Sonic The Hedgehog producer on remastering the Mega Drive classic for iOS and Android
To make a port this good takes AGES
After helping Sega out on last year's remastered Sonic CD port, Aussie coder Christian Whitehead has once again being enlisted by the Sonic The Hedgehog creator to help remake one of its classic games.
This time around, Whitehead is assisting the Sega team on the game that started it all. Yep, Sega's classic Mega Drive platformer Sonic The Hedgehog.
As promised, Sega + Whitehead have completely overhauled the iOS version of Sonic The Hedgehog. So, there are two new characters, a remastered original soundtrack, new menus, Universal support (for iPad), new leaderboards, fresh achievements, and an all-new Time Attack mode in this updated edition.
No need to emulate this"Under the hood, the game's code runs natively, instead of being emulated," Stephen Yee, producer for Sonic The Hedgehog on mobile, explains to Pocket Gamer.
This enables the new version of Sonic The Hedgehog to run in widescreen, and at 60 frames per second.
Sonic The Hedgehog now runs on Whitehead's Retro Engine. According to Yee, this game engine "provides a similar feature set to retro consoles like the Sega Genesis".
On his site, Whitehead explains that "while modern engines are concerned with shaders, tessellation, and advanced lighting, the Retro Engine is concerned with raster effects, palette manipulation, mode 7, and a whole host of other gaming tricks from the days of yore."
When remaking Sonic The Hedgehog, the designers could rip level layouts, music, and graphics from the original game. But they had to recreate elements like physics, speed, and enemy movements.
"We go to painstaking lengths to recreate the original gameplay logic," Yee says. "We research the original game via various methods, like frame-by-frame analysis and assembly source code, and then rewrite the game logic from scratch."
It's not a completely faithful port, though. In this updated version, you see, you are able to play as Tails and Knuckles. Sega only introduced these two characters to the Sonic family AFTER the launch of the first game on Mega Drive.
"Gameplay-wise, Tails's and Knuckles's new move sets altered the balance of the original [iPhone] game, so we needed to make modifications to some of the levels, such as object placement and new paths," Yee says.
"Sonic Team reviewed game builds and provided feedback to ensure it felt 'right'."
In this updated version of Sonic The Hedgehog for iOS, you are also able to use Sonic's Spin Dash. By using this trademark Sonic move, you can lurch into a deadly attack from a stationary position. This particular move only surfaced in Sonic 2 for Mega Drive, though. Purists can turn it off from the menu.
Anyway, the lovingly remastered Sonic The Hedgehog port is now available on iOS and Android.
It's an all-new game for Android owners, and a free update to the stuffy old iOS app (US / Europe). It costs £1.99 / $2.99 on both stores.
