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Post by mikescrase on Sept 15, 2013 23:15:20 GMT
Hey guys, just wanted to let you know, the other day I had some penciling to get done, and I just could not be bothered. I usually listen to Podcasts while I work though, so I thought "okay, I'll check my Podcasts. If I see a new one, I'm buckling down, if I don't see a new one, I'm taking the day off". Which was pretty much just my excuse to be lazy, because I wasn't expecting there to be a new Podcast up. But there was! (And it was yours, what a twist).
Anyway the point is I managed to get a lot of work done because you guys perked me up on a day I just did not want to get out of bed. So thanks for that.
Also Johnny's weapon is called a quarterstaff. Quarterstaffs are usually made of hardwood, unlike Johnny's metal one (I imagine that thing must be extremely heavy to carry!) essentially the European version of the Japanese hanbo, which is itself a shorter version of the bo staff, the weapon used by Donatello from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Robin Hood stories also mention quarterstaffs quite a lot. I was a rare fan of Johnny Lightfoot. I always thought his metal quarterstaff looked cool.
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Post by mikescrase on Sept 10, 2013 8:40:15 GMT
(Aaaaand... I screwed up again. Replied to a post on a page way earlier than this by accident, so what I said makes no sense anymore).
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Post by mikescrase on Sept 7, 2013 1:16:33 GMT
I quite like that. It's not the best thing I've ever seen or anything but it's not the worst art STC ever saw either.
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Post by mikescrase on Sept 7, 2013 1:13:07 GMT
Seeing as they've got every other bloomin licence, I'm going to propose Sonic the hedgehog as a lego range, if for no other reason than these are a few of my favourite things. The sets will mostly stick to the template set out by their batman range, ie spreading out the lego characters across the range (Sonic and the other heroes/villains) and the actual building elements concerned with different sized robots and vehicles (ie robotnik's boss mode contraptions.) One of the larger playsets will be a green hill zone type landscape complete with checkerboard loops, palm trees, bridges and badniks, or perhaps a sky sanctuary playset for Knuckles to play in. Developing lego's death star playset and simplifying a bit would get you a decent death egg variant, and smaller playsets could include some of the all star racing vehicles, or maybe a playset with a small vehicle designed for Rouge with space to sit an emerald in the back and knucles in pursuit That's a cool idea because it means you could design your own levels as tangible models. I think it would work better for a character like Mario though because Sonic's platforming style is less blocky than your standard platformer, and the way Lego's designed makes it hard for you to heavily customize anything other than blocky stuff. Though I do remember some Lego Sonic faces being sent in to Graphics Zone, back in the days of print STC. Anyone else remember that?
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Post by mikescrase on Sept 7, 2013 1:09:02 GMT
Hi Nigel, I wanted to ask you this at Summer of Sonic, but I was so starstruck I dropped about half my braincells at the time. Anyway, I, like I imagine many STC readers, am a huge fan of your characterization of Super Sonic. I loved the tension of knowing that he could crop his head up at any time and that not only did he have a link to the protagonist, but in a way was the protagonist themselves. When you think about it, it's a good job that Sonic was such a chilled out guy most of the time, otherwise Mobius might have been in a lot of trouble. In more recent years, thinking about the character, and my own personal experiences, it seems like Super Sonic is a great allegory for mental illness. He's a dark side that Sonic can't control when he rears his head, and has to suppress the rest of the time because of the damage that SS might cause his friends. Super Sonic could work also totally work as a metaphor for addiction. It's poignant to me because I have some experience with mental illness myself. Even the fact that Sonic doesn't vividly remember what he does as Super Sonic is a draw-able parallel. I'm not suggesting that this was definitely your intent. But I am curious. Do you disagree that Super Sonic works well in that context? If you can remember the process you went through in deciding the way you would portray SS, how did that go? I never thought about portraying any aspect of real mental illness with Super Sonic to be honest. He was just 'evil' and kind of a force of nature or something. If I were to do a character who was representing ideas around metal illness I'd do it rather differently I think and maybe the nearest I came to this subject was Porker Lewis and his nervous breakdown. In this case I was interested in the intolerance of others (Sonic) for somebody who was suffering mental anguish. Super Sonic stated out just as a kind of out of control character and that was it - he might hurt somebody but he wouldn't know what he was doing. As he developed he certainly did know what he was doing. My main thought with Super Sonic (other than the fact he was dangerous) was that he was somebody you simply couldn't reason with, and that he would destroy you in a second without even giving the act careful consideration. Also he really, really loved being who he was. He's just in the moment - doesn't look back and doesn't think about consequences or the future. Kind of an unsophisticated character by design.Early on the character was not well developed (as far as I remember) and this was just about loosing control - an extreme case of doing something nasty when you lose your temper. I always really liked the pacifist Super Sonic. I wasn't saying anything in particular there it was just meant to be an unexpected outcome. The best use of this was to show Ebony willing to gamble with her hunch that he wouldn't turn Super again and kill everyone. But if you see parallels there that's totally valid all I can tell you is that I wasn't thinking along those lines. To be honest, that sounds a bit mental illnessey as it is, given that "mental illness" is a pretty vague term. There are theories about the subject that claim that mental illnesses are simply aspects of normal behavior manifesting themselves in abnormal quantities. Perhaps disproportionately with other aspects of human behavior, creating unbalances in a person's thinking that culminate in undesirable effects, at least, undesirable as perceived by the general populace/scientific community. Obviously, even if you had intended to use Super Sonic as a metaphor, you probably would have wanted to keep that metaphor general enough so as not to narrow the scope of people who could relate to it.
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Post by mikescrase on Sept 6, 2013 0:01:13 GMT
You mean like the old Thunderbird toys (which they may still make... but I wouldn't know! Honest! ) with the like detachable and reattachable parts?! Yeah that would be funny. O.M.G. I did not think to make that connection, but now you've said that Yes. Yes I do.
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Post by mikescrase on Sept 4, 2013 2:24:52 GMT
I'd really like to see them release an egg-o-matic toy which would be built so that it could have weapons clipped onto it/be clipped into. And these weapons would be the ones we've seen Sonic fight over the years. So they're be some sort of tab to clip in the Green Hill wrecking ball, as well as the Spring Yard spike, for example. Mores tab at the front for things like the Mystic Cave drills. The "clip into" variety would include things like the big arm from launch base, the car from Emerald Hill, the submarine from Oil Ocean. You get the idea.
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Post by mikescrase on Sept 4, 2013 1:39:54 GMT
Hi Nigel, I wanted to ask you this at Summer of Sonic, but I was so starstruck I dropped about half my braincells at the time. Anyway, I, like I imagine many STC readers, am a huge fan of your characterization of Super Sonic. I loved the tension of knowing that he could crop his head up at any time and that not only did he have a link to the protagonist, but in a way was the protagonist themselves. When you think about it, it's a good job that Sonic was such a chilled out guy most of the time, otherwise Mobius might have been in a lot of trouble.
In more recent years, thinking about the character, and my own personal experiences, it seems like Super Sonic is a great allegory for mental illness. He's a dark side that Sonic can't control when he rears his head, and has to suppress the rest of the time because of the damage that SS might cause his friends. Super Sonic could work also totally work as a metaphor for addiction.
It's poignant to me because I have some experience with mental illness myself. Even the fact that Sonic doesn't vividly remember what he does as Super Sonic is a draw-able parallel.
I'm not suggesting that this was definitely your intent. But I am curious. Do you disagree that Super Sonic works well in that context? If you can remember the process you went through in deciding the way you would portray SS, how did that go?
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Post by mikescrase on Aug 9, 2013 1:02:50 GMT
Sorry to be condescending, but I had to point it before someone else did: the classic ninja turtles arcade titles and Streets of Rage are both "beat 'em up" games. Also sometimes known as "Fighting Games" but that can get confusing because it's ambiguous whether you mean tournament fighters or a different of fighting game when you call them that. How about a VN of some sort, with a collection of character stories and varying outcomes to reach based on the decisions you make? They could all work towards an endgame, or a "Last Story" if you will, only in the more literal sense this time round. It would at least make a rare change from the many dodgy VNs that usually get put about. Then again, that may well be the most terrible idea in the history of entertainment. So essentially, like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, but done as a visual novel? I love Choose Your Own Adventure books, but I don't think you could do that if Sonic were the main character, since you might run into the problem it seeming a little slow paced. Maybe if it were set in the right universe. Like, for instance, I could see that idea working best for a game based on SatAM (despite the fact that that would never happen, sans that one demo video, especially nowadays).
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Post by mikescrase on Jul 25, 2013 20:05:47 GMT
the animated version of the "running wild" issue.) I heard rumors about that but I didn't realize it had been finished. Nice. Dr. Robotnik should sound like his version off of satAm.
SatAM Robotnik = Jim Cummings. Legendary voice actor there.
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Post by mikescrase on Jul 17, 2013 23:10:41 GMT
Hum. I'd ask for the Sonic Advance series to be ported onto the home consoles with added in multiplayer function for both online and offline use. Then I'd request Sonic Battle to be given a port and a slight graphics lift as well with online multiplayer function. As for the older games, I wouldn't mind seeing the 4 big genesis games get another port, if they add Amy to the selection of characters along side Tails and Knuckles that is. *Cough* fan hacks already did it*Cough* For the really hard stuff, bring on Sonic 3D Blast/Flickie Island, it's time that game got a makeover. Give it a better control scheme plus a graphics lift and I'll buy a dozen copies of it. Yeah, I would have imagined they have but I don't really play fan hacks, I heard a lot of them were pretty buggy and I wondered if I should even bother. I'm starting to change my mind on that though because I've seen some videos of some hacks that genuinely look really cool. And I know that Tails and Knuckles are in the Taxman remake, with their S3&K abilities, but when I first heard about that I thought it was gonna be for home consoles like Sonic CD was. Was really disappointed when I found out otherwise. I just have a hard time seeing a Maga Drive Sonic game playing well on a smartphone. Might just be my prejudice towards most touch screen ports though. I like to be able to feel the buttons beneath my fingers.
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Post by mikescrase on Jul 17, 2013 8:12:29 GMT
Are you aware of the Sonic 1 version for iOS and Android? I suggest you pick it up, it's the ultimate version! Yes, I am. But I haven't played it because I'm skeptical as to whether a Sonic game not designed for a touch screen will play well on a touch screen. Is it really THAT good? I've heard that the Sonic Jam version of Sonic 1 is the definitive port.
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Post by mikescrase on Jul 16, 2013 23:29:45 GMT
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Post by mikescrase on Jul 16, 2013 23:22:33 GMT
True, but if they HAD to do a remake I mean (for some reason. I don't know. Shadow is pointing a gun to their heads and demanding it or something).
The reason I say is because people are always going on about old games getting remakes with updated graphics. But personally I don't care about updated graphics and find people that can't BARE to play a game whose visuals are technically obsolete very strange. I suppose these same people also don't watch black and white movies. The only reason I mentioned the graphics thing in Sonic 1 is so that the look of the game would remain consistent with itself.
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Post by mikescrase on Jul 16, 2013 22:45:37 GMT
What new stuff and/or changes would you want? I have a few things I'd really like to see from remakes of the Sonic 1, 2, and S3&K trilogy. I realize these games have been ported/remade a lot before, but this's how I'd do it: Sonic 1:
For the most part the game would be the Mega Drive version of Sonic 1, but with the Master System levels inserted, remade with the graphics and physics of the Mega Drive version, 16 bit style music, checkpoint monitors replaced with the checkpoint posts, etc etc. Maybe the spindash too but the other thing would be way more awesome. Sonic 2:
More two player levels based on the levels from the 1 player game. And in single player mode Tails can pick up Sonic like he could in S3&K (and the player could make him fly playing as just Tails). Sonic 3 and Knuckles:Just make the 2 player mode better. That's it. I also thought that since there are a lot of new characters in the series now, and there weren't nearly as many characters back when Sonic the Fighters was made (hence them kinda grasping at straws with the characters that were in the game) it'd be cool to see a new Sonic based tournament fighter. And apart from that you could change... everything else. Everything else about Sonic the Fighters
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Post by mikescrase on Jun 27, 2013 14:16:11 GMT
Sonic Adventure 3: Playable characters (story mode)Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, 2 others Plot: Robotnik has united an army of all Sonic villains. Yeah, I like that idea myself. I really liked the part of "Robotnik Reigns Supreme" where Robotnik brings back Sonic's old enemies to team up on him, and always thought it would have been cool if STC had played with that concept more often, as well as the games themselves, obviously.
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Post by mikescrase on Jun 23, 2013 18:38:20 GMT
Righto, glad to hear it, because I wasn't even finished, just wanted to give somebody else a chance to speak before I talk all your heads off
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Post by mikescrase on Jun 23, 2013 18:32:54 GMT
Whoops, sorry about that. Didn't check the date. Wanted to make sure I didn't start a topic that had already been started.
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Post by mikescrase on Jun 23, 2013 18:22:26 GMT
Thought I'd have a look around for any threads like this since I have some ideas I wanted to share myself. But since you brought it up, I'll tackle the stuff you said and just jot some of it down that way... - Should the game be called Sonic Adventure 3 or Sonic Heroes 2?Sonic Adventure 3. Sorry, but Sonic Heroes still sounds like a breakfast cereal or something. Ha, kinda does sound like a cereal (ish). I don't know, I always just thought it sounded like a cheesy name for a game. I've always said that I'd be perfectly happy with a Sonic Adventure 3 that was just Sonic Adventure. As in a sequel that'd pretty much just be like a full game-long expansion pack of SA1. But that doesn't make for much interesting conversation, so on to the next points... - Should adventure fields be brought back?Yes. I'd like that too. The adventure fields in SA1 felt as though you were inhabiting a world and gave Sonic context within an environment. They were badly done in '06 but the problem there was they were too big with nothing to do in them. Although I did like the (concept behind) the mission in Soleanna where you had to find springs that you could use to ring balls. It was platforming with an emphasis on exploration which, in theory, was a good idea. A thing that '06 sadly had a few of but didn't deliver in execution. What I think would be pretty awesome would be one (reasonably) large adventure field in which you could travel to different time periods at will within. You'd be able to choose from a few different levels or missions within the adventure field at a time, and depending on the order in which you did these levels/missions, you could change the future, which would result in story changes and alternate levels depending on your choices. So a bit like a cross between Sonic CD, Sonic Adventure, Super Mario 64 and Shadow the Hedgehog of all things. I swear it would be cooler than I make it sound... - What characters should be playabale in the game?Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, of course. Hopefully, Shadow, Rouge and Omega also will be playable. I'd love to see Nack the Weasel make a return as well, and Espio would be good as a lone character. Lastly, they could just dump Team Rose and Team Chaotix together again as they are the remaining characters. Mighty could replace Espio as Chaotix's speed character, after of course going through some re-design to not make him just look like Sonic in darker colours. They'd all be part of the same detective agency, but Espio would be off following a different case, which would end up with the two cases blending together by the end of the game. Hmmm... the problem with that is that too many characters would require too much disk space to really get their time in the sun, even if you ignore the fact that some of those mentioned are less than popular. There's also the issue of the fact that programmers, designers, all your "game staff" need to get paid for their time, and including all those character stories in a game would certainly take up a lot of the developers' time. Not to mention the fact you don't want to take too much time away from Sonic. A cast that big could make for a pretty thinly spread plot/gameplay. Gameplay variation is good but you also need consistency. - Should characters share the same, fast-paced Sonic Heroes-style of gameplay, or should there be a mixture of game styles like in the Sonic Adventure games?This is how I'd do it: Speed – Sonic, Tails, Shadow Hunting – Knuckles, Nack Stealth – Rouge, Espio Shooting – Omega Teamwork – Team Rose, Team Chaotix I might not make friends saying this, but in my opinion, Shadow's story is done. Keep him out of the games or if he's included, make his role minor, if you ask me. Would be quite interesting to have Nack going up against Knuckles ala SA2 though. Like I said before, variation is good, but you do want to have consistency too. I liked the varied game styles in SA1, but what I don't like is being switched between those play styles with no say in the matter, like in SA2... more on that in a sec... - Should characters all share the same levels, or should they each have unique levels (eg. Sonic Adventure 2)?Most levels could be shared, although some could also be unique to specific characters. I did like SA1's element of having each character's stories intermingle with each other, and I preferred not being bounced from one character perspective to the next at the plot's whim like in SA2. I just felt like going from playing as Sonic to playing as Knuckles made me feel less immersed in the game. I mean I know the series isn't known for its' immersion, but I'd rather get to play with one character and keep following their story until I choose to play as someone else. Getting to visit levels you've been to as other characters adds to the feel that you're operating in an organic would because it feels as though a place wasn't just created so you could go running around for a bit. The place was already *there*, and you just ended up going that way 'cause the world needed saving in that particular direction. - What should the main plot be about?Not sure yet, although I'd like to see them come up with something original for a change. Well, I think it's no secret at this point that we've had a few games where the end boss is a giant monster. But I was thinking about this formula recently and it dawned on me: if Sega are doing a bit of a Toho homage by having giant monsters coming along and destroying everything, why not continue along the Toho route and at some point have the giant monsters fight EACH OTHER, with Sonic and co caught in the middle? So, for example, Ibilis comes back for revenge (somehow) and then at roughly the same time, so does Chaos (again... somehow...) Chaos, being good now, decides he doesn't much like the thought of a big scary fire demon wreaking havoc on the world just when he started to like it, and takes it upon himself to go collecting chaos emeralds so that he can equip himself to fight off Ibilis so as to make amends for all of his own misadventures in havoc wreaking. But then somewhere along the line he loses control and it isn't so much about where Chaos will stop Ibilis from killing everyone but whether Sonic can prevent them both from creating a sizable amount of global-scale collateral damage. I don't know, maybe I'm just a sucker for B-movies. - Are there any new ideas for level types that you would like to see included?A Matrix Revolutions-esque nightclub would be pretty cool. That's a pretty cool idea. I thought a submarine might be a cool idea for a level theme but I was thinking more along the lines of a 2D game when I came up with that one...
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Post by mikescrase on Jun 21, 2013 21:47:38 GMT
Your hair is magnificent. Why thankyou! I was actually a little self conscious about my appearance once I'd put up the video because I've had a busy few days and not had much time for grooming, so it's nice to know that I don't look like a total wreck. I remember activating this once, I was sitting on a old chair, and got up to get a drink, I slip over the controller wire and yanked the controller out, reset the mega drive.... a few seconds later. Level select. Had never knew how I done it, until I looked it up online years later. it is a real weird level select Yeah, I've heard that it can be done with a reset too. Not sure on the exact way to do it with that method, this is just the way I've always known. Seems like level select can be activated by pure accident in several different ways. Weird. I really wish I could ask someone involved with the production of the game, at like a Q and A or something, if they might know what could be going on here. Summer of Sonic perhaps? Probably a long shot. But I have to know! It's been boggling my mind for years!
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Post by mikescrase on Jun 21, 2013 20:11:04 GMT
P.S.: These guysvall played the Mirage Turtles in Turtles Forever. Love Turtles Forever. Jason Griffith was also in a condom commercial you know
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Post by mikescrase on Jun 21, 2013 20:01:31 GMT
Only a light tap is required. No chance of permanent damage to the Mega Drive, as far as I'm aware (it's not an Xbox 360, the thing's built to last ) I found out about this thing through pure chance. I wasn't looking for it, it just sort of happened one faithful day in the 90s.
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Post by mikescrase on Jun 21, 2013 17:56:38 GMT
Proof! PROOF I TELLS YE!
(I've deliberately refrained from swearing in this video because of the forum rules, but just to let you guys know, that isn't necessarily true of the other videos on my channel):
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Post by mikescrase on Jun 21, 2013 15:41:04 GMT
No, not even I would have probed into that storyline. Nor will I because even I have my limits! Ahem. Yeah what the heck are those pipes on his backpack for anyway? Lol factor? Weapon? Soda dispenser? Funny you mention that actually. I seem to remember Megadroid answering a very similar question in Speedlines, way back in the day (the days of paper STC, that is). And on the subject of Robotnik's sanity, I know from personal experience that it's actually very surprising how someone who is extremely delusional or neurotic can go from that state in one moment and then seem totally lucid in the next. Often when they're snapped back to reality by something they they know. So if Robotnik were say (for example), given a robotics project to concentrate on, he might suddenly sane-up by a shocking amount by pure virtue of working on something that is very familiar ground to him. It's also well documented that people have 'episodes' of psychosis. They go completely insane and then recover for reasons that no one completely understands. Having said that, Robotnik has been psychotic for a while, and the longer the episode is, the less likely the chances of recovery are. This also holds true for the frequency of relapses once a person has recovered: the more episodes you have, the less statistically likely you are to stay healthy.
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Post by mikescrase on Jun 21, 2013 2:07:42 GMT
Jason Griffith with Shadow voice? That's an odd one, I must say. To me he has too much of an ego/sense of humor on him for Shadow's perma-serious tone.
Obviously, it's your brain, you can do what you want, I just find that strange. Why do you think you imagine him with that voice?
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