I got Sonic in my pocket. Shrunk him down, been feeding him grains of rice and water from a thimble.
It's 1999 and Dimps is given their first 2D Sonic assignment, and what do they come up with? An 8-bit game released for the Neo Geo Pocket Color that remixes Sonic the Hedgehog 2 levels with Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles music. It almost feels like a ROM hack or a practical joke, because it's just so weird. And yet, it kinda works?
Naturally, Sonic Pocket Adventure suffers from some of the same problems as the Game Gear games. The screen crunch is still pretty bad and level designs are dumbed down, but it makes up for these shortcomings by providing a good sense of speed and spectacle. Yeah, you might not feel particularly inclined to explore, but levels do have a good sense of flow, and it's impressive to see how well the Sonic 2 special stages are carried over here. It's a sort of half-step between the original 8-bit titles and the 16-bit classics, not quite what you'd want from a 2D Sonic but a definite improvement from the Master System days.
I kind of miss this period in the late 90's and early 2000s where other companies were (again) trying to break into the handheld market. Much of this era was defined by the tastes of Japanese consumers, which meant you got a lot of strange, varied devices with shells that played to the unique aesthetic of the early aughts, which is to say they looked a bit over-designed and gaudy in a way that was wonderfully charming. And then the Gizmondo came along like an out-of-control Ferrari Enzo and fucked it all up.
There have been others since who have tried to take some of Nintendo's marketshare, but as time goes on these wouldbe competitors are offering devices that all feel very homogenized - especially as performance starts to intersect with home consoles - resulting in handhelds that are far less unique and lacking in the sort of personality characteristic of those in the early 2000s. What I'm saying is, you can't just emulate Sonic Pocket Adventure on your Steamdeck and get the same experience. You'll think you have experienced it, but you'll be cheated. It's such a sadness that you think you've played Sonic Pocket Adventure on your fucking Steamdeck. Get real.
It's 1999 and Dimps is given their first 2D Sonic assignment, and what do they come up with? An 8-bit game released for the Neo Geo Pocket Color that remixes Sonic the Hedgehog 2 levels with Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles music. It almost feels like a ROM hack or a practical joke, because it's just so weird. And yet, it kinda works?
Naturally, Sonic Pocket Adventure suffers from some of the same problems as the Game Gear games. The screen crunch is still pretty bad and level designs are dumbed down, but it makes up for these shortcomings by providing a good sense of speed and spectacle. Yeah, you might not feel particularly inclined to explore, but levels do have a good sense of flow, and it's impressive to see how well the Sonic 2 special stages are carried over here. It's a sort of half-step between the original 8-bit titles and the 16-bit classics, not quite what you'd want from a 2D Sonic but a definite improvement from the Master System days.
I kind of miss this period in the late 90's and early 2000s where other companies were (again) trying to break into the handheld market. Much of this era was defined by the tastes of Japanese consumers, which meant you got a lot of strange, varied devices with shells that played to the unique aesthetic of the early aughts, which is to say they looked a bit over-designed and gaudy in a way that was wonderfully charming. And then the Gizmondo came along like an out-of-control Ferrari Enzo and fucked it all up.
There have been others since who have tried to take some of Nintendo's marketshare, but as time goes on these wouldbe competitors are offering devices that all feel very homogenized - especially as performance starts to intersect with home consoles - resulting in handhelds that are far less unique and lacking in the sort of personality characteristic of those in the early 2000s. What I'm saying is, you can't just emulate Sonic Pocket Adventure on your Steamdeck and get the same experience. You'll think you have experienced it, but you'll be cheated. It's such a sadness that you think you've played Sonic Pocket Adventure on your fucking Steamdeck. Get real.
Weatherby
11 months ago