Knuckles Chaotix 32x

[Anonymous No.7273384]

What are people's opinions on this game? I notice that youtubers sometimes shit on this game, but then, every once in a while people will also call it a hidden classic. Some magazines reviewed this game highly back in the day, calling it one of the better 32x games. I have tried playing it, but I just gave up after the first stage. It's not hard, but the tethering mechanics always felt unwieldy to me. I never really feel an urge to continue playing it. Maybe I am missing something? The game does have a nice presentation, and I thought it made good use of the 32x. Do people actually enjoy Knuckles Chaotix?

[Anonymous No.7273520]

It's divisive for the same reason Sonic CD is. Open minded fans will appreciate its unique qualities, while close minded purists will shit on it for not being traditional enough.

[Anonymous No.7273523]

Seemed rushed. It didn't even have a proper ending. Great soundtrack though.

[Anonymous No.7273582]

Personally I love Chaotix. It's not a perfect game by any means, but I'm all about weirdo shit and this really scratches my itch for weirdo shit. It's just an off the wall Sonic game with a bunch of characters that rarely ever show up any more. Not super hard either so it makes for something good to play when you wanna just veg out and relax. The music is phenomenal and adds to that relaxing vibe the game gives. This is something that's only going to apply to someone like me as well, but when I was 14 I was starting to go blind because I had cataracts inherited genetically, so I had to have surgery done on my eyes where they removed my actual shitty lenses and put in new implant lenses that won't fog up. Before my surgeries the world was fairly grey looking, but after them it was like magic. Everything was so much more colorful, like I had stepped into a cartoon. Ever since then, I've always liked games that are very colorful because A) My eyes are able to actually appreciate the colors now, and B) it's just cool seeing something so vibrant and wonderful. Chaotix is a fucking insanely colorful game. With each stage having 4 variants for different times of day it makes for an insanely beautiful environment using loads of different colors to communicate starry skies, neon lights, and sunsets in incredible detail. Like I said though, super colorful shit like that might just be me knowing where I could be now and appreciating my ability to even see something so colorful.

[Anonymous No.7273692]

>>7273582
>It's just an off the wall Sonic game with a bunch of characters that rarely ever show up any more.

Didn't most of these characters make their debut in Chaotix? Vector first appeared in concept art for the original game. But was an unused character. Espio appeared in AM2's Sonic the Fighters. Nice story about your eyesight, by the way (not trying to be sarcastic).

It is a colourful looking game, the game does use the Genesis hardware for the playingfield layer (which is unavoidable since the devs wanted 60fps), but they dress up the scenery, sprites and background layers with 32x capabilities.

[Anonymous No.7273698]

>>7273384
This game was kinda fun with a friend ! The music was nice, but in the end every kid preferred playing sonic 3 & knuckles over and over.

[Anonymous No.7273706]

>>7273692

Mighty the Armadillo first appeared in SegaSonic arcade game.

[Anonymous No.7273730]

>>7273692
>Vector first appeared in concept art for the original game.

Espio the Chameleon and Charmy Bee are the two original characters created for Knuckles Chaotix.

[Anonymous No.7273812]

>>7273692
Yes! Most of Chaotix's cast originated from Chaotix. Specifically Vector, (as a playable character anyway, like you said he was in that concept art with the Sonic band) Espio who's appearance in Chaotix preceded Sonic the Fighters, Charmy, Heavy, and Bomb. Knuckles is obviously from S3&K, Mighty is from SegaSonic the Hedgehog, an arcade game controlled with a track ball that also features Ray the Flying Squirrel, and of course, Robotnik and Metal Sonic are from Sonic 1 and CD respectively.

[Anonymous No.7273838]

The concept for Knuckles Chaotix first appeared as a demo on the Mega Drive/ Genesis called Sonic Crackers. Sega thought the Prototype might make a good concept for a 32x game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnuZOFmVFQQ

[Anonymous No.7273843]

>>7273384
>5 stages with 5 acts IIRC
5/10
OST was great though.

[Anonymous No.7273847]

>>7273384
Definitely deserves a traditional-style remake with more bosses and music. I would do it myself if I wasn't fucking clueless or could base it on another hack of Chaotix, but the only hack of it out there that I know if is a sprite swap for Mighty.

[Anonymous No.7273859]

>>7273692
>>7273730
>Vector first appeared in concept art for the original game.
"ベクター (Key)", the design looks very different, but the name was already "Vector", his headphones were already present too. Interesting.

[Anonymous No.7273864]

>>7273838
>The concept for Knuckles Chaotix first appeared as a demo on the Mega Drive/ Genesis called Sonic Crackers

I think the concept for Sonic Crackers was to make a two player co-op Sonic game more fun for two players. Sonic 2 introduced a passive two-player mode where a second player could control Tails. But, most of the time, Tails would just get lost in the map, leaving player two with little to do. Sonic 3 tries to make player 2 feel more involved. The tethering idea was put in place to keep both players tethered to the screen together. The concept came from that, and it is interesting.

[Anonymous No.7273921]

They obviously didnt have enough game but stretched it out to try to be long like sonic 3 &k anyway. Coulda been a great game. Fucking 32x

[Anonymous No.7273941]

>>7273384
>one of the better 32x games
thats really not saying much

[Anonymous No.7273985]

>>7273941
Fight me in tmek right now, bitch

[Anonymous No.7274136]

>>7273985
>Fight me in tmek right now, bitch

followed by Cosmic Carnage:
https://youtu.be/CR0MWpOK1RU?t=977

[Anonymous No.7274143]

>>7273985
>Fight me in tmek right now, bitch

followed by Cosmic Carnage:
https://youtu.be/iyjPbsnOE8k?t=92

[Anonymous No.7274216]

>>7273384
Bought a 32x for this game as a kid because I loved knuckles. It's shit. Huge pain in the ass to hook up the 32x to the Genesis using those metal clips (they never stay in) and the game is super empty and unfinished. It's also one of the worst 2-P games ever. Always caused fights between me and my best friend when we tried to play it. There's a button you can push that makes you lose 10 rings and you can go into negatives. Mechanic just doesn't work with sonic.

[Anonymous No.7274236]

>>7273520
I'm not the biggest Sonic CD fan but it shouldn't be compared to this piece of garbage.

Knuckles Chaotix is the 2nd worst Sonic style game of the 16bit era. Only 3d Blast is worst.

[Anonymous No.7274347]

The game just feels like a huge demo for the combi-ring mechanic, the levels are barren as fuck with about 15 enemies tossed around the stage. Jumping to the top of the stage through a bunch of platforms is pretty fun the first times, but that's only it and the rest is filler (5 damn acts every zone without any difference in level design). Neat concept, but it's just boring

[Anonymous No.7274360]

>>7274236
3d blast is, unironically, a better 3d sonic game than both adventures. At least it doesn't have any boring filler stages.

[Anonymous No.7274371]

>>7274360
Sonic in Sonic games is supposed to be fast. 3D blast is a fucking disaster.

[Anonymous No.7274384]

>>7274216
>Mechanic just doesn't work with sonic.
agree, i always do this when i'm playing Chaotix

[Anonymous No.7274396]

>>7274371
alright, I wasn't earlier, but you can go "fast" perfectly fine in 3d blast, it's only that the stages don't exactly allow much freedom of movement. I still think that 3d blast is a fine game, that at last works. That director's cut increases the speed too, I think, but I never played it.

[Anonymous No.7274406]

>>7274396
*wasn't being serious
sorry, im retardo

[Anonymous No.7274440]

>>7274396
It was shit, isometric views and speed were never a good combination to start with, and it made landing on badniks or other objects on the first try nearly impossible.

>your ban was appealed and denied.
trannyjannies keep sucking that dick.

[Anonymous No.7274462]

>>7274440
Now you're just admitting to being a shitter, because landing perfectly on those badniks is pretty simple, you don't even need to stop to do it. Maybe you just need to get good anon.

[Anonymous No.7274494]

>>7274440
>isometric views and speed were never a good combination to start with
Not true. 3D Blast is just an awful game.

[Anonymous No.7274495]

>>7273582
This is a nice story, anon.

[Anonymous No.7274510]

So tired of people asking "why does it feel unfinished, why does it feel like a tech demo?" Because it is unfinished, it was supposed to be the flagship Sonic title for the Saturn but got cut down and shit out fast for the 32X. Was confirmed when drx interviewed Tom Kalinske a few years ago. Now take this knowledge and spread it so I can stop being the only one posting about it and agonizing over how we lost out on what would have been the only good Sonic game for Saturn.

[Anonymous No.7274734]

>>7274510
>So tired of people asking "why does it feel unfinished, why does it feel like a tech demo?" Because it is unfinished, it was supposed to be the flagship Sonic title for the Saturn but got cut down and shit out fast for the 32X. Was confirmed when drx interviewed Tom Kalinske a few years ago. Now take this knowledge and spread it so I can stop being the only one posting about it and agonizing over how we lost out on what would have been the only good Sonic game for Saturn.

> drx: That's quite interesting. Speaking of the Saturn console, I know that there was a 2D Sonic project, Sonic the Hedgehog, that ended up being Knuckles Chaotix, it originally started as a Saturn game. It wasn't released on the Saturn, but on the 32X. I know it was supposed to have the Sonic & Tails characters and they were cut from it as well. What was that about, do you remember?
> Tom: Yeah I remember it. It was another one of these things where we needed titles because we didn't have enough. The original game was long and it was taking too long to get done, so the decision was made to cut it into parts and introduce it quickly on 32x and that was – you know, it was basically a simple decision because there were too many needs to have more products on the 32X it wasn't going to be ready on Saturn, it was too big, it was taking too long, it was over budgeted, it was behind schedule - all those reasons.

I had no idea that Knuckles Chaotix was meant for the Saturn. I would look at the Sonic Crackers demo, and think it was some sort pf prototype that became the 32x game. Interesting. Disappointing though. But not surprised at all. Sega was literally publishing games for the Genesis/ Mega Drive, Game Gear, Sega/ Mega CD, 32x and Saturn. They were releasing PC games as well. I'm surprised that Sega could produce as many games as they did.

[Anonymous No.7274736]

>>7274734
https://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?threads/my-interview-with-tom-kalinske-july-2011.32913/

[Anonymous No.7274807]

>>7273384
I appreciate it being different but playing it gives me a migraine. Idk why, my guess is the two characters and controlling them while trying to go fast is not a good idea. Cool bonus stage though.

If I had to rank the classic games I would go 2>3&K>CD>K>3>1>Chaotix.

[Anonymous No.7274839]

>>7274734
I find that hard to believe. It doesn't seem to have any Saturn dna in it and the Saturn was barely out when it was released.

[Anonymous No.7274843]

>>7273384
I only know about this game from egoraptor

[Anonymous No.7274889]

>>7274839
>I find that hard to believe. It doesn't seem to have any Saturn dna
Hitachi SuperH

[Anonymous No.7274901]

>>7273706
>yellow sonic
>sonic
>black and red sonic

[Anonymous No.7274976]

>>7273384
should've been some sort of musical game, that soundtrack gives out good summer night vibes.

[Anonymous No.7274983]

Sonic Advance 3 did the tag-team gimmick idea better
that's what Chaotix should've been long time ago, tether just doesn't work right.

[Anonymous No.7274986]

>>7274734
>>7274510
>>7274736
yeah, let's spread that shit.

[Anonymous No.7275278]

>>7273384
first case of a sonic game that was released unfinished.
Blatant missing feature (rings count going negative for instance)

[Anonymous No.7275286]

Here's your level design, bro.

[Anonymous No.7275427]

>>7275286
>Here's your level design, bro.

Kinda this. I am playing through this game now via emulation, and so far the level design has been a lot of this with the odd level gimmick. The tether play mechanic does take some time to adjust too, but I don't find the controls to be bad. It plays like Sonic with a slingshot mechanic, as I find most of the time I am using the second character to slingshot the first character, or as a grappling hook to cling onto higher ledges. And there are the odd switches that require both characters, one character or to throw a character at a switch. Or the odd thing that both characters are required to stand on. At least pressing the A button to reorient character 2 helps. This game honestly really feels like it was meant for two players. But I have no idea how well this mechanic would work for a full game. It seems like a mechanic that should be limited to a power-down (like in an item box) . The game has a level randomizer so players wouldn't fight over which stages to play. It has interesting ideas. The graphics are nice, even the Mega Drive/ Genesis game tiles use the limited colour pallete well. The 32bit layers and sprites look good. I use Knuckles and Vector for the full game. The sprite animation for both characters look great and use the 32x's higher colour sprites. Vector has a lot of great animation. I like the use of scaling and other effects. Bosses look cool (though basic) Sometimes stages will use random polygon objects. The visuals in this game look psychedelic, oddly like a lot of 32x games. I like the 3D bonus stages and have unlocked some Chaos Coins (The Chaos Emerald replacement). Game has things I like about it. But ehh... not feeling the level design.

[Anonymous No.7275453]

For what it's worth, I like it. Level design a little bit too repetitive but I still enjoyed it, and it looks like they had to make do with what they could when it was decided the game would no longer star Sonic&Tails, they probably had to wrap it up quickly.

>>7274494
Love this game. Too bad Vinnie and Modo are so OP compared to the other characters.

[Anonymous No.7275460]

>>7273384
I like this game. if anything I think we can all agree that the game has a banging soundtrack atleast.

[Anonymous No.7275504]

>>7275453
>For what it's worth, I like it. Level design a little bit too repetitive but I still enjoyed it

I have a feeling that the level design was made to accommodate two players. So it has a simple design flow. The game is an extension of the Sonic 2 and 3 co-op (player two controlling tails). But the characters are tethered together and the camera is always pinned in the center of the ring-line. The character are won via a crane game, to make it fair for both players. Maps are randomized. There is little in the way of enemy placement and not many blind hazards (spikes that pop out of the ground, etc) like in the other 2D sonic games. The game is very forgiving, and has a different scoring system. This game is kind of like World of Illusion on the Genesis. Though with simpler puzzles. Knuckles Chaotix feels oddly experimental.

>>7275460
>I like this game. if anything I think we can all agree that the game has a banging soundtrack atleast.

The soundtrack is excellent.

[Anonymous No.7275738]

>>7273384

The graphics look awesome and is one of the 32x games that show the potential of the system.

[Anonymous No.7275851]

>>7274236
3d was unironcally good and when you realize the tricks used to make it look as it did despite tiny rom size its even more epic

and sonic cd is the best 2d sonic besides mania,fite me

[Anonymous No.7275854]

>>7274510
sonic R was good,dont even try saying otherwise

CAN YOU FEEL THE SUNSHINE

[Anonymous No.7275864]

>>7275851
>3rd Strike is a good fighting game because of graphics
>>7275854
This ain't an AGDQ thread buddy.

[Anonymous No.7275928]

>>7273384
I like it, the soundtrack is amazing and it has pretty good aesthetics.
>>7273730
Charmy is actually a character from an obscure sonic manga, the same one that introduced Amy Rose.

[Anonymous No.7276582]

>>7275928
>>>7273730 (You)
>Charmy is actually a character from an obscure sonic manga, the same one that introduced Amy Rose.

That's cool. It's like Knuckles Chaotix was made up of obscure or forgotten Sonic related characters (for 1995). I think Espio was the only original character in the game. Apparently Espio was suppose to be the lead character of Chaotix before Knuckles was replaced as the lead.

[Anonymous No.7276583]

>>7273384
It's basically poop and pee mixed together.

[Anonymous No.7276989]

>>7273384
Got it at TRU during a closeout. I had a blast when I was like 12
Pros
>loads of vibrant levels, different things like the power coming on in Amazing Arena
>the rubber band mechanic made for a relaxing "jungle gym" type experience where you just goof off wherever
>OST is phenomenal
>different characters
Cons
>empty levels. like wtf
>roulette system with 5 of each zone
>stupid bomb joke character
>no real ending
>overall it just seems like it's 80% finished as a game
In general its a good goof off and do whatever type game, and not an amazing Sonic game with a structured narrative etc.

[Anonymous No.7278448]

>>7274734
You can also gather how rushed it was by looking at the build dates of all the prototypes available, "taking too long" here roughly translates to SEGA being out of their fucking minds and running their devs ragged because the sky was falling. Up until the latest builds the levels are completely empty and have non-functional shit everywhere, it has such bad level design because they spent so much time porting it over and getting the engine working that they had to throw stages together at the eleventh hour.

[Aiden, call me "AIDS"(...) No.7278465]

>>7273730
They used to make a comic I used to read in the UK. STC [Sonic the comic]