Which Sonic should I download? - The Virtual Console Forums

Shortay

20th July 2007, 07:10 PM

Well since Sonic 2 has been farely recently made available for download in the EU, I'm not sure which of the Sonics to download!

Should I get Sonic 1, 2 or wait for the 3rd!

Thanks for the help!

Jazzem

20th July 2007, 08:11 PM

Multipage debate lies ahead :P

My personal favourite is Sonic 2, but it was one of my first/favourite games back in the day. It has the best level design (Although all three games are good for it), most charm and best 2 player. Plus it's a little longer than Sonic 1/3 (I think anyway, it has more levels at least).

Wait for a few more opinions first, as it's a topic open to debate, but while they're all very good games, 2 is the best if you ask me. Plus, we're not really sure what the situation is regarding the Sonic & Knuckles lock on technology, so it's pretty sticky.

Heck, why not download 'em all? :P

Shortay

20th July 2007, 08:15 PM

I would yes, but I don't have any Wii points :cry: So I'll be lucky to get 800 for one:(

crops55

20th July 2007, 09:03 PM

If it must only be one, I would go with Sonic 2. Bigger challenge and bigger levels. The addition of the spin dash (?) adds alot more speed to the game which is what the series is all about. If you can only get one get 2 but don't let the first one go overlooked for too long because it is still an excellent game in it's own right.

Oh and it is also highly debatable that Sonic 2 has the best music in a video game ohhhh I dont know, EVER?

And by the by, if you scroll down in the Megadrive thread list, there is already a Best Sonic debate. I probably would have started there to find out the answer to your question, so it may be wise to move it to that thread. (That is if "they" don't force you to anyway.) Words to the wise!

ICEknight

20th July 2007, 09:18 PM

I'd go for Sonic 2, because it's much longer and has a 2-player mode.

And because I've talked with some of its developers. [/brag]

Jazzem

20th July 2007, 09:23 PM

I'd go for Sonic 2, because it's much longer and has a 2-player mode.

And because I've talked with some of its developers. [/brag]

Tell me more, tell me more! :P

ICEknight

20th July 2007, 09:39 PM

I got in contact with many of the level artists and interviewed them, some time ago. And I also met one of them in person for an improvised picnic.

I'd add a link to the interviews at my site, but it's currently down for some reasons I ignore. When it's up, this is the address: http://www.sonicdatabase.tk

kelvingreen

23rd July 2007, 10:30 PM

Sonic 2 definitely. It's bigger, faster and better looking than the original, and the third game didn't really improve on it.

SegaFan

27th July 2007, 03:51 PM

It's 1 vote against 10 at the moment but I say Sonic 1 is better. Sonic 2 improves on a lot of things of course but there is something special about the original missing in the 2nd game. They're both worth getting though, although I'd suggest getting Sonic Mega Collection for Gamecube instead of the VC downloads, then you'll have them all and they run at full speed in PAL 60Hz.

ICEknight

27th July 2007, 04:17 PM

I'd suggest getting Sonic Mega Collection for Gamecube instead of the VC downloads, then you'll have them all and they run at full speed in PAL 60Hz.
Yeah, really. Playing at 50Hz as in the VC really sucks.

Specially for Sonic 1 and its tediously slow PAL music.

kelvingreen

27th July 2007, 10:32 PM

Personally, I've never had much of a problem with the 50hz/60hz distinction, and Sonic 2 runs quite fast enough at 50hz to keep me happy.

Jazzem

27th July 2007, 11:14 PM

Personally, I've never had much of a problem with the 50hz/60hz distinction, and Sonic 2 runs quite fast enough at 50hz to keep me happy.

Ditto'd. Heck, maybe for nostalgia reasons, I think I prefer it in 50Hz!

SegaFan

28th July 2007, 10:46 AM

It's not bad in 50Hz when you're used to it, it only seems really slow in the first few moments when you go down from playing it in 60Hz to 50Hz, you soon forget about it after a level. But preferably you'd want 60Hz.

Pit 42

30th July 2007, 05:44 PM

I think that Sonic 1 is much better than 2, but that's just me.

mixer152

30th July 2007, 05:55 PM

I love Sonic 2 until I get up to Oil Ocean and the stages after that. Then it really starts gettin annoying.

coire

31st July 2007, 08:50 PM

I'm Most familiar with The first Game , But the Second Game is very good.

Pocketim

3rd August 2007, 09:44 PM

The Third One connected to Sonic and Knuckles is the best

wychwood_drinker

7th August 2007, 12:42 PM

i prefer sonic over sonic 2. but that might because it was the first game i ever owned.

sonic 2 added the spin witch is very helpful. and constantly leaving tails in the dust in 1 player mode is amusing. but they got rid of the spining mazes in the bonus stages. :(

serpent_01

7th August 2007, 11:28 PM

Sonic 2 is waaayy beter.

love

11th August 2007, 06:56 PM

The second is definetly harder, if anything. I'm stuck on the 4th level! It depends whether you want to throw the remote out the window in frustration or not.

yoshi175

11th August 2007, 07:32 PM

The second is definetly harder, if anything. I'm stuck on the 4th level! It depends whether you want to throw the remote out the window in frustration or not.

I find the second one a lot easier...

kelvingreen

12th August 2007, 07:46 PM

I find Sonic 2 much easier than the first one. The only time I have any trouble is with the boss on the Sky Chase Zone. Very tricky.

tim

18th August 2007, 05:19 PM

Yeah, really. Playing at 50Hz as in the VC really sucks.
Specially for Sonic 1 and its tediously slow PAL music.

I have never understood this pal 50hz and 60hz thing. At first I thought 50hz was a thing of the old pal TVs from a few decades ago or something but to hear about VC running in 50hz instead of 60hz in this day in age is confusing. If you have 60hz why do you still use 50hz?

Anyways Sonic 2 is probably the best. Sonic 3 started to loose the Sonic charm and Sonic 1 doesn't feel quite right without the Spin Dash. I have sonic 2 right now. If I ever felt like getting another sonic game I would probably get #1

kelvingreen

19th August 2007, 10:59 AM

I have never understood this pal 50hz and 60hz thing.
Me neither. The way some people go on about it, you'd think it renders all games unplayable.:rolleyes:

yoshi175

19th August 2007, 02:47 PM

I can't actually tell the difference beetween 50Hz and 60Hz, I tried both on gamecube but ti's just the same ...

ICEknight

19th August 2007, 05:29 PM

I have never understood this pal 50hz and 60hz thing. At first I thought 50hz was a thing of the old pal TVs from a few decades ago or something but to hear about VC running in 50hz instead of 60hz in this day in age is confusing. If you have 60hz why do you still use 50hz?
You're right. It just makes no sense that gaming systems today are still using 50Hz for anything.

Me neither. The way some people go on about it, you'd think it renders all games unplayable.:rolleyes:
It renders them slower, don't you know?
Just take a look at this comparison: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0llsb77Esc

kelvingreen

19th August 2007, 05:58 PM

It renders them slower, don't you know?
Of course I know the difference, I just don't understand why people are so bothered by it. It seems like a petty hang-up to me, but it's hung over the gaming industry for years.

As for Sonic, it's a bad example, I reckon. If you take a look at Sonic 2, the 50hz version runs very fast indeed, so I'd guess the conversion was just a bit choppy on the original. Mega Drive SFII also ran with barely any slowdown, despite much moaning at the time from Sega Power. ;)

ICEknight

19th August 2007, 10:30 PM

As for Sonic, it's a bad example, I reckon. If you take a look at Sonic 2, the 50hz version runs very fast indeed, so I'd guess the conversion was just a bit choppy on the original.
No, it has exactly the same speed difference. Only the music was fixed.

kelvingreen

19th August 2007, 11:11 PM

In that case, I don't want to play an NTSC Sonic 2, as the PAL version runs at a perfectly playable speed for me.

Ashdude

20th August 2007, 06:19 AM

Go with Sonic 2. It supports 2 players and it is a little more detailed (gameplay wise) than Sonic 1.

yoshi175

20th August 2007, 07:47 AM

You're right. It just makes no sense that gaming systems today are still using 50Hz for anything.

It renders them slower, don't you know?
Just take a look at this comparison: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0llsb77Esc

The only difference I see is the music on there

Joxe

20th August 2007, 10:20 PM

The music in the PAL version was really slow compared to the NTSC one. It's harder to see the slowdown in speed without comparing them next to each other.

mixer152

23rd August 2007, 08:07 PM

I only realised the speed difference when I discovered emulators and played NTSC games. It makes Sonic 1 on PAL seem like snails pace.

kelvingreen

26th August 2007, 09:28 PM

But again, Sonic had a really bad conversion. Other games, like Sonic 2, had much smoother NTSC to PAL conversions, and run at a much more sensible speed.

Ashdude

27th August 2007, 02:43 AM

I've heard that PAL has a higher resolution than NTSC, so the graphics should have shown up better on the PAL systems.

But anyway, thank God for digital TV's! :D

kelvingreen

27th August 2007, 11:38 AM

Yes, sort of. A PAL signal has more lines than an NTSC signal, so technically it's a better quality image, but when it comes to converting from NTSC (as most video games are), the traditional method is to keep the picture the same size, which leaves black borders at the top and bottom of the screen (those are the extra leftover lines that NTSC doesn't use).

Complicating matters is the fact that NTSC refreshes the screen a touch faster than PAL (this is the 50hz vs 60hz distinction). A good conversion can alleviate most of the problems, but some, like the first Sonic, are quite choppy.

In theory, with the advent of HD digital TV sets, the PAL/NTSC distinction isn't a problem any more, as there's more or less an international standard. However, retro gaming still suffers, unless time and money is spent optimising the old games to take advantage of the new standards.

ICEknight

28th August 2007, 03:58 PM

But again, Sonic had a really bad conversion. Other games, like Sonic 2, had much smoother NTSC to PAL conversions, and run at a much more sensible speed.
Both run at the same (slower) speed, it's just the music that was fixed. Jeez, don't you read the replies or what?

Also, to my knowledge, every single PAL MegaDrive game runs slower than the NTSC versions. I don't think any developers ever made game speed optimizations for this system.

ICEknight

28th August 2007, 04:07 PM

retro gaming still suffers, unless time and money is spent optimising the old games to take advantage of the new standards.
They don't need any time nor money to put the VC games running at a decent speed in Europe. They precisely spent that in making the emulator run slower, intentionally.

In order to play the NTSC versions, they'd just have to allow us to download them from the US or Japanese VC services. Simple as that.

kelvingreen

28th August 2007, 08:18 PM

Both run at the same (slower) speed, it's just the music that was fixed. Jeez, don't you read the replies or what?
Easy tiger!

What I mean is that while both games run slower than their NTSC cousins, Sonic 2 runs marginally slower, while the first game is a really bad conversion, and runs a lot slower. I'm not going to dispute that they both run slower, but to say that Sonic 2 is as slow as the first game is just plain wrong.

Also, to my knowledge, every single PAL MegaDrive game runs slower than the NTSC versions. I don't think any developers ever made game speed optimizations for this system.
I mean for the VC. I believe that some games are being optimised for release, and there's no reason why that can't apply to MD releases.

The shoemaker

16th September 2007, 04:23 PM

jackaroo

16th September 2007, 04:37 PM

Well I noticed the music and the title screen is slower. but I don't have the pal whatever thing is it only in Europe? But now I hope someone will answer this question. have sonic 1 should I get #2 is it a lot better?

YES YES YES!!!!!! Get Sonic 2. If you miss out on number 2 then you dunno what your missing. If you like the first you will like the second SOOOOO Much more. Longer, Better Looking Levels. Spindash. Super Sonic. 2 Characters (Sonic & Tails but they are identical. Tails cant fly in this unfortunatly.). 2-Player mode which will provide plenty of entertainment. Better Special Stages. Harder Bosses. More Challenging Levels. Better Gimmicks. 2 Different Modes For 2-Player (All Items and Teleport Only).

All these make for a better game. And this game remains today my Favourite Game of all time.

The shoemaker

17th September 2007, 11:46 PM

cool. but in 1-player are you always with tails? does he help in any way?

jackaroo

18th September 2007, 08:12 AM

cool. but in 1-player are you always with tails? does he help in any way?

He can help in some ways but in the special stages he will mostly be in your way. However press down twice on the Title screen to find the Options option. Select this and you can choose between "Sonic & Tails", "Sonic Alone" or "Tails Alone". However like i said before there is no difference between Sonic and Tails since tails cant fly here. But this game is a Must.

kelvingreen

18th September 2007, 06:58 PM

cool. but in 1-player are you always with tails? does he help in any way?
Tails will collect rings as he follows you, and if you get hit and drop your rings, he picks up a few as you're recovering. The most useful thing with Tails though is that a second player can control him, which comes in very handy on special stages and boss battles. Bosses are made much easier, as Tails cannot die, so all Sonic has to do is stay out of danger, and Tails can fight the boss. Doesn't work for the final three bosses though, as Tails is gone by that point.