Posted 24th August 2007 14:22 by Mark Turner
Hey, PlanesWalker is back with another interview, I apologize for taking so long, had a virus with my computer so it toke me a while to fix, but I’m back and I bring you a requested interview, Groudon. So let’s begin
PlanesWalker: So to start off, tell us about yourself, where you from, what you like doing, etc…
Groudon199: I've played video games a lot, and the earliest system I can remember playing is the Super NES (I've probably played the NES, but I don't remember ever playing it). At the time, I was into Super Mario Kart and Pac-Attack (my grandmother had Pac-Attack). I did have a Gamegear and a few games for it (a motor cross game, a Madden game, and Sonic 2). I couldn't really play Sonic 2 on GG because I always had trouble even passing the 2nd act of the first zone (which is Underground Zone). I did like Tetris on Game Boy, since it was somewhat addicting. I got the first Pokemon games for it, but was too focused on attacking, which was not a good thing. This carried over to Pokemon Stadium on the Nintendo 64. On the note of N64, I didn't really like Super Mario 64 at the time since I had no clue what I was doing. I was actually pretty good at Pokemon Puzzle League, though. I had adequate skills at Diddy Kong Racing, and did okay at Mario Kart 64. However, I struggled on 150cc Grand Prix because I never powerslided or miniturboed. In fact, I went straight for 150cc. I still have Hey You Pikachu, but I can't find the mic. I also got the 2nd generation of Pokemon handheld games too. As you could probably tell, this was the Pokemon era for me. Nothing worth noting for Playstation.
I picked up my Game Boy Advance at a Toys 'R Us the day before it was officially released. I got F-Zero Maximum Velocity, but I didn't like it too much. The next console purchase would be for Christmas 2002, which was a Playstation 2. There were a few games I had for it at the time. This also signaled my family's leap into the DVD period. I got my Gamecube from a friend, so it wasn't technically a purchase. Didn't make any serious game purchases for it until sometime in 2004. I got Super Smash Bros. Melee, which is real good as most know. On my birthday in 2005, I got my Nintendo DS and Super Mario 64 DS. As you can tell, I wasn't in the Sonic group yet.
Early in 2004, my family got Sonic Heroes for the PS2. However, I didn't really pay any attention to it until a year later. The disc was in pretty bad shape, and in mid 2005, I had to pick up the Gamecube version. Surpassed the PS2 version in everything. I believe it was October 22nd, 2005 that I posted a speedrun topic on Speed Demos Archive for the game (however, all my runs ended due to mistakes [I once got to the very end of Final Fortress and, due to a lame rail switch, I missed a rail, and died]). It was that day that NintenDan told me about The Sonic Center. I joined on the 23rd, which turned out to be TSC's 2nd-year anniversary. I didn't do any submitting until November 20th. 3 months later, I started to become active. My next Sonic purchases were Sonic Riders, Sonic Rush, and Shadow the Hedgehog (which has received a lot of negative comments). During this time, I got into the old games (like the first one on Genesis). Throughout 2006, I started to become very well-known all around TSC. In mid-2006, I started being active in TSC's IRC chatroom. In September, I picked up two of TSC's popular games Sonic Adventure DX and Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. Currently on TSC, I'm 23rd on the sitewide rankings. There are other non-Sonic games I bought since then, but the majority of them are ranked here on CS (such as Elite Beat Agents), so you can just look through my stats to see what they are.
I also do not have any next-gen consoles yet. I've been trying to track down a Wii, but they're real hard to find, and even when I manage to find one, I don't have the money for it...
Anyway, the above paragraphs were only summarizations. I got other games during those times as well, but I didn't feel like mentioning them.
I'm 16 and I currently attend high school, and will be a junior in late August. I do, however, sometimes have trouble concentrating on my schoolwork because of how often I play video games. I'm very intelligent despite the concentration troubles.
PlanesWalker: Can you tell me your favorite character in the series? For looks or for abilities, doesn’t matter, just your favourite.
Groudon199: My favorite character would have to be Shadow. He's a darker version of Sonic, and has extra abilities Sonic can't use (such as Chaos Control with no Chaos Emeralds). People say throwing in guns in his game for him to use is a bad idea, but I think the guns are good choices for him to use due to his dark background.
PlanesWalker: Can you tell me your favourite sonic game(s), and least fav of the Sonic game collection you have, and reasons why you like them or dislike them, you may say more than one for likes or dislikes.
Groudon199: Out of all the ones I have, I'd have to say Shadow the Hedgehog is my favorite. The game has some missions that can be a real pain, and some levels are just bad in general, but it's the speed that I like the most about the game. In fact, the speed is what some people criticize. They claim there is "no speed at all," but that's because they haven't played the game enough. The level Lethal Highway is a level where you can easily reach top speed with little problem. There are some small enemies that might get in your way that are impossible to see when running at such fast speeds, but all it takes is a little memorization as to the general locations of them so you can easily avoid them. The gunplay could be a tad better, but it doesn't have any "major" flaws, despite the negative comments.
Sonic the Hedgehog (the first one) would be in 2nd. It's a classic and it's challenging, even to someone that knows the game well enough to try to speedrun the individual acts. I've gathered some strats from speedrun vids and the TAS (for very minor details), but still don't have enough skill to pull off the major strats (and I 'really' can't stand Labyrinth Zone).
My least favorite is Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis for the Gameboy Advance. This was supposed to be a remake of the original Sonic. A video was put on YouTube showing the game at 95% complete, and it had a load of glitches. Before that vid, I was excited to get the game, but when I saw all the bugs, I was hoping the problems would be fixed. Didn't happen. There was still major slowdown issues, the physics were messed up, graphics were wrong, and collision detection was lame. Oh, and if you didn't hold a direction when Sonic was moving at a very fast speed, it took him FOREVER to stop. And if you played on Scrap Brain Zone, act 1, and you stood among the small spinning conveyor platform things, the game lags horribly, the worst lag in the game. If you get a speed shoe, the game moves even slower since the game has to load what's ahead faster, which causes the game to slow down even more. I've played the ROM, and I know for sure it's the same as the actual game.
Sonic Heroes would be in the middle. It's not my favorite, but not my least favorite. It's a bit flawed in a few areas, as in the occasional falling through the floor, the unreliable teammates, and how slow you move most of the time, especially with Team Rose. Those are the major flaws about the game I don't really like.
PlanesWalker: Do you have any record that your very proud of in the game (Shadow)?
Groudon199: I was hoping you'd ask this. The record I'm proud of the most is 1:33.84 on the Hero mission of Circus Park. I found out every method for this mission on my own from day one. I started by beating yoshifan's 2:03, and then managed to get under 2 minutes. Shadow Jacky over on TSC managed to get 1:48. After his video of it was put on the site (which took a while, since he had to send his tape to SadisticMystic for converting), I watched it and tried that method. I got my time down to only a high 1:56. When he brought up a gong trick he randomly stumbled upon, I tried applying it to TAing. I managed to get it below 1:40, then down to 1:33, which remains a record. I've been thinking that a time under 1:30 could be gotten, and thus the full 50,000-point time bonus, but I have not been able to figure out how, even after imagining a perfect run.
PlanesWalker: Can you tell us what games you will be playing and competing on in the future?
Groudon199: Obviously, the majority of the Sonic games I own I'll be competing on for quite a while. I might work on improving some of my Pokemon Snap scores as well. As soon as I get a Wii, I'll be trying to compete in Sonic and the Secret Rings. When I get a new PS2, I'll be playing Guitar Hero 2 more and make attempts to compete. Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s will be another I'll probably be playing by then as well. When and if I get an Xbox360, I'll be competing in the Sonic game for that system. For DS, I'm still trying to get my mom to order Ouendan 2 for me, since it's Japanese only. When I get that, I'll probably be playing that for quite a while.
PlanesWalker: Any Tips, Final Words?
Groudon199: Nobody's good at something overnight, so practice makes near perfection. If you need to, ask some of the pros for help with things you can't figure out. Look around for videos that could be more informative than a verbal/text description of a strat. If you're one of the pros, I recommend you don't keep all strategies to yourself, especially if someone comes along later down the line and asks about a strat, since you might forget the strat if you haven't used it in a while. To be truly skilled at a game, you must be skilled in almost all corners of the game. Even if it means having to play part of the game you can't stand, play it anyway. You could find out some way to make it easier. If you think you see something that could save some time (or give you more points), try it. If it doesn't work out, try a few more times to be sure. Simple trial and error.
PlanesWalker: Some greet words from a great player. Thank you very much for your time and keep on rocking the Sonic World. Remember, this was a requested interview from dianeethomas20 so you can have your favourite player interviewed as well, just PM me with a name and make sure they are at least in the Top 3 on any scoreboard of a game. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next interview.
Written By: PlanesWalker