MeguminBlast
Sonic Marathon List
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played on Ares
Goddamn it's been a while since my last marathon post. Idk why it took me so long to get around to this one, mostly just work stress and shit but I'm finally in a more settled position and on vacation so I finally got around to STHPA.
To be honest, I don't have much to say? It's just Sonic 2 but 8bit. Better than the actual Sonic 2 8bit, but not much for me to speak about. Fine game, I like the art style and how they translated modern Sonic into 8bit. The screen crunch is annoying in the latter half, plus Sonic feels a bit loose to control but that's about it.
Can't really even rate the stages? Sky Chase was dull and the last two (Aerospace and Gigantic Angel) suffer from screen crunch. Also, the boss in Cosmic Casino was annoying. That's all my criticism, other stages were fine.
That's really about it, fine enough short game.
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played on Ares
Goddamn it's been a while since my last marathon post. Idk why it took me so long to get around to this one, mostly just work stress and shit but I'm finally in a more settled position and on vacation so I finally got around to STHPA.
To be honest, I don't have much to say? It's just Sonic 2 but 8bit. Better than the actual Sonic 2 8bit, but not much for me to speak about. Fine game, I like the art style and how they translated modern Sonic into 8bit. The screen crunch is annoying in the latter half, plus Sonic feels a bit loose to control but that's about it.
Can't really even rate the stages? Sky Chase was dull and the last two (Aerospace and Gigantic Angel) suffer from screen crunch. Also, the boss in Cosmic Casino was annoying. That's all my criticism, other stages were fine.
That's really about it, fine enough short game.
1989
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Finally actually got to Rance on this deep dive. It's an okay game, better than LP and LV in the way that it's more humorous. Gameplay is whatever, but at least it didn't bore me like LP. Bit funny at times as I feel the writers had more fun here, but not really much else for me to say as it pretty much a one hour romp.
Finally actually got to Rance on this deep dive. It's an okay game, better than LP and LV in the way that it's more humorous. Gameplay is whatever, but at least it didn't bore me like LP. Bit funny at times as I feel the writers had more fun here, but not really much else for me to say as it pretty much a one hour romp.
1988
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continuing my rance deep dive after a year and wow this is sure a point and click adventure from 1988! i love fetch quests that have you run back and forth and when the game barely gives you any hints on what to do in the beginning so you're left having no choice but to use a walkthrough but dont let it be a shit walkthrough that will literally lead you to a bad end cause it tells you to throw away an important item forcing you to switch to the english ver walkthrough :))))))))
nice art.
continuing my rance deep dive after a year and wow this is sure a point and click adventure from 1988! i love fetch quests that have you run back and forth and when the game barely gives you any hints on what to do in the beginning so you're left having no choice but to use a walkthrough but dont let it be a shit walkthrough that will literally lead you to a bad end cause it tells you to throw away an important item forcing you to switch to the english ver walkthrough :))))))))
nice art.
This review contains spoilers
played on PPSSPP
Everyone I know wanted me to start playing Persona because of Reload so what other better time than to get on it. I've started P1 plenty of times in the past, but never really got past the prologue. Now I've actually finished the game, did both routes and got Naoya's ultimate on both rounds, and honestly had a good time. Because of the two routes, I'll just split my feelings on them.
SEBEC - The highlight of the story, which makes sense as it's the main route. I honestly genuinely enjoyed it and it's themes relating with Maki and wanting to be her 'ideal' self and all. Dungeons weren't too bad either, and didn't have much issue getting through most bosses. Pandora though was a bit of a pain, the final dungeon mostly just being long hallways and Pandora herself being annoying with the mid-battle switching of her weaknesses. All in all though, had a good time with it.
Snow Queen - Good side route, thanks to help from a friend I was able to do a max Ambrosia run and after conquering Thanatos, the rest was easy, even the Snow Queen herself I pretty much auto'd. Story was fine, not as in depth as SEBEC and had some weird moments (the fuck was going on with the Hypnos Tower, why am I supposed to be angry she felt trapped because her parents' and club) but otherwise was fine.
The cast I liked, I made sure to always talk to them when I had the chances to, though Reiji to be honest I didn't care too much for as he felt kinda one note. Though you can tell they and the story could def be more, but considering this is the first game I'm not gonna get on its ass about it, and honestly I'm excited to see how the sequel handles both of these elements considering they have this to build off of.
Gameplay was fine, esp when I'd break it using Megidolaon all the time lol. Hieroglyphein though holy shit that helped breeze me through bosses, legit the main reason why I think it's a good idea to at the very least get the Naoya's ultimate. Lots of grinding needed though, but once you find a good zone you can just work away there, esp. if you're on an emulator and can just speed it.
All in all, yeah had a good itme with it, though I'm excited to see how Persona 2 handles things, esp. in the story department.
Everyone I know wanted me to start playing Persona because of Reload so what other better time than to get on it. I've started P1 plenty of times in the past, but never really got past the prologue. Now I've actually finished the game, did both routes and got Naoya's ultimate on both rounds, and honestly had a good time. Because of the two routes, I'll just split my feelings on them.
SEBEC - The highlight of the story, which makes sense as it's the main route. I honestly genuinely enjoyed it and it's themes relating with Maki and wanting to be her 'ideal' self and all. Dungeons weren't too bad either, and didn't have much issue getting through most bosses. Pandora though was a bit of a pain, the final dungeon mostly just being long hallways and Pandora herself being annoying with the mid-battle switching of her weaknesses. All in all though, had a good time with it.
Snow Queen - Good side route, thanks to help from a friend I was able to do a max Ambrosia run and after conquering Thanatos, the rest was easy, even the Snow Queen herself I pretty much auto'd. Story was fine, not as in depth as SEBEC and had some weird moments (the fuck was going on with the Hypnos Tower, why am I supposed to be angry she felt trapped because her parents' and club) but otherwise was fine.
The cast I liked, I made sure to always talk to them when I had the chances to, though Reiji to be honest I didn't care too much for as he felt kinda one note. Though you can tell they and the story could def be more, but considering this is the first game I'm not gonna get on its ass about it, and honestly I'm excited to see how the sequel handles both of these elements considering they have this to build off of.
Gameplay was fine, esp when I'd break it using Megidolaon all the time lol. Hieroglyphein though holy shit that helped breeze me through bosses, legit the main reason why I think it's a good idea to at the very least get the Naoya's ultimate. Lots of grinding needed though, but once you find a good zone you can just work away there, esp. if you're on an emulator and can just speed it.
All in all, yeah had a good itme with it, though I'm excited to see how Persona 2 handles things, esp. in the story department.
my bf and i like dumbasses thought this shit was gonna get dlc just put the dunce cap on my fucking head
fun times tho
fun times tho
Sonic Marathon List
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played with Dreamcast patches
It's been way too long since my last review for my marathon, but now that I actually have a working laptop I can continue these. I played this back in around like 2018/19? And I remember I liked it, so I was looking forward to coming back around to this one again. Needless to say as my rating show, I really did enjoy my time through again.
Since there's an actual plot now, I'll put start putting my thoughts on them. The story here is pretty, well, it's not bad, but it's a bit messy. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles' stories feel interconnected with each other and play off each other well. Amy and E102's while I do like them, feel more disconnected in a side story sense that occasionally intervenes with the main plot, and Big (while I don't dislike him as I'll explain why) doesn't feel like he belongs to the story at all and has little impact outside of the fact that Froggy has an emerald. I like Tikal and Chaos, but I honestly find it really funny how not one of the six gives two shits about Tikal's flashbacks, like no one has a reaction really outside of "Woah! That was crazy! Anyways-".
Also, the Super Sonic chapter, while fun, I kinda wish the others had some stuff to do too as a way to bring everyone around together instead of them just only giving him the emeralds (Don't know why Big was there though, he didn't do shit in the end lol).
Which voice acting wise, I like the cast picking for most of the voices, but jesus christ you can tell they were not given good direction. I heard they didn't even get to see the context of the scenes they were recording which would explain a lot. The only i really didn't care for was Knuckles (Michael McGaharn), like outside of the memes, his voice for him (aside from unfitting) felt kinda monotone at times lol.
Now for the gameplay, since I got six different types I'm going to go over my feelings on each character individually in the order of how much I liked them.
Sonic - Honestly the best play style, I loved rushing through levels and clearing them as fast as possible. Especially when I found the spin dash jump trick, I was just speeding through levels at that point. I honestly don't have any complains with his gamestyle aside from the fact that the light speed dash is pretty hit or miss, I only really use it when necessary. I did most of his A rank missions aside from the final three stages.
Knuckles - For some reason, I used to hate his gameplay style when I first played? I have no clue why I hated it cause on this retread I actually found myself loving it. I would honestly try to challenge myself to see how fast I would find each piece before the timer ends and I loved the little trick you could pull to make the A rank stages a breeze. Did all his A rank challenges on that note. Not really any complaints here either aside from his power ups yet again like Sonic, not really using except for when I needed to like his dig.
Tails - I love speedrunning with him and finding all the ways I can just ignore the level and watch Sonic's AI just blatantly cheat. I just wish he had more stages. His powerups unlike the previous two I constantly made use of and would use, yet again, to find ways to break the level. Did all his A ranks
Big - Hot take, I didn't find Big's gameplay to be that bad. I understand the criticisms and do agree that from a plot and game standpoint, Big's is very off fitting for Sonic, however I did find myself enjoying it. I'd even spend time trying to catch as many giant fish as I could prior to getting Froggy, and if I wanted to quickly finish a level, go just grab Froggy. If anything, I'd keep Big in as like a minigame you can do instead of a main game required thing. I didn't do his A and B ranks though because I didn't feel like spending time trying to hope to god I caught a 2 ton fish
E-102 Gamma - Ehhhh, I found him boring to be honest. Thankfully it's a short story, but it was just kinda whatever. I'd just breeze through a level wwith little to no challenge and then easily defeat the bosses. I didn't really care for how slow Gamma is and as a whole his style of gameplay just didn't really interest me to be perfectly honest. I hope SA2 improves on it. Did all his A rank missions.
Amy - Hands down the worst I can't lie, I don't know how I had the audacity to put her as my third favorite and Knuckles in last place back in 2018. Now story and character wise, I like Amy, gameplay wise though, absolutely not. Her slow speed is honestly a slog, and her method of attack is just annoying. Why can't I move and hit enemies with the Piko Piko Hammer, why do I have to stop in place to do it, or even unlock maybe a moving spinning hammer attack? Even the two upgrades you get for it don't really matter much in the long run. I'm glad for the jump hammer attack and spin, but again her stages are just a bore. When I saw her A rank mission have a time limit of 6:30, like even the developers knew. Did all her A ranks though.
The bosses now, most I don't really have much to say? They're kinda the weakest part to be honest. All the character battles are pitifully easy and the reg battles are just kinda attack and wait. The only annoying part is if you die, having to wait through some of the more slower bosses like Chaos 4 or Egg Viper.
Which on that, loved the music in the Super Sonic battle, but wish it was a bit more to be honest.
The hub worlds as well, I had no issues with, but the jungle maze was a pain in the ass esp with the slow characters jesus christ I hated going up that long ass ladder with them. I just wish there was more to do in these hub zones.
Chao Garden, I played a bit with it, but not much else. I mostly just threw them at the wall or in the water to pitifully swim.
The camera also could get a bit annoying at times. I didn't have too many issues and am taking into account that this is a game from 1998, but yeesh I died quite a few times cause of it.
All in all, had a pretty good time with SA1, I'm glad I'm finally getting to start the modern era games, and I can't wait to see how they follow things up with SA2. For a stage rank
1. Speed Highway - This stage is just full fun, I love blasting through it, skipping over half the level, the music, everything. Honestly, all three characters I played through here with I had a great ass time and it's my favorite level overall. Also, god I fucking love the skyscraper run in Sonic's section holy fuck that's such a good part.
2. Windy Valley - This yet again, another stage I love rushing through. The music is really good, and going through it as Sonic and trying to beat the timer or going through as Tails and completely breaking the stage is fun. E102-Gamma's side of it, to be honest eh, but at least it's short, though it's lacking what made it so fun for me with Sonic and Tails. Honestly just a great ass stage in general.
3. Red Mountain - Another stage I loved. Playing with Sonic it was fun as hell to break on his A rank mission and with Knuckles I loved exploring for the pieces here and even accidentally finding ones I didn't intend to earlier than expected. Again with E102, didn't care too much for him, so not much to say here, but yeah fun as hell stage as well.
4. Emerald Coast - This is the lowest I've put a starting stage ranking wise so far lol. I don't dislike this stage, it's actually pretty iconic to me to be honest. Playing with Sonic that is, I love speeding through as usual and seeing how fast I can beat like I've mentioned several times before. Big's was whatever, mainly just another fishing. As always, E102 was whatever, not much to say aside from being a broken record.
5. Ice Cap - Fun stage, but to be honest I'm not a fan of the slow middle portion when playing as Sonic. To be honest, the best part here for me is the snowboarding section, the OST here is one of my favorite tracks in SA1. Big's level is just a fishing as usual.
6. Final Egg - Fine final zone. Was fun playing it as Sonic, meh on E102 like usual, Amy's wasn't a big fan, but at least it was the end for her playthrough. Egg Viper is a whatever boss though, mainly just cause long it takes to go through the motions before you can attack again.
7. Lost World - Now here, I liked more as Knuckles, I found it a really fun stage to explore and hunt the treasure. With Sonic though, I have portions that I like, but the majority of the middle I found a slog, not really much else for me to say.
8. Casinopolis - It's pretty fun as Tails and Knuckles with their gameplay styles. With Sonic, it's okay. My main issue is that I wish there were more ways to get rings outside of pinball and the lair underneath cause it gets boring when doing it again for the A and B ranks.
9. Twinkle Park - This was boring honestly. As Amy, her slow speed and then the mirror section where it disorients you is a pain in the ass. With Sonic, it's just whatever as a stage, but a pain in the ass on his A rank. Big's was the best cause I did like the fishing stuff, and if I wanted to rush past it, I could just go catch Froggy and call it a day.
10. Sky Deck - I did not like this stage. It's bearable as Tails cause his flight, but Sonic and Knuckles absolutely not. The camera is your worst enemy on the former and the constant tilting and wide ass space is annoying on the latter. Definitely one of my least favorites.
11. Hot Shelter - My least favorite overall. Big's at least is bearable cause again, just go to Froggy. But E102 and Amy's dragggggggg. I just genuinely did not have a good time here, esp. with Amy with how long her version goes for, the hell do you mean the timer mission is 6 minutes and 30 seconds. It just feels like a poor man's Final Egg.
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played with Dreamcast patches
It's been way too long since my last review for my marathon, but now that I actually have a working laptop I can continue these. I played this back in around like 2018/19? And I remember I liked it, so I was looking forward to coming back around to this one again. Needless to say as my rating show, I really did enjoy my time through again.
Since there's an actual plot now, I'll put start putting my thoughts on them. The story here is pretty, well, it's not bad, but it's a bit messy. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles' stories feel interconnected with each other and play off each other well. Amy and E102's while I do like them, feel more disconnected in a side story sense that occasionally intervenes with the main plot, and Big (while I don't dislike him as I'll explain why) doesn't feel like he belongs to the story at all and has little impact outside of the fact that Froggy has an emerald. I like Tikal and Chaos, but I honestly find it really funny how not one of the six gives two shits about Tikal's flashbacks, like no one has a reaction really outside of "Woah! That was crazy! Anyways-".
Also, the Super Sonic chapter, while fun, I kinda wish the others had some stuff to do too as a way to bring everyone around together instead of them just only giving him the emeralds (Don't know why Big was there though, he didn't do shit in the end lol).
Which voice acting wise, I like the cast picking for most of the voices, but jesus christ you can tell they were not given good direction. I heard they didn't even get to see the context of the scenes they were recording which would explain a lot. The only i really didn't care for was Knuckles (Michael McGaharn), like outside of the memes, his voice for him (aside from unfitting) felt kinda monotone at times lol.
Now for the gameplay, since I got six different types I'm going to go over my feelings on each character individually in the order of how much I liked them.
Sonic - Honestly the best play style, I loved rushing through levels and clearing them as fast as possible. Especially when I found the spin dash jump trick, I was just speeding through levels at that point. I honestly don't have any complains with his gamestyle aside from the fact that the light speed dash is pretty hit or miss, I only really use it when necessary. I did most of his A rank missions aside from the final three stages.
Knuckles - For some reason, I used to hate his gameplay style when I first played? I have no clue why I hated it cause on this retread I actually found myself loving it. I would honestly try to challenge myself to see how fast I would find each piece before the timer ends and I loved the little trick you could pull to make the A rank stages a breeze. Did all his A rank challenges on that note. Not really any complaints here either aside from his power ups yet again like Sonic, not really using except for when I needed to like his dig.
Tails - I love speedrunning with him and finding all the ways I can just ignore the level and watch Sonic's AI just blatantly cheat. I just wish he had more stages. His powerups unlike the previous two I constantly made use of and would use, yet again, to find ways to break the level. Did all his A ranks
Big - Hot take, I didn't find Big's gameplay to be that bad. I understand the criticisms and do agree that from a plot and game standpoint, Big's is very off fitting for Sonic, however I did find myself enjoying it. I'd even spend time trying to catch as many giant fish as I could prior to getting Froggy, and if I wanted to quickly finish a level, go just grab Froggy. If anything, I'd keep Big in as like a minigame you can do instead of a main game required thing. I didn't do his A and B ranks though because I didn't feel like spending time trying to hope to god I caught a 2 ton fish
E-102 Gamma - Ehhhh, I found him boring to be honest. Thankfully it's a short story, but it was just kinda whatever. I'd just breeze through a level wwith little to no challenge and then easily defeat the bosses. I didn't really care for how slow Gamma is and as a whole his style of gameplay just didn't really interest me to be perfectly honest. I hope SA2 improves on it. Did all his A rank missions.
Amy - Hands down the worst I can't lie, I don't know how I had the audacity to put her as my third favorite and Knuckles in last place back in 2018. Now story and character wise, I like Amy, gameplay wise though, absolutely not. Her slow speed is honestly a slog, and her method of attack is just annoying. Why can't I move and hit enemies with the Piko Piko Hammer, why do I have to stop in place to do it, or even unlock maybe a moving spinning hammer attack? Even the two upgrades you get for it don't really matter much in the long run. I'm glad for the jump hammer attack and spin, but again her stages are just a bore. When I saw her A rank mission have a time limit of 6:30, like even the developers knew. Did all her A ranks though.
The bosses now, most I don't really have much to say? They're kinda the weakest part to be honest. All the character battles are pitifully easy and the reg battles are just kinda attack and wait. The only annoying part is if you die, having to wait through some of the more slower bosses like Chaos 4 or Egg Viper.
Which on that, loved the music in the Super Sonic battle, but wish it was a bit more to be honest.
The hub worlds as well, I had no issues with, but the jungle maze was a pain in the ass esp with the slow characters jesus christ I hated going up that long ass ladder with them. I just wish there was more to do in these hub zones.
Chao Garden, I played a bit with it, but not much else. I mostly just threw them at the wall or in the water to pitifully swim.
The camera also could get a bit annoying at times. I didn't have too many issues and am taking into account that this is a game from 1998, but yeesh I died quite a few times cause of it.
All in all, had a pretty good time with SA1, I'm glad I'm finally getting to start the modern era games, and I can't wait to see how they follow things up with SA2. For a stage rank
1. Speed Highway - This stage is just full fun, I love blasting through it, skipping over half the level, the music, everything. Honestly, all three characters I played through here with I had a great ass time and it's my favorite level overall. Also, god I fucking love the skyscraper run in Sonic's section holy fuck that's such a good part.
2. Windy Valley - This yet again, another stage I love rushing through. The music is really good, and going through it as Sonic and trying to beat the timer or going through as Tails and completely breaking the stage is fun. E102-Gamma's side of it, to be honest eh, but at least it's short, though it's lacking what made it so fun for me with Sonic and Tails. Honestly just a great ass stage in general.
3. Red Mountain - Another stage I loved. Playing with Sonic it was fun as hell to break on his A rank mission and with Knuckles I loved exploring for the pieces here and even accidentally finding ones I didn't intend to earlier than expected. Again with E102, didn't care too much for him, so not much to say here, but yeah fun as hell stage as well.
4. Emerald Coast - This is the lowest I've put a starting stage ranking wise so far lol. I don't dislike this stage, it's actually pretty iconic to me to be honest. Playing with Sonic that is, I love speeding through as usual and seeing how fast I can beat like I've mentioned several times before. Big's was whatever, mainly just another fishing. As always, E102 was whatever, not much to say aside from being a broken record.
5. Ice Cap - Fun stage, but to be honest I'm not a fan of the slow middle portion when playing as Sonic. To be honest, the best part here for me is the snowboarding section, the OST here is one of my favorite tracks in SA1. Big's level is just a fishing as usual.
6. Final Egg - Fine final zone. Was fun playing it as Sonic, meh on E102 like usual, Amy's wasn't a big fan, but at least it was the end for her playthrough. Egg Viper is a whatever boss though, mainly just cause long it takes to go through the motions before you can attack again.
7. Lost World - Now here, I liked more as Knuckles, I found it a really fun stage to explore and hunt the treasure. With Sonic though, I have portions that I like, but the majority of the middle I found a slog, not really much else for me to say.
8. Casinopolis - It's pretty fun as Tails and Knuckles with their gameplay styles. With Sonic, it's okay. My main issue is that I wish there were more ways to get rings outside of pinball and the lair underneath cause it gets boring when doing it again for the A and B ranks.
9. Twinkle Park - This was boring honestly. As Amy, her slow speed and then the mirror section where it disorients you is a pain in the ass. With Sonic, it's just whatever as a stage, but a pain in the ass on his A rank. Big's was the best cause I did like the fishing stuff, and if I wanted to rush past it, I could just go catch Froggy and call it a day.
10. Sky Deck - I did not like this stage. It's bearable as Tails cause his flight, but Sonic and Knuckles absolutely not. The camera is your worst enemy on the former and the constant tilting and wide ass space is annoying on the latter. Definitely one of my least favorites.
11. Hot Shelter - My least favorite overall. Big's at least is bearable cause again, just go to Froggy. But E102 and Amy's dragggggggg. I just genuinely did not have a good time here, esp. with Amy with how long her version goes for, the hell do you mean the timer mission is 6 minutes and 30 seconds. It just feels like a poor man's Final Egg.
2011
oh to be twelve years old in 2012 in the middle of my creepypasta and mlp phase again. the happy tree friends x luna game crossover series fucked hard 💃
2018
i read this long ass ago and forgot to mark it here. it was ok. i learned i have a tsui no sora sleeper agent in me because for some reason i was able to connect tsui no sora and this together and told my friend in a frenzy about it.
This review contains spoilers
imagine getting forced into a death game just cause some twink who's actually god decided to shoot you point blank I'd be mad as shit neku got patience of steel
1987
played on RetroArch
Goddamn someone was mad when they designed every dungeon in Dezolis and after. Alisa deserved to take the crown after all that, let the bitch be lavish.
Goddamn someone was mad when they designed every dungeon in Dezolis and after. Alisa deserved to take the crown after all that, let the bitch be lavish.
1996
Sonic Marathon List
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played on Retroarch
Yada yada sonic marathon entry i even played this one back in high school, didn't like it then, giving it a try now tl;dr this game fucking sucked lol, I'm so sorry for going so hard on 3D Blast now. Played through twice, first with Sonic then with Knuckles.
The only positives is some of the music is fine that's it. This game felt like you took the general blandness of Sonic Chaos and decided to just make it fugly, have bad handling, and end it off with horrible final levels.
The first three stages are pretty meh, I honestly didn't really bother with the extra life special stages and during my 2nd playthrough when I found out you don't need 50 rings to get to them, I'd just head over to the ring then rush the rest of the level. Sometimes I'd beat them right under a minute.
The problems started with the last two, Blue Marine is honest to god one of the worst Sonic levels I've played so far. I keep bitching about this with every 8bit one but holy fuck do I hate the tube shit and full underwater levels. It was one thing when Sonic 1 8bit did it considering they were copying Labyrinth Zone, but then every fucking game after kept doing it too when the 16bit ones changed up how the water levels went completely. The tube shit is just ass, it didn't work in Sonic 2 8bit, didn't work in Sonic Chaos, didn't work in Triple Trouble, and sure as hell did not work here either. It feels like a lazy way to just extend a level by throwing the player all over the place and here they made it even worse with combining it with the underwater level type.
Sonic and Knuckles already don't really control the best in this game, but underwater it's just plain horrid. They move as slow as snails which combined with the distinct lack of oxygen bubbles with a fast timer makes it very easy to die. Plus Act 2 is a labyrinth of tubes which at that point I just used a map.
The final level is annoying with how the enemies have weird hitboxes, but the pre-final boss wasn't too bad. But then the final boss is just ass, idk how the hell I did it but I somehow glitched the game and the bottom half stopped moving left and right and just wouldn't die. I get we get 99 rings but goddamn it's easy as hell to get hit with how the hitbox is right in between the two horns, you gotta time everything just right but not in a fun way like the Death Egg Robot in Sonic 2.
The special stages are pretty bad, the depth perception sucks with the 3D view they're trying and it's made even worse that the final few get veryyyy strict with the ring count. Also the screen crunch is still annoying.
Anyways yeah the game sucked. I don't get what was with the 8bit platformers, unlike the 16bit mainline ones these just never improved it felt. They stayed stuck in the three acts per zone stuff, full Labyrinth Zone style zones, the tube spam being used constantly, and never really building off the previous one as much outside of small things. It's really unfortunate, but hey what can you do. This was the last of the classic ones on my list and now it's time for the modern entries.
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played on Retroarch
Yada yada sonic marathon entry i even played this one back in high school, didn't like it then, giving it a try now tl;dr this game fucking sucked lol, I'm so sorry for going so hard on 3D Blast now. Played through twice, first with Sonic then with Knuckles.
The only positives is some of the music is fine that's it. This game felt like you took the general blandness of Sonic Chaos and decided to just make it fugly, have bad handling, and end it off with horrible final levels.
The first three stages are pretty meh, I honestly didn't really bother with the extra life special stages and during my 2nd playthrough when I found out you don't need 50 rings to get to them, I'd just head over to the ring then rush the rest of the level. Sometimes I'd beat them right under a minute.
The problems started with the last two, Blue Marine is honest to god one of the worst Sonic levels I've played so far. I keep bitching about this with every 8bit one but holy fuck do I hate the tube shit and full underwater levels. It was one thing when Sonic 1 8bit did it considering they were copying Labyrinth Zone, but then every fucking game after kept doing it too when the 16bit ones changed up how the water levels went completely. The tube shit is just ass, it didn't work in Sonic 2 8bit, didn't work in Sonic Chaos, didn't work in Triple Trouble, and sure as hell did not work here either. It feels like a lazy way to just extend a level by throwing the player all over the place and here they made it even worse with combining it with the underwater level type.
Sonic and Knuckles already don't really control the best in this game, but underwater it's just plain horrid. They move as slow as snails which combined with the distinct lack of oxygen bubbles with a fast timer makes it very easy to die. Plus Act 2 is a labyrinth of tubes which at that point I just used a map.
The final level is annoying with how the enemies have weird hitboxes, but the pre-final boss wasn't too bad. But then the final boss is just ass, idk how the hell I did it but I somehow glitched the game and the bottom half stopped moving left and right and just wouldn't die. I get we get 99 rings but goddamn it's easy as hell to get hit with how the hitbox is right in between the two horns, you gotta time everything just right but not in a fun way like the Death Egg Robot in Sonic 2.
The special stages are pretty bad, the depth perception sucks with the 3D view they're trying and it's made even worse that the final few get veryyyy strict with the ring count. Also the screen crunch is still annoying.
Anyways yeah the game sucked. I don't get what was with the 8bit platformers, unlike the 16bit mainline ones these just never improved it felt. They stayed stuck in the three acts per zone stuff, full Labyrinth Zone style zones, the tube spam being used constantly, and never really building off the previous one as much outside of small things. It's really unfortunate, but hey what can you do. This was the last of the classic ones on my list and now it's time for the modern entries.
1996
Sonic Marathon List
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played on Retroarch
Another entry in my Sonic marathon, and I'm just gonna get it out the way now, I played this as a kid on the Mega Collection Plus and didn't like it there, and now 15/16 yrs later and playing it to actually beat it, I still don't like it.
To get the positives out of the way, the music was fine. That's it.
The game itself is just boring, each stage is just kill 5 enemies, free the Flickies inside, and get to the giant ring with them to progress. There's not really anything to mix it up and it gets tiring very quickly. The visuals are not great either, sometimes they can be ok and other times we get levels like Spring Stadium which is an eyesore. The special stages are whatever, they weren't too hard but once I got all the emeralds (pretty early I may add) it left me having no reason to really explore the stage's outside of finding the trapped Flickies. Hell, a few sectors were just straight lines leading to the goal with the 5 Flickies along the way. But there's aren't the reason why I rated the game low, that goes to the controls and depth perception just making a boring below average experience into a frustrating one.
The control is horrible in this game, Sonic moves around like he's put on Land O'Lakes sponsored buttered shoes and it makes him so annoying to control.I complained about the 8bit Sonic games feeling loose, but clearly I hadn't seen the worst so far yet I was fucking stupid for saying this holy shit this was nowhere near as bad as Sonic Blast's controls. Numerous times I'd end up running into something by accident or fucking up a jump onto a platform because of this, I get they have a shadow to land your jump, but how is that gonna help when Sonic can barely keep himself from slipping and sliding once he lands.
Making this even worse is the depth perception, again I understand the shadow is there but that doesn't really help when mixed with these awful controls. Killing enemies, something that should be so simple can be a pain with trying to line Sonic up with them, causing me to just try to spam his roll instead when I could. I'd miss making jumps properly, missing a boss' hit point, and even have trouble getting up slopes that require you to land on ledges all because of the horrid depth perception plus his loose controls. The last half of the game after Volcano Valley really shows its problems with how you'll have enemies next to circular turrets that never take a rest plus floor tiles that will cause you to take damage or be forced to float in the air and unable to attack. The last two stages tested my patience because of this and was pretty much all because of these two issues.
To sum it up,a game that I was initially just going to give 2 stars for being pretty below average dropped down to a 1.5 one solely cause of the controls mixed with the depth perception made it unnecessarily annoying. No, it's a 2/5 or 4/10 whatever, after playing Sonic Blast I've looked back at this one and at least it wasn't a frustrating mess. At the very least, this game was short unlike Knuckles' Chaotix and didn't overstay it's welcome too much.
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played on Retroarch
Another entry in my Sonic marathon, and I'm just gonna get it out the way now, I played this as a kid on the Mega Collection Plus and didn't like it there, and now 15/16 yrs later and playing it to actually beat it, I still don't like it.
To get the positives out of the way, the music was fine. That's it.
The game itself is just boring, each stage is just kill 5 enemies, free the Flickies inside, and get to the giant ring with them to progress. There's not really anything to mix it up and it gets tiring very quickly. The visuals are not great either, sometimes they can be ok and other times we get levels like Spring Stadium which is an eyesore. The special stages are whatever, they weren't too hard but once I got all the emeralds (pretty early I may add) it left me having no reason to really explore the stage's outside of finding the trapped Flickies. Hell, a few sectors were just straight lines leading to the goal with the 5 Flickies along the way. But there's aren't the reason why I rated the game low, that goes to the controls and depth perception just making a boring below average experience into a frustrating one.
The control is horrible in this game, Sonic moves around like he's put on Land O'Lakes sponsored buttered shoes and it makes him so annoying to control.
Making this even worse is the depth perception, again I understand the shadow is there but that doesn't really help when mixed with these awful controls. Killing enemies, something that should be so simple can be a pain with trying to line Sonic up with them, causing me to just try to spam his roll instead when I could. I'd miss making jumps properly, missing a boss' hit point, and even have trouble getting up slopes that require you to land on ledges all because of the horrid depth perception plus his loose controls. The last half of the game after Volcano Valley really shows its problems with how you'll have enemies next to circular turrets that never take a rest plus floor tiles that will cause you to take damage or be forced to float in the air and unable to attack. The last two stages tested my patience because of this and was pretty much all because of these two issues.
To sum it up,
1995
Sonic Marathon List
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played on Retroarch
Yet another entry in my Sonic marathon, and one that before playing I heard numerous negative reviews consider this one among some of the worst Sonic games ever made. After playing for myself...I don't really understand the hate? I mean it's not great, but it's not bad either, just pretty mid.
To get the negatives out the way, 3-3 is a bit annoying with how to get the last key, the 2nd and 3rd boss can be a bit annoying with the spindash but nothing that would make me hate it, and the way to get the 6th emerald is pretty dumb. That's really about it for negatives.
Otherwise it's a mid puzzle game. Yeah, the spindash can be a bit to get used to, but I got used to it pretty quickly and outside of the two bosses I mentioned being a bit annoying I didn't have much problem with the physics or anything, especially since you can stop Sonic from bouncing all over and also set how hard you want him to accel. Outside of the one time in 3-3, I was able to find all the keys pretty easily with some searching around with 4-3 being the hardest cause the maze but even still I didn't need to look it up.
If anything the problem with the game is just that it doesn't really take advantage of the more puzzle spinoff focus of things. I could see potential in a Sonic style puzzle game where you can't necessarily rely on your speed to get you through things, it's just that the game doesn't really take advantage of that and is pretty easy to clear stages without nearly running the clock out. It's super short too, I beat it in pretty much an hour of playing in one sitting, probably less if I didn't ever tab out or anything,
So yeah, don't really get why this is so hated? As I said it does have it's problems, but nothing that made it unbearable to play through, plus it doesn't overstay it's welcome, if anything it finishes way before reaching a point of settling down. It was nowhere near the likes of something like Sonic Spinball or Knuckles' Chaotix in where I just wanted to drop the game as I played. Just a mid Sonic game that's neither great nor bad.
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played on Retroarch
Yet another entry in my Sonic marathon, and one that before playing I heard numerous negative reviews consider this one among some of the worst Sonic games ever made. After playing for myself...I don't really understand the hate? I mean it's not great, but it's not bad either, just pretty mid.
To get the negatives out the way, 3-3 is a bit annoying with how to get the last key, the 2nd and 3rd boss can be a bit annoying with the spindash but nothing that would make me hate it, and the way to get the 6th emerald is pretty dumb. That's really about it for negatives.
Otherwise it's a mid puzzle game. Yeah, the spindash can be a bit to get used to, but I got used to it pretty quickly and outside of the two bosses I mentioned being a bit annoying I didn't have much problem with the physics or anything, especially since you can stop Sonic from bouncing all over and also set how hard you want him to accel. Outside of the one time in 3-3, I was able to find all the keys pretty easily with some searching around with 4-3 being the hardest cause the maze but even still I didn't need to look it up.
If anything the problem with the game is just that it doesn't really take advantage of the more puzzle spinoff focus of things. I could see potential in a Sonic style puzzle game where you can't necessarily rely on your speed to get you through things, it's just that the game doesn't really take advantage of that and is pretty easy to clear stages without nearly running the clock out. It's super short too, I beat it in pretty much an hour of playing in one sitting, probably less if I didn't ever tab out or anything,
So yeah, don't really get why this is so hated? As I said it does have it's problems, but nothing that made it unbearable to play through, plus it doesn't overstay it's welcome, if anything it finishes way before reaching a point of settling down. It was nowhere near the likes of something like Sonic Spinball or Knuckles' Chaotix in where I just wanted to drop the game as I played. Just a mid Sonic game that's neither great nor bad.
1995
Sonic Marathon List
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played on Retroarch
Yet another game done on my Sonic marathon, and wasn't a bad one in the end all things considered! Sure wasn't like the very best, but I didn't dislike my time with it. It was ok, just needed a bit more to really hit.
A nice little simple plot to get the game started, was nice that Eggman and Sonic weren't in this letting Tails really get to shine, too bad these enemies haven't appeared again since then though considering Tails literally bombed the fuck out of them and straight up dropped a boulder on one's head maybe there's a reason lol. Either way was a nice little set up.
Gameplay was where I was a bit mixed, I like Metroidvania's but this one def did a bit too slow. Tails' default walking speed stays like that the entire game and the only way to speed up is to have a power-up which feels so counter intuitive. In fact, that's honestly my main problem with the game, having to go back and forth to Tails' house just to equip or try out new power-us is annoying more often than not. Plus, a good majority of them aren't really needed outside the bombs. I ended up only using those since having ones like the Speed Boots and Super Glove are a waste of space or ones like the Knuckles' or Large Bomb were just not that good.
Aside from screen crunch that's really all I have complaint wise, game was fine pretty much. The areas are varied, the graphics look nice, and Tails' is very bloodthirsty and possibly has connections to the Unabomber. Nice little romp that didn't overstay it's welcome, but still has room for improvement. Tbh, I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel that work out the kinks and improve on what we have here, there's very much room for potential and I could honestly see a Metroidvania style spinoff for Tails' feelings right at home for the little guy. Too bad Sega never really tried this again :/.
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played on Retroarch
Yet another game done on my Sonic marathon, and wasn't a bad one in the end all things considered! Sure wasn't like the very best, but I didn't dislike my time with it. It was ok, just needed a bit more to really hit.
A nice little simple plot to get the game started, was nice that Eggman and Sonic weren't in this letting Tails really get to shine, too bad these enemies haven't appeared again since then though considering Tails literally bombed the fuck out of them and straight up dropped a boulder on one's head maybe there's a reason lol. Either way was a nice little set up.
Gameplay was where I was a bit mixed, I like Metroidvania's but this one def did a bit too slow. Tails' default walking speed stays like that the entire game and the only way to speed up is to have a power-up which feels so counter intuitive. In fact, that's honestly my main problem with the game, having to go back and forth to Tails' house just to equip or try out new power-us is annoying more often than not. Plus, a good majority of them aren't really needed outside the bombs. I ended up only using those since having ones like the Speed Boots and Super Glove are a waste of space or ones like the Knuckles' or Large Bomb were just not that good.
Aside from screen crunch that's really all I have complaint wise, game was fine pretty much. The areas are varied, the graphics look nice, and Tails' is very bloodthirsty and possibly has connections to the Unabomber. Nice little romp that didn't overstay it's welcome, but still has room for improvement. Tbh, I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel that work out the kinks and improve on what we have here, there's very much room for potential and I could honestly see a Metroidvania style spinoff for Tails' feelings right at home for the little guy. Too bad Sega never really tried this again :/.
1995
Sonic Marathon List
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played on Retroarch
Next on my Sonic Marathon, ummm I don't really have much to say? It's like 15 minutes long, all the stages are the same. Difficult as hell tho damn they really wanted ppl to take their time with this game. Yeah that's about it, the screen crunch is annoying. I didn't hate it, but I didn't really care for it. Below average. Meh.
hey first tails solo game yayyy
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played on Retroarch
Next on my Sonic Marathon, ummm I don't really have much to say? It's like 15 minutes long, all the stages are the same. Difficult as hell tho damn they really wanted ppl to take their time with this game. Yeah that's about it, the screen crunch is annoying. I didn't hate it, but I didn't really care for it. Below average. Meh.
hey first tails solo game yayyy