glaber
Emblem Radar Ready
The 8th Emerald was converted into an emblem/unlockable due to my inability to make it an emerald for hyper. (Though I'd still make it one anyway) As an emblem/unlockableit allows for the secret in FD CEZ2 to work.
- Thread starter glaber
- Start date
This content may be freely modified and/or maintained by anyone.
Henry3230
Henry, without Youtube and Discord
Maybe not bugs
- The water and acid's tiles used to change in 2.2, but in this mod they don't change back *Confirmed*
- There is a space at the beginning of Wood's title card *Fixed*
- Development Hub's BGM doesn't have a midi *Not an issue*
- The midi version of Metal's Chanllage's BGM is completely different from the digital version *Not an issue*
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glaber
Emblem Radar Ready
Can you elaborate on this one?
Typo not bug, but doesn't affect readability so it doesn't require an immediate fix. That said I did take a look and found the same issue with dev Emerald Coast. The spacing in both names are fixed for 2.0.5, but the update won't release until February at the earliest.
These maps are using music tracks from previous versions of SRB2.
Dev Hub's was an unused track in SRB2 Version 2.1, and the Metal's Challenge hub track is the unused metal sonic theme in SRB2 version 2.0.
Both music tracks are presented as they were back in the day.
Henry3230
Henry, without Youtube and Discord
Water has a small change from 2.1 to 2.2: The black part have been combined with the dark blue part.
In Demo 1, there's an completely different water that looks like ripped off from Doom.
And the acid... Completely different flat. The old one is from SA-SRB2.
In-game screenshots (in SRB2TP):
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JonBaxter
Jon
Alright, I'm gonna put the review here since this probably needs proper formatting and a lot of thought on my part. There are a lot of parts of this mod that irked me tremendously, but I'll refrain from being over cynical as I point out exactly what there is to love and hate in all this. Be advised that my long ass rant will contain plenty of spoilers for the mod in its entirety. Let's start with:
This is all I had to say about the mod. It is absolutely a blast to play and I loved a whole lot of it, but the issues I listed make me feel very conflicted about it. I honestly don't care about the wait for it to come out since it was always just a neat "oooh I wonder when it'll be ready" kind of thing, but I was at least hoping for a smidge more care in some key areas.
This is still a stellar mod and I highly recommend it to absolutely anyone who is even remotely interested in SRB2's history, but I also wish it could have reached its full potential. Thank you for reading, and I expect to be cancelled, shat on and banned in the coming days. merry christmas y'all!
THE GOOD
I will keep this section brief, as many reviewers already did a far better job than I could at giving this mod its due praises.
- There is a lot of undeniable passion here
- From head to toe I can see that The Past has been lovingly built upon since its initial few versions, and 2.0 is no different. From small easter eggs like the food court stall names to full on recreations of maps and campaigns of versions created long ago there will always be something to look forward to if you're a fan of SRB2's history, even if some of these maps have aged like milk on a counter top.
- The extra challenges presented will really test you
- I quite enjoyed my time in the colosseum with its boss rushes and metal's challenge. These were clearly built to test players who want to have their mastery of the game pushed to its breaking point (as long as you don't add in custom characters), and despite having some choice words for nearly every single challenge at hand I still came out of them having more fun than not
- Past maps had a lot of thought put into making them authentic
- Not much to describe here, I just like how the maps aren't some hack job tossed together for the sake of calling it "preservation" at its most basic form
- The museum has a lot of fun nooks and crannies, and the presentation of some areas is quite stellar
- The entryway, badnik exhibits and food court have all been mapped very nicely and are a treat to walk around in so you can appreciate their finer details instead of just thoking past everything to get to the levels. Taking your time and admiring the scenery in these areas feels very nice.
- When the mod shines, it shines with amazing vibrancy
- There are moments full of visual flair and a ton of personality in the mod, such as everything related to metal sonic's final confrontation and the "true" end credits of the mod. These moments are by far when The Past is at its greatest and showing reverence to what it came from, and it's a full course meal for old school fans of the game.
- Characters long gone make their return
- It's amazing to see these long forgotten characters from the distant past making a comeback. Not "just" SSN's trio but also legitimately forgotten skins like mega man and zim are really the cherry on top of the cake that show the dedication to bringing all these things back to the spotlight. However...
THE BAD
- Why is such a big chunk of nearly everything locked behind collectables and secrets?
- I think this is the most appropriate way to start ripping this bandaid out. The Past suffers from a serious identity crisis and it begins as soon as the character selection screen. There is zero reason for metal sonic, amy and fang to not be playable from the start. An undeniable part of the hype behind this mod came from people who wanted to experience all this content from the past in a single package using SRB2 2.2's polished handling, mechanics, and characters...so where the hell are they? Gating off the "unlockable trio" is honestly a terrible choice that can't be excused very easily.
- Were you hoping to "hype up" metal's challenge by asking players to unlock metal sonic first?
- Is amy locked behind an extra level just because that's how it is in vanilla?
- Shouldn't I at least be allowed to use fang after defeating him at least thrice in the colosseum? Hell, wouldn't the whole colosseum be much more enjoyable AS fang from the start?
- This issue also bleeds into the stage selection areas and how they are locked for various reasons. 10 emblems for NiGHTs? Quite weird, but sure. 100 emblems for spring hill? SERIOUSLY? These kinds of decisions seem very poorly thought out when such a big part of the mod is supposedly to keep the past alive in a modernized environment despite the changes that occurred throughout SRB2's history. This issue rears its ugly head in quite a few places:
- Aforementioned NiGHTs emblem requirement
- Some Castle Eggman zones being locked behind 7 emeralds
- The entirety of Egg Rock's exhibit (all its stages) is locked behind a secret
- Metal's Challenge being locked behind unlocking metal sonic (when you don't even need to use him at all for it)
- Sonic Doom 2 locked behind a SERIES of secrets, all of which are quite demanding with vanilla characters
- The emblem radar is locked behind some random collectible in techno hill? why?
- At least the other characters besides the unlockable trio make sense to be locked out, I guess.
- One could argue this issue can be mitigated by "simply downloading a 100% unlocked save" but that's a horribly flawed argument not unlike saying a game's criticism is invalid because "mods can fix it later". A mod pack should be judged by what it is as soon as it's added to the game, and this one does not make a great first impression nor does it put its best foot forward when it comes to making decisions about these unlockables. To reiterate: if the whole point of this mod is to CREATE A MUSEUM then why are so many of its exhibits locked out? For "authenticity"? Regardless of the original intent of these locked areas a player should by no means be forced to go through the same hoops they went originally just to play these levels, and it just ensures less and less players will ever truly 100% the mod, which simply flies in the face of what these unlockables even stand for.
- The colosseum is home to far too many bad design choices crammed into a single space
- Starting from the entrance to the colosseum itself: the different wings in the colosseum have zero reason to be split off the way they are. A map warp was absolutely not needed to show players the match, ctf and race portions of this place when there is absolutely NOTHING shown inside those areas besides a big ol' "please change maps in online mode" message. I'm not even sure if Metal's Challenge or the Boss Rush needed those warps either since you've shown to be perfectly capable of connecting these areas during the final confrontation against metal sonic.
- The boss arenas themselves in the boss rush have minor but very impactful oversights in them
- Some bosses are always active even before a player enters their arena, such as the egg slimer having already filled the whole floor with goop
- A handful of arenas are designed in such a way that a player has advantages they never had in the vanilla game, like the Eggscalibur arena having a perfectly safe door for players to hide in and cheese the boss
- Despite having changes to their layout (like having slopes in one of Beta Quest eggman's arenas or the above door in eggscalibur 2.1) some arenas do not account for other issues the original game had such as the aforementioned slope-enabled eggman battle having a lava pit that sonic is simply unable to escape, or 2.0 GFZ3 eggman having such a massive vertical area to fleee to you're almost always guaranteed to be sitting down and waiting for him to finish sliding up to the ceiling then coming down before you can get a single hit in.
- Players can simply die in between bosses. Why is that? There is zero indication that the areas in between arenas should be challenges to cross, let alone lethal, and yet places like the walk up to Fang's wagon (why are we not just teleported to his wagon as soon as we get on the train?) having bottomless pits on all of its sides.
- On a minor semi-related issue was there really such a big need to have SRB1 Sonic come in to pick the players up after defeating 2.0 brak in such a cinematic fashion after his death? That just leaves room for players to overshoot their landings after the final blow on brak, leading to a death at the very end of their run.
- Metal's Challenge is truly great from top to bottom and a whole lot of fun, but there is a big blemish in it:
- Modified 2.2 CEZ2 is atrociously thought out. The level was "redesigned" in such a way that it would mimmick 1.09's CEZ2 button hunt, but the buttons are placed in such out of the way positions up, down and all around the map that your ONLY reasonable winning move without prior knowledge of them is to watch metal sonic play through the whole thing and follow him so you can find the buttons instead of bumbling around like a blind moron praying to your deity of choice you'll maybe stumble upon one, as these have zero indications as to where they might be besides a relay checkpoint that is by no means a big indicator of where you should be heading. Despite these buttons existing before, the map's gimmick was thought out with such eggregious lazyness when it comes to guiding unfamiliar players to them that it sours what would be one of the more fun and challenging races in tier 4.
- The disregard for lua and what can be achieved with it hurts the mod's fidelity and presentation in key areas
- I am well aware that maybe Glaber may not be a lua programmer, but given how much of this project was helped by other people (just look at the size of the PROGRAMMERS section of the credits) there are some big flaws and historical inconsistencies that could have been very easily addressed through lua, and yet there was what seems like an entirely pointless fixation on sticking to just the basics, despite the mod suffering because of it.
- Monitors in old maps could have very easily been properly recreated instead of resorting to their modern versions. Likewise, plenty of visual flairs in the stages and their HUDs could have been replicated through lua instead of just plastering 2.2's user interface over everything in a one size fits all approach.
- There is a BIG problem with your mod when a player enters a gauntlet of badly designed levels (as expected of a museum of old, inexperienced creations) and has zero ways to get out of said level if they are too fed up with it or unable to clear said level. What do you do then? Just straight up delete your save and hope a different character will have better luck in there? God forbid you enter Sonic Doom 2 without a way to go super because you WILL suffer. This can be fixed in the same way the OLDCs handle the issue: allowing players to warp back to the hub whenever they want. Why is such a crucial quality of life option just missing from the mod?
- Sonic Doom 2 could have been faithfully remade, top to bottom, if it didn't chose to stick to srb2's ringslinger rules: every single one of your rings are lost when you are hit even once, weapons have an atrocious cooldown compared to the original SD2's fast weapons and you never have any bloody idea where you're headed as there is no automap function.
- The original mod may not have been the cream of the crop, but it is infinitely more enjoyable when not using ringslinger rules and being able to see what kind of fresh hell you're walking around in from the top.
- Hyper Sonic and the black emerald, arguably 1.09's most interesting secrets, were entirely neglected when they could have very easily been recreated through lua scripts.
- An argument could be made that "it would make the challenges in the mod way too easy", but when you're already allowed to use super forms in all of said challenges it's not like the mod is very concerned about that, or at least that's not the message that's being passed.
- The mod has already shown it's willing to use lua to enhance certain parts of its presentation, such as in its cutscenes and truly excellent final credits sequence, so the lack of lua usage in other areas to improve the mod's visual fidelity is nothing short of baffling. You already used lua, you can't put the genie back in the bottle. Why not go ahead and make the absolute most of those three wishes to make the mod the best it could be before it starts affecting the game's performance?
- I am well aware that maybe Glaber may not be a lua programmer, but given how much of this project was helped by other people (just look at the size of the PROGRAMMERS section of the credits) there are some big flaws and historical inconsistencies that could have been very easily addressed through lua, and yet there was what seems like an entirely pointless fixation on sticking to just the basics, despite the mod suffering because of it.
THE NITPICKY
These are mostly just "me" issues and, to be perfectly honest, whoever is reading this wall of text could very well just skip this part altogether. I just felt like these are small nuisances that don't really subtract from the product or do so in very minor ways, but I thought I'd address them.
- The museum belongs in a museum
- I'm sorry but the museum just isn't very visually interesting outside of a few areas, and it's not exactly great to navigate either. There is very little flair in its samey corridors, repeated textures, completely static "front desk", obtuse layout where rooms don't really have much rhyme or reason to be placed together in the way they are (why not just make everything connect to the lobby instead of making corridors branch out into other corridors?) and ultimately 2.0-tier level design. I genuinely did not see that much of a change when I visited the "old wing" on my way to Sonic Doom 2, the supposedly long abandonned old museum.
- Why does the OLD, ABANDONNED MUSEUM have no vines whatsoever on its walls while the CURRENT, "PRISTINE" museum is crawling with them everywhere?
- The only "worse" part of t he old museum is that it's probably even more confusing to navigate than the current one, but otherwise there just aren't that many improvements and that is very worrying.
- Why does it even take so long to load anyway? It's not even that big and it sure as hell isn't as elaborate as something like History Clash, and yet it takes over 8 seconds to load in OpenGL, what the hell.
- LIVES?
- Why exactly do we need a lives counter? I thought this was a museum where the whole point was to leisurely walk around, see old stages, maybe even go back to other stages after you're bored with one (see lua issues list), so why does such a relaxed experience need lives? Just for the colosseum? If so then why not just give the player lives AT the colosseum? As it stands you can just head over to a stage crawling with crawlas like, say, CEZ2 and either chain them with super sonic or armageddon them all at once for insane life gains, immediately negating the whole thing. If you're not gonna use the system for anything at all then it's just there to take up space, so why bother?
- I hate this tyre
- Just look at it
- There is no
orderpizzacommand- why
This is all I had to say about the mod. It is absolutely a blast to play and I loved a whole lot of it, but the issues I listed make me feel very conflicted about it. I honestly don't care about the wait for it to come out since it was always just a neat "oooh I wonder when it'll be ready" kind of thing, but I was at least hoping for a smidge more care in some key areas.
This is still a stellar mod and I highly recommend it to absolutely anyone who is even remotely interested in SRB2's history, but I also wish it could have reached its full potential. Thank you for reading, and I expect to be cancelled, shat on and banned in the coming days. merry christmas y'all!
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glaber
Emblem Radar Ready
That's an issue zone builder has because of the new unlockable characters. If you would like to use it as an external resource instead of copying the pieces you want first, make a copy of the mod and remove the unlockable characters, the maincfg, the cuts and pode lumps,
Ahh thank you this will be useful for the next accuracy update.
SRB2SuperSonic
Member
I might as well put a guide for unlocking some stuff in this mod for those who don't know. I've wasted several hours grinding out the emblems.
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Well, that's about all I got. When I unlock more stuff, I'll put it here. Keep in mind that all seven emeralds are required for the RedXVI secrets.
- There is one emblem in each hub world. Any one of them will get you emblem hints, which should help you get the emblems easier. New hints were written for the character specific emblems from v1.01 to v2.0.7.
- The emblem in the Techno Hill Hub is different, as it'll unlock the emblem radar, which should help you further in collecting them.
- The emblem in the Techno Hill Hub is different, as it'll unlock the emblem radar, which should help you further in collecting them.
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The RedXVI secrets from Demo 4, v1.09.4, and v2.0, functioning the exact same way. The one from Demo 4 does nothing, though. The ones from Final Demo do function the same way. For secret 1, in v1.09.4's GFZ1, jump on the first house in the level (where Sonic's emblem is located) then jump three times, for the screen to then say "Hey, who's making all that racket?!". Going back down will have him call you out on disturbing his sleep, saying "What's the big idea? Do you just like jumping on people's roofs for fun, disturbing their sleep? Go to hell!" You will then be sent to "hell" (v1.09.4 RVZ), and you will get an emblem for completing the level.
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RedXVI secret 2 takes place in v1.09.4 GFZ2. Find his house in the same part of the level that it was in originally. Once you do, go to the door, and there will be a sign saying "Out to lunch". Now go to the cliff at the start of the level. There you will see RedXVI enjoying a picnic. Disturb it, and he'll say "What! I'm not even allowed to enjoy a picnic in peace?! If I give you this stone, will you promise to leave me alone?" But unlike in the original Final Demo, there is no eighth emerald. You will be rewarded an emblem instead. But you should be good to go after the third secret now. Speaking of which...
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RedXVI secret 3 takes place in Final Demo CEZ2. First get up onto the fountain. All of the sides have gargoyle statues on them except one. Going to that side will result in a message appearing on screen, saying "Hmm... something seems different." Go down to where Sonic's emblem is located, and the secret should be activated by now. Play through the level normally until you get to the end of the stage. The signpost is gone, and replaced with RedXVI. He'll say "First you disturb my sleep, then you disturb my picnic, and now you're swimming in my pool! I'm tired of your rude behavior!", and then teleport you back in the room with Sonic's emblem, now filled with Crawla Commanders. If you have an Armageddon shield, that should help make quick work of them. If you don't, charge a spindash IMMEDIATELY when you enter the room. After that, escape the pool, and Pandora's Box is unlocked. There's one more secret in v2.0's CEZ2.
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The final RedXVI secret takes place in v2.0's CEZ2. Find the revolving door room after the cannonball room on the right path. You will then find RedXVI in a small library room in this revolving door, dressed as a Pope. He will say " Oh. It's just you. Look, I wanted to apologize for my behavior in the past. I have seen the error of my ways and have turned over a new leaf. Instead of sending people to hell, I now send them to heaven!" You will then be warped to Neo Aerial Garden Zone, the unlockable level of v2.0. After completing it, it will then be available to play in the unlockables hub.
We've all heard of the Beta Quest, haven't we? Well, it's included in this level pack, and is a requirement for getting a couple unlockable levels. Completing the Beta Quest with all 7 emeralds will award you with the SRB1 Remake, and v2.1's Aerial Garden. Doing that is pretty difficult though, as the beta levels back then were incredibly maze-like.
Amy Rose, Fang the Sniper, and Metal Sonic are not available from the start, so they have to be unlocked similarly to the main campaign. I'll start with Metal Sonic, as he's the most confusing to unlock. Find a gargoyle in the museum near the small water fountains. The one you need has the legacy design. Push it into one of the fountains, and you'll hear a door open. Go back into the museum, and go outside right behind the entrance. A room with a red button opened up. Push said button, and then go to the gameplay section of the museum. The warp pad that was closed in the campaigns room is now open. Jump into that warp pad, and you will be warped to an emerald hunt level with the visuals of Marble Zone from Sonic 1, with completely different music. In that level there's an emblem with a sprite of Metal Sonic along with it. Collect it, and Metal Sonic will be unlocked.
Next is Amy, as she's also confusing to unlock according to some people. After collecting a certain number of emblems, the Mario Koopa Blast levels become available, alongside the Mario Goomba Blast level from Demo 4. Completing Mario Koopa Blast Act 3 will unlock Amy, and you can see her in the cafeteria, sporting the same behavior as her appearance in Frozen Hillside Zone.
Lastly is Fang the Sniper, as all you have to do is defeat him as a boss. Go to the Arid Canyon Hub, and go to the area that says "Development Boss". There, after starting the act, you'll see that it's a prototypical version of the Fang the Sniper boss from the main game, as the train car is different, the intro to the fight is absent, the area is still in the canyons and not on a field, and it doesn't take place at sunset. Defeating him (and therefore defending the train, as it says in the extras checklist) will award you with the capability of playing as Fang.
Well, that's about all I got. When I unlock more stuff, I'll put it here. Keep in mind that all seven emeralds are required for the RedXVI secrets.
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Knux the enchilada
Member
every time i try to beat egg rock in the metal sonic race an electrical barrier appears at the signpost at the end, am i doing something wrong?
Elyos03
↑↑↓↓←→←→ B A START
Congratulations, you just did the left route!
Now go to the right one.
Knux the enchilada
Member
thanks, sorry for being kinda dumb
little guy*
Somewhat of a lurker
RedSRB2
Noob at doing Pixel Art,Amateur at making Guides
N/A are the Final Demo Easter Eggs,which if you can found in Final Demo stages.
matheus silva
Member
I got this that's what i be waiting for :D
Henry3230
Henry, without Youtube and Discord
By the way, the water in Demo 1 is unique. In Demo 2, it is changed to the "old" water listed above
Post automatically merged:
(Demo Quest, GFZ3, with 2.2 textures)
wait what
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Knux the enchilada
Member
SRB2SuperSonic
Member
How do you get that image? Is there a credits like in vanilla SRB2?
Knux the enchilada
Member
yes there is, just complete sonic doom 2
Superjustinbros
Member
Playing this a bit more, I had some brief thoughts/questions about the museum itself.
- Four of the playable campaigns do not include an "ARCHIVES" text screen containing an explanation and/or history/lore on the campaign's map set. Beta Quest, SRB2 Christmas, SRB2 TGF Christmas, and one of the unlockable campaigns.
- While certain unlocks carry over into new saves in singleplayer (especially after completing the final main objective), others don't if you host a multiplayer server. All of the campaigns and the HUBs seem to play fine in multiplayer if accessed through the console, last I checked.