SRB2 TGF

An in-game screenshot of Greenflower Zone, the first level in SRB2 TGF.

SRB2 TGF (or SRB2 The Games Factory) was the first version of SRB2, which was developed between March and July 1998 before being scrapped. Unlike all following versions, SRB2 TGF was still a 2D game, created with the game-making tool The Games Factory. Compared to Sonic Robo Blast, SRB2 TGF was considerably more advanced: It featured monitors, springs, shields, spikes and the ability to spin on the ground. The levels included features such as water, moving platforms and mine carts. Enemy collision was much less buggy and the player could now bounce off enemies and monitors.

Many of SRB2 TGF's ideas were later carried over to the 3D version of the game. The introduction cutscene that details the storyline would later be reworked and added to the game in v1.01. The planned zone lineup was largely identical to how it is now, except for featuring Mine Maze Zone and Rocky Mountain Zone in the place of Castle Eggman Zone and Arid Canyon Zone. Mine Maze Zone and Rocky Mountain Zone would later be merged into Arid Canyon Zone, while Castle Eggman Zone originated as a demo-only zone in Demo 4 and was later added to the zone lineup proper.

Several textures from the SRB2 TGF levels are still used in the game to this day, while others have since been replaced. Several enemies, specifically the Crawla, Deton, Skim and Minus, originated in SRB2 TGF and are still used in the game, albeit with redrawn sprites. The Minus, which was originally a basic flying enemy, was repurposed as a tunneling enemy in Arid Canyon Zone. Other enemies, such as a fish enemy in Deep Sea Zone and the Drilla Killa in Mine Maze Zone, were scrapped.

At its latest date, SRB2 TGF included all of Greenflower Zone, Techno Hill Zone and Deep Sea Zone, as well as the first act of Mine Maze Zone. Special Stages were also included – these were accessible only through special items hidden in some of the included levels, which would warp the player straight to the Special Stages themselves. When a Special Stage was finished, the player would return to the point they entered it from. While these levels were much more rudimentary than their modern counterparts, they nevertheless brought The Games Factory to its limits. Many of Sonikku's more complicated ideas could not be replicated with the limited scripting engine, and the game would slow down immensely in the larger levels. The Games Factory was thus abandoned in July 1998 when programmer Stealth offered to write an entirely new engine in C for the game, still in 2D. However, progress on the engine halted two months later when Stealth was unable to help with the project anymore. At this point, SSNTails, who had created the Sonic-themed Doom addon Sonic Doom 2, suggested moving the game to the 3D Doom Legacy engine, which it still uses to this day.

This version of SRB2 would be referenced years later by a date-activated secret in v1.09 and v1.09.4 – in these versions, starting up the game on April Fools' Day would replace the normal introduction with the introduction from SRB2 TGF, complete with the original graphics and music. This secret was later removed in v2.0, along with all other date-activated secrets.

SRB1 Christmas

SRB1 Christmas (also known as Sonic Xmas Blast, and sometimes abbreviated as SRBX) was released in December 1998, during the period between the end of SRB2 TGF's development and the release of SRB2 Halloween a year later, as it was clear by then SRB2 would no longer be using this engine. It is largely a repackaging of SRB2 TGF's existing levels with Christmas-themed names and a winter theme applied. The ability to save the game was not present however, and the game itself would start immediately on load.

Aside from changes made to the levels themselves, new sprites had been made for Sonic to replace the original sprites from Sonic Robo Blast. These would not be used in future versions of SRB2 however.

Two cheats were available in SRB1 Christmas:

• Typing newmid at the "Sonic Team Junior presents..." screen (a ring sound is played when confirmed) – Swaps some of the game's music with other music. For instance, the screen with a picture of Eggman instead plays THZ1's theme.
• Typing supa at the screen with a picture of Eggman (an explosion sound is played when confirmed) – Allows Sonic to turn into Super Sonic when he collects 50 rings and double-jumps. Note that Super Sonic's sprites appear like those of normal Sonic from Sonic Robo Blast (they may have been left over from SRB2 TGF).

Gallery

• 

  Techno Hill Zone Act 1

• 

  Deep Sea Zone Act 1

• 

  Special Stage

• 

  Greenflower Zone Act 1 in SRB1 Christmas (AKA "Snowflake Zone Act 1")

External links

Archived Versions – srb2.org – Information and download