Sonic the Hedgehog 4

[Tornado]

It's not a shield, but I would love the blue ring power-up from Chaotix to make a return appearance into the series.

Edited November 27, 2009 by Tornado

[Rusty Spy]

And now there's this Rock Shield, and as interesting as it sounds, all it does is make you heavier and make you invincible if you do an air action. While the damage ratio is different from the Wind Shield, it doesn't do much else, and seems like it'd be more of a hindrance. (other than that rolling thing, that seems cool) But aside from that, what environmental advantages does it have? Unless there is a new kind of hazard where touching the ground is fatal, I don't think this is a necessary thing.

......Immunity to spikes?

Lets see:

Fire Shield: Dash Attack & Immunity to Fire hazards,

Bubble Shield: Bounce Attack & Immunity to drowning,

Lightning Shield: Double Jump & Immunity to electric hazards,

Rock Shield: Ground Stomp Attack & Immunity to most hazards and spikes,

Wind Shield: Lowered Gravity........

The pattern with the elemental shields is that you have an air action that could be useful for both moving around and destroying enemies, and a built in immunity to a certain type of hazard. The Rock shield has both limited attack capability and movement, but makes up for by being immune to many more hazards than the other shields.

The Wind shield is sort of the opposite, having limited attack capabilities and immunities, but almost unlimited movement capabilities. It could use it's air action to create a small slash of wind, like in Sonic Battle, that travels in both directions and upwards, making it very useful for destroying lots of enemies in the air and above you.

• So the Rock shield has a good attack for ground enemies but can't be used against airborne enemies, while the Wind shield has a good attack for airborne enemies but can't be used against ground enemies.

• The Rock shield has no extra movement in the air while using it's air action but has good extra ground movement, while the Wind shield has great built in air movement and no extra ground movement.

So the thing here is, the original three elemental shields have balanced attacks and movement capabilities, while the Rock and Wind shields lean towards the extreme ends of the spectrum.

These ideas could really be fun to use in the next ga-........... oh that's right.

Edited November 27, 2009 by Black Spy

[Octarine]

Ooh! Ooh! Incredibly obvious idea!

What about a regular shield with no special effect that lets you take two extra hits instead of one, with a graphical indication of how many hits you've got left? It could be a rock/earth shield if it needed to have an element attached to it.

Edited November 27, 2009 by Octarine

[Phos]

:|

Maybe they should just make a procedurally generated shield that makes you invulnerable to a random type of damage with a random physical movement and a random material assigned to it.

But seriously, I liked the shields in Sonic 3, but it seems like any more would be pretty contrived. I'm not even sure I want them to come back.

Edited November 27, 2009 by Phos

[Indigo Rush]

I was actually thinking of something like that. A Super Shield of sorts... no special air action other than maybe a wider "insta-shield" range for Sonic. It doesn't really need an element attached to it if it's just a "double shield."

...make it purple.

And as for the Rock Shield... it's looking an awful lot like an invincibility power-up. I don't see how it could work. While movement is hindered, it just keeps going and going. It's like a slower Super Sonic. And there's also the graphical issue... what the bloody heck would it look like? A bunch of rocks rotating around Sonic? Rocks don't carry the same transparent qualities as fire, water, electricity, wind or ice.

EDIT: You know, elemental shields are nice and all, but we don't really need one for every element... I can see maybe one or two extra in addition to what the classics gave. The "Super Shield" and the "Ice Shield" seem to be the most practical. Another thought is the orange "Homing Shield" from Sonic 3D: Flickie's Island, but even so, that's starting to push it. Sonic already has that ability anyway, and I really wouldn't like it in a 2D game.

EDIT 2: I just realized, the fangame Sonic Nexus beat us to some of these ideas already. Go figure. The Ice Shield and Wind Shield are almost the same, minus the air actions.

http://nexus.hrook.net/?page_id=3

(our ideas are better :P)

Edited November 27, 2009 by Indigo Dude

[Barry the Nomad]

What if there was a spike shield? Finally a chance for Sonic to inflict the damage that he has felt for years on his enemies!

I'd love to see a game in which Eggman and Sonic's roles were reversed. Eggman the Human, hero of Earth, battles the evil Doctor Sonic and his army of furries who intend to takeover Earth and build a Sonicland.

[Indigo Rush]

lol

I'd like to see something like that in one of those wacky spin-off titles! Maybe that Eggman game finally has a plot...

As for the spike shield, sounds pretty cool... if it weren't for the fact that Sonic was already his own spike shield! (hold down lol)

But enough talking about shields... here's another pressing issue that Needlemouse must address...

BONUS LEVELS

And I don't mean Special Stages... I'm talking those little mini-games where you gamble illegally to earn those shields we just talked about and other goodies!

What kind of bonus levels would you like to see? Do you think there should be a pinball-related mini-game, one of those rotating maps that we had in the Sonic 1 special stages and in one of Sonic & Knuckles' bonus levels? What fun and wacky original ideas do you guys have? I'll try and make a mock-up of what I'm thinking...

[Rusty Spy]

Bonus Stages, eh?.... As long as they revive the Glowing Spheres from S&K, I'll be a happy little rabbit. That shizz was BADICAL!

For new ideas, I got nothing. I may need to bounce off of others ideas. *curls into a sphere*

[Agent York]

Bonus Stages, eh?.... As long as they revive the Glowing Spheres from S&K, I'll be a happy little rabbit. That shizz was BADICAL!

For new ideas, I got nothing. I may need to bounce off of others ideas. *curls into a sphere*

Brought up earlier, but if it's like the classics, it'll be something new because every Sonic game had different Special Stages, and besides, Blue Spheres had a whole game based off it with literally hundreds of thousands of stages, so theoretically it has been milked dry.

[Rusty Spy]

Brought up earlier, but if it's like the classics, it'll be something new because every Sonic game had different Special Stages, and besides, Blue Spheres had a whole game based off it with literally hundreds of thousands of stages, so theoretically it has been milked dry.

Blue Sphere? I'm talking about GLOWING Sphere!

[Indigo Rush]

Brought up earlier, but if it's like the classics, it'll be something new because every Sonic game had different Special Stages, and besides, Blue Spheres had a whole game based off it with literally hundreds of thousands of stages, so theoretically it has been milked dry.

I do believe I meant Bonus Levels, not Special Stages. The Bonus Levels in Sonic 3 were different from their Special Stages.

And here's that mock-up I promised. Bear with me, I only have MS Paint and a trackpad to work with.

Here's the concept. You are Sonic. You are a pinball. You have one ball. There are bumpers in the upper-left for bouncing fun. There's a mini-slot machine in the center to score some rings (or lose them). The two question marks on the left spout shield power-ups to collect, among other stuff such as rings, 1ups, or those dark-green bumpers that burp at you for some reason. Over at the right are three yellow lights. When you have all three activated (this can be hard, as touching one that's activated actually turns it off) will spout out an extra ball.

It's very simple, but this is just a Bonus Level. I thought being able to access it through those check-points when you have 25+ rings would be dandy. That's my idea.

Now Black Spy, jump into that machine and bounce around and get some ideas!!

Edited November 27, 2009 by Indigo Dude

[Octarine]

It's a bit of a surprise that none of the original bonus stages were pinball-themed, really. I mean, S3&K didn't even have a proper pinball/casino level, so that would've been perfect.

I like the idea a lot, actually. It's got the same simplicity and charm as the classic slot machine bonus stage, with 100% less obnoxious spinning. Add in a remix of something from Sonic Spinball and a pixelly, monochrome pinball machine display at the top featuring an angry Eggman and I'm sold.

[Arioch]

I want more than just the standard shield and magnet shield they've been using for the handhelds.

If you remember Sonic 3, you had 3 elemental shields with special mid-air actions exclusive to Sonic, in addition to their special effects in-game. Would you like to see them return?

This does sound like a nice solid deal. Yeah, I would like to see the elemental shields come back.

I think that they should return, but they should add the regular green shield as well. And I'm sure I'm not the only one to suggest or think of this, but how about a new elemental shield, like an Ice Shield? It'd be a pure-white color, and using it, you could walk on water, kind of like in Mario Galaxy, with the Ice Flower. I was thinking for a mid-air action, Sonic could stop in mid-air, and let an icy fog surround him, freezing any enemies around him, like the New Mario Bros. Wii version of the Ice powerup. But because of the nature of the ice shield, he can't use it underwater. If he is submerged, the Ice Shield will crack and shatter, like when you put ice cubes in water, how they crack, only more EXTREEEEME.

I agree with the idea coming back, but when you explain it like this, it makes it seem like they're reflecting Nintendo's ideas (or image). Now if I would make a elemental shield it would be a earth shield. Similar to that of the fire shield, but it'll have more strength. Not just more strength, but it'll give you the ability to heal, when you stand in a nature area, like a special tree just for the ability, and the ability to climb like knuckles.

It's not the best idea for a elemental sheild, but it's something.

[Indigo Rush]

Well, I used Mario as a comparison, since some of the concepts are similar. And I wouldn't worry about it looking like ripping off of Mario... it's not like they pioneered in ice abilities. Besides, SEGA's done worse.

Much worse.

The Ice Shield is probably not going to happen, though.

And we already discussed an Earth/Rock shield before, but your idea is pretty cool. Not sure it'd work well, though. It seems a little too complicated.

It seems Rock/Earth shields are doomed to fail.

And I think Megaman beat us to the Leaf Shield concept entirely.

Edited November 27, 2009 by Indigo Dude

[Unholy Sonic]

[Joke]We all had good ideas about the elemetal shields but Sonic would like to put his mind into it....

Sonic: WHY THE HELL DIDN'T ANY OF YOU THINK ABOUT THE EMPTY SHIELD AND BLACK SHIELD, I'M SICK OF THOSE SPIKES AND BOTTOMLESS PITS !!!!!!! and you call youselves FAAAAAAAANS!?

So yeah.... whats he saying is that the Black shield will immune him from spikes while the Empty Shield will put him back on a nearby platform if he falls in a pit to be destroyed afterwards.

God... why didn't I think of that ![/Joke]

Edited November 27, 2009 by Unholy Sonic

[Agent York]

[Joke]We all had good ideas about the elemetal shields but Sonic would like to put his mind into it....

Sonic: WHY THE HELL DIDN'T ANY OF YOU THINK ABOUT THE EMPTY SHIELD AND BLACK SHIELD, I'M SICK OF THOSE SPIKES AND BOTTOMLESS PITS !!!!!!! and you call youselves FAAAAAAAANS!?

So yeah.... whats he saying is that the Black shield will immune him from spikes while the Empty Shield will put him back on a nearby platform if he falls in a pit to be destroyed afterwards.

God... why didn't I think of that ![/Joke]

That shield... It fills the void... Literally!

[gato]

HOLAS:

I found this in Retro, posted by Kiroziki...

http://xtreme.projectsonic.com/demo/sxc_sonicdemo1.gif

http://xtreme.projectsonic.com/demo/sxc_sonicdemo2.gif

It looks like Blue Spheres 2.0 to me...

[Indigo Rush]

HOLAS:

I found this in Retro, posted by Kiroziki...

http://xtreme.projectsonic.com/demo/sxc_sonicdemo1.gif

http://xtreme.projectsonic.com/demo/sxc_sonicdemo2.gif

It looks like Blue Spheres 2.0 to me...

That's Sonic Mars for the 32X... scrapped project. What does this have to do with Needlemouse?

[gato]

HOLAS:

Nothing, we were talking about bonus stages, and I thought Sonic Mars-like stages would be an interesting choice

[Chooch]

Besides, SEGA's done worse.

Much worse.

*lol Sonic Shuffle*

I'll have you know that I liked Sonic Shuffle and think it's a lot more enjoyable than the majority of the recent Mario Parties.

[Indigo Rush]

I'll have you know that I liked Sonic Shuffle and think it's a lot more enjoyable than the majority of the recent Mario Parties.

I liked it too, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a blatant rip-off, which was the point of my post.

And speaking of which, anyone else think cel-shading might be a good move for this game?

[Badnik Zero]

http://xtreme.projectsonic.com/demo/sxc_sonicdemo1.gif

http://xtreme.projectsonic.com/demo/sxc_sonicdemo2.gif

Are you sure this is Sonic Mars? I think these are early Sonic Xtreme concepts in motion. Senntient is Chris Senn.

^ And yeah, cel-shading would be nice looking, but not everyone would be into it. A lot of people hate cel-shading.

Edited November 27, 2009 by Stretchy Werewolf

[Blue Blood]

I liked it too, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a blatant rip-off, which was the point of my post.

And speaking of which, anyone else think cel-shading might be a good move for this game?

Not if it's 2D. And it IS 2D. So no.

[Drunk Michael Myers]

Are you sure this is Sonic Mars? I think these are early Sonic Xtreme concepts in motion. Senntient is Chris Senn.

Yeah, it's Xtreme. Tell me if i'm wrong, but wasn't Sonic Mars to be on MegaDrive/Genesis? Sorry if im going a little bit off-topic, just asking.

[Diogenes]

I've wondered about a cel-shaded Sonic game before. Shuffle looks pretty rough in-game, but I think a lot of that is the low polygon count;

looks pretty good, and since we're now at a point where we could replicate that in-game, it might be worth another shot.