Sonic 1 & 2 : Taxman & Stealth Edition; coming to iOS/Android, most likely consoles too ("BUY THESE" - Retro)

[Tenko]

If they didn't do Hidden Palace then I would be shocked. Isn't it the most complete lost zone in there, with the Badniks for the zone being present and working etc and a lot of the layout done too. I can only assume if there was a lack of extras it would be at Sega's request like with Sonic CD. Still kinda sad they weren't allowed to add Final Fever etc

[Indigo Rush]

If they add any Zone, it'll be Hidden Palace. There's too much importance it holds to the Retro community. 

[Tenko]

So apparently "dates have been shuffled" according to Tax over on the Retro forums. Guess that means they won't make the November release after all?

Interesting that he says there will be much more to talk about once it is announced and or released. Just about Sonic 2...or are there future project announcements upcoming?

[PickleBrows]

So apparently "dates have been shuffled" according to Tax over on the Retro forums. Guess that means they won't make the November release after all?

Interesting that he says there will be much more to talk about once it is announced and or released. Just about Sonic 2...or are there future project announcements upcoming?

 

"Announced or released"? They wouldn't really have too much to talk about once it's out apart from things like debug secrets. Could be interesting but let's wait and see.

[TheOcelot]

Taxman said on Retro "Dates were shuffled, jimmies were rustled but it's all good! We'll have much more to say when it does get announced / released."

 

So it's delayed...bleh

 

 

 

Edit: My avatar is so appropriate right now. 

[Tenko]

Hope they are busy on a Sonic 3K remaster trailer to show what's next and that's why it's delayed haha. Dreaming, dreaming.

[Blue Wisp]

Game got delayed? Aw. Well this gives the game more chances to have Hidden Palace.

 

And GENOCIDE CITY cyber city, whatever because why not.

[Tenko]

Didn't Genocide City get reworked or was just a name change for Chemical Plant of metropolis like Clockwork Zone was for Scrap Brain? Its been ages since I looked at the old removed stuff so I've forgotton.

[Indigo Rush]

Genocide Zone was renamed to Cyber City Zone, and was eventually scrapped due to time constraints, and the level data was used as a base for Metropolis Zone Act 3.

 

That's why there were 3 acts for that Zone only.

[Blue Wisp]

I wouldn't really mind if they reskinned Metropolis Zone Act 3 honestly.

[Blue Blood]

I wouldn't really mind if they reskinned Metropolis Zone Act 3 honestly.

 

Now that would be extremely awesome, but it's far outside the realms of possibility. SEGA won't want to change the original game too much, and that would really be pushing it. Everything that was changed or added into S1 and CD it was totally possible not to notice.

[Tenko]

Well they did add the old skybox for Marble Zone in debug mode so I wouldn't consider it totally out of the question. But as has been said Hidden Palace seems most likely. With Wood Zone a possible distant second. As at least most of their assets are in the game already, more so for Hidden Palace.

Still gutted Final Fever etc didn't get made into DLC for Sonic CD just to keep it "original".

[Mauro Fonseca]

Plus the art for Cyber City ended up in Spinball anyway.

[Willsy]

Delayed? Whaaaat?!

*cries in corner*

[Tenko]

Next thing you know Sega of Jspan announce wave two of the 3D classics and Sonic 2's in there. I wish they would port them to console, they way they were meant to be played. Its a sad constant now-a-days.

Even Square is remastering its old Final Fantasy games and putting a decent amount of work in and only releasing them on iOS. Full 3D with voice acting version of After Years to match the old DS FF4, but let's not put it on console...what?!

[TheOcelot]

Genocide Zone was renamed to Cyber City Zone, and was eventually scrapped due to time constraints, and the level data was used as a base for Metropolis Zone Act 3.

 

That's why there were 3 acts for that Zone only.

 

 

Yep, pretty much. 

 

The development of the original game is a curious thing. There are so many levels that we know were considered and didn't make the final product. Cyber City which was supposed to be Eggman's secret base. Dust Hill  which sort of inspired Taxman's unused 'Desert Dazzle' stage for Sonic CD 2011. Wood zone, Winter zone and the legendary Hidden Palace stage with that lovely piece of unused music which you could still access in the Sound Test '10' menu.

 

None of the other classic games (as far as we are aware) had this number of scrapped stages. We know that Super Sonic was a last minute addition and that Hidden Palace - the most complete of the unused stages - was dropped at the last minute.

 

 

Plus the art for Cyber City ended up in Spinball anyway.

 

Yeah the art for Cyber City was re-used for 'The Machine' level in Spinball. 

 

Next thing you know Sega of Japan announce wave two of the 3D classics and Sonic 2's in there. I wish they would port them to console, they way they were meant to be played. Its a sad constant now-a-days.

 

 

SEGA's new priority is Mobile platforms (as well as digital). So having the best version of successful games on a Mobile platform is naturally a good move for SEGA. That said, SEGA haven't abandoned consoles, and we do already have versions of the games on current-gen consoles, be it of a poor quality.

 

I firmly believe that Taxman's CD and StealthTax Sonic 1&2 will make it to next-gen platforms via digital download, but I think it will be a little wait before this happens. SEGA needs to see how the new versions perform on android & iOS before deciding if it's worth porting to consoles. 

 

SEGA won't rush these decisions. Just building up trust (with SEGA) to allow the enhanced versions of CD, 1 & 2 in the first place must have been quite the challenge, as Stealth alluded to a recent post on Retro. It's a great insight:

 

 

"Actually, what happened was that Taxman initially tried to pitch a Sonic CD iPhone port through certain connections and met with little-to-no success, until SEGA community reps, after the company had recently released an emulated version of a different game on iPhone, coincidentally asked the fans what games they'd like to see brought to iPhone. Especially because they hadn't actually qualified the question by explicitly stating that they meant that they were going to release more emulated games, this presented the perfect opportunity to make a big push to get SEGA to pick up the Sonic CD project by responding directly to the call with a publicized version of his pitch video. Once the video was out, all channels were flooded by requests for this version of Sonic CD accompanied by multiple links back to the video

This ultimately led to Taxman being heard out long enough to produce a demonstration build that was larger and more fully-featured than the one shown in the video. I helped him prepare this by doing some reverse-engineering and data gathering for some certain parts, but I wasn't yet involved in working directly with Retro Engine; my involvement had to stop once the project had finally been approved, since the whole deal was shaky in the first place and two developers would only complicate things. The biggest selling point for Taxman even being considered was that Sonic CD was a SegaCD game, and therefore was much more of a pain to emulate, especially since SEGA did not already own rights to any SegaCD emulation software (that I know of), and even if they did, there's no way it would run this well on mobile

During that time, Taxman worked directly with the mobile department of Sega of America, and was able to develop a good working relationship with them at the same time as actually providing them with a quality product. It's only through that that they became acquainted with him and his work, and it was enough to open up communication and mutual respect with that particular branch of the company

Fast-forward about two years for the completion of Sonic CD, and you get to the stage at which Taxman was concerned with what was happening next. Naturally, more Sonic was of interest, and he and I had already been discussing the prospect of working on Sonic 1, if nothing else. This time, there was potential for me be directly involved from start to finish because after having built up a trust with SOA Mobile, they would be willing to hear what he had to say about someone who he thought would cut down production time and maintain quality. Sometime during this period, we found out that, unsurprisingly, SEGA overall planned to release an emulated version of Sonic 1 for Android to compliment the one already available for iOS. Taxman discussed with SOA Mobile the possibility of supplanting it with a Retro Engine port produced by the two of us, and they began a push to get that to happen. As these things tend to do, the process took several months of back-and-forth, padded out with delays due to other projects the company at-large had going on. Some believed we had it in us to make it worthwhile, others had to be convinced. Again, a well-featured demonstration build was produced before any promises were made or any money was paid. After a full year, we were able to actually start to work under contract. Also, it may as well be said now that in addition to this being a major reason that we got the mobile releases of Sonic 1 and Sonic 2, this would logically also be the reason that mobile ports have been prioritized over console/PC/whatever - while Sonic CD had rarely ever been ported to anything, these two games already exist on almost every platform under the sun. They didn't yet exist on Android, and the poor performance of the iOS versions was just begging to be remedied. That's not to say that anything is or isn't happening; I'm just stating the obvious in regard to the current situation

Even having made it that far, these do still happen to be pre-existing games that are major entries in the company's flagship IP. We're still subject to scrutiny, occasionally intense. Some would put a large amount of faith in us due to on-going success, while others are more conservative. It's not exactly open season for us to do whatever we please no matter how good and/or careful we are

A bit long, but the moral of the story is - we didn't just have the reigns handed over to us. There were opportunities to take advantage of, and we made the best of them. Now, the relationship we've formed with the company has to be actively maintained through dialog, hard work, and compromise."

 

I've said before that Sonic 2 is my least favourite of the classic's. It's a damn good game but I just find it boring. The platforming isn't particularly challenging, which isn't helped by Sonic's speed in the game and the slightly slippery controls which make tight platforming occasionally frustrating, Super Sonic is a nightmare to control and Tails is just a pointless re-skin of Sonic.

 

However, I might change my opinion once we get the new version. Being able to play as Knuckles and flyable Tails would be a marked improvement. I'm looking forward to playing the special stages again. With a super smooth frame-rate will they seem harder like in the recent Sonic 1, or easier like in Sonic CD? I wonder how hard it will be to defeat the Death Egg robot? Better start racking up those extra lives!!!

 

I don't think we will get any additional levels. It would be awesome, but SEGA won't allow it. Hope I'm wrong, but I don't think I am. 

[Tenko]

I don't think we will get any additional levels. It would be awesome, but SEGA won't allow it. Hope I'm wrong, but I don't think I am. 

 

It does seem a great shame. Kinda makes me think if these remasters go well that Sega will yet again re-re-re-re-re-re-re-release the classics AGAIN, later on, WITH the additional level's etc Stealth and Tax have dreamed up as well as all the cut content. Now you can buy Sonic 2 again...for the 12th time, but with new levels, bosses and badnicks you have never seen before. Coming 2016.

 

Why would they let them throw everything in a remaster that's purpose was to just have a stable iOS version for a base for other mobile devices when they can release it again later with new stuff to force all of us to buy it again haha. Come on we all know they will release all the Mega Drive Collection stuff again on the new systems, it's just a matter of time. I just wish we would see some more games than just the same set over and over again. Adding the Monster World stuff was neat and all but there is only so many times I will fork out for the same stuff just for the sake of easy access.

 

I kinda hope the Retro Engine can get used for more than just Sonic..or if it is delegated to Sonic stuff, after 3K they could at least let Stealth and Tax do Knuckles Chaotix or Sega Sonic Arcade. There were rumors one or both were going to be on Gems Collection but were dumped cause of emulation issues. No excuses now, you have the perfect engine. And touch controls for a track ball game would work well. Come on Sega make it happen!@

 

[Chaos Incarnate]

Sonic 1 was delayed before it was released too, correct? If so, I'm not too dissapointed in the delay. I've been waiting to play to play this port for a while, but this probably means Taxman and Stealth are ironing out the game's extras, functionality, and what-not. 

 

I can't say what's already been said, but I really hope we get a extra zone or two, particularly Hidden Palace. It's a bit unlikely, I know, but one can hope. I'm not expecting Amy Rose tbh, but we'll obviously have playable Tails and Knuckles, so huzzah for that. I hope Taxman and Stealth continue their magic here and make me appreciate Sonic 2, which is what they did for me with Sonic 1. I can't wait for this to release, I'm sure it'll be awesome.

[The Pit of Mystic Cave]

I was so looking forward to having a playable port of Sonic 2 in time for my birthday. Oh well, I'll just continue to dick around in the Sonic 1 port until then. Hopefully it's here by Christmas at least.

[Tenko]

If I'm not mistaken they technically aren't ports are they. Since they are pretty much built with the retro engine right?

[Blue Blood]

Well, no they're not ports. They're complete remakes using existing assets. But that's splitting hairs.

[goku262002]

The Android / Google Play version of Sonic is up for a Google Player’s Choice Award in the Best Franchise Game category.

https://www.wf-site.com/microsite/pages/34edb92efd61ccb5d6a5defafe2b3649

You know what to do fanbase, knock that fucking bejeweled game off its throne!

[Tenko]

I voted for it, the site seems to have issues displaying all the logos and what not tho. I wonder if we will get Sonic 2 before Xmas or if they are gunna hold it back till next year now. Isn't the Apple App Store staff etc on holidays soon?

[MamboCat]

Voted for it.

 

Am I getting old, or are the apps in the other categories boring as hell?!

[azoo]

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/12/11/remastered-sonic-the-hedgehog-2-hits-android-ios-tomorrow-with/

 

OH MY SHIT 

 

 

TAXMAN RIDES AGAIN

 

Also,

>coming out tomorrow

 

Get ready.