Sonic the Hedgehog C64 - video trailer

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by Steril707

On a stock A500?

Nope, but then again the C64 port doesn't run on a stock C64 either...

[Tigerskunk]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

Nope, but then again the C64 port doesn't run on a stock C64 either...

When someone mentions that a proper Amiga version hasn't been done yet, we are talking about the adequate 16-bit comparable one, which is the original Megadrive version of the game.

But you know that of course, and just wanted to start up shit.
Great job, mate.

[chb]

Originally Posted by rothers

Always felt they missed an opportunity to make that game much more colourful by putting the baddies on the back layer, instead they tried to squeeze everything in to 8 colours, and it shows. Totally wasted the other 8 on a background graphic!

AFAIK the back layer is only 2 bitplanes there (4 colors + a lot of copper usage). Maybe 6 bitplanes would have been too taxing memory bandwidth-wise.

[Pyromania]

Originally Posted by Steril707

On a stock A500?

No, you have to have the Quantum computer upgrade.

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by Steril707

When someone mentions that a proper Amiga version hasn't been done yet, we are talking about the adequate 16-bit comparable one, which is the original Megadrive version of the game.

But you know that of course, and just wanted to start up shit.
Great job, mate.

Hang on, I made a light-hearted comment in the same vein as your own light-hearted comment, trying to suggest that there was no real need to port the MasterSystem version even if Amiga users did want the inferior MasterSystem version, since the specs of many Amigas so far exceed those of the MasterSystem that it's possible to successfully emulate it. But that was lost on you I guess and you just wanted a fight. Get over yourself.

[Retro1234]

Obviously Sonic MD is possible - Kid Chaos - Mr Nuts and Blaze
it's time consuming etc
Anyone is welcome to have a go.

[512k]

A new version that fixes the bugs that were reported can be found here:

https://csdb.dk/release/?id=212277

[idrougge]

Obviously Sonic MD is possible at 16,6 Hz, possibly even at 25 Hz.

[kremiso]

Originally Posted by Retro-Nerd

...And it plays absolutly fantastic.

++ all the tube videos do not return the great controls response;
and that scrolling, smooth as silk

Originally Posted by roondar

...Also, it's rather cool that someone is using the REU to enhance a C64 game for a change, that rarely happens and is probably a way to get around the speed difference in the CPU's.

this REU usage is the most intriguing part of the thing, hope it will be used also in other projects now

[Locutus]

Fired it up in VICE last night, and before i realized, it was 2 in the night and i had finished 4 stages

Definitely plays great!

[idrougge]

Originally Posted by kremiso

this REU usage is the most intriguing part of the thing, hope it will be used also in other projects now

Personally, one of the most beautiful things about the C64 scene compared to other 8-bit scenes is that a standard-issue C64 and a standard-issue 1541 have always been good enough for all productions – unlike the megabyte memory, quadruple sound chip standard of the Atari 8-bit scene.

[roondar]

Originally Posted by idrougge

Personally, one of the most beautiful things about the C64 scene compared to other 8-bit scenes is that a standard-issue C64 and a standard-issue 1541 have always been good enough for all productions – unlike the megabyte memory, quadruple sound chip standard of the Atari 8-bit scene.

Considering how I'm usually aiming my Amiga stuff at either A500 with at most a trapdoor 512KB expansion or the A1200 without any extra memory/turbo cards... Well, I get what you mean. Then again, from my perspective it's just neat to have that challenge of not going beyond those limits

On the other hand, I do like that there is now some SW on C64 that uses the REU for the 'nerd coolness' of it all

[Anubis]

Sega Master System sonic is by far my favorite Sonic game. I completed it on console back in 90s and couple of times since then on emulators. In my opinion, levels are just much better then MegaDrive levels where I usually lose myself and try to reach end as fast as possible. In SMS version I knew all secrets and would usually collect all coins during runs.

I would love to try this.

[tomcat666]

Originally Posted by Anubis

Sega Master System sonic is by far my favorite Sonic game. I completed it on console back in 90s and couple of times since then on emulators. In my opinion, levels are just much better then MegaDrive levels where I usually lose myself and try to reach end as fast as possible. In SMS version I knew all secrets and would usually collect all coins during runs.

I would love to try this.

Just download winvice (or some other vice flavour if you are not on windows) and try it out. Set the REU in settings to 2MB and run the game from floppy d81 or d64.

[Anubis]

I will try it on my C64 MAXI over holidays. Thanks!

BTW, how are you? Are you still supporting retro mags site?

[tarr]

Originally Posted by PortuguesePilot

As the unfinished "Blaze" ( [ Show youtube player ]) game shows, technically a game "like" Sonic could be done on a plain A500 or at least on a typically 1MB expanded one. Sonic actually almost came to the Amiga and other contemporary 16bits at the time, courtesy of U.S. Gold (guess it wouldn't be very good, then, heh?) but SEGA actually realized what they had in their hands when they saw the pre-release version on the newly released Mega Drive hardware and immediately cancelled all the third-party negotiations regarding Sonic (and other games) as they - correctly - realized that the game would help sell consoles as a Mega Drive exclusive and they would make a lot more revenue that way than by selling the rights to some third-party company that would later sell the game to sloppy westerners and their weird, quirky and crappy desktop computers...

So the game was never released on the Amiga not because the Amiga "couldn't do it", but because of mere business acumen. Well, to be absolutely frank, the Amiga probably couldn't really do it like the Mega Drive did, given the absence of a chunky mode, so we'd probably end up with something more akin the Master System version of Sonic, which is not too shabby at all. More than probably, though, we'd end up with some travesty named Sonic, programmed by a couple of teens on some bedroom out in Preston, bearing a main character sort-of resembling Sonic, but devoid of all its qualities... you know, something like other SEGA tie-ins on the Amiga: Out-Run, Sonic Boom, Action Fighter or Thunderblade.

The aforementioned new remake for the Amiga is just adapted code. It's not made grounds up for the Amiga. I think it used mainly C and it's devoid of any 68k ASM. A true Sonic the Hedgehog made for Amiga should be almost entirely coded in low-level 68k ASM. Because of this - and the fact that 68k ASM is, by all accounts, a "dead language" and programming a game like Sonic the Hedgehog would not be a small feat - I suspect we'll never actually see a true Amiga version of Sonic the Hedgehog. Hell, even Keith Bugeja himself said someone could finish his amazing Blaze prototype but no-one picked it up, given the size and difficulty of the task at hand. Now imagine making a proper 16bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog for the Amiga in 68k ASM. Yep... probably not gonna happen, even discounting all the legal issues that might arise (even though SEGA isn't Nintendo and other Sonic fan-made games seem to exist fine without legal action). It's just too much work for too little (if any) pay. We're going to have to remain in the "what if" realm of imagination, I suspect.

Why talking about Blaze when a stock A500 (1MB I guess, but that was what almost everyone had back in the days) can give you Kid Chaos which is not as great a game as Sonic, but proves that a Sonic like game on the Amiga could be done by skilled coders?

[ Show youtube player ]

[PortuguesePilot]

Originally Posted by tarr

Why talking about Blaze when a stock A500 (1MB I guess, but that was what almost everyone had back in the days) can give you Kid Chaos which is not as great a game as Sonic, but proves that a Sonic like game on the Amiga could be done by skilled coders?

[ Show youtube player ]

I'm not a big fan of Kid Chaos, to be honest... and Blaze seems much closer to Sonic the Hedgehog both in concept and execution as well, particularly in terms of level design and of the character's inertia and jumping dynamics.

[donnie]

A lot of it is in the art.



They have really mastered the art of painting with c64 high res mode and the ugly ass rectangular chunky pixels.


You could see the beginning of this in mayham. These modern games are taking it to another level. This sonic game you can barely notice the blurry chunky pixels.



I think we see similar things with modern amiga games and copper gradients. Metro siege and those other games bitbeamcannon really blend it all together.

[tomcat666]

Originally Posted by Anubis

I will try it on my C64 MAXI over holidays. Thanks!

BTW, how are you? Are you still supporting retro mags site?

Not much time for that or anything retro lately, besides playing with piStorm amiga otherwise ok.

[dreadnought]

Originally Posted by roondar

(Soul Force, which -completely off topic- is a great game. One of the best I've played this year across all the platforms I own for sure)

I got it too, because Sarah has just made an Xmas release called Snow Force, and the original is included: https://sarahjaneavory.itch.io/snow-force-c64. She really is a one-woman dev powerhouse, there's so much quality & playability in her games.


I did try Sonic yesterday (on MiSTer) and it really is technically superb. But to me it's still Sonic - I suck at platformers generally, and 100x that regarding superfast ones. So that didn't last long, instead I had a lot of fun with these two other amazing recent releases: Scramble Infinity & Tenebra.