[Thorn]

Okay, seeing as S3&K Special Stage divisions were just shot down, other Special stage divisions deserve mentioning as well.  Even though ks8 brought this up several times, it always seems to be the same few people that post in his topic.  So this topic is for discussion of any other Special Stage that might merit inclusion.  Simple stuff, give a yes/no for each game and a why.  If there's some stipulation you imagine needs to go along with the game (e.g. divisions that carry no weight or whatever), state it.  To the best of my knowledge, here's the list and brief descriptions (yes, I get to vouch my opinion too).

Sonic 1: As far as I know, Rolken already said in chat that he oculdn't think of an argument not to have this other than "it's frustrating".  I have to agree.
Sonic 3D Genesis: This is another one where my reason to condone divisions is that I can't think of a reason not to.
Sonic 3D Saturn: I'm sort of on the fence about this one.  On the plus side, these are some really great Special stages, in the style of the Sonic 2 stages that we already track.  On the down side, it would take forever to get to the stage you want to play if you only want to practice one stage.  I say this should be open, yet weightless.  Since half of the forum hasn't played this stage, there's an excellent vid on YouTube here.
Sonic 3D PC: I'm pro this one because you can make save files to return to the stage you want to play.  It's also in Sonic 2 style, although significantly different than the Saturn ones.  Anyone with a GFaqs/GS account can use the demo game here to play the first Special Stage.  If added, I suppose a rule about the set Frame Rate would be in effect.
Sonic Pocket Adventure: More Sonic 2 madness, 'nuff said.
Knuckles Chaotix: Probably could be added, as there's nothing particularly "wrong" with these stages.  If they're unfamiliar, get a ROM and check them before making an opinion.
Sonic Advance: See above, only now you can move in an extra dimesnion.
Sonic Advance 2: Worthy of adding, it's built like Sonic CD, only with a different objective.
Sonic Advance 3: Essentially Sonic Advance 1.
Sonic Rush: There's a lot of talk about the "pause trick", but since we run on an honor system anyway, I say add it.
Sonic Heroes: ks8 addressed this already.
Any Game Gear game: I hate the things, and I'd say no even if I didn't.

[SadisticMystic]

What would you track in Chaotix specials?  Would you essentially be forced to start on 255 rings and see how few of them slip away?

[Thorn]

^It's impossible to enter with 255 rings, the game maxes at 200.  You'd enter via level select, so everyone's rings are standardized.  Matter of fact, level select maxes them, so you'd be crazy not to.

But yeah, I guess the goal would be "let as few slip away as possible".  I'm more concerned about all of the Sonic 2-esque stages anyway; if we track one we might as well track 'em all.

[yse]

While we're on the subject, let's discuss the GG games.

Sonic 1: Differ between versions, I wouldn't be in favour of tracking both (for this reason, Sonic 3D special stages should also be left alone)
Sonic 2: Doesn't have any
Sonic Chaos/Triple Trouble: Are sort of their own stages with imposed time limits. These should be fine.

[Bilan]

Sonic 1: Differ between versions, I wouldn't be in favour of tracking both (for this reason, Sonic 3D special stages should also be left alone)

That doesnt stop us tracking everything else for S1GG/MS, as well as say, SA1+DX, SA2+2:B.

Its just a simple case of picking which gets you the best stats out of whats available, I dont see the problem <_<

[yse]

My concern here is not that there are version differences, because that's relevant in many games on TSC.

However, every level that falls into this category has had very similar or identical level design. (See stuff like Eternal Engine or Casinopolis which don't change at all besides solidity of walls.) However S1GG special stages (and, as is my understanding, Sonic 3D between versions) differ completely from S1MS special stages. There is simply no point of comparison between the two.

[Bilan]

Point taken

[Insert my thoughts on the rest of the SS' here eventually]

[Crowbar]

I say no to Rush SS's, not because you can very easily cheat, but because you can very easily cheat to get a set max that isn't (in most cases) too hard to get normally. This means the rankings could well be flooded with joint 1sts, and there'd be no way at all to tell if somebody were cheating, unlike with time etc. stats in the stages.