When I was a youngster I had the pleasure of playing the fantastic platformer of Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Megadrive. A game which featured a ring collecting blue hedgehog, that could spin, run, jump and roll about, at the fastest of speeds in a battle against a number of menacing enemies and the main antagonist Doctor Eggman. So why is this game getting an mention on IndieRetroNews? Well, I've just been told by Xyphoe, that Norecess and team has released the impressive Amstrad GX4000 and Plus conversion of Sonic the Hedgehog.
SonicGX was first previewed at the Alchimie XIII (1st of November 2019) as a work in progress game for the Amstrad GX4000 and Amstrad Plus Machines. Fast forward to today however, and as a surprisng release at the Benediction Coding Party 2025, the game now features full-screen game-play at full-framerate (50hz) with approx 52 colors on screen, a Special Stage as found in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the Sega Megadrive, and so much more all adapted to match the Amstrad GX-4000 limitations. So yes if you have a GX4000 or Plus, you owe it yourselves to play this fantastic game right now.
Credits:
- Code & Level Design : Arnaud "NoRecess" Storq
- Graphics Conversion : Cédric "CeD" Quetier
- Audio Conversion: Julien "Targhan" Nevo
- Design & Support : Richard "TotO" Gatineau
- Instruction Manual: "Slype"
Links :1) Source
ALUCINANTE!!!!Thanks to all!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThis Amstrad version is incredible for the Plus family. I've already been able to play it on my Amstrad Plus 464 and it's technically amazing. Congratulations! I'd like to take this opportunity to encourage other scenes, like the Amiga one, to start doing things properly and making good use of the hardware (without the Scorpion engine and such) and the machine's capabilities in OCS. The resources on the Amiga 500 OCS aren't being used to their full potential.
ReplyDeletethis may be a 8-bit Z80-based console, the hardware is comparable to the amiga and probably better as this was released in 1990, 5 years after OCS. Superfrog, Assassin do a really great job with speed & smooth scrolling. But those were absolute technical masterpieces. Someone as skilled as Team 17 should port Sonic and it could look like this on the miggy
DeleteBut hopefully not at 160x200 ;)
DeleteI feel ya, but believe me, most Amiga people these days don't really care if they need to use more hardware power to get a game running. So it's a bit of a waste of time to try to get really everything out of vanilla OCS or AGA hardware.
DeleteEven on the contrary, lot of people will ask you why you are not creating games for their 030 accelerator plus 8mb card that seems to be standard these days anyway.
So, it seems engines are largely the way forward for the Amiga.
This looks and sounds amazing and dead on, but plays very bad. Sonic can no longer roll into a ball while running - he now just comes to a dead stop and crouches instead. The camera whips around like crazy when you change direction, making it very difficult to land on a platform or an enemy with any sort of precision. Also, the game softlocked when I stopped right at the end of the level (I think the level-end cutscene triggered, and locked my controls, but forgot to make Sonic keep walking).
ReplyDeleteYou can roll as a ball by running, accelerating and then keep pressing down + a direction. Diagonal if the direction you want if you prefer.
Deletedon't understand how you can write this. The game is very fluid, with devilishly smooth gameplay, and instant, precise control response. It's true that the original has a lag that doesn't exist here, but you adapt in a minute. I play it on the original machine. What emulator are you using? (You must be using cpcec.) I think you've tried a different game. Cheers.
Deletetechnical side of this project is extremely impressive .. really Amiga class level. Now tune that gameplay.
ReplyDelete@Fernando, taking full advantage of computer hardware takes tremendous time and skill. The best games from the 8 and 16-bit era was done by talented teams and professionals. In 2025, you cant make a living from making retro games. Are you suggesting that amateurs using Scorpion or other tools should study for years, regardless of their full time jobs, to learn the required coding skills? Or should they stop releasing their stuff, because its not done "properly"? Personally, I'd like to encourage amateurs to make exactly the games the want, using any tool they want. There are many out there who appreciates it.
ReplyDeleteWhat he means is that to create an "A500 class" game in the Scorpion engine, you need a much more powerful A1200.
DeleteExactly, resources are wasted and underutilized, and such an incredible model as the Amiga 500 ends up being neglected. Today, other platforms are far surpassing what was programmed 40 years ago (Vespertino, Pinball Dreams on Amstrad, Spectrum, and Commodore). It's not the same with the Amiga; great games have been released, but nothing surpasses the old ones. And today there's more technical documentation and tools than back then. Resources are being wasted on very simple games. That's how I see it. In my opinion, the Amiga scene is on the wrong track. I admire the people who strive to release retro games; I'm just talking about the approach, which I think is misguided.
DeleteMany early 8 & 16 bit games were written by 1 or 2 people who sometimes did all the code graphics and music themselves. Many were self tort. It was only later that publishers had graphics and music people. Small teams and professional programmers came later.
Delete@Zorro, thanks for the correction. @Fernando, I agree that simplistic scorpion games shouldnt require an A1200. Scorpion is capable of decent A500 games. It just takes some more work.
DeleteI also wish more properly coded Amiga games would be released. But it seems that the good programmers have left the scene, and now its mostly a hobbyist playground. Ironically, thats why its still alive - because many people keep releasing stuff. The scene is only as good as we ourself make it. If youre not happy with it, create some great stuff yourself. Lets encourage those who still supports the Amiga, and keep the critisism positive and constructive.
What emulator did you use to have so many problems? 😂 There are dozens of us who played it before it was released, and on real hardware no one had these problems. 🤷🏼♂️
ReplyDeleteHello there, I was at the Micro Alchimie meeting yesterday near Valence in France and ran the game on a 6128 PLUS : it was really fun to see all kind of retro people (Atari, Amiga, etc...) being amazed by this game. Huge congrats to the team and kudos for their faith during 7 years to deliver such a beauty !
ReplyDeleteWe should be greatful for ANY game enthusiasts made for Amiga and any other retro platform, and, also, understand that not everyone is a super programmer that can make a game in assembler using 120% of the machine's hardware and able to run Quake on a stock A500...
ReplyDeleteAlso, dismissing the work of guys like Reassembler for making a game like OutrunArcade as "not being a true Amiga game" because it requires an accelerated Amiga (That EXISTED back then) is, to say the least, asinine...
Besides, anyone who still have a "real" Amiga can accelerate it to never dreamed about standards for cheap using Pistorm or any other alternative, and for those that do not own a real Amiga, they can always have a high end Amiga using the numerous emulation or FPGA alternatives as well.
So, Is it about having new stuff released for our favorite computer or just proving that it could have had better games IF the guys coding back ten had more time and the computational power of today? (also, unknown optimization techniques in that time)?
I want both, personally and a Pistorm accelerated CD32 is as much as an Amiga as a barebones A500 (or a mini-pc running Pimiga which is all I have)
It's simply a matter of doing what's being done on other platforms, like Spectrum, Amstrad, Commodore 64, Atari... minimizing the capabilities of an Amiga 500. In the Amiga scene, most developers are using pre-built engines like Scorpion, which waste a lot of resources and force them to be unnecessarily excessive. I encourage developers to delve deeper into the actual hardware they're designing their games for and not to rush to finish them. They should create something that fulfills them and does justice to the machine they're designing it for. There are some very weak Amiga titles with excessive requirements; any game from that era was infinitely superior. This doesn't happen in other scenes. Here's an example with Sonic GX; there are more examples on the Spectrum. I acknowledge the good intentions of current Amiga developers, but I think they're approaching the development process incorrectly.
DeleteIn other platforms is exactlye the same, for Spectrum, as an example, for each Spectral Interlude or Old Towers there are dozens of games made in basic or in some engine...
ReplyDeleteAnd, of course you cannot have the same performance of Assembly in a game made using Scorpion, but, in my case, for example, I'd NEVER be able to make a game in Assembler, but I did something using Scorpion, the game Operation SteelRain, all alone, all by myself with very few knowledge.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, The game is still in development, but now I have a real programmer.
So, IMHO opinion, it was the CORRECT approach, specially if you are not a coder.
Am I the only person this crashes on the title screen for? :(
ReplyDelete