If Sonic The Hedgehog 2 was in HD . . .

[Gentlegamer]

Blog post at racketboy.com (http://www.racketboy.com/retro/sega/2007/12/if-sonic-the-hedgehog-2-was-in-hd.html)

I thought this looked pretty cool and wanted to share it with the Segaphiles. :)

[Aarzak]

I was about to chime in with a smarmy "then it'd look like it does on an emulator with an hqx filter", but then I saw that pic and thought it was badass.

[Joe Redifer]

That would rock, even though 1024x768 is not an HD resolution. Still, that picture is really cool. There are so many games I'd like to see have true HD versions like Street Fighter 2 HD Turbo. Keep the gameplay EXACTLY the same, but maybe upgrade the sound as well. If you want to change anything about the gameplay, then add a stage or two.

[AD2101]

Damn that picture went straight to my desktop background. It would be awesome if Sega did this but we know how Sega treats awesome ideas as of late.

[Rusty Venture]

Streets of Rage HD.

Original control/moves and updated SOR3-ish control/moves
Remastered Original Audio or 2007 Remix.

[Mr Smith]

Damn that picture went straight to my desktop background.
I was going to do the same, however, it would have meant removing my image of Isabella Soprano. That pic was pretty damn awesome though.

[Gentlegamer]

I want Shadow Dancer HD.

*ducks*

[Elusive]

Sonic looks deformed (ugh, the life icon has borders!), the fonts are all wrong, and it reeks of Photoshop faux-plastic filter. The flame in the mecha's jetpack is dreadful, and the lighting's all over the place (why all the light streaks?). It looks nice as a still picture, but as a moving image it would look confusing. Like watching boiled sweets bounce if you jiggled their bag.

And it's not even at a HD resolution! It's an emulator screenshot, blown-up and with less blocky sprites pasted on top! It's what every fifteen-year-old DeviantART member thinks Sonic should be like blaarg

[evildragon]

That's no emulator. o_O

[Elusive]

You take a base picture (the emulator screenshot), blow it up in your torrented copy of Photoshop, then place your own art on top, using the pixelly screenshot as a guide. Look:

http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/8225/son240xm4.th.jpg (http://img152.imageshack.us/my.php?image=son240xm4.jpg)

Almost exactly the same image. Only with less time on the clock.

[evildragon]

...and yet the pillars don't line up.

Sorry, they may have looked at an emulator, but there's nothing in that picture FROM an emulator.

[Elusive]

The pillars line up exactly, the far-left one has just been half-cut off.

My point is, HD Sonic 2 would be nice, in the same way free icecream would be nice, or being an astronaut for a day. It would also be just as likely to happen, and I like the original as it is anyway :)

[edit]haha, post 1234. Now for number 1337.

[evildragon]

They don't line up with the score board or lives counter.

[0x15e]

My point is, HD Sonic 2 would be nice, in the same way free icecream would be nice, or being an astronaut for a day. It would also be just as likely to happen, and I like the original as it is anyway :)I agree. It looks all nice and shiny but I just can't get over the feeling that if something like that were to exist, it just wouldn't feel right. Like the scrolling wouldn't be as smooth as it should (i.e., tearing, low framerate, etc.) or they'd horribly munge up the new arrangement of the music.

I just don't have the faith that modern-day Sega wouldn't just horribly mangle it.

[evildragon]

I think it could be done at a decent 60fps. A system like the original Xbox surely could do this, with no extra fancy animations. A 360, to the max.

[The Sports Guy]

Sonic looks deformed (ugh, the life icon has borders!), the fonts are all wrong, and it reeks of Photoshop faux-plastic filter. The flame in the mecha's jetpack is dreadful, and the lighting's all over the place (why all the light streaks?). It looks nice as a still picture, but as a moving image it would look confusing. Like watching boiled sweets bounce if you jiggled their bag.

And it's not even at a HD resolution! It's an emulator screenshot, blown-up and with less blocky sprites pasted on top! It's what every fifteen-year-old DeviantART member thinks Sonic should be like blaarg

Okay, if your going to modernize sonic 2, things are going to change. The font should be different and everything should be modernized. The only thing that is off in this picture is nothing. If they ported the entire game based off of the graphics of that picture, it would be tremendous.

[Sega-17]

Artistically, it looks like an awful US Genesis box art come to live. That is to say, awful.

Give the reigns to a competent artists not trained on computer effects.

[evildragon]

I think it's great, some people just aren't appreciative, and probably never will.

[Sega-17]

I think it's shit. Some people don't know what quality is, it seems, and are happy with any old crap.

HD for the sake of HD, right?

[evildragon]

Because if it's entertaining, it's fine.

I mean, you seem happy with your Genesis, well, the VDP was crap, but your still happy.

[Blaze]

It looks nice as a still picture, but as a moving image it would look confusing. Like watching boiled sweets bounce if you jiggled their bag.

should be like blaarg



word up

[Mr Smith]

I think it's shit.
You are wrong. :p

[Zebbe]

the VDP was crap

Explain, please.

[evildragon]

Explain, please.
It has been explained to death.

Among many things, it had no frame buffer. Check the other thread where they discuss about VDP's and things.

[Zebbe]

So what? You need to make the price attractive to the average customer. Everything simply just can not be included then.

[TmEE]

Nice shot of Sonic2... DC needs something like this... SRB2 is crap on it...

[Elusive]

So what? You need to make the price attractive to the average customer. Everything simply just can not be included then.

But it says High Definition Graphics! Where's the HDMI port, SEGA? Where is it?


I just don't have the faith that modern-day Sega wouldn't just horribly mangle it.

It's not that I'm aiming at. Why bother with a HD Sonic 2 in the first place? Who would benefit? It's just nerd masturbation over an idea that sounds cool, I'll give it that, but would fall totally flat in practise.

[Zebbe]

But it says High Definition Graphics! Where's the HDMI port, SEGA? Where is it?

It's on the back of your Mega Drive. It is Mega Drive graphics that is HD, not the other way around. Sega were way ahead of their time.

[Rusty Venture]

Maybe SEGA needs to figure out what the fuck they need to do with modern Sonic before they go and fiddle with classic Sonic.

[Mr Smith]

Maybe SEGA needs to figure out what the fuck they need to do with modern Sonic before they go and fiddle with classic Sonic.
Beautifully put. This post wins.

[playgen]

Maybe SEGA needs to figure out what the fuck they need to do with modern Sonic before they go and fiddle with classic Sonic.

Sonic and Mario at the Olympics seems to be selling massivley, so I'd expect some kind of sequel to that at some point.

Sega seem incapable of just making a sonic game with lots of great levels. Instead they keep inventing lots of lame characters who are far less interesting to play as. People buy sonic games to play as sonic, why can they not see this!

[Elusive]

Sonic and Mario at the Olympics seems to be selling massivley, so I'd expect some kind of sequel to that at some point.

Sega seem incapable of just making a sonic game with lots of great levels. Instead they keep inventing lots of lame characters who are far less interesting to play as. People buy sonic games to play as sonic, why can they not see this!

Uh, perhaps you play Sonic games to play as Sonic. Apparently, the people buying Sonic and Mario think otherwise.

[playgen]

Uh, perhaps you play Sonic games to play as Sonic. Apparently, the people buying Sonic and Mario think otherwise.

Well thats different, Mario is a big name character. I'm talking about the stupid characters sega keeps inventing for sonic platform games, steve the snake, turquoise the hedgehog or whatever they are called. Characters that move really slowly are annoying in a game where the idea is to run about fast. Basically sega bosses say "don't bother making the game engine work properly, who needs interesting levels or a camera that works, just put a different colour hedgehog in it, a hedgehog with even more attitude, that'll keep the fans happy!"

[Elusive]

Well thats different, Mario is a big name character. I'm talking about the stupid characters sega keeps inventing for sonic platform games, steve the snake, turquoise the hedgehog or whatever they are called. Characters that move really slowly are annoying in a game where the idea is to run about fast. Basically sega bosses say "don't bother making the game engine work properly, who needs interesting levels or a camera that works, just put a different colour hedgehog in it, a hedgehog with even more attitude, that'll keep the fans happy!"

Well, OK, fair enough. This 'burr our fans are stupid durrr' tactic must be working, although I doubt that 'sega bosses' get stuck in enough to offer any helpful hints at the programming level.

Seriously, videogames sell for a reason. Nobody has forced true blue hardcore game fans like yourself to purchase Sonic Riders at gunpoint. Maybe somebody, somewhere likes the idea of Sonic on an airboard?

Don't blame SEGA for the people buying their games!

[playgen]

I've bought several sonic games on gamecube and the like, always hoping that they will live up to the series past, but end up being dissapointed. Your right the likes of Sonic Heroes, Sonic Riders etc do sell quite well - but not massively so. I think a high percentage of those sales are to old sonic fans who buy anything with sonic on it, parents who recognise the character and kids who watch the cartoon, rather than simply selling on the merits of their gameplay.

Imagine what a hit they could have if Sega put as much care and effort into a sonic game as Nintendo did into Mario Galaxies. But the Sega of today is quite like EA, doing just enough to make money, but not really aiming to make the best games in the world, I guess that what not having your own console to support does, I miss the Sega of the Dreamcast days.

[Rusty Venture]

Sonic and Mario at the Olympics seems to be selling massivley, so I'd expect some kind of sequel to that at some point.

That is only selling because Nintendo put Mario's fat ass in that game.

Shit, they could make "Super Mario Ass Scratching" and the thing would sell three quadrillion copies simply because Mario is in it.

[Iron Lizard]

That is only selling because Nintendo put Mario's fat ass in that game.

Shit, they could make "Super Mario Ass Scratching" and the thing would sell three quadrillion copies simply because Mario is in it.

Good thing the Wii can't do HiDef. I would hate to see that in detail.

[Rusty Venture]

Comes with a special accessory for the remote so you can accurately scratch Mario's ass.

Sure to be the hottest game for x-mas 2008.

[Elusive]

I've bought several sonic games on gamecube and the like, always hoping that they will live up to the series past, but end up being dissapointed. Your right the likes of Sonic Heroes, Sonic Riders etc do sell quite well - but not massively so. I think a high percentage of those sales are to old sonic fans who buy anything with sonic on it, parents who recognise the character and kids who watch the cartoon, rather than simply selling on the merits of their gameplay.

Imagine what a hit they could have if Sega put as much care and effort into a sonic game as Nintendo did into Mario Galaxies. But the Sega of today is quite like EA, doing just enough to make money, but not really aiming to make the best games in the world, I guess that what not having your own console to support does, I miss the Sega of the Dreamcast days.

'Not massively so'? They've all gone onto the respective Platinum/Classic/whatever series for the consoles they've been released on (Riders & Heroes).

And you think the people buying them are 'old Sonic fans'? First, I'd ask who 'old Sonic fans' are - besides creepy manchildren who still unironically play Pokemon - but secondly and more importantly I'd tell that if you are an 'old Sonic fan' (or self-aware enough to call yourself an 'old Sonic fan'), Sonic Team (or whoever) is not interested in you. From what you're saying, all the 'old Sonic fans' do is complain about the 'new Sonic fans', and who wants to make games for people like that? Go to, I dunno, DeviantART, and look for the MSPaints where fourteen-year-olds and their fursonas argue with other fourteen-year-olds and their fursonas. Search for 'Sonic meme', and find out what their favourite theme song is, and what they'd ask Yuji Naka. THESE are the people buying Sonic games, not the twenty-six-year-old who snorts at the cover of Sonic Mega Collection, smugly content in owning the cartridge version. And doesn't end up buying Mega Collection anyway.

And as for Mario Galaxies: first off, Sonic and Mario games are oranges and apples. They cross over in our cocktails and in our deliciously sugary confectioneries, but an apple isn't an orange. To compare the two is unfair on both. Second, there is effort going into Sonic games, just probably not the kind you'd appreciate; Sonic 2006, for example, is an incredibly good-looking game, and it's got a fantastic, mature soundtrack (compared to the saccharine guitar of Heroes, the club beats of Riders, and the angry rock of Shadow the Hedgehog).

Not having to support a dying console means they can spend money on things, like acquiring third-party developers (they're practically the biggest publishing house in Japan right now), and creating and publishing games. Imagine the clout Microsoft would have in the market if they stopped supporting the Xbox (3 million in USD spend on RRoD errors?) and instead rolled out games for the other platforms.

So, uh, I beg to differ...?


Rusty Venture: Rest assured, someone somewhere has a migraine whilst trying to fit the Olympic Games game into the Mario canon. Along with that DDR game for the Gamecube.

[playgen]

So you think Sonic 2006 is good then?

The point is these new sonic games aren't as good as they could be. They score poorly from reviewers, yes they do sell well, but they don't have anywhere near the impact of the 16bit days. Its not like I'd complain at any modern sonic game just because its new. I loved Sonic Adventure when it came out, but sonic hasn't seemed to progress from that, infact it seems to be getting worse. Sonic games sell just like Fifa, or Need for Speed do, its name recognition, they sell no matter what the games are like.

I know Mario is a totally different game, but Sega blatently don't put anywhere near as much effort (or development time/money if you rather) into a sonic game as nintendo do in a Mario one, and I'm talking about their main games, platform ones, not the spin-offs. Sonic is Segas mascot, so sonic games should be innovative and impressive.