Sonic After the Sequel

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Sonic After the Sequel
Platform
Mode(s)Single-player

Sonic After the Sequel is a 2013

Chaos Emeralds from Doctor Eggman
.

After the Sequel was inspired by

fangames
, having been downloaded 120,000 times by March 2014.

Gameplay

A blue cartoon hedgehog stands on top of a stone building in an industrial complex with mountains of sugar in the background and sugar partially covering the surrounding building.
Sonic the Hedgehog stands on a platform in the first act of the second zone, Sugar Splash Zone.

Sonic After the Sequel is a 2D

boss fight with Doctor Eggman.[7] These zones are designed for fast-paced gameplay,[2] featuring typical Sonic obstacles such as bottomless pits and vertical loops.[3] The zones are based on various themes, including haunted houses,[8] cities,[9] magma caverns,[10] winter theme parks,[11] and sugar processing plants.[12]

The player collects

special stage, where they can collect rings for extra lives. The game also features power-ups throughout its zones,[5] which are activated with the "X" key:[4] these include typical Sonic power-ups such as shields and extra lives,[5] as well as new ones. The "Beam" power-up for Sonic and the "Mirror" power-up for Tails are borrowed from and credited to Nintendo's Kirby series.[13]

Plot

At the end of

Chaos Emeralds
. Sonic escapes and sets out with Tails to recover the Emeralds.

The two travel through more zones and fight Eggman at the end of each one. They follow Eggman to a forest, where he leads a massive

Mighty the Armadillo, they destroy his machinery and stop the operation. They continue through the forest and find ghosts that frighten Tails. Destroying one of Eggman's robots lets Sonic see its internal architecture, including a screen that shows Eggman's plans to create an empire and drop a floating island into the sea
.

In Parhelion Peak, the game's snow zone, Sonic and Tails notice a feather float down from the sky. They board another of Eggman's airships and complete another zone, whereupon they find another feather. They trace the feathers to Eggman's bird-like robot, which is guarding the Emeralds. Sonic retrieves the Emeralds and uses them to become

Super Sonic. He fights the robot as the game's final boss. After its defeat, Sonic and Tails fly aboard the Tornado once more—the segue into the events of Sonic the Hedgehog 3.[1]

Development and release

After the Sequel was created by Felipe Daneluz (known on the Internet as "LakeFeperd"), a student from

Sonic Chrono Adventure, between Sonic 3 and Sonic CD.[3]

After the Sequel's zones were inspired largely by those of

The music composition and recording were handled by underground musicians Falk Au Yeong, Funk Fiction, Andy Tunstall,[3] James Landino, DJ Max-E, Mr. Lange, and Li Xiao'an.[5] Daneluz had not made plans to incorporate original music until Falk approached him requesting collaboration on the game. Funk Fiction has claimed that the music spans more than twenty genres and was influenced by rock, jazz, disco, and trip hop and the soundtracks of game franchises like Sonic, Donkey Kong, and Kirby.[3] Due to the levels in After the Sequel generally taking longer to complete than those in Before the Sequel, the music tracks are longer, estimated by Falk as ranging from one minute and 45 seconds to three minutes.[21]

In August 2017, Daneluz re-released the game as Sonic After the Sequel DX. This version features improved physics, the addition of the drop dash from Sonic Mania, and a new final boss.[22] Later in 2019, an unofficial remake called Sonic After the Sequel Omega was released by Compound Games. This version also introduces more improved physics and performance fixes, and retains the drop dash from Sonic After the Sequel DX. It has smoother animations, widescreen support, the restoration of the unused Sugar Splash boss, upgraded menus, and "upgraded bosses". These "upgraded bosses" have received complaints due to their difficulty. This remake has been released on SFGHQ and Game Jolt.[23][24]

Reception

After the Sequel has received positive coverage for its revitalization of retro Sonic gameplay. Tony Ponce of

Nintendo Life writer Damien McFerran also called the game "impressive".[27] The UK gaming staff for Red Bull's website stated that, despite Sega's continual releases of Sonic games, "few have quite recaptured the thrill of blazing through a 2D labyrinth at lightspeed in the way that fan made Sonic After The Sequel has."[2] A second Red Bull article, by author Ben Sillis, exclaimed that "you have to play" it.[3]

The game's music has been particularly well received. Ponce called it "the best music ever" and "simply indescribable", opining that it raised an already high-quality product "to god tier".[25] Ponce wrote an article dedicated to the game's music two days later, clarifying that it equals or surpasses the quality of any other Sonic game's soundtrack.[28] The more reserved Polson claimed that the music "definitely rocks" and is clearer than that of Genesis games.[26] Similarly, the Red Bull staff called the music "absolutely stunning", likening it to gaming soundtracks of the early 1990s.[2] For McFerran, the soundtrack was "just as noteworthy" as the rest of the game.[27]

The game is available as a free download for

Windows personal computers.[2] As of March 2014, the trilogy had been downloaded 120,000 times—an unusually high number for fangames—as compared to the 640,000 copies of the official game Sonic Lost World (also released in 2013) sold on the Wii U by the same time.[3]

Notes

  1. ^ GameRankings scores of titles released in 2006:

References

  1. ^ a b c d Neltz, András (June 20, 2013). "There's a New Sonic Out on PC. It's a Fangame and It Looks Amazing". Kotaku. Archived from the original on April 19, 2014. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d e Red Bull UK (August 30, 2013). "Extra life: The amazing fan-made game revivals". Red Bull. Archived from the original on December 12, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Sillis, Ben (March 19, 2014). "The fan made Sonic trilogy you have to play". Red Bull. Archived from the original on May 6, 2014. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
  4. ^ a b LakeFeperd (June 15, 2013). Sonic After the Sequel. Instructions: Arrows: Move / Z: Jump / X: Special
  5. ^ a b c d LakeFeperd (June 15, 2013). Sonic After the Sequel.
  6. ^ LakeFeperd (June 15, 2013). Sonic After the Sequel. Credits: Music: Special Stages: 1: Falk; 2: Falk; 3: Falk; 4: Mr Lange; 5: Mr Lange; 6: Funk Fiction; 7: KgZ + and Y singing roflrofl
  7. ^ LakeFeperd (June 15, 2013). Sonic After the Sequel. Credits: Act 1: Falk; Act 2: Funk Fiction; Act 3: KgZ; Boss: Falk
  8. ^ a b LakeFeperd (June 15, 2013). Sonic After the Sequel. Credits: Moon Mansion Zone: Inspired by the Haunted Levels in Sonic Heroes, well actually a lot of the levels in this game were inspired by Sonic Heroes' levels °-°
  9. ^ a b LakeFeperd (June 15, 2013). Sonic After the Sequel. Credits: Cyan City Zone: It was originally inspired by Sonic Heroes and Riders' city stages, along with some elements seen around where I live
  10. ^ a b LakeFeperd (June 15, 2013). Sonic After the Sequel. Credits: RedHot Ride Zone: It really looks like Rocky Ride from Before the Sequel, right? But actually, a lot of ideas for this level came from Donkey Kong Country 2. There is also a level in that game with the same name. Also, the lava section was NOT inspired by Super Metroid.
  11. ^ a b LakeFeperd (June 15, 2013). Sonic After the Sequel. Credits: Parhelion Peak Zone: It was planned since the beginning, but the whole overall concept of the zone came from the song Combat Night Zone by MaxieDaMan.
  12. ^ a b LakeFeperd (June 15, 2013). Sonic After the Sequel. Credits: Sugar Splash Zone: Originally came from just a simple concept: what if Sonic was high on sugar, in a sugar factory!
  13. ^ LakeFeperd (June 15, 2013). Sonic After the Sequel. Credits: Kirby Power-ups: Nintendo
  14. ^ Sonic Team (November 24, 1992). Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Level/area: Ending sequence.
  15. ^ "Sonic Riders for PC". GameRankings. Archived from the original on October 13, 2012. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  16. ^ "Sonic Riders for GameCube". GameRankings. Archived from the original on April 30, 2012. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  17. ^ "Sonic the Hedgehog for PS3". GameRankings. Archived from the original on May 3, 2012. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  18. ^ "Sonic the Hedgehog for Xbox 360". GameRankings. Archived from the original on May 3, 2012. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  19. ^ "Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis for GBA". GameRankings. Archived from the original on December 20, 2011. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  20. ^ "Sonic Rivals for PSP". GameRankings. Archived from the original on January 7, 2012. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
  21. ^ a b c Balzani, Louis (interview with LakeFeperd) (August 9, 2012). "SAGE 2012: Sonic Before (and After) the Sequel". TSSZ News. Archived from the original on July 27, 2015. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  22. ^ "Sonic After the Sequel DX - Sonic and Sega Retro Message Board". Sonic Retro. Archived from the original on October 13, 2017. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
  23. ^ "Sonic After The Sequel Ω". Sonic Fan Games HQ. 15 September 2019. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  24. ^ "Sonic: After the Sequel - Omega by CompoundGames". Game Jolt. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  25. ^ a b Ponce, Tony (July 8, 2013). "Sonic After the Sequel fan game has the BEST MUSIC EVER". Destructoid. Archived from the original on April 11, 2014. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
  26. ^
    IndieGames.com. Archived from the original
    on March 1, 2014. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
  27. ^ from the original on March 27, 2014. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
  28. ^ Ponce, Tony (July 10, 2013). "Listen to the AMAZING Sonic After the Sequel OST". Destructoid. Archived from the original on October 23, 2015. Retrieved May 11, 2014.

External links