Tower of Power
July 16, 2014 7:14 AM Subscribe
"Brandon Sheffield, Gamasutra editor and director of Necrosoft Games, took to Vine last night to show the world what exactly happens when 13 Sonic & Knuckles cartridges are plugged into one another in a Human Centipede-esque disaster." (Warning: 30 Vine videos playing in one browser window.)
How did I never know I needed this?
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 7:25 AM on July 16, 2014
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 7:25 AM on July 16, 2014
(The Tower of Sonic, that is. Not the 30 autoplaying Vines on a single page. Jesus Christ, you guys.)
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 7:26 AM on July 16, 2014 [7 favorites]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 7:26 AM on July 16, 2014 [7 favorites]
(Warning: 30 Vine videos playing in one browser window.)
The medium is the message?
I've heard if you get to 50 it turns into Vectorman!
posted by timshel at 7:27 AM on July 16, 2014 [1 favorite]
The medium is the message?
I've heard if you get to 50 it turns into Vectorman!
posted by timshel at 7:27 AM on July 16, 2014 [1 favorite]
When I got to the Vine that showed the level select screen from Sonic 3, the corresponding music began playing in my head. I haven't even played that game in 15 years. Dammit, brain, we need to work on your prioritization skills.
posted by savetheclocktower at 7:42 AM on July 16, 2014 [9 favorites]
posted by savetheclocktower at 7:42 AM on July 16, 2014 [9 favorites]
It's hedgehogs all the way down.
posted by emelenjr at 7:42 AM on July 16, 2014 [9 favorites]
posted by emelenjr at 7:42 AM on July 16, 2014 [9 favorites]
What I know is that it crashes my browser every time I try to look at it. So, uh ... good on you, I guess.
posted by adipocere at 7:42 AM on July 16, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by adipocere at 7:42 AM on July 16, 2014 [1 favorite]
mmmm noscript.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 8:27 AM on July 16, 2014
posted by ArgentCorvid at 8:27 AM on July 16, 2014
I'm sure it's awesome, but 30 vines was definitely not healthy for my little laptop/netbook. Have to try again on a beefier machine.
That's not a dig on the poster, that's a shot at the people behind the article. God help you if you tried to open that on your phone.
posted by davros42 at 8:28 AM on July 16, 2014 [1 favorite]
That's not a dig on the poster, that's a shot at the people behind the article. God help you if you tried to open that on your phone.
posted by davros42 at 8:28 AM on July 16, 2014 [1 favorite]
I just clicked on it with my iphone 4, no problems so far as I can te++++++ATH NO CARRIER
posted by dr_dank at 8:36 AM on July 16, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by dr_dank at 8:36 AM on July 16, 2014 [3 favorites]
It's the 90s version of Alvin Lucier's I Am Sitting in a Room
posted by cloeburner at 8:49 AM on July 16, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by cloeburner at 8:49 AM on July 16, 2014 [2 favorites]
My Mozilla Crash Reporter is getting a workout.
For some reason, I'm reminded of the time I pointed 2 VNC servers at each other and got a massive positive feedback loop going. (Probably would have been better with music)
posted by MtDewd at 9:04 AM on July 16, 2014
For some reason, I'm reminded of the time I pointed 2 VNC servers at each other and got a massive positive feedback loop going. (Probably would have been better with music)
posted by MtDewd at 9:04 AM on July 16, 2014
Can anyone provide analysis of what is going on technically?
posted by prithee at 9:04 AM on July 16, 2014
posted by prithee at 9:04 AM on July 16, 2014
What I know is that it crashes my browser every time I try to look at it. So, uh ... good on you, I guess.
Yeah, that's a bullshit way to present something.
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:23 AM on July 16, 2014 [1 favorite]
Yeah, that's a bullshit way to present something.
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:23 AM on July 16, 2014 [1 favorite]
Wow. Many feels. Such nostalgia.
Yeah, the ridiculous 6 second Vimeo clips need to go. Crashed my (admittedly puny Ipad mobile version) browser, and they could just as easily been combined into one coherent video. I note the commenters over on the linked site already said as much.
I have played all these games, and loved them, and yes, the music is playing in my head, too. The Sega Genesis, and later the Dreamcast, were terrifically designed consoles and worked well beyond the time they stopped designing new games for either of them. Very robust systems.
We did the cartridge trick as it was intended so we could play the games as Knuckles (because Knuckles is obviously the coolest playable character in the series), but of course never tried this Stack O' Cartridges feat.
I say 'of course', but now that I think about it, I am amazed my guys never even attempted this. We tried pretty much everything else with our games, across all the various platforms.
Just off the top of my head, I remember attempting to port billiard balls through dimensions into other rooms in Toy Commander (Sega Dreamcast)*; thwart the entire original Halo (Xbox) plotline on replay by executing Captain Jacob Keyes in the first act**; and befriend a baby manticore in God of War: Ascension (PS3) in the hope of later riding it into battle as an awesome war-mount. ****
___
*Sadly, can't be done.
**This wasn't just idle sadism, honest. I pointed out to my boys that Keyes was the person most responsible for the Flood gaining access to the neural network, so it made logical sense to terminate him, strategically! As any hardcore Halo player knows by now, though, killing Keyes on replay is possible, but results in Cortana declaring that you have gone rogue or something and the marines taking you out anyway. Solves nothing, and the mission cannot be thwarted. Good game design there.
***If you are reading this, you don't know your Kratos. That guy doesn't have any friends. The baby manticores were so cute, though! We tried just leaving the unhatched eggs alone, but then they spawn feral hell hounds (WUT? HOW IS BABBY FORMED?), so you're better off smashing 'em. The good news is that Kratos can and does jump on a manticore later in the game and ride it anyway!
posted by misha at 10:03 AM on July 16, 2014
Yeah, the ridiculous 6 second Vimeo clips need to go. Crashed my (admittedly puny Ipad mobile version) browser, and they could just as easily been combined into one coherent video. I note the commenters over on the linked site already said as much.
I have played all these games, and loved them, and yes, the music is playing in my head, too. The Sega Genesis, and later the Dreamcast, were terrifically designed consoles and worked well beyond the time they stopped designing new games for either of them. Very robust systems.
We did the cartridge trick as it was intended so we could play the games as Knuckles (because Knuckles is obviously the coolest playable character in the series), but of course never tried this Stack O' Cartridges feat.
I say 'of course', but now that I think about it, I am amazed my guys never even attempted this. We tried pretty much everything else with our games, across all the various platforms.
Just off the top of my head, I remember attempting to port billiard balls through dimensions into other rooms in Toy Commander (Sega Dreamcast)*; thwart the entire original Halo (Xbox) plotline on replay by executing Captain Jacob Keyes in the first act**; and befriend a baby manticore in God of War: Ascension (PS3) in the hope of later riding it into battle as an awesome war-mount. ****
___
*Sadly, can't be done.
**This wasn't just idle sadism, honest. I pointed out to my boys that Keyes was the person most responsible for the Flood gaining access to the neural network, so it made logical sense to terminate him, strategically! As any hardcore Halo player knows by now, though, killing Keyes on replay is possible, but results in Cortana declaring that you have gone rogue or something and the marines taking you out anyway. Solves nothing, and the mission cannot be thwarted. Good game design there.
***If you are reading this, you don't know your Kratos. That guy doesn't have any friends. The baby manticores were so cute, though! We tried just leaving the unhatched eggs alone, but then they spawn feral hell hounds (WUT? HOW IS BABBY FORMED?), so you're better off smashing 'em. The good news is that Kratos can and does jump on a manticore later in the game and ride it anyway!
posted by misha at 10:03 AM on July 16, 2014
Could you Game Genie a Game Genie?
Also if only there were a way to produce a video longer than 6 seconds and display it on the web.
posted by stltony at 10:05 AM on July 16, 2014
Also if only there were a way to produce a video longer than 6 seconds and display it on the web.
posted by stltony at 10:05 AM on July 16, 2014
In its defense, it wasn't just a "play as a new character in your old game" gimmick. The base Sonic & Knuckles game let you stop a game and resume it later from the last level you reached, and if I recall correctly it extended that functionality to Sonics 1-3 when plugged into it. (Maybe not all 3, but definitely Sonic 3, to the extent that my above comment misidentified the level select screen as belonging to Sonic 3.)
posted by savetheclocktower at 10:13 AM on July 16, 2014
posted by savetheclocktower at 10:13 AM on July 16, 2014
It was actually pretty nifty, when used as intended. This is why we can't have nice things, Brandon Sheffield!
posted by misha at 10:29 AM on July 16, 2014
posted by misha at 10:29 AM on July 16, 2014
I'm sad no one has reuploaded this to youtube, or just made it into gifs, or.... something. Because this melted my work machine.
posted by emptythought at 3:02 PM on July 16, 2014
posted by emptythought at 3:02 PM on July 16, 2014
I don't think it added save functionality to Sonic 1 or 2 (lock-on with Sonic 1 actually only gave you the opportunity to generate more bonus levels, like most other Genesis games), but Sonic 3 had its own save system already.
Brandon is a pretty cool person!
posted by Corinth at 5:45 PM on July 16, 2014 [1 favorite]
Brandon is a pretty cool person!
posted by Corinth at 5:45 PM on July 16, 2014 [1 favorite]
Brandon is a pretty cool person!
HE IS MY FRIEND AND I AGREE.
posted by wemayfreeze at 7:11 PM on July 17, 2014
HE IS MY FRIEND AND I AGREE.
posted by wemayfreeze at 7:11 PM on July 17, 2014
(he is mine too kinda)
posted by Corinth at 11:10 PM on July 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Corinth at 11:10 PM on July 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
Sonic 3 had a save system - it was & Knuckles where you had to start from scratch every time unless you linked it up.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 6:42 AM on July 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 6:42 AM on July 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
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