Red Mountain || History & Secrets - Sonic Adventure

▼ AutoDemo Details ▼
tcrf.net/Proto...
▼ DX Details ▼
dreamcastify.u...
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This time we're looking into how Red Mountain changed throughout its development. This stage is a lot easier than Speed Highway because it wasn't shown off prior to the game's unveiling.
Still, it's easy to spot a few different builds of the stage. I wish the fancy lighting was kept, but that was probably nuked for performance reasons.
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Sources:
info.sonicretr...
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Links:
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[@Greysflood]

The bats following Sonic and fleeing Gamma is actually incredible attention to detail on the developers' parts. It makes sense, since Sonic is famous for freeing animals and Robotnik captures them. I wish it made it into the final game, I would have loved that as a kid.

[@chocov1233]

I completely agree, that's a great detail. I was thinking the same thing watching the video.

[@charlie4christ536]

All have sinned and so all are worthy of death and deserve hell, for God’s standard is perfection and none of us could meet it by doing good deeds. Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:8 “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” But God loved us so much that He sent His Son to die in our place as a substitutionary atonement for our sins. He is the only way to Heaven that God has provided. If you believe in Him, then you will be saved. John 3:16-18 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Acts 4:12 “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

[@cathyas3749]

What

[@CesarTorres61296]

@@charlie4christ536 Those Bats really didn't like Gamma at all.

[@swisserty]

@@charlie4christ536 go Frank yourself

[@skinnywhitedude8765]

if someone can bring act 2 to its original graphical glory, that would be amazing, love red mountain act 2.

[@mps64]

skinnywhitedude it’s the best area in the game, graphically and musically

[@Obscure_man31]

Well lets hope someone finds the earlier builds of adventure so that way we can restore the mutch more advanced lighting

[@MatrixEvolution17]

Same, it's my favourite Sonic zone

[@whatsupbossanova]

If they did it for windy valley, I’m sure the community can do a good patch up job for this too

[@LongSinceDead1]

@@charlie4christ536 You doing okay there Charlie?

[@glacierwolf2155]

"Firstly, Red Mountain hates Tails and will eject him out whenever possible." Damn, an entire mountain hates Tails. Mood.

[@numburger]

You hate Tails or an entire mountain hates you?

[@agentblackbird9435]

Not sure if anyone will get this reference but in The Land Before Time’s cartoon spinoff Petrie (the pterosaur) said in one of the episodes that the volcanoes are mad at him lmao

[@natyfop]

WAIT! I've never noticed that trail of rings at 11:06! How the hell have I played this game for 20 years and not notice that????

[@chocov1233]

That's what I love about the games with good/developed level design, they always could have more in store for you years later. Like I just found out about this shortcut in Unleashed that I legitimately had no Idea that it existed and I've been playing this game for 3 years.

[@koga115]

The little touch of the bats fleeing Gamma but following Sonic is nice. Protector of animals indeed!

[@ElectroNukeMods]

I recall having an awesome dream about fictional pre-release footage for this game. There was a point where Knuckles climbed up the wall of an early Mystic Ruins jungle, which led to a huge barren stretch of land and floating platforms that was actually part of Red Mountain act 1. I woke up bummed out that I wouldn’t be able to play that section, but it also made me really want to play the game again as it is.

[@PublickGamer]

haha, I've had dreams like that with other games lol

[@Gameplayer-vm5ml]

Nice! I think Sonic Adventure's earlier versions have stuff like different angles, dynamic lighting missing in the final game, as well as some other things for the sake of showing the game off, at least in Red Mountain's case, it originally had skulls glown light, dynamic lighting showcased in Gamma's reveal, the game pretty much was the Dreamcast's tech demo of sorts. That's a theory though, but it could very well be possible. Also, i found it rather odd how Knuckles at 7:31 actually moved along with the propellers in the AutoDemo, but not in the final game.

[@SonicBoone56]

Imagine if they actually kept that in. That'd be amazing.

[@YujiUedaFan]

There's an image on the SADX GC box art or maybe the credits that shows Knuckles on a propeller I think.

[@hydrorobot6610]

Aww, I was hoping you would talk about the prison ghosts that are there for some reason Like, what's their story, are they there on the earlier builds? Those always fascinated me back then

[@theutubepower1243]

Yeah what’s up with those things anyway?

[@EneRec]

When I was a kid, I was extremely confused about them

[@AscensionUSA]

Yeah i've always wondered about them too. Interestingly enough, there is a mission on DX that involves them, and i think it calls them the "men" in jail or something... weird af developers

[@churupinha3510]

I've heard they are cut enemies from 3D Blast.

[@hydrorobot6610]

@@churupinha3510 hmm, I'll check for it But I don't think so since GameHut (forgot the name of the person behind the channel) didn't said anything yet about those ghosts

[@Ninetails2000]

7:30-Wow, my head's spinning! My head's spinning! This is making my head spin... [Vomiting noises] What a wild ride.

[@superdeionbro8163]

Not an hour before this was uploaded, I had thought 'I wonder what SPEEPS is up to', and here we are. Haha This is super rad! I love how the bats in Act 2 would've initially followed Sonic and fled from Gamma; nice detail. **But the coolest thing are the fire-breathing boxes, no contest** If you plan on doing more of these level-specific in-depth videos, I'd love to see one about Twinkle Park, if possible! And keep up the fantastic work, SPEEPS! You're the best Sonic Adventure archaeologist out there lmao

[@MetroidsEATYou]

11:45 "Nuh!" I don't know why but Sonic's death "No" in Japanese is the funniest thing to me! Also, this was was pretty interesting stuff! I especially liked the part that showed all the hidden item boxes in the stage! I also never realized how high up Sonic gets in the act 2 portion of the level with the rising magma and stuff.

[@mann-nova9392]

Me: **I literally sleep** SPEEPS: **uploads literally anything** Me: *REAL SHIT?!*

[@megaant7591]

I feel like the low draw distance and backface culling is from when they were trying to get the game to run at 60 fps, with the earlier builds at the game's unveiling keeping with that by further removing stuff that would hurt performance... THEN the later build at the end of the unveiling declares death to performance with a draw distance that beats out the final version's. I used code breaker codes to play SA1 at 60 fps on hardware, and from that I can say that whenever the unveiling footage seems to be moving a little slow (like at 2:49 and 3:48), that is not a slow mo effect, that is the console dying.

[@papersonic9941]

How did they get SA2 to run at 60 on DC 3 years later, if they had to remove so much stuff to get SA1 to run at 30?

[@chocov1233]

@@papersonic9941 SA1 and SA2 had very different design philosophies in general. Not to mention the developers had more experience with the DreamCast by 2001 which was 3 years later.

[@megaant7591]

The way stages were rendered in SA1 is different to SA2. In SA1, pretty much the entire level was rendered in all at once, whereas in SA2 only a chunk of the level would be rendered in depending on player position. I think the levels in SA2 were designed around this so the player wouldn't notice the pop in of the stage being loaded, of course this is just my guess.

[@x-mighty7602]

6:22 classic chaos emerald sound.

[@dabluepittoo-aqua4213]

It's so interesting to see how ambitious Sonic Adventure was meant to be! Maybe we'll see more in the future.

[@cd-rommasterclass19]

Man, the proto's attention to detail is unbelievable... The bats AI, glowing skulls, sexy dynamic lighting, longer draw distance and no fog at the bottom of the stage... Man, what happened to this level, how come none of the good stuff from the early build, made it into the final release... Game was still a bit of a technical marvel at the time, early extras or or not; but would have been nice to see these small touches in motion.

[@Obscure_man31]

To put it best too mutch for the dreamcast to handle

[@cd-rommasterclass19]

@@Obscure_man31 , Honestly I don't think that's it... If I had to guess, I'd say it's due to the engine yet being in its early stages and the game not fully ready for such an early release; Adventure 1 was a bit rushed after all, although I still love the thing.

[@cd-rommasterclass19]

@Katz Meowski, indeed, this prototype looked boss; I wish some of this could be restored on the pc version some day.

[@xord5293]

Your videos remind me on my childhood nostalgia cuz SADX was all I played! Thanks! 😊

[@Metripleone]

Really enjoying these deep dives into levels Speeps, thanks for this! One thing I noticed is that, at 6:23, the older 1up jingle plays when Gamma gets an extra life. Was this a feature of the demos?

[@SkyeWeeb]

That's a Chaos Emerald jingle from the classic games, odd for that to be the extra life jingle

[@ABlob]

Skye Old development versions of Sonic Adventure used that as a 1up jingle.

[@aortaplatinum]

I really love the artifacting on old pre-release footage and magazine-published screenshots of games from around this time. I'm surprised I've never seen any indie horror games use filters to replicate these looks, something like Toree 3D or the Catastrophe Crow/Crow 64 ARG videos on KZbin

[@DonAsirobi]

Would love to see more stages covered, great video.

[@EneRec]

This game was way ahead of it's time. Glad you're back

[@AscensionUSA]

I wonder if the bats did damage or they were just aesthetic? Probably removed for frames though

[@barkbuck5521]

Man it always felt like they were going to do damage

[@unicronagent13]

4:53 Red Mountain. Directed by Michael Bay. In theaters now. 7:30 SPEEEEEEEEEN

[@danzer9307]

I love when you show these secret areas in the levels, i have been playing this game literally my entire life and i have never encountered any of these.

[@djayacedaking26]

I always thought Red Mountain was the same as Lava Reef Zone from Sonic and Knuckles. They are both located on Angel Island so... Hmmmm...

[@JoSephGD]

Act 2's music is amazing.

[@JamesSmith-vn6vi]

I heard that apparently Red Mountain Act 2's track is actually a remix of Crying World from Ristar.

[@bsharpmajorscale]

I just listened to it. I don't think so? But it did remind me of the Knuckles theme from S3&K.

[@theultimatehomiegsenior3058]

Ristar you mean?

[@JamesSmith-vn6vi]

yeah Ristar

[@sonic05fan]

Red mountain act 1 sounds like a song of a nights into dreams level

[@DiesInFire]

Man i love these videos

[@Juno-sj8on]

9:53 that's the best music transition I've ever seen

[@TacoManX9]

7:30 SPEEN

[@jackpijjin4088]

wHEEEEE WHEEEHeeHeeeHeee

[@fumichin05]

Thank you very much for dedicating yourself to exploring and sharing the secrets of Sonic Adventure is my favorite game i love this channel keep it up

[@quantum1189]

9:14: adorable

[@cold_soup_]

it sucks that they had to downgrade act 2 for better performance, i really liked the more atmospheric lighting and the bats chasing sonic but avoiding gamma is a nice touch

[@Obscure_man31]

Maybe if someone finds the earlier builds of adventure so that way we can restore evreything in its glory

[@theultimategamer95]

Would've been quite cool to have the full sized act 1 playable as Knuckles tbh (without mods, obviously).

[@konradthehedgehog610]

Cool video 😎👍

[@TheSnickers04]

Amazing video as always!

[@HandlebarOrionX]

5:17 Hands down my favorite level theme in SA1 nect to Speed Highway

[@Nativefall]

Red mountain act 2 music is magical

[@lex_4242]

Man that game is so beautifully Crafted, Really miss the old st.

[@latheredtrillionaire5701]

Please, please make more of these stage-lore vids, I've really enjoyed them so far!

[@TheeMentorDex]

Given how Sonic Team loves to leave a lotta unused assets and code in their older games, I wonder if there’s any leftover code from the build with dynamic lighting from Act 2 in SA1 and SADX 🤔

[@nowayjosetm29]

Love this type of videos,keep up the good work!

[@Athesies]

That light speed dash path really suprised me, i cant believe i never noticed it myself

[@AppleCider56]

Awesome video. Hoping to see Lost World eventually!

[@abedou7932]

I'm a simple man, I see Knuckles, I click.

[@Borti_Ovi]

Red Mountain was one of those video game levels that would’ve scared me senseless since I was a video game scaredy-cat when I was a kid; but, for some reason, it wasn’t... I think it was me falling in love with the music that kept me from quitting the game at that point. Guess any coward can grow a pair once they hear a tune that gets them pumpin’!

[@dhi1145]

I’m so looking forward to the DX comparison videos. Please do them zone by zone.

[@blur7491]

Is there a way to restore Act 2's more detailed version via mods?

[@starmantheblaziken1453]

*WOOSH!*

[@thehub6936]

Came and watched lovely videos

[@brianpso]

Yo, we can actually grab that ring box with gamma, it's just a bit tricky

[@ShebaLover333]

why do I always watch these videos without having played it

[@adamtaylorgaming1348]

No one is gonna talk about the ppl in the cages? I questioned what they are

[@littleguystar]

An attempt at restoring Act 2 would be truly amazing. &Knuckles

[@weegeewegee639]

Red maintained level

[@silvssunilousness]

Rad vid

[@tiamatengur5502]

In Red Mountain theres prisoner ghosts locked in prisons and electric chairs. Tho I'm sure most people know about those.

[@Hamster_Pants]

You should do one on windy valley. That easily the most interesting considering that practically the whole level was changed

[@cocojumbo8240]

how comprehensive is people's knowledge on the beta/early versions of sonic adventure? is it known if there were versions of levels in the style of proto windy valley? (ie more big, open-ended and gameplay focused vs setpieces)

[@stp9625]

Red mountain act 2 has toad from Mario screaming

[@ym2612girl]

Windy Vally next!

[@alexfield290]

Wonder what stage is next

[@imdurgesh9430]

When u got to this level in Sonics story u know the game was getting harder from there

[@mariomuncher44]

Is there beta content about Pressure Castle ?

[@kurosade3623]

Cool

[@C4ST3R3T3RN4L]

You're gonna do all of them, aren't you?

[@kex2247]

Very epic

[@grimpaper]

I know no one will probably see this, but does anyone know if the autodemo uses the Lantern engine? I'm starting a beta restoration mod and figured I'd use the autodemo as a base. I'll either try to port, or recreate the lighting via the lantern engine. similar to the GC lighting mod.

[@vulpixtails4810]

The History Of Windy Valley Plz

[@deslardesslok]

11 MONTHS LATE SQUAD WHERE YOU AT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

[@azziek3246]

The prisoners in act 2 are creepy.

[@Abonkit]

Is it possible to get tails into red mountain without the eject?

[@woobgamer5210]

probably by character swap mods. like loading in as Sonic, then switching to Tails

[@Abonkit]

@@woobgamer5210 I figured that was a possibility. I haven't messed around with SA modding since the really early days, so I assume some things are more advanced

[@bfoxGuile]

but what about the fugitivvves, i still got an emblem to do

[@Mittens0407]

Did anyone ever find out what that green area with Tails in it was?

[@Ender-kk7gg]

bet tails is Windy Valley.

[@drreflexlol83384]

There are actually prisoners there

[@fenixtizio452]

Intresting

[@peterpumkineater69346]

Do one twinkle park

[@brycemcanany1852]

can please please fix cutscene revamp extensions and update.

[@AizakkuAnalysis]

One day, I'd love to hear you do actual commentary over your videos. Rather than reading walls of text.

[@a-posetexturelessjoker1539]

Why is the collision in sonic adventure so fucked up

[@deadliestvice5356]

Your recording software and/or capture card is busted, my man.

[@edredompescador]

One more hiatus on the list.

[@noicoiner6151]

Speak, or suffer mediocre content

[@vocaploid]

Cool