It's crazy that Dreamcast games had dlc even though it was limited but the console generation up until 2005 didn't have any. Shows how far ahead the Dreamcast was in some areas. The Xbox was actually influenced a lot by Dreamcasts online connectivity
U are 100% right mate the dc was crazy ahead of its time. I did another video on a game called planet ring that was one of the first online only games ever and it was made by sega for the dreamcast and features real time voice chat, if that interests you
@@TheReZisTLustif you mean like it read the memory card, then Ratchet and Clank GC and UYA on PS2 did that too, where you could get the weapons from previous games if you had bought them by reading the memory card. It was attempted firstly on the N64 with Banjo Kazooie's Swop N Shop too
So I've heard, the DLC packs also include higher-resolution global illumination maps. Also, as a fun fact, many of the Adventure Pack stages are based on abandoned chunks of the base game's levels that otherwise only exist out-of-bounds in their incomplete states. One such area is the Jungle Joyride water puzzle, which is located unused on the other side of a permanently-sealed door behind the Goal Ring in act 1. This scrapped instance of the puzzle, though, is a bit incomplete - while the platforms and the death plane do indeed rise as intended, the visual water does not.
Huh, that is some really interesting info. The global illumination thing I can deffo see. Some of those levels have incredible lighting. Some stuff even had me suprised for sonic unleashed standards, which already had pretty impressive lighting for the time. Dragon Road Night Act 3 especially sticks out to me. RUclips’s compression probably doesn’t do it justice but when I was playing through it on my OLED I was fully blown away. The stuff about the adventure pack stages tho I never knew, thanks for the info that’s really interesting 👍🏻
Thanks, though I won't take all the credit - I'm pretty much relaying stuff found on this neat website called "The Cutting Room Floor" which is all about unused stuff, version differences, and so on.
@@PhirePhlamebumping this, generally TCRF has important content on any game you want so I really suggest searching up your favorite game and seeing whatever secrets and facts you want
The entirety of Arid Sands act 2 night is also leftover in the final game, behind a door by the goal ring that the player can’t normally open (though they still can with some clipping)
They didn't make DLC levels for Eggmanland which honestly I'm glad since the long level itself plays like a remix stage in itself and having one will be a bigger nightmare to beat if you can imagine the horror of it.
I liked the experimental design of these DLC stages -- even if they weren't all winners, I like being able to feel how the designers were just having fun trying to use the game's mechanics in interesting ways. I'll be honest, this is kinda the way I'd like more games to approach the idea of DLC. Something wacky that looks at things from a new angle and gives players challenges they wouldn't expect within the restrictions of how the game already works. Weirdly, I thought I'd played all of the "new" levels but I'm seeing some stuff here I definitely don't recognize. If my 360 wasn't in storage right now I'd say it was time to go back and take another look. Maybe after the move.
I actually thought the Werehog DLC levels were fantastic, they felt like stages from the Wii version due to their short length. It baffles me that Lost World got more DLC than Generations to be honest. Must've been the budget or they simply didn't have any plans for DLC. Great video, brought back some memories
My kid i me will never forgive SEGA for adding nothing else to Generations post launch. Felt like I learned the definition of wasted potential that time.
@@snakey888how?? Ya know Cyber Space? Imagine if 12 years ago, we got stages from SA2 and Unleashed. Radical Highway, Green Forest, Savannah Citadel.. I don’t see how Gens DLC would’ve disappointed.
@@ViltrumiteIsRite99 Because it would most likely be additional acts to already existing zones, like green hill act 3, 4 and additional missions. Similar to Unleashed dlc.
The Unleashed DLC has some of my favourite boost levels in the series. I love how much they beat you down, it makes breezing through them feel so rewarding. (though I can definitely agree with your criticisms)
Tbh man there’s a lot of stuff there I really enjoy too. This video took a while to make but the script was finished a while back now, since then I have came back and replayed unleashed stages when I’ve got some time to kill and I’m surprised at how often I run through some dlc levels. Some of the stuff in there is really fun.
Fr I know the repeat dlc levels basically just add hazards galore, but some also add new shortcuts which especially makes the early levels more interesting and actually makes me prefer a few over the originals (windmill isle 2-2 no 🧢)
@@jackhumphries1087Bruh, never forget that one extra Dragon Road night stage. The one with the block you carry over balance beams. And then, I’m over here playing Mario Wonder, which is pretty damn comfy.
One thing that should be mentioned is the fact that Savannah Citadel Act 5 is actually a remixed version of the Egg Beetle arena, but as an actual level now
The arid sands chao level isnt actually the only "collect x chao" level in sonic unleashed, I distinctly recall an optional level in spagonia that had the same objective, though it was a 2d section played as something of a maze, rather than how the dlc level is played.
what's interesting is that all of these levels were probably part of the base game when the game was going to be two discs. once they decided to have only one disc, they separated all of the remaining levels into adventure packs, along with the HD resolution GI to save space
they mentioned all of this in the GDC presentation. you can easily find it on google, youtube doesn't allow me to send the link the unleashed prototype that got released 7 years ago also has just the first disc with dlc levels but quite a lot of data is missing, presumably stored in the second disc, i'd say that's also proof
It feels so good to come back to Sonic Unleashed. I honestly really enjoyed the DLC stages in the game especially the nighttime levels. While I really don't like a few daytime DLC levels like Apotos act 4 etc, I thought most of the daytime stages were pretty solid. Btw, the werehog scream at the start was so unexpected but hilarious lol.
I never liked the werehog levels until the Rooftop Run DLC stages. The platforming showed me how great the night levels could be and made me wish the original levels had emphasized platforming more than combat.
Sonic unleashed is the only and first sonic game I’ve ever played and for me this is THE sonic game, it was so difficult for 10 yr old me but I enjoyed EVERY moment of it, ESPECIALLY the night levels, the combos just looked and felt great to do, plus the stretchy hands and no super speed was a nice change of pace
I remember ExoParadigmGamer not only attempt to complete the DLC stages but do them with an S rank. Any sane man would have just completed them and call it a day, but that man damn near drove himself insane trying to S rank these. He mentioned throwing in the towel multiple time for how bs some of these stages get, making people wonder why he didn't just give up. Until he quoted James Rolf with, "Cus' you're angry, and you want to win."
more sonic unleashed content from lemon is always welcome on my youtube recommended (i got the sonic autism and not the being good at math or science autism)
since i’m not seeing anyone mention this. The speed of the quick time event on the werehog enemies depends on their health son even when B shows u gotta bring down the health more so the time window is much longer this applies to vanilla unleashed too
Yeah I am aware, probs could’ve used better clips to illustrate my point in hindsight. I know the timing changes based on health, the overall window to press the button tho I still feel has been shortened significantly from the base game
@@_lemon52 Aside from their HP, the timing also depend on your upgrades too, that's why they're just gone in a blink. Since the DLC enemies are way higher leveled than the base game ones, the QTE's might feel like they're shortened too.
that chao stage kinda reminding me of the treasure hunter stages from the adventure games or some of the chaotix levels from Heroes. One of the level designers must have been feeling nostalgic.
I just think that sort of level progression would have worked far better as a Night Stage, where exploration flows better. It feels very awkward as a Day Stage.
One thing to note is some night levels (to be specific dragon road act 1-2, arid sands act 2, skyscraper scramper act 2 and jungle joyride act 3) are reworked levels from unused areas from the main levels, wich at one point would have been a part from these levels with endings that fits those levels ALOT more than they are now (example: you can literally see the dark gaia phoenix boss area in dragon road act 1-2 at the end) but you can still access those arean in some ways, either in the main level or in side quest mission levels. You probably would had a slightly better time in levels like windmill isle act 1-3 with maxed out werehog since i can tell they are made for maxed out werehog other than that, i really like those DLCs, with the sonic 06 dlcs some of my favourite extra content in sonic games because of the extrem difficulty they have but i still dislike levels like cool edge act 1-2 and 2-2 day
@@tikprpro03Colours Ultimate didn't do that despite that game's levels being similarly chopped up, and they went as far as to remove the restored music loops from CD in Origins, so no, as Sonic Team only rerelease the games as they actually came out.
BTW, the names for the Eggman robots in the automated sections are the Aerochasers (golden laser-firing robots) and Interceptor (the big Turquoise enemy that chases Sonic from behind).
i knew the unleashed dlc day stages are basically kaizo design, rising the difficulty to the level of eggman land since you're expected to beat the original game mario lost levels style. but that second night stage is legitimately so trolly, i actually burst out laughing when i saw that open door forcefield to reveal a miniboss, after the ordeal you already went through with that force field wall which again looks more fitting in a kaizo mod. no wonder why the dlc was so cheap tbh.
I never understood why people considered The Final Horizon to be be the hardest/most frustrating thing in Sonic when both this and Eggmanland exist alongside the 06 DLC
I feintly remember playing random levels of this dlc back on the ps3 days and don’t get me wrong either i didn’t feel i was bad at playing this game i platinumed it twice especially doing eggmanlands annoying challenges playing the same long drawn out stage over n over without dying. But even as someone who was experienced like you i didn’t feel too attracted to these stages. I guess as a kid i liked the simple momentum based levels and when i noticed random spikes and bullsht placed all over the dam place it got annoying. I wasn’t the type to take it slow either so alot of it lost my interest entirely but i’m glad you made this bc i got to know what these stages look like and hearin someone elses take on these goofy levels
"QTEs become unusable" I have that issue with some of the normal level QTEs... unless I pause abuse. In which case I can still get them, even here. There are conditions where that's still a problem in the DLC for enemies, but only when trying to get them at the earliest opportunity. It gets easier the more damage you do. As to why I insist on going that route? More points, and I want the S Ranks. ALL the S Ranks. Base game and Apotos are cleared, and I'm working on Spagonia Day stages.
Unleashed was originally meant to be a 2 disc game, one for the shaders and lighting with the second being the game itself. The DLC stages are using the remains of that lighting tech they had to compress.
I think the reason the enemies in the DLC were buffed was because they expected the player to be near max level after replaying levels over and over again while expecting each DLC to come out. I understand why the boost stages felt cheap, but memorizing level layouts was still fun, especially after playing the base stages for so long. This video ironically made me want to revisit these stages
Tbh while on a first time playthrough for this video I felt frustrated a lot at times, I’ve found myself going back to unleashed and replaying the day stages to learn the stages and get an S rank, so you are right haha.
Fuck me, i always forget how god damn gorgeous unleashed is until im seeing it again. This is an xbox 360 game and i constantly forget that fact because its just so fucking beautiful. God i should definitely come back to it agajn
Honestly this seems really fn and just a good challenge based on the gameplay in the base game. I may not really agree with much of what was said here but it elates me to see coverage of this dlc and I’ll be sure to try it out myself
As someone who has fully S-ranked the day stages, I will say that they were really fun to learn and execute. While a bit on the cheap side (dragon road 2-2 im looking at you), it was still satisfying to finally finish the stage with the s-rank, no matter how cheap it was.
Knowing Sega, we’ll see an official Sonic Unleashed remaster with these DLC levels included. And make you do stupid trophies related to them. Question is; would they be available after completing their corresponding base game levels, unlocks after getting all S ranks in the base game levels or after beating the main campaign?
This was a great video, very comprehensive dive on such a niche part of unleashed! Earned another sub. I'm actually playing through the DLC myself recently for the first time, since I didn't realize it was a thing until long after they came out. I agree with your assessment, the day levels range from being actually fair and fun challenges to just...frustrating "fuck you, game" type of stages that are a chore to go through. Unleashed's...slightly janky controls also doesn't help either. The night levels on the other hand I'm actually enjoying wayyyy more on average. I like how they have a good mix of platforming challenges (that push concepts the originals had even further) and tough combat encounters that really make you use everything in your kit to get through them (I don't recall ever having to actually shield or evade in the original night levels lol). I enjoy them a bit more than a decent amount of the day stages since they rely more on actual challenge instead of "here's 20 spike traps/bombs that you have no time to react to". Though the day stages that were a tough but more fair challenge were super enjoyable. Makes me wonder if we'll ever get a sonic-adventure style game that takes the boost formula of the day stages and combines it with the slower combat and platform focus of the night stages (like with Knuckles instead of the werehog)
Thanks man glad u enjoyed. Interesting to see you recently have played through the dlc as well and hear your thoughts. Overall would you say you think the dlc is worth it?
@@_lemon52 Honestly, I'd think it's worth it, especially for the price that it was (the level of DLC for 12 bucks nowadays feels like a dream lol) I may be a biiiit biased since Unleashed is like one of my top 3 sonic games so I won't say no to more of it but I think you hit the nail on the head that it's *definitely* not for beginners but a fun challenge for those who've gone through it before. I'd say I enjoyed about ~70% of my time with it!
As a certified tryhard of the Werehog's gameplay, thank you. Because if I hadn't watched this video I probably wouldn't know about these DLCs that have insanely hard night stages (which is what I've been looking for, an actual challenge)
Unleashed was the game that got me back into Sonic. I was so far out of the loop I didn't even know 06 existed. I saw Unleashed at a buddy's house and asked if I could borrow it.
@@_lemon52 I just saw Sonic on the front and at the time the last Sonic game I remember even existing was 3&K. I mean figured there was one for the Dreamcast, but never cared to confirm or deny my suspicion because I never owned a Dreamcast. So in my head Sonic jumped straight from 3&K to Unleashed.
It’s definitely additional content but I wouldn’t class it as DLC as that’s downloadable content that’s downloaded over an internet connection. Definitely a pre curser to it tho
12:50 No wonder you got your ass kicked. You're supposed to attack the Dark Master first to even the odds . Then few seconds after that, at 13:05 Big Mother was on half health when you did a finisher. You get more time on quick time event when they're low on health
Yeah I should’ve gone for the dark masters. I could’ve used better clips to illustrate my point about the qte timings. I know you get longer the lower their health is. I still feel that they’ve decreased the attack window significantly from the base game overall tho
wtf i subscribed cuz of this vid and went to check your uploads and this is the first in a YEAR. you literally were so good I assumed you had like 100k subs and a consistent video schedule. This shit is PREMIUM. hope your personal life is ok too cuz you said some stuff at the end of your last video about that.
Thanks man appreciate the kind words. Had a lot of stuff happen in the past year, so was absent for a while. Things have calmed down tho, so I’m back fully and hoping to be on a better schedule with things. My style of videos take a while so there may be waits between uploads but nowhere near a year, there were some pretty different circumstances going on last year. Thanks for ur support!
As someone that played the shit of the DLC when it came out. Dragon Road 2D section was the hardest stage in my eyes. It took me hours to beat. Also I constantly play the hard version of Adabat because I like walking on the waterfall
I don't know if anyone said this but in windmill isle night first dlc level if you break the flower pots you get a lot of exp bars try it out you could replay it to get alot of exp for sonic
its interesting, because not a lot of people are aware sega means service games, hence why they were so ahead of the game with the concept of DLC and continue pushing out additional content for their games, especially with how frontiers got 3 waves of free content updates
That scream got me for a moment😂 But when i got a pa3 back then, i never knew sonic unleashed had a dlc, me and my sister thought it was part of the game, empire city and the other stages.😂
Did they not have the idea of putting the werehog in running levels? Like I know he can't technically run faster but It would have been a good change of pace
Great video! Been subbed to you since you first two videos back in 2020! Haven't been recommended or notified of one of your videos for like three years, weird how it took so long.
I know my comment is a bit late but you mentioned in your video that there are no images of certain prizes for the reebok challenge. If you watch Badnik Mechanic’s video on the challenge he showcases images of those certain prizes, just thought I’d mention it.
I'm gonna have to disagree on your take of Windmill Isle Night Act 1-3. This level got a lot of replays out of me. I had bought the DLC partway through the game and when I felt like it I'd travel back to previous contintents to try out the extra levels. Like what happened to you, I got my ass kicked by WIN 1-3. What I found was this ended up being a fantastic level for forcing you to learn the ins and outs of the Werehog combat. I was soon able to optimize play so to get through as fast as I could with the moveset available to me. My reward at the end when I finally beat it was a shit ton of experience points that I was able to use to upgrade a lot at once. And with those additional upgrades, I was able to get through faster and faster until I maxed out the Hedgehog and Werehog stats. Things I learned / previously figured out and learned to optimize: - The best combos to use with a few enemies present - The best moves for dealing with bigger groups - moves that can be used without sacrificing mobility when running - the best way to utilize the QTE attack What I noticed in your gameplay is you kept going for the QTE as soon as it gave you the prompt. The QTE button flashed and then disappeared giving you no time to press it. This is because you're not supposed to do the QTE yet. What you want to do is whittle down the enemy's health and get it low. The lower the remaining health, the slower the QTE will be and the easier it will be to finish off the enemy. This applies to all enemies in the game, not just the mini bosses. TLDR Windmill Isle Night Act 1-3 makes you git gud and your reward is a bunch of exp for gitting gudder faster.
Yeah I’m aware, probs could’ve used a better clip to showcase what I’m talking about in hindsight. I know the QTE speed corresponds with the health, overall tho for the dlc I still feel like they made the window to press the button must smaller
Gonna have to agree actually. Unwiished felt pretty spot on. Gens was pretty good but i agree it was too tight. (We don’t talk about forces round here)
Sonic's drift mechanic is like in Mario Kart Wii's bikes term, Unleashed you drift like an outward bike, Unwiished you drive like a kart and Generations you drift like an inward bike.
Interestingly, in some countries like Brazil, the Holoska DLC is unavailable, unlike the others which are accessible. This forces people to change their Xbox region just to purchase it.
The first time I heard about these DLC were from a fail compilation I remember the level at 38:00 because the player would fall a lot because of the titan
Allow me (a game Desinger/indie developer) to provide how I would Improve the first DLCs second Night Level first of we make the Circular arena much larger and we start the player In the center in a small Circular arena thats been cut into a square with our first new Enemy The Black Nightmare Formed from Thoughts of Complete annihilation actualized by dark Gaias energy Amongst (lore for the enemies ro explain why the new enemies are so strong and with this we can slso give them new design's essentially and for essentially we are Making the darkness of the enemies a lot Deeper so instead of being transparent and diffusing their emmisive Components we instead make them darker to the point of obfuscating detail) with thow single enemy being a basic nightmare thats been elevated to boss levels of numbers so they see one and think okay but then upon hitting it they see it take virtually no damage to their health and this inspires terror in the player but they manage to beat it because it doesn't have any bs attack patterns as the first wall of the arena falls and another one spawns this the player Confidently defeats before we Drop the 2nd wall and introduce the second and third new enemies (the Black Rex (formed from strong feelings of abandonment (the small dog enemy but with boss damage (same health though) and black Bee (formed from the pain of rejection representing the sharp pain harsh words can cause)(the bee Enemies but even faster though only with the health of a basic nightmare) along with 1 Black nightmare Essentially the goal of this is to introduce every new enemy all the other DLCs use in a gradual not overwhelming way ending with a 1 on one fight with the black version of each of the standard bosses(mini boss type enemies ) before you get the goal ring
MY GOAT HAS RETURNED!😭✊🏾🏆
It's crazy that Dreamcast games had dlc even though it was limited but the console generation up until 2005 didn't have any. Shows how far ahead the Dreamcast was in some areas. The Xbox was actually influenced a lot by Dreamcasts online connectivity
U are 100% right mate the dc was crazy ahead of its time. I did another video on a game called planet ring that was one of the first online only games ever and it was made by sega for the dreamcast and features real time voice chat, if that interests you
It even had Cross Game rewards which is quite nuts back on the day
@@TheReZisTLust
How did they manage that if NFTs weren't available back then? 🤔
But seriously thats interesting to know.
@@TheReZisTLustif you mean like it read the memory card, then Ratchet and Clank GC and UYA on PS2 did that too, where you could get the weapons from previous games if you had bought them by reading the memory card. It was attempted firstly on the N64 with Banjo Kazooie's Swop N Shop too
@@Barra_97 they used tofu as routers
So I've heard, the DLC packs also include higher-resolution global illumination maps.
Also, as a fun fact, many of the Adventure Pack stages are based on abandoned chunks of the base game's levels that otherwise only exist out-of-bounds in their incomplete states. One such area is the Jungle Joyride water puzzle, which is located unused on the other side of a permanently-sealed door behind the Goal Ring in act 1. This scrapped instance of the puzzle, though, is a bit incomplete - while the platforms and the death plane do indeed rise as intended, the visual water does not.
Huh, that is some really interesting info. The global illumination thing I can deffo see. Some of those levels have incredible lighting. Some stuff even had me suprised for sonic unleashed standards, which already had pretty impressive lighting for the time. Dragon Road Night Act 3 especially sticks out to me. RUclips’s compression probably doesn’t do it justice but when I was playing through it on my OLED I was fully blown away. The stuff about the adventure pack stages tho I never knew, thanks for the info that’s really interesting 👍🏻
Thanks, though I won't take all the credit - I'm pretty much relaying stuff found on this neat website called "The Cutting Room Floor" which is all about unused stuff, version differences, and so on.
@@PhirePhlamebumping this, generally TCRF has important content on any game you want so I really suggest searching up your favorite game and seeing whatever secrets and facts you want
The entirety of Arid Sands act 2 night is also leftover in the final game, behind a door by the goal ring that the player can’t normally open (though they still can with some clipping)
@@PhirePhlame Tcrf is a goated cut content website
They didn't make DLC levels for Eggmanland which honestly I'm glad since the long level itself plays like a remix stage in itself and having one will be a bigger nightmare to beat if you can imagine the horror of it.
I liked the experimental design of these DLC stages -- even if they weren't all winners, I like being able to feel how the designers were just having fun trying to use the game's mechanics in interesting ways.
I'll be honest, this is kinda the way I'd like more games to approach the idea of DLC. Something wacky that looks at things from a new angle and gives players challenges they wouldn't expect within the restrictions of how the game already works.
Weirdly, I thought I'd played all of the "new" levels but I'm seeing some stuff here I definitely don't recognize. If my 360 wasn't in storage right now I'd say it was time to go back and take another look. Maybe after the move.
I actually thought the Werehog DLC levels were fantastic, they felt like stages from the Wii version due to their short length.
It baffles me that Lost World got more DLC than Generations to be honest. Must've been the budget or they simply didn't have any plans for DLC.
Great video, brought back some memories
Even worse they decided to make that kind of game after Colors and Generations.
Generations dlc would probably disappoint more than satisfy.
My kid i me will never forgive SEGA for adding nothing else to Generations post launch. Felt like I learned the definition of wasted potential that time.
@@snakey888how??
Ya know Cyber Space? Imagine if 12 years ago, we got stages from SA2 and Unleashed. Radical Highway, Green Forest, Savannah Citadel.. I don’t see how Gens DLC would’ve disappointed.
@@ViltrumiteIsRite99
Because it would most likely be additional acts to already existing zones, like green hill act 3, 4 and additional missions. Similar to Unleashed dlc.
The Unleashed DLC has some of my favourite boost levels in the series. I love how much they beat you down, it makes breezing through them feel so rewarding. (though I can definitely agree with your criticisms)
Tbh man there’s a lot of stuff there I really enjoy too. This video took a while to make but the script was finished a while back now, since then I have came back and replayed unleashed stages when I’ve got some time to kill and I’m surprised at how often I run through some dlc levels. Some of the stuff in there is really fun.
Fr I know the repeat dlc levels basically just add hazards galore, but some also add new shortcuts which especially makes the early levels more interesting and actually makes me prefer a few over the originals (windmill isle 2-2 no 🧢)
@@t-bone2145running on the waterfall on Jungle Joyride… iconic
I agree, I miss when video games weren’t afraid to kick your ass
@@jackhumphries1087Bruh, never forget that one extra Dragon Road night stage. The one with the block you carry over balance beams.
And then, I’m over here playing Mario Wonder, which is pretty damn comfy.
One thing that should be mentioned is the fact that Savannah Citadel Act 5 is actually a remixed version of the Egg Beetle arena, but as an actual level now
The arid sands chao level isnt actually the only "collect x chao" level in sonic unleashed, I distinctly recall an optional level in spagonia that had the same objective, though it was a 2d section played as something of a maze, rather than how the dlc level is played.
That is true.
Yep, Rooftop Run Act 2 in the base game.
what's interesting is that all of these levels were probably part of the base game when the game was going to be two discs. once they decided to have only one disc, they separated all of the remaining levels into adventure packs, along with the HD resolution GI to save space
Wow that’s interesting. Never knew the game was planned for two discs. Sonic unleashed really was an ambitious title
Where’d you get that info from?
@@ToonyTails I'd like to know too
they mentioned all of this in the GDC presentation. you can easily find it on google, youtube doesn't allow me to send the link
the unleashed prototype that got released 7 years ago also has just the first disc with dlc levels but quite a lot of data is missing, presumably stored in the second disc, i'd say that's also proof
@@blueskythlikesclouds ohhhh that's interesting I'll Google it
It feels so good to come back to Sonic Unleashed. I honestly really enjoyed the DLC stages in the game especially the nighttime levels. While I really don't like a few daytime DLC levels like Apotos act 4 etc, I thought most of the daytime stages were pretty solid. Btw, the werehog scream at the start was so unexpected but hilarious lol.
Hahaha cheers. Yeah while the stages are brutal I had a pretty fun time overall and there’s a lot of levels I would come back to.
I never liked the werehog levels until the Rooftop Run DLC stages. The platforming showed me how great the night levels could be and made me wish the original levels had emphasized platforming more than combat.
Sonic unleashed is the only and first sonic game I’ve ever played and for me this is THE sonic game, it was so difficult for 10 yr old me but I enjoyed EVERY moment of it, ESPECIALLY the night levels, the combos just looked and felt great to do, plus the stretchy hands and no super speed was a nice change of pace
I remember ExoParadigmGamer not only attempt to complete the DLC stages but do them with an S rank. Any sane man would have just completed them and call it a day, but that man damn near drove himself insane trying to S rank these. He mentioned throwing in the towel multiple time for how bs some of these stages get, making people wonder why he didn't just give up. Until he quoted James Rolf with, "Cus' you're angry, and you want to win."
DLC in a nutshell
Remixed stages: Hard for the wrong reasons.
New stages: Aye this is pretty lit
more sonic unleashed content from lemon is always welcome on my youtube recommended (i got the sonic autism and not the being good at math or science autism)
WE ALL GOT AUTISM DOWN THESE ENDS👊🏻🤙🏻😤
Its funny hearing his opinion slowly dwindle on the drift in the day levels.
I appreciate Sonic Frontiers for using some of the level design made for the Unleashed Adventure Packs for Cyberspace stages.
Wait, they did?
@@UltraSTH Enjoy the World is based in one of the Adventure Packs for Unleashed.
@@CanaldoZenny oh, no, that’s actually based on Rooftop Run Act 2, that’s one of the base game stages
since i’m not seeing anyone mention this. The speed of the quick time event on the werehog enemies depends on their health son even when B shows u gotta bring down the health more so the time window is much longer this applies to vanilla unleashed too
Yeah I am aware, probs could’ve used better clips to illustrate my point in hindsight. I know the timing changes based on health, the overall window to press the button tho I still feel has been shortened significantly from the base game
@@_lemon52 Aside from their HP, the timing also depend on your upgrades too, that's why they're just gone in a blink. Since the DLC enemies are way higher leveled than the base game ones, the QTE's might feel like they're shortened too.
This is just like the Sonic Frontiers DLC.
What's up with Sonic Team and their fondness for nightmarishly hard DLC in Sonic games?
that chao stage kinda reminding me of the treasure hunter stages from the adventure games or some of the chaotix levels from Heroes. One of the level designers must have been feeling nostalgic.
I just think that sort of level progression would have worked far better as a Night Stage, where exploration flows better. It feels very awkward as a Day Stage.
i mean, in sa2 they literally have a "find the lost chao" mission for all of the stages, so i think the unleashed one was inspired by that
One thing to note is some night levels (to be specific dragon road act 1-2, arid sands act 2, skyscraper scramper act 2 and jungle joyride act 3) are reworked levels from unused areas from the main levels, wich at one point would have been a part from these levels with endings that fits those levels ALOT more than they are now (example: you can literally see the dark gaia phoenix boss area in dragon road act 1-2 at the end) but you can still access those arean in some ways, either in the main level or in side quest mission levels.
You probably would had a slightly better time in levels like windmill isle act 1-3 with maxed out werehog since i can tell they are made for maxed out werehog other than that, i really like those DLCs, with the sonic 06 dlcs some of my favourite extra content in sonic games because of the extrem difficulty they have but i still dislike levels like cool edge act 1-2 and 2-2 day
If Sonic Unleashed got a remake, I wonder if they would try to recombine these DLC acts with their original counterparts like originally intended
@@tikprpro03Colours Ultimate didn't do that despite that game's levels being similarly chopped up, and they went as far as to remove the restored music loops from CD in Origins, so no, as Sonic Team only rerelease the games as they actually came out.
I tried forgetting the Unleashed DLC, but it’s impossible. I’ll never be able to forget the day that this DLC embarrassed me…
BTW, the names for the Eggman robots in the automated sections are the Aerochasers (golden laser-firing robots) and Interceptor (the big Turquoise enemy that chases Sonic from behind).
Neat, didn’t know that thanks for the info!
arid sands act 3 feels like it's a reference to sonic 3D Blast, but instead of looking for flickies you find chaos
i knew the unleashed dlc day stages are basically kaizo design, rising the difficulty to the level of eggman land since you're expected to beat the original game mario lost levels style.
but that second night stage is legitimately so trolly, i actually burst out laughing when i saw that open door forcefield to reveal a miniboss, after the ordeal you already went through with that force field wall which again looks more fitting in a kaizo mod.
no wonder why the dlc was so cheap tbh.
after the final horizon I could see Sega is still into making a brutal DLC
I never understood why people considered The Final Horizon to be be the hardest/most frustrating thing in Sonic when both this and Eggmanland exist alongside the 06 DLC
I feintly remember playing random levels of this dlc back on the ps3 days and don’t get me wrong either i didn’t feel i was bad at playing this game i platinumed it twice especially doing eggmanlands annoying challenges playing the same long drawn out stage over n over without dying. But even as someone who was experienced like you i didn’t feel too attracted to these stages. I guess as a kid i liked the simple momentum based levels and when i noticed random spikes and bullsht placed all over the dam place it got annoying. I wasn’t the type to take it slow either so alot of it lost my interest entirely but i’m glad you made this bc i got to know what these stages look like and hearin someone elses take on these goofy levels
Some of them are quite good to be honest. The worst offenders by far are the remix levels. Jsut very very cheap and poor level design
"QTEs become unusable"
I have that issue with some of the normal level QTEs... unless I pause abuse. In which case I can still get them, even here.
There are conditions where that's still a problem in the DLC for enemies, but only when trying to get them at the earliest opportunity. It gets easier the more damage you do.
As to why I insist on going that route? More points, and I want the S Ranks. ALL the S Ranks. Base game and Apotos are cleared, and I'm working on Spagonia Day stages.
The base game had a wealth of content, using the DLC to provide a specialized experience that not everyone may want is actually pretty smart.
Cool edge day 4 is one of my favourite stages in the game. It was so fun to boost off ramps and get that huge air
Unleashed was originally meant to be a 2 disc game, one for the shaders and lighting with the second being the game itself. The DLC stages are using the remains of that lighting tech they had to compress.
I think the reason the enemies in the DLC were buffed was because they expected the player to be near max level after replaying levels over and over again while expecting each DLC to come out.
I understand why the boost stages felt cheap, but memorizing level layouts was still fun, especially after playing the base stages for so long. This video ironically made me want to revisit these stages
Tbh while on a first time playthrough for this video I felt frustrated a lot at times, I’ve found myself going back to unleashed and replaying the day stages to learn the stages and get an S rank, so you are right haha.
Fuck me, i always forget how god damn gorgeous unleashed is until im seeing it again. This is an xbox 360 game and i constantly forget that fact because its just so fucking beautiful. God i should definitely come back to it agajn
100% the game holds up incredibly well
As much as I Love Sonic Unleashed, I have so many Mix Feelings about getting the DLC.
The drift works extremely well in these stages, it feels better than the really gross one in Generations and the automated one of Colors
Honestly this seems really fn and just a good challenge based on the gameplay in the base game. I may not really agree with much of what was said here but it elates me to see coverage of this dlc and I’ll be sure to try it out myself
As someone who has fully S-ranked the day stages, I will say that they were really fun to learn and execute. While a bit on the cheap side (dragon road 2-2 im looking at you), it was still satisfying to finally finish the stage with the s-rank, no matter how cheap it was.
WE ARE SO BACK
Remember kids, more health and more damage isn’t good design for harder enemies
Until seeing this video, I didn't even know Sonic Unleashed had dlc.
I don't get why everyone apparently wants to forget about it, I've never seen any mention of wanting to forget it at any point.
Knowing Sega, we’ll see an official Sonic Unleashed remaster with these DLC levels included. And make you do stupid trophies related to them.
Question is; would they be available after completing their corresponding base game levels, unlocks after getting all S ranks in the base game levels or after beating the main campaign?
Take a shot everytime the word cheap gets used
You like the word "emphasis"
I got all the dlc packs for Christmas and i gotta say these have been the most rewarding S ranks in any sonic game
I dont want to forget it. I love the Unleashed DLC
This was a great video, very comprehensive dive on such a niche part of unleashed! Earned another sub.
I'm actually playing through the DLC myself recently for the first time, since I didn't realize it was a thing until long after they came out. I agree with your assessment, the day levels range from being actually fair and fun challenges to just...frustrating "fuck you, game" type of stages that are a chore to go through. Unleashed's...slightly janky controls also doesn't help either. The night levels on the other hand I'm actually enjoying wayyyy more on average. I like how they have a good mix of platforming challenges (that push concepts the originals had even further) and tough combat encounters that really make you use everything in your kit to get through them (I don't recall ever having to actually shield or evade in the original night levels lol). I enjoy them a bit more than a decent amount of the day stages since they rely more on actual challenge instead of "here's 20 spike traps/bombs that you have no time to react to". Though the day stages that were a tough but more fair challenge were super enjoyable.
Makes me wonder if we'll ever get a sonic-adventure style game that takes the boost formula of the day stages and combines it with the slower combat and platform focus of the night stages (like with Knuckles instead of the werehog)
Thanks man glad u enjoyed. Interesting to see you recently have played through the dlc as well and hear your thoughts. Overall would you say you think the dlc is worth it?
@@_lemon52 Honestly, I'd think it's worth it, especially for the price that it was (the level of DLC for 12 bucks nowadays feels like a dream lol)
I may be a biiiit biased since Unleashed is like one of my top 3 sonic games so I won't say no to more of it but I think you hit the nail on the head that it's *definitely* not for beginners but a fun challenge for those who've gone through it before. I'd say I enjoyed about ~70% of my time with it!
Almost every game has dlc! Even o6
Unleashed DLC was the best part of the game. S-ranking those levels is incredibly satisfying. Too bad they don't make DLC as good as this anymore
As a certified tryhard of the Werehog's gameplay, thank you. Because if I hadn't watched this video I probably wouldn't know about these DLCs that have insanely hard night stages (which is what I've been looking for, an actual challenge)
I’m pretty sure there’s a bonus base game level in Rooftop Run that requires you to find chao
Ur correct I completely missed that when making this
Unleashed was the game that got me back into Sonic. I was so far out of the loop I didn't even know 06 existed. I saw Unleashed at a buddy's house and asked if I could borrow it.
I can see how it hooked you, it was a very early sonic game for me, definitely hooked me on the console
@@_lemon52 I just saw Sonic on the front and at the time the last Sonic game I remember even existing was 3&K. I mean figured there was one for the Dreamcast, but never cared to confirm or deny my suspicion because I never owned a Dreamcast. So in my head Sonic jumped straight from 3&K to Unleashed.
Technically you could consider sonic and knuckles a dlc to sonic 3, I'm not sure about it, but it is interesting to think about.
It’s definitely additional content but I wouldn’t class it as DLC as that’s downloadable content that’s downloaded over an internet connection. Definitely a pre curser to it tho
12:50
No wonder you got your ass kicked.
You're supposed to attack the Dark Master first to even the odds .
Then few seconds after that, at 13:05 Big Mother was on half health when you did a finisher.
You get more time on quick time event when they're low on health
Yeah I should’ve gone for the dark masters. I could’ve used better clips to illustrate my point about the qte timings. I know you get longer the lower their health is. I still feel that they’ve decreased the attack window significantly from the base game overall tho
wtf i subscribed cuz of this vid and went to check your uploads and this is the first in a YEAR.
you literally were so good I assumed you had like 100k subs and a consistent video schedule. This shit is PREMIUM. hope your personal life is ok too cuz you said some stuff at the end of your last video about that.
Thanks man appreciate the kind words. Had a lot of stuff happen in the past year, so was absent for a while. Things have calmed down tho, so I’m back fully and hoping to be on a better schedule with things. My style of videos take a while so there may be waits between uploads but nowhere near a year, there were some pretty different circumstances going on last year. Thanks for ur support!
@@_lemon52oh yeah bro, take all the time you need. Even if it takes another year, ill be there for the next vid. Quality over quantit
I love this game so much
The music transitions are so nostalgic😮💨
So the DLC stages just add kaizo elements....got it
Who are you, how did you get into my recommended and how do you have this high content quality with less than 10k subs?
He's him.
Hahahaha, Thankyou man I appreciate the kind words. The algorithm gods have seemed to be kind to me as of late🙏🏻
As someone that played the shit of the DLC when it came out. Dragon Road 2D section was the hardest stage in my eyes. It took me hours to beat.
Also I constantly play the hard version of Adabat because I like walking on the waterfall
I don't know if anyone said this but in windmill isle night first dlc level if you break the flower pots you get a lot of exp bars try it out you could replay it to get alot of exp for sonic
Kinda impossible to forget when it’s all over Xbox one X and Series X for me but I bought them on Xbox 360 that I still have.
Sega looked at the Advance Series and said "BET"
its interesting, because not a lot of people are aware sega means service games, hence why they were so ahead of the game with the concept of DLC and continue pushing out additional content for their games, especially with how frontiers got 3 waves of free content updates
Yea, they were one of the first to have dlc and games as a service with the sega channel as well
That scream got me for a moment😂
But when i got a pa3 back then, i never knew sonic unleashed had a dlc, me and my sister thought it was part of the game, empire city and the other stages.😂
Lemon
This might be one of my favourite Sonic videos to date.
Not only was the Content great, but the criticisms all were fair and made sense. :)
Thankyou man really appreciate that
Unleashed DLC is essentialy its hard mode, like harder mode
I always knew unleashed was heat 🔥 I played the ps2 version as well I can imagine the HD is just as good but I have nostalgia to the ps2 version 😂
15:42 for future refrence these are called directional cannons
Did they not have the idea of putting the werehog in running levels? Like I know he can't technically run faster but It would have been a good change of pace
I didn't have Xbox LIVE until 2010 so I completely missed this.
Great video! Been subbed to you since you first two videos back in 2020! Haven't been recommended or notified of one of your videos for like three years, weird how it took so long.
Thankyou man, you’re an og. I’ve been gone for like a year, had a lot go on in personal life but I am back now.
Didn't even know unleashed had dlc that's cool
Probbly because I got my version on the wii
Sonic Unleashed had DLC? I honestly never even noticed.
I know my comment is a bit late but you mentioned in your video that there are no images of certain prizes for the reebok challenge. If you watch Badnik Mechanic’s video on the challenge he showcases images of those certain prizes, just thought I’d mention it.
Oh really I’ll check that out, weird how I missed that I searched for ages and couldn’t find anything on it
@@_lemon52Glad I could help
I don't want to forget it
He's back
So, its Hollow Knights Godhome for Sonic Unleashed. Got it.
I'm gonna have to disagree on your take of Windmill Isle Night Act 1-3. This level got a lot of replays out of me. I had bought the DLC partway through the game and when I felt like it I'd travel back to previous contintents to try out the extra levels. Like what happened to you, I got my ass kicked by WIN 1-3. What I found was this ended up being a fantastic level for forcing you to learn the ins and outs of the Werehog combat. I was soon able to optimize play so to get through as fast as I could with the moveset available to me. My reward at the end when I finally beat it was a shit ton of experience points that I was able to use to upgrade a lot at once. And with those additional upgrades, I was able to get through faster and faster until I maxed out the Hedgehog and Werehog stats.
Things I learned / previously figured out and learned to optimize:
- The best combos to use with a few enemies present
- The best moves for dealing with bigger groups
- moves that can be used without sacrificing mobility when running
- the best way to utilize the QTE attack
What I noticed in your gameplay is you kept going for the QTE as soon as it gave you the prompt. The QTE button flashed and then disappeared giving you no time to press it. This is because you're not supposed to do the QTE yet. What you want to do is whittle down the enemy's health and get it low. The lower the remaining health, the slower the QTE will be and the easier it will be to finish off the enemy. This applies to all enemies in the game, not just the mini bosses.
TLDR Windmill Isle Night Act 1-3 makes you git gud and your reward is a bunch of exp for gitting gudder faster.
How the fuck did I not know there was dlc for this game
Dude you realize that the quick time event for the enemies speed corresponds with the enemies health
Yeah I’m aware, probs could’ve used a better clip to showcase what I’m talking about in hindsight. I know the QTE speed corresponds with the health, overall tho for the dlc I still feel like they made the window to press the button must smaller
Yo Lemon, love the video bro! Your accent sounds really familiar, where about are you from? :)
36:15 pretty sure there is a side mission just like this in the main game I think it involves that npc with the chao puppet
U are 100% right, fully forgot about that level, it was 2d and in spagonia I think?
I didn’t know it came out with DLC
I played ps2 Sonic unleashed but never the actual one on the ps3 or Xbox 360. I'm thinking about playing it this year.
Ha! The difficulty of the dlc can’t possibly hold a candle to that of Eggmanland.
Finally someone talking about these dlcs
Take a shot everytime he says cheap
Challenge level impossible
Many of the levels were indeed, cheap
14:56 pretty sure this stage shows up again in sonic frontiers
I dont understand why They dont Added Windmill Island Into Smash ultimate That stage is nostalgic its is like the New green hill zone
I didn't even know this game had DLC
Sonic Unleashed drift was too wide, Sonic Generations drift was too tight (IMO), and Sonic Unwiished drift felt almost perfect, but Sonic Forces-
Gonna have to agree actually. Unwiished felt pretty spot on. Gens was pretty good but i agree it was too tight. (We don’t talk about forces round here)
@@_lemon52 At least it doesnt have the worst drifts known to man (Colors and Frontiers)
@@mrpro538Just Frontiers
@@SonicTheCutehogfrontiers was horrendous, such a weird level. I just jumped over the boost panel that triggers it.
Sonic's drift mechanic is like in Mario Kart Wii's bikes term, Unleashed you drift like an outward bike, Unwiished you drive like a kart and Generations you drift like an inward bike.
Damn this dudes been making this vid for over a year
Interestingly, in some countries like Brazil, the Holoska DLC is unavailable, unlike the others which are accessible. This forces people to change their Xbox region just to purchase it.
Huh, that is weird
This video implies that the DLCs in this game are fondly remembered, which scares me.
They should be. It's the best part of Unleashed
@@snakey888 Huh.
@@blockeontheleafeon
Unleashed DLC is the best part of Sonic Unleashed because it has the best levels.
@@snakey888 Good to know.
The first time I heard about these DLC were from a fail compilation I remember the level at 38:00 because the player would fall a lot because of the titan
Allow me (a game Desinger/indie developer) to provide how I would Improve the first DLCs second Night Level first of we make the Circular arena much larger and we start the player In the center in a small Circular arena thats been cut into a square with our first new Enemy The Black Nightmare Formed from Thoughts of Complete annihilation actualized by dark Gaias energy Amongst (lore for the enemies ro explain why the new enemies are so strong and with this we can slso give them new design's essentially and for essentially we are Making the darkness of the enemies a lot Deeper so instead of being transparent and diffusing their emmisive Components we instead make them darker to the point of obfuscating detail) with thow single enemy being a basic nightmare thats been elevated to boss levels of numbers so they see one and think okay but then upon hitting it they see it take virtually no damage to their health and this inspires terror in the player but they manage to beat it because it doesn't have any bs attack patterns as the first wall of the arena falls and another one spawns this the player Confidently defeats before we Drop the 2nd wall and introduce the second and third new enemies (the Black Rex (formed from strong feelings of abandonment (the small dog enemy but with boss damage (same health though) and black Bee (formed from the pain of rejection representing the sharp pain harsh words can cause)(the bee Enemies but even faster though only with the health of a basic nightmare) along with 1 Black nightmare Essentially the goal of this is to introduce every new enemy all the other DLCs use in a gradual not overwhelming way ending with a 1 on one fight with the black version of each of the standard bosses(mini boss type enemies ) before you get the goal ring