/vr/ - Retro Games

>-AIZ ends with the player falling down, into HCZ; which ends with the player being splashed up, into MGZ; which includes a climactic, ariel boss battle that ends with the player being lowered down, into CNZ; which ends with the player being shot out of a cannon, high up into the mountain tops of ICZ; which ends with the player burrowing a tunnel in the snow, falling down into LBZ; which ends with the player riding some falling launch debris and ultimately plummeting down, into MHZ; which ends with the player hitching a ride upwards, into the airship that is FBZ; which ends with the player bailing out, and down in the desert, SOZ; which ends with the player following a hidden passage leading deep down underground, into LRZ; which technically consists of the following zone, HPZ, which ends with the player falling down a shaft and then immediately entering a teleporter that beams them up, into the high heavens of the island, SSZ; which ends with the player racing up a rapidly deteriorating pillar and leaping aboard the ascending DEZ; which ends either with the player riding the Tornado back down to the surface -- or, if all chaos emeralds are unlocked, transforming into hyper form and continuing the pursuit up into outer space, DDZ; which ends with the player -- once again -- flying back down to land.

I think it's interesting that S3K handled level transitions in this "up, down, up, down, etc," kind of way. Compare that to pretty much any other platformer/racing game of the era, say Mario for instance -- where going from World 1-1 to World 1-2 is a relatively unremarkable event involving little more than the protagonist proceeding along a straight path from left to right and then onto an overworld map -- and it becomes clear how far ahead of its time Sonic 3 and Knuckles was in 1994.

What other games did something unusual or uncommon for their time? What are some examples of eccentric design from your favorite retro games? Also feel free to discuss retrogame design

>>2767082
If that cut scene took place nowadays it would last 5 minutes, be unskippable, contain bad dialog spoken by bad voice actors, QTE's, and the remainder of AIZ1 that follows it would be an unskippable "Press A to Jump"-tier tutorial. Am I right?

Anyway, my point is I'm glad older games cut scenes are the way they are. Which is usually nice and short and to the point, not too disruptive of the gameplay.