Clearly not an objectively great game but i personally really liked it quite a lot, i think the gameplay wasn't as bad as some may say and actually enjoyed it, liked the character designs too and its got a great ost. Its weak spot is clearly the level design and how most of the time it isn't really compatible with the main gameplay mechanic
Os unicos pontos positivos desse jogo é que ele apresenta os "Chaotix", e tem uma arte/gráfico bonito.
Oddly enough I really enjoy this title. Sure it's not the best of the classic era but its for me a fun time with one of the best soundtracks of the classic games and the ring mechanic leads to some fun and fast moments. Didn't regret playing this really.
This is not a review of Knuckles Chaotix. I’ve never played that game and most likely never will. I’m using this page to talk about a game tangentially related to the 32x classic, but not deemed relevant enough to have a page on IGDB, and therefore here. A game that, even if on a subconscious level, ever since my younger years, shaped my feelings for video games and cemented them as an integral part of my life. I’m talking about Chaotix Universe, made in Macromedia Fusion 1.2, and released by Alexandre Martins or “lex” around 2002.
After many, many years, maybe two decades, I’ve reconnected with this game through an archive.org download, and immediately after that went searching for whatever information about it that I could find. The most I could get is that lex was a relatively prolific Sonic fangame creator in the early aughts, creating titles such as Sonic Universe 1 & 2 and Neo Sonic Universe, as well as the relatively more well-known Open Sonic as far back as 2009, and recently released the also open-source Open Surge, featuring his original character Surge the Rabbit. And among those was Chaotix Universe. Even in the fangame community, this is a pretty forgotten game, it’s absolutely no Before/After the Sequel or Robo Blast 2, and even in the flash game scene of the time there are games still frequently remembered fondly such as Ultimate Flash Sonic and the Final Fantasy Sonic X games.
The reason why I’m spending time running my fingers through my keyboard is to just put it out there how much this game, and non-profit fangames as a whole mean to me and countless others who frequently played games on theirs on their family’s personal computers. If I ever were to do one of those “formative games” lists people seem to be doing around here, i wouldn’t be able to include this one, and that doesn’t seem right. Playing through this game again, though, after 20 years and hundreds of games of experience behind me, I can see it’s obviously very rough around the edges; the movement and jump physics are weird, the stage designs are all over the place and can mostly be skipped by abusing Knuckles’ wall climb and glitching through platforms to the end. Even for a fangame, it’s absolutely nothing remarkable, I’m sure lex has other more polished titles under his belt for being in the game for so many years, but this is the one that came to me on a Digerati disc bought on a newsstand when I was still learning to read (so it was redistributed for profit after all, sorry lex).
The thing is that, besides the amateurish design, this blew my little mind back then. When you’re a kid and have absolutely no biases, muscle memory or knowledge associated with video games, why would you care if the jumps aren’t intuitive, or if the animations aren’t quite right, or if the levels are all basically sets of floors of flying platforms? What really matters are the beautiful, colorful sprites, the cool character designs in team Chaotix and the enemies, the incredible songs that all remained in my head 20 years later, the overall feel of adventure from the stage variety, all ripped from various Sonic games into one package. When it came to it, even if at the time there were more polished adventures for me to play, such as DKC on my sister’s SNES or later PS1 games when my aunt got me one, what drove me to this is a little magical thing called passion.
That sort of unadulterated passion is why stuff like the fangames, romhacks, mods, itch.io, gamejolt and newgrounds scenes were, and still are so exciting. It’s gaming at its most expressive; taking this game for example, through every choice made in it, shines pure admiration for the Sonic franchise and platformers as a whole, a purity only truer when doing it as a sole labor of love, without any pretensions aside from making something cool with the characters and world you enjoy and sharing it to the world. Meaning, those choices quietly reveal a little bit of the creator’s thought process and personality to the world. I guess that reminding myself of this game made me realize how much, at the end of the day, putting out something you care about and made with love is all it takes to touch someone out there. That sort of passion is, and always will be captivating for people of all ages. In my case, it led me to play hundreds of other games thereafter and even considering taking it on to create some myself. We’ll see what the future holds!
After many, many years, maybe two decades, I’ve reconnected with this game through an archive.org download, and immediately after that went searching for whatever information about it that I could find. The most I could get is that lex was a relatively prolific Sonic fangame creator in the early aughts, creating titles such as Sonic Universe 1 & 2 and Neo Sonic Universe, as well as the relatively more well-known Open Sonic as far back as 2009, and recently released the also open-source Open Surge, featuring his original character Surge the Rabbit. And among those was Chaotix Universe. Even in the fangame community, this is a pretty forgotten game, it’s absolutely no Before/After the Sequel or Robo Blast 2, and even in the flash game scene of the time there are games still frequently remembered fondly such as Ultimate Flash Sonic and the Final Fantasy Sonic X games.
The reason why I’m spending time running my fingers through my keyboard is to just put it out there how much this game, and non-profit fangames as a whole mean to me and countless others who frequently played games on theirs on their family’s personal computers. If I ever were to do one of those “formative games” lists people seem to be doing around here, i wouldn’t be able to include this one, and that doesn’t seem right. Playing through this game again, though, after 20 years and hundreds of games of experience behind me, I can see it’s obviously very rough around the edges; the movement and jump physics are weird, the stage designs are all over the place and can mostly be skipped by abusing Knuckles’ wall climb and glitching through platforms to the end. Even for a fangame, it’s absolutely nothing remarkable, I’m sure lex has other more polished titles under his belt for being in the game for so many years, but this is the one that came to me on a Digerati disc bought on a newsstand when I was still learning to read (so it was redistributed for profit after all, sorry lex).
The thing is that, besides the amateurish design, this blew my little mind back then. When you’re a kid and have absolutely no biases, muscle memory or knowledge associated with video games, why would you care if the jumps aren’t intuitive, or if the animations aren’t quite right, or if the levels are all basically sets of floors of flying platforms? What really matters are the beautiful, colorful sprites, the cool character designs in team Chaotix and the enemies, the incredible songs that all remained in my head 20 years later, the overall feel of adventure from the stage variety, all ripped from various Sonic games into one package. When it came to it, even if at the time there were more polished adventures for me to play, such as DKC on my sister’s SNES or later PS1 games when my aunt got me one, what drove me to this is a little magical thing called passion.
That sort of unadulterated passion is why stuff like the fangames, romhacks, mods, itch.io, gamejolt and newgrounds scenes were, and still are so exciting. It’s gaming at its most expressive; taking this game for example, through every choice made in it, shines pure admiration for the Sonic franchise and platformers as a whole, a purity only truer when doing it as a sole labor of love, without any pretensions aside from making something cool with the characters and world you enjoy and sharing it to the world. Meaning, those choices quietly reveal a little bit of the creator’s thought process and personality to the world. I guess that reminding myself of this game made me realize how much, at the end of the day, putting out something you care about and made with love is all it takes to touch someone out there. That sort of passion is, and always will be captivating for people of all ages. In my case, it led me to play hundreds of other games thereafter and even considering taking it on to create some myself. We’ll see what the future holds!
I must admit I played it on and off throughout the month and that was from me becoming very busy with certain matters. But at the moment this week turned somewhat free so as a result, I gave a go to finally beat Knuckles Chaotix and I sure did.
Despite my inital impressions being very mixed due to a boy yelling and quoting in my ear consistently as I tried to atleast give the game a shot, playing it on my own, I discovered not only an underrated gem, but a wickedly fun as hell game.
I don't care what people say as the mechanic where you and your partner are banding together is just mad fun. Especially once you master the mechanic so you can fling yourself mid air very far up to get further in the level. As this is a very vertical based game rather than the traditional horizontal levels of previous Sonic games. And as a Spin-Off, it lives up to the concept. All the players are just so fun. Hell Espio's ingame sprite looks even adorable in this game compared to his later redesign that makes him look like a Dorito lol, which yeah the cast is just all good and play good. Do recommend playing as Mighty instead of as a partner.
More I'd praise is definitely the way it handles certain things. In previous games if you fucked up getting the emerald you were fucked, compared to here where you tend to get shots as the Special Stages get progressively harder. And the rings serve an actual purpose as the counter. So your motivated to get lots of rings for a good reason. It can be forgiving in that regard.
Oh and of course, the presentation and music are all utterly phenomenal. I listen to the OST quite a bit, the stages, the respective visuals are just a delight.
Despite the game having a number of warts (not very focused on a story, after you get all the chaos rings not much necessarily happens til you beat all the levels, and whatever) I love all of it regardless. The gameplay just makes up for it all. It's just too damn fun to sling and fling around the place. When you get the hang of it, it's fun time.
Despite my inital impressions being very mixed due to a boy yelling and quoting in my ear consistently as I tried to atleast give the game a shot, playing it on my own, I discovered not only an underrated gem, but a wickedly fun as hell game.
I don't care what people say as the mechanic where you and your partner are banding together is just mad fun. Especially once you master the mechanic so you can fling yourself mid air very far up to get further in the level. As this is a very vertical based game rather than the traditional horizontal levels of previous Sonic games. And as a Spin-Off, it lives up to the concept. All the players are just so fun. Hell Espio's ingame sprite looks even adorable in this game compared to his later redesign that makes him look like a Dorito lol, which yeah the cast is just all good and play good. Do recommend playing as Mighty instead of as a partner.
More I'd praise is definitely the way it handles certain things. In previous games if you fucked up getting the emerald you were fucked, compared to here where you tend to get shots as the Special Stages get progressively harder. And the rings serve an actual purpose as the counter. So your motivated to get lots of rings for a good reason. It can be forgiving in that regard.
Oh and of course, the presentation and music are all utterly phenomenal. I listen to the OST quite a bit, the stages, the respective visuals are just a delight.
Despite the game having a number of warts (not very focused on a story, after you get all the chaos rings not much necessarily happens til you beat all the levels, and whatever) I love all of it regardless. The gameplay just makes up for it all. It's just too damn fun to sling and fling around the place. When you get the hang of it, it's fun time.
Dude this game is so fucking nothing like I felt 0 emotions or feelings playing this
Knuckles' Chaotix was one of the few Sonic games that alluded me for years, until I finally got around to downloading the rom for it to knock out on a day off from work. I remember when it was constantly seen as this underrated gem that nobody played back in the day, similar to Sonic CD, but Knuckles' Chaotix hasn't ever been ported to a single other platform, leaving it to allude so many players who couldn't be bothered to emulate the damn thing. But hey, I sure did!
And the game is absolute dogshit.
The best way I can sum up Knuckles' Chaotix, is by calling it a game that hates the idea of the player being in control of anything. The game's core gimmick of being tethered to a partner usually ends with them getting stuck on some part of geometry or flying through the air and sending you clipping through walls, which happened to me on more than a few occasions. It's got an ardent refusal to let you pick characters or stages as you wish, instead forcing you to pick your partner via a crane game that can easily give you one of the two joke characters, and essentially allowing no real difficulty curve through the game's 5(!) acts per zone, since they need to account for every possible stage being played in a given order. And the stages are completely fucking empty, with its vertical level design being either annoyingly tedious if you're not playing Charmy, or a complete and total bore if you are playing Charmy.
It's the act of constantly fighting against the game that should kill any and all enjoyment a player can have, and even with Knuckles' Chaotix boasting decent visuals and a really good soundtrack, it's all meaningless when the game is so steadfast in the opposite direction of the player's own enjoyment. A completely miserable 4-ish hour slog that I feel no accomplishment in finally getting off my bucket list.
And the game is absolute dogshit.
The best way I can sum up Knuckles' Chaotix, is by calling it a game that hates the idea of the player being in control of anything. The game's core gimmick of being tethered to a partner usually ends with them getting stuck on some part of geometry or flying through the air and sending you clipping through walls, which happened to me on more than a few occasions. It's got an ardent refusal to let you pick characters or stages as you wish, instead forcing you to pick your partner via a crane game that can easily give you one of the two joke characters, and essentially allowing no real difficulty curve through the game's 5(!) acts per zone, since they need to account for every possible stage being played in a given order. And the stages are completely fucking empty, with its vertical level design being either annoyingly tedious if you're not playing Charmy, or a complete and total bore if you are playing Charmy.
It's the act of constantly fighting against the game that should kill any and all enjoyment a player can have, and even with Knuckles' Chaotix boasting decent visuals and a really good soundtrack, it's all meaningless when the game is so steadfast in the opposite direction of the player's own enjoyment. A completely miserable 4-ish hour slog that I feel no accomplishment in finally getting off my bucket list.
Have done two 100% playthroughs of this game now, and my opinion remains the same. It's a fairly decent game in terms of gameplay but suffers from spaghetti level design like Sonic CD but somehow worse. 5 acts drags on way too long and no zone really has a unique gimmick that makes it memorable.
Only thing stopping this game from being bad is the several playable characters that are fun to use, the amazing visuals that are colorful and perhaps a contender for one of the greatest videogame osts of all time.
58/100
Only thing stopping this game from being bad is the several playable characters that are fun to use, the amazing visuals that are colorful and perhaps a contender for one of the greatest videogame osts of all time.
58/100
not as bad as people make it out to be
💀
This game makes me so mad. It has an AMAZING soundtrack, the idea of a Sonic 2D platformer spin off fascinates me, it introduces new characters that don't give me cringe AND it was released at the peak of Sonic's popularity. HOW DARE THEY make the rest of the game literally unplayable? It seems like a joke but for each of the positive things there is a negative. It's mechanically flawed, the color palette is grueling, the level design is tedious, the lack of enemies makes the game just plain boring and it was released exclusively on the 32X like ??????. A shame :(
People aren't very kind to this game. They were kind of just throwing spaghetti at the wall with Knuckles' Chaotix. Because it's a Sonic game, what you can do with your character has to be meaningful within the context of stage layouts. Good player movement simply isn't enough sometimes. Knuckles' Chaotix doesn't really have any level design. If you aren't particularly good at games, which, most people that play Sonic aren't, then you aren't going to tackle the game at a level that would make it enjoyable. The difference with this game, is that there isn't much tertiary to appreciate. I'll make a distinction here-- When I say good at games, I mean the type of person actually willing to learn how a game works. Most people aren't.
I approach most Sonic games with a sort of speedrunner angle. Normally I think speedrunning defeats the purpose of playing of a game, but Sonic 'is' about going fast. To spare you the trite discussion about whether or not Sonic prioritizes platforming or not, it's pretty clear that the 2D games incentivize keeping a top speed and staying on the top route. I've spent so much time watching joeybaby69 run Sonic 2 now I feel enlightened on subpixel jank. Sonic is the kind of game where masterful play doesn't always feel completely deterministic. Player movement is extremely emergent, usually in a very gamey sorta way; But sometimes even basic jumps can get complicated just because of it's own physics. It sounds kind of irrelevant to how most people would play the game, but everyone has to deal with the game at it's barest. These are games you're meant to optimize in your own way, and this is just a consideration that was on my mind.
Knuckles Chaotix' main mechanic is the tether system. This system is actually very unique, but they didn't know what to do with it. You use the tension built by holding either character tied to it in place while one builds up potential speed (e.g. You hold them off a ledge, and they'll shoot up when you let go of the hold button due to gravity pushing them down.) And then you launch anywhere you want. This is the absolute fastest you could ever go in a 2D Sonic game, there's like, no air friction. To account for this, every stage is absolutely massive because you totally could just actually Jump To The End.
The problems start to become clear here. The stages have to be big to account for how fast you can go, but they also have to be very tall because you can just propel yourself upward too. All character specific abilities aid in movement, and end up covering huge distances as well. Because of this, enemies and hazards can't really show up too. If they did, you'd just land into a hitbox you couldn't have reacted to when trying to go fast. I like the tether system because it's unique, but it's insanely difficult to design around conceptually.
I mentioned the whole Sonic physics--speedrunner sweatlord thing because I feel like that's kind of why people don't like this one. You're actually tackling some very complex physics mechanics here. There's a bit of a learning curve to it that goes underutilized because they couldn't think of any actual challenges. Every stage is mostly an empty 11 x 17 piece of paper with random vertical strips of terrain. So like, there isn't much to like or think about here. People are gonna play this game, and just think it's extremely jank. But unlike the other classic Sonic games, it isn't pardoned because there isn't any identity for itself-- gameplay in or out.
I approach most Sonic games with a sort of speedrunner angle. Normally I think speedrunning defeats the purpose of playing of a game, but Sonic 'is' about going fast. To spare you the trite discussion about whether or not Sonic prioritizes platforming or not, it's pretty clear that the 2D games incentivize keeping a top speed and staying on the top route. I've spent so much time watching joeybaby69 run Sonic 2 now I feel enlightened on subpixel jank. Sonic is the kind of game where masterful play doesn't always feel completely deterministic. Player movement is extremely emergent, usually in a very gamey sorta way; But sometimes even basic jumps can get complicated just because of it's own physics. It sounds kind of irrelevant to how most people would play the game, but everyone has to deal with the game at it's barest. These are games you're meant to optimize in your own way, and this is just a consideration that was on my mind.
Knuckles Chaotix' main mechanic is the tether system. This system is actually very unique, but they didn't know what to do with it. You use the tension built by holding either character tied to it in place while one builds up potential speed (e.g. You hold them off a ledge, and they'll shoot up when you let go of the hold button due to gravity pushing them down.) And then you launch anywhere you want. This is the absolute fastest you could ever go in a 2D Sonic game, there's like, no air friction. To account for this, every stage is absolutely massive because you totally could just actually Jump To The End.
The problems start to become clear here. The stages have to be big to account for how fast you can go, but they also have to be very tall because you can just propel yourself upward too. All character specific abilities aid in movement, and end up covering huge distances as well. Because of this, enemies and hazards can't really show up too. If they did, you'd just land into a hitbox you couldn't have reacted to when trying to go fast. I like the tether system because it's unique, but it's insanely difficult to design around conceptually.
I mentioned the whole Sonic physics--speedrunner sweatlord thing because I feel like that's kind of why people don't like this one. You're actually tackling some very complex physics mechanics here. There's a bit of a learning curve to it that goes underutilized because they couldn't think of any actual challenges. Every stage is mostly an empty 11 x 17 piece of paper with random vertical strips of terrain. So like, there isn't much to like or think about here. People are gonna play this game, and just think it's extremely jank. But unlike the other classic Sonic games, it isn't pardoned because there isn't any identity for itself-- gameplay in or out.
This game is very, very beautiful, and presents a new bold concept with interesting newcomers, but fails in its execution due to the clunky ring bond with your partner, and playing it on co-op doesn't make it less frustrating
O AMOR ENTRE UM PSICOPATA E UMA DEPRESSIVA EH O MAIS LINDO
ELA MORRERIA POR ELE…
E ELE MATARIA POR ELA!!!!
CURTA E COMPARTILHE SE VOCÊ FARIA ISSO POR KUCKLES CHAOTIX
ELA MORRERIA POR ELE…
E ELE MATARIA POR ELA!!!!
CURTA E COMPARTILHE SE VOCÊ FARIA ISSO POR KUCKLES CHAOTIX
Um jogo muito bom, gameplay acostumavel, gráficos lindos e o pior ponto na minha opinião são as músicas que não são memoráveis, não me entenda mal não são ruins, o problema e que não chegam a marcar, mas tirando isso e um jogo muito bom.
A clever little game that needs a bit more workshopping. Great fundamentals that build off of Sonic physics perfectly, making a game that is certainly chaotic, and a wonderful graphical style that screams 90s, but the level layouts and gimmicks can be a bit confusing in a bad way - most 2D Sonic games have some pretty tedious and cryptic stage gimmicks, but this one is probably the worst about it.
This game looks and sounds amazing. I wish it had more than 3 level designs spread over 25 acts
What a deeply weird game. I get what they're going for and I can also tell the team was struggling to make it all work. I feel like the heavy momentum-based swinging mechanics could be made to work even if this game isn't quite there. The level design feels like they were flailing, and like development cut off before they actually figured out how to build levels that play well with this movement.
Killer aesthetics and secretly one of the best Sonic soundtracks.
Killer aesthetics and secretly one of the best Sonic soundtracks.
Knuckles' Chaotix is a love it or hate it game and that pretty much sums up my thoughts on it, I adore the style of this game, this game's artstyle embodies everything I love about classic era Sonic, the abstract, psychedelic and unapologetically 90's aesthetic is peak classic Sonic to me along with Sonic CD and the old Sega Harmony artwork.
The sound track is also quite good, it's not my favourite soundtrack in the series (that's Sonic CD) but it's funky and "cool" for lack of a better word, I love everything about this game except for actually playing it.
Chaotix's gameplay is just dull, the levels feel the same, put up no challenge, barely have any enemies and the game just drags.
Playing Chaotix, I feel nothing, it's so damn boring and just makes me wish I was playing CD or 3&K, it's such a shame because like I said everything on the audio/visual side is fantastic but the game itself just sucks, not the worst thing ever but just mind-numbing.
The sound track is also quite good, it's not my favourite soundtrack in the series (that's Sonic CD) but it's funky and "cool" for lack of a better word, I love everything about this game except for actually playing it.
Chaotix's gameplay is just dull, the levels feel the same, put up no challenge, barely have any enemies and the game just drags.
Playing Chaotix, I feel nothing, it's so damn boring and just makes me wish I was playing CD or 3&K, it's such a shame because like I said everything on the audio/visual side is fantastic but the game itself just sucks, not the worst thing ever but just mind-numbing.
This game's co-op play is the ultimate test of relationships that either see them instantly crumble to dust or blossom into a deep passionate romance years later.
best 2D idk what yall on
While the game had a great visuals and a bunch of cool new characters to play, the level design and main gimmick held back what could've been a hidden gem on the Sega 32X.
kuckles chaotix truthers rise up
This game took me so long to beat I don't even know when I started it. Not because the game is too terribly long, but because this game is just so boring and flawed. For one, there are 5 acts in each of the 5 ZONES. Playing that many acts of one theme is uninteresting, and the way the game tries to avoid this is by randomizing the order of the levels. Before each level, you spin a roulette and that picks what level you want, this can lead to getting two boss acts twice in a row which is annoying. Another strange element of the game is selecting your partner character, you have to play a claw game and if you miss any of the actual partner characters, you will be left with Bomb or Heavy, who are actually power downs. On the topic of that partner mechanic, said mechanic will lead you to be flung around the stages at high speeds and it is very annoying. Even just gaining speed is a problem, you can't just spindash for a quick boost of speed like other classic Sonic games, instead you must let your partner stand still and pull back slowly to gain speed. Even the special stages are disorienting and bad, perhaps one of the worst special stages in the series.
DEAR GOD!
На самом деле недооценённая игра, она имеет любопытную механику в виде колец, что выделяет её в серии, но из недостатков можно выделить зоны, которые ничем не выделяются.
Kinda just blitzed through the whole thing with Charmy, and yeah I can see why folks kinda act like this one doesn't exist, feels like a bad fangame, somewhat salvaged by good music
When I was a kid, I wanted this game so bad. And then Christmas came and I got it but I didn't have a 32X. I was devastated and my mom would not go out and buy one so I just had this useless Knuckles Chaotix cart laying around my house. I would look at screenshots in magazines and just picture myself running around as Mighty or Vector or Espio because they were so cool in the Archie Sonic Comics.
I played it for the first time to completion recently. I was not missing out.
I played it for the first time to completion recently. I was not missing out.
It can't be said that Knuckles Chaotix didn't try something different, but the game is a confused mess of nonsensical maze-like level design and wild uncontrollable control gimmicks, and yet despite flailing halfway blindly across every stage it's so laughably easy you could eventually beat it by just randomly mashing the controller. It's a fun game but not a good one. The music is amazing though and the spritework, while garish, is fantastic.
The controls are a mess, the level design is terrible and the difficulty is nonexistant, but the vibes are on point. Welcome to the Newtrogic High Zone.
The controls are a mess, the level design is terrible and the difficulty is nonexistant, but the vibes are on point. Welcome to the Newtrogic High Zone.