Tails Adventure Remake (SAGE 2023 Demo)

Good one

It's an alright remake. For starters, there are several physics differences that are kind of jarring? For example; turning around mid-jump preserves a bit too much speed, bombs don't go as far as they should, the remote bomb will explode on its own and explodes on spikes, and the addition of the genesis slow fall was a constant hinderance in my playthrough, as you retain the original's controllable movement. The max flying state sprites are completely gone, with the low flying state's sprites being repurposed for tired flying, causing me to not know where my flight meter was at, as well as making some shortcuts just a bit more of a hassle, since tired flying doesn't grab onto ledges. Speaking of ledges, balancing is completely gone, and you can't press down to hang over the ledge anymore, causing a part in Volcanic Tunnel to be more of a timing thing. Not to mention in Volcanic Tunnel, a falling platform isn't something that you can jump through anymore. This isn't a big thing, but it was a nice little shortcut.

The things that actively hinder the game are the moving of items, the removal of pause-switching, and the complete cut of the hammer in place for the insta-shield. In my playthroughs of Tails Adventures, the hammer was used for some walls, but it was mostly to get rid of enemies that were above me that a bomb normally couldn't take care of. The insta-shield still does this, yes- but not only is it in a more inconvenient spot, it being in the KNUCKLES item's place, but it actively is an overpowered move that obliterates everything in your path. Adding new items like this isn't bad- in fact adding more content that the original didn't have is great- but the insta-shield just doesn't work in Tails Adventure.
However, what takes the hammer's spot in Volcanic Tunnel is the Teleport Device, which, in what might be an attempt to fix the backtracking issue, made it quite worse! With this in your inventory, you've taken up a slot that could be used for another valuable item, and you might be using it more than if it didn't take up a slot! The backtracking issue isn't an issue, really, because you have the Remote Robot to scout out the area for you. However, what makes it worse is that you switch in real-time rather than it being a pause menu thing. Say you're in a jiffy, a blasted kukku army member is shooting at you, and low on health, you panic to switch over to the bomb or the insta-shield and use it immediately. However, you accidentally initiate the Teleportation Device, and now you've got to get to where you were again. I think changing the selection system to the original one, however with it showing your full inventory alongside your current selection would be a better change.
Sidenote, but the Helmet isn't usable in this build, even though its one of the items you can get in it.

Now, this isn't to say that the remake doesn't have its fair share of positives! The widescreen, new options, how much more accessible it is to people (not everyone wants to install a rom), sprites are easily modifiable like the original, and not to mention the frequent lag of Tails Adventures is gone. However, the issues that it has make me refrain from touching it all that much. However, a remake of Tails Adventures has always had great potential, and I hope that it can live up to that in the future! You've charted territory that barely anyone has tried to, be proud of what you have currently and make necessary changes. Oh- and before I leave this review off- the bottom part of the title screen is still offset okay have a good one bye bye