User:TheJoebro64/Sonic the Hedgehog Megamix

Sonic the Hedgehog Megamix is a video game modification of the 1991 video game Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis and Sega CD, created by a community group known as Team Megamix. An extensive reworking of the original game, Sonic the Hedgehog Megamix features additional characters and music imported from other games, such as Michael Jackson's Moonwalker and The Hybrid Front.

Development began in 2005 as a palette swap and layout hack of the game for the Genesis, before becoming a split-disassembly and moving to the Sega CD. Reception to the game has been positive, with reviewers praising the increased speed of the game.

Gameplay
Sonic the Hedgehog, which Sonic the Hedgehog Megamix modifies, is a speed-based 2D platform game. Players must complete several levels, each divided into three "acts", to defeat Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik, who is after the Chaos Emeralds and has captured animals to power his robot henchmen.

At the beginning of the game, players choose one of five different characters: the titular Sonic, Shadow the Hedgehog, Mighty the Armadillo, Miles "Tails" Prower, or Knuckles the Echidna. Each has different abilities: Sonic can run at faster than anyone and dash across lines of rings, Shadow can double-jump and boost, Mighty can use the elemental abilities of shields, Tails can fly and defeat enemies with his tails, and Knuckles can glide and climb up walls. Some characters share abilities as well; for example, each character can perform a "spin dash" by crouching and repeatedly pressing the "jump" button, and Sonic and Shadow can perform a "homing attack" to destroy enemies and objects.

Scattered around acts are golden rings, which serve as a form of health; if the player is hit by an enemy or hazard with at least one ring in their possession, they will survive. However, their rings will scatter and blink until either the player collects them or they disappear. If 50 rings are in the player's possession at the end of an act, they can enter a rotating "special stage"; completion of special stages awards the player a Chaos Emerald. If all six emeralds are collected, the player can transform into their Super form, in which they are given increased speed and invinciblity. TV Monitors can also be found throughout acts and broken open; they can contain rings, shields (normal, electricity, fire, and water) that protect the player, invincibility, and "power sneakers" that increase the player's speed. There are also monitors with Robotnik's face on them, which harm the player. There are three main gameplay modes: "Normal", which is the main campaign and features new levels, "Original", which keeps the original Sonic the Hedgehog levels intact and allows them to be played as new characters, and "Extra", a harder version of Normal mode available once the game is completed once. The game also utilizes a SRAM save feature, which allows players to continue from the last act they saved at.

Plot
Sonic the Hedgehog Megamix is set fifteen years after the events of the original Sonic the Hedgehog. Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik returns to South Island in search of the seven Chaos Emeralds (already in possession of one). Sonic the Hedgehog learns of Robotnik's plans and sets out to stop them, bringing with him his friends Mighty the Armadillo, Shadow the Hedgehog (who has never seen the island), Tails, and Knuckles the Echidna. The five travel through seven zones, before facing and defeating Robotnik in his laboratory. Similar to the unmodified Sonic the Hedgehog, two endings exist: if all the Chaos Emeralds are collected, a reward ending sequence is shown; if they are not, Robotnik is seen taunting the player by juggling the emeralds.

Development
Sonic the Hedgehog Megamix began development in 2005, being developed by a hacker known as "Tweaker". The game was initially not much different from the original Sonic the Hedgehog; it was simply a palette modification with altered layouts. Tweaker was later joined by several other hackers, such as Simon "Stealth" Thomely (who assisted the development of the 2017 Sonic title Sonic Mania), "Cinossu", "MarkeyJester", and "Auquaslash", forming a development team referred to as "Team Megamix" and moving from a relatively simple ROM hack to a total conversion modification. Each build up to version 3.0 were designed for use on the original Genesis hardware (a later build after version 3.0 that also ran on the Genesis was uploaded by Thomely to Steam Workshop in 2016). After the release of 3.0, it was decided that development would be transitioned to the Sega CD, which would allow the game to contain more content and take advantage of the system's CD-quality audio capabilities. The first version for the Sega CD, "4.0b", was released in 2008. Due to the move, it became a common misconception that Megamix is a modification of Sonic the Hedgehog CD; Thomely later clarified in a Tumblr post that, despite the move, Megamix is still primarily based off Sonic the Hedgehog.

As of 2017, Simon Thomely is the only active member of Team Megamix. Thomely plans to finish the game and release the source code for its engine, but has stated that, due to his involvement with Sonic Mania, he cannot finish the game until he completes his business contract.