Sonic Gimmicks (Sonic Can Do More Than Just Running Fast!)

[Adamabba]

In which we discuss the best, and the worst of gimmicks in particular zones in Sonic games. What gimmicks were your favorites?

Example of a good one:

SA2 Rail Grinding

I've always liked SA2's rail grinding the most because you had to balance yourself correctly to to gain speed. It's alot more simple nowadays unfortunately.

Example of a bad one:

Good God, the controls are awful!

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

Wall jumping because it is useful and it can work well with the Genesis styled gameplay. Also, I really would love them to polish up the parkour.

[Indigo Rush]

how about rolling and pinball physics

can we get that gimmick back

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

3 minutes ago, Indigo Rush said:

how about rolling and pinball physics

can we get that gimmick back

shit, i forgot to say that but i never saw it as a gimmick, more like a necessity to the series. that is what makes Sonic, Sonic

[Person]

Good:

• SA2-Style Rail Grinding. Currently, rails feel like they're just "there". In SA2, there was a certain skill to grinding fast and well, but now you just go forward with little to no input.
• The team mechanic from Heroes might be cool to see again, even if just for certain levels. But I prefer solo characters in the long run.
• I've just realized 3D Sonic has never really had pinball-style gameplay without needing to fully simulate a pinball table. Classic style physics definitely need a comeback if not just for a 2D game.
• Parkour can work, but Lost World tried too many different things at once. I'd love to see elements from Lost World gameplay return. That game controlled pretty well, in my opinion, but the levels were the weak point.
• Buddy system for Sonic 4: Ep 2 was actually pretty sweet. If there's another 2D Sonic at any point, I'd love to see this again.
• Wisps. A lot of people hate them, but I think they can be utilized for cool purposes.

Bad:

• Shadow's guns. Not because of the "2Edgy" factor, but rather because using them was totally boring.
• Enerbeam: No thanks.
• Anything from the storybook games.
• The Amigo system from 06. Interrupted gameplay to play as characters I don't wanna play as, and weren't that fun.

[Sonictrainer]

37 minutes ago, Person said:

Bad:

• Anything from the storybook games.

I like the idea of Time Brake and running on paths made of light or Thunder Dragons.

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

For the love of god, no motion controls!

[Sonictrainer]

14 minutes ago, Sonikku. said:

For the love of god, no motion controls!

Also, no gyroscope controls please.

 

[Linkie]

I kinda liked the partner system from Sonic Advance 3. It always seemed more helpful than detrimental and using it didn't break the flow of the gameplay like, for example, the things with Tails in Sonic 4 Episode II.

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

11 minutes ago, Linkie said:

I kinda liked the partner system from Sonic Advance 3. It always seemed more helpful than detrimental and using it didn't break the flow of the gameplay like, for example, the things with Tails in Sonic 4 Episode II.

Yeah, I do like how using the partners werent forced and didnt stop the flow of the gameplay. S4E2, you had to stop at a bigass floating TV screen that says YO ASSHOLE, USE TAILS HERE and it was annoying and one of the biggest reasons why I hate Sonic 4 Episode 2. 

[StaticMania]

1 hour ago, Adamabba said:

In which we discuss the best, and the worst of gimmicks in particular zones in Sonic games. What gimmicks were your favorites?

Example of a good one:

SA2 Rail Grinding

I've always liked SA2's rail grinding the most because you had to balance yourself correctly to to gain speed. It's alot more simple nowadays unfortunately.

This is actually not true. You don't have to balance yourself on the rail, it's just a feature.

 

You avoid using the balancing mechanic simply by not holding the crouch button on curves. It's just faster, because trying to balance makes you go slower.

 

The need to balance at all comes from crouching when going slow or on curves and doing anything similar to spindashing or bouncing on a rail eliminates the need the need to crouch on a rail...but you can crouch to go faster. When you're moving fast enough you don't need to balance anyway.

[Muscles Maximum]

1 hour ago, StaticMania said:

This is actually not true. You don't have to balance yourself on the rail, it's just a feature.

 

You avoid using the balancing mechanic simply by not holding the crouch button on curves. It's just faster, because trying to balance makes you go slower.

 

The need to balance at all comes from crouching when going slow or on curves and doing anything similar to spindashing or bouncing on a rail eliminates the need the need to crouch on a rail...but you can crouch to go faster. When you're moving fast enough you don't need to balance anyway.

Balancing properly actually makes you keep up your speed on the rails. You can gain crazy momentum when you know what you're doing.

 If you don't balance you'll eventually fall off the rail. I can't remember if there are any rails in single player that curve enough for you to fall off if you don't balance, but I know that at least in the Grind Race level in 2P it happens.

[StaticMania]

Just now, monkokaio said:

Balancing properly actually makes you keep up your speed on the rails. You can gain crazy momentum when you know what you're doing.

 If you don't balance you'll eventually fall off the rail. I can't remember if there are any rails in single player that curve enough for you to fall off if you don't balance, but I know that at least in the Grind Race level in 2P it happens.

Yeah, balancing "can" help you keep up your speed if you aren't fast enough. When you actually have that crazy momentum balancing won't matter...but even if you do want to keep balance, like I said, you only ever need to balance if you're crouching. This does apply to that Grind Racing stage as well.

 

I tested this at some time ago...with the help of self play, 2-player mode, 1 human mode.

[Blaze349]

My favorite gimmicks are the springs and the boost mechanism.

Springs allow me to jump higher and expand my playing field and boost is for when I feel too lazy to move the analog stick.

[Adamabba]

Dreamcast era homing attack/jump dash is best homing attack/jump dash.

[Salamander]

To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure I've ever understood the point of rail-grinding.  It feels like an environmental gimmick they decided to turn into a regular feature, and I cannot imagine why they did so.

16 hours ago, Sonictrainer said:

Also, no gyroscope controls please.

 

Just chipping in to say that I liked the gyroscope controls for the Lost World 3DS special stages; I actually found them very comfortable and intuitive, though I do appreciate that they require you to be alone in a room.  On the other hand, the level design for some of the stages was pretty bad, so it's not as if they get off scot-free

[Linkie]

2 hours ago, Adamabba said:

Dreamcast era homing attack/jump dash is best homing attack/jump dash.

I agree with you on the jump dash, but I prefer the homing attack from the boost games as it feels more reliable. Also, the little target that pops up that let's you know when you can home in on enemies is nice.

[Kfarc]

3 hours ago, Adamabba said:

Dreamcast era homing attack/jump dash is best homing attack/jump dash.

Well, I prefer the ones from Generations. Homing attack is far more reliable in Generations, but in Adventure 1 ,most of the times didn't needed to be very specific about your actions. That target-circle-thingy is so helpfull. As for jump dash, in Generations it may look weeker. It has short distance, you gain no speed out of it, but it works perfectly in combination with Air Boost. Air dash does decent job in those two "flavors" , but from each other you expect a different thing.