Neon Lights - Sonic 2: Return of Shadow OST (SHC 2015), by JoeNickROS

Описание: made by JoeNickROS, originally for Sonic 2: Return of Shadow (2015 Edition)

oh what's this? songs i had no part in, being put up on my channel?? it's a necessary action. not like there's anyone (else) willing to spend the time to put up an actually good playlist of the sonic 2: return of shadow ost, especially with a song as obscure as this one.
sadly, after the 2015 version, this song got replaced with twinkle park for its zone. which, like, the song and its genesis translation does, in fact, slap. but the removal of this song really sucked imo. this is probably my second favorite song from the hack (#1 being sound test number 16, which, strangely enough, got removed from the 2015 version and was re-added into the 2020 version? upon some cheats, i was able to deduce it's the final zone which replaces sonic 2 death egg's theme. joe was cooking heavy, idk).
such a good composition ive had on loop for hours. it's so calming and captivating all at once. how the hell does one make a song like this... man i love the instruments used in this hack, they've got such a specific flavor.
JoeNickROS really has to upload his tracks somewhere at some point. he has a soundcloud but it, funnily enough, has 0 TRACKS FROM HIS MAIN HACK. HOW.

sonic retro page for this hack:
https://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_2:_...

it seems to be outdated. guess no one had the time to update it to the 2020 edition. the older version isn't here either, so it's just... a kind of incomplete page...

straight 2015 download link (from the retro):
https://info.sonicretro.org/images/7/...

straight 2020 download link (shc vault):
https://shc-dist.lostsig.co/downloads...[SHC]%20[contest2020]%20330%20-%20Return%20of%20Shadow%20(By%20JoenickROS).7z

or just. visit the shc vault...
i won't say you shouldn't play this version instead or anything. it's definitely better in almost every way. less lag, little better collision, hell, even the drum samples are higher quality. or different, at least. i just miss old nlz's theme, is all.
maybe if JoeNickROS ever finds this video out of a one/trillion chance, he'll add it to the next version of the hack, which im positive there... won't. be.
man's likely moved on hacking altogether. definitely don't blame him, it's exhausting, to say the least.

okay

metal reign yap session below if you're only here for sonic 2 return of shadow miraculously

as for how it applies to metal reign...
if you don't know, which you probably don't, a short recreation of this zone can be found by taking a certain route in moon monsoon act 2. a tribute, of sorts. level's not that in-depth or anything, i just wanted to show some love for this zone's vibe. even if it is somewhat just a star light recolor.

in a way, id like to believe metal reign has a ROM hack vibe. grew up on those pretty much my entire life. from sonic and ashuro to sfactor to megamix to return of shadow, i just have a lot of appreciation for hacks like those. and now i get to do something like a "hack" for srb2. however pathetic of an explanation that is to make an srb2 mod... yeah i love rom hacks. 's why a lot of the more (i don't wanna say retro) aspects are all intentional. like the music being all 16-bit (except for metal sonic's, who showed up in an era where his game wasn't limited by those), the pixels in the textures being double sized (so you can see the pixels easier, adding to the feel), slightly different palettes, asset flips, a great deal of it is to give metal reign that vibe. there's also the movement changes. not even involving the abilities, just spinning capability. in every other hack, it was common for one to be able to use air abilities out of a roll from a ledge or slope or whatever. that just became a standard for me. idk why it isn't everywhere tbh, that's a great inclusion to the formula.
the vibe may definitely not be... for everyone... or hell, it may not even be noticeable. but ive enjoyed making metal reign feel less like a map pack and more like a new experience, sort of inspired by stuff like this.

or maybe it's just not that deep. it's 12 as im writing all this, maybe im crazy.

in v1.2, special stages will be revamped to give a better tribute to 5 or 6 of these.

metal reign download:
https://mb.srb2.org/addons/metal-reig...