Link: https://shc.zone/entries/contest2024/1142

I’m going to start with my own personal thoughts on this and state it upfront that I think this hack is an absolute joy to play and is one of the two best presented entries in the contest alongside Sonic ERaZor 7. Very few games give me this feeling of excitement when actively playing them; it takes a very special cascade of good art, music, fresh ideas and good progression, and this game manages to pull this off.

Most of the criticism I’ll lay here in this evaluation will play off of this baseline assumption; it’s not a case where I criticize something because it’s bad. This is more of an opportunity to delve into higher level criticism of things and be nitpicky (the authors also have gone on record to say they want as much criticism as possible)

Art

The really good stuff

From what I’ve seen, this hack aims for a more consistent artstyle of evolving what Sonic 1 was going for. And overall, it looks great! Particular highlights:

Sonic himself. The changes are subtle, but they add up. A lot of polish was given to the frames and they look extremely well shaded; the subtle revamp to some of the animations to pace the frames better (especially walk) really paid off.
Checkerboard depth in Green Hill. The corners have much more shape, and there is a lot more depth to the edges.
The entire title screen.
The strong emphasis on parallax and depth in the new backgrounds, particularly Marble 1 and Green Hill 2.
The entirety of Marble 1!
The palette in Spring Yard 1.
The underwater palette in Bridge and its foreground assets. But I do still have some criticisms, ranging from more nitpicky to serious.

Nitpick: Texture? Noise? Dither? Flat?

Sometimes, the game can not make up its mind on how specifically it wants to evolve Sonic 1’s art.

Sometimes it leaves things flat, sometimes it textures them:

Very simple crusher juxtaposed against very nicely textured bricks:

Sometimes dithering is used, and sometimes it isn’t:

Sometimes, there’s significant noise:

Medium: lack of UI design

The game doesn’t have any consistency in the way its UI/UX is presented. There are several different 8x8 fonts, and the menu screens don’t form a cohesive whole, instead being styled completely differently from each other:

Note the flat fonts. (Nitpicks: the arrows are going off-screen; the drop shadows behind the UI elements don’t look good, leave stray pixels of white and muddy up the readability of the elements) Now the text based options! Note the style has completely changed from the previous screen. Note the shiny fonts. We’re back to style 1! Somewhat. And there’s a new 8x8 font! The HUD’s shiny again! A completely new font and menu style we haven’t seen before…

All in all, I’ve encountered about 5 different 8x8 fonts, and while the existence of some of them is justified, that number can be scaled back a LOT. The game also could not decide whether the same fonts were flat, shaded with a simple shine or with a more complex metallic texture.

There’s good potential here for a well done UI combining in-game and box art elements, but this is not it. Every screen tugs in a completely different direction between Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, Sonic Jam and JP box arts. I’d say it’s worth rethinking how the UI is approached from here.

Medium: tiling issues

Most apparent in Bridge. They’re so plentiful there that the creators are likely aware, so I’ll only drop some examples.

Significant: Okay, but seriously. Do we texture it or keep it flat?

Here’s a major issue.

When revamping existing zones, this hack adds a lot of texture to them, and in my opinion, does so expertly.

But when attempting an original tileset, it avoids texture and tries to bring the artstyle closer to the original Sonic 1, as if afraid of not fitting in with the originals!

In that way, it sometimes feels like the more original stuff and the revamped originals are running off into different directions, and I’d try to keep that in check.

When making a new tileset, it’s perhaps good to double check things like:

Do new stone bricks fit in with revamped stone bricks?
Does new greenery fit in with revamped greenery?

Significant: Barrenness

Even with all the revamps and the new backgrounds, the old levels are still the same at heart, and their art designers have planned them through enough to not encounter that feeling of emptiness.

However, Bridge is a fundamentally new zone, and Shine Temple is heading in the same direction, so I’m confident enough in calling it a systematic issue that needs to be addressed.

The issue arises immediately when you compare Green Hill and Bridge side by side. Green Hill: Bridge at its best: Bridge at its worst:

Compared to Green Hill, Bridge has:

A significantly more distant background;
Less decor;
Way smaller decor.
Less complex ground. While the assets that are there are top notch, they do not come together into a picture that feels complete, and the level ends up being barren as a result.

Why I’m particularly worried is because Shine Temple, from what I’ve seen, hits points 1 and 4 already. This suggests that this might not be a mere Bridge Zone issue! More focus should be put on this aspect when designing original levels to compliment Sonic 1.

Music

I can’t say much here, because I frankly love the remixes on display! Particular highlights include Green Hill Zone Act 2 (it really drives that feeling of joy you get when transitioning from Act 1) and the Sound Test-only Sky Base Act 2. I love how it mixes original stuff, Sonic 1 16-bit stuff, demo tapes, Sonic 1 8-bit stuff and the unused Yuzo Koshiro music. Great work!

Levels

A comparative analysis of the level design of both this entry and Giovanni’s Level Pack 2 can be found here:

Giovanni’s Level Pack 2 VS Sonic 1 South Island Expedition (Level Design Cross-Evaluation)

Bosses

I have found the bosses in this entry quite fun overall with some flaws.

Green Hill Act 1

This boss is simple and to the point, and a good adaptation of the first 8-bit boss. I think it would be really cool to include some slopes here so that you could utilize incline jumps to get slightly higher ground and get Eggman while in the air, perhaps? The waiting game isn’t great.

Green Hill Act 2

It starts as the standard Green Hill boss, but then turns into a completely new rolling-based section. Even though it’s really simple, it’s just so fun to roll into the sky and bash Eggman in the air! This is probably my favorite boss in the demo.

Bridge Act 1

I think utilizing the two bridge layout is a much better choice for a game so focused on rolling! However, the current positioning of Eggman on the bridge ends up making rolling feel really janky anyway, and it almost feels like the bullets are unpredictable enough to feel random.

Marble Act 1

It’s definitely the most ambitious boss in the demo, and I would really like it were it not for one fault: the way it shoots its ring. I was never able to figure out where the boss was going to shoot, so this attack just feels extremely awkward.

Trophies awarded

Quartz Quadrant Trophy - Best Visual
- The new artstyle of Expedition is very consistent and technically competent in the way the assets are drawn.
D.A. Garden Trophy - Best Audio
Chaotix Trophy - Best Team Entry
- Goes with Sonic Trophy
EggRobo Trophy - Best Boss Design
- The bosses on offer here had flaws, but they were consistently fun, which can not be said for the other entries featuring custom bosses.
Green Hill Trophy - Plays Most Like a Sonic Game
Chao Garden Trophy - Most Potential Replayability
- Replaying the game is inherently intrinsically motivated, and this entry excels here.
Sonic Trophy - 1st Place

Explorer

Sonic 1 South Island Expedition (formerly Definitive)

Art