Knuckles Chaotix - Sega 32X Review

[Music] all right when Sega released its 32x add-on for the Genesis in November of 1994 it was met with a ton of questions just about everyone in the gaming media was asking about how Sega planned to support two 32-bit consoles at the same time which usually just led to mockery that one would surely get shortchanged as many had guessed it was the 32x that suffered mightily when it came to software support but out of all that mismanagement and broken promises Sega did manage to develop and release a dedicated Sonic spin-off for the 32x called Knuckles chaotix while the Blue Blur himself was not actually in the game it took place after Sonic and Knuckles and followed a group of characters all related to Sonic's various Adventures though the expectations of fans were Sky High the trajectory of the 32x meant this came and went with a whimper and it's never been ported to any mainstream console since that leaves knuckles chaotics in an interesting position of being one of the most elusive titles to exist in the Sonic Universe unless you have the original Hardware or use emulation there is no other way to play it the mediocre sales of the original release has also meant that chaotix is a fairly expensive game these days trying to get this title in its original box complete will run you hundreds of dollars now but the real question is was chaotix actually any good did it ease the pain of owning a 32x all those years ago in this episode we will take a look at it see how it looks sounds plays and talk about its overall quality hope you guys enjoy my review of knuckles chaotix for the 32x [Music] thank you the story here follows Knuckles after the events of his adventure with Sonic he now finds himself the guardian of Carnival Island which is essentially a massive Amusement Park full of rides and games it also happens to use the power Emerald to run everything which of course brings the evil Dr Robotnik calling to steal it to make matters worse Metal Sonic is with him and they have imprisoned your friends it's now your job to get them back while stopping the destruction of Carnival island of course you'll find none of that in the actual game if you don't spend time reading it in the instruction manual none of that makes a lick of difference in the game itself while this does look and play very similar to what you know what we have here is quite a bit different from your previous Sonic outings after the opening stage begins you quickly become Tethered to the first character you rescue the game calls this ring power and it acts as a sort of rubber band that allows you to stretch and snap one another to faster jump higher and add a unique twist to Sonic's typical gameplay the individual characters also have abilities that you can take advantage of Knuckles can still Glide and climb Vector can Dash in the air Mighty can wall jump charmie can hover and fly and SPO can run along walls and ceilings from there you have the standard set of moves that are very recognizable most of your characters can spin dash and Spin Attack so you can take out the bad guys in classic form you'll need these Powers too because the stages and chaotics are built with verticality and climbing in mind so much so that you have additional abilities with your ring power because it's easy to get yourself in a situation where it looks like you can't move forward for the cost of 10 Rings you can call your partner to your side if you get separated you can also pick up and throw your partner both on the ground and during a jump a useful move should you need some extra height there are also a few snap abilities you'll need if you find your partner hanging below you charge the ring power by pressing down and it will snap you upwards you can also do this on flat ground by holding the B button this locks one partner in place while the other one stretches the tether for a big rubber band boost gone are the days of having a partner with no consequences if they get hit should your partner take damage you will lose a ring every time fortunately there are power ups to help you through your adventure you'll get familiar options like speed shoes Shields and invincibility new to chaotix is the combine ring which melds all your rings into one giant silver ring take a hit in your ring stay together and can easily be picked back up there is also a swap you can pick up to change around your two characters and a change that will give you a new partner for a short while the grow and Shrink Powers most directly affect how far you can jump and the places you can access after scoring 20 Rings you have the option to go into a bonus stage this is a Free Falling type scenario where you can score extra points rings and bonus items should you have 50 rings at the end of a level you can enter the special stage this is a forward scrolling 3D area where you must collect a certain number of blue spheres before the time runs out or you fall off the stage should you succeed you'll gain access to the chaos ring which act in the same way as Sonic's chaos emeralds in order to get the best ending you'll need all six Chaos Rings and the power Emerald before the final battle of Dr Robotnik in between stages you'll have access to a world select area a character selection machine and the option to leave or save your game finally chaotix is a two-player Co-op Adventure oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] the visuals of chaotics are both familiar and decidedly new to the world of Sonic the areas of Carnival Island could easily have appeared in any of the previous Sonics and are loaded with colorful layers of Parallax scrolling and the trademark loops and Springs to push you through the level what makes this stand out so much are the Sprite based scaling effects that are on just about everything you and your partner spinning in and out of the scene growing and shrinking in size and of course the bonus stage where you are falling downwards the extra muscle of the 32x gives the Genesis the ability to pull off these effects with ease hell some of them seem to be in the game just for shits and giggles as they have no real bearing on the Gameplay at all the polygon special stages look cool if a bit simplistic but it's a nice step up over what came before it the real question that matters here is are these visuals what you expected of a 32-bit era console they're certainly colorful but outside of the neat Sprite effects is this a real will step above what we had seen in the Genesis Sonic titles the answer is likely to vary amongst all of you quite a bit but for me I was left wanting more I think this game looks fine I'd even go so far as to say it looks good but it just wasn't enough how about some polygon details in the background maybe some connecting super scalar tunnels from stage to Stage perhaps a load of enemy embosses that used polygon details as nice as the visual presentation is it could have been so much more given the hardware it was on when some nice effect does pop up it's usually small and goes by quickly not leaving much of an impression with the Genesis handling most of the heavy lifting here in the backgrounds the 32x was essentially left to handle just the Sprites and polygons and with that in mind I really did expect more I'll say again it's a good looking game but the power of those 32-bit processors sees very limited use [Music] foreign foreign [Music] I have always felt that the Sonic games had great sound the tunes that accompanied the three Genesis games were just as important as the graphics and gameplay of that series and here it's no exception the music in this one is very good it's a group of tunes that are upbeat fun and a huge reason while you'll come back to play it again and again from the opening cinematic to the closing credits chaotix is a nice sounding cart that showed that 32x had no issue pumping out memorable music with a little Talent behind the wheel let's listen to a few samples to see what all the fuss is about [Music] thank you foreign [Music] to understand the Journey of chaotics we need to go all the way back to where things begin contrary to popular belief this was not developed by Sonic Team nor was it originally intended for the 32x this one started Life as a Sega Genesis Project called Sonic crackers this was created in early 1994 as a prototype to pitch the elastic-like connection as a gameplay element for the next Sonic when it finally launched in April of 1995 it had gone from a Genesis game to a Saturn game to a 32x game in just one year's time all while undergoing a complete story and character change you really do need to know all that because chaotix is a very disjointing experience thanks to its chaotic Journey the rubber band teller mechanic never feels like it's fully realized you start out feeling awkward if not a tad bit out of control and that feeling lasts until the very last area even understanding the mechanics and having a fair grasp on how it plays it just doesn't feel like something you could base an entire game around even once you get used to it it's very easy to lose control of your team the stage design is also very familiar the entire time the whole thing feels like it's ripped straight from the games you've been playing for nearly four years at that point even when just considering the levels you have in this game outside of the differing backgrounds the design never really changes between each Zone you feel like you are replaying the same layouts over and over enemies are sparse as well making this feel more like an obstacle course than an action game I also hated some of the special stage design while it's easy to navigate it first there are later sections that move choppy and leave you guessing where you can and can't go I was also not a big fan of the randomized way of picking levels and partners you can get items in the bonus stage to help that but why jumping around the zones of Carnival Island like this makes the entire thing feel disjoint it and destroys any real chance of a cohesive narrative the despite all that you can't really deny that this is still built upon a core gameplay experience that is still quite enjoyable running through this with Knuckles still feels like the Sonic of old a lot of the time and the upbeat music and bright visuals definitely have a ton of appeal that's gonna put a lot of you into very distinct camps if you were a fan of this game's Source material you are more than likely going to jump into this and have a blast you'll adjust to the tether and appreciate the sights and sounds of a slightly different Sonic Adventure then there will be many of you that will roll your eyes at the shallow Sprite scaling effects recycled levels and gameplay and walk away feeling that this is not something that showed off the 32x in any real meaningful way personally I was caught in between the two groups I found a lot of this fun and enjoyed my time with it but when it was over I was left feeling like it easily could have been a Genesis game I wanted something flashier more impressive and something that really stood apart from the previous Sonic titles especially for the premium Sega charge for this sucker it was a good game I feel but as a killer app it fell well short of being a system seller foreign [Music] Knuckles chaotix was developed internally by Sega CS a group comprised of talent that helped create the likes of Sonic 3 and Knuckles Sonic CD the Gigi Shinobi wrist star Fantasy Star 4 and virtual racing Deluxe it came on a 24 megabit cartridge and certainly didn't lack for Content it's actually a fairly long game that has multiple endings and a save battery to keep your progress if you are looking for something on your 32x to play it's actually a fine Choice given your other options with that said I would definitely recommend this more for the Sonic fan out there underneath of the new tethering system there is still a fun and familiar experience here that will bring joy to those that had fun with the previous games I want to be clear however if you are coming into chaotix fresh and looking for a showpiece for the power of the 32x I'm afraid this will leave you a bit put out the scaling Sprites pretty Parallax and the bonus stages certainly looked apart part of a high-end product but I just feel it doesn't use the hardware to its fullest potential to impress the majority of those looking for it for those of you that are curious Sonic crackers also inspired the eventual development of Sonic 3D Blast along with that tether mechanic it also used overhead isometric stages I often wonder if Sega had held on to this as a Saturn project and released it at Christmas of 1995 could it have made a difference with some more bells and whistles added to the presentation and gameplay it almost seems a shame that it was released on the ill-fated 32x because it never really had a chance to go anywhere reviews of that era didn't help much either popular magazines like next Generation crushed it calling it tired and unimpressive gamepro didn't even think the music was good crapping on it the visuals and the gameplay all while calling it a complete Miss likewise game players teed off wanted in a similar fashion they felt nothing was a impressive and wondered why it was on the 32x at all even when a publication gave it a relatively decent score the review had a decidedly negative tone often mentioning its lack of innovation and it being a lesser game than a previous Sonic outings I'd love to hear what you guys think of this game and if you'd like to see more Standalone reviews of 32x titles it didn't have much but I sure do have a lot to say about what's there I'm sigalord X thank you guys for watching and I will catch you next time [Music] thank you [Music]

Channel: Sega Lord X

Views: 63,875

Keywords: sonic the hedgehog, knuckles chaotix, sega 32x, sonic, segalordx, sega lord x, sega saturn, sega genesis, sega dreamcast, mega drive, megadrive, game gear, 32x, mega cd, genesis, saturn, master system, sega, sega cd, gameplay, review, movies, retro games, retro gaming, video games, ps4, xbox, wii, nintendo, gamecube, n64, ps1, ps2, ps3, psp, vita, switch, atari

Id: JUGYuhltP_k

Length: 17min 8sec (1028 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 04 2023