Hey, hey, hey, Sonic'll always be the best!! I agree :-D

Happy birthday sonic!

P.s LiQuidShade, you were pretty good at predicting the sonic generations levels, city escape, AND roof top run have been confirmed by SEGA as levels of Sonic generations, let's see if you get any more levels correct.

Amazing. That was just amazing. I have been by Sonic's side since June 23 1991 and even though he has had a bumby ride in the 3d games, he will always be my favorite videogame mascot. Let us hope for another amazing 20 years of sonic. Happy Birthday, Sonic !

aww... I missed it :'(

Is there a downloadable PC version of the sonic generations demo? PLZ answer

Is there a downloadable PC version of the sonic generations demo? PLZ answer

Nope. Sorry!

Could one be available via an emulator?

Thanks for all the hard! I hope you'll enjoy your time at Summer of Sonic ;)

Cheers

hard work* :P (sorry it's 5AM)

Wow, after over a month. I can see that it took a lot of time with a complex level like FBZ.

Sandopolis Zone! Ack. I'm with ya brother. :-D Act 2 is pure evil. Especially as poor Knuckles.

Hey, I don't know if you read my last comment but here it is, since you're going to finish the guide and then basically shut down the site, I wanted to make a deal with you; to prevent the site from dying along with your great and hard work (and of the other editors), I'll be hosting a copy of this site in some host I have yet to determine, and attempt to revive it, since I'm a huge fan of the stuff your putting out here and I'd like to put some guides on more recent Sonic games, like Sonic Adventure or Sonic Colo(u)rs, of coarse anyone would be able to help, including yourself, because I feel that Sonic sites lack what this site has. If you're interested, let me know by e-mail.
Cheers.

Hi Jamie,

Thanks for your offer, I had considered something along these lines, but I won't be handing anything over immediately I'm afraid. For one thing, the site is not dying, it will remain online and I will host it indefinitely - which I mentioned in my original post on the subject - but it's unlikely to receive updates.

Although I like your ambition, I'd been trying for almost two years to get others involved in the writing process of this site, and despite many offers, no one has yet to complete even a quarter of a guide - I am the only editor. So you'll understand if I respond with "I've heard that one before!".

However, if you're serious about this I would suggest you do what I did and just get writing. Long before anything goes online, you should complete a full guide or two in plain text, even if it takes months and years (which it probably will if done properly). At that point, by all means get in touch and show me, and if you can convince me the site is safe in your hands and will be added to competently, I'll be much more willing to consider some sort of hand over :)

Good luck!

Hey, LiQuidShade.

I love your guides and I'm really going to hate seeing this place basically freeze once the S&K guide ends.

I don't suppose that you might consider still doing blog posts as more Sonic games come out, or even just little things?

I know it's not much, but it almost scares me seeing a website that's just frozen in the past like this one could be.

Hi LiQuidShade,

You may already be aware of this but I just wanted to give you a heads up in case it isn't something to do with my computer: the map for act two of Flying Battery Zone seems to be corrupt or something- it's coming out a little wonky.

Thanks for the awesome site!

@CloneWarrior
I might be able to post something every now and then, but I can't imagine I'd have the time to make that particularly frequent. You might have to just live with your fear I'm afraid.

@Silversounds
Really? Looks fine to me. Anyone else can confirm or deny?

Hi again,

Just checked it again and there's no problem now. If you haven't changed anything then I'm guessing it was a bad download that got stuck in my temp net files and kept getting shoved back up when I retested- didn't think of that at the time.

Sorry about that :)

Even if you only posted when you played a new Sonic game or something, it'd be infinitely better than never posting again.

Hey, LiQuidShade, what if I was thinking about going about creating a Sonic Adventure (DX) guide?

I'm just about to go into my first homework free summer following high school graduation and will probably have enough free time in my hands to write it up.

If someone else would be able to help with formatting it, would you be willing to put it on the site?

Maybe, but it has to be good! And also it has to be complete, before I even think of preparing the site to hold it. And you'll need to take your own screen shots, and publish it yourself (though you can use my admin system, so no need for HTML knowledge).. If that's all alright with you then by all means, be my guest. Send me a sample at some point and I'll let you know whether or not it looks promising.

That goes for anyone else too, by the way, if they really really want to contribute, feel free to give it a go, though I won't be reserving games for anyone anymore - first to complete, to a high standard, wins! I'm happy for Zone: 0's legacy to continue, providing I don't have to have any more than a guiding hand in it.

Well, I currently have no means of getting screenshots, but I'm on the lookout for someone who could help me with that.

So if there's anyone out there reading this who had the means to take screenshots of Sonic Adventure (DX), I'd love to get some help.

I should get to work by the end of this week, and I'll send you (LiQuidShade) a sample of Sonic's story up through Emerald Coast as soon as I can.

Incidentally, sorry about lack of artwork form me, I've been very busy with a job and will be for another few weeks at least :(
But I will be doing Chemical Plant. In it, I'm going to murder Tails. The parasite.

I found an awesome music website, which has piano solos that replicate mega drive themes, I know this will surely start controversy, but i quite like it's sonic 2 final boss. It doesn't have fbz though :(

http://www.gamemusicthemes.com/megadrivesheetmusic.html

And while I'm at it, I found some good cpz artwork, no offense to Ricky.

http://sanik.hacking-cult.org/inker/data/1220359403sonic-chemical_plant_wall_bbs_final.jpg

Alright, I've got preliminary guides done for Chaos 0 and Emerald Coast. Where do I send them?

I was wondering when you'd post about this. :)

Personally, I would have chosen Launch Base Zone for the third zone, because I think it could be tied into the plot.

First: I would be surprised to see too many levels from Unleashed/Colours, seeing as how they are such recent games... on the other hand the reused bosses in Colours make me worry that Sega isn't shy about blatantly recycling content. Though, if C.Sonic gets 'classic-fied' versions of them that might justify their inclusion.

Second: A Sonic game needs a good mix of level tropes: Green, Ruin, Casino, Aquatic, Sky, City, Base, Space, etc. Looking at it that way, each of these could be filled by their most iconic representatives: Green => Green Hill, City => Stardust Speedway, etc. (I don't think Sonic CD is too long of a shot, since Sega's clearly trying to appeal to classic fanboys this time around.)

Third: My only strong level prediction is Death Egg Zone. The Death Egg is symbolic of the classic series and is Classic Eggman's greatest creation. I'd be very surprised (and to a certain extent, disappointed) if Sega didn't resurrect this level - it seems like a shoo in. (They might even borrow SaSASR elements for it, but I hope not - that version of the level didn't really capture the feel, IMO.)

Well, I'd want something like Marble Zone from Sonic 1, Ice Cap and Lava Reef from Sonic and Knuckles, and may Sandopolis, Casino Night from Sonic 2, Carnival Night from Sonic 3, Twinkle Park from Sonic Adventure, Windy Valley from Sonic Adventure, Kingdom Valley and Crisis City from Sonic 06, Toy Kingdom from Sonic Advance 3 and so on.

BTW, I hope you (the creator of this article and many stuff of this site) don't mind me asking, but when will you finish that Flying Battery portion of the Sonic and Knuckles guide?

My submission is= Frog Forest, Water Palace, Egg Rocket, Levitated Ruin, Crisis City, Dragon Road, Lost World, Bingo Highway, Lava Reef.

@Sonikku-Nation - I'm about half way through it. It's mapped and the text is finalised, I need to do the screen shots now and wrap it all up, though I am quite busy, so maybe two-three weeks.

My level predictions:

Classic era (6 zones):
- Grenn Hill
- Chemical Plant
- Casino Night
- Hidrocity
- Flying Battery
- Stardust Speedway

Dreamcast era (3 zones):
- Emerald Coast
- Speed Highway
- City Escape

Modern era (3 zones):
- Kingdom Valley
- Asteroid Coaster
- Eggmanland

@LiQuidShade: What?! Come on! Why can you not finish it now?

Ha! I'm just kidding around with ya.

Still. 2-3 weeks, I can be very patient enough for that. Just take as much time as you need.

Best case scenario for me would be Star Light, Chemical Plant, Hydrocity, Ice Cap, Flying Battery, and Stardust Speedway. I honestly could care less about anything from the 3d era. Its the 16 bit era that made Sonic who he is, not the 3d. Sonic Adventure was fine, but my childhood was the 16 bit era.

I was expecting to appear Mushroom Hill Zone, Chemical Plant Zone or Death Egg Zone, and also believed that they include Chasse Sky Zone

It would be good to revive the levels of Sonic 2: Hidden Palace Zone, or Wood zone ... Do I understand? (Lost zones)

Could revive, but more importantly include the Death Egg
It would also be interesting to see the new version of the music with real instruments.

Only nine levels? OH NOES! So many zones I want to see returned that aren't going to make it in. I want Marble, Labyrinth and Scrap Brain to return from Sonic 1 alone. I also want Aquatic Ruin (one my favourite zones ever as you might have guessed from the my name), Casino Night, Mystic Cave and Wing Fortress from Sonic 2, Hydrocity, Marble Garden, Icecap, Launch Base, Hidden Palace, Sky Sanctuary AND The Doomsday. I need 14 slots just for the classic era. But LiQuidShade, you do have very good choices for the classic era. CPZ and MHZ would be great.

Sadly, I have not played the Adventure era, I have played Sonic Heroes however but that game was so full of bottomless pits that it made it rather difficult to progress in the game. I haven't played the game in ages, can't really remember anything about now. Same goes for the Morden era (jeez, where have I been?), I've only played the rather recent Sonic Colours so I can't really say anything about choices from that era.

I am a little disapointed that you chose twinkle park. It is not one of my faviourite levels. I think there should be an outer space theme, after all Death Egg is my faviourite zone. There should also be a sky base type zone, winged fortress, sky deck, or final fortress (which I found to be too easy for a last zone) A good old last story would also make a nice addition to the game. I wonder what the special stages will be like, and if there will be a form of super sonic. And lastly, how could a zone like chemical plant be transformed into 3d?

There's certainly some key Sonic level tropes missing from my list, although I was going under the assumption that each era will be completed consecutively, which doesn't have to be the case at all, it depends on the plot really. Sonic(s) could easily jump back and forth through time as they go, opening up possibilities like Death Egg or Wing fortress, which should really appear at the end of the game I'd say.

What I was really going for here though was a realistic prediction above all else. It's not necessarily my own personal dream list, but I think because this game promises so much (perhaps more than a Sonic game ever has really), it leaves room for a lot of disappointment if you don't get all the levels you were hoping for. It's all very well to list out reams of them you'd like to see, but I think if you're expecting any more than 3 or 4 (maaaybe 5 if you're very very lucky) classic levels, then you're in for a big let down. They only have so much room, and what I think is a clear determination to cover the whole 20 year history, so my advice would be to try and make the most of whatever you're given, otherwise no one's going to be completely happy with this game!

I think that 12 levels should total (four per era). I like your choices for the latter two, but we should have a bit more. In the modern era, maybe we could see one colors level. In the classic era, I'd ditch chemical plant for something sonic CD, like wacky workbench. It fits the level trope (premature industrial) and is more of a call-out to classic fans. But that leaves one question:which soundtrack to use? As most of you, I'd wanna see the Japanese soundtrack, but there is also one last thing: time zone? I'd find past most fitting, because it's a level from the past in the past! (and it would solve the soundtrack issue). I'd also personally want to see flying battery over wing fortress. It's more iconic and is more likely to be recognized (second level vs. Second-to-last level). But that leaves something to Change from mushroom hill. Maybe casino night?

@LiQuidShade

LiQuid, this article is excellent. I've been looking around the net for people's opinions on what the levels will be in Sonic Generations', and none of them are as thoughtful or as realistic as this list. I was hoping someone out there would make a well thought out and likely prediction like this... and you did! Thank you!

I do hope they take a level from Sonic 3 and a level from Sonic and Knuckles respectively. And then perhaps make the final level Death Egg, since it is a stage which has spanned multiple games and even had an alternate incarnation in Space Colony Ark. I think that'd be fitting.

It would be amazing to race side by side with Metal Sonic in HD. Stardust Speedway please!

I have managed to narrow down my oversized list of choices but there probably are people out there that have an even longer list then what I had. Heck, choices and decisions...3, 3, 3? 4, 4, 4? 6, 3, 3? I would honestly go with the unfair 6, 3, 3...well, if some of the zones wanted don't make it in there is still Sonic the Hedgehog 4...right?

Two out of two so far! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t68aeAbUu4g&feature=youtu.be (stay with it til the very end, mind!)

It's all coming together, *evil laugh*

Ok so I made a list of all the common stage tropes and put my dreamlist together. With a total of 12 levels with 4 in each era, this would be my ideal sonic generations:
Green- Green Hill
Casino- Twinkle Park
Ruin- Kingdom Valley
Ice- Cool Edge
Desert- Pyramid Cave
Factory- Chemical Plant
Water- Hydrocity
Haunted- Hang Castle
Lava- Lava Reef
Space- Asteroid Coaster
Base- EggmanLand
Seriously it would be amazing if these were the choices. Make it happen Sonic Team!

~Genesis~
- Hidden Palace Zone: Now I know that this doesn’t really count as a zone, seeing as it’s one act long and there solely from story purposes, but I love the whole “confrontation with the Guardian” mood. The only letdown is that Knuckles was pathetically easy. Not [just] because he had some bad A.I. programming, but because his moves were limited to the ones that you can do when playing as him. If he could pull off some “HOLYCRAPIDIDNOTSEETHATCOMING” moves, then I’d write him off as one of the best bosses of the game, and Sonic Generations has a big enough chance to do just that.
- Sunset Park Zone: This game gear level felt like an unsual, yet almost instantaneous, classic. The whole place felt all un-Sonic-y in a sense that running to the right wouldn’t get you anywhere fast, except to instant death. Now, while this level did tone down the running, platforming and exploration had heavy emphasis, which reminded me that this wasn’t just a game showing off a speedy little rodent. No, it was about a speedy little rodent that could jump. And, as you probably expected, Act 3′s music was flat out awesome. There. I said it.
- Hill Top Zone: This level has got to be the most underrated level in Sonic 2. Possibly in the whole genesis era. Heck, I like this one better than Chemical Plant zone, which I find to be too heavily praised (much like how I find Sonic 2 just to be Sonic 1 with the addition of a [playable] stalker). Now, before I drive this tangent any further, there’s just something that I find to be enthralling about the lush Blue Hills in the Mountain Tops. While its musical theme was freakin’ weird (in a good way), the stage itself was unique all in its own way. And it had lava. I’d love to see HD lava in a Sonic game.
- Stardust Speedway (Boss): Okay, maybe asking for a boss throwback is pushing it, but darnit I loved this boss. Heck I loved ALL of the bosses in Sonic CD. They weren’t just “How many times can you hit Eggy?” bosses, they were “can you even find out HOW to hit Eggy?” bosses. Except for this one. This one was all about staying alive. But not because Sonic had to wait for Eggman to kill himself (like for many bosses in Sonic 3K), but because Sonic had to pass a trial of only one surviving. To this day, I still feel the adrenaline rush from this boss. In a way that no other boss (in the Genesis Era) has given me.

(I do not have any Sonic 1 levels on here because they already did that for Sonic Colors)

~Dreamcast~
- City Escape: Possibly the MOST memorable Sonic Adventure 2 stage out there (thanks to the demo in the Sonic Adventure 1 casing), City Escape is downright awesome. A lot of us take this stage fro granted, you’ve got so many cars (parked/moving), so many buildings, so many branching, yet inaccessible streets [for practical reasons], and an awesome feel of outrunning the cops in the most ridiculously cool way possible.
- Sky Deck: Everyone remembers Sky Deck. Who doesn’t? As glitchy as this stage may or may not have been in its latter sections, it was still fun to play. I just love the feeling of taking down a carrier at high altitudes, from the inside out. You know, until I found out that all I had to do was push a button under Eggman’s seat to do it. So the feeling died. But that’s not to say that the feeling was never there. Either way, I’d love to return to those amazing heights in stunning HD.
- Metal Harbor: This is one of those levels that makes you realize the true purpose of the “Score” part of the Score-Time-Rings HUD. Now, while you play this level, you’ll notice that doing it in THE FASTEST TIME POSSIBLE, will rank you a C at best. Rather, this level encourages you to do what no other Adventure level had. EXPLORE. Now, this stage is pretty linear and pretty much devoid of alternate routes already, but when you look in the right spots you’ll find some zones to amp up the score. And then there’s the biggest kick-in-the-nuts moment ever. The missile launch section has an extended climbing route. The upper-section really tested your speed and mettle as you had to ring-dash, homing attack, and run as fast as you could to the second handle bar. I wonder how classic Sonic will fair…

~Modern~
- Kingdom Valley: This stage was just beautifully epic, and possibly my favorite in the whole game. Granted, White Acropolis had an unorthodox appeal to it (stealth in a SONIC GAME?), earning it some favoritism, but it just pales in comparison to Kingdom Valley. Crisis City also had its high points as well, and I wouldn’t mind seeing that one again either. On the subject though, Kingdom Valley was so mythical and felt so… RIGHT. It was basically the level that made Sonic ’06 have ANY reason for picking the game back up. You know, besides its unbelievably stellar soundtrack. The point is, the level has so much more potential to build upon from its roots and Generations has a chance to do it justice.
- Pirate Storm: Sonic and Secret Ring’s main and possibly only REAL issue was the auto-run system. But that didn’t keep me from absolutely adoring this level. You see, this level did what so many others these days [and in the classics too] were too humble to do: it destroyed all sense of subtlety. Instead of taking the “Hey look at that, there are some cannons firing in the distance, that’s a nice touch” path, they took a “F**K CANNONS IN THE DISTANCE, I’M RIDING CANNONBALLS!” path. And that brought back that never-a-dull-moment sense from the Adventure days. Heck, even more so than those. Can I have Sonic doing tricks from cannonball to cannonball in a midair free fall? Only generations can bring me that.
- Various Sonic Rivals (2) levels: This game was just epic for me. It was basically the original Sonic 4 (with tag-team in the sequel (like Sonic 2)) that focused on recurring nemeses (like Sonic 3) while fighting off Eggman (like all classic games). Heck it even had side-scrolling gameplay. And the drafting system was a nice touch. Maybe this is an excuse for multiplayer…
- Skyscraper Scamper Daytime: Okay, so this one is basically City escape on steroids, but how awesome would it be to see a 2D rendition? Complete with all of the steep drops and building hopping that Rooftop Runway could only dream of. Get rid of the speed boosts and then you’d have pure, 100% momentum that propels you past the screen. Unlike Chemical Plant Zone and most modern levels today. Since this is already a Unleashed/Colors style, I guess that it would be quite redundant to do this as Modern Sonic, unless it has a whole new perspective.

I probably have more ideas that I haven’t thought of yet, but I would definitely want to see these ones make a return. Maybe Sonic Colors is too recent... maybe not. It did come out LAST year, after all...

Classic:

s1-Green hill
s2-Chemical Plant
s3-Ice cap
s&k-Sandopolis
sCD-Stardust speedwayy
s4 ep1-Mad gear

Dreamcast:
sa1: Lost word (is not so funny stage, but is very symbolic on sadventure storyline)
sa2: City escape

Modern era:
Sonic heroes: Hanging castle or Bingo highway.

Sonic 06: Crysys city or Kingdom Valley.

Sonic unleashed: Rooftop Run

Sonic Colors: sweet mountain or Starlight carnival. probably gonna be planet wisp.

The next ideas are from non canon sonic games, but can be cool as future DLC ad-ons stages.
knuckles chaotix- Marina Madness
Shadow: Mad Matrix or Lost colony ark.
Secret rings: Lost Palace (the window based floor stage, is really pretty)
Black knight: Molten Mine or that lava stage.
Riders SAGA: Gigan rocks, or megalo station or something like that.

The level and boss list for HD consoles was leaked from the demo by hackers:

Levels:

Green Hill
Chemical Plant
Sky Sanctuary
Speed Highway
City Escape
Seaside Hill
Crisis City
Rooftop Run
Planet Wisp

Casino Night Zone pinball minigame (DLC)

Bosses:

Metal Sonic
Death Egg
Shadow
Perfect Chaos
Silver
Egg Dragoon

For 3DS version:
Green Hill
Casino Night
Big Arm (Sonic 3's final boss)

I just want to see the screenshots of some of those levels, and well, hear the music. :D

Screenshots released of chemical plant zone, and stardust speedway, and whats more on SEGA's website!!!

LQS DO NOT READ THIS, anyway wowowowowowowowowowowowowow!!! TONES of new videos and screenshots released for sonic generations (including mushroom hill 4 the 3ds) AND Sonic 2 Final boss. cannotwaitcannotwaitcannotwaitcannotwaitcannotwaitcannotwaitcannotwaitcannotwait!!! (all revealed on sega sonic gens home page(seaside hill, rooftop run and more).

Too bad that you will stop with the guides, I really like them! I am however looking forward to the sonic and knuckles guides, sonic 3 and knuckles has always been my favourite sonic game.

Exellent! I like this site very much, it helps me when I'm playing... :)And in is really sad that this is the and... :(

Wow! I thought that S&K would never come up. Anyway, my brother is working on S3&K, just starting fresh. I like Death Egg zone most of all!

Hey, since you're going to finish the guide and then basically shut down the site, I wanted to make a deal with you; to prevent the site from dying along with your great and hard work (and of the other editors), I'll be hosting a copy of this site in some host I have yet to determine, and attempt to revive it, since I'm a huge fan of the stuff your putting out here and I'd like to put some guides on more recent Sonic games, like Sonic Adventure or Sonic Colo(u)rs, of coarse anyone would be able to help, including yourself, because I feel that Sonic sites lack what this site has. If you're interested, let me know by e-mail.
Cheers.

Where's Lava Reef Zone? I love that level... *Good Times*

This is sad news. The site is the best Sonic site I've ever come across and even though it will continue to exist, it's too bad guides wont continue to be made. You've done an outstanding job and I hope you find everything you want in life.

:(

I'm actually not that disappointed because the five guides that you will have I feel are the most important anyway... and I'm looking forward to whatever project you conquer next.

I find it really sad that you feel that way about the Sonic community. Sometimes it gets on my nerves, too; that's why I stay away from the news threads and join in on the hacking and other fanworks instead. I do wish everybody could pull together and be more constructive - we've accomplished so much so far, but we could do much more if we'd stop taking potshots at each other.

Speaking of constructive, what's the worst/most time consuming part of making the S3&K guide? You never know, Zone: 0 readers might find a way to facilitate it.

"Not a neutral, homogenous wiki made up of content from multiple people, but a highly focused, highly personal creation that cares more about, initially, the details of what it covers than its scope."

I think you hit the nail on the head. That's exactly how I feel about some of the projects I've worked on. I'm not disappointed at all, to be honest, as I'd always thought this site seemed more focused on the Genesis/Mega Drive-era games. I'd always thought that was a key element of its charm. I'm incredibly nostalgic about these games in particular, and you've created what I'd just about call a work of art to cater to that.

I'm sorry if you feel disappointed or let down in yourself, but you shouldn't. This is a great accomplishment, and it's become a household name in the Sonic fan communities. I have no doubt that it will continue to be a center of interest for many. Whichever direction you choose to take it in will be great.

I literally just discovered this site today, doing research for a uni project on Sonic, and it's without doubt the best Sonic site I've come across. I myself have been a fan of these games since I was old enough to play my old Mega Drive, and I know exactly how you feel about the fanbase. I myself refuse to be a part of any community or forum, because the constant bickering and complaining about the tiniest of details is truly staggering.

"Euugh, Sonic 4 is gonna suck because Sonic has green eyes."

'Nuff said. Some people seem to love complaining and go out of their way to find fault with things, in any fanbase, but with Sonic it's so much more noticable. I attended Summer of Sonic in London last year, and was shocked at how many little digs at the current games and full on debates about how bad recent titles have been, by so-called fans of them. It's like they buy the games fully expecting to hate them, and I can't understand the logic at all. I buy them and I enjoy them, despite any minor nitpicks I may have. It's a series about a fast blue hedgehog fighting an egg-shaped man and his robot army... just enjoy it!

Congratulations on this site, and it's truly sad to see someone so dedicated forced out of the community by the ridiculous amount of negativity.

This is truly sad news, but however, everything must come to an end. I admire your passion and dedication through these years and honestly you have created something truly amazing with your determination. You haven't created just a website, but a safe home and a place of remembrance for Sonic fans, old and new. I've heard of Zone:0 from several people and come here many times not for just guidance in my Sonic trials, but just to reignite my connection with the blue blur.

The devotion you've had for Zone:0 is something that is not common in most with their projects and is quite unique. My love for Sonic has run deep in my veins since 1991, but I still would not be able to tackle a project so large, and for that I applaud you.

I agree with your view on the animosity and negativity that has developed in the world and into the Sonic community and it does create almost a repellent to something that we love so much. I used to love discussing Sonic the Hedgehog with other fans, but now instead of our admiration and enthusiasm being the topic of discussion it is what has become how the Sonic franchise has gone "downhill." Follow that by how the next generation Sonic fans are labeled as "not real fans." It's sad that something so simple and fun has become something that has torn real fans with a common interest apart.

It is upsetting that you must close Zone:0, but not disappointing. It is understandable that such perfection is so time consuming and obvious that you would want to continue with your own personal life. I thank you for all the hard work, persistence, and involvement in the Sonic community and best wishes to any projects you are going to apply yourself to in the future. Thank you for giving me faith and comfort in knowing that there are others like me keeping Sonic the Hedgehog alive. Great job and best wishes.

Long time reader of the site. Enjoy the design and the content. You have your reasons for making the Sonic & Knuckles guide your last--I respect that. My problem arrives when you, ironically enough, criticize the fanbase for criticizing the series. Looking at it from another angle, as someone who is active in another fanbase who casually browses the Sonic fanbase, I see huge flaws in your argument.

Just because someone is a fan does not mean that they should have an undebatable love for everything that revolves around what they are a fan of. Sonic the Hedgehog is such as huge "franchise" that incorporates video games, comics, animations and so forth of different types from different eras. You can collectivize everyone as "Sonic fans" but you're not seeing that "Sonic fans" are composed of "classic fans," "SATAM fans," "modern fans," "Archie fans," etc. Even within these subgroups, there are more divisions. This diversity should be celebrated. Sorry, but it would be awfully boring if everyone everywhere just likes everything Sonic. That's not fandom. That's product worship.

Now while Sonic the Hedgehog 4 did garner negativity from some of the fanbase, it should be of great importance to point out that Sonic Colors was an entirely different game which, for the most part, was released to high praise from most of the fan community. I don't think Sonic fans are simply being negative for the sake of being negative. I think they have high expectations due to the bar being set so high back in the 1990s and that SEGA either drops the ball or at least shows progress.

I think it's comical that people such as Jim Sterling who are highly critical of the fanbase for being, well, critical of Sonic 4 seem to have less than favorable words for Sonic Colors. But that's okay. It's their opinion. Sonic Colors is my favorite third-dimensional Sonic game to date. Not perfect, but it's getting there. People can disagree with me and those people can very well be Sonic fans.

You have your own reasons for ceasing your plans for future updates and like I said, that's your decision and I respect that. You've done an excellent job here. I also completely understand what you mean in your second-to-last paragraph, owning a fansite of my own which is entirely of my own creation. I simply wanted to throw in my two cents in defense of a fan community that gets too much flack for having a diverse range of opinions.

I can only thank you all for your very heartfelt reflections on my work and this news. I'm very touched that this project has had such an astounding effect on what seems to be quite a large number of people. I'm truly amazed!

Rom, thank you very much. :)

Ricky, don't be sad! There's still much to come before I close the doors, and your artwork will always be welcome here.

Mercury, thank you, I agree. I think the thing is, I've pretty much eliminated most of the laborious elements to the whole process. Everything left now is all down to the quality and consistency of the writing, layouts, graphics and maps, and it's something I feel only I can do. I'd say the map making is still quite time consuming (although a fraction of how much time it would take without your own brilliant extractor tools!), but purely because of all of the extra arrows and icons I add. It's the kind of thing that has too many little rules and intricacies that I've built up over time for anyone else to really grasp, I think.

MoDaD - Yes, keeping it to the classics does kind of give it a special kind of charm I must admit. Thank you, I hope it does continue to be used by many long after its last update.

JC, better late than never! You're very welcome here, thank you.

Dapassified, thanks! I can't really believe I've been so devoted to it myself, really. I think if you find something you care that much about though, you can find the desire to produce anything really, no matter how big. And one of the best things about this site has been the amazing reactions to it from people like yourselves and how, for some, there's something about Sonic that just really.. well, gives meaning to life, I suppose!

RS - Thanks a lot, glad to hear understanding from a fellow site owner. You're quite right, I'm painting with broad brush strokes when describing the community as I did there. There are of course many positive fans out there and many good things about the community - these messages alone are testament to that. I didn't wish to begin a debate between anyone about the state of the community, nor do I seek to change it. It's just that to me, there's too much negativity, even if it's not the only thing. Too many people with glass-half-empty expectations, and petty, destructive criticisms. It's not everyone, at all, and I've no idea if it's really even the majority, but they speak with louder voices to me, and there's enough of them for me to no longer enjoy reading the opinions of others about Sonic. They just depress me, and that's all it is really, just a personal reaction.

Many thanks again.

It´s a shame. I´m going to tell the truth, I haven´t really read everything is here (after playing all classic Sonic games hundreds of times and finding most of the best hidden secrets of them around the internet, it´s hard to look at an in-depth guide), but anyway, it´s superb content. This could be sold on a guide and most Sonic fans would be buying it like crazy, even knowing the entire games.

I wish you luck in anything else you do, because it´s hard to find so perfect content out there.

And you know, don´t get too serious about *we* Sonic complainers. We have been deceived for years, and we haven´t got still a game as good as the classics. I´ve really enjoyed games like Megaman 9-10 and Castlevania HD, but Sonic it´s still far from becoming a masterpiece again. Anyway, they are really improving :)

Sincerely, good luck in anything you do, because it will be awesome for sure ;)

NOOO! I just found you.... :(

Do you know how hard it is to come by Sonic Guides as good as yours? Why, I'm saving your Sonic 2 guide to my HD as I type this! I understand how discouraging the 'net can be when it comes to "Help Promised vs. Help Received". You've got my absolute sympathy there. But before you turn this place into the Smithsonian...

Could you make a Sonic 3 & Knuckles walkthrough? Pretty please? To me, Sonic 3 & Knuckles was the pinnacle of Sonic gaming, with Sonic 2 being an EXTREMELY close second. You already have the best Sonic 2 guide on the 'net (I say this with complete confidence and utter certainty)- why not go out with a bang? You may be puzzled why I'm requesting something so specific when simply combining the released Sonic 3 guide and as-yet-unreleased Sonic and Knuckles guide would be a huge help already.....Well, as I said; the former and the latter were meant to be played as one game. You know it. I know it. Yuji Naka knows it. EVERYONE knows it, would be the point. So, for the best Sonic game, why not have the best guide? It's commonly known from just cursory research that both games have slight but significant tweaks to their level designs. These differences would not be readily apparent as a tacked on footnote in the individual guides for the two games alone.

Please. You would be providing an invaluable service to us forgotten fans of Sonic's glorious past. There is no one else doing work on par with your guides.

Thank you KMetalmind and Eurysilas - an impassioned speech, but I'm afraid I must decline on the joint guide for the two games. It's still a lot of work for something that I don't think is really necessary to be honest. Anything that is specific to S3&K, I have already been including as I go, in the maps and descriptions (and not necessarily just tacked on at the end - wherever relevant), and although they were meant to be the same game - I admittedly more often play them together rather than separately in fact - I still think it makes more sense to keep them separate. That is how they were released, and that is, more often than not, how they're re-released now. It's not just classic Sonic fans that frequent this site but relative newbies too, who may not even know the full score between those games, and I think it's less confusing to keep them separate.

Sorry, nice idea, but no. :)

You have done fine work throughout the years. I'm sure the S&K guide will be just as thorough and enjoyable as the others. Thank you for your contributions to one of my favorite childhood memories.

You're right on the money about a lot of things in this post. Particularly how jaded internet communities have become and how depressing the constant focus on negativity is. This site has always been refreshing to me in that I don't see all the hate that fills the Sonic community here. Way to rise above the standard.

You have done exceedingly well and have gone far beyond the level of commitment most fans would ever be willing to give to something they love. Love is one of the things that makes this site so awesome. The love for the source material has been present in this site from the get-go and in my opinion finishing up the S&K guide would be a great capstone to a very rad project. Anyway, that's enough babbling. Great job, and whatever you find yourself doing in the future, keep on being awesome!

This is just depresing... I wish i could have helped write something but i have been busy with school. I want you to know i have enjoyed reading your guides and i cant wait for sonic and knuckles. i hope you enjoy life and stuff........ :'{

I hope Ricky Earl will continue with his artwork. The future of this websote seems great! My brother needs a walkthrough for something in Sonic & Knuckles. But he might have found it already.

:( I love your guides.

I would like to help

I will at LEAST see out Sonic 2, Andrew
I'm glad the website will continue to exist for as long as possible :)

I serched the internet and NO OTHER GUIDE in the internet (That i can find) is this good! I love your work...I was hoping for a guide for sonic 4 at some point...I get your point though, you have good reasons to stop. I would love it if you got other writers to help and/or write more guides, but if not, oh well. This is still the greatist guide to sonic ever.
P.S. Thank you for all your help with sonic 3, and especially with the @#$% barrels in carnival night!

Thats too bad. I like the site. Its clean, very very informative and you can the tlc that went into the details. Your effort is appreciated. Good luck on future endeavors.

Well, I know I'm a little late on the comment-train, but I will like to say thank you for all the guides you have made so far, and wish you good luck with your last one! Finish strong and hard!

Definately a shame, as a childhood fan of the games I can say this is the best sonic site by far, its so in depth, appreciate all the hard work

I'd imagine that blue spheres wouldn't be THAT time consuming. Consider it, OK, i'm VERY late on the "comment train", but hey, as I said, consider it.

I'm very impressed with this site. From the detail and amount of information to allowing anyone to add extra tips and comments, it's refined and set up to incorporate anything you missed.

About your gripes with the community's negativity: most of them are just as nostalgic as you. When they think of their childhood, Sonic is a part of that. I'm one of those who hasn't cared for anything since sonic adventure 2. Some of it is me not owning anything newer than a Dreamcast, but a lot of it is the reviews and information I keep reading. But this shit about him turning into a werewolf and next-gen graphics but horrible playability? I don' care for it. To me it's as if they are shitting on the Sonic universe with half-assed efforts. Now that may be too negative for you, but that's how I'm reacting to their treatment of Sonic. I do think you're too soft in this regard and I honestly have no idea what this "unmistakable" "new direction" they are taking. I guess Sonic 4 was kind of interesting, if it wasn't for the horrible physics. Maybe you mean Generations? Looks the most interesting since anything after SA2, but all this combo crap and automatic attacks/moves (like auto grind rail switching, really, is it that hard to just jump?) really turn me off. Sure, many fans critique a lot, but it's because they hold the original 5 in the highest regard and they hold anything new to the highest standard. Personally, I'd be ecstatic if they did a 16-bit sidescroller, but that's not happening and they already messed up the small effort there was in that direction. I wasn't crazy about moving to 3-d but I found Adventure 1 and 2 had their appeal (despite the beginning of the endless amounts of special gear and auto lock attacks [they could have had you aim at the enemies a bit to make it work instead of auto]. But then things changed. Even SA2 on gamecube was beginning to show me mistakes (the 2 player battle mode was a lot less fun than the cart racing). Maybe I'm just being an old curmudgeon stuck in the past, but there are valid points and you can't deny SEGA is catering to new fans, which means most of it will be dumbed down. So in the end, there will never be another original 5. The amount of talent they had, how much they got perfect from the level design to the music, how each new game was a continuation and logical building upon the last. It just won't happen again, and not just because of 16-bit, but because the demographic has changed and much of gaming has changed as a result. Sonic is still stuck in '94 but that's okay with me. Sure I wish somehow it continued, but I'm immensely grateful we had so much quality output by those development teams and really I shouldn't ask for anything more.

Well, if I offended you, just thought I'd share my view and help you see how your nostalgia is the same as everyone elses. So, let's forget about the present and raise a toast to the glory of yesteryear! Oh Sonic...

I Could'nt Believe When I Saw This And All I Can Say Is THIS IS WAS AND WILL BE THE BEST SONIC FAN(HECK WITH THIS NON FANS THAT's RIGHT I'M SAYING YOU'RE BETTER AT MAKING GAMEGUIDES FOR SONIC THEN EVEN SEGA AND SONIC TEAM(ORIGINAL AND NON)AND I RESPECT YOUR WISHES SO HAVE A GOOD LIVE(OR LIVES) AND DONT LET ANYTHING(JUST SAYING.....DON't ASK) AND ANYONE TELL YOU OTHERWISE(:
(;
...Oh p.s i Have done Some Sonic Fan Stuff Myself In Sonic CD's Coments And I Know That's Not Even Comparable To YOUR WORK!!!!!GASPS FOR (BREATH) And Really All Sonic Games Are Great Dont Get Me Wrong I Can See What All Of You Mean And And What Kmetalmind Said Is True I Mean Have You Seen Sonic Colors?(Wii)Anyway I'm A Devoted Sonic Fan Myself And You Are A Ture Sonic Fan I Can Tell Seriously And Farewell Fellow Sonic Fan!!!!!!!!!!

In response to those who say Sonic won't be the same again, remember the original Sonic team is practically gone. even the head of current Sonic team was only around since Sonic and Knuckles

:( I HOPE TO SEE SONIC 4 AND GENERATIONS

Looks like the S&K guide was never finished =/
I had hoped at least that one would have been completed... just the guides for the originals would have made an awesome site in itself.
Still, the content on this site, and well, the entire site, is superb.

God since Cybershell's epic reveal of this, (For me anyway), I've loved this site. Sonic and Knuckles should be done soon, Since you're up to Sky Sanctuary. Lets finish this stuff!

Finally, Launch Base Zone! Been looking forward to this one. There are a lot of hard to reach paths in this place, and the special zone rings are rather hidden, so I hope this can actually help some people out. Not to mention seeing the differences between the two versions of this zone. Should be interesting.

Definitely looking forward to Sonic & Knuckles. I'll keep checking back for your updates (like this weekend) to see what's new.

I kept on looking and hoping for Launch Base zone ever since you mentioned it in the December blog.
My time has come!

What're you going to do with Blue Sphere? Is it going to share a page with Sonic & Knuckles or be a seperate article on it's own?

Thanks all :)

Blue Sphere will be part of the Sonic & Knuckles guide.

Thanks for working so hard on all of these great guides. The level of detail, as always, is great and the visual style you use in presenting everything just makes it even better. It's all very professional while still having a fun feel. I think someone else may have mentioned to it, but is it true that if you're Super Sonic while fighting the final boss in Sonic 3 that he can still grab you?