Posts in category 'retrogaming'
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Man, 30 years later and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is still a banger. While I remembered the game having amazing level design, when you consider the context at the time, what they did in that game was really remarkable. And damn that soundtrack is great!
And it played great on the Miyoo A30 I picked up in a lark. For the price it’s a great little device to carry around!
- (https://b-ark.ca/8Ag_Ik)
I did it! I successfully replaced the bad top screen on my DS Lite. The most nerve wracking part was transferring the speakers but otherwise it went fairly smoothly. Shout out to The Fix on YouTube for the video and Zedlabz for the replacement part!
On Sonic 2 Compression
Over twenty years ago, now, I played a small role in the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 hacking community by reverse engineering the level data compression algorithm used in the game. I figured it was about time I wrote my side of that story, so, here it is!
Obviously I do a Google search for my own name from time to time because, admit it, everyone does it. Yeah, you too. Don’t give me that look. We both know it’s true.
So it was that a while back I was perusing those search results, and I came across something that honestly left me incredibly chagrined: a page about something called “Kosinski” compression. Clicking the link, I realized the page was about a project I worked on way back in the early aughts to reverse engineer the algorithm used to compress level data in the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 ROM.
And somewhere along the way, apparently that format got named after me.
Now I want to be extremely clear about something: I did not invent this algorithm or the in-ROM data storage layout, and I certainly didn’t name it after myself. All I did was uncover what was already there and write it down in my own weird way. But, once you put something out in the world, it can take on a life of it’s own, and so now this algorithm has my name on it. Oops!
So naturally I shared this little factoid with some friends, and we all had a laugh. And that was that.
But then, in 2022, a gentleman by the name of Damian Grove reached out. Way back in the day, Damian created a site called the Sonic Hacking Community (SHaC), where he collected a whole raft of information about the Sonic 2 ROM layout in a site he called the Sonic 2 Hacking Guide. In reaching out, Damian was hoping I might answer some questions about the reverse engineering work I did, and so I did what I often do: forgot to reply until months later. Meanwhile, Damian himself didn’t see that reply when it was eventually sent, and so we never connected.
Fast forward, finally, to 2024 and Damian finally spots my email and a) responds with a couple of questions, while also b) including a link to a video from the 2023 Retro World Expo of a panel discussion of the history of Sonic 2 hacking. A video in which I come up as a bit of a topic of conversation.
Now, just to get this out of the way: while I was certainly a bit bemused by the conversation in that video, it was nothing but curious and respectful and I had absolutely no issues being talked about. But I gotta admit, it was more than a little weird to see people speculating about me on stage!
In that conversation I noticed a few misapprehensions about my own background and history and the approach I took to reverse engineer the algorithm, so I figured I’d set the record straight and provide my own vague recollections about how it all went down!
Continue reading...- (https://b-ark.ca/M4mcca)
If I’m asked what I accomplished on my break, the first thing I’ll list is using my iFixit kit to repair the shoulder buttons on my old Nintendo DS Lite (easy repair, corroded contacts in the micro switches). Why? Because it was there.
- (https://b-ark.ca/0UEScg)
I’m loving my new @8bitdo controllers! I’ve wanted an arcade stick for as long as I can remember and this thing is great! And the M30 is pure joy for an old Sega Genesis fan.
