Sonic Adventure: What You May Want to Know

[Rogkun]

After downloading and beating Sonic Adventure- I can gladly say that I am VERY happy that I got this game. But not everyone is happy in Sonic world.. I wanted to lay down a few interesting notes that I've taken while playing the game to help anyone suffering problems with the game.

[Homing Dash Attack with Sonic]
For some reason, TONS of people get this wrong. It's a fundamental mechanic in the 3D Sonic games and it always gets blown out of perspective. I'll try to say this clearly: You cannot spam X and expect the dash to land. I've beaten ALL of the Sonic Adventure versions (PC, Dreamcast, etc.), as well as, Sonic Adventure 2. The mechanic works the exact same.

* Remember that enemies have areas on their bodies that can HURT YOU
if you dash into them. Take this into consideration and make the jump
high above them (literally be above their heads) and make the attack.
This is especially crucial for the orb enemies that circle themselves in fire.

* The homing attack always seeks out to the nearest target, no matter
what you have your camera fixed to. For example, in the Lost World there
is a hallway you need to race down- normally you'd want to pick up speed
by doing an air dash but you will target the boxes BEHIND you. It's just
how the game was made- it is NOT a glitch or a flaw by the PSN version.

* Always remember that the homing attack has a RANGE. You can't just
hit a target from across the room- THIS WILL GET YOU KILLED. Think
before you strike and you should be fine. Otherwise, you'll be in a world
of hurt and frustration.

NOTABLE PROBLEMS/GLITCHES: The light speed dash attack has ONCE caused my Sonic to loop endlessly- this tends to occur when the models miscalculate distance and circle around each other, expecting to hit the target. Again, this is not a PSN issue- it was in the original too. A quick
fix is to simply jump in mid-attack instead of waiting for it to resolve.

[ Camera Controls and Settings ]
Understand that Sonic Adventure is NOT fitted for widescreen, and so you'll naturally get a weird depth-of-field problem while playing if you aren't suited for small screen interactions. It reminds me of my Final Fight: Double Impact or Megaman 9/10 downloads from PSN- the screen is scrunched in to fit a certain resolution.

To compound this issue, the camera is frustrating at times. THIS is the fault of PSN- as this could have been fixed within the game. Let me explain how the camera works:

* There are 2 settings: Auto-Camera and Free Camera. AUTO basically
removes almost all control you have (except for an astoundingly slow
camera turn with the shoulder buttons). FREE gives you much more
control (using the right stick feels right to me), but it has sort of a
superglue effect. Once you position the camera, it is stuck looking
in that direction, except in a few scenarios. This means that turning
corners or boss battles will be tremendously difficult for you if you aren't
good at using the camera. For most players, Auto is the primo choice.

NOTABLE PROBLEMS/GLITCHES: Moving a character directly up to certain walls will cause the camera to freak out on occasion. Also, moving TOO quickly (yes, too quickly) in certain stages can cause the screen to glue itself- staring off into nowhere. I have no idea how to fix this. I remember it happening to me in the original as well.

Objects and Fake Walls
There are sections in this game where objects are necessary to continue on in a story (the stone keys)- also, you pick up objects such as Chaos or Chao eggs. If you rush yourself while handling these items, you can potentially lose them in a wall (yes, a wall) by just throwing it around.

NOTABLE PROBLEMS/GLITCHES: My friend demonstrated this to me, he went
into the antique store and picked up the gold chao egg (the egg itself looks emerald or jade-like), ran up to the wall, and threw the egg- causing the door to lock and the egg to vanish forever. An easy fix is simply resetting the game/loading a save file. Remember not to throw objects too closely to walls as they can get lost.

Alright, I hope that helps you guys. I've already got all of Sonic's emblems and I'm working on the rest of the characters. <3 Understand that this is an old game, from an old system, from a company that made games with tons of glitches. That doesn't make this a bad game- but it is a hard one. Keep trying- and I hope you guys enjoy the ride, I know I sure did.

[Dark Chaotix]

I agree with everything said above. I was shocked to find out ppl were having problems with the game but when I got mine this morning i didnt see any issue with gameplay at all. In fact, it was like i never stopped cos all the problem i faced in DC / GC version are still present.

I too got all the emblems for DC / GC versions of SA 1 and 2 so I know how the game runs....

I wish people would stop jumping the gun and realise this is how the game is.

[Vyrastas]

Good tips and info. The thing with the homing attacks is spot on. Don't just jump and assume you will home towards a specific enemy. If you try to rush it you'll end up dashing over the edge of a platform.