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.

Super Knuckles runs faster, jumps higher, and glides faster.

Semi-Super Tails runs and flies faster.

Super Sonic runs faster, jumps higher, and can do a double jump in any direction

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)

Hyper Sonic gets even faster and when he double-jumps he knocks out every enemy on the screen!

Hyper Knuckles is faster than Super Knuckles and when he grabs onto a wall after gliding he knocks out every enemy on the screen.

Super Tails is faster than Semi-Super Tails and he has his FLICKY ARMY OF DESTRUCTION! These buggers attack anything on the screen for you!

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.

Mega Man Unlimited. A fan game made by MegaPhilX which took the gameplay style of the 8-bit Mega Man games and ampliphied it. Originally called “Mega Man 10”, the name was changed when Capcom released an actual Mega Man 10. MegaPhilX created something that cannot be described with words, and here I am, attempting to do just that.

The Story

MMU’s story involves 8 robots claiming to work for the notorious villain Dr.Wily wrecking havoc. But Dr.Wily, forced out of his own castle, swears that he didn’t intend for this to happen. Dr.Light (Mega Man’s creator) agrees to help find out what happened. While doing so a mysterious figure rushes in and kidnaps Dr.Wily, with Mega Man going after him as well as the rouge robots. After defeating 4 of the Robot Masters, Dr.Light discovers that some sort of virus is completely re-writing the code of the robots, and that said virus spreads the same way a common cold would. Mega Man races off to stop the other four Robot Masters, with Dr.Light wondering why Mega Man hasn’t been infected with the virus. Upon defeating the other Robot Masters, Proto Man (Mega Man’s elusive brother) contacts Dr.Light to inform him that he’s discovered where Dr.Wily is being held captive, but before he finishes his message, he is attacked. Mega Man goes to Proto Man’s last location, which used to be Wily’s new castle before he was kidnapped. Upon conquering most of it, Mega Man encounters Bass (Mega Man’s rival who was built by Dr.Wily), along with a defeated Proto Man. Proto Man, infected with the virus, tries to destroy Mega Man. Mega Man defeats him, curing Proto Man of the virus. Mega Man chases after Bass, who reveals that HE was the one who kidnapped Dr.Wily. Upon defeating him, something huge rams into Bass, and is being controlled by Dr.Wily. Dr.Wily admits that HE created the virus, but it backfired. Dr.Wily proceeds to fight Mega Man in his new Wily machine, but ultimately fails. Dr.Wily flees however, and Mega Man falls down a pit. Mega Man traverses a tightly sealed area, and finds a capsule containing a robot. The robot breaks out, and this is the point where any Mega Man fan squeals with joy, as the robot is a prototype Zero. Zero proceeds to challenge Mega Man, but Mega Man can’t even touch Zero, and Zero eventually wins. Mega Man’s arm is knocked off, but Zero collapses due to his incomplete state. Wily grabs Zero and leaves, leaving Mega Man behind as he sets the castle to self-destruct. Mega Man barely makes it out, but collapses right next to the exploding fortress. Bass, wanting to get revenge on Wily for claiming he had no purpose due to Zero, saves Mega Man. Dr.Light repairs Mega Man and everyone celebrates.

The Gameplay

MMU’s gameplay is widely based on Mega Man 3’s. This means Mega Man can slide, but can’t charge his buster. Everything else is what you would expect from a Mega Man game. There’s bolts, a shop, E-tanks, it’s all here. But what about the weapons? Oh how I love the weapons in this game. They’re so useful. The Nail Shield can take several hits, blocks projectiles, and it can be used as a shield piercing projectile. The Jet Missile is incredibly fast, and when charged up can home in on enemies. The Glue Shot creates platforms and can freeze enemies in place. The Comet Dash makes Mega Man completely invincible as he dashes through enemies. The Rainbow Beam does rapid damage and has a large radius. The Nitro Blast is incredibly powerful and pierces shields. The Yo-yo Cutter can fire in 8 directions and can run up walls. The Tank Arsenal fires 3 projectiles at once. They’re all great. As for the controls, they’re solid. I always feel like I’m in complete control, and that there was never a moment where I lost track of myself. I also really like how they handled the slide. You can still press down and jump to slide, but this game gives you the option to map it to one button. This allows you to slide repeatedly much easier. Gamepads are also supported.

The Music

As for the music, it’s top notch. Lot’s of great tracks, including an 8-bit remix of the X vs Zero theme from Mega Man X5. Just listen for yourself.

Secrets! Shhhhh!

Mega Man Unlimited likes to throw a few secrets at you. For one there’s a secret 9th Robot Master named Yoku Man. You unlock this stage by collecting the 4 hidden letters scattered throughout the stages. His stage is very hard though, as his stage is focused around the disappearing blocks (also known as Yoku blocks) the series is known for. Towards the end of the stage is a maze, and overall is very long. Yoku Man himself is also tough. He teleports around, makes Yoku blocks appear, and can spawn spikes. I recommend fighting him with the Nitro Blast, but DON’T use it when he’s on the ground next to spikes, as it won’t do any damage and you’ll waste weapon energy. You don’t need to beat Yoku Man to beat the game (however you do fight him in the boss rush, in that case use his weapon against him), but his weapon is awesome. The Yoku Attack sends out shadowy clones of Mega Man that home in on enemies and items, and in the case of items, it brings them back to you. There’s also a 3% chance when you enter the shop that Roll will be replaced by Shampoo from Ranna 1/2 according to MegaPhilX’s website. Sometimes the music on the title screen will change as well.

Overall Score

This is an awesome fan game. I’m surprised Capcom didn’t officially fund this like they did with Street Fighter X Mega Man. If I had to give it a score, I’d say a 10/10 overall. This is a masterpiece and I encourage you to play it yourself.

Link

http://megaphilx.com/