FOSSPicks
3D Sonic
Sonic Robo Blast 2
Sonic the Hedgehog appears quite often in open source gaming remakes. This must be because Sonic was a mainstay of 1990s console gaming, a decade that saw the creation of Linux, and is long enough ago to make teenagers of that time senior developers today. Sonic Robo Blast 2 is a perfect proof of this theory, combining not only open source with Sonic, but also with another behemoth of the era, Doom. The game itself is entirely fan-made and even has its own roots back in the late 1990s. It features over 25 levels that are entirely created by the community and feature the same manic, sugar-fueled platforming style of the originals, but with one important difference. The game play has been transposed into three dimensions. And not just the tidy polygonal three dimensions of Super Mario 64 either. These are the pseudo three dimensions of the crude textures and large sprites of Doom, or more accurately, the updated Doom Legacy engine.
If you've ever played the 2D original, then the gameplay will be familiar. There's a significant introduction sequence that provides a chunk of backstory, complete with cartoon-style graphics, before you're launched into the game proper. You get to play as any of the main characters, each with their own abilities, and your mission remains the same – collecting rings while traversing each zone as quickly as you can. You still get to tackle many of the same enemies, challenges, and hurdles as the original, only now with the ability to move in all directions. It might sound like an unnatural fit for two different styles of game, but Sonic Robo Blast 2 plays remarkably like the original and with similarly high-quality production values. Before long, you'll be riding lifts, clinging on to out-of-control mining carts, and flying across canyons like it's 1992.
Project Website
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Plasma 6.3 Ready for Public Beta Testing
Plasma 6.3 will ship with KDE Gear 24.12.1 and KDE Frameworks 6.10, along with some new and exciting features.
-
Budgie 10.10 Scheduled for Q1 2025 with a Surprising Desktop Update
If Budgie is your desktop environment of choice, 2025 is going to be a great year for you.
-
Firefox 134 Offers Improvements for Linux Version
Fans of Linux and Firefox rejoice, as there's a new version available that includes some handy updates.
-
Serpent OS Arrives with a New Alpha Release
After months of silence, Ikey Doherty has released a new alpha for his Serpent OS.
-
HashiCorp Cofounder Unveils Ghostty, a Linux Terminal App
Ghostty is a new Linux terminal app that's fast, feature-rich, and offers a platform-native GUI while remaining cross-platform.
-
Fedora Asahi Remix 41 Available for Apple Silicon
If you have an Apple Silicon Mac and you're hoping to install Fedora, you're in luck because the latest release supports the M1 and M2 chips.
-
Systemd Fixes Bug While Facing New Challenger in GNU Shepherd
The systemd developers have fixed a really nasty bug amid the release of the new GNU Shepherd init system.
-
AlmaLinux 10.0 Beta Released
The AlmaLinux OS Foundation has announced the availability of AlmaLinux 10.0 Beta ("Purple Lion") for all supported devices with significant changes.
-
Gnome 47.2 Now Available
Gnome 47.2 is now available for general use but don't expect much in the way of newness, as this is all about improvements and bug fixes.
-
Latest Cinnamon Desktop Releases with a Bold New Look
Just in time for the holidays, the developer of the Cinnamon desktop has shipped a new release to help spice up your eggnog with new features and a new look.