Tails' Skypatrol: A Weird Game with a Weirder History
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- čas přidán 7. 11. 2022
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Today we are looking at the long-awaited Tails' Skypatrol. I can't even believe it either. This video is longer than the game itself.
HUGE thank you to my dear friend Stevie Cole for the amazing thumbnail art! You can follow her over on Twitter: / steviejoycole - Hry
There's a reason Sega didn't release this game outside of Japan: Sega still had standards in the 90s. 15 years later they patched a phone game together and had the nerve to call it 'Sonic 4'.
man shut up
It did make it's way out of Japan. In one of the Sega/Sonic game collections. Just. No other way but that to play it.
@@fr0stdr4ke95
Yeah, Sonic Gems Collection for the GameCube, I own that one. They didn’t even bother translating the manual so you have to figure everything out on your own.
Sonic Blast and Labyrinth for the Game Gear don't support this idea. I had them both back in the day and they were probably much worse than tails skypatrol
@@rainpooper7088 Based lowkey.
Okay but the frowny face at the two minute mark genuinely caught me off guard. It had no business being that disturbing.
Looks like one of those up close shots from SpongeBob.
Or an extra creepy Dr. Seuss character.
that was some analog horror shit
That one shot of every Flapjack Episode be like:
Wouldn’t really call it disturbing tbh
What's funny is Robotnik in SatAM was voiced by Pete's voice actor!
That's super neat! Thanks for sharing
Cool! I didn't know that.
Me neither. So both Robotnik and Pete has a same voice actor, right?
@@weirdknuckles7379 Jim Cummings voiced Robotnik in the American 90's TV show called Sonic the Hedgehog, also known as SatAM by the fans.
@@kingkazma3246 And his voice scared the heck out of kid me back then.
Imagine tails meeting Pete before kingdom hearts was a thing sounds so crazy
Pete is in Kingdom Hearts, Sora is in Smash Bros, Sonic is in Smash Bros, Tails is in the Kingdom Hearts canon confirmed
@@RicPendragon Where's the correlation between those?
@@machina188 sora in smash is iirc canon to kingdom hearts in the sense of "Well that was a thing, anyways back to the story and forget this ever happened"
@@machina188 my JOKE of a reply is nothing but correlation 🤣🤣🤣
The guy who voices Peter also voiced Robotnik in SATAM so make of that what you will.
Still crazy these guys showed up in post-reboot Archie; even gave Wendy some familial ties to Naugus, which was neat.
And even if Naugus cannot be used any longer, I can easily see Witchkart filling in the villain role. If only SEGA would just lift the embargo on the Classic characters in Modern set material.
@@geoffreyrichards6079
We're already starting to see some of that with Mecha Sonic showing up in Scrapnik Island, so don't lose hope.
@@geoffreyrichards6079 We're getting some Tails Sky Patrol love in the upcoming Tails 30th anniversary comic. They talked briefly about it in yesterday's live stream around the time this got uploaded. I chuckled when I saw this in my feed while watching it.
@@Megaman12Protoman14 Is that a Modern Sonic story though? Looks like Classic Tails in this vid.
@@shupasopni Yup, the comic has the Classic branding. While SEGA have apparently been loosening up on the whole "X characters are Classic exclusive" (Mighty I believe was mentioned), the Witchcarters are in Classic Purgatory for the time being.
I always wondered about this game, this era had so many bizarre spinoffs.
I might not be a Sonic fan deep cut. But one thing learned for sure, is that, like a boomerang all ideas eventually return! Or stay there for a while, huh?
Honestly, I think the Sonic series could benefit from having more spinoff game series. Characters like Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Blaze, and the Chaotix are all well-defined and popular enough to carry their own series.
hey you're that one guy about that one video with the color green
@@geoffreyrichards6079 Shame Sega treats anyone not named Sonic or Eggman like dirt since 2006.
@@rayvenkman2087 It's a bit hard to blame them, given the one-two punch of "IT'S-NO-USE" and Shadow's stint as the "Edgehog". They're _still_ recovering from that trauma. Here's every new non-spinoff Sonic title they released starting in 2007 after the scope of the 06 problem became clear:
Sonic and the Secret Rings: scaled-down placeholder title for the Wii because they couldn't get 06 (and especially the Havok engine) to work on it. It feature a number of what on paper sound like downgrades compared to 06, including simpler gameplay, a lower-stakes and more lighthearted story, and fewer characters. Despite this, it wound up being a better game than 06 because 06 was... 06.
Sonic Rush Adventure: Built on the first Rush game and delivered more of the same. Overall a pretty great handheld platformer.
Sonic Unleashed: General reaction of "The day stages were good" resulted in the Boost formula replacing the Adventure formula to this day. The boost formula was very much inspired by the Sonic Rush games' similar mechanic, with the only really new/unique element being the Werehog. Which didn't turn out great and mostly invited more mockery. So no more beat-em-up stages moving forward. Despite the literal world-shattering threat, the tone stayed pretty light and cartoonish throughout.
Sonic 4 Episode 1: Yeah a lot went wrong here.
Sonic and the Black Knight: Follow up to Secret Rings, because clearly the formula there worked. The sword being tied to motion controls kinda sucked, and neither element has seriously appeared since. Resulted in the planned third entry in the Storybook subseries being cancelled. In fairness, with Colors up next the series had probably run its course regardless.
Sonic Colors: Generally well received. Which is why the wisps came back in literally every game until Frontiers. And why this got a re-release last year. Even more lighthearted than Unleashed, almost to the point of resembling Sonic Heroes.
Sonic Generations: Also generally well received. But by its nature mostly featured old levels, which I think did some bad things to Sega's level designers' confidence. Sega additionally misinterpreted the love for this game as a love for "Classic Sonic", which resulted in the excellent game Sonic Mania... but also Sega trying to promote "Classic Sonic" to his own character separate from "modern Sonic" for the next decade. With Frontiers they've given up on that, fortunately.
Sonic 4 Episode 2: I'm kind of surprised they thought this was worth a second go. But it really wasn't, and the planned third "episode" never materialized.
Sonic Lost World: Hey, some experimentation again! It's arguably not even the boost formula anymore. Pity what we got instead had... some pretty fundamental issues. Burned again for experimenting. And after Generations did so well it seems the damage to the level designers' confidence became a lot more severe.
Sonic Mania: It's great! And not developed by Sega. Though Sega did insist on some old levels returning. At least they got remixed.
Sonic Forces: After over a decade of avoiding anything grimmer than a knight in shining armor, Sega decided to try to recapture the Adventure-era tone. The tone we got instead was... pretty wild. In multiple ways. I'm pretty sure Ian Flynn's ability to make sense of the mess that resulted and use it as an incredibly effective springboard for the IDW comics is why he was tapped to write Frontiers. In other news, "Classic Sonic" is back for who knows what reason. And mostly just plays through levels once again based on the same handful of 25-year-old levels. Good 25-year-old levels, but still. We did also get Sega dusting off more of their deep roster of Sonic characters, some of whom hadn't seen the light in a long, _long_ time.
Sonic Frontiers: Thanks to Ian Flynn, the more serious tone is a bit more... consistent this time. Levels get reused again (and to an even greater extent than in Forces), but the nature of the game means you can ignore them. And you might not even notice the reuse in a lot of cases because of how they're reused. Wisps are gone, too, as is "Classic Sonic" entirely.
So to put a very long story short... Sega is making progress towards building their confidence back up for another go at an Adventure-style title. Just... slowly. Very slowly. Setting aside one coping mechanism at a time...
This game is a mint-candy fueled fever dream. I'm sure its about Tails going about an amusement park, bullying the ride mascots and then capturing them for his collection. All while chugging copious amounts of mint candy, and spending tons of diamond crystals.
My best assumption for the Disney-themed build of what would become Tails’ Skypatrol was that Tails was originally Mickey Mouse in a biplane. Not only does this make sense thematically with the bosses, but also makes sense historically considering the Plane Crazy short. Thus more, in terms of gameplay, the way Tails plummets after getting hit is identical to how a plane would plummet when shot down, in addition with the auto-scrolling.
Thinking over it's weird they that back Witch Car in the IDW Comics.
PD: the face of Tails when realize she was back was priceless he has "this gonna be really annoying" white over his face, Sonic asking back "Who?" was the cherry on top.
wait, where can i find that art?
Please tell me which issue this is from
@@gelmanbegum9934 I can't find it, sorry I think mixed up with a sneak peek at the end of a issue.
@@gelmanbegum9934 now I find it, was a sneak peak of the 30th aniversary comic
AntDude’s realization that Sally’s never coming back is as priceless as Nick’s Grinch Face 😂😂
Sonic drops his new 3D Mainline game after five years……and Nick talks about Tails’ Skypatrol 😂
Based tbh
Game Apologist has his priorities straight.
Nick has his finger on the pulse.
The only funny thing here is that no one else is
It had already waited its turn. :)
The next comic is a sequel to this game, so I'm very happy that this topic comes up.
I thought it would never be known that Tails had two arch-enemies.
Which next Comic?
Whaaaaaaa???
I have to read that, then.
Frontiers: *comes out*
Game Apologist: i feel like reviewing something else...
It was actually acknowledged outside the manual that knuckles' favorite food is grapes? I've been waiting 30 years for that! The mint thing is news to me.
In the second Sonic movie (Sonic & Knuckles fight and then team up... I'm sorry to spoil the plot for you) there's talk about victory ice cream. And Knuckles asks "if it has grapes," then there was this interview-type clip, so movie Knuckles is the first portrayal to acknowledge the love of grapes.
It will be neat if they could combine the sling ring and boomering somehow for like Sonic mania 2 or something
"No, not _that_ rabbit hole!"
Oh Nick, you naughty, naughty boy-man!
That bit with AntDude made me want to both laugh and cry.
I guess that makes Ant a FAMILY GUY. Lol!
Also, one of the items you can catch while fishing in Frontiers... is an acorn. Not sure if that's foreshadowing or a cruel tease. Probably the latter.
Oh man, I felt that to. 😢
Imagine If Sally apears out of nowhere and says: "hey Sonic, it's me, your wife"
Sega of Japan once again refusing to give Sega of America’s contributions any more credit.
Hearing about the Disney elements and seeing Pete immediately made me think of that one Kingdom Hearts/Sonic X fanfic with Tails as the main character I read once as a kid.
great video as usual man!
the opening bit literally had me going;
"how the hell did you NOT get a review copy!?"
always happy to see the older games getting some attention- especially the weirder variety like tails sky patrol xD
I guess I'm one of the few people that had had a lot of fun with this game back on Sonic Gems Collection. I remember literally trying to speedrun this game back when I was 6 years old. Just remember that Tails picks up items with his feet and to mash when you get hit by enemies and you're good. Also there's a hidden star that allows you to speed through those annoying balls.
All I know is I saw Pete chasing tails in a rocket and I instantly clicked.
That antdude part was amazing
Archie Carotia was FINE as hecc for absolutely no reason. She's basically the Sonic equivalent of Harley Quinn, but dumber.
Basically Harley not written by Paul Dini.
For thoes who wanna try it, the rom is hidden in the files for SADX on steam. All you need to do is find the rom hidden in the files and decompress it using an asset extractor.
Alternitively, you can get the bettersadx modpack and just use a 100% save file with the game already unlocked.
When Wendy showed up in the Archie comic that was the thing that forced me to admit that Ian Flynn was a bigger Sonic fan than me. When they did a soft Tails Adventure adaptation in Sonic Universe I was like "oh hey, someone else actually cares about the old game gear games" but when we got the freaking witchcarters, characters that even I didn't know about at the time, I was officially one-upped. It was also a brilliant idea to make Wendy Naugus' sister, she kind of looks like him (which MUST have been a coincidence since there is no way a Japan only game gear game is going to reference a character who was only in one episode of an American cartoon show) and her gimmick of using magic to turn people into crystals even matches how Naugus' Ixis magic worked, it was such a fortunate coincidence. I also got ENDLESS laughs out of how she had a crush on Eggman and flirted with him, the potential for a love triangle with Wendy, Eggman, and Thunderbolt is one of the things I lament losing most from the cancellation of the Archie comic.
We really lost a good universe twice thanks to you know who.
From now on we should say that a franchise or story that has gotten the axe like this has been Pender'd.
Finally someone talks about this games history it’s so interesting
Don't reply to the message, it's a scam.
Don't reply to the message, it's a scam.
Well it is the first appearance of Rail Canyon and man… between Tails Skypatrol and Sonic Heroes, that place sure got a makeover
Is it the same, or just styled after it. Because Aurora ice field in fighters shares simularities to ice cap!
@@erikbihari3625 Headcanon this is the same place but Tails was more on the ground whilst in Heroes they are more up at rockies summit height.
@@ExoneosWhat now?
@@erikbihari3625 Late but what they mean is that in Tails Adventure, Tails went through the bottom of Rail Canyon while in Sonic Heroes, he, Sonic, Knuckles, and the other teams were going through the top of the canyon.
@@misterzygarde6431Well makes sense considering heroes was the franchise's multy platform debute wich meant to please fans from every corner like Spiderman no way home, both about as quality too!
It's about time our little two-tailed super genius gets some respect around here.
"Tails love mints"
Man he's just like me
"You can also get Tails to pole dance." (Insert Bayonetta jazz music)
Forgetting Tails could also permanently fly in the chao garden in SA2 lol
“He touches grass and dies” 😂😂😂
Are You talking about me?
13:54 *TOO SOON, NICK*
*15 YEARS TOO SOON.*
I always prefered the other tails based spinoff of the day. Tail Adventure. Metroidvania with tails, its great
That Pete reference. Damn. 🤣
I remember years ago on a now deactivated old Let's Play channel I ran, this was the first game I played. I raged hard at times haha.
Nice to see some info on this game's history. I wonder how well this game would've played via a Tec-Toy Master System port to alleviate screen crunch.
Whichcart stole eggtech, skeletons from Castlevainia, and Shotzos from Kirby. She's an amazing thief.
Dunno about you guys, but for me, the enemies/bosses and even some stage elements, make me think of the Castle of Illusion games, and with Pete being there in the beta...
I don't draw weird stuff with Sonic characters because I'm desperate, I do it because I'm a degenerate... I mean, I _am_ desperate, but that's not the ONLY reason.
Brings a whole new meaning to Collision Chaos😏
I always love a new Game Apologist episode
As with most of the game gear Sonic games, I walk away wishing for a Master System port. If programmers can “open up” the Genesis sonic games for widescreen, I bet they can open up these.
1:47 ok ya got me that sudden Grinch Face made me laugh,
The fact that the Upwards Rolling 8-Bit Theme matched the Zoom in on that Grinch Face made me Utterly Die Laughing xD
so the bunny made it outside the game but the witch did not? it would be cool to have another humanoid villain
Oh she did. All of these villains are in Archie
@@GameApologist lmao they did everything 😂
It's weird to see an 8-bit game this detailed.
Yeah, it'd look good on the Genesis
You should also see Sonic's Edusoft, the unreleased Master System game that used a lot of assets from Sonic 1 and that style was translated weirdly well
I actually really like the direction Flynn decided to take Carrotia in the Archie Comics.
The original sprite was clearly meant to be the stupid flirty girl trope but Flynn reinterpreted the dopey eyes to make her a lazy and drowsy dork. It gave her so much personality visually and still lined up with her original look, it’s really appealing to me how clever it was.
Also, Bearenger used to be Pete?! Let me get this straight-
Walt Disney’s first gig at Universal involved Pete the bear as one of his first antagonists. After he left the studio and made the Disney studio, Walt kept the name for Pete but made him more cat-like to better contrast with Mickey. And Sega then reinterprets Pete into a Sonic character that’s a bear. We’ve come full circle.
I don’t have anything to say about Hawke. The most interesting thing about him is how much his Archie design looks like Sonic.
I remember playing the game back in the day. Even when I knew what to do, I had no clue what to do.
This game matters solely on the fact that it introduced the greatest Sonic character of all time, Focke-Wulf
Average Sonic fan: * complains about Frontiers *
Average Sonic enjoyer: * celebrates Tails' birthday *
As someone who **actually** play this game because "manage" 🏴☠ to get a JP copy of Sonic Gems Collection by accident (truly by accident) I remember spending hours on this game to unlock new content in the gallery, and can agree with the game having an uncanny valley of fun game but frustrating at first, it has a special place in my heart (i love tails), didn't knew about the whole history behind this game until today thanks to this video!! thank you for making it
The thing that most interests me is Witchcart riding what looks a custom eggomatic vehicle. I'm guess she was one of Robotniks old minions or something or maybe she stole it. I can't help but spot the similarities and want to know the connection.
This was actually a thing asked to Ian Flynn, which someone questioning weather Witchcart herself created the witchcarters vehicles and her own or if they stole the parts and gear from robotniks leftovers. There isn’t a clear answer for this yet.
Dude the music in this game... Ohhhhh baby, that first level goes sooo hard !!!!!!!
My mans is straight fucking trolling throwing this video out here on the day Frontiers releases XD Good show, Nick.
Is it just me or is Tails constantly flipping us off
Ahhhh another DigitalTechnologiesPastime Upholder video? This I've gotta see 🍿🍿🍿
Headcanon Tails' Skypatrol & Tails Adventure are stories that Tails had before he meet Sonic and Wendy Witchcart in Skypatrol is just an henchwomen of Eggman the cristal that she create serve as power supplies for Eggman machine and contraption. Badoru Kukku in Tails Adventure was also a hitman hired by Eggman to find the Chaos Emerald.
Fun fact: sonic remember tangle in sonic frontier but tangle only shows up in IDW which is very weird because tangle isn't canon in the sonic game universe. Because in the idw universe sonic meet tangle after the dr. Tinker thing. Which can't be happened in the video game universe because after forces it's frontier and Dr eggman id evil. But what ever. Its very cool that tangle is existed in sonic frontier.... Even only in the random non-cutscene dialogue
I lost it at "You can make Tails pole dance."
seriously man , it's just so exciting to see you talk about those spin off games , always wanted to hear your openions about them
also , you may not know this , but there is a web site named "Mega Drive Shock" which i once talked about in a message i sent to your email , along with a prodcast named as "dreams of sega" , those are sources of information which talk about a lot of hidden stories i’ve never heard before , about facts of what sega had been dealing with in 90s that was baffling to me , and hidden stories which explain MUCH better some of their so called stupid decesions , let alone some facts such what exactly was going on between japanese branches of sega and sony and how both they decided to end their relationship , the many financial issues that sega of japan dealt with that made the delay of sega’s saturn release unrealistic to them , or how game market in mid 90s was in almost a situation similar to that of 1982 whaich was beofre 1983 when video gmae crush happened , in which in mid 90s was the game market was flooded with a lot of bad gmaes and medicore games , but any way ,i'm truly excited to hear you talk about sega's console the saturn , and i hope those sources of information help you
I did not expect this video to be a thing, but I am not complaining.
It's a really cute game. Had a lot of fun with it, and I think it would be great for the series to receive more of these cute little mobile spin-offs with silly enemies and stuff
Imagine the alternate timeline where Tails fought Archie Carotina and Peg Leg Pete and Tails Skypatrol took the place of Kingdom Hearts.
Fun fact: just like tails' adventure, tails' skypatrol is supposed to take place before tails met sonic which is why he and eggman aren't in any of the games
Loved the writing in this video the jokes were really funny and I was captivated the entire time
5:39 - Ay, man, you’re welcome, thank you for keeping making new videos!
TWO WHOLE SONIC VIDEOS THAT I CAN WATCH TODAY WOOO
The tails duology was certainly fascinating.
I absolutely love that you released this on Frontiers launch
Also I get the feeling this game might have been a Ducktales based game featuring Launchpad, Scrooge's haphazard pilot.
This was the precursor to flappy birds
Archie Carrotia do have a... charm to her.
"Be shure to wish this little guy a happy birthday"
No. I don't think I will. You know how many times this little shit stole my air bubble back in Sonic2?
Honestly, I'm kinda looking forward to a relatively spoiler-free non-completionist look at Frontiers by a Sonic-related channel I trust like yours to see if it's even worth getting in the first place since I don't want a buggy mess like Sonic Boom (I never had, but enjoyed watching Game Grumps lose their minds through) or an unfinished fights-you-all-the-time game like Sonic 06 was (I had the X360 version, was one campaign away from full completion but it was too obnoxious to play). I have limited funds currently and I have to pick and choose what I get now, otherwise it probably would've been an insta-buy for me even on the Switch.
Well I got it on day one for Xbox (playing it on Xbox One) and +10 hours in I am genuinely really enjoying my time!
I have rarely ran into glitches or mistakes and the ones I have were never game breaking or draining on my mental energy.
I've only completed two Islands so far and I still have a LOT to discover so personally I'd recommend it even just going off of my journey thus far.
Archie made the rabit boss into a waifu. Sonic sometimes just.... does things i do not understand.
I don't think Sega could draw a furry chick without making her a waifu.
(Unknown from M.E. starts playing)
Sega themselves made the “booby bat lady”. Remember that.
THAT'S bizarre to you? 🤨
I didn't know Tails' favorite treat was mint candy!
ah, Tails' Skypatrol. good times playing this game from SADX!!
Oh my god, Tails Sky Patrol is bullet hell?
The boomering, the rubber band ring, and all the other ring abilities would be a cool game to play
And yet it's still a good game. Short one, but a fun romp to speed through every so often.
Great video not often I hear someone talk about both Tails Sky patrol and tails adventure.
And I do look forward towards your frontiers review when that’s finished.
But I do have one question are you aware of tails fourth game. Tails and the music maker.
Who did your thumbnail? It’s really good 👍
Stevie Cole! Got her twitter in the description!
Still kinda wack how this game technically was made three times but only one was released, and exclusive to Japan for some reason
This was a lot more interesting than I could have ever anticipated.
I’m really interested in that GameBoy Color version based purely on the character design of the main character.
Wasn’t expecting antdude at 2:33
I like how Tails is flipping the finger
SUPER excited to watch the Sunset City live after it's (hopefully) posted! Let's hope Pup doesn't get TOO racey.
I forgot about the McDonalds games! I remember the Shadow one being the most fun.
And it was just a single button lol
I had that Amy tennis game because they ran out of the one I originally picked and just threw something in there. It was fun enough so I didn’t complain.
I plan on buying frontier, I loved forces, gonna love this new one
the second Pete appeared I got a Disneyland ad, they were trying to bury what was going to of course happen the next instant
for those of you asking amy's favorite food is soft serve ice cream
Hopefully the other two versions get leaked to the internet someday. The possibility of it happening is certainly greater than zero.
Yes that rabbit hole.
2:51 Happy 30th BDay tails!~ So doesn't that meant Sonic is like only a few years older than tails!?
With Tangle and Sticks being made canon in the game's universe, maybe Wendy and her minions can be too? What better way for Tails to grow than giving him enemies unconnected to Eggman?
I really enjoyed this game and the comic book
Grumbus
Grumbus
from the footage you used, it looks like the damage and item pickup hitbox actually centers on the base of Tails' tails, and I think its only a few pixels wide. think shmup collisions.
16:16 I'd go down Carrotia's rabbit hole anytime.
😏
Huh, interesting Game, you did good with covering it, i will look forward to your Frontiers Review.
I have a copy of this on a sonic compilation disc. I tried to play it as a kid and had a feeling it was gonna be too frustrating and not a rewarding experience to pursue. Looks like I was more right than I had anticipated.
Instead of rage quitting this, I decided to just play sonic CD until my fingers bleed. Good times
Okay, so this video is where I learned my favorite flavor is shared by my favorite Sonic character. (So fresh)