The year is 20XX. SEGA has finally admitted that they have no idea how to put Classic Sonic in a 3D game anymore and urged their employees to put something good on their resumes by working for Sonic Team Junior. However, despite many former SEGA programmers joining the SRB2 development team, 2.2 remains incomplete. Rumor has it that Aaron Webber accidentally deleted the 2.2 files when transferring his Twitter memes onto Mystic's hard drive.
The developers, preoccupied with restoring the 2.2 files, failed to notice that Webber's pirated copy of Big's Big Fishing Adventure 3 also overwrote much of 2.1's source code. Somehow, part of the messed-up code uncommented a large portion of the programming for what used to be the famous SRB2 supervirus, which JTE had left included for no apparent reason at all (gosh darn it). When SRB2 was patched to version 2.1.23, players began to report strange red visual effects leaking through the walls in many of the zones. The developers promptly removed the supervirus code in 2.1.24, yet remnants of its existence still lingered on the Master Server, where it rapidly spread and infected countless monitors, robots, and all other mechanical objects it could find. Objects that were infected became known simply as Viruses.
It was possible to destroy the Viruses using Sonic, Tails, or Knuckles—but the characters were unable to freely traverse the zones fast enough to outpace their spread. Slowly, the Viruses began to render many users' copies of SRB2 unplayable on Windows computers. It was up to SRB2's only known active Mac OSX Lua coder to design and program a character who could fend them off...
The developers, preoccupied with restoring the 2.2 files, failed to notice that Webber's pirated copy of Big's Big Fishing Adventure 3 also overwrote much of 2.1's source code. Somehow, part of the messed-up code uncommented a large portion of the programming for what used to be the famous SRB2 supervirus, which JTE had left included for no apparent reason at all (gosh darn it). When SRB2 was patched to version 2.1.23, players began to report strange red visual effects leaking through the walls in many of the zones. The developers promptly removed the supervirus code in 2.1.24, yet remnants of its existence still lingered on the Master Server, where it rapidly spread and infected countless monitors, robots, and all other mechanical objects it could find. Objects that were infected became known simply as Viruses.
It was possible to destroy the Viruses using Sonic, Tails, or Knuckles—but the characters were unable to freely traverse the zones fast enough to outpace their spread. Slowly, the Viruses began to render many users' copies of SRB2 unplayable on Windows computers. It was up to SRB2's only known active Mac OSX Lua coder to design and program a character who could fend them off...
Introducing the first (to my knowledge) alternate-objective character for SRB2: Orb!
Orb is different from every other character in the game in that it cannot complete most levels by reaching the goal post.
Instead, you must use its incredibly versatile Roam ability to explore each of the zones in search of mechanical objects that have been infected by Viruses. To locate a Virus, refer to the handy arrow displayed on the HUD, which will point in its general direction in relation to Orb. As you get closer to the Virus, Orb will start to flash different colors, which get warmer and more rapid the more you approach your target.
The majority of levels will automatically end after Orb has destroyed 5 Viruses. Most enemies and monitors can be destroyed simply by hurling yourself into them, but watch out! Spikes, projectiles, crushers, and explosives can still harm or kill Orb. Orb also has the disadvantage of not being able to use shields. It can breathe infinitely both underwater and in space, however.
Special care has been taken to make Orb function in multiplayer as well. In co-op, all Orb players are assigned different Viruses to seek out, but other players can help out by destroying another player's Virus! Orb should also be compatible with most level packs and gametypes. For instance, try to destroy your Viruses before your rivals in race mode on a Subarashii map! (Splitscreen is also supported!)
To make things even more interesting, Orb also has a custom gameplay style in match and CTF! Instead of firing projectiles, Orb will use its body in various ways to attack opponents. See what kinds of creative things you can do with each of the weapon rings! This requires Orb to get up-close and personal with its enemies, which in turn gives them a fair chance at scoring a hit. Try to take advantage of Orb's superior speed and mobility to catch opponents off-guard!
As a bonus, if FSonic.wad is added, Orb uses a custom NiGHTS skin!
If you use an MD2 pack that features a model for thok/spin trails, Orb will use that model! Here's how it looks with Jeck Jims' Saturn-inspired MD2s. (Orb spawns a lot of thok objects every tic so this feature is not recommended for those with slower computers.)
When testing this wad, I found a lot of hidden secrets and alternate routes I never even knew existed in SRB2's levels. I highly recommend grinding out a couple of playthroughs; you never know what you might find!
Known Issues:
- Occasionally, the RNG will pick an object that requires Orb to backtrack to a location that can no longer be reached (e.g. if you destroy the extra life monitor at the end of THZ2, you can't go back down the elevator to destroy subsequent Viruses). If this happens, use the console command orbrestart to teleport to the previous checkpoint (single player) or the beginning of the level (multiplayer) at the cost of one life and all your rings.
- Normally, Orb's trails are removed in first-person view to allow for an obstruction-free viewpoint. This is disabled in splitscreen due to its incompatibility.
- Certain shields spawn brief overlays on Orb before the code removes them.
- The "Viruses Left" counter does not constantly refresh and thus may not accurately display how many Viruses the player has left to destroy if that number is greater than the remaining number of objects on the map. This issue is purely cosmetic; if there are no more available objects to infect, Orb players should, to my knowledge, exit the level properly.
- If Orb is added to the game mid-level, players who switch their skin to Orb will immediately exit the level.
- The custom Orb NiGHTS skin spams the spin sound when entering the Ideya Capture due to me messing with sprites and stuff. It's not really worth freeslotting a silent sound effect to fix (and it's actually kind of cool so)
- If you name yourself after our good old echidna friend, you might experience some "unintended" side effects...
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