ppl on MugenArchieves are eating too good off of these sprites. it's just flooded with these sprites. that tells you how good these are, but i'd much rather they make original ones, which some actually do and mix with these
The best handheld game story, i adore this game simply by how unique it's style is, not just in the art but in the RPG like world, the music and giving this unique view on "walking around Sonic's world" (aka Earth) like the little things, Rouge having a place in the part of the city that never sleeps and it's all about casinos and shows and a Eggman base with his face just out in the open for all to see, all the details that make those places special and that fit these characters, i just really like that
@@Hugo-yz1vb Chronicles it's a whole can of worms but i actually like Shadow there too, after all his entire objective is saving Omega and then getting revenge and i always enjoy seeing Team Dark care for each other, most people hate the whole "Shadow has no friends" thing but i can respect it on the sense of being how Shadow sees things, he can't admit that he has friends,but for him they are allies, although he does care about them just as much they care about him,he just can't grasp the concept of being a friendship since the only sense of that he ever had was with Maria, and he never experienced the same thing again.
I can’t believe you rambled about the validity of Sonic Battle as a competitive fighter I can’t believe I enjoyed your ramblings about the validity of Sonic Battle as a competitive fighter
How to play Pseudo Sonic Battle in 2022: 1. Open Super Smash Bros Ultimate 2. Create 3-5 identical Mii Fighters 3. Switch around their Special Moves 4. Select Smashdown When you mentioned keeping your special moves a secret, that reminded me of when I used to go online as Mii Brawler with the counter as my Down Special and play entire matches without using it and once my opponent was down to one stock, I'd throw it out and catch them completely off guard.
Honestly Emerl is my favorite part of the gameplay. I love grinding him up whenever I unlock a new story, seeing him slowly get stronger, experimenting with all the different moves. I wouldn't want to be overwhelmed with options, or starting with all the moves. I want to make the most of what I got. I don't really have that "Gotta catch em all!" Mindset, I want to get whatever I stumble across, and then try and make a most of it. There was rarely a point in the story node where my Emerl was too unprepared for a fight
IMAGINE if Emerl was in Smash Bros, able to use ANY move from ANY fighter... That would be _insane!_ Its such a cool idea. I wish more fighting games would do this kind of thing.
You were quick with that one. Coincidentally, I'd just finished Sonic Battle again. I have to say, I consider it to be part of the Adventure series. Not in terms of gameplay, but how it meshes all the story elements from those games. It literally has Chaos and E-102 Gamma as playable characters. Not to mention all the callbacks to those games.
Sonic Battle is genuinely an underrated gem with some really great moments, especially when it comes to the story (Except for some missions, seriously screw that one you do with Knuckles where you have to fight three Gamma clones on your own.), it's really kind of a shame SEGA at no point tried again with the arena fighter concept. Something like Power Stone but with Sonic characters could be insanely fun.
Pariah: you see this game is actually quite good and the gameplay has some dept to it that no one seems to be talking about... Me: damn, bro, those animations look sick as fuck. *stops listening*
@@Pariah6950 Good news, Tomoyuki Hayashi the director for this game would go on to be one of the designers of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Sadly thats all I can find about his guy.
This was actually the first Sonic game I played. Got me into the series, which is odd considering how radically different it is in terms of gameplay to every other game (except Sonic the Fighters, maybe, but even then). This isn't the story video, but I'll just say it's actually a good introduction to these characters and what they're like and all about (except everyone constantly wanting to throw down, that is). Also, the combat system is really fun, especially when you're steamrolling in single-player. It's got very satisfying presentation, attacks and opponents hitting walls have great sound effects which really helps sell the whole thing, and the sprite work is top-notch.
Your breakdown of this game's combat has made my day. I couldn't believe it when you mentioned the reverse Deep Impact with Knuckles, something I'm sure very few players ever knew about! Indeed, for a fighter on the GBA, Sonic Battle has a surprising variety of possible optimizations and strategies, which as you pointed out are curiously never mentioned *anywhere.* The game seems to suffer the same discussion issue plaguing Sonic the Fighters, that being most are unwilling to investigate the unique intricacies that truly make it special, so I thank you for doing due diligence in that regard. I sadly never had friends to play SB with, but it made me so happy to learn things like guarding while using momentum, or cancelling an air attack by timing it just right before hitting the ground. I always wanted to play this game at a higher level, and especially with the Schrodinger's champion that is Emerl. If I felt the itch to play again, it'd be nice to tear yours apart. :] And, since you asked, why have a breaking animation after characters run? It's been years...but if I remember right, you can enter a sort of "breakdance" by immediately pressing in the opposite direction, then the other again, almost like dash dancing. When fighting another player, this could be useful in getting them to whiff as you turn away, only to return with a jump attack, special move, or guard into their attack. But this is really just theory crafting I was never able to put into practice, so maybe it is entirely useless.
i knew you could use that move during a forward dash to make knuckles move a huge distance during the windup (which is both funny and cool as hell) but i never knew about the reverse
Two videos in one day, holy shit you really were just waiting for your hand to heal. Sonic Battle is one of a few fighters I've actually kind of gotten into, I could never make much progress in the story, but I really enjoy just doing battles with multiple different characters. Never to this extent, but I could tell there was a LOT of depth here that could be explored. I think Battle would have been a big competitor to Mario Kart DS if it had released on the DS with download play. The incredible sprite art doesn't hurt either.
Sonic Battle was a game I played A TON back in the day alongside Advance 3. I've always been a personal fan of Sonic characters jumping in the ring and fighting it out haha. Like you said, the combat system is incredibly unique, and I'm surprised no other game (that I've heard of) attempts this style while improving on this game's flaws. Great video, man!
Emerl was my favorite feature of Sonic Battle. Finding combat strings that worked was like solving a puzzle, and getting the rare items like super moves and color pallettes always blew my mind. Of course, nowadays, the grinding would suck. I remember I grinded a lot as a kid cuz I had the time and lots of empty head for it, and if I did the same now it'd probably suck. Still tho, love my boy Emerl
In my most recent playthrough of this game, I found an infinite stunlock combo on the AI by using a fast character's speed, tail's jump, and Omega's aerial attack in which you continuously cross up the opponent while hitting them with the aerial every time you jump over them. Doing this in rapid succession would completely prevent all enemies getting hit by the attacks from moving, defending, or doing anything. I don't know if it works on actual people though
0:14 Sonic The Fighters had no attention in the West, it had a deliberately very limited run in the US. I think it gets attention because it introduced Bean and Bark, Amy's hammer, and the HD port reintroduced Honey.
This game was my shit when I was a kid. I bought the game week one and no one I knew heard of it even though they played Sonic games. Thank you for talking about this game. This game is rarely talked about and I want people to know about the Sonic game that probably has the best story mode.
this fighting system would be SO good with DI. being able to mix up ur trajectory with melee-like DI would fix most of the problems with the air infinites, especially with how much this game already emphasizes positioning
I've never even thought of the concept of Sonic Battle being a competitive fighter. God that would be cool, a re-release with balances applied would be so sick. Also just a re-release in general, because I never knew anyone as a kid who had this game, so I too never got to fight any other players. We can hope that there's a Sonic Advanced Origins collection or something someday with Advance 1-3, Battle, and maybe Pinball Party on it?
the first actual in-depth review of sonic battle mechanics i've seen, nice. now i want to try the multiplayer usnig the emulator, which should be possible. about emerl fights being a roadblock: you can actually beat the game pretty easily with completely uncustomized emerl if you just spam the default ground projectileless spindash projectile move (i think the air version works too, but it's harder to land) because the actual spindash part of the move (on both sonic and emerl) is unaffected by special move autoblock so u can just one shot groups of opponents, and it deals pretty good damage on its own without the super bar too. i did that when i was a child and was too stupid to figure out how to access emerl customization. works even in the final fights as emerl against eggman, and as sonic against super emerl. it's cheese but hey.
There is just something about the artwork in this game that I find to be a masterclass It's just aged like fine wine and tbh I long for the day where SEGA will re-visit this quality sprite art style again
AYO? 2 video in 1 day? I was litterally checking your channel this morning wondering when you'd be dropping the next "Sonic was always good" video and you happen to upload while I'm watching your Sonic Origins video lol Actually just completed Sonic 2 earlier for the first time. I'm shit at these games so I didn't particularly enjoy myself, hoping to fall in love with it in time though lol
Wow, I was already really excited for Sonic Battle to come up after that incredible Sonic Advance 3 video, but I was floored to see it come out so soon. I am so dang glad to see such an depth look into the game. I already yearn to play against actual opponents for a lot of the fighting games I have since most of them are on consoles without online, but gosh that yearning has grown so much for Sonic Battle over this video. Even if there's some crazy exploits when it comes to playing it competitively. If absolutely nothing else I would love to see someone with the dedication to make a full blown competitive balancing patch for the game to make it even better in that front. Heck, the whole bit talking about the special move mind games in particular got me noticing a real easy counter for my Emerl build where I have Rouge's flight, Rouge's air cancel, and Amy's mid air hammer tornado that just keeps Emerl high in the sky dropping tornadoes from the heavens above at infinitum. Even though I likely won't wind up playing against anyone anytime soon, I do think I should try experimenting with other special move combos just in case I do ever have that chance. I also can't believe I've just overlooked the arcade mode up to this point. I always just did one off battles or played through the story mode again. That should certainly add a whole lot of playtime to the game for me. As always I'm really glad to have this deeper sense of appreciation for what's already one of my favorite games in the series. By the way, your Emerl looks pretty sick. I made mine trans colors by pure coincidence.
I have played this game a lot with friends. I will say that you are right about some infinites but even with those, a lot of times they are reliant on being in very specific situations to do. I'll also say you are also right about the game being full of degenerate cheese strats but as someone who has played it so much , I can say I had an incredible amount of fun. It's my favourite sonic spinoff honestly and I've always wanted a sequel. I love it even more for how well it fits into the adventure era's plotlines. I love how fairly consistent sonic was for a while up to this game to expand the universe.
Sonic Battle is honestly my favorite Sonic game of all time and my favorite GBA game. I'm still hoping SEGA comes out with a Sonic Advance collection that includes Sonic Battle and wireless offline and online play!
Good news, Tomoyuki Hayashi the director for this game would go on to be one of the designers of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Sadly thats can find about this guy.
This 'hidden information' system reminds me a lot of how in MOBAs during the early levels it's possible to hold onto ability points or hide which ability you've chosen to guarantee a surprise kill or an escape.
I haven't played Sonic Battle, but I think a change that would make this game truly great is if it had more buttons to work with. Having 2 special buttons allows characters access to more of their special moves at once, and not need to choose one ground special and one air special between lives (and get rid of the auto block mechanic). Make the pursue move its own button that homes in on the nearest opponent. And make the smash attacks a heavy attack button so it would be less awkward to use them. These are just some ideas I had for a possible remake/sequel for Sonic Battle, what do you think?
Man Over here loving Sonic battle so much I lost my GBA along with the game so another set was bought Course not with just Battle, but there were too many instances where I thought I lost this gem and was looking to just buy another
I love this game. I played it so much when I was a kid. And I'm not even a traditional fighting game fan. The only fighting games I like are more experimental fighting games, including Smash Bros and, well, this game. And the story campaign is so good. Far beyond what most people would expect from a handheld fighting game spinoff story.
Two sonic vids in a day, wow. I've always been one of those to mention SB when talkin bout Sonic fightin games. I've always thought that the mechanics were simple yet fun but u showed tons of potential in this game I would've never seen if it weren't for this mainly cus I ain't the best at fightin games. I haven't beaten the game but ye doin it without a save file is a little more than a slog fest. I'm excited to see how the story pans out in the end & I hope somethin like SB comes in the future
Two back to back! We're being spoiled today! I have a friend who adores this game, so I'll send it off to them as well. A long long time ago, I had no idea this game existed, so I always wondered where the Advance styled sprites for Shadow, Rogue, etc. came from. 1:57 It's pretty disappointing how few GBA games take advantage of the system's 3D capabilities. While, supposed bits aren't the most sound way of defining a console's actual power, it is worth noting that the GBA is a 32-bit system. I really think devs for the system dropped the ball in terms of good 3D games, and I can't think of many off the top of my head. Seeing something like Sonic Battle brings a smile to my face, knowing that my favorite console's true potential isn't being completely squandered. 3:51 I appreciate you pointing this out. I've been wanting to make a fighting game for a while, and I've been trying to figure out what niche ideas I could play around with to spice things up. I had a lot of fun the first time I made a fighting game, and that one was certainly a bit in the less traditional side, and I want to lean more into that. It'll have to wait until after I finish my current Metroid-like, though.
i think one potential issue about the combat system that a spiritual successor/remake should address is how to deal with local multiplayer since part of the game play is to chose your abilities without opponents looking and thus the mind games may be affected when they are able to see what you are choosing , of course they can make it exclusively online but it may fell weird since even the worst fighting games have at least a local multiplayer and online can be very tricky to make it work properly
I can see a solution. You press one of three buttons to select the corresponding special, rather than navigate a menu on-screen. Then it’s just a matter of not letting the opponent see your physical button press, like how you’d keep your hand hidden in a card game.
@@qstmrk8004 Good news, Tomoyuki Hayashi the director for this game would go on to be one of the designers of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Sadly thats all I can find about his guy.
The closest thing to the overall subgenre of Sonic Battle is a game called Power Stone. My only complaint on Sonic Battle's system is that there is no air guard besides the immunity choice and there are certain moves that become absolutely gnarly, like Rouge's bat bombs.
Hi, arena fighter competitive player here. Sonic Battle is an arena fighter through and through. You could almost say it's a better variant of what J-Stars tried to do.
I'm new to your channel and I liker how you talked about Sonic battle here. This had to be my favorite Game boy Sonic game. I kinda wish they gave Sonic this moveset in smash ultimate though instead of giving him just spin dashes
My favourite infinite is some characters' aerial mine attack. If timed correctly (and if they don't have mine immunity) you can loop them in the air and characters are helpless to do anything Also, should Emerl be banned in competitive fights, or should he be the only character to play with?
pariah, had you played the spark the electric jester series? if no, play it. if yes, will you talk about them? I would love to see your take in the series
Man, I've played through this game multiple times over the years and I didn't even know about the auto-block mechanic Also don't think I've ever actually intentionally blocked an attack, either
Competitive wise: I think the only thing that would be worrying would be the selection of stages. Most of the stages would be banned except for maybe Library, Tails Lab, and Colosseum. This is mainly due to the fact that most of the stages are big and not just grounded, which would incentivize a hit and run strategy optimally, especially with the faster, DPS characters (Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Amy, Cream). You can fill up your green bar when healing as well, which would further incentivize the kind of non entertaining play. Certain stunlocks with characters could be a huge concern as well, especially considering how fragile the cast is in general, most notably, characters like Tails, Rouge air attack loops can be concerning. Set play, specifically with trap attacks, I would see being used a lot more than melee confrontations. One thing you did forget to mention when talking about strings is that you can automatically use your smash attack, which would actually be optimal for some characters. I would imagine the meta would be dominated by primarily fast, dps characters, characters. Characters like Gamma, Chaos, and Knuckles would be highly disadvantaged by their speed, and since everyone in the cast is capable of setplay to some extent, that would effectively lower their viability
of course you're a Fighting Game fan. Not sure what I mean by that because I am, too, but whatever. My two big takes on Battle are mostly just, like- 1. EVERYTHING about this game, even the gameplay concepts going into it, is really fucking good and cool- with the crucial exception of ACTUALLY PLAYING THE VIDEOGAME 2. Worse than just not being all that fun, my least favorite thing about Battle is that it always FEELS like it's juuuuuuuust about it get good and never actaully reaches that point.
Haven't watched yet, but having played the game somewhat I think there's definitely potential in it, though maybe not competitively. I think it needs an extra button to aid movement at least.
Pariah, I would love to see your opinion on Guilty Gear 2 Overture. Idk if you like rts games that much but I think you would find the psuedo fighting game aspect very intriguing to say the least.
I'd assume that if this game picked up allot of those infinites and frame data issues would have been fixed in the sequel. Much like how most kuso games have a busted first version but get cleaned up over time, like guilty gear and blazblue did.
I just remember how easy the AI was to exploit in this game. The CPU will always choose to be immune to the type of Special that just killed it, so as long as you alternate between your Ground and Air Specials every time your opponent respawns, they'll never have immunity to it.
Honestly, I think Emerl wouldn't be banned if you take a trading card game approach. X move cannot be paired with Y move. Is it a pain? Definitely. There are undoubtedly broken moves, (not even counting the hidden instant kill ground power moves) which should be banned. For example, no Emerl should have a Gamma, Cream, Chaos, or heaven forbid the Ultimate Emerl recovery move, way too much HP regen, and too much special charge. Actually, speaking of healing moves, my word there aren't any viable healing moves for most of the cast from a singleplayer perspective even. "Oh good, I get 5-10 seconds of free time since I just KO'd the opponent... It's gonna take at least 2 seconds to start healing, and to react to the opponent's approach so... Yeah, you heal off one maybe two hits depending on what your foe is." Personally, I find Knuckles or Tails heal to be the bare minimum HP regen for being viable. (Knuckles is speed IIII 4 and Tails is speed IIIII 5) Any heals slower than that, aren't worth using in the first place... Also for reference, Knuckles and Cream are tied for power, but double the healing speed. Right, ignoring the color skills, I think there should be a hard cap on Emerl's slots. The max is 500 points in game, but I think an even 300, would be better. That way you can build a "good" Emerl, but have to make compromises in places. For example, you'd never see an Emerl with a 1st Attack of Stretch Chaos, or Solid Knuckle (Gamma) as they're WAY too slow. Even IQ200 and KN. Straight are questionable (Tails & Knuckles.) The three hit combo -> Heavy Attack can be surprisingly varied aside from the 1st Attack. For example, you'd think "All Gamma's basic moves are trash" but... Try going from a Girl Straight (Amy 2nd) into a Paralyze Cut (Gamma 3rd) it's surprising how fast Gamma's 3rd activates, hitbox and all, the endlag is tiny even. Should be enough to get you into a somewhat slow Heavy Attack like C. Nightmare (Shadow Heavy). Some of Gamma's moves are surprisingly fast, I'm a fan of Air Knuckle myself. (Gamma's Aim Attack.) Sorry sorry, got a bit sidetracked there. Anyway, try making a good moveset that's around 300 (cost? points? credits?) and try some match ups. You'll probably have to make your Emerl less tanky or hit weaker. (Reminder that the Support Skills exist, and Fight Poses do actually effect your Emerl's stats.) Either way, I think it could work, but obviously it'd need a lot more balancing, as I feel a lot of characters were nerfed for the sake of nerfing Emerl, rather than the character needing the nerf.
Sonic the Fighters (aka Sonic Championship) is so much better than Sonic Battle because Sonic Battle plays nothling like an arcade-styled fighting game. And speaking of Sonic Battle, that game needs a remake and the remade version of Sonic Battle needs the Sonic the Fighters/Sonic Championship treatment. In other words, Sonic Battle on the GBA back in the days was all gimmick and less skill and Sonic Battle was a combination of Power Stone and Super Smash Bros. in the of world Sonic the Hedgehog.
2 videos in 2 days? Who are you and what have you done to Pariah? Now I really have to play this game, it's been sitting in my folder for months. It's crazy to think that Sonic Team is perfectly capable of making spin-offs like Battle or Riders with some much depth in their mechanics, and experimenting with genres they're not experts with, and then making rookie mistakes in the mainline games like they've never made any 3D platformer before, like the mech stages or allowing spindashing while running, which completely breaks half of the game by itself. It's like multiple teams from different backgrounds brought together to make a platformer when they really don't want to do it. Now I think about it, if they made a battle 2 today, maybe it would be well received ? Since they don't seem to know what to do with Sonic today.
Always loved this game. I just got so mad at the battles to get all of Emerl’s ultimate cards in order to play his most powerful form. Those battles made me so made, I destroyed my original copy of Sonic Battle back then. 😂 Good times.
Sonic Battle was the number one source of Sonic the Hedgehog sprites for fanworks in the late 00's. The art is just so good and varied.
Final Fantasy Sonic X moment
@@sunvinn A game so fundamental to my childhood that whenever I listen to Melisa I think of FFXS first and FMA second
Advance?
ppl on MugenArchieves are eating too good off of these sprites. it's just flooded with these sprites. that tells you how good these are, but i'd much rather they make original ones, which some actually do and mix with these
The Sonic Advance games as well, I saw more from the Advance games, tho Battle was also there too
The best handheld game story, i adore this game simply by how unique it's style is, not just in the art but in the RPG like world, the music and giving this unique view on "walking around Sonic's world" (aka Earth) like the little things, Rouge having a place in the part of the city that never sleeps and it's all about casinos and shows and a Eggman base with his face just out in the open for all to see, all the details that make those places special and that fit these characters, i just really like that
Lol imagine how embarrasing it would feel that a fighting game feels more like an RPG than you being a RPG yourself (talking to you Chronicles)
@@Hugo-yz1vb Chronicles it's a whole can of worms but i actually like Shadow there too, after all his entire objective is saving Omega and then getting revenge and i always enjoy seeing Team Dark care for each other, most people hate the whole "Shadow has no friends" thing but i can respect it on the sense of being how Shadow sees things, he can't admit that he has friends,but for him they are allies, although he does care about them just as much they care about him,he just can't grasp the concept of being a friendship since the only sense of that he ever had was with Maria, and he never experienced the same thing again.
I can’t believe you rambled about the validity of Sonic Battle as a competitive fighter
I can’t believe I enjoyed your ramblings about the validity of Sonic Battle as a competitive fighter
You know what's the ultimate mindgame?
_INITIATING RECOVERY MODE_
I cant dodge fast enough! Shit! 😆
💥
boom!!
gamma: "initiating recovery mode"
sonic: WHAT
+43% ichikoro rate
You're donezo, matey.
How to play Pseudo Sonic Battle in 2022:
1. Open Super Smash Bros Ultimate
2. Create 3-5 identical Mii Fighters
3. Switch around their Special Moves
4. Select Smashdown
When you mentioned keeping your special moves a secret, that reminded me of when I used to go online as Mii Brawler with the counter as my Down Special and play entire matches without using it and once my opponent was down to one stock, I'd throw it out and catch them completely off guard.
Honestly Emerl is my favorite part of the gameplay. I love grinding him up whenever I unlock a new story, seeing him slowly get stronger, experimenting with all the different moves.
I wouldn't want to be overwhelmed with options, or starting with all the moves. I want to make the most of what I got. I don't really have that "Gotta catch em all!" Mindset, I want to get whatever I stumble across, and then try and make a most of it.
There was rarely a point in the story node where my Emerl was too unprepared for a fight
IMAGINE if Emerl was in Smash Bros, able to use ANY move from ANY fighter... That would be _insane!_ Its such a cool idea. I wish more fighting games would do this kind of thing.
What a treat, two videos in one day!??!? It's Christmas early this year
You were quick with that one.
Coincidentally, I'd just finished Sonic Battle again. I have to say, I consider it to be part of the Adventure series.
Not in terms of gameplay, but how it meshes all the story elements from those games. It literally has Chaos and E-102 Gamma as playable characters. Not to mention all the callbacks to those games.
I love sonic battle growing up and I thought it’s story was really awesome and tons of fun.
Sonic Battle is genuinely an underrated gem with some really great moments, especially when it comes to the story (Except for some missions, seriously screw that one you do with Knuckles where you have to fight three Gamma clones on your own.), it's really kind of a shame SEGA at no point tried again with the arena fighter concept. Something like Power Stone but with Sonic characters could be insanely fun.
Good news, Tomoyuki Hayashi the director for this game would go on to be one of the designers of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Pariah: you see this game is actually quite good and the gameplay has some dept to it that no one seems to be talking about...
Me: damn, bro, those animations look sick as fuck. *stops listening*
The sprite art in the GBA Sonic games is so good. Honestly, I think it's the best the Uekawa designs have ever looked.
@@Pariah6950 Good news, Tomoyuki Hayashi the director for this game would go on to be one of the designers of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Sadly thats all I can find about his guy.
Sonic Battle video? Big W
Whenever I go back to Battle I’m always surprised by how well everyone is characterized for the most part.
This was actually the first Sonic game I played. Got me into the series, which is odd considering how radically different it is in terms of gameplay to every other game (except Sonic the Fighters, maybe, but even then). This isn't the story video, but I'll just say it's actually a good introduction to these characters and what they're like and all about (except everyone constantly wanting to throw down, that is). Also, the combat system is really fun, especially when you're steamrolling in single-player. It's got very satisfying presentation, attacks and opponents hitting walls have great sound effects which really helps sell the whole thing, and the sprite work is top-notch.
Your breakdown of this game's combat has made my day. I couldn't believe it when you mentioned the reverse Deep Impact with Knuckles, something I'm sure very few players ever knew about! Indeed, for a fighter on the GBA, Sonic Battle has a surprising variety of possible optimizations and strategies, which as you pointed out are curiously never mentioned *anywhere.* The game seems to suffer the same discussion issue plaguing Sonic the Fighters, that being most are unwilling to investigate the unique intricacies that truly make it special, so I thank you for doing due diligence in that regard.
I sadly never had friends to play SB with, but it made me so happy to learn things like guarding while using momentum, or cancelling an air attack by timing it just right before hitting the ground. I always wanted to play this game at a higher level, and especially with the Schrodinger's champion that is Emerl. If I felt the itch to play again, it'd be nice to tear yours apart. :]
And, since you asked, why have a breaking animation after characters run? It's been years...but if I remember right, you can enter a sort of "breakdance" by immediately pressing in the opposite direction, then the other again, almost like dash dancing. When fighting another player, this could be useful in getting them to whiff as you turn away, only to return with a jump attack, special move, or guard into their attack. But this is really just theory crafting I was never able to put into practice, so maybe it is entirely useless.
i knew you could use that move during a forward dash to make knuckles move a huge distance during the windup (which is both funny and cool as hell) but i never knew about the reverse
Two videos in one day, holy shit you really were just waiting for your hand to heal.
Sonic Battle is one of a few fighters I've actually kind of gotten into, I could never make much progress in the story, but I really enjoy just doing battles with multiple different characters. Never to this extent, but I could tell there was a LOT of depth here that could be explored. I think Battle would have been a big competitor to Mario Kart DS if it had released on the DS with download play. The incredible sprite art doesn't hurt either.
Sonic Battle was a game I played A TON back in the day alongside Advance 3. I've always been a personal fan of Sonic characters jumping in the ring and fighting it out haha. Like you said, the combat system is incredibly unique, and I'm surprised no other game (that I've heard of) attempts this style while improving on this game's flaws. Great video, man!
Emerl was my favorite feature of Sonic Battle. Finding combat strings that worked was like solving a puzzle, and getting the rare items like super moves and color pallettes always blew my mind. Of course, nowadays, the grinding would suck. I remember I grinded a lot as a kid cuz I had the time and lots of empty head for it, and if I did the same now it'd probably suck.
Still tho, love my boy Emerl
In my most recent playthrough of this game, I found an infinite stunlock combo on the AI by using a fast character's speed, tail's jump, and Omega's aerial attack in which you continuously cross up the opponent while hitting them with the aerial every time you jump over them. Doing this in rapid succession would completely prevent all enemies getting hit by the attacks from moving, defending, or doing anything. I don't know if it works on actual people though
0:14 Sonic The Fighters had no attention in the West, it had a deliberately very limited run in the US. I think it gets attention because it introduced Bean and Bark, Amy's hammer, and the HD port reintroduced Honey.
And the soundtrack. That sweet, sweet soundtrack.
Fun fact: I once went through an entire playthrough with all stories and only ever got the Sonic Ground Trap and NO other specials
This game was my shit when I was a kid. I bought the game week one and no one I knew heard of it even though they played Sonic games. Thank you for talking about this game. This game is rarely talked about and I want people to know about the Sonic game that probably has the best story mode.
this fighting system would be SO good with DI. being able to mix up ur trajectory with melee-like DI would fix most of the problems with the air infinites, especially with how much this game already emphasizes positioning
Two videos in a day?? NICE
2 uploads in one night? you blessed us with a FEAST my guy!!
I've never even thought of the concept of Sonic Battle being a competitive fighter. God that would be cool, a re-release with balances applied would be so sick. Also just a re-release in general, because I never knew anyone as a kid who had this game, so I too never got to fight any other players. We can hope that there's a Sonic Advanced Origins collection or something someday with Advance 1-3, Battle, and maybe Pinball Party on it?
the first actual in-depth review of sonic battle mechanics i've seen, nice. now i want to try the multiplayer usnig the emulator, which should be possible.
about emerl fights being a roadblock: you can actually beat the game pretty easily with completely uncustomized emerl if you just spam the default ground projectileless spindash projectile move (i think the air version works too, but it's harder to land) because the actual spindash part of the move (on both sonic and emerl) is unaffected by special move autoblock so u can just one shot groups of opponents, and it deals pretty good damage on its own without the super bar too. i did that when i was a child and was too stupid to figure out how to access emerl customization. works even in the final fights as emerl against eggman, and as sonic against super emerl. it's cheese but hey.
There is just something about the artwork in this game that I find to be a masterclass
It's just aged like fine wine and tbh I long for the day where SEGA will re-visit this quality sprite art style again
AYO? 2 video in 1 day? I was litterally checking your channel this morning wondering when you'd be dropping the next "Sonic was always good" video and you happen to upload while I'm watching your Sonic Origins video lol
Actually just completed Sonic 2 earlier for the first time. I'm shit at these games so I didn't particularly enjoy myself, hoping to fall in love with it in time though lol
Less than 24 hours between uploads. You're a madman.
Wow, I was already really excited for Sonic Battle to come up after that incredible Sonic Advance 3 video, but I was floored to see it come out so soon.
I am so dang glad to see such an depth look into the game. I already yearn to play against actual opponents for a lot of the fighting games I have since most of them are on consoles without online, but gosh that yearning has grown so much for Sonic Battle over this video. Even if there's some crazy exploits when it comes to playing it competitively. If absolutely nothing else I would love to see someone with the dedication to make a full blown competitive balancing patch for the game to make it even better in that front.
Heck, the whole bit talking about the special move mind games in particular got me noticing a real easy counter for my Emerl build where I have Rouge's flight, Rouge's air cancel, and Amy's mid air hammer tornado that just keeps Emerl high in the sky dropping tornadoes from the heavens above at infinitum. Even though I likely won't wind up playing against anyone anytime soon, I do think I should try experimenting with other special move combos just in case I do ever have that chance.
I also can't believe I've just overlooked the arcade mode up to this point. I always just did one off battles or played through the story mode again. That should certainly add a whole lot of playtime to the game for me.
As always I'm really glad to have this deeper sense of appreciation for what's already one of my favorite games in the series.
By the way, your Emerl looks pretty sick.
I made mine trans colors by pure coincidence.
Now I want the history video of this game
I remember playing the heck out of this game as a kid along side sonic advance 2 and 3. They will always hold a special place in my heart
This game should of had a tutorial because I have never understood the special move system
Technically it did, but only for the heavy and upper attacks lol
Dear god Pariah made a Zavok best character joke
Joke?
Two of your best videos back to back! I’m so excited to replay these games again now
I have played this game a lot with friends. I will say that you are right about some infinites but even with those, a lot of times they are reliant on being in very specific situations to do. I'll also say you are also right about the game being full of degenerate cheese strats but as someone who has played it so much , I can say I had an incredible amount of fun. It's my favourite sonic spinoff honestly and I've always wanted a sequel. I love it even more for how well it fits into the adventure era's plotlines. I love how fairly consistent sonic was for a while up to this game to expand the universe.
What is this? Two videos?! At a day, at this time of year, localized entirely in this youtube channel?!
My man bustin out those videos as fast as light
Sonic Battle is honestly my favorite Sonic game of all time and my favorite GBA game. I'm still hoping SEGA comes out with a Sonic Advance collection that includes Sonic Battle and wireless offline and online play!
Good news, Tomoyuki Hayashi the director for this game would go on to be one of the designers of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Sadly thats can find about this guy.
Good vid. I learned some stuff here I didn't know before. Looking forward to the story vid.
This 'hidden information' system reminds me a lot of how in MOBAs during the early levels it's possible to hold onto ability points or hide which ability you've chosen to guarantee a surprise kill or an escape.
Some specials have hit boxes that transcends the immunity block. Mostly the spin parts of moves
I haven't played Sonic Battle, but I think a change that would make this game truly great is if it had more buttons to work with. Having 2 special buttons allows characters access to more of their special moves at once, and not need to choose one ground special and one air special between lives (and get rid of the auto block mechanic). Make the pursue move its own button that homes in on the nearest opponent. And make the smash attacks a heavy attack button so it would be less awkward to use them. These are just some ideas I had for a possible remake/sequel for Sonic Battle, what do you think?
Two in a day BABEEE!!!
16:30 This guy will lose his mind when he learns about Rock-Paper-Scissors
absolutely blessed with two vids within a day of each other
SRB2 - Sonic Was Always Good inches closer day by day...
Man
Over here loving Sonic battle so much I lost my GBA along with the game so another set was bought
Course not with just Battle, but there were too many instances where I thought I lost this gem and was looking to just buy another
This is still one of my fav sonic games of all time
I played this game at least 15 times not even kidding
Wow, I'm impressed you spent this long on the gameplay. Almost 50 minutes.
I love this game. I played it so much when I was a kid. And I'm not even a traditional fighting game fan. The only fighting games I like are more experimental fighting games, including Smash Bros and, well, this game. And the story campaign is so good. Far beyond what most people would expect from a handheld fighting game spinoff story.
Hurrah !!!!!! Our boi is back to spaming sonic videos every day !
Two sonic vids in a day, wow. I've always been one of those to mention SB when talkin bout Sonic fightin games. I've always thought that the mechanics were simple yet fun but u showed tons of potential in this game I would've never seen if it weren't for this mainly cus I ain't the best at fightin games. I haven't beaten the game but ye doin it without a save file is a little more than a slog fest. I'm excited to see how the story pans out in the end & I hope somethin like SB comes in the future
Two back to back! We're being spoiled today! I have a friend who adores this game, so I'll send it off to them as well.
A long long time ago, I had no idea this game existed, so I always wondered where the Advance styled sprites for Shadow, Rogue, etc. came from.
1:57 It's pretty disappointing how few GBA games take advantage of the system's 3D capabilities. While, supposed bits aren't the most sound way of defining a console's actual power, it is worth noting that the GBA is a 32-bit system. I really think devs for the system dropped the ball in terms of good 3D games, and I can't think of many off the top of my head. Seeing something like Sonic Battle brings a smile to my face, knowing that my favorite console's true potential isn't being completely squandered.
3:51 I appreciate you pointing this out. I've been wanting to make a fighting game for a while, and I've been trying to figure out what niche ideas I could play around with to spice things up. I had a lot of fun the first time I made a fighting game, and that one was certainly a bit in the less traditional side, and I want to lean more into that. It'll have to wait until after I finish my current Metroid-like, though.
Getting those Ultimate moves was near impossible
i think one potential issue about the combat system that a spiritual successor/remake should address is how to deal with local multiplayer since part of the game play is to chose your abilities without opponents looking and thus the mind games may be affected when they are able to see what you are choosing , of course they can make it exclusively online but it may fell weird since even the worst fighting games have at least a local multiplayer and online can be very tricky to make it work properly
I can see a solution. You press one of three buttons to select the corresponding special, rather than navigate a menu on-screen. Then it’s just a matter of not letting the opponent see your physical button press, like how you’d keep your hand hidden in a card game.
@@MasterDisaster64 that's actually a pretty good solution. i feel kinda dumb not thinking about it
@@qstmrk8004 Don't feel dumb. As a game designer, I've thought about this kind of stuff a lot
@@qstmrk8004 Good news, Tomoyuki Hayashi the director for this game would go on to be one of the designers of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Sadly thats all I can find about his guy.
@@orangeslash1667 You say that every time...
Our cup truly runneth over with the 2 vids today 🙏
I was waiting for this!
Wow didn't expect to see this pop up so soon
The closest thing to the overall subgenre of Sonic Battle is a game called Power Stone.
My only complaint on Sonic Battle's system is that there is no air guard besides the immunity choice and there are certain moves that become absolutely gnarly, like Rouge's bat bombs.
It's a shame that the only fan project that tried to do something with this gameplay style was Sonic Gather fricking Battle
My guy is always on the RUclips grind!!
This is my favorite Sonic spin off game
Great! Two videos in a row!
Hi, arena fighter competitive player here. Sonic Battle is an arena fighter through and through. You could almost say it's a better variant of what J-Stars tried to do.
Nice vid!
I'm new to your channel and I liker how you talked about Sonic battle here. This had to be my favorite Game boy Sonic game. I kinda wish they gave Sonic this moveset in smash ultimate though instead of giving him just spin dashes
This game really needs a remake or something like sonic riders dx
My favourite infinite is some characters' aerial mine attack. If timed correctly (and if they don't have mine immunity) you can loop them in the air and characters are helpless to do anything
Also, should Emerl be banned in competitive fights, or should he be the only character to play with?
pariah, had you played the spark the electric jester series? if no, play it. if yes, will you talk about them? I would love to see your take in the series
Played 1 and 2. Haven't gotten to 3 yet. Awesome games, that I will be doing videos on.
Man, I've played through this game multiple times over the years and I didn't even know about the auto-block mechanic
Also don't think I've ever actually intentionally blocked an attack, either
Competitive wise: I think the only thing that would be worrying would be the selection of stages. Most of the stages would be banned except for maybe Library, Tails Lab, and Colosseum. This is mainly due to the fact that most of the stages are big and not just grounded, which would incentivize a hit and run strategy optimally, especially with the faster, DPS characters (Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Amy, Cream). You can fill up your green bar when healing as well, which would further incentivize the kind of non entertaining play.
Certain stunlocks with characters could be a huge concern as well, especially considering how fragile the cast is in general, most notably, characters like Tails, Rouge air attack loops can be concerning.
Set play, specifically with trap attacks, I would see being used a lot more than melee confrontations.
One thing you did forget to mention when talking about strings is that you can automatically use your smash attack, which would actually be optimal for some characters.
I would imagine the meta would be dominated by primarily fast, dps characters, characters. Characters like Gamma, Chaos, and Knuckles would be highly disadvantaged by their speed, and since everyone in the cast is capable of setplay to some extent, that would effectively lower their viability
of course you're a Fighting Game fan. Not sure what I mean by that because I am, too, but whatever.
My two big takes on Battle are mostly just, like-
1. EVERYTHING about this game, even the gameplay concepts going into it, is really fucking good and cool- with the crucial exception of ACTUALLY PLAYING THE VIDEOGAME
2. Worse than just not being all that fun, my least favorite thing about Battle is that it always FEELS like it's juuuuuuuust about it get good and never actaully reaches that point.
i would love to see the gba era of sonic re-released on modern systems like sonic origins. sonic advance 1-3 and battle deserve to be appreciated more
What are you _talking about???_ There are no Infinites in this game! This game was made wayyy before Sonic Forces! 🤣
The only thing this game does extremely wrong is making you do multiple 10 round fights with the same opponent in a row
2 pariah videos in one day? Count me in
Haven't watched yet, but having played the game somewhat I think there's definitely potential in it, though maybe not competitively. I think it needs an extra button to aid movement at least.
Not to mention the fact that their sprites are used for animations
Pariah, I would love to see your opinion on Guilty Gear 2 Overture. Idk if you like rts games that much but I think you would find the psuedo fighting game aspect very intriguing to say the least.
Never played it. It looks like an incredibly weird game. Not too interested, to be honest.
Finally we get to my favorite sonic game! Yes I know odd choise but I love fighting games.
I'd assume that if this game picked up allot of those infinites and frame data issues would have been fixed in the sequel. Much like how most kuso games have a busted first version but get cleaned up over time, like guilty gear and blazblue did.
Never played these games, but they do look fun. Once again, just wish sega would drop more old sonic titles on steam
I Swear We Need A Tournament Scene With This Game. Or Better, A Fan Remake Of This Game That Keeps The 3D Plane While Adding New Content.
I just remember how easy the AI was to exploit in this game. The CPU will always choose to be immune to the type of Special that just killed it, so as long as you alternate between your Ground and Air Specials every time your opponent respawns, they'll never have immunity to it.
Sometimes they actually don't go for that. When playing against 3 opponents, occasionally one of them will step out of line.
Oh sweet, double feature.
Honestly, I think Emerl wouldn't be banned if you take a trading card game approach. X move cannot be paired with Y move. Is it a pain? Definitely. There are undoubtedly broken moves, (not even counting the hidden instant kill ground power moves) which should be banned. For example, no Emerl should have a Gamma, Cream, Chaos, or heaven forbid the Ultimate Emerl recovery move, way too much HP regen, and too much special charge.
Actually, speaking of healing moves, my word there aren't any viable healing moves for most of the cast from a singleplayer perspective even. "Oh good, I get 5-10 seconds of free time since I just KO'd the opponent... It's gonna take at least 2 seconds to start healing, and to react to the opponent's approach so... Yeah, you heal off one maybe two hits depending on what your foe is." Personally, I find Knuckles or Tails heal to be the bare minimum HP regen for being viable. (Knuckles is speed IIII 4 and Tails is speed IIIII 5) Any heals slower than that, aren't worth using in the first place... Also for reference, Knuckles and Cream are tied for power, but double the healing speed.
Right, ignoring the color skills, I think there should be a hard cap on Emerl's slots. The max is 500 points in game, but I think an even 300, would be better. That way you can build a "good" Emerl, but have to make compromises in places. For example, you'd never see an Emerl with a 1st Attack of Stretch Chaos, or Solid Knuckle (Gamma) as they're WAY too slow. Even IQ200 and KN. Straight are questionable (Tails & Knuckles.) The three hit combo -> Heavy Attack can be surprisingly varied aside from the 1st Attack. For example, you'd think "All Gamma's basic moves are trash" but... Try going from a Girl Straight (Amy 2nd) into a Paralyze Cut (Gamma 3rd) it's surprising how fast Gamma's 3rd activates, hitbox and all, the endlag is tiny even. Should be enough to get you into a somewhat slow Heavy Attack like C. Nightmare (Shadow Heavy). Some of Gamma's moves are surprisingly fast, I'm a fan of Air Knuckle myself. (Gamma's Aim Attack.)
Sorry sorry, got a bit sidetracked there. Anyway, try making a good moveset that's around 300 (cost? points? credits?) and try some match ups. You'll probably have to make your Emerl less tanky or hit weaker. (Reminder that the Support Skills exist, and Fight Poses do actually effect your Emerl's stats.) Either way, I think it could work, but obviously it'd need a lot more balancing, as I feel a lot of characters were nerfed for the sake of nerfing Emerl, rather than the character needing the nerf.
i would love to see a tournament with real people....... it would be so cool
"single player fighting game where the ai is bullshit" kinda reminds me of god hand
Wow, that was fast.
Top 10 games that need a sequel or at least an HD remake
Sonic the Fighters (aka Sonic Championship) is so much better than Sonic Battle because Sonic Battle plays nothling like an arcade-styled fighting game. And speaking of Sonic Battle, that game needs a remake and the remade version of Sonic Battle needs the Sonic the Fighters/Sonic Championship treatment. In other words, Sonic Battle on the GBA back in the days was all gimmick and less skill and Sonic Battle was a combination of Power Stone and Super Smash Bros. in the of world Sonic the Hedgehog.
2 videos in 2 days? Who are you and what have you done to Pariah? Now I really have to play this game, it's been sitting in my folder for months.
It's crazy to think that Sonic Team is perfectly capable of making spin-offs like Battle or Riders with some much depth in their mechanics, and experimenting with genres they're not experts with, and then making rookie mistakes in the mainline games like they've never made any 3D platformer before, like the mech stages or allowing spindashing while running, which completely breaks half of the game by itself. It's like multiple teams from different backgrounds brought together to make a platformer when they really don't want to do it.
Now I think about it, if they made a battle 2 today, maybe it would be well received ? Since they don't seem to know what to do with Sonic today.
That one Knuckles fight against several Gammas…
Always loved this game. I just got so mad at the battles to get all of Emerl’s ultimate cards in order to play his most powerful form. Those battles made me so made, I destroyed my original copy of Sonic Battle back then. 😂 Good times.
I'm still missing one of them. Maybe one day.
Thoughts on the Boost games?
A two for one upload and beefy ones at that? Oh oh yes.
This gamw needs a sequel but it needs to be modern pixelated like sonic mania
0:32
Wait what?😂
When I hear about people’s opinions of this game, it tends to be how bad it is.
One of my favourite sonic games on the gba apart from the advance series
Sonic Battle 2 the fan game already exists but I don't remember if it doing something with the mechanics of the original game 🤔