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SEGA 3D Classics

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I've not played any games for months now due to just not having the time to do so.

I wanted something to play on my 3ds and saw this was out and downloaded it a few nights ago.

 

What. A. Game.

 

Sonic 2 is one of the first video games I ever played. Sonic 1 was the first. I remember my cousin (much older cousin) giving us his Mega Drive around 1992 when I was 4. My sisters and I played Sonic 1 (the only game we had for it) to death and I just couldn't get enough. I remember that our local "video shop" :laughing: got Sonic 2 in to rent and we all got our nightly bath and my dad went out to get a copy for us to play before bed. He returned and he'd brought back the Master System version...! :o

We were all devastated, but I was also convinced the cartridge would go into the Mega Drive and tried to force it into the cartridge slot :heh: - to no avail, obviously!

 

Anyway we ended up getting Sonic 2 and it literally became one of the games of my child hood.

 

I've played it again a number of times, but not for years. So I was very very excited to play it again after playing and completing Sonic 1 on my 3ds when that was released previously.

I finished it tonight and I just absolutely loved it from start to finish.

I played as 'Tails Alone' :D as I always did prefer Tails back then until they turned him into an annoying little shit later in the series. :heh:

 

The one thing that struck me in this game all these years later is just how incredible the sound track is. I mean, the tunes are forever memorable, but they just really stuck out to me on this play through. Could be because I played with headphones in, but the tunes for each Zone are just completely and utterly perfect. I think my favourite out of the lot is Aquatic Ruin. They just elevate the experience to another level for me. I know a lot of people on this forum are big into sound tracks, but I have to be honest and say that i haven't played many games in my time where I've felt that one of the biggest achievements when the game play itself is so phenomenal, is the musical score. So that's definitely something!

 

Onto the game play then... Well it's just perfect. Well, not perfect as there's a number of glitches that I encountered. Most in Metropolis Zone (oh how I hate that Zone!) when bouncing from yellow spring to yellow spring only to get stuck! Being flung between them with no platform to fall on or no way of stopping Tails from flying from one side to the other! :laughing: I laugh now, had that have been on Mega Drive I'd have been devastated! Thank heavens for that save feature eh! ;)

 

What I found so great about revisiting Sonic 2 though was how much of challenge it is. It is not an easy game at all. I got all of the Chaos Emeralds but I had to use my save feature to get the seventh and last. And I will be brutally honest and say if it wasnt for the save feature I would not have completed the game. From Casino Night Zone onwards I could sense the games difficulty increasing and by the time I'd reached Metropolis Zone, Sonic 2 had become pretty hardcore! No, it's not rock hard but there's a very clear spike in challenge and I welcomed that as I approached the end of the game. Dodging blade throwing creatures and arrow blocks along with the usual dreaded spikes and arrow laden floors, there's a lot that tripped me up before the final few stages!

 

And then it all becomes memory, and patience and perseverance. Understanding how many times you can safely bounce on Metal Sonic's head before he curls into a ball that will rid you of a life and send you back to the start. Get past that and the finale. But if you fail here, right back to Metal Sonic again. 2 bosses with no precious rings in sight! That is hardcore!

I failed at the final stage, but the save function helped me out! : peace:

I'm so pleased I downloaded this and have it in my collection on 3ds. The game hasn't aged for me in the slightest. I defy anyone to pick the game up and not enjoy playing through it. For me it's an absolute classic. I don't think I'd have ever said that before playing through it again now either. Yeah, I'd have said its a great game and it's a fond childhood memory, but it's not until revisiting it as an adult that I've now seen it for what I believe it to be, and that's a 16bit masterpiece! I mean, I know this game very well but I was sat at work today wishing he day away so I could get home and play it! :awesome: I don't think I've ever felt like that about something I've played before hundreds of times over! :heh:

 

My only complaint is the lack of Hidden Palace Zone via the Mystic Cave's secret access that was included in the iOS release. I tested it, but it was the normal version and the spikes killed me. Doh!

That would have been the cherry on the cake!

Ah how I wish Sonic continued on from this greatness. Whilst the series did for a number of years, we all know what it's become now. :shakehead. But it's because of games like this that I still root for him. Even when I know deep down its not going to be good, I still hold a bit of hope! And if it ends up being rubbish (like the last batch of Wii U / 3ds games) then at least we have this! : peace:

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The one thing that struck me in this game all these years later is just how incredible the sound track is. I mean, the tunes are forever memorable, but they just really stuck out to me on this play through. Could be because I played with headphones in, but the tunes for each Zone are just completely and utterly perfect.

 

Yep! The music in many of these 3D Classics is amazing. I think it does have a lot to do with the headphones - for me, it's about going from a mono television set in the '90s to brilliant and clear stereo headphones. It's at the right tempo now too.

 

What I found so great about revisiting Sonic 2 though was how much of challenge it is. It is not an easy game at all. I got all of the Chaos Emeralds but I had to use my save feature to get the seventh and last. And I will be brutally honest and say if it wasnt for the save feature I would not have completed the game. From Casino Night Zone onwards I could sense the games difficulty increasing and by the time I'd reached Metropolis Zone, Sonic 2 had become pretty hardcore!

 

Sounds like this 3D Classics version will finally let me enjoy the game as much as I always wanted to.

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Retail release heading to the US.

 

00T2p6O.jpg

 

Don't Drift Aimlessly - POWER DRIFT with Purpose in the SEGA 3D Classics Collection

 

Nine Sega Classics (some unreleased!) Arriving on April 26 for Nintendo 3DS

 

IRVINE, Calif. - Jan. 21, 2016 - The best thing about classics is that they never go out of style, which is why SEGA of America is bringing nine classic SEGA games to the Nintendo 3DS™ system as part of the SEGA 3D Classics Collection. The best part - four of the nine classics are games that have never been released on the 3DS previously. For all of the included classics, developer M2 painstakingly recreated the experiences by breaking down the original games and powering them up with new visuals, game modes, and more to take full advantage of the Nintendo 3DS system. The

SEGA 3D Classics Collection will be available in stores and digitally exclusively in the Americas for $29.99/CA$44.99 on April 26, 2016.

 

Because it's a collection, the most prudent thing to do would be to list the games included, starting with the titles never-before-released outside of Japan first:

 

Power Drift - This sprite-based circuit racer puts you head to head against other AI racers in a twisting, turning, jumping, looping race to the finish.

Puyo Puyo 2 - This head-to-head competitive puzzle game is simple to learn, hard to master, and compellingly addictive. Compete against the AI or friends in local multiplayer. Note: because of the quirks of trying to localize a game hard-coded in Japanese, the game has been left entirely in its original language. English instructions are available in the included digital manual.

 

Next, we have a pair of rarities not released on the 3DS before - true collectibles for the Master System enthusiast:

 

Maze Walker - Originally designed for the SegaScope 3-D glasses on the Sega Master System, Maze Walker comes to life on the 3DS, faithfully reproducing the sense of depth as players try to escape the mysterious, twisting maze filled with unknown dangers. Originally released as Maze Hunter for the Master System in the West.

Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa - The sentient space ship Opa-Opa is back to defend its bases from evil (but cute!) invaders in the classic scrolling shooter. For SEGA history buffs, this version of Fantasy Zone II is the original Master System version.

 

And for the previously released titles:

 

Fantasy Zone II W -Fantasy Zone II W, which was originally created for the Master System, is the version of Fantasy Zone II upgraded to the graphical capabilities of the System- 16 arcade board with added 3D effects. You can enjoy it in 2 game modes with different rules.

Sonic The Hedgehog - The evil scientist, Dr. Eggman (aka Dr. Robotnik), has snatched the animals of South Island, turning them into robot slaves. Only the famed blue blur can defeat Dr. Eggman and rescue the animals from his vile clutches in the game that started it all for the fastest hedgehog - Sonic!

Thunder Blade - In Thunder Blade, players control a helicopter and use guns and missiles to destroy enemy vehicles while flying between buildings, through caves, and into enemy bases. The re-mastered version boasts stereoscopic 3D visuals and adds a host of new features.

Galaxy Force II - As the star pilot of the Space Federation, it's up to you to strap yourself into your TRY-X fighter and turn the tables on the invade forces of Halcyon and the Fourth Empire in this 3D shoot 'em up. This remastered version has upgraded graphics with double the resolution of the original for a more pleasing aesthetic.

Altered Beast - Summoned from the dead by Zeus, players in Altered Beast must shape shift into various beasts and fight off hordes of demons to rescue the captured Athena from the clutches of Neff. Offers local co-op multiplayer.

This is an Extra Bullet

 

The SEGA 3D Classics Collection will be released at a value price of $29.99/CA$44.99 for the Nintendo 3DS system in stores and digitally on the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo 3DS, with retail packaging that features original artwork by Pokémon art director, Ken Sugimori. The game is rated E 10+ by the ESRB. For more information, please visit 3dclassics.sega.com.

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Gib European release plz... kthxbai! :D

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NOICE!!! :D (is what I will be shouting when they announce an EU release!)

 

Shame that they didn't include the Master System versions of Space Harrier 3D and Outrun 3D that were previously included in the first Japanese retail release, but at least we'll be getting the most important ones, like Power Drift in the west! :D

 

@Serebii should be happy about seeing Ken Sugamori's boxart on the shelf as well ;)

Edited by Dcubed

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That's terrible news indeed. :(

R.I.P. Akira Saito

 

May your memory live on in those wonderful Sega classics which you were so instrumental in creating.

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Sorry guys, not a bump for an EU announcement for the retail compilation, but there IS a new interview with M2 regarding said retail compliation that I'm sure some of you will be interested in reading...

 

http://blogs.sega.com/2016/04/25/sega-3d-classics-collection-interview/

 

Some choice quotes...

 

When I played this a little while ago, I was surprised that there was a ‘FM Sound Unit’ option for the Mark III version of Fantasy Zone… This is hasn’t been a thing up until now, right?

 

YO: You are correct! The Mark III version of Fantasy Zone was released in 1986, but the FM Sound Unit wasn’t released until the fall of 1987. So, game titles that were released before the FM Sound Unit shouldn’t support it. The actual Mark III version of Fantasy Zone doesn’t, naturally.

….However, for the SEGA 3D Classics Collection, this Mark III version of Fantasy Zone does.

– That sentence makes me think “What in the world are these people talking about?” I suppose that’s always the case. (laughs)

 

Naoki Horii (Below NH): We have a story behind this as well. When we decided to put the MK3 version of Fantasy Zone in as a bonus, there was this one guy at the office who said, “Only adding stereoscopic 3D? Pfft, boring!” Seriously, that’s what I deal with here! As I’ve said before, even just that takes a ton of time, but then they say that’s boring… You gotta wonder what the guys are thinking! (laughs)

The FM synthesis version of the Fantasy Zone music was actually used in a different game called Fantasy Zone: The Maze*. So, we lightly discussed with (Manabu) Namiki, who is in charge of the sound, if we could bring the music from that. But Namiki said “Wait just a minute!”

He interjected by saying “The music for Fantasy Zone and Fantasy Zone: The Maze has a different tempo, and even if we brought it over, there’s no way we could turn that into a palatable dish for people.” He also mentioned the songs for the boss battles didn’t exist as well.

*Fantasy Zone: The Maze is a dot-eating genre game released at the end of 1987. It’s known as Opa-Opa in Japan.

 

….But for some reason, we ended up thinking about how nice it would be to have a FM Sound version. I’m not exactly sure how we ended up there. (laughs)

– (laughs)

 

We heard that you were working on Power Drift from a couple of years ago, which became a huge help in the ‘Archives 2’. Could you tell us any of the appealing points of this port and any stories that happened connected to it?

Saito: One day, President Horii handed over the New 3DS development materials and told me “Make Power Drifter work on this!” which began my porting work. Thinking that the New 3DS will be fast, I started up an emulation but seeing that it wouldn’t move at full frame, I remember being worried for the road ahead.

After that, I would find spare time and kept on re-writing the code and making it more efficient. I managed to make it work in normal speed on the normal 3DS even though there were some skipped frames, and when I showed it to the president he seemed surprised so internally I pumped my fist. In the end, I was able to make it go 60fps even if it wasn’t on the New 3DS. I’m very relieved now.

I remember being staggered at the largeness of the internal character data for Power Drift. Normally, there won’t be characters that are over 1,000 dots for a game with a screen size of 320×224.

To tell the truth, compared to the other games I’ve ported I haven’t played Power Drift as much, so I didn’t know the stories from back then or how the cabinet ran. So when I first started on it, I was worried I wouldn’t notice if there were any differences on how it ran compared to the original. However, I work at M2. The president managed to drag people knowledgeable on Power Drift and put them on the project. I was able to hear many things such as about the game play and tricks. Thank you!

 

– During our 3D Galaxy Force II interview, you discussed how even though you gave up recreating the BGM through emulation, it turned out alright that you streamed it instead. However, I got the impression that while it was hard, it wasn’t impossible, strictly speaking.

 

NH: That’s right. I mean, now that we have it working with Power Drift,we can look back on that time fondly, after all. I can say to you now that, “Power Drift won’t be streaming sound! It’s all internal,” but when we presented at the Tokyo Game Show 2015, it wasn’t working right. That was only 3 months before its release!

YO: They didn’t get the sound working until two versions before the final one.

NH: A ROM 2 or 3 days before the final version.

power drift pic

 

From the Tokyo Game Show 2015 stage event. Even during then, they were saying “Whether we can release it on the schedule date all depends on how smooth the development for Power Drift goes.”

 

– For the streamed event during the TGS, the BGM slowed down.

 

NH: Even the people watching the stream wrote comments like, “It’s kind of rough to be in this state this close to release. Is it going to be OK?” As you can imagine, we felt pressure to get it done as if our lives depended on it. (laughs)

KS: At the time, we figured that showing something would be better than nothing at all, so we had M2 work to prep that ROM. We asked them, “Just do what you can to pull something together for TGS, please.”

NH: While we were working on it, there were still some glitches like the screen going screwy, but we kept on at it. For the TGS, we sort of took a roundabout approach to make sure it looked okay and tried our best to make the sound come off good. But despite all that special work, it was looking like that’d more or less end up being what it was.

KS: They even told us, “Whatever you do, do not push this button.” (laughs)

NH: I remember that. That’s what was going on behind the curtains. (laughs)

 

Do hope we get the compilation. Would love to play Power Drift and Puyo Puyo 2 in S3D!

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Puyo Puyo 2 is getting an eShop release in Japan next week, it was previously only available as part of the Archives retail release. The eShop version contains an extra tournament mode which wasn't in the retail version.

 

http://archives.sega.jp/3d/puyo2/index.shtml

 

Hopefully when Archives 2 gets released over here, they'll included the updated version.

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My only complaint is the lack of Hidden Palace Zone via the Mystic Cave's secret access that was included in the iOS release. I tested it, but it was the normal version and the spikes killed me. Doh!

Hold on a second. U wot.

 

*fires Sonic 2 back up*

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[TWEET]763002426546855936[/TWEET]

 

This better a release date for a physical version over here. :mad:

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I hope we get the upgraded version of Puyo Puyo Tsu with this! We deserve it for waiting so long!

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http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1271491

 

New collection announced!

 

57c388c0433da.jpg

 

It'll include the 5 standalone games not on either of the previous compilations:

 

3D After Burner II

3D Bare Knuckle

3D Gunstar Heroes

3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2

3D Super Hang-On

 

It'll also include new games not yet revealed. Coincidentally, they also posted some of the most-requested games from users who bought the last compilation:

 

#5: Wing War

#4: Gain Ground

#3: Outrunners

#2: Virtua Racing

#1: ~it's a mystery~

Edited by Dcubed

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Apart from OutRunners, i'm not really fussed about the selection of new games. I wonder what the mystery game will be...

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I wonder what the mystery game will be...

 

Considering it's a "Most requested" thing, I'd be very surprised if it wasn't Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

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Considering it's a "Most requested" thing, I'd be very surprised if it wasn't Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

 

That's a fair shout, although I would prefer just Sonic 3. I always thought Sonic 3 was better without the Knuckles add-on.

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