Sonic 1: The Super Challenges, as said by the name, is a hack focused entirely around Super and Hyper forms of the Sonic characters (specifically Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy). You lose rings faster as you proceed through with this hack, so make sure to be aware of your ring counter. There are leaderboards, alternative soundtracks, lots of super music options, game modes, and so much more.

Want the full details? Check out the complete information on the Sonic Retro wiki page: https://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_1:_The_Super_Challenges

This is a new update of Super Challenges, which introduces a lot of changes compared to the first demo released at the start of the year. The section below will discuss what's been changed compared to the first demo.

Introducing two brand new gamemodes!

• Clock Dash - The Time Trials mode of this hack; you can compete against yourself (or anyone in the same room or Parsec session as you) for the best times on certain levels.
• Randomised Dash - You start with 500 rings, and all monitor items and levels are randomised. You also have alternative palettes for your viewing pleasure. It also has a zone completion counter

New difficulty option:

For those looking for a real super challenge, you can now select between two difficulty options throughout each game mode:

• Normal Mode - What you’re used to, more generous with time and rings.
• Hard Mode - Less generous about your time, you start with fewer rings, and it increases how fast your rings drain over time.

Introducing Amy Rose!

And now for one of the biggest features of the project and one people have been waiting for, I know I certainly have, Amy Rose is a playable character in Sonic 1: Super Challenges. Her Super and Hyper forms feature modern abilities straight from Sonic Origins and Superstars, including the Hammer Dash for quick bursts of speed, Double Jump for enhanced platforming, and a smaller hitbox with reduced jump height that creates a unique gameplay experience compared to the other characters.

SEGA CD Mode 1 Support!

If the music tracks here don't fancy you and you wish you had the opportunity to pick and choose which tracks to listen to throughout your playthrough? Transform your playthrough with custom Redbook audio! The hack now supports playing your own Super music tracks directly from a CD throughout your entire run. Want to use your favourite Super Sonic themes from other games? Simply burn them to a disc and experience them in full CD quality! Check out the link in the comment below for complete instructions on setting up Mode 1 on certain emulators (or on the Everdrive Pro) and play your custom soundtracks!

New Leaderboard System!

Track the top 4 records across every game mode, showcasing the best time with the number of rings collected, character picked, and difficulty selected.

And that's not all, as there are some additional changes worth mentioning:

• New menu interface - featuring new artwork throughout the menus, giving the project its own identity
• Super music playlist - you can now pick your favourite Super tracks, and it will be organised into a randomised playlist
• New penalty system - originally, if you died once, the game would be over. But now, you can die.
• Alternative soundtrack - if you didn't pick any Super music and fancy listening to a new soundtrack instead of the stock Sonic 1 tracks, then this is the option for you
• A lot of bug fixes and optimisations - one of the goals of this project was to make the game as lagless as possible. One of these optimisations is a new system for object art compression (Moduled Kosinski Plus instead of Nemesis), which allows object art to be loaded much faster and with significantly less lag. Though one thing to mention is that not all lag will be eliminated, and there will still be traces of that here and there.
• Super Sonic sprites are complete - normal Sonic won't be making a cameo, no matter what sprites you pick, as he now has a fully completed sprite sheet.

A lot of things to highlight:

• Sound test only supports FM audio
• The UI isn't fully finalised and still has a couple of things that will eventually be replaced in a future build.
• Eggman will look pink after defeating the final boss.
• On a few playthroughs, the Super playlist for CD mode won't always randomise properly. Your mileage will vary, but at times, you could end up hearing the same track twice or thrice in a row.
• The credits screen does have a lot of misalignments here and there, but given it was a last-minute addition, I don't think it's something I'll lose sleep over. Just as long as people are being credited, then it's better than nothing lol
• If you get stuck on the right of SYZ1, you will be stuck there unless you spindash towards the left.
• If you die in the boss with CD music on, the boss music will still play after you respawn
• With CD mode on, after defeating a boss, the normal playlist will play, but the Super playlist will resume after
• Randomised Dash will start randomising its ring drain after beating two levels
• You will need to supply the Sega CD tracks yourself. Again, it is highly recommended to check out the instructions below!
• BlastEM users - Please make sure you load the Sega CD BIOS before booting up the ROM; otherwise, the emulator will warn you as such and close

One very important note that I think some people will recognise playing this project: I know speeding around as Super or Hyper in Sonic 1 levels wouldn't play well, but the challenge is trying to focus on getting the best record. That issue would be remedied should I ever get around to making Sonic 2: Super Challenges, which will be worked on in the foreseeable future (and once I take a long break from working on anything Super Challenges-related)

Other than that, I hope you enjoy the new update! Throughout my time in this community over the past six years, I've attempted to create a project that can be enjoyed by everyone and showcase my skills to the fullest. I believe this project marks the beginning of a journey.