Sonic 2 HD

[Solkia]

You just have to keep exiting out and starting it up till the thing works.

[Wittymations]

so that may have something to do with it. Title screen worked though.

It did. I kept mine in quarantine while I tried to load the game. Didn't work. Then allowed it through, restarted, and it worked.

Edited March 28, 2012 by SuperAwesomeFreshFunkyMan

[buba]

Finally! Just run the game as the administrator and it starts right after the title screen.

[Nix]

The game looks pretty damn impressive, except for Eggman. He looks kind of out-of-place and fake compared to everything else. Other than that, I get some slow-down every now and then, but I can easily ignore that.

I dislike Sonic 2 though and prettying it up isn't going to change that.

[Gaming Misfit]

So, uh, is it just me or does Sonic feel a bit...heavy?

[JezMM]

Well I watched a video and gotta say it is all looking gorgeous. I thought Eggman looks fine, he just needs a bit of love in the animation department like Sonic had. Right now he animates no more or less than the original game.

Dat music though... man Tee Lopes is so good. Much like the game, Sonic 2's soundtrack never stuck closely to me, but if he can remix all the tracks to have this much oomph and freshness without disrespecting the original vibe of the song, he will officially be some kind of inhuman faithful-remixing machine.

[Candescence]

Also, a quick explanation by one of the sprite artists (Cerulean Nights) from Retro as to why this alpha uses obfuscated code for some retarded reason - obfuscating EXEs is a terrible, terrible practice, something only virus makers, DRM makers and bad programmers use.

S2HD artist here. You can thank our "all knowing" programmer LOst for all the issues you're having. Just know the rest of the team was against all of this DRM and anit hacking measures. He originally had "security" trying to prevent people from taking screenshots and video, the current DRM was actually a compromise, believe it or not. It's a little sad to see our hard work overshadowed by an absurd attempt at protecting the game. Everyone else on staff simply want the game available to as many people as possible, for them to see the hard work that went into it. I hope you are able to see how much care went into everything else at the very least.

You want to know the reason? It's because we'd give a certain programmer a little bit of freedom to add a necessary feature, and then he'd come back 6 months later with something completely unrelated in the game (such as stupid security, shader effects which aren't even in the game, etc) and then not even complete the initial task given to him. Imagine this happening time and time again. I worked close to 8 hours a day for a year, on top of a full time job, in preparation for the January 15th launch of last year, and any assets you see in the game were done at that time. No, they weren't perfect, but we basically had one chance to add assets into the game until that un-named programmer would lock them down "because it's too hard to swap out assets" ie "I don't feel like it, you had your one chance. We were promised a release by January 15th, and when that time came and went with no word it was pretty demoralizing to the whole art staff, and most didn't want to continue work on a project which may never come to fruition.

Said programmer basically held the Alpha release for ransom, I'm not going to say much more on that particular subject but be rest assured that the whole story will be coming out soon enough. Frankly I'm just happy to finally see my hard work out there to the public, it's just a shame it had to be sullied by certain people's egos.

Someone else on Retro put my thoughts quite simply: LOst is holding the project back, and they should get a new programmer.

Edited March 28, 2012 by Masaru Daimon

[ChaosXVI]

Overall I like it a lot! But like a few others have said, my only beef with the game is that it's an HD remake of Sonic 2, definitely my least favorite of the classic Sonics. But still, I do look forward to seeing a new coat of paint on some of my favorite levels if the game does indeed see completion. HD MYSTIC CAVE WANT!

[LATER BUDDY]

So I'm gonna guess that it's just an .exe, Winderp only at the moment and not even try downloading it (I has mac), XD. Am I right?

[mikeblastdude]

Yep, Windows only.

[Komodin]

So I'm gonna guess that it's just an .exe, Winderp only at the moment and not even try downloading it (I has mac), XD. Am I right?

Correct-O.

After playing it a few times, my opinion of the game is this: while damn near everything in this game looks gorgeous, it's still ultimately Sonic 2, a game that I just don't really care much for anymore. It's still a damn great game; it's just that it's a faithful remake of a game that I'm "... Meh" for.

[Cortez]

Well, the thing is it started off as a community project and only exists because of Retro's collective work over the years. To make a it a project completely closed off from the rest of the community as opposed to it's former state of "everyone can contribute, but there's a small group of people ultimately in charge" is really unfair. Being completely open evidently didn't work at all, but they should still be working very closely with everyone.

Not trying to be a prick to any of the staff by saying this but I have a feeling Sonic CD being picked up by SEGA kinda has something to do with this. Now the potential for fan projects to become official works has been put out there it kinda seems like Sonic 2 HD is hoping for the same thing, this comment in the manual makes it come across that way:

A: S2HD is made in our free time, on top of our lives and ongoing careers. Unless S2HD hits a different route, we cannot guarantee the project’s next release or any tentative date for the completed game.

I'm all for this project and Sonic 2 is my favorite game ever so I'm quite hyped for this, it just feels like they're trying too hard for SEGA to pick the project up :/ But obviously I don't blame them if that is the case given the effort gone into it.

I know it's a matter of opinion but I really don't like the direction the music has gone in either, not that it's bad, just not how I imagined Sonic 2 to sound in well... HD xD. The first part of Emerald Hill's remix sounds like it could get irritating very quickly :/

[Blue Blood]

Not trying to be a prick to any of the staff by saying this but I have a feeling Sonic CD being picked up by SEGA kinda has something to do with this. Now the potential for fan projects to become official works has been put out there it kinda seems like Sonic 2 HD is hoping for the same thing, this comment in the manual makes it come across that way:

I'm all for this project and Sonic 2 is my favorite game ever so I'm quite hyped for this, it just feels like they're trying too hard for SEGA to pick the project up :/ But obviously I don't blame them if that is the case given the effort gone into it.

I very much doubt that's the case, or at least what's at the front of their minds. The project simply didn't work in the old format. They've just taken it a step too far.

It's the last thing I'd want SEGA to do though. They should get off their butts and make their own decent remake of a classic title.

[LunarEdge]

played the alpha release and I thought it played/looked really well. I have no complaints so far. What was up with the ending with all the different colored sonics running around?

[JezMM]

played the alpha release and I thought it played/looked really well. I have no complaints so far. What was up with the ending with all the different colored sonics running around?

[LoseR]

So I'm back after a few days.

Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permission to view this file.

Edited March 29, 2012 by Wooly-Original Character

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

played the alpha release and I thought it played/looked really well. I have no complaints so far. What was up with the ending with all the different colored sonics running around?

[Kiah]

Well, those DLL's should be in the rar folder. I'm not expert on this stuff, but if I were you, I'd extract it to a folder first, with rar or a zip, then click the .exe in the folder you extracted to.

That's what I did and it got mine working easy.

Oh, and if your Antivirus gives you an alert, allow it all through. It's obviously legit.

Ok, I went on and extracted the dll's to another folder and then clicked the .exe in the folder...and it worked! Thanks a lot! You could of fooled me about not being an expert on this

[Wittymations]

Ok, I went on and extracted the dll's to another folder and then clicked the .exe in the folder...and it worked! Thanks a lot!

No problem. Enjoy your Sonic, fembro.

[Chaos Warp]

So, I just played this, and I think it's awesome. I mean, it's Sonic 2, in HD as you truly imagined it. It makes me fangasm to see, especially when it's done so well.

Also love the Credits cinematic with Recolour Sonic's (Sonic Dimensions 2? IDK).

[OlenJimi]

Enjoy it while it lasts.

[Tiller]

Love it. They captured many aspects of the original while make it all pretty like. Absolutely gorgeous to look at. It plays pretty damn near spot on to the original. Some things irked me a bit, like the additions like the falling animation seems a bit out of place if they don't touch up some other animations and Tee Lopes was only allowed to rearrange music, rather than do one of his awesome reimaginings that I love him for. I did love how the levels transitions from act to act, though I was puzzled at first.

Case in point for the music:

Can't wait to see more of this project.

Edited March 29, 2012 by Tiller

[Voyant]

You know I can't help, but wonder what goes on in Sonic Team's brain when they see stuff like this. Does this not inspire them or do they feel like they being attacked?

Or perhaps they find it insulting that the work they do now still isn't on par with what the fanbase wants...I dunno. They would have probably made much more money if they would released a Sonic 2 HD themselves with a lot of love put into it than Sonic 4.

If these guys had SEGA's resources this game would be a potential monster, but to be honest I don't think it will ever truly be finished.

Edited March 29, 2012 by Voyant

[Your Vest Friend]

So, I just played this, and I think it's awesome. I mean, it's Sonic 2, in HD as you truly imagined it.

I think, for me, it's more a case of "Sonic 2 as I truly always saw it". I watched a video since I can't access the demo on my machine and...well...it looked exactly the same in motion as the original. I guess my imagination provides an automatic HD filter on retro games. :/

Edited March 29, 2012 by VEDJ-F

[JezMM]

and Tee Lopes was only allowed to rearrange music, rather than do one of his awesome reimaginings that I love him for.

Well they do need to still keep it close to the source material. Remix the music too much and the audio portion of the game will be doing it's own thing in the same way Sonic Fan Remix's graphical department did it's own thing rather than keep close to the original design. Honestly I think the instrumentation and extra little layers of melody were enough to keep it "new" sounding.

You know I can't help, but wonder what goes on in Sonic Team's brain when they see stuff like this. Does this not inspire them or do they feel like they being attacked?

They probably don't even see it. They're too busy working on new games, and even if they DID glance at it, they're probably practically on contract to look away, lest they get a stupid angry fan with more power than sense trying to give them a time wasting lawsuit that they stole ideas should they get inspired (obviously less of an issue with projects this close to the original game, but still).

Edited March 29, 2012 by JezMM