Pixel Painting - Friendly Rivals (Sonic & Knuckles)

It was only a matter of time before a Sonic commission came up. To reminisce how big Sega was back in the day is kind of hilarious. They caused so much havoc in the balance of power that no one had been able to do before. That five-year triumph period alone is enough to cement them in video game history. And it was all arguably a fluke, because even when they were on top they were making outrageously stupid decisions.

While they've had some financial success since then, quality-wise they've been all over the board (mostly on the crappy side). Sonic is a video game icon, though, and his image has allowed Sega to continue to root itself in the minds of players everywhere (for better or for worse).

The Sonic & Knuckles cartridge had the "lock-on technology," which I still think is really cool, as well as a huge technical achievement. Knuckles wasn't even supposed to be a very important character, but it was the 90s, and he had attitude, so yeah.

And I love love love Blue Sphere. I have put so many hours into that repetitive, simple, awesome game.

There are a lot of sprites for each character, so I sent the buyer most of them and let him choose which poses he liked best. He chose well. That dark blue on Sonic is such a pain in the ass though. It's so translucent, but attempting to make it more opaque always adjusts the color too far.

Still using that Mega Man-esque background. It still looks good. I am experimenting with others, just because I'm starting to get bored with this one. I had originally thought of doing the white lines crisscrossing on the black background that Sega always used for Genesis/Mega Drive stuff, but it didn't look very good. I'm happy with how they turned out all the same.

Commissions are always welcome. Price varies based on the size and complexity of the sprite/scene. I moderate comments, so feel free to leave one with your contact email and request and I'll get back to you ASAP.

Wii U - Year One Conclusion

Relieved applause.

The first year of the Wii U was admittedly a slow one. It really didn't pick up much steam until many months after its release. This was a negative in many ways (marketing, sales, media/public impression, etc.). However, at the end of its first year (well, a little bit past a year), it's really made leaps and bounds forwards.

Looking at my Wii U library, I feel pretty good about the investment. Seeing what's on the horizon makes me feel even better. I understand getting a year's head start against your competitors, Nintendo.  But if it's going to take nearly a year to reach a decent launch, then what's the point? You have so much ground to make up. As stated before, the uninformed public is extremely impressionable, and will parrot back what mainstream media tells them. Hopefully this new marketing push will get you back into the spotlight (notwithstanding, of course, the current eShop/Pokemon Bank/Miiverse/etc. debacle). Though at the end of the day, I do trust you, Nintendo.

Favorite games of the year?

Retail:

eShop (not including Virtual Console):

That was hard. I initially planned to narrow down my top five retail games, but I couldn't manage. There are still some I really want to put on this list, but I have to draw a limit. Every game I've bought has been a thoroughly researched decision. And I really enjoy almost all of them. Sure, I've made a mistake here and there (I'm looking at you, Sonic Lost World, you piece of crap), but no one is perfect. I've really enjoyed this year on Wii U, even if it did take a while to get moving. Hopefully the coming year will still be awesome, but perhaps a little better overall.

I'm also hoping this blog will still be active then, too.

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed

Should have been called "SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed."

So I picked up a Wii U a couple of months ago, and had a list of the games I planned to buy. Rest assured, there were no Sonic titles on that list. The most recent good Sonic game was Sonic Generations, and before that? Let's just say it's been a while. Sonic recently celebrated his 20th Anniversary. But does it really count if there are multiple years where there was nothing but half-assed, poorly planned crap?

Anyway, I kept reading more and more good things about Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. Naturally I was skeptical, but most everyone had good things to say about it. I took the risk and picked it up. Turns out those people were right on the money.

Biggest pet peeve? The fact that the word SONIC is the first thing in the title, and he's on the cover five times. A little behind him is Dr. Eggman, and wayyyyyyy off in the distance is a tiny Aiai. This cover is a terrible representation for what the game actually is.

Simply stated, it is a showcase for SEGA's history in the form of an excellent racing game. There are a ton of characters and stages selected from past SEGA titles. They pulled a page right out of Nintendo's book. Someone looked back and said, "Hey, we've been around a long time, right? Why don't we make a potpourri out of what we've got and put it in one game?"

Characters include selections from Golden Axe, Skies of Arcadia, Samba de Amigo, Super Monkey Ball, Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Shinobi, Space Channel 5, NiGHTS Into Dreams..., Alex Kidd in Miracle World, and Sonic 1/2/3/CD/Adventure. When you look at it like that, SEGA did pretty damn well in creating original ideas, they just faltered at other steps in the process of getting a finished game out to consumers (many times, I might add). And in newer versions of the game (PC), they keep throwing in more characters. I would be having a blast looking through the SEGA history books and trying to decide who I wanted to include.

Stages also pull from all around SEGA's past. Aside from titles listed above, they also include After Burner, Panzer Dragoon, Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, House of the Dead, Burning Rangers, OutRun, and Sonic Heroes. Just seeing things like Burning Rangers pop up makes me laugh, as I still remember playing the hell out of it on my Saturn. SEGA did a nice job.

The tracks themselves are very well designed, and there are a ton of shortcuts to be found, and locating them all (and being able to navigate them effectively) isn't a walk in the park. Most of the courses also change every lap in some way. For example, in the Golden Axe stage, fire rains down and shatters the road during the third lap, causing you to stay as a plane for a part you were previously a car. Or in the House of the Dead stage, monsters break out of their holding containers to wreak havoc, all while the level of slime rises every lap. Or in Burning Rangers, destruction is rampant during every lap, causing pieces of the building to fall around you and flood waters to rush in. It definitely keeps you on your toes, as most laps will not be the same as the one before it.

Another aspect that really sets this game apart is its single player World Tour mode. You have to complete events to earn stars, which in turn unlocks characters. Higher difficulties yield more stars. But it's not just racing. There's Traffic Attack, where you have to make it to a certain number of checkpoints on a track with a crap-ton of neon cars all over the place, and running into them makes you lose all your speed. Another is Drift Challenge, where you have a very limited amount of time to complete a race, and the only way to gain seconds on the clock is to drift on a marked path in specified zones. Or Boost Challenge, where you have five seconds to complete a race, but while you're boosting, the clock doesn't count down, meaning you pretty much have to continually find ways to boost through the entire race. There's quite a few modes, and most of them are on every track, so if you really want later unlockables, you're going to just have to get good at the game.

There are a thousand and one ways to get speed boosts, and you'll need to learn and utilize them if you're going to beat other players or computers on higher difficulty levels. Boosting from the starting line (small, medium, or large), boosting after drifts (small, medium, or large), boosting after doing tricks on jumps (of which there are billions), boosting after evading offensive items, boosting while transforming (car, boat, plane), etc. There is so much more skill involved than in Mario Kart games.

The game is definitely not a poor man's Mario Kart. Far from it. Mario Kart has an easy control scheme that anybody can really pick up and play, which is part of the Nintendo charm. Racing Transformed is not that kind of racing game. There are similarities, like items you can use offensively and defensively, but most of them require strategic planning and placement. The entire game has a much more sensitive feel compared to Mario Kart's more chunky, forgiving, slower-paced gameplay. The mods for characters (each mod affects Speed, Acceleration, Handling, Boost, and All-Star Mode) actually affect the racer quite a bit, whereas in Mario Kart it's pretty much, "Choose your favorite Nintendo character!"

I don't regret buying this game. On the contrary, I'm really glad I picked it up. It's a lot of fun, and presents a good level of challenge for the completist. It has replaced the multiplayer fallback that is Mario Kart when people come over and just want to play something. But I admit it was a difficult sell just to get them to try it. Once we got into it, though, it was smooth sailing.

Sure, there are a couple of bugs/glitches here and there, but it's SEGA, and honestly I was surprised there weren't more. I only wish they didn't shove Sonic and only Sonic in the title and on the cover. The game really celebrates SEGA's colossal history. If the game is good and worth playing, then SEGA shouldn't be worried about anything. Their compulsion to slap Sonic all over the place just to make sure a game sells to somebody has been a lame practice for years, and it needs to stop. Hell, Sonic is the last character I plan on playing as in this game. When you've got a VMU that rides around in a Dreamcast controller, what else can you ask for?