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Sonic AM2

General Information

Belated Sage 2021 epilogue:
And a 1,000 Sonic fans wondered, 'why doesn't Sonic spin jump?' And 995 were heard to have uttered, '@!#?@! inverted mouse controls!?'

In all seriousness, I actually had quite a bit of fun this being my first Sage, so thanks to everyone who gave feedback, posted playthrough videos (some of it was enlightening), and those who put up with all the discord associated with looking for at least one classic sonic move. :)

Posted a small update for posterity, so at least people who find it post Sage will have normal mouse control options if so desired (more details at the bottom update section). See you next Sage!


Hello and welcome to my first Sage demo Sonic AM2! Some things are still a little early, but I still wanted to share it and be a part of this year's Sage experience.
Initially inspired by the question of what would a sonic AM2 arcade game be like if Yu Suzuki and friends tried to make a more traditional Sonic inspired arcade outing in the 90's (maybe more like the Top Skater Series), instead of the Sonic the Fighters game we ended up getting.

As such I bring you:

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You are getting Sonic the Fighter but now it's a platformer vibes...I command you to get AM2 Sonic platformer vibes...

While it's got some of those roots still in place, it kind of evolved in my mind from simple arcade delights to 'what if all the uncles who secretly worked at Nintendo also had a top secret super powerful AM2 home console that could play full on platformers?' (No, don't expect me to explain the brand politics of that statement). Right now it's a bit of combination of the two, and while the demo is just a small contained area, in my mind it lends itself well to a possible full on genesis-era type adventure.

Anyway, on to the basic game details!

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You don't need no stink'n analog controller! (In my day we used rocks and we thought that was pretty cool...)
Controls:

Currently still learning unreal engine, so more of a showpiece for the lo-fi/hi-res style at present (and a chance to get familiar with the engine really), so a more robust sonic physics engine will have to wait at the moment (it is a future goal I have, but out of scope for this year's SAGE). As it stands, controls are a pretty lack-luster mouse and keyboard setup (w,a,s,d - movement, mouse - camera control, space - jump, ctrl- pause). But after using it during the last couple of months, I think there is still entertainment to be had here once you get use to...err... floaty first person shooter controls for what hopes to be a platformer.

Goals:
Goal one, get to the classic sonic end stage sign! It is not difficult!

Goal two, find and destroy five Eggman projectors ala Sonic CD. Will there be a reward for your efforts? Um......yes, you get to play videogames instead of other existentially taxing things.

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Hmm... Is that everything? Almost, I guess the one other thing you should be aware of is....water running.

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For those who haven't heard, Sonic still can't swim. So while you can run on the death liquid while your speed is up, if it gets below a certain velocity... well, sonic gives up on life pretty fast. Also running on water gradually slows you down...so keep that in mind as well with your water treading shenanigans. Happy travels!

Media:

More media to make the booth look more professional! Here are the screenshots that would have gotten me pretty excited if I saw them in a Gameplayers or EGM issue back in the day.... (note: screenshots are taken from early version and subject to change)


screenshot-1.png screenshot-2.png screenshot-3.png

System Requirements:

??? 64-bit Windows is what it's compiled for, and that's pretty much all I got for ya. You guys will have to help me out with this one. It runs fine on my computer (which has a high mid-grade graphics card), but as far other cards are concerned..... Let me know. O_o I hope it works fine, (I mean the sonic model has as many polygons as PS1 Crash Bandicoot for crying out loud), but again, as this is my first Unreal Engine game, I'm sure I will learn better how to optimize code and graphics as time goes on and who knows what other programing sins are afoot.

Special Thanks:

Sonic Team, Sega of course, but also the entire Sonic Fangame and Mod Community. (multiple assets from Spriters-Resource.com and it sister Sounds-Resource.com we're used). Also props to the developers at Unreal Engine, it's really cool that any person who wants to (and a decent computer) has access to such a robust set of powerful tools. Anyways, enjoy, I had fun, and please let me know what you think!

Build Update History
9-2 - Main update: can choose between normal or inverted controls. 'These aren't the controls people are looking for', but at least you won't have to completely rewire your muscle memory if inverted isn't your default. Can change at anytime in the Left Ctrl pause menu.
- Sonic desire to ascend to the heavens has been greatly mitigated. (frequent glitch of sonic not returning to landing pose has been greatly improved)
- The stupid two-ring glitch has been cleaned up (hopefully eradicated). This one irked me the most actually, because, it didn't use to be there and I don't really know what caused it to happen. (I didn't put them there I swear. O_o)
- No zero live glitch on skipping game-over music.
- And a few other small things...that likely broke other things in the process. Oh well, probably more advantageous to work on something else for a few months and come back with fresh eyes I think. So if you find more errors, feel free to report....but it's likely a wrap for this version of the game. Thanks again everyone!


8-22 - Brought to my attention that 100 rings didn't give you an extra life, I was really hoping I didn't actually have 100 rings in the level, but alas he's right, not getting a 1-up for your 100 ring efforts is just not sonic is it? Well no more! Theoretically if you got a million rings it still should give you your extra life at the proper increments (not tested, don't quote). Also added some point rewards to various events (projectors and baddies) and changed the 'press any button' tag, because unintentionally that was a lie...

8-21 - The zingers weren't moving, how didn't I noticed that before? They just kind of stared into their own souls unless you provoked them. Now they stare into their own soles while wandering about a bit like I thought they were when I first uploaded. Also, they're now just a bit more aggressive in general and eggman wants you to take things up a slight notch. Cheers!

Latest reviews

Ok, so things I want to say I find good about this fan game. The concept itself is pretty neat. I may not play a lot of arcade games, but having played stuff like SA2, a arcade platformer Sonic game sounds like an obvious choice. Like Sonic Rush 3d, the fact the game does use a more low-poly look does give it some charm.

And now the downsides. What I will say before going into them is that this is a very early demo. I feel with certainty that this will be improved as the game is developed.

Downside 1. Sonics model. According to the person who made this, Sonics model has around 732 or 532 polygons, like Crash Bandicoot does. While this is a higher polygon count that Sonic Rs model, there are ways it looks iffy. The main idea for the fan game is if AM2 made a platformer, so I believe this can be resolved with either just using the fighters model, or remodeling Sonic to more closely resemble that model.

Downside 2. Textures. I'm not gonna lie. Some of the texturework is pretty poor. This is mostly for things that are just a flat color. Such as the water, and what I assume is supposed to be bits of sand in the water. The parts in the early part of the level that are properly textured though, look pretty good.

Downside 3. Attacking. So, it isn't as bad as Bubsy 3d, heck I don't know of a 3d platformer with worse hit boxes than Bubsy 3d, but Sonic has to jump on top of an enemy like he's Mario to attack. I know the person who made this game probably hasn't managed to figure how to do the spin jump yet, but in a substantial update, I expect Sonic to be able to do so, which can allow for him to do things like jump and attack the bee robots from underneath, instead of needing to find floating platforms to give him the height to jump on them.
my list rank = 3th. the game itself is very good. the game is a bit laggy on my pc, but it is a minor problem.

Comments

Hi there. I had just tried out Sonic AM2, and i want to say this. 1, I have no idea what am AM2 thing is. 2nd, I do think this demo is neat. But, what I hope for later on is that as the game progresses, we can get standard controller controlls obviously. But also, you mentioned something about it being like an arcade game right? What if exploring around like how you do for projectors in the demo can help you build a high score, ya know?

Also, could Sonics model get a bit of a visual upgrade? The way his model looks here is kind of odd.
 
Here's a page on Sega AM2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_AM2

They are most known for many revolutionary games in the late 80's/90's. This fangame seems to simulate a bit of their style.

Huh. Anyways, what I do know, is that both Sonics models, and the visuals could use a bit of an improvement. Because at the moment, this does look to be a very, very early demo. And if the games demo made me think of anything, it's that if its complete, there should be a ranking system of sorts that encourages gaining a high score, like an arcade game.
 
Huh. Anyways, what I do know, is that both Sonics models, and the visuals could use a bit of an improvement. Because at the moment, this does look to be a very, very early demo. And if the games demo made me think of anything, it's that if its complete, there should be a ranking system of sorts that encourages gaining a high score, like an arcade game.
Hey Robert thanks for the feedback! If a wikipedia article has too many word type things, here is a youtube video of the game that inspired the general style I'm exploring in my project. :)




Your right, it is pretty early, a lot of the geometry is unpolished and textures aren't in their final state, but ultimately I am shooting for a kinda of low-poly, limited texture aesthetic (but hi-res display) so we shall see where that leads us if I choose to explore the project further (right now my sonic model polygon count is about half of the arcade sonic model because of.... reasons. :) ).

Also, your high score is actually a good suggestion if I lean towards the more arcade route that initially inspired it... so I guess a lot depends on where my unreal engine learning path takes me next. Will I steer more platformy or go more arcadey, hopefully you'll see me next Sage and find out!

P.S. Sonic starting underground is actually a hidden reference to..... nah, it's a bug. But if it's the same one I encounter from time to time, it's kinda neat in a way (like a secret cave or something).
 
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Hey Robert thanks for the feedback! If a wikipedia article has too many word type things, here is a youtube video of the game that inspired the general style I'm exploring in my project. :)




Your right, it is pretty early, a lot of the geometry is unpolished and textures aren't in their final state, but ultimately I am shooting for a kinda of low-poly, limited texture aesthetic (but hi-res display) so we shall see where that leads us if I choose to explore the project further (right now my sonic model polygon count is about half of the arcade sonic model you'll see below, because of.... reasons. :) ).

Also, your high score is actually a good suggestion if I lean towards the more arcade route that initially inspired it... so I guess a lot depends on where my unreal engine learning path takes me next. Will I steer more platformy or go more arcadey, hopefully you'll see me next Sage and find out!

P.S. Sonic starting underground is actually a hidden reference to..... nah, it's a bug. But if it's the same one I encounter from time to time, it's kinda neat in a way (like a secret cave or something).

Cool. And yeah, I know of Sonic the fighters. I played it on Sonic Gems collection before. Overall though, it would be pretty neat if this is able to go somewhere. And, there isn't anything wrong in trying to combine platforming and arcade style into the game. It would just require a good balance between both, you know? And I do get the idea for the game being low-poly. As even as goof as Sonic the Fighters Sonic model was, it was still not the biggest on polygons, right?
 
As for why I said the game can be a mix of arcade and platforming? I feel that's obvious. As if this is supposed to be like if AM2 made a platformer for arcades instead of Sonic the Fighters, it being an acradey platformer I feel makes sense.

And something I am impressed with is that you did manage to at least allow for Sonic to be able to run on water. As simple as this proof of concept demo is, it's a good touch that makes the water not be a giant bottomless pit. But, a thing I also need to say, is that if a future demo is made, I hope that 100 rings can give an extra life. Seeing as that's a Sonic staple, it would make good sense to include. Heck, one part of rankings for high score could be how many rings and lives you have. And a perfect bonus for if you get every ring in a level, ala Sonic 2.
 
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The look is impressive, aside from the brain-melting amount of bloom lighting. But I really think you should focus more on polishing your framework before doing any more stage design. I couldn't get a handle on the controls because platformers really do need controller compatibility, but it feels like it's really slippery. "Press any key to start" would ideally be "press Space to start", since I was hitting enter and the A button on my controller trying to figure out what you actually meant. Spawned me underground. Once I jumped out, Sonic was stuck in his jumping animation until I jumped again.
 
The look is impressive, aside from the brain-melting amount of bloom lighting. But I really think you should focus more on polishing your framework before doing any more stage design. I couldn't get a handle on the controls because platformers really do need controller compatibility, but it feels like it's really slippery. "Press any key to start" would ideally be "press Space to start", since I was hitting enter and the A button on my controller trying to figure out what you actually meant. Spawned me underground. Once I jumped out, Sonic was stuck in his jumping animation until I jumped again.

That's a normal glitch it seems for Sonic to spawn underground. And yeah, I can agree. Controller support would also be better than WASD and the mouse for platforming.
 
Oh hey. You managed to add the 100 rings gives an extra life mechanic. That's good. It's a minor thing, but having it should save you the effort of having to program that into the game at a much later date.
 
Oh hey. You managed to add the 100 rings gives an extra life mechanic. That's good. It's a minor thing, but having it should save you the effort of having to program that into the game at a much later date.
Yeah, can't quite trust a sonic game that doesn't reward 100 rings with a 1-up, so easy enough to at least work that in for this round.
 
Now, as for things I do like visually. The monitors themselves look nice. The badniks I can also say do. Springs and rings were also easy to do, so no qualms there. And when the terrain does have proper texture work, it genuinely looks nice. This pic that's actually from what I'm taking is a earlier build shows what I mean. Where the spot closer to Sonic looks nicer than the farther out area. And I can say the flowers and trees have some good modeling as well.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/765330816569311232/879250516293599232/screenshot-1-png.png
 
Sonic ran. He ran faster than it could be comprehended. But the speed was no more. At some point, he had to stop.
That point was now. The Sonic has failed - it has been determined that he has missed a devious contraption, an evil creation, a vile machination, a disgusting present, an absolutely horrifying ROBOT GENERATOR. As the realization came to the poor creature, it was already too late - the animals have understood what happened and they were not happy - a crowd full of those that despised imperfection has gathered around the blue bomblur. They have gotten their pitchforks, they have gotten their torches, and they have gotten their whips. Just as the crowd started slowly approaching further, a blood-curling scream was heard...

"ДA Я ЦОПИК, ПОШЛИ ВЫ ВСЕ НАХУ-"

The words of who was once the world's hero were interrupted. One by one, he had badniks thrown at him with great force. He had to endure it all until midnight... it was not known how the horrifying inquisition went, but rumors say it was a sight to set fear into even the bravest of Ivo Robotnik's creations.

After that fateful day, not a single person has seen the blue hedgehog cross the famous sights of Green Hill. There were rumors that they saw Sonic with eyes of an insane man run and trip on a life monitor, falling into what seemed to be the abyss, but nobody has proven that any of those rumors had any weight. The Ruler of High Demon Egg Council (previous name: Planet Earth), Dr.Ivo Robotnik, has refused to comment on the rumors and brought our attention to the new beautiful "Torneggdo MarkII" plane model.

The beaches of Green Hill, to this day, are still not deserted. The water has brought yet another being that was once lost to the depths of the ocean to the familiar coarse and rough grounds. Someone... has noticed. And that someone's words were uttered that day.

"BE CAREFUL NOT TO DROWN, SONIC!"

...said Miles "Tails" Prower, second in command scientist of the High Demon Egg Council, as he looked at the corpse that once resembled his old mentor, Sonic "the" Hedgehog.

He then proceeded to contniously punch Sonic's remains with a fresh lemon.



Oh, and by the way, fun game! I liked the exploration focus and Sonic's model is rather inspiring, to say the least.
 
Experimental games always run the risk of the player not knowing whether something is a bug or intentional, and the backwards font opacity, missing wall textures (but only on some walls), and backwards vertical camera all feel wrong to me but maybe they're supposed to be there. The "Press Any Key To Start" screen only responding to the Space key I'm pretty confident is a problem. But the gameplay is pretty nice when it works and I'd like to see it developed further, probably with either wider platforms or slower speed to make Sonic a bit more controllable. There are cool things done here with focusing the camera in response to the level design. I like this so far.
 
Experimental games always run the risk of the player not knowing whether something is a bug or intentional, and the backwards font opacity, missing wall textures (but only on some walls), and backwards vertical camera all feel wrong to me but maybe they're supposed to be there. The "Press Any Key To Start" screen only responding to the Space key I'm pretty confident is a problem. But the gameplay is pretty nice when it works and I'd like to see it developed further, probably with either wider platforms or slower speed to make Sonic a bit more controllable. There are cool things done here with focusing the camera in response to the level design. I like this so far.

I'd say it is indeed because of the person who made this not being all too experienced yet. Although, I thought the current version said press space to start. And yeah, I also did enjoy what I saw so far of this, despite it being a super early demo.
 
Oh hey! There's a choice between inverted and non-inverted cam controls now. That's good. And the pause screen now lets us see how many projectors we found. I think it should show us how many we found out of how many in the level. So for example Projector: 1/5 for example to say 1 projector out of 5 found.

All in all, I think this is improving. Who knows. Maybe Sonic will have a full level instead of a small demo to explore by next SAGE. Or even just controller support for smoother controls in general. Who knows really. What I do know, is I am looking forward to seeing this develop in the future.
 

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