[Rolken]

Version 3.0 of Sonic 1 Megamix has been made public. For those not In the Know, Megamix is basically the best Sonic hack ever made; better than most official releases. Seriously. Tweaker's comments from the Megamix topic follow:

Some highlights from version 3.0:

- All level layouts edited (some complete; others pending)
- Each character now has a unique set of moves (though Sonic and Shadow share homing attack)
- Most levels (not all) have a small intro, ala S3K, where they perform some sort of action when starting the level. i.e, running in from the left.
- Shitload of music edits
- There is now a "preferences" screen, where you can customize certain aspects of the game (suggestions are welcome)
- Cheat codes have been changed - figuring them out will grant you access to a new, special level select (which is a bit buggy - just don't hit left/right on zone selections =P)
- "Original Mode" allows you to play the original levels from Sonic the Hedgehog, using all of the additions from Sonic Megamix (such as bugfixes, moves, preferences, etc). There is also a seperate save slot for a character's original mode.
- Title screen demos have been edited. Credits demos have not.
- Super forms have been added.
- Elemental shields, ala S3K, have been added.
- Credits have been edited; each character has a unique end pose on the ending sequence.
- Various other changes. See the Wiki page for more info.

This is, pending future changes, considered a "complete" release. Future changes are planned, but not assured. More information can be found on the Manual/Wiki page, located here: http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_1_Megamix

Comments and suggestions are entirely welcome. Bugfix releases are entirely possible, so if you find what could be considered a vital "bug" (and not, say, an error from using debug mode), it may be fixed in a future bugfix release (though personally I'd like to avoid making too many of these).

So, without further delay, the download link: http://www.fileden.com/files/15774/Sonic%201%20Megamix%20v3.0.zip

Enjoy!

[SadisticMystic]

At the end of Misty Maze 1, I was searching for bonus tags, and dashed to the far left side, ending in the water.  This is when autopilot kicked in, and Sonic keeps trying to jump out of the water but doesn't get high enough.  This leads to an endless loop: Sonic doesn't get to the right side to start the bonus tally, and makes it briefly out of the water on each jump so as not to drown.

I'd assume that to be a highly severe bug.

[Spinballwizard]

Misty Maze 2 completely froze on me. I'd just homed into an enemy (underwater, if it helps) and it just froze.

A minor one would be that I got Mighty stuck in a breakable tunnel because I accidentally jumped/ramped into it from below.

Otherwise, kickass. >_>

[P.P.A.]

I once went though some floors or something, dunno where. Anyway, fantastic hack. A lot better than the Advance games.

[Crowbar]

Misty Maze is still physically improbable, but by god is it beautiful.

Also I'm really liking Mighty's shield hax. And the ability to go into a spin from a free-fall (though I'm unsure about the fact that it shares a button with character special abilities). And the fact that we actually have to work for Chaos Emeralds for once.

As for problems. The little Sonic icons in the special stages haven't been edited for other characters. I also find the Extended camera to be a bit...I dunno, jerky? Maybe I'm just not used to it, though. Mighty and possibly Sonic's full speed running animations are jerky when running on slopes (haven't tried Shadow yet). Minor things, really.

[Selphos]

Here's an issue for y'all.

'Nuff said.

[Groudon]

The occasional homing-attack-through-a-wall bug is annoying, but it can be helpful (pulled off about a 1:30 on MM1).

And Sondow, that's occurred in version 2.0 as well.

[Spinballwizard]

...Is Original Mode (playing through the Sonic 1 levels with Megamix abilities) supposed to stop after Marble 3? I was playing through as Sonic and the game reset upon completion of Marble 3.

[yse]

Okay I wanted to write up a really comprehensive piece of feedback but I kept putting it off. So it might be a bit sluggish because I don't have a lot of time right now but I'll do my best. I might add to it later if I remember things.

Pro points:

• Three distinct characters. And really distinct, not stuff like "well this one has a smaller hitbox".
• Homing attacks actually go where you expect them to go! If you're not facing the enemy/item box you won't home in on it. This is a welcome change from official Sonic games today.
• Different paths for the characters. In other words, none of the "Advance syndrome" where the characters may be different but there's no chance to exploit those abilities.
• Not having all three jump buttons do the same thing. For serious.
• On that note, A-abilities for Shadow and Mighty actually having tradeoffs.
• The super game mode. However one life is a bit ridiculous - at least there's no cheap deaths...
• The original game mode. I haven't actually played this yet because I hear it won't go past Marble 3 but it seems like a good idea.
• Dark Fortress 1 and 2 are very long, but it doesn't seem at all repetitive (see Egg Fleet for an extreme example of level repetition)
• Misty Maze is just beautiful <3
• Starry Night has a sense of speed unrivalled in any game that actually claims said sense of speed.
  
• The final fight is actually epic like it should be. And somewhat hard.

Anti points:

• Some horrendous level design. Two examples: a) most of City Outskirts' straightaways eventually curving into spike pits, b) that spike pit at the start of Metallic Base 2 that the player opens himself. I expected a shield or something :/
• Misty Maze lags so freaking badly when you take a hit. However having a baseline knowledge of the technical limitations helps to understand why this is mostly unavoidable.
• While Starry Night's speed is awesome it is quite clearly too fast for the game to handle. This is obviously a limitation of Sonic 1 so you get off easy here.

Points of interest:

• Lots of rings. However to counterbalance that there are lots of enemies which can get annoying and also lag the game. Misty Maze suffers particularly when you take a hit (which is pretty much inevitable).
• The new special stages. Given the huge amount of rings in the game the 1ups are probably unnecessary (though cool nonetheless) and the actual designs are very different, though not hard or frustrating.
• Mighty's shield hax. I haven't played around with it much (mainly due to not being able to hold more than two shields at a time, see level design) but it seems like a pro concept.

My conclusion: Megamix is nowhere near as good as I was expecting. I blame hype.

However this does not exclude it from being better than most official releases. >_>