Hidden Palace, playable in Sonic 2 for iOS/Android

Not sure if already posted, but just read that Hidden Palace Zone will be officially playable in Sonic 2 after updating the iOS/Android version of the game.

I feel kind of excited, honestly.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...vel-restored-in-sonic-the-hedgehog-2-remaster

 

So so so excited.

 

I only discovered how to unlock the level after I'd played well past that point. Going to have to carry on and finish it now in order to get the choose zone menu.

I won't ruin it for those who want to find out where the zone is on their own, but I have to say it's very very cleverly hidden.

 

Great news, this game was a pretty big part of my childhood and its nice to see it get a proper remaster, looks like my ouya is going to get abit of use this xmas

been waiting for this since november.....highly recomend these versions of the original sonic games. they are proper ports instead of emulation


Can't wait to see what they have done to HPZ, while it might not be the 100% official level (it was 21 years ago) its the closest we will ever get to playing an officially completed version. hope they make the water slides work

 

I wonder if it's possible for someone to rip the ROM so we can play this on official mega drive hardware? Regardless I'll be buying this on android today.

 

So you're planning on sideloading this, considering it's not coming out on Ouya?

No, because it's an actual port of the game running on the same engine as the Sonic CD port, not an emulated ROM.

 

Yeah, i'm going to sideload it. Sonic 1 works perfectly on it so i hope to assume the same can be said for 2, i would buy it if they put it on the ouya store (both episodes of Sonic 4 are on there)


Worst to the worst i have a crappy android phone with a tiny screen, but its rooted so i can use my DS3 for the controls....such a shame these arent getting console releases though

 

nevermind, pointless post lol

 

Have bought an downloaded this and am well looking forward to the zone - although from what I just read above do you have to unlock the level some how?

I thought it would have just been a carry on zone from a previous zone?

 

There is a secret entrance somewhere.

 

As with Sonic 1 level select is go to no save mode and quickly press the letters A, G, E and S and maybe S, E, G and A when the SEGA Logo comes up chimes will confirm then at the title screen press / slide the screen with two (fingers or thumbs) and the level select will appear. But unfortunatly when you try and go to Hidden Palace zone it won't let you grrr.


EDIT - In level select you press play on song *00* 3 times to bring up the gme config lets you choose the player, item boxes in the games as with Sonic 1 on IOS and Android it lets you add sonic 3 boxes in the game (flame sheild etc), flight on and off and air cap on and off.

 

I downloaded this today for Android and have tried it on my notepad, nexus 7 tablet and phone. Playing on the phone is a pain because my fingers cover too much of the screen and using a bluetooth controller on a phone is a pain. Playing it on the Nexus 7 and notepad is fantastic though. We worth buying.

 

Interesting to see, although shame it's on such crappy hardware for actually playing.

 

That's the major problem with touch screen games, I can't see what I fucking doing. No idea how some people play on their phones all day with seeing 80% of it.

 

To be fair, lack of screen estate is most heavily a problem with games that aren't made for touch-screens (e.g. the Sonic ports), far more so than games specifically designed for the platform.

With that said, though, I completely agree. Combined with not being able to see some of the screen, there's also the fact that most all smartphones don't fucking HAVE buttons usable for these sorts of games, leaving you with no feedback on what you're pressing, so you either have controls as small as possible making games more of a precision nightmare than ever before but with thumbs taking up minimal screen space, or they're made larger to ease control at the cost of thumbs taking over a good chunk of the screen (or for games that support controllers you could a) get a Wiimote to use but sacrifice being able to hold the actual phone while playing, or b) drop what is frankly far too goddamn much money [~$35-50] on a made-for-smartphones controller... but keep in mind not all games will support these controllers). So for these types of games, you're not far from fucked in your control options*.

Let's take iOS Sonic CD on an iPhone as an example: while the port itself is well programmed (props Taxman), attempting to play it on an iPhone 4s screen was just futile. The D-pad is probably the tiniest D-pad there ever was, so it's far too easy to make jumps too short or to duck/look up instead of running, or what have you. On a real D-pad, I can keep my left thumb on it and be able to "slide" it over to the opposite direction if I need to, but this seamlessness is almost entirely lost with touchscreen controls.

I also keep my thumb on (or at least right near) the jump button(s) when playing Sonic games with an actual controller, ready to jump at a moment's notice (which is fairly important for Sonic), but now I've gotta keep my right thumb away enough from the button to ensure I don't press it accidentally; and then when needing to jump I need to press down on the screen hard enough to ensure I've hit the button, lift it up from the screen/move it aside, then lift my thumb and press it again to jump again.

My comparisons to how I'd play Sonic on an actual controller may sound like minor issues, but really the touchscreen massively changes the way a Sonic game is played without changing the game itself to address this, which means it's crap to play. Ditch this bullshit. The touchscreen controls in Mario 64 DS are way fucking better in comparison, because at least there you had physical action buttons and a comfortably large movement radius on the bottom screen, which doesn't interfere with the view of actual gameplay.

What really slays me about the iOS port of Sonic CD though, is how goddamn arrogant some of its fans are (who, let's face it, are entirely the same people that are so goddamn arrogant about the original Sonic CD). I bring up what I like to think are valid complaints about the control, and I get grossly condescending rebuttals wondering how I "could be perplexed about touch screen gaming on mobile devices in this day and age". Classy.

Let's finalize this with a question in closing, and I'm legitimately wondering this; I'm not trying to be snarky or ask a loaded question here: why is it that the smartphone Sonic ports (particularly CD) are widely given such a huge a pass on controls, when other ports of games get their shit called out on that front (and usually rightfully so)?

*: if anyone's wondering about me forgetting those piece of shit "controllers" that are essentially $20 suction cups with lumps of plastic glued onto them: yeah, no. I'm not even going to dignify those as a respectable means of control input.

 

It supports gamepads (well the android version does), i've been using a sixaxis for both 1 and 2 and it plays like a dream


On that note, has anyone found a level select code yet. IIRC it was up, down, left, right at the title screen for the re-release of sonic 1 but it doesnt seem to work here

 

Select No Save mode and after Sonic finishes running past the SEGA logo, tap the S, E, G, A and you should hear the ring sound like in the classics. Hold two fingers on the screen then and there you go.

Also I love where they put the entrance to HPZ. It's as if they knew we would still fall down there. Also, the boss drags on too much IMO. You could tell it was made after the classics since it seems a little gimmicky. Also sad how it doesn't use #10 for the music and there is no Super Sonic cutscene like they were thinking of back then.

 

I was playing this on the big TV yesterday and man, it's great. If you can get a TV out device for your phone / tablet (if they suport the option), then get a bluetooth controller ( a Wii or PS3 controller will do) and get ready for the ultimate Sonic 2 experiance!

 

This. All of it.

 

I heavily expect this is change now that apple has a controller API for iOS that works well and has easy access through the lightening port. Hopefully we will see something for android as well that can be adapted to all devices.