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| Sonic: The Lost Land |
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| CONTENTS |
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1. About this mod
2. Zone information
i. Green Glade
ii. Roman Ruins
iii. Spring Summit
iv. Sunken Shrine
v. Celestial City
vi. Egg Empire
vii. Final Fate
viii. Rotating Realm
3. Changes
4. FAQ
5. Credits
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| 1. About this mod |
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<Version 4>
Sonic: The Lost Land was officially started on May 19, 2004, but after a month of failures due to inexperience and fewer documents on Sonic 1, the project was scrapped, making way for its successor, Sonic: The Lost Land 2. However, due to restarting my PC from scratch, I have decided to return to hacking Sonic the Hedgehog for Mega Drive. Due to the kindness of various community members, I have been permitted to use some of their stuff. Now, you're about to witness the end result. Everyone who helped make this ROM possible is part of the Lost Land Team.
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| 2. ZONE INFORMATION |
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Sonic: The Lost Land is comprised of 7 levels, each filled with traps and badniks intent on bringing down Sonic once and for all. There is also a special realm consisting of 6 Chaos Emeralds. If you have collected at least 50 rings by the time you finish the level, you will see a giant ring. Jump into it to be taken to the secret realm. A dynamic palette system is set up, making each act load its own palette, as well as a dynamic music system, allowing each act to load its own music.
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| i. Green Glade |
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A tranquil hillside by a sparkling lake. Feel the grass under your feet as you run across the land. Loop-de-loops are fun, but don't land on the spikes! Ouch!
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| ii. Roman Ruins |
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Watch your step as you tackle the lava-filled ruins of an ancient civilization. Many traps are still active, so be careful.
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| iii. Spring Summit |
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Bounce around on springs and dodge the traps, as you dash through this lush mountain-side garden. Ride platforms to new heights, while taking great leaps of faith. Whee!
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| iv. Sunken Shrine |
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A mysterious labyrinth that has been flooded with water. You can only survive for a maximum of 30 seconds without air, so grab a bubble to replenish your oxygen. A countdown will let you know when you are about to drown.
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| v. Celestial City |
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A magnificent city in the sky, still undergoing construction. Bounce to great heights, ride the loop-de-loops and dodge the traps. Watch your step though, otherwise you may end up plummeting to your doom.
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| vi. Egg Empire |
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You've found Eggman's base. Problem is, how can you get to him? There are many traps and dangers that have been put in place to halt your progress. Eggman is in sight! But what's this? A barrier prevents you from reaching him. There must be another way to get to him.
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| vii. Final Fate |
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You've reached the final arena. Eggman is waiting for his chance to destroy you. Don't let him succeed. The future of the world is in your hands. Good luck!
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| viii. Rotating Realm |
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A special realm which is home to the sacred Chaos Emeralds. Only one with a pure heart can overcome the void's rotation and obtain the sacred gemstones. There are six parts to the realm, each containing a Chaos Emerald. Can you find them all?
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| 3. CHANGES |
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In this build of the ROM, many alterations have been made. They are:
* Effects ported from JP2 ROM (thanks to OrdosAlpha, jman, and drx)
* Centisecond timer (thanks to OrdosAlpha and StephenUK)
* Music edits (thanks to Tweaker and Puto)
* Each zone's act loads its own music (thanks to Puto)
* Some compressed art edits (thanks to JcFerggy, Eggfan, Yuski and KojiChao)
* Complete credit change
* Sonic Adventure style title cards (thanks to ThunderSpeed)
* LZ water animation edits (thanks to OrdosAlpha and StephenUK)
* Monitor effects - longer time given for invincibility and speed shoes, ring monitor now gives 5 instead of 10.
* New palettes - DYNAMICALLY LOADED! (thanks to Cinossu for the dynamic loading code)
* Modified GHZ layout (thanks to Hivebrain for Act 1 and 2)
* Slightly edited GHZ art (just made the trees match Sonic 2 Master System edition)
* Edited LZ art
* New zone names
* New text art
* Level select code edited (now uses the Japanese level select code - Up, Down, Down, Down, Left, Right, A+Start)
* Raised boss hit counts
* New Sonic sprites (based on the sprites Eggfan donated for Sonic: The Lost Land 2, remade for Sonic 1 by JcFerggy) *not in use at the moment*
* Mappings edit (thanks to Varion Icaria)
* High Speed Dash (Original code from puto, modified by me)
* Wall recoil (thanks to drx for getting the Sonic 2 Nick Arcade Prototype)
* Edited error messages (Now, if you get emulation errors, you'll receive a laugh... I hope =P)
* Extended title screen length (now the title theme plays fully before beginning demo mode)
* Selecting #80 from the Sound Test returns you to the "LOST LAND TEAM PRESENTS" screen
* Time stops after defeating Eggman, rather than when you open the prison capsule
If there's anymore that isn't on the list, well, I forgot. =P
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| 4. FAQ |
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Q1. Why is there different art for some objects?
A1. That's an easy question to answer. I simply edited the compressed art. A lot of it was donated by either JcFerggy, or Dr. Eggfan. I plan to change most of the compressed art in the game.
Q2. Are there any bugs I should be aware of?
A2. No game is bug free, so you will most likely find a few bugs that I didn't see. The only bug I can see so far is the palette at the end of the game, when Sonic jumps towards the screen. There's also a bug in Eggman's palette for FZ. Despite having fixed the art for Eggman, that one zone is still giving me problems.
Q3. What are your plans for this modification?
A3. Aside from porting the effects from the Japanese ROM (done), I also would like to intergrate a centisecond addon for the timer (done), and then make the timer run in reverse. I'd also like to enable SRAM, allow high speed dash to be used (done), voice changes for music (done), level select effects and other random things I can't be arsed to put down.
If you have any questions, or would like to report a bug or two, you can reach me at the SSRG Message Board, or via MSN Messenger. My MSN Messenger ID is shadowfire_2005@msn.com. I also use it as my email address. Please do not use this as an opportunity to spam or send hate mail or any shit like that, otherwise you'll only succeed in pissing me off, and that's not a good thing. =P
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| 5. CREDITS |
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Hivebrain: Allowing me to use his GHZ layout, and the release of the Sonic 1 Split Disassembly, which I use.
KojiChao: Taught me how to edit compressed art.
Dr. Eggfan: Inspiring me to modify Sonic ROMS in the first place.
OrdosAlpha: Constructive criticism, and some programming.
StephenUK: A hell of a lot of programming assistance.
ThunderSpeed: Use of Sonic Adventure style title cards, and other programming.
drx: Porting the spike "bug fix".
Tweaker: Sent me a pack of files with ready to port music files, which have been used in this modification.
Esrael: ESE, although it does tend to make things difficult, and the ESE Sound Importer BETA, though it is still a bit buggy.
Stealth: SonED/SonED2.
Chaos & Saxman: ChaoSaX-Pal, which I used a couple of times to copy palettes over.
Puto: A massive amount of programming assistance.
Varion Icaria: Creating mappings I needed for LZ pirahna replacement.
JcFerggy: Compressed art, which he has on his website.
The ROM Modification Community: Without it, how else could we make classic Sonic more enjoyable?
SGMC: Subdomain hosting for my site.
Sega/Sonic Team: For creating the best series ever.
Me (Shadow Fire): I am the mastermind behind Lost Land Team, after all. =P
If I missed anyone, I apologize. You obviously deserve credit too.