Watch Out For Fuzzy!

March 31, 2017 10:04 AM

Yoshi the Dinosaur in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (YouTube link), an unfinished, but still amazing, romhack from 2010 that was just now released. Playable through at least four zones. Download link in video description.

Basically, this is a reimplementation of much of the gameplay from brilliant SNES game Yoshi's Island on the Genesis/Mega Drive. The Genesis Sonic games had famously complex engines, and Yoshi's Island had a Super FX chip in the cart to provide some effects, so this is a very technically impressive hack!

Among the changes:

• Yoshi can't roll into a ball at will like Sonic can, but has a bit more traction and acceleration on foot, and so can make it up slopes and around loops with a shorter runway.
• Yoshi doesn't have Sonic's much-loved quick dash move, but has his flutter kick (helpfully, you get much more height in water!) and ground pound moves. Ground pounding on a very steep slope can cause you to gain a lot of speed!
• Yoshi's signature move, swallowing enemies to make eggs you can throw, is also here, pretty much as it was in Yoshi's Island! Some monitors contains eggs too! Eggs will bounce off of some solid walls, but this seems to be situational. Also, a few enemies can be jumped on, although many cannot.
• Because rolling into a ball, Sonic's traditional way of dealing out hurt, cannot be done at will, some bosses have been adjusted. You'll have to ground pound the first boss, and there are enemies introduced into the second and third bosses so you can get eggs to throw at him. I gave up at the 4th boss, but there might be a way to beat it too.
• The damage and failure model is adapted from Yoshi's Island. Getting hit causes Sonic to fall off your back and make you lose rings very quickly until you get him back. The last 10 are lost at one second each. Hitting zero causes Metal Sonic to show up and grab Sonic, causing you to lose a life.
• There are hidden red rings and flowers throughout the maps, although their purposes aren't known.
• Entirely new special stages! Pretty hard and rely on memorization a lot. In Sonic 2 it's possible to get all the emeralds in the first zone. Don't know if that can be done here yet, or what would happen if you did.
• There are other minor touches throughout. See what you can spot! Of particular note, watch for Yoshi's infamous hallucinogenic "Fuzzy" enemies in the first level....

posted by JHarris (7 comments total)

I look forward to Yoshi's Island & Knuckles.
posted by Servo5678 at 10:17 AM on March 31, 2017 [2 favorites]

This is amazing! Seeing all the little details in the levels and gameplay from two different childhood worlds makes me so happy, and that it actually looks fun is even better.
10/10 would mashup again.
posted by Nea Imagista at 10:19 AM on March 31, 2017

When it starts tripping balls, it looks like a Treasure game. Which is awesome.
posted by lmfsilva at 10:22 AM on March 31, 2017 [2 favorites]

As impressive as it is to blend the two completely different mechanics styles into one, I just can't really let go of the idea that any Sonic game could be automatically improved by including a bunch of fuzzies. Sonic games are always basically trip toys at heart to begin with. Surely in 2017, psychedelic visuals engines should be our number 1 development priority.
posted by byanyothername at 12:12 PM on March 31, 2017 [1 favorite]

Download link removed :( Wouldn't be sad to receive MeMail with an alternate
posted by jordemort at 1:04 PM on March 31, 2017

The video itself has been made private : O
[spoopy noise]
posted by DoctorFedora at 3:26 PM on March 31, 2017

I found someone who uploaded their Twitch Let's Play to YouTube.
posted by books for weapons at 3:41 PM on March 31, 2017 [2 favorites]