Knuckles' Chaotix (32X) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
375A playthrough of Sega's 1995 platformer for the Sega 32X, Knuckles' Chaotix.
This playthrough shows the good ending.
I think that Knuckles' Chaotix tends to get a bum deal when it comes to how much criticism it has received over the years. And I think that much of it is directly attributable to the perception that it is a Sonic game. It is a spin-off, sure, and it was done by Sonic Team, but don't you think that if it was a true Sonic game that they would've capitalized on the character's popularity and featured him front and center? I'm guessing they didn't because ,despite the shared elements, it's really something quite different - probably closer to Ristar or Dynamite Headdy than classic Sonic.
The primary difference is the lynchpin of the game-play - the ring tether. The characters are chained to one another, and you can use them as leverage against one another to go flying in just about any direction you like. The physics feel surprisingly good, and the action is extremely fast - quite a bit faster at moments than Sonic ever was in 16-bit form. I think for most people, the biggest issue comes from how unintuitive the controls are at the beginning. They're responsive, and I don't know how they could be done better, but the timing, coordination, and ability to judge momentum and angles is a bit too much for how quickly the game moves. Even just regular movements getting around the level can be quite difficult to do at times if you aren't in the "zone". With practice it gets much easier and you figure out how to do cooler things, but it never feels particularly natural. I've never been able to play it quite as fluently, for lack of a better word, as I'd like.
The other issue that people seem to have with Knuckles' Chaotix is the level-design and the stark lack of enemies across the game. I can't help but think that it's a complaint because, again, people expected and wanted Sonic. I quite liked the level design - it's fairly dynamic and complex, and it's open enough to give you some freedom with the mechanics. The swinging around requires a good amount of space to not just bang into a wall and fall, and all of the levels seem to be built around that. The lack of enemies I think was also a good call - so much of the time you are super vulnerable to attack, and planting enemies all over the stages would ruin any sort of flow to it. It does have the side effect of making the game entirely too easy - the only real challenges are the (awesome) 3D special stages - but there are a ton of levels here, and plenty of room for strategies when playing different characters. But like I said before - it's extremely difficult to play it particularly well, despite the ease with which you'll likely beat it.
But that's a minor complaint, all things considered. The game is quite a showpiece for the 32X - don't listen to the people that say it looks like a Genesis game. They're dumb. There are generally several layers of heavily detailed backgrounds scrolling at any given time, there's a pretty massive boost in color over what could be done on the base Genesis (and it does some great effects with color-shifting and fading), the 3D sections are fairly smooth and colorful, the sprite-scaling effects look great (so what if they are pixelated? The SNES had the same exact issue!), and it blazes along at some pretty amazing pace with nary a hitch in the framerate, no matter how much is going on on-screen at once. The sound quality has also seen a massive boost with the new hardware, even though I'm not really a fan of the soundtrack.
I'd totally recommend this to anyone that isn't hell-bent on hating it without ever giving a fair chance. It's an effort to learn, but there's a lot of fun and depth here for anyone that cares to look for it.
____
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (http://www.nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!
Visit for the latest updates!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/NintendoComplete/540091756006560
https://twitter.com/nes_complete