Would you like to see lock-on from Sonic and Knuckles return? If so, how would you like it?

[Shiny Gems]

Now, before anyone starts saying anything, let me describe how this would work.

I suppose this could work in the method of how the old Action Replay/Gameshark discs worked in the past, but I do have something else in mind...

First off, if the player has a physical Sonic game, and physical game data of another Sonic game that can be locked-onto the other one on their system, I can say that with that save file, I can imagine locking on to work. This option is kinda like how Sonic and Knuckles' lock-on worked with Sonic 2 and 3 on the Wii Virtual Console. Alternatively, if you have two digital Sonic games on your system, and they can be locked-onto each other, you can literally access the lock-on feature then. This is similar to Sonic 4: Episodes 1 and 2 locking on to each other back when after Sonic 4: Episode 2 was released.

Now, I think this way, the player can access lock-on between those two games, allowing for new content, possibly new characters to play as, possibly new modes and more. Now, I know what you are thinking, we have DLC nowadays. Well, true, but I do picture this as a rather more fun way of getting new content, and you just have to purchase the games, not any content that was not there at the beginning of the game.

Additionally, if they can create lock-on technology for after the games are released, I can imagine Sonic games working with other non-Sonic games like Mario, Capcom games or others for collaborations. This, I think, would be fun. It is like locking onto non Sonic 2 and 3 games that lead to the "No way!" screen that the player could access the Special Stage in, except this would be much more. It would be something like Sonic in the Yoshi or Zelda World in Sonic Lost World for Wii U, only just two different games are needed, and this would probably be like the collaborations between, say, Sonic and Angry Birds on Mobile platforms. New content, new skins, possibly new playable characters and more. The possibilities could be endless.

So, while I know all this could be unnecessary, still, I wish to ask: What do you all think of this?

Edited April 7 by Shiny Gems

[Cyb3rkn1ght]

Well, when you put it that way, it does sound like a cool thing to bring back, but one question:

what if you lock a classic and a modern? (Mania colors anyone?)

[Shiny Gems]

8 minutes ago, Cyb3rkn1ght said:

Well, when you put it that way, it does sound like a cool thing to bring back, but one question:

what if you lock a classic and a modern? (Mania colors anyone?)

Ooh, that does sound funny and good enough to me, actually!

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

In some areas, that’s a very wasteful idea simply due to the fact that DLC makes the idea irrelevant. Lock-On technology was what you could somewhat consider the precursor to DLC (a big stretch, but the idea is similar).

Even disregarding that, trying to do all of that at once sounds like a coding nightmare for programmers trying to make it work. It’s a lot more complicated that the overview your presenting.

You’re better off just taking the source code and adding to that instead.

Now the other ideas you’re presenting are basically what we in modern day call “modding.” Might as well just do that instead too.

Edited April 7 by CrownSlayers Shadow

[Cyb3rkn1ght]

9 minutes ago, CrownSlayers Shadow said:

You’re better off just taking the source code and adding to that instead

DLC in a nutshell 

[Shiny Gems]

11 minutes ago, CrownSlayers Shadow said:

In some areas, that’s a very wasteful idea simply due to the fact that DLC makes the idea irrelevant. Lock-On technology was what you could somewhat consider the precursor to DLC (a big stretch, but the idea is similar).

Even disregarding that, trying to do all of that at once sounds like a coding nightmare for programmers trying to make it work. It’s a lot more complicated that the overview your presenting.

You’re better off just taking the source code and adding to that instead.

Now the other ideas you’re presenting are basically what we in modern day call “modding.” Might as well just do that instead too.

I knew something like this would be said, even though I did mention DLC in my initial post.

Personally, though, I do not see it as DLC, not of the same kind anyway, at least. I kind of view it as a different way of “expanding” the games, if you know what I mean. Plus, if Sonic 4: Episodes 1 and 2 could do it, I don’t think there would be much issue. Not that those games were great at all, just using examples. Lock-on is more of a "corssover" between two games for a lack of a better word, if anything. DLC can't do that same thing, last time I checked.

Still, I must admit: We ARE probably going to get Plus versions of games instead, but it is not like I was asking for lock-on to come back. This topic is more of a hypothetical what-if topic, if anything.

Edited April 7 by Shiny Gems

[Cyb3rkn1ght]

2 minutes ago, Shiny Gems said:

Still, I must admit: We ARE probably going to get Plus versions of games instead, but it is not like I was asking for lock-on to come back. This topic is more of a hypothetical what-if topic, if anything.

Yeah, but like, did anyone think about Colors DLC for mania? What about Forces and Origins? (I don’t see that happening, but you know)

13 minutes ago, CrownSlayers Shadow said:

Now the other ideas you’re presenting are basically what we in modern day call “modding.” Might as well just do that instead too.

And yes, that would basically be modding, but the fact that you don’t have to mad to get it is the magical part. Like YOU had the power to fuse the two, not some rando with a link to a mediafire File. (Plus, it would be official too, to boot)

[Shiny Gems]

Just now, Cyb3rkn1ght said:

Yeah, but like, did anyone think about Colors DLC for mania? What about Forces and Origins? (I don’t see that happening, but you know)

And yes, that would basically be modding, but the fact that you don’t have to mad to get it is the magical part. Like YOU had the power to fuse the two, not some rando with a link to a mediafire File. (Plus, it would be official too, to boot)

Well, we don't need to do lock-on with every game. Plus, it would probably take a lot of work. I would not mind Colors with Forces, though.

Still, thanks for saying the second part of that post. I was gonna say it would be official (rather than fan-made), but you already did it.

[Wraith]

1 hour ago, CrownSlayers Shadow said:

In some areas, that’s a very wasteful idea simply due to the fact that DLC makes the idea irrelevant. Lock-On technology was what you could somewhat consider the precursor to DLC (a big stretch, but the idea is similar).

Even disregarding that, trying to do all of that at once sounds like a coding nightmare for programmers trying to make it work. It’s a lot more complicated that the overview your presenting.

You’re better off just taking the source code and adding to that instead.

Now the other ideas you’re presenting are basically what we in modern day call “modding.” Might as well just do that instead too.

What he's asking for isn't that far fetched. It's just unlocking content based on whether or not you have data from other games on the disc. We see that all the time.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

1 minute ago, Wraith said:

What he's asking for isn't that far fetched. It's just unlocking content based on whether or not you have data from other games on the disc. We see that all the time.

So like how Mass Effect reads data from previous games, then?

[Shiny Gems]

8 minutes ago, CrownSlayers Shadow said:

So like how Mass Effect reads data from previous games, then?

In one word, exactly!

That is pretty much what I was talking about.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

4 minutes ago, Shiny Gems said:

In one word, exactly!

That is pretty much what I was talking about.

Well, that’s a better idea that what I was picturing then.

Personally, I still favor the DLC approach where you just add content to a game that’s already made as you build upon it as opposed to making a new game. Either way is more of a design and organizational choice.

[Cyb3rkn1ght]

1 minute ago, CrownSlayers Shadow said:

Either way is more of a design and organizational choice.

You say that, I say it’s originality. I mean, it cool getting stuff in games by owning a certain game, like Spider-Man: Edge of Time if you have a Shaddered dimensions save file. 

[Shiny Gems]

1 minute ago, CrownSlayers Shadow said:

Well, that’s a better idea that what I was picturing then.

Personally, I still favor the DLC approach where you just add content to a game that’s already made as you build upon it as opposed to making a new game. Either way is more of a design and organizational choice.

I can see what you mean. I don’t blame you.

As I may have said before, I do think we are going to get Plus versions of games more than what I described, especially for the Classic games, and for the modern games, those might be covered by the remakes we have gotten and will get. I honestly don’t see my idea of doing lock-on being done by Sega anytime soon.

But I did think it was worth trying to make something to talk about.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

10 minutes ago, Cyb3rkn1ght said:

You say that, I say it’s originality. I mean, it cool getting stuff in games by owning a certain game, like Spider-Man: Edge of Time if you have a Shaddered dimensions save file. 

It’s not really “original” if it’s already been done before. Careful with that word.

”Unique” maybe. It’s not always done for one reason or another, but it’s not anything new.

Edited April 7 by CrownSlayers Shadow

[castell-neath]

I think the lock on tech in its modern form was best deployed in Sonic 4 ep2 as it then unlocked Episide Metal.

Tricky to see how it works on other games with radically diferent designs and style - EG Colours and Mania. 

Saying that.....IF Sonic Team carry on with the Frontiers model, you COULD "lock on" exclusive cyber space stages / open word puzzles based on games like Superstars that is locked to code x detecting code y on the console.(or does this count as DLC?)

Edited April 7 by castell-neath

[JezMM]

It's fun to imagine all this stuff, but it's also sort of arbitrary to insist on it being "lock-on" - like, you're just kind of being attached to some terminology that only exists because of the specific circumstances of this one game (Sonic 3) that existed at this one time (when physical cartridges were the medium of game delivery) that encountered this one particular issue (the game had to be split into two halves due to real world development/release troubles).

You can call it "lock-on" for old time's sake, but it's just semantics, you could also call it old save bonus, you could also call it "free DLC that's only available if you own both games".  In modern times, there's also the issue of care as to not alienate customers - do we make this content accessible standalone for people who don't own both games, or do we chase the idea of it being an exclusive offer to dedicated fans at the risk of alienating "not dedicated fans" who didn't purchase both games?  Is doing that worth it for the company?  There's also the issue of solving for people who have bought one game on one platform and another on a different one - how many Wiiware users were annoyed that they had to buy Sonic 4 Episode One again in order to play Episode Metal?  (The answer is probably: not many, but for arguments' sake let's pretend Sonic 4 was considered a good game).

 

Being able to play through connected games as one big title, as was the case with Sonic 3&K, is a fun idea for those who own all of them, but depending on how the games work this is a much bigger technical challenge than an average player might expect it to be.  Easy to imagine Sonic Origins' Story Mode as being a "lock-on bonus" you can download if you owned all of the individual games on your digital platform of choice - they all run on the same engine and have inconsequential load times to go from one to the next.  Things aren't so straightforward with big modern games.

 

Not to spoil the fun but basically yeah, just to give some understanding of the reality of what the topic proposes - small, simple "lock-on" ideas are fun and cute but they already basically exist, they just aren't called that name anymore.  The BIG crossover interaction ideas discussed here are significantly less feasible unless that's a major consideration for the marketing and development of said titles - and generally video game developers need to respond and react to how each individual release goes before figuring out the particulars of the next product.  Time spent developing the way the game is going to interact with the next game - which may not even end up the way they currently plan it to - is time better spent on just making sure the first game is really good so that they'll be in good standing to even make the second game.

[Shiny Gems]

1 hour ago, JezMM said:

It's fun to imagine all this stuff, but it's also sort of arbitrary to insist on it being "lock-on" - like, you're just kind of being attached to some terminology that only exists because of the specific circumstances of this one game (Sonic 3) that existed at this one time (when physical cartridges were the medium of game delivery) that encountered this one particular issue (the game had to be split into two halves due to real world development/release troubles).

You can call it "lock-on" for old time's sake, but it's just semantics, you could also call it old save bonus, you could also call it "free DLC that's only available if you own both games".  In modern times, there's also the issue of care as to not alienate customers - do we make this content accessible standalone for people who don't own both games, or do we chase the idea of it being an exclusive offer to dedicated fans at the risk of alienating "not dedicated fans" who didn't purchase both games?  Is doing that worth it for the company?  There's also the issue of solving for people who have bought one game on one platform and another on a different one - how many Wiiware users were annoyed that they had to buy Sonic 4 Episode One again in order to play Episode Metal?  (The answer is probably: not many, but for arguments' sake let's pretend Sonic 4 was considered a good game).

 

Being able to play through connected games as one big title, as was the case with Sonic 3&K, is a fun idea for those who own all of them, but depending on how the games work this is a much bigger technical challenge than an average player might expect it to be.  Easy to imagine Sonic Origins' Story Mode as being a "lock-on bonus" you can download if you owned all of the individual games on your digital platform of choice - they all run on the same engine and have inconsequential load times to go from one to the next.  Things aren't so straightforward with big modern games.

 

Not to spoil the fun but basically yeah, just to give some understanding of the reality of what the topic proposes - small, simple "lock-on" ideas are fun and cute but they already basically exist, they just aren't called that name anymore.  The BIG crossover interaction ideas discussed here are significantly less feasible unless that's a major consideration for the marketing and development of said titles - and generally video game developers need to respond and react to how each individual release goes before figuring out the particulars of the next product.  Time spent developing the way the game is going to interact with the next game - which may not even end up the way they currently plan it to - is time better spent on just making sure the first game is really good so that they'll be in good standing to even make the second game.

Well, I know the lock-on thing is not called that anymore. I was just using Sonic and Knuckles and Sonic 4's two episodes as an example. If Sonic 4's episodes are not necessary lock-on, though, makes me wonder why they went with the term lock-on to describe it aside from referencing the lock-on technology back then.

But with that, I probably should mention something I should have mentioned in the original post of this topic; I do think such a feature, whatever it may be called by Sega, should be used sparingly, for after all, it would take an actual lot of work, and maybe not just make the lock-on or save feature thing for any games.

Still, I think I do remember why Sonic and Knuckles had lock-on back then to begin with, and it was because they could not fit that one game into a whole one cartridge by itself. If they were to do something similar with a future Sonic game, and use the save feature thing with it, not only would it be a fun reference to the classic game that started it, but this way, they could use extra content for the "connected" games that way, including those they did not include in the first half of the game for whatever reason. They'd be more ready for it, if anything, if "ready" is the right term, and they would not have to make the game "lock-on" to an extra game like how Sonic and Knuckles did with Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Do I think Sega will do it? I don't think they will anytime soon, if at all, but they did such a thing with the two episodes of Sonic 4, so even if it is not truly lock-on technology; if they were to do that again, I'd welcome it.

Edited April 7 by Shiny Gems

[Vlad the Vampire]

I love the way SEGA used the sort of lock-on in SONIC 4 with EPISODE METAL!!...
I wish they made EPISODE 3 tohave a new episode between SONIC 4.2 and SONIC 4.3, and then why not another bonus episode for those who bought all three episodes?!...

Edited April 8 by Vlad the Vampire

[A super No.1 washedupgamer]

We are somewhat seeing it return later this year though:

[Cyb3rkn1ght]

3 minutes ago, A super No.1 washedupgamer said:

We are somewhat seeing it return later this year though

heyyyy, hes not wrong!