I’m doing another Rom Hack review? Yes. Now shut up and read.

Background

It started with a hack of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 known as Sonic 2 Heroes. It was a hack where you took control of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all at once. It was fun, but kinda limited. It was only later that it was suggested that it merge with another hack, known as Sonic 1 and 2 (which combines both Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 into one game). Flamewing, the creator of Sonic 2 heroes, teamed up with the creator of Sonic 1 and 2, ColinC10, to create the hack that would become known as Sonic Classic Heroes.

Sonic Classic Heroes!

Gameplay

Sonic Classic Heroes (SCH) takes the gameplay of Sonic Heroes and combines it with the levels of the first two genesis Sonic games. You take control of Sonic with Tails and Knuckles following you. By pressing “A” you can switch which of the three you control. Every character has their own strengths and weaknesses. Sonic is the fastest, has an Insta-Shield that in the second it’s used extends attack range and makes Sonic invincible, and can do a Super-Peelout by pressing UP + B/C. Tails can carry Sonic and Knuckles by flying, but can’t fly forever or run as fast as Sonic. Knuckles is the slowest and can’t jump as high but he can glide, climb up walls, and break through certain walls with ease. All three characters can spindash by pressing UP/DOWN + B/Z (although Sonic will do his Super-Peelout if UP is pressed)

Levels and Cutscenes

SCH has a total of 17 Zones, each having 1-4 acts depending on the Zone.

Note: Keep in mind that these are the original Zones from Sonic 1 and Sonic 2, so I’m not critiquing the hack.

Sonic 1 Zones

Green Hill|3 acts
A great speedy and colorful opening Zone. Great music too.
Marble|3 acts
And we immediately lose all that speed with slow and tedious platforming. Bah.
Spring Yard|3 acts
A combination of the first two Zones, this one has speed but is still plagued with slow platforming. Nice music.
Labyrinth|3 acts
A very slow, uninteresting, tedious, underwater Zone. Ugh.
Star Light|3 acts
Finally some more speed! A very fast Zone with great music, this Zone rules.
Scrap Brain|4 acts
Imagine hell with buzzsaws and flamethrowers. The third act is basically another act of Labyrinth Zone, but isn’t as tedious if you take the shortcut, and the fourth acts pits you against the final boss from Sonic 1.

After a short cutscene you are taken to the Sonic 2 levels.

Emerald Hill|2 acts
A very Green Hill like level, Emerald hill is very fast and has great music.
Chemical Plant|2 acts
A very fast level with some amazing music, this is one great Zone.
Aquatic Ruin|2 acts
A fast underwater level, but if you take the upper path you won’t have to even touch the water.
Casino Night|2 acts
A casino level with pinball, speed, and more pinball.
Hill Top|2 acts
A blue and boring level, it’s still fast but even the music makes this Zone feel weird.
Mystic Cave|2 acts
A fun cave like Zone featuring the infamous spike pit which is now no longer a trap as Knuckles can climb out.
Oil Ocean|2 acts
A giant level with the entire bottom being filled with oil. I wonder what would happen if it caught fire?
Metropolis|3 acts
Dr.Eggman’s big bad base. Filled with cheaply placed enemies like Shellcrackers and Slicers, your ring count will always be at 3 at best.
Sky Chase|1 act
A very unique Zone as you’re on top of Sonic’s plane the Tornado killing enemies.
Wing Fortress|1 act
A flying ship which contains many platforming challenges.
Death Egg|1 act
The final Zone in the game, in this Zone you face off against Silver Sonic and Eggman in his giant Death Egg Robot.

SCH also has two cutscenes. When you beat Scrap Brain Zone act 4, you get the ending of Sonic 1, but the three heroes immediately look up to see the Death Egg and Wing Fortress flying by. Amy Rose, a pink hedgehog comes in with the Tornado and picks the three up and carries them to Emerald Hill Zone. If you got all the Chaos Emeralds you’d get the good ending of Sonic 1, but the Death Egg and Wing Fortress would still appear. After defeating the final boss, you get another cutscene in which Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles fall from the sky and are saved by Amy. Getting all 7 Chaos Emeralds results in the same thing except they will be in their super forms.

The 7 Chaos Emeralds

I’ve said “Chaos Emeralds” a lot haven’t I? How do you get them? That’s where special stages come in. By having 50 rings at the end of the stage, and by jumping into the giant ring, you’ll be taken to a special stage from Sonic 1. By navigating through the equivalent of an acid trip, you’ll obtain one of the 7 Chaos Emeralds (the seventh special stage is fan made, there were only 6 in Sonic 1). By having 50 rings and jumping into a checkpoint, you’ll be taken to a special stage from Sonic 2. By running through a half-pipe and getting the required amount of rings, you’ll be awarded with a Sol Emerald from Sonic Rush. By getting all 7 Chaos Emeralds you unlock the ability to go Super. By collecting 50 rings and pressing the jump button in mid air, you’ll go Super (or in Tails’ case, Semi-Super because he needs the Super Emeralds to go Super, which don’t appear in this hack). While Super, Sonic and friends are completely invincible. Each one also has a special bonus.

Upon turning Super, every Invincibility monitor becomes a “S” monitor. Upon breaking it, every character temporarily gains their Hyper form (or in Tails’ case Super form)

Geese! Overpowered much?

Menus

The hack has an autosave feature. On the save select screen, you can pick your save file, start another one, change character order, listen to the music in the sound test, change menu themes, and pick whatever level you want. There’s also standard and Combi-ring mode. Combi-ring mode tethers your characters together and you have to make use of physics to get through the levels. It’s basically like the game Knuckles’ Chaotix for the Sega 32X. Speaking of the Chaotix…

The Chaotix

Before you start a new game, you can choose between Team Sonic, and Team Chaotix. Team Chaotix features Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, and Charmy Bee. Vector can double jump in any direction, Espio’s basically like Sonic, and Charmy can’t jump, but instead dashes in any direction INFINITELY! He never gets tired and so you can just fly over the whole level!

Score

Around a 9/10. I love this hack, so much to do!

Sonic the Hedgehog. You know, I’ve heard that he can really move. He also has an attitude. But he’s also the fastest thing alive too. But he’s had some trouble. Sonic had the HARDEST time jumping into 3D, and there were only two 3D games before he would be bombarded with bad games, a laughable attempt at voice acting, and the worst reboot ever. He’s recovering now, but even Sonic Team has lost faith in themselves. They gave Sonic a run button in Sonic Lost World because they didn’t want to screw up the controls. The new Sonic Boom TV show and game is taking place in an alternate universe so that if it bombs, they can backtrack and forget about it. But the fans are what takes the cake. They’re IDIOTS. They complain about the stupidest things. They complained about Tails being unlockable in Sonic CD 2011, Sonic having GREEN EYES, and more. Not all the fans are imbeciles though. Some are pretty incredible. Most of those people are Rom Hackers. What’s a Rom Hacker? Rom Hackers are people who dig into the ROMS of games, and change the coding to make a different experience. What results from this is called a Rom Hack. These will be posted on websites (say, Sonic Retro) for people to download and enjoy. Recently, one Rom Hack caught my eye.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Color Contrast!

Sonic 1 Color Contrast (SCC) is a Rom Hack of the original Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis. As the title might suggest, color plays a large roll. Each zone has been sapped of it’s color and music, and Sonic (also colorless) has to get them back. Scattered throughout the stages are three Color Monitors, one Sonic Monitor, one Music Monitor, one Cycle Monitor (Marble Zone lacks this monitor), and in the case of Labyrinth Zone and Scrap Brain Zone act 3, a Goggles Monitor.

Each Color Monitor restores 1/3rd of the main colors. A Sonic Monitor restores Sonic’s colors and grants you an extra life. A Music Monitor restores the music to normal. A Goggles Monitor restores underwater colors. And a Cycle Monitor restores all the cycling palettes. Collecting all of the Monitors in a stage will allow you to enter a Special Stage and get one of the six Chaos Emeralds. Get all six to restore all the color in every zone. There’s more though, including a High-Jump Shield which allows you to jump higher, a Restart Monitor which takes you back to the beginning of the stage, Speed Shoes, Invincibility, and Ring Monitors.

In each zone there are two acts, Act 1 and Act 3. Act 2 is technically the Hub World. Scrap Brain Zone however, doesn’t have a Hub.

All of the level designs are different from the original game. There are some familiar sections however.

Personally, I really like exploring the expansive levels in search of the many Monitors. You also only need to find one Monitor to complete the stage. So if you don’t feel like it, completing the stage isn’t an enormous chore. There’s also plenty of room for speed. This is a great hack.

Verdict

8.4/10. Enough said. My name is JD and I’m OUT!

By the way

I don’t mean to offend anyone in the Sonic Fan base, I really like Sonic myself.