The Twenty-Seven Year Old Fangame
+20/02/2025
++ I'm transgender, I'm autistic, and I was born in the early 90s. + Naturally, this means I have formed a lifelong attachment to + Sonic the Hedgehog. +
++ It started with Sonic 2 on the Mega Drive, which I played + basically all the time. My dad had written down the cheat codes + for level select, debug and all emeralds in the back of the + manual, and I spent tens if not hundreds of hours messing with + the object placement mode. My first experience getting in the + guts of a computer, even if it was in a relatively safe way. +
++ I was lucky enough to get a Gamecube at launch in May 2002, with + Sonic Adventure 2. You could probably really pinpoint that as + the end for me. Sonic Adventure 2 was so cool. It still + is cool, despite being (in the cold, modern light of day) + really only about 1/5th good game and 4/5ths shite. +
++ But it's a game that feels cohesive. It builds up a strange + world through the action stages, the Chao garden, the + multiplayer stages... it feels like a whole. It's unsurprising + that it too sucked me in, as it did many many others. +
++ I continued playing different Sonic games throughout my + childhood and, still, into adulthood. One of my fave games of + last year was Shadow Generations, for god's sake. It's the most + uneven series I still stick with, but it's hard to quit Sonic. +
++ Sometime in my teenage years, around when I was 12 or 13, I + started digging into Sonic fangames. I played the demo of the + very first version of the Retro Engine, which would eventually + by used by its creator, Christian Whitehead (among others) to + make Sonic Mania. I fooled around with romhacks a lot. I spent a + lot of time browsing Sonic Retro and Sonic Cult (deep cut!), + digging through all sorts of info about sonic betas, And also + learning what the words 'hentai doujinshi' meant. Some of my + first porn was Sonic art. Probably explains Why I'm Like This. + That page is on the internat archive, if you're curious. + Relive my sexual awakening with me. The warnings for Furry Bomb + said to only download if I promised I wasn't a minor, which I + dutifully ignored. Wonder if I can get a copy of one of these + from Mandarake one day. + #5 was my + favourite. +
++ ANYWAY, I DIGRESS. What were we talking about? Fangames, right? + OK so yeah, Sonic has had a fantastic fangame scene basically + from its inception, right to the present day. I look forward to + SAGE every year, an event that started in humble sonic hack + beginnings and is now a celebration of hacks, fangames and + original indie titles inspired by Sonic. I usually tweet about + some of the games I sample, so look out for that in June. +
++ But when it comes to fangames, there's one that really stands + out, above all others. It's older than most of them. It's + definitely been in development longest. +
+It's Sonic Robo Blast 2.
+ +
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+ + SRB2 is, flatly, bananas. It's a 3D Sonic game that + predates Sonic Adventure. (Technically. SRB2 started off + as a 2D fangame in early 1998, then moved to 3D engine in 1999. + So it didn't beat Sonic Adventure to the 3D punch really, but it + was damn close.) It's built on a fork of the Doom engine, with + slopes and room-over-room (something that is still rare in + modern doom source ports!) as well as more conventional + platformer mechanics. It has its own interpretation of how Sonic + should feel in 3D, heavily inspired by the physics and + momentum-based structure of the 2D games. The cornerstones of + how SRB2 feels to play have gone on to influence countless other + 3D Sonic fangames. +
++ I started playing it in the 'Final Demo' era, which despite the + name was not in fact the final demo before its full release. In + fact, SRB2 is still not finished. it's now at version 2.2, with + 6/8 zones done. Which I guess sounds like it's taking forever, + but it should be noted that SRB2 isn't just an ordinary + singleplayer fangame. It's actually chock full of an insane + amount of features. At current blush: +
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- + Singleplayer campaign with 6 complete zones, one incomplete + zone, and one final boss zone. + +
- 6 playable characters, each with unique movesets. +
- 5 Bonus single-act zones. +
- + 8 singleplayer Special Stages - implemented as a full + recreation of NiGHTS into Dreams (!) + +
- 7 multiplayer blue-sphere-esque Special Stages +
- 4 NiGHTS bonus stages +
- + An entire Doom-inspired FPS multiplayer mode with CTF, + and Deathmatch gamemodes, with 37 maps. + +
- + 1 bonus level that utilises a special 'Mario Mode,' that + emulates Mario-style gameplay. + +
- + 1 special legacy zone that serves as a playable museum of the + 'final demo' version of the game. + +
That's a lot of game for the low low price of free!
++ Playing this game on and off for years, it's amazing to see both + how the game's grown, but also how it feels so similar to the + game I played at 13 or whatever. I have no doubt since the + 'final demo' that the physics have been tweaked and rewritten + multiple times, but the coolest thing about SRB2 is playing it + now, it feels how I remember, unlike, say, Sonic Adventure. The + hazy, rose-tinted specs of youth make you forgive a lot of sins + in games, so it's really neat that SRB2 manages to feel great + while not betraying how you remember it being. +
+BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!
++ Because SRB2 is built on Doom, it itself is extremely moddable. + And, like Sonic, the community around SRB2 has been extremely + active since day 1. There's a veritable bonanza of custom maps + and characters, with bespoke art and movesets and even brand new + mechanics to support them. As a kid I dove deep into this, + having fun with tens of weird different characters from all + across the Sonic canon and beyond. Now I'm revisiting, I've only + touched one (a fantastic Modern Sonic implementation) but god, + what depth. +
+BUT THAT'S STILL NOT ALL!
++ SRB2 has itself spawned some fabulous total conversion mods, the + most well-known of which is SRB2 Kart, and its sequel, DR. + ROBOTNIK'S RING RACERS! +
+ +
+
+ + That's right baby, I bamboozled you again! This entire blog post + was here to advertise DR ROBOTNIK'S RING RACERS to you! Ring + Racers is a highly technical kart racer, that (in my humble + opinion) unseats Mario, the king of karts, with absolute ease. + Over 230 tracks! 63 characters! 22 power ups! A Smash Bros style + unlock wall (fantastic to see this mechanic outside of a Sakurai + game!) Battle mode! Boss battles!? +
++ Ring Racers really feels like it took the precedent set for + exceeding expectation by SRB2, looked at it, and went "yeah, + that's small fry. Here's how you actually do it." +
++ And fuckin' fair play to 'em! I love Ring Racers, I think + it's fantastic. Driving is a joy in it, the drifting is absolute + perfection and the ring management mechanic is sublime. + Basically you collect rings on the track, up to a maximum of 20. + Getting hit loses rings, like in a regular Sonic game, but you + can also use them one-by-one to get a momentary boost of speed. +
++ Driving is momentum-based - it's hard to build speed, and the + whole aim of the game is maintaining it. And that's pretty damn + tricky! And with that in mind, maybe you hold on to your rings + while you're ahead in case you scupper a corner and need to + spend them to bring yourself back up to pace later! +
++ This turns every race into a fine balancing act. It pushes you + to learn the track layouts and learn them well, evaluating where + you can use rings, when you're gonna get more, whether you + should diverge from the main route to go down a side road and + grab a powerful item. Each track has multiple routes through it, + like a classic 2D Sonic level (and SRB2's levels too, of + course). Some are faster, some are slower, some are only + accessible with certain items. Every lap ends up different as a + result as you experiment. It's joyous. +
++ Then there's the trick system. The tutorial teaches you about + it, and then the game proceeds not to use it for around 8 cups. + But it's another element of this really elegant puzzle. Tricks + can only be done on specific ramps and stage elements, and if + performed correctly give a momentum boost in a specific + direction. This can lead to new routes, to boost pads, to + special secrets! +
++ It's a game that is packed to the gills with stuff, and + it's bloody lovely. +
++ So yeah. Play Ring Racers. It's available on all PC platforms, + with full controller support. The tutorial is famously long + (around 40 minutes NO IT'S OK COME BACK) but it's worth + persevering through, I promise. PLAY IT I LOVE IT!! +
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