From: marms@python.cs.unm.edu (Mike Arms)
Subject: Re: Sonic II slowdown? [Genesis]
Reply-To: sandia!marms@unmvax.unm.edu (Mike Arms)
Organization: Sandia National Laboratories
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 03:54:50 GMT

jakem@hayden.corp.sgi.com (Jake McGowan) writes:
>I just purchased a new (non-Genesis) controller for my Sega console. I also
>just rented Sonic II. At various points during the game, Sonic and Tails
>slow way down as if they're running through water. This typically occurs in
>the Emerald Hill and Mystic Cave (?) zones in dual-play mode, seemingly
>after one of the characters bops a TV set. 

No, this isn't a problem with your controller.  This is my #1 pet peeve
with Sonic 2.  The game itself is lots of fun.  Two player Vs. Mode is
pretty fun despite the squashed graphics necessary to do it (we'll have
to live with this until Sega comes up with a Tele-Genesis so we can 
sort of Lynx-Up (tm) :-).  But the damn slowdown is a major annoyance.
The Mystic Forest levels are the worst on slowdown as it happens so
very frequently.  There are lots of thing to hit you and make you lose
rings which is part of the major slowdown.  The other is any time one player
get Fast Shoes or Invincibility.  So most of the time you are playing that
level with slowdown.  I was not pleased to find only three Zones to
compete in, plus the Special Zone.  Why not include them all?  I really
enjoy the Chemical Plant, Aquatic Ruins, Oil Slick, and Metropolis Zones
and wanted to race in those too!  Memory limitation was the problem here 
I suppose.  Wonder if they'll include all of these in the CD version.
In fact, I wonder if the increased graphics support of the Sega-CD unit
will be used to eliminate the slowdown problems.  If they really added
a lot to Sonic 2 CD in terms of more levels, usage of the CD graphics
chips, elimination of bugs (see below), better music, maybe a short
series of cartoon animation at the start and between Zones with voices
for Sonic and Tails, that might sell me on a Sega-CD right there.

Note: the slowdown does not happen in one player mode or two player 
cooperative mode.  Hah, what a joke! You can't stay together more that a 
few seconds it seems in two player cooperative mode.  I remember seeing 
the screen shots in EGM and Gamepro of Sonic and Tails racing on separate 
levels of pipes in the Chemical Plant Zone.  That's a laugh.  Must have been 
very carefully orchestrated as the paths quickly diverge and Tails would 
have to 'copter in again soon.

smb@col.hp.com (Sam Bauer) writes:
|I agree about the slowdown.  I see it with the standard Genesis controllers,
|but only noticibly during a split screen game.  It just seems like everything
|is woing into slow motion for a little while.  Do you guys find it annoying?
|It doesn't bother me in the least, aside from thinking - oh no - all of the
|Genesis bashers will love this one.

I am by no means a Genesis basher.  I first got a Genesis and later added
an SNES.  I probably have twice as many Genesis games as SNES games.  And
the only new games that I added this Christmas were for the Genesis.  But
I was very shocked by the LARGE degree of slowdown of Sonic 2 in two player
versus mode.  I find it very disrupting to the whole flow of the competition.
Our timing gets thrown way off.  The amount of slowdown in these times
is comparable with the worst slowdown on SNES games.  I found this very
disappointing especially since Sonic is Sega's flagship character.  They
needed to do much better here.  Now, I won't take Sonic 2 back.  It's still
a great game in 1 player mode.  But this disappointment in 2 player mode
of Sonic 2 and the reported problem of playability of 2 player mode in 
Road Rash 2 has me thinking that the Genesis just doesn't have the power
to handle a split-screen, two-player, fast action game.  We need lynxed
systems with separate monitors.

smb@col.hp.com (Sam Bauer) writes:
|wisner@netcom.com (Bill Wisner) writes:
|| Sonic 2 is full of bugs and it disgusts me that Sega let it go to market
|             ----
|Full seems like a strong word.  I haven't been through the whole game
|yet, but I have seen nothing that's looked like a bug to me.  It's one
|of the best games I've played.  Care to be more specific?  What should
|I be looking out for?

I have encountered a good number of bugs.  Look for areas in the Chemical
Plant Zone and the Aquatic Ruin Zone where you can jump into a seemingly
solid wall.  Instead of bouncing off, you pass through and fall down.
Sometimes you fall to the bottom of the screen and die immediately (as if
falling down a regular pit to the bottom of the screen).  Sometimes you 
just get trapped in an area with no escape.  You can't move side-to-side.
No items.  Too high to jump back out.  Nothing works so you either let
time run out or drown from lack of air if in water.  These bugs have 
happened to me with enough frequency that I recognize the area when I 
reach it and avoid doing that.  So you can work around it.  In fact,
some paths will not even present any bugs (usually staying up high is
pretty safe from this type of bug).  I've only found one such bug in
the original Sonic.  Sonic 2 just didn't seem to get the same level of
beta-testing.  I mean, my son and I encountered them on our first try
of the game.  Ah well, like I said, I can work around these.  But I
can't work around the 2 player versus mode slowdowns nor can I play the
2 player cooperative game and have much fun as it is trivial to leave
one player behind.

Conclusion: I still like Sonic 2.  If you don't own Sonic 1 but like
run-and-jump platform games, I heartily recommend buying Sonic 2.  If 
you do have Sonic 1 and loved it, Sonic 2 is worth it as it gives 
you different levels to play around in.  Buy it primarily as a 1 player 
game and think of the 2 player modes as sort-of playable add-ons.

If you are looking for a truly fun simultaneous 2 player game (IMHO),
buy Super Mario Kart [SNES].  Very good graphics, excellent
playability, a good variety of different courses (20, would have liked
more but you can't have everything in 8 Megs), drivers with different
abilities to choose from, plus the very fun Battle Mode courses.  Or
buy the obvious Street Fighter 2 [SNES].  I don't need to say a lot
about that game.  My friends and I have had a blast with the first
Ranma 1/2 [SFC/SNES].  It is another SF2 type game with characters from
the Ranma 1/2 anime and manga.  Reports indicate that the second
Ranma 1/2 [SFC/SNES] game is larger, has different controls, and is
also quite fun.

That is curious.  So far, the SNES has outperformed the Genesis when it
comes to 2 player, fast action games.  The good 2 player Genesis games
that I can think of are Streets of Rage 1 & 2, Toe Jam And Earl, and
the several EA sports games (which are better on Genesis than SNES).
But none of these are fast action (except maybe EA's NHL/NHLPA Hockey
games but they are not all that fast really).  This is not meant to be
a flame.  It's just something that I now observed.  Let's hope that
Sega can reverse this trend with future Genesis games (i.e. without
having to resort to Sega-CD only features or punt and go with a 32-bit
system).

-- 
Mike Arms
Editor of Encounter magazine
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