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Alex Khayrullin

@alexkhayrullin.bsky.social
93 followers 177 following 536 posts

Webdev by day, gamedev by night. Here be a hedgehog-related fan remaster project I'm putting together, I'll leave the war on my 𝕏 profile (same handle). 🇺🇦➜🇫🇷➜🇺🇦, reads/writes 🇬🇧 🇫🇷 🇺🇦, reads 🇪🇸 (just barely though). Posts are my own.

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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 20h
Working on something a bit less exciting, but necessary for #Sonic8BitAdvance: screens that announce when something has been unlocked. Before this, I used an editor I made in Godot to unlock the modes I worked on. Now, the ROM can do it on its own :) . Obviously, the font depends on the game.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Work has started on the Sonic 2 version of the Boss Rush EX for #Sonic8BitAdvance. I didn't have to invent anything for the first boss, I just implemented the Game Gear version :) Fun fact: the speed of the balls involve no RNG. It's all affected by the seconds on the timer.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Ultimately, I like this background color. I'm keeping it.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
First experiments with harder bosses for maybe the ultimate #Sonic8BitAdvance challenge: the Boss Rush EX mode. Colors are temporary. The Green Hill boss has a faster and more aggressive flight pattern. The Bridge boss shoots after rising + there's the slippery terrain from the GG version.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
I took a month and a half break from #Sonic8BitAdvance, but I'm back on it. Now I'm on the only mode that requires me to draw custom level graphics: Boss Rush mode. I could go the Sonic Origins route and take bits from the games themselves, but having a continuous map per mode feels better IMHO.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
We're 5 episodes in out of 10 so I think I can say it: I'm pleasantly surprised at how much I've been enjoying this season of Rick and Morty. For a while, I've been watching out of curiosity and hope it'd get better, mostly powering through rather than enjoying myself, but this season is... good.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Another mode I've wanted to add to #Sonic8BitAdvance since the beginning: the Special Stage Marathon. The concept is simple: play all Special Stages in a row while breaking all Boxes and, in most stages, collecting set amounts of rings. Yeah, it's padding, but I enjoy working on it, so there :)
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Nothing says "you did a decent job recreating this game's engine" like a bug recreated completely on accident. I'm keeping it in :) #Sonic8BitAdvance
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Slowly, but steadily, another mode is being added to #Sonic8BitAdvance: Time Attack. The only thing of interest I have to say about it is that Bridge Zone Act 2 and Jungle Zone Act 2 lose their camera-related gimmicks in this mode. This way, the former can be completed in under two minutes :).
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
I took a week-long break from working on my project and gave the AYN Thor a serious test drive, in particular the ability to play PC games on an ARM CPU with GameNative, by replaying one of my favorite more-or-less recent games. I'm happy to report Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom runs perfectly.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
I've been working on an extra mode for #Sonic8BitAdvance that seemed technically intimidating at first, but now that I'm almost done... it's not that bad 😀 If the screenshots aren't clear, it's Mirror mode. I haven't played a lot of those, but I get the appeal now, it's strangely disorienting 😅.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
I think I can finally say it: the polishing of the Sonic 2 part of #Sonic8BitAdvance (of both games, really) is done. I can FINALLY focus on what I've been looking forward for so long: additional features, new modes, unlockables, all that stuff :) .
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Another Sonic 2 quirk. Or should I say "bug"? I'm on a fence if I should reproduce this one. Basically, if Sonic gets hurt while he's on a horizontal surface, he's thrown normally and there's nothing else to say. If he's hurt when on a slope however, inputs still work and he can even speed up.(1/2)
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
More quirks from Sonic 2 8-bit I'll... have to reproduce in my remake, won't I? When Sonic is hurt, he's always thrown left no matter where he's currently facing, unless he's hurt by a badnik coming from his left. Also, during the mercy invincibility, he gets stuck while walking through badniks.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
Another little optional improvement in #Sonic8BitAdvance: In Sonic 2, bubble clusters are completely invisible. Which, considering Act 2 takes place entirely underwater, can be a bit stressful. So I added an option to make them visible. (1/2)
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
While I'm slowly polishing the Sonic 2 part of #Sonic8BitAdvance, I decided to alter one particular power-up to make it match a misconception I've seen online. The Power Sneaker power-up only appears in the Master System version of Sonic 2, the Game Gear version replaces it with a Super Ring. (1/6)
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
One of the biggest mysteries I've got left to solve is this badnik: Sonic 2 8-bit's version of Crabmeat, also known as Taraban. It walks back and forth several times, shoots, restarts, pretty standard. But the first time it moves to the right, there's something that makes it turn early. (1/6)
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Small updates on the pause menus for #Sonic8BitAdvance: For the Sonic 1 version, I was given advice to use the pink from the act intro screen. While I did originally try that, I also used darker versions of it for inactive buttons, and that didn't work at all. But pink+dark gray works.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Well, hopefully these pause menu designs for #Sonic8BitAdvance will work. Both are inspired by the respective act introduction screens. In Sonic 2 however I couldn't keep the buttons rounded like the blue oval under the "act X" label and make them look good, so I tried losanges instead.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
I found one last thing to make and localize before switching to debugging. I've always wanted to implement a pause menu, because for the longest time, all I had is a message "game paused, press SELECT to exit". Now I have a menu system reminiscent of what I made for Time Twisted. Graphics are WIP.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
I've been procrastinating on debugging and polishing the Sonic 2 part by adding localization in #sonic8BitAdvance, but now this excuse is gone. So yeah, this will be much less interesting, but it needs to be done.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Translating screens I've known for almost my entire life for #Sonic8BitAdvance was fun and I really like the result. The translation system I've put together works like a charm and is much more flexible than anything that could've been done with romhacking. See the result in French.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
Not showing off the translations in #Sonic8BitAdvance yet, but here is something related. The name of Sonic 2's Gimmick Mountain Zone does not fit on the screen and is abbreviated. Since I needed to add an optional third row to the title cards anyway, I thought I might as well fix this injustice.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
The I18N I cobbled together is working. #Sonic8BitAdvance now supports localization :)
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
After correcting a few bugs and inaccuracies in #Sonic8BitAdvance, I decided to do something a bit more fun. Here are WIP main menu and options screen :) . I'm now thinking about efficient ways to do I18N.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
I finally received the AYN Thor preordered way back in December. I haven't spent much time on it yet, but from the stuff I tried, yeah, it's a beast. All the good reviews I've seen seem to be true, and at the price I paid, they better be :) And it looks assorted with my Retroid Pocket 2S :) (1/6)
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
It's a "stuff gets real" moment for me on #Sonic8BitAdvance as I'm deleting this image from the code. I made it very early on, with everything but Green Hill greyed out. Every time I moved on to the next zone or act, I colored their name and/or number in white. As you can see, it's all white now.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
Oh, this happened.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
While converting the OSTs for #Sonic8BitAdvance, my biggest problem is the vibrato in some tracks (especially in Sonic 1 IIRC): if I copy-paste all of their notes in OpenMPT, I clearly hear the note restarting several times instead of the already playing one changing its frequency back and forth.
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Reposted by Alex Khayrullin
Polygon @polygon.com · 20/02/2026
The secondary market is full of listings wanting hundreds, or even thousands, for physical copies of the games
polygon.com
Pokémon's absurd eBay resale market explains why FireRed and LeafGreen are $20
The secondary market is full of listings wanting hundreds, or even thousands, for physical copies of the games
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Oh my god, this is not a drill! Main series Pokémon games being reussued is so rare, it'sactually a big deal. At least for me. That being said, they're rated PEGI 3 in Europe. Meaning something must've been done to the Game Corner, otherwise they would've been rated PEGI 18 because of gambling.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
One of my favorite games ever has been brought back from the dead!!! www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/un...
pcgamer.com
Unreal Tournament 2004 is now available for free thanks to its fan community, and they've even updated the game for modern PCs: 'This is the first public patch for Unreal Tournament 2004 in over 20 ye...
Wicked sick.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
I am not an N64 guy, but I see how huge this can be.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Now that the content of both games in #Sonic8BitAdvance is done, I won't have as many screenshots to show for quite some time. Before I get to fixing the Sonic 2 engine, I decided to completely change the subject and re-remaster the soundtracks. My first attempt was serviceable, but lacking.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
Ironically, the absolute last piece of content I made for the Sonic 2 part of #Sonic8BitAdvance was the intro screen. Both versions :) Now on to polishing and debugging.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
The final boss for the Sonic 2 part of #Sonic8BitAdvance is done! The end credits now, LET'S GOOOO!!!
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
I think I'm done with the analysis of the final boss in Sonic 2 8-bit, I might just go ahead and program it. I've already implemented all of its attacks, but not the logic or sequence in which they're performed. There's not much randomess involved in its behavior, so that's cool. #Sonic8BitAdvance
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Age verification? This was my first PC game on CD.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
The trajectories of these petal-looking thingies are... yeah, they're kicking my ass. I've extracted the positions of all objects from the thousands of screenshots I'd taken and figured out the general logic of their movements, but sometimes their speeds seem to glitch and I'm not reproducing that.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Just like with Sky Base Zone Act 1, Crystal Egg Zone Act 3 has a smoother flashing animation in #Sonic8BitAdvance for obvious reasons. This one looks worse. Since I wanted to remain faithful to the colors the original uses, I mostly stuck to light blue, black and everything in between.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
I just recorded several attempts at defeating the final boss in Sonic 2 8-bit and the entirety of the good ending to analyze for #Sonic8BitAdvance in screenshot form so I could OCR various values from the RAM and everything. My screenshot directory has 38938 files. This can't be good for my SSD 😅
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
The final Act. Soon, the final boss. This is happening. #Sonic8BitAdvance
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
After analyzing memory values in the RAM, I decided to find the disassembly code that decides when a falling block falls. It took me a while, and the lack of relevant comments didn't help, but I did find it and implement it. While looking for it, I also ID'd HEX codes of all objects in map layouts.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Sonic 2's final zone is taunting me by reminding me of my failure to analyze one of the objects from the game's first zone. Crystal Egg Zone's falling blocks seem to behave not unlike the falling spikes from Under Ground Zone. Fine. I'll spend the time I need, but I'll figure both of you out.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
The Silver Sonic fight suits the Game Boy Advance screen size quite well :) #Sonic8BitAdvance
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
A good decision I made early in the development of #Sonic8BitAdvance is to display Rings with a tile layer and not sprites. The Game Boy Advance being able to handle 128 sprites at once at most, I would've probably been screwed in Sonic 1's Special Stage 4/8 and Sonic 2's Scrambled Egg Zone Act 2.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
There are always ways to make Scrambled Egg Zone even worse... #Sonic8BitAdvance
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
News of Comcept shutting down reminded me of a mistake I once made.
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Alex Khayrullin @alexkhayrullin.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
Another day, another random note about Sonic 2 8-bit. The real background color in Scrambled Egg Zone isn't black - it's the light blue from inside the tubes, black's just part of background/foreground tiles. It helps make the tubes look good and helps Sonic's sprite not spill out when he's inside.
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