Sonic Black & White

By TheInvisibleSun
Category Retro

Sonic Black & White is a ROM hack of Sonic the Hedghog that features new palette, audio, zone layout and special stage modifications, in addition to new gameplay mechanics.

Story:

Once again, Eggman is up to his dastardly schemes and has absorbed all color from South Island to power his fortress. Imbued with the residual essence of the island, collecting rings will temporarily restore each area, but Sonic must also collect the chaos emeralds to permanently return the island to its normal self.

Gameplay:

The name of the game is simple: Collect Rings! In each stage, collecting rings will gradually restore the proper color and sound to the vicinity. Collect as many as you can!

Scattered around the Eggman's base (the hub area) are a selection of 6 acts to choose from, accessed via Giant Ring portals (once in one, press A to enter the stage, and B to cancel)

To get to Eggman's Machine, Sonic must collect the 6 chaos emeralds; the Giant Ring portals are located in the upper area of the hub, and can only be accessed by clearing acts with at least 64 rings (An "S Zone" token will appear at the start of the hub is done successfully). After obtaining all 6 emeralds, the teleporter on the far right side of the HUB will be accessible.

Features:

This release includes:

  • A hub stage that marks your progress
  • 7 playable acts
  • A brand new special stage style, with new music. Get Yellow Rings!

Planned Features:

  • New Act layouts (many of the acts are placeholders for now)
  • New Bosses
  • Modified/Improved HUD Elements

Known Bugs:

  • Occasionally, the invincibility music breaks the level bgm (said monitors are thus removed for the contest release)
  • The special stage music has a small looping error with one of the instruments
  • Marble Zone's bgm doesn't quite return to normal as it should; not sure why...
  • Getting hit with a shield occasionally affects the palette a bit in some instances.
  • The Good Ending loads rings and other objects rather than the animals for some reason.
  • There are some graphical issues during some level/special stage transitions, due to modified palette fade routines.

Thanks for Playing!

Credits:

  • Gardeguey - The PalLoad_Loop subroutine
  • King of Harts - Sonic Triad, new palette fade routines.
  • MainMemory - SonLVL
  • Oerg - That rather large instrument pack you released forever ago
  • ValleyBell
  • Vladikcomper
  • snkenjoi - Flex 2
Gallery
Download

File Type: rom/mega-drive

File Size: 406.92 KB

TheInvisibleSun @ 2020-10-02 18:00:57

Hey Everyone!

There are a few more things to mention about the demo:

Firstly, I forgot to credit MarkeyJester, for some help with a special stage issue a while back; thanks again!

Last modified by TheInvisibleSun @ 2020-10-21 16:54:07

 
TheInvisibleSun @ 2020-10-21 16:57:21

Secondly, there are a couple of known bugs I forgot to mention:

Special Stage 3 has one of Eggman's diabolical traps a possible soft lock after the 'GET 60 RINGS' sign, due to an object placement/collision error. I thought I had corrected it, but it is still possible to get stuck in the corner between the bumper and the far left wall.

There is another diffictult-to-replicate diabolical trap in the intro level's first s-tunnel, due to a collision issue.

Watch out, Sonic!

Thanks again for playing!

Last modified by TheInvisibleSun @ 2020-10-21 16:57:36

 
Dima Cool @ 2020-10-26 07:10:09

Very interesting idea for hacking. The implementation is performed at an ideal level. Developer, you surprised me.

 
TheInvisibleSun @ 2020-10-26 21:40:08

Thanks for the comment, and thanks for playing!

 
Jdpense @ 2020-10-26 19:00:05

I really like the idea, and I love the presentation with the titlescreen and cutscenes, but I feel that the black and white palettes with the FG & BG kinda blend into each other a little too much imo. I also felt it was too hard to see anything in the Special Stages and akward to navigate through beacause the lack of contrast for the palettes. Also you forgot to disable the timer for the hub world again, unless if it was intentional =P

 
TheInvisibleSun @ 2020-10-26 21:38:38

Thanks for your comments! The palettes are a bit rough in some places, admittedly; I tried a new trick for the sake of efficiency (not using the other more 'visually balanced' greyscale palettes I already made). The special stages are intentionally that way, but I guess I could improve the visuals to help with the conveyance. Regarding the hub timer, I did genuinely forget to do that, but the area isn't that large, so hopefully it won't cause any issues for anyone. Thanks again for trying it out!