Is there a trick to landing on the rails to grind on them properly?

[CSDX]

So, I have a love/hate relationship with this game. I want to like it and understand how much it did for Sonic as a whole and respect that a ton of people love it, whether it be based on nostalgia or whatever, but I also have usually had a rough time with it, ranging from Rouge's 5 minute level where you need to find randomized Emeralds(with one of them almost always being behind a random safe that you need to unlock elsewhere to access) to a leap of faith needed to actually finish Crazy Gadget with reversed controls.

At one point, I made it to Final Rush, but there was no real way I could land on the rails properly, and them being over bottomless pits 90% of the time ensured that I would never be able to like this game.

I tried playing it again and was reminded of the first boss battle as Shadow being harder than I remembered, as I remember I had to wait till it landed and then homing attack it. However, the window for doing so before it launches missiles was a lot smaller than I remembered, and unsurprisingly I struggled and lost at least 3 lives trying to hit it(and sometimes it just didn't connect as I'd hit it on the side of the cockpit). I was about to ♥♥♥♥♥ on social media, but then I decided, "Wait, there's a chance I actually AM doing it wrong, as Omochao mentioned something about trying to hit it while it's in the air....after saying I couldn't hit it in the air."

I looked it up, and lo and behold, while I did try and fail trying to hit it in the air while on boxes, it CAN be done as shown by SonicJGB on YouTube(thank you, JGB). So, that makes me wonder. While I've also had issues of trying to grind on rails in some levels with the dash panel thingies in front of it, sending me careening into the abyss(according to Google, that level is Sky Rail), I'm beginning to wonder if there actually is anything I've been doing wrong this whole time.

So, I'm asking you guys this. Is there some kind of trick to landing on the rails properly outside of pixel perfect precision in platforming, or are y'all just Gods cause of how much you played the game growing up in the early 2000s?

[mdesaleah]

Its not pixel perfect, but you do have to aim. Also know how to balance properly to gain speed while crouched. You have to hold the crouch and then balance.

Saying "skill issue" can come off as rude, but SA2 especially is not a game that you do well on a first run. You really do have to master the controls and learn how things work. And going for the A ranks is like how Sega used to make its arcade games. Hard to learn, but you can learn them.

(like Rouge's 5 minute level seems scary with its timer, but the whole level is one square, with an "attic" floor where you can open the safes. Its a pretty simple level once you think of how its laid out)

(or standing on the boxes to defeat the Sonic/Shadow's tutorial robot fight faster).

I will give you one on the dash panels being able to send you forward but miss the rail entirely. Those can be annoying when they happen. But its usually better to go on a rail manually anyways with a bounce or spindash aim. Sky Rail is probably the main level with that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXMRkPfHV9k

You also might be missing something with Crazy Gadget. Cause its one of the harder levels, but I don't remember any leap of faiths.

[CSDX]

Originally posted by mdesaleah:

You also might be missing something with Crazy Gadget. Cause its one of the harder levels, but I don't remember any leap of faiths.

Yeah, I misremembered that one, as I THOUGHT I had to do a leap of faith in a specific direction, but I'm thinking of a spring in the upside-down controls that I was never sure which way to go and thus would fall into the abyss of space.

[mdesaleah]

Originally posted by CSDX:

Originally posted by mdesaleah:

You also might be missing something with Crazy Gadget. Cause its one of the harder levels, but I don't remember any leap of faiths.

Yeah, I misremembered that one, as I THOUGHT I had to do a leap of faith in a specific direction, but I'm thinking of a spring in the upside-down controls that I was never sure which way to go and thus would fall into the abyss of space.

At first I thought you were mentioning the section with 3 switches and a rail all the way at the bottom of the dark area.

The fastest way is the middle switch, but then you have to make a really tight landing on a rail. But the other two switches let you run on the wall instead

[CSDX]

Originally posted by mdesaleah:

Originally posted by CSDX:

Yeah, I misremembered that one, as I THOUGHT I had to do a leap of faith in a specific direction, but I'm thinking of a spring in the upside-down controls that I was never sure which way to go and thus would fall into the abyss of space.

At first I thought you were mentioning the section with 3 switches and a rail all the way at the bottom of the dark area.

The fastest way is the middle switch, but then you have to make a really tight landing on a rail. But the other two switches let you run on the wall instead

Looking at the video you linked, I think it was either the 3 minute mark or around 3:11 with the spring there. I could never figure out where to go from the spring, so I always found myself falling into the void.

And looking at the rest of the video, the camera is probably gonna be my 2nd worst enemy here.

[mdesaleah]

Originally posted by CSDX:

Originally posted by mdesaleah:

At first I thought you were mentioning the section with 3 switches and a rail all the way at the bottom of the dark area.

The fastest way is the middle switch, but then you have to make a really tight landing on a rail. But the other two switches let you run on the wall instead

Looking at the video you linked, I think it was either the 3 minute mark or around 3:11 with the spring there. I could never figure out where to go from the spring, so I always found myself falling into the void.

And looking at the rest of the video, the camera is probably gonna be my 2nd worst enemy here.

Yeah that section.

The trick is to just not move after touching the spring since it will always take you to the rail.

That section still has a weird camera. Kind of a lose lose situation where they wanted the area to be disorienting so they had the camera go all over. Even if having the camera flip with you would have been easier, but take away from the gravity confusion intention.

Its one big Tetris reference. Which is confirmed if you carry Omochao to the goal ring with you.

[CSDX]

Originally posted by mdesaleah:

Originally posted by CSDX:

Looking at the video you linked, I think it was either the 3 minute mark or around 3:11 with the spring there. I could never figure out where to go from the spring, so I always found myself falling into the void.

And looking at the rest of the video, the camera is probably gonna be my 2nd worst enemy here.

Yeah that section.

The trick is to just not move after touching the spring since it will always take you to the rail.

That section still has a weird camera. Kind of a lose lose situation where they wanted the area to be disorienting so they had the camera go all over. Even if having the camera flip with you would have been easier, but take away from the gravity confusion intention.

Its one big Tetris reference. Which is confirmed if you carry Omochao to the goal ring with you.

Interesting. Thanks for the help.