Random replying to little things that came up in the earlier pages.
- It annoys me when people say stuff like, say, "Winter 2007", when referring to the end of this year.
Winter 2007 was at the beginning of the year. The only other winter that's coming in 2007
is like 10 days long or something (compared to the nearly 3 months of winter early in the year),
and most of December is really part of fall, even if people think of it as winter,
maybe only to justify moving "winter" to the end of the year.
- Metroid Prime is by Retro Studios. Nintendo doesn't even make much of anything anymore.
The games that do certain not-Nintendo-y things (the kinds of music, use of FMV, etc.)
are usually second- or third-party, but Nintendo is given the credit (and accepts it).
- Retconning is something that should be avoided, even at some cost, in my opinion. It's best to just
make everything right the first time. Stuff might have to be added every now and then,
but it's not nearly as bad as if the changes contradict the original work.
(Although even when stuff is added, it can look sloppy. I don't know if what happened
in Spider-Man 3 (movie) was retconned, but it looked like it, and it seemed a little "slopped-in".
It has to do with Uncle Ben, by the way. That part, where... well, I probably shouldn't spoil it.
Or how one of Shadow the Hedgehog's stories reveals that Shadow was rescued by Robotnik
when it seemed like he would've died in SA2. But there are so many endings, and I just want to
ignore everything that ever happened in that game. Too bad the excuse used for Sonic06 is no good here.)
So, minor changes (ones that add to the story, instead of changing it) can be acceptable,
but they still shouldn't be done, if possible. But big changes should be avoided at almost any cost.
An inconsistent universe is really annoying to me, and I think everything should be
left alone, unless it's completely necessary to make some improvements.
Now, getting back off topic (well, Sonic 06 and the future of the series count as "new Sonic game stuff",
I guess), I'll just basically repeat what I've said many times about what I want Sonic (and Mario) to be.
Sonic's best 2-D game, in my opinion, was Sonic 2. (Sonic 3 and Knuckles was bigger,
but it's really two separate games, and it's still not as fun, even if it has more content.)
Why was it so good? It's the first Sonic game I played. Maybe that has something to do with it.
But that couldn't be all. It also seems faster than the others in the series.
And it has more variety, with 7 slightly shorter zones, 1 long zone, and 3 short zones.
(Sonic 1 always has 3 acts. Sonic 3 and S&K both have super-long 2-act zones.)
Although I like some features in Sonic 3 and Sonic CD, I'd base a new 2-D game's level design
on Sonic 2's, definitely. But I wonder what the newer handheld games are like. Sonic Rush sounds just right.
Sonic's best 3-D game, and the best game ever made, was Sonic Adventure.
The Sonic stages were great. Some of the others were pretty good. A few were torture,
when it came to getting emblems, or just boring otherwise.
The ultimate game would polish Sonic's control and level design slightly, but leave it a lot the same.
Adventure Fields could stay, but they'd need some work (make them bigger and less empty and boring).
Cutscenes would need decent graphics, scripts, and voice acting.
And the story, while epic, would have to actually exist. I don't know what Sonic06 is like,
but I know what Heroes and Shadow are like... ugh. There isn't a story at all, but everyone
is just being themselves, living life normally (in unusual places like Cryptic Castle and Gun Fortress),
and then a Last Story has to appear, which brings in this big threat, accompanied by
lots of cutscenes (including some FMV, as always), and then a big boss battle featuring
a floating Super version of the hero, getting pushed backward by cheap attacks from
the big threat i mentioned, while the main theme plays in the background.
It's the same thing every time, but of the 4 times I've seen it, only the SAs had a story.
It gets more stale every time, and Shadow was the worst, with its obvious rip-off of Heroes.
Big would have to go. Maybe he could get some decent stages, if he played like in Sonic Heroes.
Maybe even some bearable fishing stages, if there was more level to explore, with more places to fish,
and of course, a redesigned fishing engine. But it's not worth the trouble.
Sonic's stages were the best ones, but Amy, Tails, and Gamma could stay, I guess.
They'd need a little more polish than Sonic. Knuckles definitely needs to stay, but he needs good Action Stages
like Sonic's (for the first time since Sonic and Knuckles... unless you count Sonic Heroes,
but even there, he couldn't really glide, and his punches always targeted the nearest pit, for some reason).
Put simply, the ultimate Sonic game would be Sonic Adventure, with the annoying stages
cut out, and a little more effort and polish put into every area.
My favourite 2-D Mario is Super Mario Bros. 3. (I also considered both Super Mario Worlds,
but I think this one beats them both.) Like with Sonic 2, I'm guilty of liking it more
because I played it as a kid. But I don't think my opinion is too biased. It's just a great game!
Huge and full of variety, with what's probably the fastest and most responsive control in any Mario game.
I'd base the next 2-D Mario off this, but I'd probably borrow some features from newer games, just like with 2-D Sonic.
There are only two 3-D Marios, if I'm not forgetting anything. 64 vs. Sunshine. Wow, such a tough decision. (Not.)
Super Mario 64 has the castle, with its mysterious passageways and secret rooms.
Super Mario Sunshine has the wide-open Delfino Plaza, which is more fun to just run around.
64 has ridiculously exaggerated physics which make it annoying to play sometimes.
SS has floaty control, but its platform stages are too hard without FLUDD.
And there are a few other kind of annoying stages, although it's mainly the platforming that's frustrating.
SS had some cheap Blue Coins, but better bosses. And the levels were more like Adventure Fields.
Maybe that's the problem. Less risk of dying, but maybe the stages are a little bland.
And too much the same. And that, combined with the annoying stages, is what puts it below 64,
even though 64 has such bad control (I didn't even mention that the camera in 64 is choppy,
can't go through walls, and usually can't even rotate 360 degrees).
It really doesn't look like there's such a clear advantage, but for some reason, I think of 64 as being way better.
Anyway, I'd just polish and expand SM64 for a sequel. Forget everything from Sunshine.
Oh, and then there's the fact that SM64 has more stages, and it doesn't make you buy 24 of the stars...
