Okay so a few issues:
- Firstly, I was checking out Extra Menu, and my All Clear save was overwritten because I pressed a button. There was no warning for this. My save is gone. I had all the Emeralds.
- Secondly, the first Act 2 boss... Listen, if Eggman's exposed, his hurtbox should ALWAYS be active. Jumping on the big exposed cockpit like every Sonic game EVER has trained me to do should not hurt me, especially if there's no obvious indication of his hurtbox being replaced by a hitbox. That is HOSTILE design.
- Thirdly, the first half of The Final Fight... I'll be honest with you, dude, once you get the cycles down the only thing it really tests is patience. It's one of the few bosses I'm confident I could do ringless. Given the second half uses an entirely separate control scheme it feels like there should be a checkpoint of some kind afterwards so the player can have a chance to figure out what they're expected to do without having to sit through the first half again.
- Fourthly, the i-frames are WAY shorter than any of the official titles, and while i did get used to it eventually, my instincts keep telling me to damage boost when it is very clearly impossible given the minimal i-frames provided. Intellectually I know the problem is probably with me but it FEELS like it's the game fault when I die that way.