Robert Akio
Sayaka Miki
- Joined
- May 30, 2018
- Messages
- 23
- Reaction score
- 8
Hello again everyone. I have another game I want to talk about. But, considering the game in question, I need to give a disclaimer. First off, Sonic Robo Blast 2 is a fangame. Not an official Sonic game. Second, at the moment, it is in version 2.2.9. This means that at some point, what I say here may not be fully accurate to how the game will be in the future. Without further ado, let this video game retrospective commence.
So, what makes a fan game something truly special? This is a question I think I'll be returning to at some point later with some more fan games, but this is not something I think I can answer. What I do know, is when it comes to those, people may not have as much expectations with them as an official video game. After all, how can a group of fans or one fan ever hope to be able to achieve anything akin to a game made by a studio? No matter what one may think though, fans are capable of achieving this, and I think Sonic Robo Blast 2 is a good example of this.
So, what is Sonic Robo Blast 2? Well, SRB2 is a game that started off development in 1998, using a modified version of the Doom Legacy engine. Now I know what you all may be wondering. A Sonic game made with a Doom engine? Is something like that even possible? Would it even resemble Sonic? And the answer is, yes actually. It can. SRB2 as a game aims to replicate the same style of gameplay as the Genesis trilogy, CD and Sonic Mania, and I believe it does so in a near perfect way.
Much like the Genesis games, this game does have a story. That one being that Dr. Eggman has harnessed the energy of a asteroid called the black rock to build himself a space station. To showcase its power, he uses it to carve out his face into a mountain. Sonic, Tails and Knuckles find this out, and that Eggman is after the Chaos Emeralds again. So they go out to stop him. But this isn't the main thing people go to a Sonic game for. Don't get me wrong, plot can be there. Sonic Adventure and SA2 show this off well. But for most people, they go to a Sonic game for the gameplay. So how does that work?
Much like the Genesis games, SRB2 follows a 2 act structure, with the third act relegated to being a bossfight against Eggman. With it being your objective to go through the stage and reach the end, all the while being able to explore for hidden shields, ring monitors, invincibility, speed shoes, emblems, and emerald tokens. I'll get into those later. As of 2.2.9, the game currently has six zones. Green Flower, Techno Hill, Deep Sea, Castle Eggman, Arid Canyon, Red Volcano, and Egg Rock. With a few hidden extra levels thrown in.
Green Flower zone is of course, the first zone of the game, and shares a lot of its visual identity with Green Hill zone. I know, this might sound groan worthy considering how often Green Hill has been spammed by Sega, but remember. This game has been around since 1998. Well before Green Hill was overused, and much like it, this is the easiest zone of the game. It allows you to get used to the controls in a nice, easy to navigate environment.
Techno Hill is the second zone of the game. In this one, you're introduced to conveyor belts, steam vents, and purple goo that you can sink in, but rise back up. The faster you fall, the more you'll sink. As long as you don't get stuck on something under the goop, you shouldn't drown.
Deep Sea is the obligatory water level, meaning that when underwater, you'll need to either have the right shield, or catch air bubbles to keep from drowning. However, this level is nowhere near the slog Labyrinth zone was.
After the trip through the Deep Sea zone, there's Castle Eggman zone. This one may feel like quite the difficulty spike, what with all the bramble floors that act like spikes, spike balls, and the catapults used to launch yourself through both acts. Be especially careful of the trap at the end of act 1 where you race across a collapsing bridge.
Arid Canyon is the zone that follows it up. In this zone, you not only interact with pulleys and tornados that let you reach new heights, but minecarts as well. The large open spaces are also a really good one for Tails and Knuckles to travel along.
The next zone is Red... wait a second. Thats Sonic Blast. Not Sonic Robo Blast 2.
Theeeere we go. Red Volcano zone. Sonic Blast gags aside, Red Volcano is a pretty tough zone. Beware of the lava though. While rings tend to stay after being hit, they just vanish when they make contact with the stuff. But when you reach the end of this one act zone, you take a rocket ship to the final zone.
Egg Rock. This is the final zone of the game, and probably the hardest. It has it all. Lava, conveyors, lasers, gravity, even the vacuum of space is an obstacle that you can suffocate in. Truly, the hardest zone of the game. One of the messages that can be given for quitting the game even makes mention of this. But after you do the two acts, race and fight against Metal Sonic, you then fight the final boss of the game. Metal Robotnik from the Sonic OVA. Ok, its called Brak Eggman, but come on. It's literally a Sonic OVA reference.
Now, with all the non-unlockable stages out of the way, how are the controls? SRB2 is pretty customizable with how its controls are, whether you use keyboard and mouse or a controller. For me personally, I prefer using the simple control style with a controller, while using the right analog stick to control the camera, like a standard 3d platformer. As for the characters, there's Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles to start out with, followed by the unlockable Amy, Fang, and Metal Sonic, an dyes. Sonic can start a file with Tails by his side. Each character also has different stats, like Amy and Fang jumping the highest, while Sonic and Metal Sonic move the fastest. As for abilities?
Well, I'll start in order. While Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Metal Sonic can all spin dash, Sonic is capable of performing an ability called the thok. You know the air dash the homing attack has in most 3d games? It's essentially that, only with a tremendous amount of speed given. Because of this, its a good tool to use to help Sonic cover large stretches of land easily. Just be careful of trying to use it for platforming. The speed it gives might make you overshoot a jump. Tails is the next character and as always, he has the ability to fly for a short period of time, allowing him to have an easier time with platforming. He also still gets tired after flying for too long, so there are times where you will need to land on the ground again to help make sections easier.
After Tails is Knuckles. He can break through walls that Sonic and Tails either can't, or need to spindash to break through. In addition to this, he can glide and climb on walls. Like Tails, this makes platforming around areas easier, and more importantly, makes exploration as the two easier, even if knuckles will sometimes have to take a path Sonic and Tails can't. With Knuckles out of the way now, we have our first of the unlockable characters, Amy Rose. Unlike the main trio and Metal Sonic, Amy doesn't curl into a ball when jumping. She also is unable to spindash, the button instead making her swing her hammer. The best way I can compare her to is a 3d version of her gameplay from Sonic Advance, seeing as she can't do the same hammer jump she could in Adventure. She can still use her hammer to hit badniks, bounce on springs, break spikes, and open pathways though.
The next unlockable character is Fang. Like Amy, he also can't curl into a ball or spindash. However, what he can do is use his tail to bounce around and shoot his pop gun. I know that some people are able to make things work with him, but I'll be honest. I'm not a Fang main in SRB2. The next character however, is one I am more familiar with. Metal Sonic has all the same stats as Sonic. However, rather than having the thok, Sonics metal doppleganger can hover in the air, and if he moves for a long enough time, he enters dash mode, allowing him to charge through badniks and spikes. He can still drown underwater and in space however. Apparently Eggman thought that his Sonic copy should need oxygen to run or something.
Now, I'm sure you're all wondering one thing. How do you enter the special stages? Are they like Sonic 1, CD, 2, 3 and Knuckles or Mania? The answer is they lean more into 3 and Knuckles and Mania. Hidden in every stage is a emerald token, with some acts having more than others. You collect them, and while nothing happens at first, when you clear an act, you'll be able to do as many special stages as you have emerald tokens. For example, if you got the two tokens in Green Flower act 1, you can do two special stages. But how are the special stages? Well, have you played Nights into Dreams?
The special stages in this game are based entirely in Nights. Just like in that game, you fly around collecting objects to open the container holding what you need, in this case blue spears to open an emerald container. Once you do, you return to where you spawned at to win. These special stages are great. There's not only a special stage themed around each of the zones. They aren't a crackshot like Sonic 1s, awkward like CDs could be, or even memory based like Sonic 2s are. Like Sonic Mania, these special stages are entirely skill based, with the race against the clock to the end of the loop with the chaos emerald.
The reward you get for getting all Emeralds is present as well... for Sonic, Knuckles and Metal Sonic at least. Super Sonic even has the same hover ability that Metal Sonic does, which is great for helping him platform around and feel that much better than he does in the Genesis games. And the music? My gosh. This game has an amazing one, just like what you'd expect for a Sonic game. Here are some of my favorites.
www.youtube.com
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www.youtube.com
But wait, there's more! Sonic Robo Blast 2 has yet another trick up its sleeve to make it an amazing game. Mods. This game has so many mods for it. Level mods, physics mods, character mods, you name it! There's a mod that lets you play as Samus, Mario, Modern Sonic, even a mod that completely breaks the game called Super Mystic Sonic. There is so much in this game that makes it be an endlessly repayable game, and for that, I'll say this. Sonic Robo Blast 2 is a fan game that gets what it means to be a Sonic the Hedgehog game.
So, what makes a fan game something truly special? This is a question I think I'll be returning to at some point later with some more fan games, but this is not something I think I can answer. What I do know, is when it comes to those, people may not have as much expectations with them as an official video game. After all, how can a group of fans or one fan ever hope to be able to achieve anything akin to a game made by a studio? No matter what one may think though, fans are capable of achieving this, and I think Sonic Robo Blast 2 is a good example of this.
So, what is Sonic Robo Blast 2? Well, SRB2 is a game that started off development in 1998, using a modified version of the Doom Legacy engine. Now I know what you all may be wondering. A Sonic game made with a Doom engine? Is something like that even possible? Would it even resemble Sonic? And the answer is, yes actually. It can. SRB2 as a game aims to replicate the same style of gameplay as the Genesis trilogy, CD and Sonic Mania, and I believe it does so in a near perfect way.
Much like the Genesis games, this game does have a story. That one being that Dr. Eggman has harnessed the energy of a asteroid called the black rock to build himself a space station. To showcase its power, he uses it to carve out his face into a mountain. Sonic, Tails and Knuckles find this out, and that Eggman is after the Chaos Emeralds again. So they go out to stop him. But this isn't the main thing people go to a Sonic game for. Don't get me wrong, plot can be there. Sonic Adventure and SA2 show this off well. But for most people, they go to a Sonic game for the gameplay. So how does that work?
Much like the Genesis games, SRB2 follows a 2 act structure, with the third act relegated to being a bossfight against Eggman. With it being your objective to go through the stage and reach the end, all the while being able to explore for hidden shields, ring monitors, invincibility, speed shoes, emblems, and emerald tokens. I'll get into those later. As of 2.2.9, the game currently has six zones. Green Flower, Techno Hill, Deep Sea, Castle Eggman, Arid Canyon, Red Volcano, and Egg Rock. With a few hidden extra levels thrown in.
Green Flower zone is of course, the first zone of the game, and shares a lot of its visual identity with Green Hill zone. I know, this might sound groan worthy considering how often Green Hill has been spammed by Sega, but remember. This game has been around since 1998. Well before Green Hill was overused, and much like it, this is the easiest zone of the game. It allows you to get used to the controls in a nice, easy to navigate environment.
Techno Hill is the second zone of the game. In this one, you're introduced to conveyor belts, steam vents, and purple goo that you can sink in, but rise back up. The faster you fall, the more you'll sink. As long as you don't get stuck on something under the goop, you shouldn't drown.
Deep Sea is the obligatory water level, meaning that when underwater, you'll need to either have the right shield, or catch air bubbles to keep from drowning. However, this level is nowhere near the slog Labyrinth zone was.
After the trip through the Deep Sea zone, there's Castle Eggman zone. This one may feel like quite the difficulty spike, what with all the bramble floors that act like spikes, spike balls, and the catapults used to launch yourself through both acts. Be especially careful of the trap at the end of act 1 where you race across a collapsing bridge.
Arid Canyon is the zone that follows it up. In this zone, you not only interact with pulleys and tornados that let you reach new heights, but minecarts as well. The large open spaces are also a really good one for Tails and Knuckles to travel along.
The next zone is Red... wait a second. Thats Sonic Blast. Not Sonic Robo Blast 2.
Theeeere we go. Red Volcano zone. Sonic Blast gags aside, Red Volcano is a pretty tough zone. Beware of the lava though. While rings tend to stay after being hit, they just vanish when they make contact with the stuff. But when you reach the end of this one act zone, you take a rocket ship to the final zone.
Egg Rock. This is the final zone of the game, and probably the hardest. It has it all. Lava, conveyors, lasers, gravity, even the vacuum of space is an obstacle that you can suffocate in. Truly, the hardest zone of the game. One of the messages that can be given for quitting the game even makes mention of this. But after you do the two acts, race and fight against Metal Sonic, you then fight the final boss of the game. Metal Robotnik from the Sonic OVA. Ok, its called Brak Eggman, but come on. It's literally a Sonic OVA reference.
Now, with all the non-unlockable stages out of the way, how are the controls? SRB2 is pretty customizable with how its controls are, whether you use keyboard and mouse or a controller. For me personally, I prefer using the simple control style with a controller, while using the right analog stick to control the camera, like a standard 3d platformer. As for the characters, there's Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles to start out with, followed by the unlockable Amy, Fang, and Metal Sonic, an dyes. Sonic can start a file with Tails by his side. Each character also has different stats, like Amy and Fang jumping the highest, while Sonic and Metal Sonic move the fastest. As for abilities?
Well, I'll start in order. While Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Metal Sonic can all spin dash, Sonic is capable of performing an ability called the thok. You know the air dash the homing attack has in most 3d games? It's essentially that, only with a tremendous amount of speed given. Because of this, its a good tool to use to help Sonic cover large stretches of land easily. Just be careful of trying to use it for platforming. The speed it gives might make you overshoot a jump. Tails is the next character and as always, he has the ability to fly for a short period of time, allowing him to have an easier time with platforming. He also still gets tired after flying for too long, so there are times where you will need to land on the ground again to help make sections easier.
After Tails is Knuckles. He can break through walls that Sonic and Tails either can't, or need to spindash to break through. In addition to this, he can glide and climb on walls. Like Tails, this makes platforming around areas easier, and more importantly, makes exploration as the two easier, even if knuckles will sometimes have to take a path Sonic and Tails can't. With Knuckles out of the way now, we have our first of the unlockable characters, Amy Rose. Unlike the main trio and Metal Sonic, Amy doesn't curl into a ball when jumping. She also is unable to spindash, the button instead making her swing her hammer. The best way I can compare her to is a 3d version of her gameplay from Sonic Advance, seeing as she can't do the same hammer jump she could in Adventure. She can still use her hammer to hit badniks, bounce on springs, break spikes, and open pathways though.
The next unlockable character is Fang. Like Amy, he also can't curl into a ball or spindash. However, what he can do is use his tail to bounce around and shoot his pop gun. I know that some people are able to make things work with him, but I'll be honest. I'm not a Fang main in SRB2. The next character however, is one I am more familiar with. Metal Sonic has all the same stats as Sonic. However, rather than having the thok, Sonics metal doppleganger can hover in the air, and if he moves for a long enough time, he enters dash mode, allowing him to charge through badniks and spikes. He can still drown underwater and in space however. Apparently Eggman thought that his Sonic copy should need oxygen to run or something.
Now, I'm sure you're all wondering one thing. How do you enter the special stages? Are they like Sonic 1, CD, 2, 3 and Knuckles or Mania? The answer is they lean more into 3 and Knuckles and Mania. Hidden in every stage is a emerald token, with some acts having more than others. You collect them, and while nothing happens at first, when you clear an act, you'll be able to do as many special stages as you have emerald tokens. For example, if you got the two tokens in Green Flower act 1, you can do two special stages. But how are the special stages? Well, have you played Nights into Dreams?
The special stages in this game are based entirely in Nights. Just like in that game, you fly around collecting objects to open the container holding what you need, in this case blue spears to open an emerald container. Once you do, you return to where you spawned at to win. These special stages are great. There's not only a special stage themed around each of the zones. They aren't a crackshot like Sonic 1s, awkward like CDs could be, or even memory based like Sonic 2s are. Like Sonic Mania, these special stages are entirely skill based, with the race against the clock to the end of the loop with the chaos emerald.
The reward you get for getting all Emeralds is present as well... for Sonic, Knuckles and Metal Sonic at least. Super Sonic even has the same hover ability that Metal Sonic does, which is great for helping him platform around and feel that much better than he does in the Genesis games. And the music? My gosh. This game has an amazing one, just like what you'd expect for a Sonic game. Here are some of my favorites.
{EXTENDED}Sonic Robo Blast 2 OST: Techno Hill Zone Act 2
MUSIC CREDIT: Stuf, Shane StrifeAn extended version of Techno Hill Act 2's theme.Sonic Robo Blast 2 official website: https://www.srb2.org/Please support Son...
www.youtube.com
{EXTENDED}Sonic Robo Blast 2 OST: Castle Eggman 2
MUSIC CREDIT: Arrow, DrTapeWorm, CobaltBWAn extended version of Castle Eggman Act 2's theme.Sonic Robo Blast 2 official website: https://www.srb2.org/Please ...
www.youtube.com
{EXTENDED}Sonic Robo Blast 2 OST: Pipe Towers
MUSIC CREDIT: CobaltBW, Koji KondoAn extended version of Pipe Towers' overworld theme.Sonic Robo Blast 2 official website: https://www.srb2.org/Please suppor...
www.youtube.com
{EXTENDED}Sonic Robo Blast 2 OST: Arid Canyon 1
MUSIC CREDIT: CobaltBW, Shane Strife, Nev3r, SpazzoAn extended version of Arid Canyon act 1's theme.Sonic Robo Blast 2 official website: https://www.srb2.org...
www.youtube.com
{EXTENDED}Sonic Robo Blast 2 OST: Egg Rock 2
MUSIC CREDIT: CobaltBW, Shane Strife, Big Wave DaveAn extended version of Egg Rock act 2's theme.Sonic Robo Blast 2 official website: https://www.srb2.org/Pl...
www.youtube.com
{EXTENDED}Sonic Robo Blast 2 OST: Supersonic! (Super Theme)
MUSIC CREDIT: CobaltBW, SSNTailsAn extended version of the Super theme.Sonic Robo Blast 2 official website: https://www.srb2.org/Please support Sonic Team Ju...
www.youtube.com
But wait, there's more! Sonic Robo Blast 2 has yet another trick up its sleeve to make it an amazing game. Mods. This game has so many mods for it. Level mods, physics mods, character mods, you name it! There's a mod that lets you play as Samus, Mario, Modern Sonic, even a mod that completely breaks the game called Super Mystic Sonic. There is so much in this game that makes it be an endlessly repayable game, and for that, I'll say this. Sonic Robo Blast 2 is a fan game that gets what it means to be a Sonic the Hedgehog game.
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