Super SADX

Super SADX
Version: 1.1
Last release: 2010/07/04
System: PC
Original game: Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut
Credits: Endri

Super SADX is a technical hack of the PC version of Sonic Adventure DX, created by Endri, which allows Sonic to become Super Sonic during normal gameplay, much like the classic sidescrollers on the Genesis. This is not simply a model swap - it is a full ASM hack which retains the abilities Super Sonic uses when fighting Perfect Chaos.

Following the tradition of the classics, Sonic can transform into Super Sonic by collecting at least 50 rings and then hitting the Action Button after jumping, after which the ring counter begins decreasing at a rate of 1 ring per second. He is only playable after completing Super Sonic's story, due to the Chaos Emeralds not being collectable via Special Stages like the classic games (this is done to follow the plot, and act as a reward for those who complete the Super Sonic story). There is an additional restriction: he only works in Action Stages, where enough rings are present and the controls allow you to perform the transformation, meaning you can't traverse the Adventure Fields or play Subgames as Super Sonic (And even if you use hacks to place him in Subgames, he doesn't behave correctly).

Super Sonic's abilities include being able to hover over water and do the Bolt Attack at max speed (his aura will turn blue, but the full 'light comet' effect only occurs in certain areas, such as Windy Valley's wind walkways), as well as having the standard speed and jump enhancements. An added ability is de-transformation, performable by jumping and pressing the Action Button while in the Super state, which allows the player to conserve rings and move with more precision. De-transformation is necessary for bypassing certain in-level events and objects that only work for the normal Sonic. Any of these incompatibilities are considered to be bugs, which will be the focus of future updates, conceivably allowing Sonic to maintain the Super state at all times in any Action Stage.

Known Bugs

• The Super Sonic model doesn't share some of the Sonic model's unique animations for level events that require them. Instead, the game uses whatever animation it thinks is 'closest' for SS, leading to graphical issues:
  • If activating a Rocket, Super Sonic will not grab onto it. The rocket and camera fly to their destination as normal, and Super Sonic is teleported to the point where they stop.
  • Anywhere that Sonic has to dangle from a handhold (Speed Highway, Red Mountain and Sky Deck). Super Sonic's jumping animation simply floats beside the handhold until you disembark.

• Sometimes the transformation causes new gameplay glitches, but these particular ones are not severe enough to completely impede your progression through a level:
  • After de-transformation, Sonic's Spindash movement might be stuck in an odd new behaviour. Instead of moving across the ground, he goes a tiny distance forwards, then shoots diagonally upwards and forwards. This effect goes away after dying or changing areas.
  • The snowboarding area of Ice Cap. As well as lacking an animation for the scene where Sonic says "Whoa!", Super Sonic does not fix his feet onto the snowboard and has to traverse the slope as if it was a standard section of the level. His speed plus the spiralling-downward level structure often leads to insanely high jumps above the level geometry, sometimes becoming so distant that it completely disappears from beneath you, until you fall long enough to reach them again.

• The following level elements are incompatible with Super Sonic, and will either not function or almost guarantee the player's death:
  • Jump Panels. Will not activate at all until you de-transform.
  • Trampolines in Windy Valley. Super Sonic gets stuck inside it, the ring counter freezes, you cannot de-transform and the camera starts behaving oddly (moreso than usual!)
  • Anything which forces Sonic to use the spindash (a move which Super Sonic does not have), making Light Speed Dash areas, the Twinkle Park bowling lanes and a loop at the very end of Lost World completely untraversable.
    • The pinball tables of Casinopolis are a special case; you can't go Super while you're in one, but you can gather the rings in the lobby and jump into the teleporters while transformed. The initial result is that you can move around the table with the control stick as if it were a normal area, gathering rings and going into the Ball Loss zone completely at will. The ring counter also stops decreasing while you remain on the table. However, the instant you interact with the table elements that try to activate the spindash and/or move the camera elsewhere on the table, Super Sonic gets completely frozen in place.
  • The icicles in Ice Cap. Super Sonic simply won't grab them; however, if you move into the usual grabbing range as SS, then de-transform shortly afterwards, Sonic will suddenly grab onto thin air, and teleports back to the icicles once you jump.
  • The vertical tumblers found on some of the roads in Speed Highway, which are necessary for progression. Super Sonic will simply be buffeted through them and plummet into the void.
  • The red panels in the second area of Sky Deck which can (normally) be grabbed onto when the wind speed increases. Super Sonic bounces off if he tries to grab on with the Homing Attack.
  • The ladders found in Sky Deck and Final Egg. Super Sonic cannot grab onto them.

Download

Download Super SADX File: SuperSADX.zip (433 kB) (info) Current version: 1.1

External Links

Sonic Retro topic