[Sonic ROM Hack] Sonic: Back in Time - Bad Ending (Final Release)

A while ago, I've played the SHC2015 version of this hack. Though I was not a fan of its design, I was charmed by its style, and its gimmick of traversing the same level with tweaks.

And this version takes many steps back from that.

You'll notice that, in this version, each act is now self-contained, reverting back to Sonic 1's typical 3-act system. In addition, the sprites and the title cards have been changed in such a way that goes on to "Sonic 3-ify" the presentation. And absolutely NOT in a good way.

Sonic's sprites appear to be an attempt at a Sonic 3 styled Sonic 1 sheet, with pretty poor execution. Many sprites (some of which could've very well been the existing Sonic 3 sprites) have been hapazardly put together, giving a very awkward look.

The level design still suffers of the blandness of the original version, but now, without any gimmick carrying the gameplay, it fails to stand out, and distinguish itself from any other subpar Sonic level collection. A whole zone's worth of content even went missing across versions, most unfortunately.

The bosses are the same: either coked up versions of existing boss fights, or lesser versions of concepts I had seen before, even when I had first played the hack.

Shoutouts to that kickass final boss, which is a shame I couldn't showcase, because this is the bad ending playthrough. I like that there's an ending system, but I don't like that the way you get the good ending is by beating, on your first attempt, with zero rings, a nerve-wracking boss fight. Which is even more odd, considering that every other level in the game, and even the previous version, offer unlimited lives.

Played and recorded by ‪@giovannidotgen‬

Download link: https://sonicresearch.org/community/i...

Chapters:
00:00 - Beginning
00:56 - Dream Island
05:10 - Casino Street
09:55 - Mysterious Ruins
13:29 - Night City
17:37 - Final
17:51 - Credits
18:46 - BUT IS IT?