Zone: 0 interview at RadioSEGA
Sunday, 19th August 2012, 8:58am (UTC), 2 Comments
I was recently interviewed on RadioSEGA, as part of their Fans Chronicles series. I cover things like the origin of Zone: 0, my plans for the final update coming up at the end of this month, and a few favourites of mine! Check it out!

Still accepting banners for my FREE ad banner week, starting 27th August! Check out the previous post for more info!
Comments   2 Comments have been posted.
#1. Comment posted by Adam Unknown on Sunday, 19th August 2012, 5:39pm
You live in London? Whoah, I'm not too far from there.
#2. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Sunday, 26th August 2012, 3:47pm
LQS, at this time, tomorrow, the scheduled free ad banner week begins. Midway through the free week, the threshold update for soniczone:0 will be present.
On the other hand, you seem to have quite the knowledge used for the game guides in soniczone:0. Hopefully one day soon, even after that threshold update, you MIGHT have other ideas to think of in the future.
But say, what do you plan to do after soniczone:0?

You can talk to me more privately
by following THIS link to my email:

brady.meyers@hotmail.com
Advertise your site FREE on Zone: 0 from 27th August to 2nd September!
Wednesday, 8th August 2012, 9:04pm (UTC), 16 Comments
I mentioned last time that my final guide addition would be joined by something else that would hopefully appeal to other site owners, and generally anyone creative, looking to get their handiwork noticed in the Sonic community. I'd like to announce that during the week of the final update, the last week of August, Zone: 0 will be kicking off an advertising program, beginning with an offer of completely FREE advertising for your website or content page (which can include blog, Youtube channel, deviantArt profile, potentially anything like that) throughout the site, for that one week only!

For those of you not familiar with what I've been up to here, Zone: 0 is a Sonic the Hedgehog fan project that's been in the works for eight years and online for five. Its range of information may be specific within the huge Sonic universe, but it makes up for this in its extreme detail, covering complete guides for the original Mega Drive/Genesis games, including thorough written notes, tonnes of screen shots and most popular of all, the kind of maps you really don't get anywhere else. Popularity and visitor numbers have constantly increased, the site's won community awards for its design and content, and so far this year over 100,000 visitors have passed its gates! Not only that but its wealth of content has them flicking through multiple pages and getting lost for ages in its libraries, and always coming back for more too!

Sadly though, it's a big site and therefore comes with a bit of a hosting price tag, one that's getting harder to afford in my current situation, so it would be nice if the site could start paying for itself, at least in part, using banner ads. To start the ball rolling and gather interest, I thought I'd offer the first week completely free! There are honestly no strings attached to that, if you own a site, you can submit a banner and have me put it up just for that week and that week only - no money, no link back to me, that's fine! However, if I could tempt you to carry it on into the following month for a small cost, on which I'm open to negotiations and deals, then I think you'll consider it worthwhile!

What types of sites and pages are applicable?

What no one really wants though is for this site to be covered in intrusive banners for products that have little or no relevance to anyone and don't match with the type of users we have here (that means you, gambling and porn sites). I want banners on here to be reflective of sites and services that visitors would actually conceivably be interested in, so they're actually useful and not annoying. I found my hosting company through a random ad banner for example, so it doesn't even have to be directly related to Sonic or gaming specifically. I may have to turn you down if your site isn't appropriate, but other than that, my ideas for partners are pretty broad. I would say my visitors typically range from pre-teens to twenty or thirty somethings, often young free and single, yet I've also had lovely messages from Mums and Dads who enjoy the site with their young children too. As such, the types of sites best placed to appear in banners here would be:

- Other Sonic and SEGA fan sites (a no brainer really)

- Other game fan sites (either games in general or particularly Sonic-like games, be they popular kids or classic franchises)

- Other types of gaming sites; reviews, strategy guide sites, etc (and when I say gaming, I DON'T mean gambling)

- Sites that offer online gaming, be it free little flash games or larger ones

- Commercial sites for toys, technology, or anything "geek" related!

- Building a game or some other cool software as a mobile phone app? Advertise it here!

- Don't have a site, but got a Sonic blog, youtube channel, deviantArt account or a page on another type of creative online service? Got something special on there that you've been working hard on? Why not be a part of this as well!


I'm open to all suggestions, so just run your site/page/whatever past me and I'll let you know if I think it has potential to get a few clicks on here!

Where do the banners go?

Banners will go in places where they don't detract too much away from the content, so users can enjoy the site as easily as they always have, but noticeable enough that they're not simply ignored. I have three places in mind, each a different size.

1. Top header banner, 468 x 60 pixels, sitting strikingly at the top of the home page and also any of the individual blog pages. Most visitors will arrive on the main page first, and the blog section remains popular. Your site here will be extremely noticeable! Click here to view.

2. Side square banner, 250 x 250 pixels, sitting to the side of the home page, just beneath the top two stories, and on the side of all blog pages, where it can afford to be the biggest of the three! Click here to view

3. Side square banner, 125 x 125 pixels, positioned alongside all game guide content pages - though this is the smallest banner, it'll catch the eye of the user most frequently as they peruse the many pages of the game guides! Click here to view

During the free week, I can only accept a banner for one of the above spots per site, but if you're desperate, you could buy one or both of the other spots as well for $3 each, for that week. Banners on all three spots will appear on rotation, so a new one will pop in on each load. Therefore, going for less used spots may prove prudent as you might just get more views! Note that if I receive lots of banner requests, the two types of side banner spots may extend to hold more than one banner at a time.

What do I have to do?

- Prepare a banner of exactly the dimensions listed above for your chosen banner spot. It can be an image (jpeg, animated gif or png format), or a flash banner of .swf format.

- If you're going for a flash banner, make sure you make the whole thing clickable, and it links to your site. I can apply the link to an image file, but not a flash file. You'd need to do that yourself. Also, no sounds in there please, they'd probably be quite annoying!

- Please aim for a file size no larger than 100kb for any one banner. A few k over might be ok, but anything significantly bigger might be rejected and in which case you'll be asked to make it smaller!

- Email me your banner and site link, please don't just leave it in a comment on this post or any other method of contact you may have for me, as I may miss it. Send your emails to ads@soniczone0.com

- If you're interested in purchasing space for more than one banner spot, for $3 each, let me know. I can only accept payment through Paypal though!

- The free banner week runs from Monday 27th August to Sunday 2nd September. You can submit your banner at any time between now and the end of that Sunday, but all free banners will be taken down after that time, regardless of whether you were there for the whole week!

What happens after the free banner week?

I'll be accepting paid banners for durations, typically, of one month, in the same banner spots as listed above. Please contact me for pricing though, as there are plenty of deals to be made with multiple banners, and there may be discounts on offer if you're a non-profit site such as a fellow fan site! I'm open to negotiation so please get in touch! I'll be asking any of those who have submitted banners for the free week if they would be interested in extending their time into September for a very reasonable price, but you're under no obligation to do so. If you're interested already, you can contact me now for banner placements in September and beyond, on the email address above.


I think that's pretty much everything! Hopefully I've made it clear enough that it is not my aim to bombard this place with sleazy, annoying ads to make a tidy profit. Acquiring banners for sites and services that are actually potentially useful to my visitors is my main aim here, along with raising enough money to cover hosting bills, so we can all benefit from this! You can help by getting the word out as much as you possibly can, and letting any site-owning or particularly creative friends know about this opportunity to get more hits their way, particularly if they're in need of them! Though I've already said that there will be no new guides after Sonic & Knuckles completes on the 30th August, more ads mean that Zone: 0 is much more likely to continue to exist and branch out into whole new areas as yet unexplored! Stay tuned, and don't forget to give a click to any banners that appeal to you!

Hope to hear from you soon,
LiQuidShade, site owner.
Comments   16 Comments have been posted.
#1. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Thursday, 9th August 2012, 2:20am
As a regular visitor to soniczone:0, I'm very suprised & pleased of you continued commitment to the unofficial sonic site of the decade. Thumbs up, LQS!
#2. Comment posted by Peenut2k7 on Friday, 10th August 2012, 3:33am
Wait... advertising on MY Zone: 0? Now RetroGamer can get it's grubby little hands on the ultimate Sonic resource! D:
#3. Comment posted by Adam Unknown on Friday, 17th August 2012, 1:08pm
LiquidShade, are you psychic? Me and a few friends started up a gaming-news website/blog not too long ago (reviews, news etc.), and I've been eyeing up temporary, free (or cheap) advertising. What do I have to do to be applicable? :)
#4. Comment posted by Adam Unknown on Friday, 17th August 2012, 1:10pm
Edit - just saw the extra 'What do I have to do?' bit
#5. Comment posted by Adam Unknown on Friday, 17th August 2012, 1:23pm
The main figurehead, Sam, is away for a bit I think, but I know he'd approve! :D
#6. Comment posted by LiQuidShade on Friday, 17th August 2012, 6:37pm
Perfect! Just send a banner when you're ready :)
#7. Comment posted by Adam Unknown on Monday, 20th August 2012, 11:48am
Ok, I've just sent you a banner. We'd like to take the 468 x 60 one, please.
Thanks!
#8. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Friday, 24th August 2012, 2:42am
It's my 20th birthday today, August 24
#9. Comment posted by Gemster312 on Monday, 27th August 2012, 4:46am
Not often do i comment here but ive been here at Zone 0 for quite the long long time. A few years. Huge fan though, secretly admiring ;)
Anywho i will be posting a submission soon of my little company i have started up, Crystal Arc Studios. My friend will probably post up the submission. Very happy to see you are doing some free advertisement :D
#10. Comment posted by Dan on Friday, 19th October 2012, 7:45pm
Congrats on finishing. Except that sounds like an understatement.
Your site is nothing short of legendary. Great work on sticking to it all these years, the final product is an incredible, huge, excellently presented package.
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#12. Comment posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, 20th February 2013, 6:06am
Except that sounds like an understatement.
Your site is nothing short of legendary.
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#13. Comment posted by http://en.audiofanzine.com/Inklen/medias/ on Wednesday, 20th February 2013, 6:07am
Except that sounds like an understatement.
Your site is nothing short of legendary.
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Except that sounds like an understatement.
Your site is nothing short of legendary.
#15. Comment posted by how to improve credit score on Wednesday, 20th February 2013, 6:08am
Except that sounds like an understatement.
Your site is nothing short of legendary.
#16. Comment posted by thomas on Monday, 6th May 2013, 9:24am
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Zone: 0 guides to reach completion on 30th August
Monday, 30th July 2012, 6:25pm (UTC), 10 Comments
Mark it in your calendar! Exactly one month from today, the Zone: 0 guides will finally be complete.

I know it's still a bit of a wait, but I've planned out everything I want to do and given I mostly only have an hour or so each weekday evening to do it all at the moment, it's still a realistic time frame for me. However, 30th August also happens to be the very date, in 2004, when I first sat down to begin writing my earliest drafts of my guides, so to wrap it up neatly in exactly eight years would be awesome. I'll do my best.

Hate to do the whole "announcements of announcements" thing, but website owners will also want to listen up, including other Sonic site owners (particularly smaller ones in need of more exposure), fansites of other game series, similarly geeky sites or any site that my visitors might conceivably also have an interest in. I have an offer planned to coincide with the final update that I'm sure will interest! Come back very soon to find out all about it!
Comments   10 Comments have been posted.
#1. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Tuesday, 31st July 2012, 6:05am
I'm definately on the edge of my seat!
#2. Comment posted by LOFC_Ed on Tuesday, 31st July 2012, 8:39am
Since I found this guide, I have looked at it everyday at least 3 or 4 times. I would like to pass on my thanks to all of the hard work you have put in.
#3. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Wednesday, 1st August 2012, 11:38am
Since we have until august 30, we could talk about some different levels from several sega games.
#4. Comment posted by MoDaD on Wednesday, 1st August 2012, 4:31pm
"website owners will also want to listen up"

Did you have some kind of link exchange in mind?
#5. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Thursday, 2nd August 2012, 10:31am
One sega game that I played a long time ago, was The Revenge Of Shinobi.
The story of The Revenge Of Shinobi is when Neo Zeed captures Joe Musashi's partner, Naoko. For his revenge, Joe heads over to Neo Zeed's lair, with one of two endings after the final boss battle with Neo Zeed. The bad ending is where Joe defeats Neo Zeed, but loses Naoko in the process. The good ending is where Joe rescues Naoko after defeating Neo Zeed.
Hint: to defeat Neo Zeed and rescue Naoko, a POW powerup must be used very carefully, provided that Joe uses the ninjitsu of Ikazuchi (a lightning shield). In the game, there is 8 levels divided into 3 segments each.
Cheat: there is a secret cheat that you can do that allows your usage of shurikens to become infinite: in the options menu, set the number of shurikens to 00, wait a little while, and then the 00 will become infinite.
Top tip: when going up against a boss, use the 8-way shuriken move (that hits anything in the 0 to 90 degree area when Joe is facing the one direction). Works efficiently in boss battles.
Watch out for certain crates that contain explosives; if you're anywhere near an explosive when it detonates, it'll damage you, and sometimes that'll make you lose your POW powerup. Safety first!
#6. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Sunday, 5th August 2012, 10:35am
LQS, will there be a blog update in a few weeks?
#7. Comment posted by Sonic the Echidna Prower on Monday, 13th August 2012, 6:22am
Hey man,
first of all congratulations for the guides and everything that's on this website. The information is all clear, concise, worthwhile and with a lot of thought, research and love put to it. These guides are absolutely detailed but you never go out the boundaries or speak bullshit. In that sense I think the info is really well chosen and filtered. Even though I played the games a million times back in the day and know the games inside out I still get amazed with your site.
Second, congratulations for the design and the programming of the website. The use and blend of the Sonic graphics is really well done for the menus, titles, banners and such. I specially love the background. Then, the site never lags, even though it has a lot of nice dynamic details. I am using a netbook primarily to surf the web and a lot of top websites really lag on my machine. Also, I love how I don't get bombarded with bullshit in this site, loads quick, is responsive and has the info I want. I wish more websites performed like yours. Some professional blogs and such, they only have to present text, pictures and sometimes comments yet they lag. You nailed it. Also +1 for not having to log in anywhere to comment.
Again congratulations for the excellent job you did with this website.
Have a good day.
#8. Comment posted by FunkyFranky80 on Monday, 13th August 2012, 8:11am
Hi there,
your site is one of the best in the net related to the classic Sonic games,and i cant wait to see it complete.I know your site since 2 or 3 years now,and its really well done,the design,the infos,and the maps for the games.
Special props for the design:
It´s probably the most beautiful page ive seen so far for the classic games.
Big THANKS to you man!
Sorry for my bad english -.-
Have a nice day
#9. Comment posted by LiQuidShade on Tuesday, 14th August 2012, 10:37pm
Thanks guys! Really appreciate your kind words. It's always really nice to hear :)
#10. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Wednesday, 15th August 2012, 6:31am
LQS, do you have anything else to do after the completion of soniczone:0?
The road to Death Egg starts here
Tuesday, 26th June 2012, 1:39pm (UTC), 39 Comments
Update: Miscellaneous Page added to the Sonic & Knuckles section
Just a quick update, which as I mentioned before, should really have come with the Other Modes section, but since I had a spare half a week with Internet, I thought I better put it up. It's not much, but the Miscellaneous Page covers off some cheats and a couple of other versions of the game worth mentioning.

Now we're heading towards our final destination, not just of this guide but this series of guides. The next update will be the last, in terms of new guide content, and will comprise of Death Egg Zone, The Doomsday Zone, game endings and the Downloads page. Expect this hopefully within the next couple of months, to wrap up the whole thing neatly into a project that has lasted a full, and quite astounding eight years.

Other than continuous small tweaks and amendments that are likely to still be ongoing, I'll let you know what, if anything, will be going on around here after, or shortly before the final update occurs. It won't be new guides, but it MIGHT be something else. I still haven't decided yet.

Start getting excited, we're almost there!
Comments   39 Comments have been posted.
#1. Comment posted by JamesTheEchidna on Tuesday, 26th June 2012, 3:51pm
Great Work, you have made one of the best Sonic guides ever to be made by human hands!
#2. Comment posted by Chaos Ace on Wednesday, 27th June 2012, 3:25am
You know, once everything is all said and done, you'll still visit your ol' friends here at Zone: 0, now, won't you, LiquiShade?
#3. Comment posted by Hyper_Sonic on Wednesday, 27th June 2012, 7:34am
hmmm...
#4. Comment posted by LiQuidShade on Wednesday, 27th June 2012, 8:14am
Oh yeah, of course! Regardless of what happens, I'll still need somewhere to blog about Sonic or any upcoming Sonic-based projects of mine!
#5. Comment posted by Adam Unknown on Saturday, 30th June 2012, 9:15am
Hey LiquidShade, how are you? We've not spoken in a while...

#6. Comment posted by LiQuidShade on Sunday, 1st July 2012, 6:52am
I'm alright thanks - how are you?
#7. Comment posted by Adam Unknown on Sunday, 1st July 2012, 6:12pm
I'm also fine. Are you going to Summer Of Sonic? I wish I could say I was...
#8. Comment posted by LiQuidShade on Sunday, 1st July 2012, 9:04pm
Unfortunately not this year, no, I'm busy :(
#9. Comment posted by Adam Unknown on Monday, 2nd July 2012, 7:00am
The tickets sold out faster than even Sonic could have anticipated. And annoyingly, I have family in Brighton I frequently visit - going to SOS this year would have been ideal...

Oh yeah, if you need any more favours done, let me know :)
I'm busy now, but I'll get it done when I'm less busy
#10. Comment posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, 4th July 2012, 11:05am
Dude please, i hope you upload Death Egg and Doomsday Zone maps soon? :( your site is awesome really, i love it!
#11. Comment posted by Hyper_Sonic on Thursday, 5th July 2012, 6:01am
"Dude please, i hope you upload Death Egg and Doomsday Zone maps soon? :( your site is awesome really, i love it!

For 101st time... aww, what's the use!
#12. Comment posted by LiQuidShade on Saturday, 7th July 2012, 7:07am
There will be Death Egg maps. There will be no Doomsday map. I'm made a start, you'll see it within the next couple of months.
#13. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Saturday, 7th July 2012, 9:55am
One particular puzzle in Death Egg Zone Act 1 is a large room with a gravity-defying twist.
At the center of the room is a moving obstacle with 6 switches in total. These switches must be pressed before the far right end of the room opens. Once it does open, just simply go right and continue onwards. That is a top tip by me.

Any objections?
#14. Comment posted by Anonymous on Saturday, 7th July 2012, 3:43pm
How about doing the Sonic 4 series
#15. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Saturday, 7th July 2012, 5:47pm
Anonymous, this section has nothing to do with sonic 4.
This is a section related to the upcoming Death Egg and Doomsday Zones.
Only the founder of soniczone:0 will tell you about what's happening.
#16. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Sunday, 8th July 2012, 7:08am
Anyway,
In Death Egg Zone Act 2, there is a combination of right-side up and upside-down segments that happens only in this act. The same goes for the act 2 boss, controlled by eggman at the far right of the room, outside the battle area.
But that doesn't stop there. After defeating the act 2 boss, the wall to the right crumbles, opening the way to a more powerful, final boss. This happens for Tails only, even if he has all 14 emeralds activated as well as the master emerald. But eggman harnesses the power of the master emerald in the second phase of the final boss, using it as a weapon of mass-destruction.
A powerful beam of energy is fired at you after eggman has charged up it's emerald power. However, eggman can still be deated like that of phase 1, a total of 16 hits is all it takes to destroy eggman's super destructive robot and free the emerald (not if eggman can get away with it). The entire death egg starts to self destruct, leaving eggman to flee the area, chased down by sonic & tails; with an additional 8 hits to eggman, he drops the master emerald onto the ground, and if played by tails, marks the end of the story.
#17. Comment posted by Hyper_Sonic on Sunday, 8th July 2012, 10:21am
Um, Brady, what exactly is your objective by writing all this?
#18. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Sunday, 8th July 2012, 5:13pm
I'm simply assisting the founder of soniczone:0 for the final updates to come.
#19. Comment posted by LiQuidShade on Monday, 9th July 2012, 2:05pm
Thanks Brady, but all of the text for my guides was already written years ago. I update it a bit, but the maps, screens and building of the page is the main stuff that I do at the moment, so I'm fine, thank you.
#20. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Monday, 9th July 2012, 10:04pm
No pressure, LiQuidShade.
I do my best to give certain info on S&K's very difficult levels, whenever I have the time to do so. It's something that I sometimes do on this site.
Anyway, I think the difficulty rating for both Death Egg & Doomsday zones are at the highest levels, at 5 stars for D.E.Z.(Death Egg Zone in short), & 5 stars for Doomsday Zone.

Need I say anymore?
#21. Comment posted by Adam Unknown on Wednesday, 11th July 2012, 3:48pm
Hey LS, what's happening with Ricky Earl? Does he still draw stuff? His art is really great!
#22. Comment posted by LiQuidShade on Thursday, 12th July 2012, 5:38pm
You can keep up with him on his blog (should be on the links section of the homepage), but he's normally quite busy. Hopefully he'll have time for more Sonic work but we'll see :)
#23. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Monday, 16th July 2012, 12:22pm
I don't suppose that in the future, would there ever be a story on the hit Dreamcast title: Sonic Adventure? If there is, then I hope that the new writer(s) will get it sorted.

Personally, I prefer the new writer(s) to be just as successful as the head soniczone:0 writer, Ricky Earl.
#24. Comment posted by Hyper_Sonic on Thursday, 19th July 2012, 5:23am
"Personally, I prefer the new writer(s) to be just as successful as the head soniczone:0 writer, Ricky Earl"

You mean LiQuidshade?

LQS has been hunting for writers for years, and never found a serious one who actually wrote a guide. :(
#25. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Thursday, 19th July 2012, 5:52am
I prefer LQS as Ricky Earl.
#26. Comment posted by Hyper_Sonic on Thursday, 19th July 2012, 11:39am
They're differnt people.
#27. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Thursday, 19th July 2012, 1:15pm
Er, you got some spelling wrong, Hyper_Sonic
#28. Comment posted by Hyper_Sonic on Saturday, 21st July 2012, 10:49am
Whoops, sorry! My bad. So, what have you been up to lately, Brady?
#29. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Saturday, 21st July 2012, 1:03pm
Oh, I don't know... I've kept myself busy on one of my non-sega games, but it's also one of my favourites: Gran Turismo 5 by Polyphony Digital.

This makes me want to ask a dream question: "What if there was an ultimate dream showdown between Sonic The Hedgehog and the mighty Bugatti Veyron... who will be the winner?"

The same question will also count for Shadow The Hedgehog and Silver The Hedgehog as well.

Together, Sonic, Shadow and Silver will have what it takes to give the mighty Bugatti Veyron a run for it's money. I'm going to enjoy this! :)
#30. Comment posted by Hyper_Sonic on Sunday, 22nd July 2012, 10:56am
"What if there was an ultimate dream showdown between Sonic The Hedgehog and the mighty Bugatti Veyron... who will be the winner?"

Bugatti Veyron >400 km/h
Sonic the Hedgehog >1100 km/h

I think the winner is clear.
#31. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Sunday, 22nd July 2012, 12:22pm
Slight problem...
...you left Shadow & Silver out of it.

I'll say it again... Sonic, Shadow & Silver vs the Bugatti Veyron (top speed 407 km/h), by the original founder, Ettore Bugatti.

LQS can probably pardon me

<to a different subject>

If you play the non-sega game called GT5, you'll see that there is more than just the bugatti veyron; over 1,000 cars are also there. Pescarolo, Pagani, Mclaren UK, TVR, Dodge, Shelby, Audi, Bentley, Mercedes-Benz, Panoz, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Toyota, BMW, Mini, Volkswagen, RUF, Peugeot, Citroen, Lotus, Ginetta, Vauxhall, Opel, Lister...

...oh, was that too much? :)

(25 car makers shown)
#32. Comment posted by Hyper_Sonic on Tuesday, 24th July 2012, 7:14am
I left shadow and silver out because I do not know the answer.

Also, well done, you know stuff about cars!
#33. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Tuesday, 24th July 2012, 7:56am
If you want to talk to me more privatly, Hyper_Sonic, email me.
#34. Comment posted by Hyper_Sonic on Wednesday, 25th July 2012, 11:28am
What's your e-mail?
#35. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Thursday, 26th July 2012, 2:29am
brady.meyers@hotmail.com
#36. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Saturday, 28th July 2012, 12:29pm
LQS, how much longer is it until the final update for soniczone:0?
#37. Comment posted by LiQuidShade on Sunday, 29th July 2012, 9:52am
I'm about to announce that shortly, stay tuned!
#38. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Sunday, 29th July 2012, 1:41pm
So, the final countdown begins... Death Egg & the Doomsday will of course be on the road to victory; not to mention the downloads page. It's almost time...
#39. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Monday, 30th July 2012, 5:54am
Turning my attention to Sonic CD; the PS3/PSN version (which I play) has a more easier & more exciting journey. When you start the story with sonic, the animated opening movie is shown. After the opening movie, the game begins.

One very common interest in the PS3/PSN version is that you can play as tails, not normally used in the original Sonic CD; it's a first in a long time.

The music comes in 2 different versions: JP (Japanese version) & US (Original version). Instead of the music fading out, it just continues onwards.

And, as well as being given the task to get all 12 trophies on Sonic CD PS3/PSN, it's a barnburner for sure.

A few hidden objects to break open (only possible with debug mode) is the Clock TV and the S TV icons. The clock tv has little or no affect in the game, however the S tv speeds you up, and gives you temporary invincibility in turn. Much like power sneakers & invincibility in one simple tv. A very tall order, but there you go.
Sonic Generations Custom Levels
Saturday, 23rd June 2012, 12:58pm (UTC), 15 Comments
First of all, happy 21st Birthday to Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 1 is of course 21 years old today - ensure you devote a bit of time to it. I've already done my playthrough, realising that I'm actually incredibly rusty! I died several times in really stupid places. How embarrassing. You can also celebrate by pre-ordering the English version of the History of Sonic book that was recently released in French by Pix'n Love. You can find out more about it here.

Anyway, that's all by the by, I mainly just wanted to flag up something really interesting going on over there on Sonic Retro - Sonic Generations hacking. You may have seen this video already but in case you haven't, it demonstrates Sonic Unleashed levels being imported into the Sonic Generations engine and thus being playable on PC and perhaps even perfected a little bit:



It's now gone even further than that though, videos of the same treatment on even older levels have been popping up all over the place, albeit still in very much a work-in-progress form. Still, the possibilities are getting even more exciting. Check these out...







First of all, the prospect of updating and re-imagining old levels that, with enough talent behind enhancing textures and re-modelling, could look as good as the ones that were actually re-made for Sonic Generations, is tantalising enough. This is all clearly still in the earliest stages, and from what I've read they are understandably still working things out, and importing old levels is obviously a very good way of doing that. I'm amazed at how much they've already managed to achieve, there's some amazing talent around in the community.

But the Sky Troops one interests me in particular because it looks a lot more customised and demonstrates the exciting possibility of being able to create your own entirely new stages. At this point in time it all seems way beyond me to get my hands dirty with it, and I'd need a decent PC for a start. But I'm a budding level designer, with a particular passion for coming up with fresh ideas in every aspect, and hope, over the next few years, to start realising some of these ideas I've had knocking around in my head for ages now. I've always imagined them as 2D, but I adore the modern Sonic Generations levels so much that I can't help but get extremely excited about the possibility of my levels taking that form as well. Problem is of course that while I reckon I can work my way pretty far through the creation of a 2D game with a bit (ok, a lot) of dedication, 3D is a completely new domain for me, I know next to nothing about it and frankly would struggle to make a model of a perfect cube.

However, for anyone with similarly colossal aspirations, I recommend keeping an eye on this scene as from what I've seen of 3D Sonic fan-made engines over the years, this looks like one of your best bets. Sonic fan game or hacking projects are notorious for getting scrapped along the way, and this is complex stuff that really requires collaboration, something that's very difficult to hold together within an amateur context. Plus I do have some concerns about SEGA's view on all this. Editing 20 year old games to put new characters in and change the colours a bit is one thing, but this is messing around with a very current engine that could be used to create very similar, rival content to new official Sonic games.

Still, that all being well, I'm hoping that these clever guys can come up with some nifty tools to make the whole process a lot more user-friendly and easier for less-technically minded, but more creative people to bring their imaginative ideas to life. Even then, creating a massive 3D Sonic level of the quality of those in Generations - or indeed any for that matter - has to be a huge undertaking if you want to do it properly, and I'm sure it will always require a lot of dedication and a willingness to understand new concepts. My mind is twirling with the possibilities of my imaginary level, but I'm trying to remind myself it's going to take a hell of a lot of work and perhaps collaboration with others. To that end I'd be particularly interested to hear from any of you for whom this has also got your brain ticking about what you could do with this engine given the best tools and capabilities at your disposal. Perhaps we could discuss further and share some ideas - believe me, I have a lot of them!

The best place I've seen so far to follow these developments is on this lengthy Sonic Retro topic. Spend a bit of time going back through the last pages and look at the kind of stuff they're working on. I think their goals seem to align with what I've mentioned above, and it all sounds really promising.
Comments   15 Comments have been posted.
#1. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Saturday, 23rd June 2012, 3:40pm
Even after 21 years of extreme platforming and high-end determination for world safety, sonic the hedgehog is still the world's most highly praised superhero character with a full 5 stars next to his name. LONG LIVE SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!
#2. Comment posted by afolita on Sunday, 24th June 2012, 10:56am
I don't think all this modding should bother SEGA so much: if they release some DLC, people will definitely buy them, not to mention a whole new game they surely have currently in development. Moreover, they can have a look at these fan-made stages to take a few notes about the most preferred level design and such things. Have you seen CorvidDude's Emerald Coast yet? It's the best of all by far!

I'd also love to design my own Sonic levels, both 2D and 3D, and I have a bunch of nice ideas, but my limited knowledge and a bit of laziness stop me from actually getting to make them. Tell us about what you have in mind a bit, LiquidShade!
#3. Comment posted by Hyper_Sonic on Sunday, 24th June 2012, 10:59am
Did you see the most recent link I set you? (he most interesting one in my opinion)
#4. Comment posted by Hyper_Sonic on Sunday, 24th June 2012, 11:03am
@afolita

Did you see the Emerald Cost video by Corvid Dude that was uploaded... Today!!!! 100x better than the last preview. (That was the link I sent LQS btw).

p.s I didn't see your comment when I was writing mine, because I was writing it at the same time.

HAHA I am a peot, and I didn't even know it!
#5. Comment posted by LiQuidShade on Sunday, 24th June 2012, 2:59pm
Yeah, I saw the Emerald Coast one, it looks awesome. Very exciting.

I've had several level ideas over the years - enough for a full game, and each one either in a completely unique locale or with a certain gimmick to it that hasn't really been done before. I'd be most interested in doing my idea for the first level however, a grand country garden, with neat flower patches, woodlands, fountains and pools, hedge mazes and old country mansions. If you happen to be British, you'll know of our National Trust gardens and old houses across the countryside - it's basically that sort of thing but on a grand and slightly more ridiculous scale (I imagine the hedge mazes - which you can go inside and get lost in - towering up into huge multi-sided cubes for example). Broadly, it's probably closest to Marble Garden Zone, except it's not a ruins level, the buildings are slightly old but well maintained, and with pristine gardens.

And most importantly, no seaside, beach or tropical palm tree in sight! If I were to do a more traditional seaside zone, I'd turn it into a challenging water level, for the middle of a game, crossing with a haunted theme as Sonic would delve into sunken shipwrecks amongst coral reefs. I've had ideas similar to Rooftop Run and White Park as well, but pre-dating both of them, though I still might like to do them anyway, and I'm a big believer that the rarely seen Wild West style level has thus far been criminally overlooked, for the most part.

I'm desperate to get cracking on these, or at least just the garden level, after my plans for Zone: 0 are complete (although note, at this stage, I may not just be referring to the S&K guide there...). If any good 3D modellers are reading and happen to be looking for a level to contribute to.. let's talk!
#6. Comment posted by afolita on Sunday, 24th June 2012, 8:05pm
LiquidShade, you seem to have read my mind with that seaside zone paragraph, seriously! My wish would be to create an ocean level with beaches, coral reefs, sunken pirate ships, submarine caves... all with colourful fish swimming around and other misc seafloor decoration. My main idea is to show players that water levels can be fun and enjoyable and not a nightmare (they don't have to be more challenging than others) when done well. Aquarium Park is my favourite area in Sonic Colours for a reason.
#7. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Sunday, 24th June 2012, 11:01pm
afolita, I don't think it's easy to get Sonic Colours for the ps3, because I think it's rare to find one.
#8. Comment posted by netch on Monday, 25th June 2012, 9:17am
Sonic Colors was never out on PS3.

I am particularly most excited for the Emerald Coast custom level. Beats the 3DS version already (and "...the level isn't even halfway done!")!

If you're not good with 3d modeling, then you might just "plan" the classic level design in SonEd2.

P.s. You might not be able to run SonEd :(
#9. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Monday, 25th June 2012, 5:11pm
I thought I'd get here & find a better answer to my question.
#10. Comment posted by Hyper_Sonic on Tuesday, 26th June 2012, 7:51am
What better answer is there to a question other than the right one?
#11. Comment posted by Hyper_Sonic on Tuesday, 26th June 2012, 7:54am
Oh, and LQS, PLZ Check ur e-mail, 3 new (and exciting) vids.

Windy Valley Custom Level (Ok-ish)
Emerald Coast Preview#2 (Great!)
Sonic Unleashed Porting, HUB test (Dragon Valley looks awesome, and it looks like the HUB CAN be in 3D!)
#12. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Tuesday, 26th June 2012, 9:08am
Anyway...
I'm no expert on remodelling or restoration for many levels of the sonic the hedgehog series, but I still give him a full 5-star rating for world-class safety.
And as an added bonus, the upcoming new sonic game (Sonic & All-Stars Racing TRANSFORMED) has more in it than it's predecessor, sonic & sega all-stars racing.
When you think about it, it's like having something to share with other sonic fans around the globe.
One last thing, when will the ''death egg'' & "the doomsday'' zones plus the miscellaneous section be added to the sonic & knuckles game section?
#13. Comment posted by Hyper_Sonic on Tuesday, 26th June 2012, 11:09am
I shall speak on behalf of LQS for the last bit, because it has just been asked too many times...

Death egg is Coming, and Doomsday will be added to misc. Probably without a map.

"... I still give him a full 5-star rating for world-class safety."

Isn't that what you said in the 1st post? And I kinda have no idea what you mean (the safety bit). Can you Please elaborate?

@afolita Hydrocity was fun too! Oh, and Aquarium Park Act 5 I think it was, WAS a nightmare (you know, the bit where Sonic gets chased by that THING, the one that gets re-incarnated in Terminal Velocity Act 1)
#14. Comment posted by Brady Meyers on Wednesday, 27th June 2012, 6:08am
It means that we're safe from evil moustach monkey Dr. Eggman.
#15. Comment posted by Kabam! on Sunday, 1st July 2012, 2:18pm
This is amazing! Just imagine Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) remade into what it was supposed to be. If the speed section of wave ocean was that good then the possibilities are endless! And I agree SEGA should take a deeper look into this stuff and learn from it.
An update at last!.. S&K Other Modes
Saturday, 9th June 2012, 9:06am (UTC), 12 Comments
Update: Other Modes page added to the Sonic & Knuckles section
Ok, sorry sorry sorry... sorry. It's taken me far too long to get around to this. I can't believe my last update was in February, that's got to be a personal record. As I've mentioned before I've been doing other stuff, but it's here now and proof, if you needed it, that I will finish this whole bloody thing, even if it takes me ages to knock together the last few pages.

Ordinarily the Miscellaneous page comes along with the Other Modes page, as it's typically quite a short one. However I'm moving to a new flat this weekend and will be without Internet for two or three weeks. You've waited long enough so I thought I'd finish up Other Modes for now, and then add the little Miscellaneous page when I can.

Other Modes of course comprises of a number of additional important areas of the game that don't fit into anywhere else, including the Special Stage, Bonus Stages, details about Super and Hyper forms, and a bit about the three lock-on games, and it's the biggest of the non-level pages, so go and have a look!

As a kid I was rubbish at the Blue Sphere Special Stage for ages, then one day I finally did about five in a row and my friends and I became obsessed with collecting and sharing passwords and trying to work out how many levels there were. I don't know at what point we gave up but I'm pretty sure it wasn't anywhere near the ridiculous 134 million that there actually are. I hope you weren't expecting me to go into detail on every last one of them though because, well, I haven't. A while ago I did wonder if I could cover some of the recurring layouts that appear repeatedly across the game, which would make for a nice little guide that I don't think anyone has done before, but then, where do you draw the line? There must be loads of them. Perhaps I'll return to it eventually, on a rainy day, or if someone else wants to write about them, they're more than welcome.

On the subject, Hyper_Sonic alerted me to this exciting looking thing in the comments of the last post: Blue Spheres Forever, a fan version of the game that features a level editor! Oh how excited the younger version of me would be to see this, with all his own designs for the Special Stages drawn out on grid paper. I can't get it to work on my computer yet, but it's still being refined and looks amazing. I think there's a new version just released that I'll have a go at when I get a chance.

Sit tight, I'll be back before you know it!
Comments   12 Comments have been posted.
#1. Comment posted by Hyper_Sonic on Saturday, 9th June 2012, 9:31am
Yay! P.S Plz Check ur e-mail
#2. Comment posted by Anonymous on Sunday, 10th June 2012, 10:21am
Here is a level and code generator for the Blue Spheres game:

http://cwcyrix.no-ip.info/bsgen/
#3. Comment posted by Hyper_Sonic on Sunday, 10th June 2012, 11:09am
Hmm, that's very interesting. Very very interesting!
#4. Comment posted by Kabam! on Monday, 11th June 2012, 2:39am
I have always been a fan of blue sphere! What an awesome post!
P.S.- Dr. Eggman makes a cameo appearance in this new Disney movie "Wreck it Ralph". You should check out the trailer.
#5. Comment posted by Anonymous on Saturday, 16th June 2012, 5:48am
Dude, add the last maps on the Sonic&Knuckles section please, im waiting for months ago (Death Egg and Doomsday Zone)
#6. Comment posted by Hyper_Sonic on Saturday, 16th June 2012, 11:48am
LiQuidshade says Doomsday map MIGHT not come :( Besides, if you want the maps that badly, just go to the Sonic center or Sonic retro.
#7. Comment posted by SonicFan on Monday, 18th June 2012, 6:14pm
Sorry, will you do Death Egg Zone act 1, 2 and Doomsday Zone? Answer at Megabit426@mail.ru
#8. Comment posted by Gemster312 on Tuesday, 19th June 2012, 6:53am
The Blue Spheres forever will be implemented into Sonic 3 HD if any of you are still interested in that :)
#9. Comment posted by LiQuidShade on Thursday, 21st June 2012, 6:34pm
Death Egg acts 1 and 2 yes, definitely. Doomsday maybe, but probably not. No software I have seems to be able to map it, and it's likely to be too difficult to do by hand. You'll get them when you get them and not before.
#10. Comment posted by Hyper_Sonic on Friday, 22nd June 2012, 11:41am
PLZ Check ur e-mail LQS

p.s. I see you have your internet back ;)
#11. Comment posted by LiQuidShade on Friday, 22nd June 2012, 6:18pm
Only temporarily, I'm away from home at the moment and Internet won't be set up there til early July. Just sorting out a few things first but I've read your email and will respond shortly!
#12. Comment posted by Hyper_Sonic on Saturday, 23rd June 2012, 9:43am
I sent another 1 (well, more like1-hundred), (sending error) hope the next one helps you understand more. (yanno, with a link that actually works)
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