I had the (mis)fortune of racing this with my wonderful friend Weatherby while Jenny read out a giant manifesto of Ken Penders' war crimes.
+The tether mechanic is obnoxious but I came around on it and actually had a lot of fun using it to vertically cheese the levels. With good timing you can do some fun tech like throwing your partner up, bouncing along with them, then grabbing them midair and repeating again, then chaining it into a glide to reach a wall. It took about 70% of the runtime to fully understand it, but I was having a good kick when it all made sense.
+The color palette and environmental art is super rich and inviting, very reminiscent of Ristar and Sonic CD, though admittedly a lot more directionless. You're in a lot of non-descript technological spaces that don't necessarily feel like part of a larger world, even with the carnival theme they attempt.
+The special stages are cool-looking and fun (((WHEN PLAYED WITH SAVESTATES)))
+The music is amazing, I am so sad Deflemask doesn't have 32X support
-Barely any present level design, and way too many levels
-The stage with the clocks can go to hell
-Some of the bosses were insufferable because your partner can get KO'd, and sometimes the game will just kick you out of the fight when that happens. I'm sure there's a consistent trigger that causes it, but I could not find any pattern between whether or not my partner would re-appear or I'd be sent back to the hub
-Special stages are totally uncooperative at random points in the collision that can cause you to just lose out of nowhere, it's too damning a tech issue to make these rings worth collecting, even if the stages themselves are neat.
I probably would've rated this lower if played in isolation, but whatever. This is just one beautiful mess. It's insane this was the game they tried to sell the 32X through, tho - this feels like it should be a spin-off or companion piece to a larger Sonic project with better use of the 32X's rendering tech. Really goes to show how dire things were at corporate SEGA at the time.
Ken Penders should have his head dunked in toilet water
+The tether mechanic is obnoxious but I came around on it and actually had a lot of fun using it to vertically cheese the levels. With good timing you can do some fun tech like throwing your partner up, bouncing along with them, then grabbing them midair and repeating again, then chaining it into a glide to reach a wall. It took about 70% of the runtime to fully understand it, but I was having a good kick when it all made sense.
+The color palette and environmental art is super rich and inviting, very reminiscent of Ristar and Sonic CD, though admittedly a lot more directionless. You're in a lot of non-descript technological spaces that don't necessarily feel like part of a larger world, even with the carnival theme they attempt.
+The special stages are cool-looking and fun (((WHEN PLAYED WITH SAVESTATES)))
+The music is amazing, I am so sad Deflemask doesn't have 32X support
-Barely any present level design, and way too many levels
-The stage with the clocks can go to hell
-Some of the bosses were insufferable because your partner can get KO'd, and sometimes the game will just kick you out of the fight when that happens. I'm sure there's a consistent trigger that causes it, but I could not find any pattern between whether or not my partner would re-appear or I'd be sent back to the hub
-Special stages are totally uncooperative at random points in the collision that can cause you to just lose out of nowhere, it's too damning a tech issue to make these rings worth collecting, even if the stages themselves are neat.
I probably would've rated this lower if played in isolation, but whatever. This is just one beautiful mess. It's insane this was the game they tried to sell the 32X through, tho - this feels like it should be a spin-off or companion piece to a larger Sonic project with better use of the 32X's rendering tech. Really goes to show how dire things were at corporate SEGA at the time.
Ken Penders should have his head dunked in toilet water