I'm going to do a text-only mini-analysis of the skyboxes for Sonic 2 on the Game Gear, since it's a weaker console/my analysis won't be as in-depth or passionate. Okay, here we go: Under Ground Zone: Unlike its 16-bit counterpart, this version of Sonic 2 is not a "proper" blue sky game. The sky is still there, but it's a darker hue suggesting less ideal conditions. Considering the game is about rescuing Tails, maybe it's intentional to serve as more of a "oh, this is a more serious story" thing. The mountains in the background are nice and craggy, but they're quickly forgotten once you go more subterranean. Sky High Zone: Almost a "blue screen of death" hue to this shade of sky, but it works well with the trees. The trees themselves are pointy to the extent that I feel like someone might confuse them for spikes, but the trunks are high enough that it probably wouldn't happen. The clouds look like popcorn. Now I want popcorn. Aqua Lake Zone: Actual sky aside, this is what I'm talking about. Purple clouds! Weird peaks in the distance! This is the sort of world I wish I could explore more of... though that just might be me wanting any other option than having to go through an underwater maze. Green Hills Zone: You get what you expect. The clouds being diagonal is cool, I suppose, but otherwise there's not much here that isn't done better in Emerald Hill. Gimmick Mountain Zone: This one doesn't really count since it's entirely indoors. The designs on the walls are presentable, but it doesn't really do much to spark the imagination. I suppose that's what the rest of the level is for. Scrambled Egg Zone: Hey, a nighttime level! At least I think it is; what I am considering stars might just be some strange glowing mechanism and it could be another indoors level. That might actually be the case since the background is almost a pitch black rather than anything with more hues like an actual night sky would encompass... though that could just as easily be the limitations of the Game Gear. Crystal Egg Zone: An unfortunately bland ending to the game, with the clouds being the least unique of the bunch. There's also a separate background for the final boss, but it's just another pure black one so it's not worth pointing out. At least the color of the sky matches with the wintry setting. So there you have it. Not as good as what we're shown here, but for what it's working with it does well enough. I feel like later titles such as Triple Trouble probably do even better work, but this is a good start.
I always found that game to be really intriguing oddly even if it's really not worth playing. Like I guess there's something about it trying to look regular light and cutesy but then it has this scary plot of Tails being kidnapped and Sonic is alone to go get him against these much more animal like banitks who look like they straight up want to eat him (especially the first boss) and then if he fails he has to deal with Tails just straight up dying. Like holy shit what did Eggman do, just imagine what him executing Tails looks like in your head. Just one of those weird underground parts of the classic Sonic era I guess alongside all of the odd stuff in CD and the other spinoffs almost no one played. I think I'm just naturally appealed to that stuff which is why I love Sonic R and iceberg charts so much. Classic Sonic is so fun lol.
Ok but please say that you only referred to Emerald Hill Zone as Green Hill Zone and used Green Hill's background in one shot when talking about Emerald Hill was joke because it's hard to tell from your tone of voice.
This is so much better than hearing the thousandth review of these games. It focuses on highlighting what makes these games so beloved and magical and it’s not just objective deconstruction. I love videos that fit that theme-focusing on what evokes that magic feeling in gaming
Yeah definitely. Unfortunately a lot of reviews and breakdowns focus on the objective technical aspects of games. Especially lately with talk of FPS, ray tracing, frame generation.. all that. I like to see what other people really think and feel about a game, on a much more abstract, out of the box level. I play and appreciate games largely for the vibe and atmosphere. I can count on maybe two hands the amount of games I've actually completed, and maybe just the one hand, games that I've done 100%.. but the amount of games that I've sunk hours and hours into simply enjoying the immersion. Too many to name. Games are about fantasy and escapism, and it's best to go into a new (or older) game with an open mind, taking it on its own merits. Ok, the game can't do 'this' or 'that doesn't quite work' but look at 'this' aspect of it. Ya know, games should be fun, and they should be able to be enjoyed regardless of their technical function.
I've always had the same feeling about Casino Night Zone's Skybox/Background, it's always made me feel like I want to cry like that, I'm actually really glad other people get it too. For me the odd melancholy feeling comes from playing the game when I was younger, the lights in the background remind me of being in cars at night and traveling to see relatives or coming back from an event while staring out the window, those sort of scenarios always carry this exciting anticipation feeling of going somewhere fun, or that wistful feeling of coming back from somewhere fun, and also thinking things like 'When I grow up I can visit those lights in the distance myself'. The casino element is also a bit exciting, there were casinos in my town and I was never allowed to go in, it felt mysterious and interesting, seeing all the flashing lights from outside, so Casino Night Zone made me feel like I was seeing something exclusive, maybe something I wasn't meant to see yet. It also reminds me of being on trains as well, a lot of the railways in the UK have trees next to the track, so you get this view of lights off in the distance while the foreground is blocked, kind of like how the lights only start close to the horizon line. (The lights also remind me of old dashboard HUDs in cars, yellows reds and lime-green, but I'm not sure how common that is). Another part of this sort of sad feeling I think came from thinking about the city in the distance, I was rubbish at games as a kid, so I got my dad to play up to Casino Night Zone and then let me just sit with the game on one of the more open areas so I could look at the city, the city looked like it was in the middle of a massive party, what fun things would be out there to see and do? But I always remember having this sad feeling when I thought - what happens when the night ends? Does the city just stop existing? (at least in the sense of its current purpose) Does it just become like every other city from a distance? Will it ever start again once it stops? Even the name 'Casino Night Zone' has some implications there, maybe the night never ends here, or maybe the whole zone exists just for this one moment and then its gone, you move onto the next level and it just isn't there any more. It makes the stage feel a lot more fleeting compared to every other one, you save the animals and make the area safer in the other levels so they can return to normal, but what happens when you leave this stage? I used to wonder if I left the game on long enough whether the sun would come up in the background and I'd get an answer. Games have a lot more magic like that when you're younger, as you don't really know the limitations of what a game is, if you see a city in the background maybe there's a way to get there, you can see it after all, why would it be there otherwise? I think even as an adult now part of me still believes its possible to get to the city in the background, even though I know it isn't, if that makes sense. But looking at the city now while typing this it makes me a bit sad that I'll probably never have that feeling with a game again, but for me at least it just goes to show how flawless this skybox is that even from just looking at it I can feel some echo of that magic feeling from 20 years or so ago. Funny how some pixels can make people feel so much.
One thing about Casino Night zone I noticed: The higher stars parallax more, i.e. move faster, than the lower stars. They're also bigger. So unlike some of the wide-open skyboxes meant to emulate looking forever out over a horizon, Casino Night gives a sense of the stars curving over you, in a closer, more tangible dome. It either makes the stars feel magically close and gives you a kinship with the heaves, or more likely, makes the casino feel much more claustrophobic and artificial than an actual sky would be. Much like some of the mega-buildings in Vegas with their artificial outdoor streets and such. I think it's neat.
Bruh, literally same thing happened to me today and he happened to upload one. My smart TV hadn’t updated for the Sonic 2 video when I was browsing his channel. Had to check on my phone for it.
Listening to you describe the feelings the background of the Casino Night Zone generates for you, I feel like the word 'wistful' is one you may get a lot of mileage out of. I feel like the whole source of this practice is probably that feeling of solemn wonder of something that feels like it definitely exists, but you can only ever know of through hints (i.e. through the small amount of visual information the game designers provide you); of a world beyond the one you know and already love that you will never be able to reach, only look at from a distance, extrapolate from the little details you can see, and wish you could experience in full. Of course, rationally, you know that there really probably isn't anything there that you can't already see, and you can (and, in your case, do) confirm this by doing those out-of-bounds glitches, but the feeling persists anyway, because in the distance, it feels like it HAS to exist.
A word to sort of go along with this is “sonder”. Knowing all the different lives taking places concurrently with yours, but completely separate and unknown to you. The skyline probably also evokes that.
Casino Night's background always felt like it could be a real place that, as a kid, I dreamed of visiting. There was just a sense of awe that I don't think any other 2D background of any game compares to. Even as an adult, despite knowing it's all just a bunch of infinitely repeated pixel art tiles, I still feel this longing feeling of "I want to go there" when I see that background.
In sonic 3, for areas with “large bodies of water” like hydro city, launch base, and I think Ice cap, when you are above the water you can see the surface of the water sprawl out into the distance, but when under the water you see the same thing, but lower, and the closer you get to the surface of the water, the less you see of the sprawl, and the higher or lower you are, the more you see. I know that Angel Island and Carnival night also have water, but I can’t remember if they have this “depth effect”
Angel Island and Carnival Night don't have this effect, which makes sense because they're not as focused on water as say Hydrocity or Launch Base. In Angel Island, there are small pools of water in Act 1 that are harmless, and in Act 2, there's a bit more water to serve as a challenge. In Carnival Night, the water primarily appears in Act 2 and is sort of like a sewer below the carnival in my eyes. I really enjoy how the Sonic 3 half of the game had water in every level except for Marble Garden. It adds to a sense of immersion, you feel like you're on a tropical island where water sources would naturally be prevalent. Shame the Sonic & Knuckles side didn't continue the trend though.
it taps into my nostalgia as a child of looking off into the distance of a made up world and imagining what else could be out there. i remember looking at picture books and imagining what could be obscured thanks to perspective, behind objects or just off the page. this series reminds me of that feeling a lot. but then you grow up and realize the artifice of it all. you could turn on cheats and noclip into the sky, but when you find everything outside of it to be a black void and the world suddenly feels a lot smaller.
sonic adveture 2 has some amazing skyboxes too. pumpkin hill, while not only having an amazing song, gets my mind going wild with just thinking about a location like that and going there. it's not a scary or spooky vibe like you would think, it's hard to put in words. metal harbor is also one of the best open water feel i think i've ever had in a video game, too. check it out if you can!
I strongly agree. I like how Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 modeled and even gave collision to a lot of buildings/structures in the distance that you're not typically supposed to go to. That combined with the great skyboxes makes a really cool feel.
You do a great job of giving meaning to things a lot of people just write off as unimportant and mundane. These videos & your "Unremarkable Places" series are top tier.
It's probably too late, but I can tell you why I think Casino Night Zone's sky box is so beautiful. When I was a kid, the most beautiful thing to me was the lights on in the distance when I was in a car at night. I remember asking my mom where all those lights come from and her telling me that it was all the people as far as we could see. I think, for me, the seen in Casino Night is a similar visual cue that, in what may seem like a souless abyss, we are never truly alone. It must evoke a similar feeling to seeing a campfire in the night when you think you've been lost
dark souls 2 majula and heide's tower of flame is one of the prettiest skyboxes ive seen in a video game. they also made use of visual foreshadowing between those two zones like you were talking about
Yes! Majula's muted sunset is my favorite skybox in the Souls series, and quite possibly my favorite in all of gaming. It creates such an incredible atmosphere in combination with the area's music.
I bet you'll enjoy all the skyboxes in Sonic CD. It's one of my favorite 2D Sonic games visually, and one of my favorite sprite based games in terms of aesthetic
Knuckles' Chaotix would be another good one for that, just the super vibrant almost pop-art colors they use to show off the 32X's palette capabilities, as well as the versions of the level at different times of day.
@@Warsmith_The I absolutely love the one that's like these big cities on cliffs with waterfalls and huge clock towers. Sonic Megamix used it as the background for its Labyrinth Zone equivalent, and it's totally my aesthetic.
Literally just discovered your videos yesterday and thought "damn he should do one for classic Sonic, those games had amazing backgrounds" and here we are Sonic 3 and Knuckles would also be a good video imo
This and the unremarkable locations series are so fun, I enjoy seeing you walk through the oddly specific art forms of video games and the experiences they provide. If you're doing more of these from the Genesis I suggest Ristar. It would be a very good compliment to Sonic here.
I recently ran into your channel via yt recommended videos and i was really thinking to myself how refreshing and funny your content really is, wondering how I've never seen your channel before i decided to dig through your channel only to find out that i HAVE watched your videos before. you're the legend behind all those eggbusters videos i used to watch as a kid 10 or so years ago youre killing it man i love these skybox and unremarkable places videos
A game I personally feel really fits into the whole "Blue Sky Games" thing, vibe, and or aesthetic is Megaman Legends. All of Kattelox Island feels like that, it's vibrant, the sky is blue it reminds me of the carefree summers of childhood.
I don't know what is so emotional about Casino Zone, but I get that same feeling from the title screen of Sim City SNES. It makes me ridiculously emotional and introspective. Pixelated city scapes have some weird magic going on
Besides the actual beauty of retro games, ur content ist doing wonders to my mental health. Idk makes me appreciate the smaller things more, brightens up the bigger picture. It feels like someone finally just took my brain and rinsed it off under cold water, gave it a good scrub and put it back in.
Austin has a unique way of talking that I really enjoy He can’t really get his words together very well and struggles to make coherent, structured sentences. But somehow everything he says just instantly transmits what he is trying to say directly into your brain. Like there’s some subconscious understanding where he can throw out a phrase and it convey a feeling on a deep emotional level where you get where he is coming from while still understanding that the phrase shouldn’t really work. I know I’m making it sound like he has some sort of psychic power but really I think he just has good vocabulary and is great at opening himself up and conveying what he is thinking on a deeper level.
I think I have a reason why. I felt the exact same way when I played Casino Night Zone. It’s not only the loneliness, but the idea of being somewhere so remote and high, that you can see all the lights and what could be cars, going about a busy night. Sometimes you ask, I wonder what each of the people in their cars are doing, where are they going? You feel so distant from everything and everyone else, but the world looks so busy.
This awoke a bunch of memories in me of going on long car journeys with my parents and looking out of the window as we drove past power plants in the sunset and saw cities in the distance on the motorway at night and quite literally having daydreams about Sonic the Hedgehog storylines that could take place in them because I was like 5. Also you should check out the original Rayman for PC! Those backgrounds were so beautiful
While in bootcamp at San Diego, I loved watching the city at night. Being on the outside so far away and seeing the night life and twinkling of the city makes you feel a part of something much greater, but isolated at the same time. That’s how Casino Night has always made me feel.
I’ve watched many of your videos over the past two weeks since I first found your channel, and I’ve really been enjoying this skybox series. Gives me a new appreciation for my favourite games. This is my first time commenting, though, as I typically am watching RUclips on my TV, which does not support comments. I just happen to be on my iPad at the moment, and I wanted to express my pleasant surprise at enjoying this video, as Sonic 2 is not a game that I’ve ever played. And yet I still really enjoyed the video due to your awkward, yet thorough style (definitely intended as a compliment, by the way!). Keep doing you! Thanks for the content! :D
I mean he could call it "Austin is talkin about games again, what does he like today?" and i'd watch every single one, these slap so hard and i love the vibes and the chillness.
I've been watching your channel since I was we little lad and you've helped me really not care what people think you always make me think about life and have helped me grow as a human thanks for being an awsome content creator and ill always watch you until the end Austin please keep making these videos ! They make so happy ! I dont see anyone else do this type of stuff your channel is super unique
For skybox appreciation: Rayman 1! In the zones in that game, you can see imagery from the other zones in the backgrounds. Really cool way of unifying the world. Also Rayman 1 is just real pretty
Your Casino Night Zone cursing was wonderful. XD Another great skybox/backgrounds video! I always loved the sheer diversity of this game's environments. As for the skybox you left out... I mean, there is the Special Stage playing in the background while you say that. :P That counts, though it is rather abstract of one. I could also get technical and start bringing up the zones in the Sonic 2 prototypes...Hidden Palace Zone in particular has rather-complete (and imo very nice-looking) backgrounds.
Love the video. The Sonic 2 visuals reminded me why I always loved it so much, everything visually is so polished and detailed, and Tails is like a loving cat. Emotional: well these games really go very deep, things like love / friendships, and enjoying traveling etc. I consider NiGHTS as the best evolution of classic Sonic and it’s all dreams and love, spirituality, etc. But Sonic 2 is just beautiful and I appreciate looking at the backgrounds. You left out the special zones of course…. The physics gameplay really resembles bicycling around hills imo. Casino background is emotional because of the loving context with Tails being there with Sonic, and it’s always emotional to look at the world from such a distance that it looks impossibly beautiful, like distant cityscapes or landscapes or even photos of earth from space.
I really appreciate your unique topics focusing on such underappreciated, smaller things in games. These discussions actually make these games better during your next playthrough when keeping them in mind.
I remember playing this game years ago and I forgot just how amazing the backgrounds are. My absolute favorite parallax scrolling background in any game I've played though is from Kingdom Two Crowns. It's not a very old game but combined with the music it creates the most beautiful and peaceful atmosphere I've ever experienced. Highly recommend it just for the vibes alone.
When I was a student, I did this group art show, for fun. and the piece I submitted - it was one of those red viewfinder things, with the paper picture wheel, with all the 3D pictures that you flick through. So I made tiny little 3D pictures using the skyboxes from those 16-bit games. I can't explain why, but I just thought there was something wonderful about those misty mountains, twinkly skylines, fluffy clouds and shimmering oceans just out of reach....so lovely. one additional thought I want to add. The skybox in sonic and knuckles where you are inside the volcano and the crashed death egg is ominously staring down at you - just *chefs kiss*
Love this series!! It's making me have a whole new appreciation for art in a lot of games I already love. My suggestion for this series would be Actraiser for SNES. A lot of the skies and backgrounds totally capture the raw and primordial feel of each area, telling you what kind of land you're in purely by the visual spectacle of each level. Some good parallax effects there.
yo austin you need to check out final fantasy 13 because that is one beautiful looking game and its got some really nice skyboxes i think that game might be more skybox than game so it might be right up your alley for this series if you ever wanna check out something new
This video was especially good, I felt like you were really having fun making this one. Your passion for the subject really shows. Thank you for sharing with us.
Sonic 2’s skies are great but Sonic 3’s really are something. One aspect of 3’s that I really like and I’m sure you would too is how it handles water surfaces in Hyrdocity and Launch Base Zones, they have parallax depending on the depth and they look so good
The Windows 3.1 solitaire game let you pick the image on the back of the cards, two of which were kinda sky boxy in that sense. One was a relaxing beach image with a bird that would randomly show up. And the other was a spooky night shot of a castle silhouetted against the moon.
feel like saying I appreciate the subtle CRT effect you have going on, it's doing a pretty good job of giving a bit of a horizontal blur that is important to the feel.
I’ve watched your videos for so long now and they’ve always been such a treat, thank you for always being you. I think you’d enjoy the Spyro the Dragon skyboxes. IMO they are the cream of the crop of what you can find on the PS1 and invoke such a magical sense of peace.
I think that the skybox of Casino Night Zone almost evokes a feeling of... nostalgia? Not sure if that's the right word. It just brings about this feeling of driving to the airport in the middle of the night to catch a cheap flight, seeing the lights whizz by. What a wonderful video this was :)
Just discovered this channel, your videos are fuckin amazing man. I 100% relate to the sort of feelings you evoke in all your vids. Idk if there's a word for it, maybe its just nostalgia, but man, you really nail it with the specific examples you pick. Idk, I'm rambling, just stopping by to say keep up the amazing work, and also.. Dark Souls is PERFECT for the odd and unremarkable places vids!
Sir this is a really nice vid for me to enjoy and rewatch during a time that life is a mess haha. For what it's worth, to me, Sonic 2 is far more meaningful than most of the later-gen titles that you mostly focus on. I've played Ocarina a bit so I can appreciate your vids on Ocarina, but otherwise your other titles are later than my personal scope of exprience. I love the classics of the 90's especially, I think 2D gaming really hit its peak. :) This vid also reminded me of how polished Sonic 2's graphics are, whereas Sonic 3 alone has a few jarring graphical problems here and there. Also the soundtrack is just divine in Sonic 2, especially knowing that the end theme was turned into an actual love song with lyrics, the song from when Tails is saving Sonic from falling. :D
Might be too old of a game to really talk too much about, but the casino level in Sonic 2 gives me a vibe similar to Rad Racer's second level. It's overlooking a gorgeous (for the NES) cityscape too and I love it. They did some pretty cool stuff with the skies in that game imo.
just got back from taking my cat to the er and she's really enjoying smacking your face as hard as possible. i love the sonic franchise and love this video
6:00 Austin you could wax poetic about skyboxes and how you interpret them and what they evoke, and I don't think anyone would mind. That's what we're here for!
I'm so bad at fighting games, but the one thing that draws me in has to be the gorgeous art used in stage backgrounds. 2D or 3D, Because of how fighting games work, they're usually able to put a lot more time and effort into them compared to other games.
ive never played sonic 2, so i went and watched a clip of someone playing through the casino nights. the music is upbeat but feels very lonely. that combined with the visual of a very distant city youre separated from by an abyss give the level that emotional touch you described
I loved this video, The skybox that you omited was the one playing in the the background when you asked; The special stage. I want to see more sonic skyboxes/skys/ whatever.
Your recent videos remind me of the way I used to look at videogame levels as a small child. For instance, the landscapes and cities in backgrounds - who lives there, where is it, can I go there? Leaving aside the word "imagination", it seems people tend to eventually stop paying attention to the small, otherwise insignificant details that serve no practical purpose. This series inspired me to try and be more mindful of all that, there's a lot of unnoticed things to appreciate when one stops to soak in the vibes, be it in games or real life. So uh, thank you for that.
Dude. I am reallllly enjoying and appreciating this series bud! These videos are entertaining, nostalgic and uses such a unique lense to look back at these incredible games of old. Keep these skyyyybox vids coming my guy and I shall keep visiting these beautiful and strange places with ya! (I would like to add, that along with the strange and unremarkable places series wich has also been straight 🔥 the content has been all around great these last few weeks). Would love to see Metroid Prime and Prime Echoes make a skybox appearance as well if that wasnt already on the consdiration list! As a Metroid Prime Speedrunner. I have spent mannnny a hours surrounded/ stuck in the wonderful skyboxs of talon and aether lol.
Reasons why Casino Night is so beautiful: 1. Any city against a body of water is just way more romantic. The best skyline shots of NY nearly always include the Hudson river. 2. Casino Night (despite being filled with enemies) has a playful atmosphere. Its like Las Vegas, but less cheap somehow. Monte Carlo perhaps. You feel like you are on holiday. 3. Night-time cityscapes are magical because of all the twinkly lights. The danger, the grime, the chaos is too far away to see, all you see is a glimpse of utopia, and Cityscapes have the capacity for many imagined stories. Each light is a window into someone else's world, someone else's hopes and dreams. A bedroom, an office working late, a living room etc. 4. Even though its night time, it feels warm. The skyline is a symphony of colour. 5. Generally in Sonic 2, there is a dissonance between the foreground and the background, The foreground is filled with enemies, and the backgrounds are always utopian and feel idyllic. Primarily because you can never reach them. This is why 16bit games feel this way. In newer games, you can just go off and explore, and while that's cool - its a bit like real life where you go to that place on the horizon and realise the grass is no greener, and was far more enchanting (?) when it was a backdrop. But then that's a lot like being a child right? As a child, you are fenced in, you cannot just go wherever you like. You are limited, and this instils a sense of wanderlust and wonder because everything beyond your scope is a fantasy place where anything is possible.
Sonic 2 Aquatic Ruins also has a particular CRT element to it's skyboxes-level-art, that I haven't seen reproduced by a CRT filter (maybe it's not possible) There is a real sense of 3D to the parallax scrolling; to the point where the vegetation that scrolls in the foreground really seems to be closer to you than the plains that have Sonic or the background. I think it might be because of the way a CRT is lit from within it's bulb or something, but when I first re-discovered this after having not played on CRT since the early 2000s it really made me appreciate these 16-bit games and their tricks.
I think the best sky boxes/backgrounds make you sit and wonder what’s just over the horizon in this world you’re immersed in. For some reason, I always had this feeling with DK 64 and Sonic R. Lol but even with the 2d Sonics, there’s always this feeling that Mobius is a beautiful place, you just never get to see it the way you want to. Then when I saw the Sonic the Hedgehog OVA, it did a great job at illustrating the beauty and wonder hinted at by the 2d Sonic backgrounds.
I have appreciated your series so far after joining the train during the drowning video popped up on my feed and then going back through a lot of the egg buster videos. For content sake I enjoy this type of video along with the egg buster series though that mostly seemed just interesting where this I enjoy 100%. You cool, thank :)
I'm actually a huge Sonic The Hedgehog nerd. It's probably why I'm easily distracted and my output is spotty but when Sonic hits I think it really hits. Just a lot of fun elements being cooked together to splash out this wild experience. It's unrelated to the skybox discussion but I really enjoy how the games on the Genesis don't sound like Genesis music necessarily. Lots of music from the Sega Genesis has that like BWAONG or TWANZG sound which I can dig but you find that sound across so many Genesis games. I don't know who was responsible for this but whoever was in charge of putting this songs onto the cartridges really knew how to utilize that Yamaha soundchip. You left out the Special Stage skybox which I always love that abstract surrealism in the Sonic Special Stages. Really makes it feel other wordly. The first Sonic's Special Stages are super cool visually but super not fun to play so I always get the first one and that's about it.
I love in Super Mario Sunshine how they have the miniatures of levels in all other levels. Looking over Ricco Harbor from the top of Bianco Hills just hits.
What you said about casino sky box is how I feel about the oil level sunset sky box. It makes me think about sitting on a rooftop looking at the distant factories and just thinking about good times and life in general while admiring the sunset 🌇 damn love it so much
Your channel functions as a boat in the sea of game related content. So many personalities in the "gaming community" become very me-centric. The videos and games become tools to grow the ego of the creator and you really have to be into that person in order to get something from it (for better or for worse). You have this very rare form of observation where you manage to point at the game in a specific style, but don't also use the opportunity to point at yourself. You obviously have your own perspective that people jive with, but mostly you let the game stand on its own two feet and speak for itself. Thanks for making content that opens up more than focuses. Love you, bb.
Id kinda like to see one about Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, especially because of those planets in the background in both you never really go to, like those DS-looking things which are actually the outside of bonus rooms or the giant pancakes in Sweet Mystery
The reason casino nights is so beautiful is the breadth of associations it can inspire in a single instant. The more associations there are, the more complex and unique the synthesis of this instant feedback will be.
In a similar vein, id love to see a skybox appreciation of Sonic Advance 3! The advance series in general is very underrated and i think the skyboxes in that game are incredibly well done
One of my favourite 'skybox' collections is in the original River City Ransom. I hope you cover it someday. It does that bit with representation of other areas thing very well, I find, and different parts of the city are shown off not just in the foreground, but the background as well. I know it's not a true sky box, but Technos Japan knocked it out of Sherman Park with their background work. Again, I hope you cover it; my appreciation for the random shots of powerlines in that game has led me to your channel and I think we might share the same type of feelings towards this kind of thing. Have a great day!
In Mystic Cave zone, those green things along the bottom aren't trees or leaves, they're green stalagmites! Which if you're into Sonic lore, might start to get you thinking about where Chaos Emeralds come from. What exactly is "mystic" about the cave? It seems to me that the green stalacmites are glowing and providing the cave with a light source, as I don't see another place where light could be coming from. The man-made wood/metal/brick pieces throughout seem to be the remains of some sort of minecart-esque pathway. There was also a scrapped level called Hidden Palace Zone that was added back into the game in re-releases. It is purposefully very similar to the Chaos Emerald Shrine from Sonic 3 (also housed in a place called Hidden Palace Zone) 2D Sonic games put a fascinating amount of work into subtle environmental storytelling. Looking at the backgrounds has always made me think deeper about how the world works.
Your appreciation of the casino Night zone background reminds me very much of the emotions that pour over me every time I boot up SimCity on SNES and that city background and music kicks in. I’d say you should also do a 2D appreciation for the original Streets of Rage
You should make a video like this about Sonic Mania, there are so many backgrounds that I resenate with in that game like the one in Press Garden Zone Act 1 with the rain on the windows and the one in Lava Reef Act 1 with that awesome volcanoe at the top. But I think the ones I like the most are the backgrounds for the special stages, especially the second one with all the neon buildings and giant fish
A way I could interpret Casino Night Zone making someone sad is that the expansive space above and all the black space in the middle makes you feel the scale of the world and how small you are. The town is very bright and a lot is going on, but compared to the space and stars above, the city just feels like just a small corner of the universe. For me the black space between the foreground buildings and the sky buildings in the distance make me feel a sense of distance like you're there but you're not really there. Like everything is going on in sight but out of reach.
This is such a cool idea for a video. Your drowning video popped into my recommended and I've been binging your videos since. They're very unique! I'd love to see more skybox videos like this. If I had to say a suggestion, I'd say Super Mario Galaxy (and I'd also throw in its sequel as well). Setting aside my love for these two games, I've always dug how atmospheric and transcendent the backgrounds of the galaxies make me feel. There are such a wide variety of them, both bright and cheerful and dark and melancholic alike. I'd love to see a video just highlighting them.
the nostalgia feels from this are real. the original sonic trillogy was the first series of games i was ever in to (sonic 2 being probably the first one i ever played). would love to see more classic sonic content
you said we're herer for the backrounds and ignore your voice but in the best way it's like a joe pera type beat and I just listen to your videos then rewatch them when I'm not busy
If we're appreciating 2D skies then you should check out Celeste. There isn't usually much depth to the backgrounds, but the colours are always so striking. The golden ridge level in particular... Holy moly, that just does something for me.
Whenever I used to say how beautiful I found the backgrounds of Sonic 2 and how much I wanted to live in them I used to get weird looks. I'm so glad they are getting the appreciation here. Casino Nights is particularly close to my heart
I don't know about you but for me it vividly reminds me of how I felt when I was first taken to an amusement park. The art on your wall is mwah as well, great feeling and style were put into it, purple and red is an iconic color combo, very enjoyable.
Amazing video once again, man! I’m not sure if the Sonic games take place on Sonic’s Planet Mobius or not. I know isn’t Earth but the year is in the 3000s on Mobius so Sonic takes place in the future in which in Sonic Adventure, Sonic can somehow mix with Earthlings. Weird. Keep up the awesome vids!
I'm going to do a text-only mini-analysis of the skyboxes for Sonic 2 on the Game Gear, since it's a weaker console/my analysis won't be as in-depth or passionate.
Okay, here we go:
Under Ground Zone: Unlike its 16-bit counterpart, this version of Sonic 2 is not a "proper" blue sky game. The sky is still there, but it's a darker hue suggesting less ideal conditions. Considering the game is about rescuing Tails, maybe it's intentional to serve as more of a "oh, this is a more serious story" thing. The mountains in the background are nice and craggy, but they're quickly forgotten once you go more subterranean.
Sky High Zone: Almost a "blue screen of death" hue to this shade of sky, but it works well with the trees. The trees themselves are pointy to the extent that I feel like someone might confuse them for spikes, but the trunks are high enough that it probably wouldn't happen. The clouds look like popcorn. Now I want popcorn.
Aqua Lake Zone: Actual sky aside, this is what I'm talking about. Purple clouds! Weird peaks in the distance! This is the sort of world I wish I could explore more of... though that just might be me wanting any other option than having to go through an underwater maze.
Green Hills Zone: You get what you expect. The clouds being diagonal is cool, I suppose, but otherwise there's not much here that isn't done better in Emerald Hill.
Gimmick Mountain Zone: This one doesn't really count since it's entirely indoors. The designs on the walls are presentable, but it doesn't really do much to spark the imagination. I suppose that's what the rest of the level is for.
Scrambled Egg Zone: Hey, a nighttime level! At least I think it is; what I am considering stars might just be some strange glowing mechanism and it could be another indoors level. That might actually be the case since the background is almost a pitch black rather than anything with more hues like an actual night sky would encompass... though that could just as easily be the limitations of the Game Gear.
Crystal Egg Zone: An unfortunately bland ending to the game, with the clouds being the least unique of the bunch. There's also a separate background for the final boss, but it's just another pure black one so it's not worth pointing out. At least the color of the sky matches with the wintry setting.
So there you have it. Not as good as what we're shown here, but for what it's working with it does well enough. I feel like later titles such as Triple Trouble probably do even better work, but this is a good start.
I always found that game to be really intriguing oddly even if it's really not worth playing. Like I guess there's something about it trying to look regular light and cutesy but then it has this scary plot of Tails being kidnapped and Sonic is alone to go get him against these much more animal like banitks who look like they straight up want to eat him (especially the first boss) and then if he fails he has to deal with Tails just straight up dying. Like holy shit what did Eggman do, just imagine what him executing Tails looks like in your head.
Just one of those weird underground parts of the classic Sonic era I guess alongside all of the odd stuff in CD and the other spinoffs almost no one played. I think I'm just naturally appealed to that stuff which is why I love Sonic R and iceberg charts so much.
Classic Sonic is so fun lol.
Ok but please say that you only referred to Emerald Hill Zone as Green Hill Zone and used Green Hill's background in one shot when talking about Emerald Hill was joke because it's hard to tell from your tone of voice.
This is so much better than hearing the thousandth review of these games. It focuses on highlighting what makes these games so beloved and magical and it’s not just objective deconstruction. I love videos that fit that theme-focusing on what evokes that magic feeling in gaming
Yeah definitely. Unfortunately a lot of reviews and breakdowns focus on the objective technical aspects of games. Especially lately with talk of FPS, ray tracing, frame generation.. all that.
I like to see what other people really think and feel about a game, on a much more abstract, out of the box level.
I play and appreciate games largely for the vibe and atmosphere. I can count on maybe two hands the amount of games I've actually completed, and maybe just the one hand, games that I've done 100%..
but the amount of games that I've sunk hours and hours into simply enjoying the immersion. Too many to name.
Games are about fantasy and escapism, and it's best to go into a new (or older) game with an open mind, taking it on its own merits.
Ok, the game can't do 'this' or 'that doesn't quite work' but look at 'this' aspect of it.
Ya know, games should be fun, and they should be able to be enjoyed regardless of their technical function.
I really appreciate your use of a CRT filter to sell how the games were intended to look at the time they were made. It's a beloved touch.
I've always had the same feeling about Casino Night Zone's Skybox/Background, it's always made me feel like I want to cry like that, I'm actually really glad other people get it too.
For me the odd melancholy feeling comes from playing the game when I was younger, the lights in the background remind me of being in cars at night and traveling to see relatives or coming back from an event while staring out the window, those sort of scenarios always carry this exciting anticipation feeling of going somewhere fun, or that wistful feeling of coming back from somewhere fun, and also thinking things like 'When I grow up I can visit those lights in the distance myself'. The casino element is also a bit exciting, there were casinos in my town and I was never allowed to go in, it felt mysterious and interesting, seeing all the flashing lights from outside, so Casino Night Zone made me feel like I was seeing something exclusive, maybe something I wasn't meant to see yet.
It also reminds me of being on trains as well, a lot of the railways in the UK have trees next to the track, so you get this view of lights off in the distance while the foreground is blocked, kind of like how the lights only start close to the horizon line. (The lights also remind me of old dashboard HUDs in cars, yellows reds and lime-green, but I'm not sure how common that is).
Another part of this sort of sad feeling I think came from thinking about the city in the distance, I was rubbish at games as a kid, so I got my dad to play up to Casino Night Zone and then let me just sit with the game on one of the more open areas so I could look at the city, the city looked like it was in the middle of a massive party, what fun things would be out there to see and do? But I always remember having this sad feeling when I thought - what happens when the night ends? Does the city just stop existing? (at least in the sense of its current purpose) Does it just become like every other city from a distance? Will it ever start again once it stops? Even the name 'Casino Night Zone' has some implications there, maybe the night never ends here, or maybe the whole zone exists just for this one moment and then its gone, you move onto the next level and it just isn't there any more. It makes the stage feel a lot more fleeting compared to every other one, you save the animals and make the area safer in the other levels so they can return to normal, but what happens when you leave this stage?
I used to wonder if I left the game on long enough whether the sun would come up in the background and I'd get an answer. Games have a lot more magic like that when you're younger, as you don't really know the limitations of what a game is, if you see a city in the background maybe there's a way to get there, you can see it after all, why would it be there otherwise? I think even as an adult now part of me still believes its possible to get to the city in the background, even though I know it isn't, if that makes sense. But looking at the city now while typing this it makes me a bit sad that I'll probably never have that feeling with a game again, but for me at least it just goes to show how flawless this skybox is that even from just looking at it I can feel some echo of that magic feeling from 20 years or so ago. Funny how some pixels can make people feel so much.
Oh innocent childhood
Yeah you nailed it
i teally appreciate how you have the PERFECT crt overlay for this. it wouldnt hit the same at all if it was just base footage
One thing about Casino Night zone I noticed: The higher stars parallax more, i.e. move faster, than the lower stars. They're also bigger. So unlike some of the wide-open skyboxes meant to emulate looking forever out over a horizon, Casino Night gives a sense of the stars curving over you, in a closer, more tangible dome. It either makes the stars feel magically close and gives you a kinship with the heaves, or more likely, makes the casino feel much more claustrophobic and artificial than an actual sky would be. Much like some of the mega-buildings in Vegas with their artificial outdoor streets and such. I think it's neat.
Excellent contribution
Found your channel today and watched the whole sky box series, only for you to upload a new episode an hour later. What a treat. Kachow.
Wow the same thing happened to me. These videos are great.
@@franciscocarrera9183 the algorithm has blessed him
Bruh, literally same thing happened to me today and he happened to upload one. My smart TV hadn’t updated for the Sonic 2 video when I was browsing his channel. Had to check on my phone for it.
Same here lmao, algorithm must be pushing the guy today
If you're looking for more, his previous flagship series, eggbusters, is also great.
Listening to you describe the feelings the background of the Casino Night Zone generates for you, I feel like the word 'wistful' is one you may get a lot of mileage out of.
I feel like the whole source of this practice is probably that feeling of solemn wonder of something that feels like it definitely exists, but you can only ever know of through hints (i.e. through the small amount of visual information the game designers provide you); of a world beyond the one you know and already love that you will never be able to reach, only look at from a distance, extrapolate from the little details you can see, and wish you could experience in full. Of course, rationally, you know that there really probably isn't anything there that you can't already see, and you can (and, in your case, do) confirm this by doing those out-of-bounds glitches, but the feeling persists anyway, because in the distance, it feels like it HAS to exist.
A word to sort of go along with this is “sonder”. Knowing all the different lives taking places concurrently with yours, but completely separate and unknown to you. The skyline probably also evokes that.
It’s like imagination that feels real, waking up from a dream to be disappointed, looking at a rainbow and never being able to actually go there
Casino Night's background always felt like it could be a real place that, as a kid, I dreamed of visiting. There was just a sense of awe that I don't think any other 2D background of any game compares to. Even as an adult, despite knowing it's all just a bunch of infinitely repeated pixel art tiles, I still feel this longing feeling of "I want to go there" when I see that background.
In sonic 3, for areas with “large bodies of water” like hydro city, launch base, and I think Ice cap, when you are above the water you can see the surface of the water sprawl out into the distance, but when under the water you see the same thing, but lower, and the closer you get to the surface of the water, the less you see of the sprawl, and the higher or lower you are, the more you see. I know that Angel Island and Carnival night also have water, but I can’t remember if they have this “depth effect”
This is also parallax scrolling- this would specifically be vertical parallax as oppossed to the more common horizontal parallax
Angel Island and Carnival Night don't have this effect, which makes sense because they're not as focused on water as say Hydrocity or Launch Base. In Angel Island, there are small pools of water in Act 1 that are harmless, and in Act 2, there's a bit more water to serve as a challenge. In Carnival Night, the water primarily appears in Act 2 and is sort of like a sewer below the carnival in my eyes. I really enjoy how the Sonic 3 half of the game had water in every level except for Marble Garden. It adds to a sense of immersion, you feel like you're on a tropical island where water sources would naturally be prevalent. Shame the Sonic & Knuckles side didn't continue the trend though.
it taps into my nostalgia as a child of looking off into the distance of a made up world and imagining what else could be out there. i remember looking at picture books and imagining what could be obscured thanks to perspective, behind objects or just off the page. this series reminds me of that feeling a lot. but then you grow up and realize the artifice of it all. you could turn on cheats and noclip into the sky, but when you find everything outside of it to be a black void and the world suddenly feels a lot smaller.
This 👍
yup. I feel like a lot of people are here for this exact reason. cant believe it took someone so long to make a series out of it.
Absolutely. It’s imagination, it’s nostalgia of childhood, playing these games As a kid they really felt like real worlds
sonic adveture 2 has some amazing skyboxes too. pumpkin hill, while not only having an amazing song, gets my mind going wild with just thinking about a location like that and going there. it's not a scary or spooky vibe like you would think, it's hard to put in words. metal harbor is also one of the best open water feel i think i've ever had in a video game, too. check it out if you can!
I strongly agree. I like how Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 modeled and even gave collision to a lot of buildings/structures in the distance that you're not typically supposed to go to. That combined with the great skyboxes makes a really cool feel.
You do a great job of giving meaning to things a lot of people just write off as unimportant and mundane. These videos & your "Unremarkable Places" series are top tier.
It's probably too late, but I can tell you why I think Casino Night Zone's sky box is so beautiful. When I was a kid, the most beautiful thing to me was the lights on in the distance when I was in a car at night. I remember asking my mom where all those lights come from and her telling me that it was all the people as far as we could see.
I think, for me, the seen in Casino Night is a similar visual cue that, in what may seem like a souless abyss, we are never truly alone. It must evoke a similar feeling to seeing a campfire in the night when you think you've been lost
dark souls 2 majula and heide's tower of flame is one of the prettiest skyboxes ive seen in a video game. they also made use of visual foreshadowing between those two zones like you were talking about
Yes! Majula's muted sunset is my favorite skybox in the Souls series, and quite possibly my favorite in all of gaming. It creates such an incredible atmosphere in combination with the area's music.
I bet you'll enjoy all the skyboxes in Sonic CD. It's one of my favorite 2D Sonic games visually, and one of my favorite sprite based games in terms of aesthetic
Knuckles' Chaotix would be another good one for that, just the super vibrant almost pop-art colors they use to show off the 32X's palette capabilities, as well as the versions of the level at different times of day.
@@ExaltedUriel Yeah definitely, that's another one of my favorites. I love the surreal stuff. Maybe he could do some Kirby games too
CD's special stage backgrounds are really something else.
@@Warsmith_The I absolutely love the one that's like these big cities on cliffs with waterfalls and huge clock towers. Sonic Megamix used it as the background for its Labyrinth Zone equivalent, and it's totally my aesthetic.
@@ExaltedUriel Yes! That's the best one!
Literally just discovered your videos yesterday and thought "damn he should do one for classic Sonic, those games had amazing backgrounds" and here we are
Sonic 3 and Knuckles would also be a good video imo
"id rather look at this than a real flower" that killed me lmaoo
This and the unremarkable locations series are so fun, I enjoy seeing you walk through the oddly specific art forms of video games and the experiences they provide.
If you're doing more of these from the Genesis I suggest Ristar. It would be a very good compliment to Sonic here.
I recently ran into your channel via yt recommended videos and i was really thinking to myself how refreshing and funny your content really is, wondering how I've never seen your channel before
i decided to dig through your channel only to find out that i HAVE watched your videos before. you're the legend behind all those eggbusters videos i used to watch as a kid 10 or so years ago
youre killing it man i love these skybox and unremarkable places videos
A game I personally feel really fits into the whole "Blue Sky Games" thing, vibe, and or aesthetic is Megaman Legends. All of Kattelox Island feels like that, it's vibrant, the sky is blue it reminds me of the carefree summers of childhood.
Yes! Megaman Legends is such a vibrant, beautiful game.
Legends 2 has great locales as well.
You already mentioned it on Twitter, but man I am excited for you to look at the Original Spyro Trilogy Skyboxes. Keep going bananaramas Austin
I don't know what is so emotional about Casino Zone, but I get that same feeling from the title screen of Sim City SNES. It makes me ridiculously emotional and introspective. Pixelated city scapes have some weird magic going on
I said the same thing. First thing I thought of a well
Besides the actual beauty of retro games, ur content ist doing wonders to my mental health.
Idk makes me appreciate the smaller things more, brightens up the bigger picture.
It feels like someone finally just took my brain and rinsed it off under cold water, gave it a good scrub and put it back in.
this is a comment I’ll remember for a while!
Austin has a unique way of talking that I really enjoy
He can’t really get his words together very well and struggles to make coherent, structured sentences. But somehow everything he says just instantly transmits what he is trying to say directly into your brain. Like there’s some subconscious understanding where he can throw out a phrase and it convey a feeling on a deep emotional level where you get where he is coming from while still understanding that the phrase shouldn’t really work. I know I’m making it sound like he has some sort of psychic power but really I think he just has good vocabulary and is great at opening himself up and conveying what he is thinking on a deeper level.
I think I have a reason why. I felt the exact same way when I played Casino Night Zone.
It’s not only the loneliness, but the idea of being somewhere so remote and high, that you can see all the lights and what could be cars, going about a busy night. Sometimes you ask, I wonder what each of the people in their cars are doing, where are they going?
You feel so distant from everything and everyone else, but the world looks so busy.
This awoke a bunch of memories in me of going on long car journeys with my parents and looking out of the window as we drove past power plants in the sunset and saw cities in the distance on the motorway at night and quite literally having daydreams about Sonic the Hedgehog storylines that could take place in them because I was like 5.
Also you should check out the original Rayman for PC! Those backgrounds were so beautiful
While in bootcamp at San Diego, I loved watching the city at night. Being on the outside so far away and seeing the night life and twinkling of the city makes you feel a part of something much greater, but isolated at the same time. That’s how Casino Night has always made me feel.
I’ve watched many of your videos over the past two weeks since I first found your channel, and I’ve really been enjoying this skybox series. Gives me a new appreciation for my favourite games. This is my first time commenting, though, as I typically am watching RUclips on my TV, which does not support comments. I just happen to be on my iPad at the moment, and I wanted to express my pleasant surprise at enjoying this video, as Sonic 2 is not a game that I’ve ever played. And yet I still really enjoyed the video due to your awkward, yet thorough style (definitely intended as a compliment, by the way!). Keep doing you! Thanks for the content! :D
Bruh the game is free on mobile devices
I mean he could call it "Austin is talkin about games again, what does he like today?" and i'd watch every single one, these slap so hard and i love the vibes and the chillness.
I've been watching your channel since I was we little lad and you've helped me really not care what people think you always make me think about life and have helped me grow as a human thanks for being an awsome content creator and ill always watch you until the end Austin please keep making these videos ! They make so happy ! I dont see anyone else do this type of stuff your channel is super unique
For skybox appreciation: Rayman 1! In the zones in that game, you can see imagery from the other zones in the backgrounds. Really cool way of unifying the world. Also Rayman 1 is just real pretty
In fact, I think a lot of Rayman games would work really well in both the skybox appreciation and the weird and uninteresting places series.
Your Casino Night Zone cursing was wonderful. XD
Another great skybox/backgrounds video! I always loved the sheer diversity of this game's environments.
As for the skybox you left out... I mean, there is the Special Stage playing in the background while you say that. :P That counts, though it is rather abstract of one. I could also get technical and start bringing up the zones in the Sonic 2 prototypes...Hidden Palace Zone in particular has rather-complete (and imo very nice-looking) backgrounds.
Love the video. The Sonic 2 visuals reminded me why I always loved it so much, everything visually is so polished and detailed, and Tails is like a loving cat. Emotional: well these games really go very deep, things like love / friendships, and enjoying traveling etc. I consider NiGHTS as the best evolution of classic Sonic and it’s all dreams and love, spirituality, etc. But Sonic 2 is just beautiful and I appreciate looking at the backgrounds. You left out the special zones of course…. The physics gameplay really resembles bicycling around hills imo. Casino background is emotional because of the loving context with Tails being there with Sonic, and it’s always emotional to look at the world from such a distance that it looks impossibly beautiful, like distant cityscapes or landscapes or even photos of earth from space.
I really appreciate your unique topics focusing on such underappreciated, smaller things in games. These discussions actually make these games better during your next playthrough when keeping them in mind.
that’s a beautiful thing to read
I remember playing this game years ago and I forgot just how amazing the backgrounds are. My absolute favorite parallax scrolling background in any game I've played though is from Kingdom Two Crowns. It's not a very old game but combined with the music it creates the most beautiful and peaceful atmosphere I've ever experienced. Highly recommend it just for the vibes alone.
When I was a student, I did this group art show, for fun. and the piece I submitted - it was one of those red viewfinder things, with the paper picture wheel, with all the 3D pictures that you flick through. So I made tiny little 3D pictures using the skyboxes from those 16-bit games. I can't explain why, but I just thought there was something wonderful about those misty mountains, twinkly skylines, fluffy clouds and shimmering oceans just out of reach....so lovely.
one additional thought I want to add.
The skybox in sonic and knuckles where you are inside the volcano and the crashed death egg is ominously staring down at you - just *chefs kiss*
Love this series!! It's making me have a whole new appreciation for art in a lot of games I already love.
My suggestion for this series would be Actraiser for SNES. A lot of the skies and backgrounds totally capture the raw and primordial feel of each area, telling you what kind of land you're in purely by the visual spectacle of each level. Some good parallax effects there.
There's so much damn heart in these videos! Thanks for making them
yo austin you need to check out final fantasy 13 because that is one beautiful looking game and its got some really nice skyboxes i think that game might be more skybox than game so it might be right up your alley for this series if you ever wanna check out something new
I’m very pleased with how the algorithm is treating Austin. About time.
Final Fantasy VII had some great 2d and 3d skyboxes, if that interests you I'd love to see a video on that one day.
This video was especially good, I felt like you were really having fun making this one. Your passion for the subject really shows. Thank you for sharing with us.
Im appreciating the skybox of your office and I can’t help but notice the crooked foam pads, it honestly adds so much character to the scene.
Sonic 2’s skies are great but Sonic 3’s really are something. One aspect of 3’s that I really like and I’m sure you would too is how it handles water surfaces in Hyrdocity and Launch Base Zones, they have parallax depending on the depth and they look so good
If Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is so great, why is there no Sonic the Hedgehog 2 2???
It’s the movie
Askin' the real questions here 💯
The Windows 3.1 solitaire game let you pick the image on the back of the cards, two of which were kinda sky boxy in that sense. One was a relaxing beach image with a bird that would randomly show up. And the other was a spooky night shot of a castle silhouetted against the moon.
feel like saying I appreciate the subtle CRT effect you have going on, it's doing a pretty good job of giving a bit of a horizontal blur that is important to the feel.
I love these videos, keep up the great work
Glad you're including the 2d "skyboxes" as well, looking forward to enjoying much more of this series and the odd places videos too
I’ve watched your videos for so long now and they’ve always been such a treat, thank you for always being you.
I think you’d enjoy the Spyro the Dragon skyboxes. IMO they are the cream of the crop of what you can find on the PS1 and invoke such a magical sense of peace.
glad to see another spyro rec in the comments - i'm not huge into the games but those skies!! such good use of the hardware.
I think that the skybox of Casino Night Zone almost evokes a feeling of... nostalgia? Not sure if that's the right word. It just brings about this feeling of driving to the airport in the middle of the night to catch a cheap flight, seeing the lights whizz by. What a wonderful video this was :)
Just discovered this channel, your videos are fuckin amazing man. I 100% relate to the sort of feelings you evoke in all your vids. Idk if there's a word for it, maybe its just nostalgia, but man, you really nail it with the specific examples you pick.
Idk, I'm rambling, just stopping by to say keep up the amazing work, and also.. Dark Souls is PERFECT for the odd and unremarkable places vids!
Sir this is a really nice vid for me to enjoy and rewatch during a time that life is a mess haha. For what it's worth, to me, Sonic 2 is far more meaningful than most of the later-gen titles that you mostly focus on. I've played Ocarina a bit so I can appreciate your vids on Ocarina, but otherwise your other titles are later than my personal scope of exprience. I love the classics of the 90's especially, I think 2D gaming really hit its peak. :) This vid also reminded me of how polished Sonic 2's graphics are, whereas Sonic 3 alone has a few jarring graphical problems here and there. Also the soundtrack is just divine in Sonic 2, especially knowing that the end theme was turned into an actual love song with lyrics, the song from when Tails is saving Sonic from falling. :D
Might be too old of a game to really talk too much about, but the casino level in Sonic 2 gives me a vibe similar to Rad Racer's second level. It's overlooking a gorgeous (for the NES) cityscape too and I love it. They did some pretty cool stuff with the skies in that game imo.
No game is to old aside from Atari.
just got back from taking my cat to the er and she's really enjoying smacking your face as hard as possible. i love the sonic franchise and love this video
6:00 Austin you could wax poetic about skyboxes and how you interpret them and what they evoke, and I don't think anyone would mind. That's what we're here for!
I'm so bad at fighting games, but the one thing that draws me in has to be the gorgeous art used in stage backgrounds. 2D or 3D, Because of how fighting games work, they're usually able to put a lot more time and effort into them compared to other games.
ive never played sonic 2, so i went and watched a clip of someone playing through the casino nights. the music is upbeat but feels very lonely. that combined with the visual of a very distant city youre separated from by an abyss give the level that emotional touch you described
the expression and articulation of your passion makes me envious
I loved this video, The skybox that you omited was the one playing in the the background when you asked; The special stage. I want to see more sonic skyboxes/skys/ whatever.
Your recent videos remind me of the way I used to look at videogame levels as a small child. For instance, the landscapes and cities in backgrounds - who lives there, where is it, can I go there? Leaving aside the word "imagination", it seems people tend to eventually stop paying attention to the small, otherwise insignificant details that serve no practical purpose. This series inspired me to try and be more mindful of all that, there's a lot of unnoticed things to appreciate when one stops to soak in the vibes, be it in games or real life. So uh, thank you for that.
I sincerely hope you've played Outer Wilds. It's basically, The "Wow this place sure gives me a feeling" Video Game.
You Rock Bro and I’m so glad I came across your channel. Thank you for making these videos.
Holy shit I used to love your eggbuster videos back in the day, glad to find you again
Dude. I am reallllly enjoying and appreciating this series bud! These videos are entertaining, nostalgic and uses such a unique lense to look back at these incredible games of old. Keep these skyyyybox vids coming my guy and I shall keep visiting these beautiful and strange places with ya! (I would like to add, that along with the strange and unremarkable places series wich has also been straight 🔥 the content has been all around great these last few weeks). Would love to see Metroid Prime and Prime Echoes make a skybox appearance as well if that wasnt already on the consdiration list! As a Metroid Prime Speedrunner. I have spent mannnny a hours surrounded/ stuck in the wonderful skyboxs of talon and aether lol.
Reasons why Casino Night is so beautiful:
1. Any city against a body of water is just way more romantic. The best skyline shots of NY nearly always include the Hudson river.
2. Casino Night (despite being filled with enemies) has a playful atmosphere. Its like Las Vegas, but less cheap somehow. Monte Carlo perhaps. You feel like you are on holiday.
3. Night-time cityscapes are magical because of all the twinkly lights. The danger, the grime, the chaos is too far away to see, all you see is a glimpse of utopia, and Cityscapes have the capacity for many imagined stories. Each light is a window into someone else's world, someone else's hopes and dreams. A bedroom, an office working late, a living room etc.
4. Even though its night time, it feels warm. The skyline is a symphony of colour.
5. Generally in Sonic 2, there is a dissonance between the foreground and the background, The foreground is filled with enemies, and the backgrounds are always utopian and feel idyllic. Primarily because you can never reach them. This is why 16bit games feel this way. In newer games, you can just go off and explore, and while that's cool - its a bit like real life where you go to that place on the horizon and realise the grass is no greener, and was far more enchanting (?) when it was a backdrop. But then that's a lot like being a child right? As a child, you are fenced in, you cannot just go wherever you like. You are limited, and this instils a sense of wanderlust and wonder because everything beyond your scope is a fantasy place where anything is possible.
the sonic 2 backgrounds gives crazy nostalgia. they feel like a 90s day, morning, afternoon and night
Sonic 2 Aquatic Ruins also has a particular CRT element to it's skyboxes-level-art, that I haven't seen reproduced by a CRT filter (maybe it's not possible) There is a real sense of 3D to the parallax scrolling; to the point where the vegetation that scrolls in the foreground really seems to be closer to you than the plains that have Sonic or the background. I think it might be because of the way a CRT is lit from within it's bulb or something, but when I first re-discovered this after having not played on CRT since the early 2000s it really made me appreciate these 16-bit games and their tricks.
the notion of what you are doing with these videos is a very good idea
I think the best sky boxes/backgrounds make you sit and wonder what’s just over the horizon in this world you’re immersed in. For some reason, I always had this feeling with DK 64 and Sonic R. Lol but even with the 2d Sonics, there’s always this feeling that Mobius is a beautiful place, you just never get to see it the way you want to. Then when I saw the Sonic the Hedgehog OVA, it did a great job at illustrating the beauty and wonder hinted at by the 2d Sonic backgrounds.
Hey Austin big fan for the last 3 days. vg wham was good egg bust good skybox good 100 lives good you should have more subs etc
I have appreciated your series so far after joining the train during the drowning video popped up on my feed and then going back through a lot of the egg buster videos. For content sake I enjoy this type of video along with the egg buster series though that mostly seemed just interesting where this I enjoy 100%.
You cool, thank :)
I'm actually a huge Sonic The Hedgehog nerd. It's probably why I'm easily distracted and my output is spotty but when Sonic hits I think it really hits. Just a lot of fun elements being cooked together to splash out this wild experience. It's unrelated to the skybox discussion but I really enjoy how the games on the Genesis don't sound like Genesis music necessarily. Lots of music from the Sega Genesis has that like BWAONG or TWANZG sound which I can dig but you find that sound across so many Genesis games. I don't know who was responsible for this but whoever was in charge of putting this songs onto the cartridges really knew how to utilize that Yamaha soundchip.
You left out the Special Stage skybox which I always love that abstract surrealism in the Sonic Special Stages. Really makes it feel other wordly. The first Sonic's Special Stages are super cool visually but super not fun to play so I always get the first one and that's about it.
I love in Super Mario Sunshine how they have the miniatures of levels in all other levels. Looking over Ricco Harbor from the top of Bianco Hills just hits.
What you said about casino sky box is how I feel about the oil level sunset sky box. It makes me think about sitting on a rooftop looking at the distant factories and just thinking about good times and life in general while admiring the sunset 🌇 damn love it so much
Your channel functions as a boat in the sea of game related content. So many personalities in the "gaming community" become very me-centric. The videos and games become tools to grow the ego of the creator and you really have to be into that person in order to get something from it (for better or for worse). You have this very rare form of observation where you manage to point at the game in a specific style, but don't also use the opportunity to point at yourself. You obviously have your own perspective that people jive with, but mostly you let the game stand on its own two feet and speak for itself. Thanks for making content that opens up more than focuses. Love you, bb.
Id kinda like to see one about Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, especially because of those planets in the background in both you never really go to, like those DS-looking things which are actually the outside of bonus rooms or the giant pancakes in Sweet Mystery
The reason casino nights is so beautiful is the breadth of associations it can inspire in a single instant. The more associations there are, the more complex and unique the synthesis of this instant feedback will be.
In a similar vein, id love to see a skybox appreciation of Sonic Advance 3! The advance series in general is very underrated and i think the skyboxes in that game are incredibly well done
One of my favourite 'skybox' collections is in the original River City Ransom. I hope you cover it someday. It does that bit with representation of other areas thing very well, I find, and different parts of the city are shown off not just in the foreground, but the background as well. I know it's not a true sky box, but Technos Japan knocked it out of Sherman Park with their background work. Again, I hope you cover it; my appreciation for the random shots of powerlines in that game has led me to your channel and I think we might share the same type of feelings towards this kind of thing. Have a great day!
In Mystic Cave zone, those green things along the bottom aren't trees or leaves, they're green stalagmites!
Which if you're into Sonic lore, might start to get you thinking about where Chaos Emeralds come from. What exactly is "mystic" about the cave? It seems to me that the green stalacmites are glowing and providing the cave with a light source, as I don't see another place where light could be coming from.
The man-made wood/metal/brick pieces throughout seem to be the remains of some sort of minecart-esque pathway.
There was also a scrapped level called Hidden Palace Zone that was added back into the game in re-releases. It is purposefully very similar to the Chaos Emerald Shrine from Sonic 3 (also housed in a place called Hidden Palace Zone)
2D Sonic games put a fascinating amount of work into subtle environmental storytelling. Looking at the backgrounds has always made me think deeper about how the world works.
Your appreciation of the casino
Night zone background reminds me very much of the emotions that pour over me every time I boot up SimCity on SNES and that city background and music kicks in.
I’d say you should also do a 2D appreciation for the original Streets of Rage
Algorithm fed me some of your vids last week and now you're my favorite channel on RUclips. Congrats.
3:19 Dark Souls 1 has some of the best fake representations of earlier/later levels imo. Gives such a huge scale to the world.
love these appreciation videos
You should make a video like this about Sonic Mania, there are so many backgrounds that I resenate with in that game like the one in Press Garden Zone Act 1 with the rain on the windows and the one in Lava Reef Act 1 with that awesome volcanoe at the top. But I think the ones I like the most are the backgrounds for the special stages, especially the second one with all the neon buildings and giant fish
A way I could interpret Casino Night Zone making someone sad is that the expansive space above and all the black space in the middle makes you feel the scale of the world and how small you are. The town is very bright and a lot is going on, but compared to the space and stars above, the city just feels like just a small corner of the universe. For me the black space between the foreground buildings and the sky buildings in the distance make me feel a sense of distance like you're there but you're not really there. Like everything is going on in sight but out of reach.
This is such a cool idea for a video. Your drowning video popped into my recommended and I've been binging your videos since. They're very unique! I'd love to see more skybox videos like this.
If I had to say a suggestion, I'd say Super Mario Galaxy (and I'd also throw in its sequel as well). Setting aside my love for these two games, I've always dug how atmospheric and transcendent the backgrounds of the galaxies make me feel. There are such a wide variety of them, both bright and cheerful and dark and melancholic alike. I'd love to see a video just highlighting them.
the nostalgia feels from this are real. the original sonic trillogy was the first series of games i was ever in to (sonic 2 being probably the first one i ever played). would love to see more classic sonic content
Wonderful video. Nice to see fellow appreciation of Sonic 2. That game is god tier on so many levels
you said we're herer for the backrounds and ignore your voice but in the best way it's like a joe pera type beat and I just listen to your videos then rewatch them when I'm not busy
If we're appreciating 2D skies then you should check out Celeste. There isn't usually much depth to the backgrounds, but the colours are always so striking. The golden ridge level in particular... Holy moly, that just does something for me.
Whenever I used to say how beautiful I found the backgrounds of Sonic 2 and how much I wanted to live in them I used to get weird looks. I'm so glad they are getting the appreciation here.
Casino Nights is particularly close to my heart
I don't know about you but for me it vividly reminds me of how I felt when I was first taken to an amusement park. The art on your wall is mwah as well, great feeling and style were put into it, purple and red is an iconic color combo, very enjoyable.
Do 1080 Snowboarding next! Those skyboxes/backgrounds are unbelievably beautiful
Mother 3 is an incredible game that has some GREAT skyboxes! I think you would really like them
One of the game that i remember really liking the skyboxes of was Epic mickey on the wii
i remember perfect dark having some neat sky boxes, a lot of blade runner type stuff with flying cars you can shoot down in a couple
Amazing video once again, man! I’m not sure if the Sonic games take place on Sonic’s Planet Mobius or not. I know isn’t Earth but the year is in the 3000s on Mobius so Sonic takes place in the future in which in Sonic Adventure, Sonic can somehow mix with Earthlings. Weird. Keep up the awesome vids!