 30, 2011 by Mega

[Shoot em up Capbusta]

LOL Amy is taller than tails? REALLY? Come on now that's BS.....

How is it BS?

[Indigo Rush]

Tails is younger than Amy, and to add to that, girls generally get their growth spurts before boys. I don't know how this translates to hedgehogs and foxes, but I would assume this rule still applies.

[Mega]

Well, to be fair, Tails and Amy were the same age in the Classic era. And, ironically, Sonic was older.

[Core]

You know, Classic Sonic is more than three feet. He's a meter tall.

[picture]

So how tall does that make modern, I wonder? The screenshots give them a pretty big height difference.

That's strange, Modern Sonic is supposed to be 1m tall, so Classic Sonic can't be. In fact this chart is just giving the modern sizes, as if both versions of the characters had the same heights.

But I think I remember seeing somewhere that Metal Sonic was supposed to be 75cm tall in the classic era. Maybe that's the size of Classic Sonic.

[Scar]

That's strange, Modern Sonic is supposed to be 1m tall, so Classic Sonic can't be. In fact this chart is just giving the modern sizes, as if both versions of the characters had the same heights.

But I think I remember seeing somewhere that Metal Sonic was supposed to be 75cm tall in the classic era. Maybe that's the size of Classic Sonic.

Classic and Modern are the same height.

The only reason there is such a difference in height, is firstly because Modern Sonic is supposed to be older, and secondly, because Classic Sonic has different proportions. If Modern Sonic was the same height, Classic's head would look massive.

[Voyant]

Classic and Modern are the same height.

The only reason there is such a difference in height, is firstly because Modern Sonic is supposed to be older, and secondly, because Classic Sonic has different proportions. If Modern Sonic was the same height, Classic's head would look massive.

I think when we start to get more info on this the "sudden change in Sonic's anatomy" will be explained.

Or not...lol

[Blue Blood]

Age probably has nothing to do with it. It's all for proportions sake. Look!

Edited April 30, 2011 by Blue Blood

[Mega]

Well, again, we don't know how literal the time holes are. They never explicitly referred to Classic as "young Sonic," so it might be more complicated than that.

In fact, given the notorious nature of Sonic plots, I'm betting that it is.

[\Lennox]

Ehh, here's hoping Classic Sonic WILL be Young Sonic. Puberty equates to one sucky thing after another.

_{Like his Griffith-era games. And stuff. T^T}

[Burning Neoxor]

Ehh, here's hoping Classic Sonic WILL be Young Sonic. Puberty equates to one sucky thing after another.

I'm hoping that as well. I don't want Sega to give fans any justification for like one Sonic over the other beyond aesthetic preferences.

As for the reason why C. Sonic is shorter, it is to make him look cuter when compared to M. Sonic. If they were the same height, it would make C. Sonic look like he hasn't been hitting the Sound Barrier as often enough when compared M. Sonic.

exactly like that.

[Mega]

What's wrong with liking one over the other, though? I mean, I'm not saying the crazy extreme fans are justified, but some people just don't like the new looks? /shrugs

EDIT: Ah, aesthetic preferences. Well, to be fair, that makes sense to a degree. But then again, some people might prefer Classic's characterization. It depends on how he's written.

Edited April 30, 2011 by Mega

[goku262002]

Hey woun where are ya? we got new screenshots flying all over the place, c'mon step it up!

Feel free for someone to step in while woun is away.

[Sonictrainer]

Chemical Plant Act 1

Chemical Plant Act 2

VS Metal Sonic

Are we allowed to post full scans?

EDIT: Magazine Scans have been replaced by the HD scans

Edited July 30, 2011 by STrainer