Link: https://shc.zone/entries/contest2024/1021
In spite of this entry’s overwhelming length, there isn’t anything much I can say. I applaud the customizability in the options and the idea of including all 3 games in a single ROM with new content is really appealing; I can also praise the work needed to make everything in here work this well!
However, every single alteration to the original games leaves a lot to be desired, making this an inferior version of every single game in the package. Everything new sticks out as shoddily made:
- New art ports? Sometimes good, but a lot of the time very glaringly quantized to work with the palette, or badly downscaled, or both.
- New layouts or layout segments? Flat, boring, empty, devoid of any kind of flow. Why does Green Hill Zone 1 suddenly have this huge ramp at the end with a sudden speed booster of all things?! The original zones are pretty much all a slog.
- New music? The music is okay, but the choices are sometimes extremely questionable, such as a very short 15-ish second loop in Cyber City stretching across 3 long acts!
- New bosses? The movement is jagged, there are sometimes very long waiting times, pacing is really weird all around.
- New 2P zones? Well, they do function, but the severe slowdown makes them very hard to play.
Overall, I have to highlight the technical prowess of putting everything together in a single ROM, but every single addition and creative choice here requires re-evaluating and re-doing.