SAGE 2024 has effectively begun on September 6. We’ve tried out a lot of games and put together a digest highlighting our favorites. But before we get into it, we might as well work on a brief introduction for those who are not familiar with the event.
The Sonic Amateur Games Expo is an annual digital convention hosted by Sonic Fan Games HQ so that game developers of varying experience can showcase their creations, such as fan games, original games, mods and frameworks.
Throughout the years, the event has seen an increase in original indie games (which may or may not have something similar with Sonic games in a way or another), as well as games inspired by other SEGA IPs such as NiGHTS and Jet Set Radio. And if you’re not really into Sonic or SEGA, there are also fan games inspired by third-party series such as Crash Bandicoot, Mega Man, Mr. DRILLER and many others.
Aurascope
In Aurascope, the protagonists Trace and Aurora find a drive from beyond the stars that grants them special abilities, which you must use to collect Energy Cores and restore power to the Islands of Starlight.
With an incredibly adorable audiovisual presentation featuring smooth animations, the game plays like a mix of Mario collectathons (such as Super Mario 64 or Super Mario Odyssey) and classic Sonic games. That is, you get the best of both worlds: a variety-rich moveset and a great deal of speed while exploring a beautiful 2D sidescrolling world.
Candy Rangers
Relatively similar to Ikaruga, Candy Rangers is a railshooter played with four characters at once: each one controls with a different key and shoots a different-colored bullet. Targets and enemies are color coded so that you know which key you should press to shoot and beat them. Players are expected to aim, jump, dash and hook as they advance through stages firing against enemies and avoiding damage.
Hidden throughout these same stages are Ranger Medals, used for unlocking new levels and even boss encounters. Got extra points with us for showing off vividly colored scenery and anime aesthetics.
Freedom Planet Shang Mu Architect
Ever since Super Mario Maker was released, people yearn for every platformer series to have a similar stage creation tool. Shang Mu Architect is Freedom Planet’s unofficial version and features a campaign named Freedom Planet Academy to showcase the tool’s capabilities through lore-friendly storytelling.
As you can probably tell, there’s way more to Shang Mu Architect than just asset recycling. Much was created from the ground up solely to enrich what can be achieved by fully exploring the editor — as if a new campaign wasn’t cool enough.
Project Reignition
Sonic and the Secret Rings, for the Nintendo Wii, is often addressed with mixed impressions, in no short part due to a frustratingly unwelcoming control scheme. Created by KumaPaws with the Godot game engine, Project Reignition is a fan-remake that “aims to bring Secret Rings to modern standards by providing standard controller support, updated visuals, and improved gameplay”.
A couple of stutterings aside, the result is nothing short of impressive, and some of the overhauls make us wonder why SEGA still haven’t released a reworked version of this game.
Sonic Advance MOST Mods
Sonic Advance MOST Mods is the definitive port of Sonic Advance for Android devices. It’s been some time since the port’s first version has been made available on the internet, but many improvements have been released since then, which led us to the “Anniversary Mods Pack” and now the MOST Mods collection.
If you have never played Sonic Advance before, this is your chance. Other than just wide screen support and extra graphics, this package features a remastered soundtrack, modified cutscenes and new cameos.
Sonic Rush 3D
It is safe to say Sonic Rush 3D is this iteration’s protagonist, small wonder it sets the tone for the showcase video. This highly anticipated fan game is a 3D re-imagining of Sonic Rush, an stylish Nintendo DS game that rewards you boost meter for performing air tricks to the sound of Hideki Naganuma’s funky beats.
The new demo gives players control over Sonic for a brief look into Leaf Storm zone, with camera transitions and an optional DS mode. We’ve got our fingers-crossed for new versions featuring more content sometime soon!
Speel
This game will make you wish you didn’t know how to spell — because typing it right is the wrong way to go here, at least in most cases. Built by team Falling Anvil, Speel is a typing game that challenges its players to think fast rather than just type fast.
As you progress by typing sentences, some letters highlighted in orange or blue will appear. That’s the game telling you should mistype (orange) or mistype by using a neighbor key (blue). If you miss a mistake or make one when you shouldn’t, the backspace key is there for you to recover your score, but your WPM and overall efficiency is going to be affected.
Ingenious concept aside, there are funny modifiers you can enable to make things goofy or even more challenging, three different difficulties (which act a bit like distinct modes) and a great track list composed by JoeyVFX and roxy_.
Strato Freaks 2
Mixing Fantasy Zone and NiGHT, Strato Freaks 2 features lighthearted characters from the Super Freaks series, which is no stranger to SAGE. This time the Super Freaks must beat opponents in a free-movement sidescrolling map and rescue civillians until they can proceed through the portals to beat the villains family in shmup boss fights.
Tails Adventure Remake
Originally released for the SEGA Game Gear, Tails Adventure is one out of two games starring Tails as the protagonist for a change. The game has never been remade or rereleased with quality of life enhancements, which is precisely what Tails Adventure Remake is trying to do.
Created by mechakotik with C++ without using any game engines, this new version brings out support for modern displays, native controller support, a save system, better physics and a rebalanced gameplay experience. With these improvements, playing this metroidvaniaesque platformer feels more accessible than ever.
That’s a wrap for this digest! It’s worth reminding these are but a few of the games currently featured on SAGE 2024, and we totally encourage you to access the event’s game list to check out for any other titles that may catch your eyes.
