This port is mostly the reason everyone thinks Sonic Adventure is a broken unplayable mess. Anything cool it does like letting you skip cutscenes, the Cream easter egg, and a playable Metal Sonic is vastly overshadowed by the number of bugs it introduces and the ruined aesthetics.
The most notable thing is the new visuals, especially the new models. They're mostly just the SA2 models with shorter limps. There's nothing wrong with the SA2 models per say, they look great in SA2, but in SA1 they don't fit the art style at all. SA1's models felt like they reflected the colors and style at the time (Sonic's skin color and fur are a good example of this) but the new models here don't match the color palette of the rest of the game, and their fur looking too shiny and plastic (and then you have Super Sonic who's supposed to be shiny and golden but isn't anymore). I also just kinda feel like SA1's models had a "cute" vibe to them opposed to SA2's which went for a more "cooler" vibe, both of these are fine, but I just like the cute vibe of the SA1 models for SA1. Art style reasons aside the new models just look really janky, they weren't really rigged properly so sometimes you just get parts where character expressions look really off. Character models aside there's other downgrades to the visuals that just make the game as a whole look worse and less charming. Worse lighting that's less stylish and moody, missing transparence effects, worse textures, assets and environments are less colorful (Ice Cap literally has all the same textures but with all the color removed from them), whole buildings being changed, and much more.
Another infamous part of this version is the bugs, and there's a lot. The best example of this is that one ramp in Emerald Cost where the collision fucks up and you fall through the floor. There are more glitches like this throughout the game, and it's these glitches have become synonymous with SA1 in general, regardless of if it's DX or not. It's a shame since SA1 was no where near as glitchy and buggy as DX.
This is only version available on modern systems, but the DC conversion mod fixes all of its problems. It lets you keep all the neat additions of DX while fixing bugs and making it more like the Dreamcast version. So I'd definitely recommend that.
If Sega ever does a new port/remaster of SA1 I hope they take into account all of the problems with the DX version's visuals and bugs, but considering how the remaster of Sonic Colors turned out I think I'd rather they leave SA1 along all together.
The most notable thing is the new visuals, especially the new models. They're mostly just the SA2 models with shorter limps. There's nothing wrong with the SA2 models per say, they look great in SA2, but in SA1 they don't fit the art style at all. SA1's models felt like they reflected the colors and style at the time (Sonic's skin color and fur are a good example of this) but the new models here don't match the color palette of the rest of the game, and their fur looking too shiny and plastic (and then you have Super Sonic who's supposed to be shiny and golden but isn't anymore). I also just kinda feel like SA1's models had a "cute" vibe to them opposed to SA2's which went for a more "cooler" vibe, both of these are fine, but I just like the cute vibe of the SA1 models for SA1. Art style reasons aside the new models just look really janky, they weren't really rigged properly so sometimes you just get parts where character expressions look really off. Character models aside there's other downgrades to the visuals that just make the game as a whole look worse and less charming. Worse lighting that's less stylish and moody, missing transparence effects, worse textures, assets and environments are less colorful (Ice Cap literally has all the same textures but with all the color removed from them), whole buildings being changed, and much more.
Another infamous part of this version is the bugs, and there's a lot. The best example of this is that one ramp in Emerald Cost where the collision fucks up and you fall through the floor. There are more glitches like this throughout the game, and it's these glitches have become synonymous with SA1 in general, regardless of if it's DX or not. It's a shame since SA1 was no where near as glitchy and buggy as DX.
This is only version available on modern systems, but the DC conversion mod fixes all of its problems. It lets you keep all the neat additions of DX while fixing bugs and making it more like the Dreamcast version. So I'd definitely recommend that.
If Sega ever does a new port/remaster of SA1 I hope they take into account all of the problems with the DX version's visuals and bugs, but considering how the remaster of Sonic Colors turned out I think I'd rather they leave SA1 along all together.
6 Comments
Adventure (3.5) DX GC (3.4) DX HD (3.5)
I agree this is a bad port but I really don't think this is why people who, in current year knowing this context on replay(lord knows they do because they consciously or subconsciously quote the Cybershell video verbatim), still end up slapping it in the 6-7 range the vast majority of the time.
I agree this is a bad port but I really don't think this is why people who, in current year knowing this context on replay(lord knows they do because they consciously or subconsciously quote the Cybershell video verbatim), still end up slapping it in the 6-7 range the vast majority of the time.
@Bojangles4th I only played SA1 recently a few months back but before that I'd always hear about it how it was the best example of a broken game and how not to do it. But maybe this opinion isn't as shared anymore as I thought it was.
@MrHoodie The opinion is still shared but that's just cus even on DC or Restored it's still a pretty buggy and janky game. It's better played those ways for sure but it also doesn't address things like having to replay the same flying autoscroller 4 times or how slow and uneventful Amy's story is; also how a lot of people don't read the manual or look up controls and just assume Big's fishing mechanics are broken (which isn't the game's fault but that sways a lot of people's opinions which is bullshit lol)
I dunno, when it's good it's good but so much of the game is slop. I might just be crazy though, I seem to be in the extreme minority who think Tails's levels are mind numbingly boring (Sonic = Gamma >> Knuckles > Big ≥ Tails >> Amy, imo)
I dunno, when it's good it's good but so much of the game is slop. I might just be crazy though, I seem to be in the extreme minority who think Tails's levels are mind numbingly boring (Sonic = Gamma >> Knuckles > Big ≥ Tails >> Amy, imo)
@Bojangles4th Idk maybe I was just lucky with my time playing it but I didn't really run into that many bugs. It was a bit janky in some places but it didn't really feel like it was in a detriment to it, like in the way some older game's jank adds to the fun a bit (Half Life 1 or Mario 64), or at the very least doesn't get in the way.
I didn't really have an issue with Tails campaign, I did play it after Big's so many that helped with my perspective on it though (not that I thought Big's was bad just kinda boring)
The game definitely has it's issues for sure but I just personally don't think it's that buggy or broken
I didn't really have an issue with Tails campaign, I did play it after Big's so many that helped with my perspective on it though (not that I thought Big's was bad just kinda boring)
The game definitely has it's issues for sure but I just personally don't think it's that buggy or broken
game contains CHAOS and i want to KILL HIM
conman
10 months ago