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Sonic 4 - Indulge me for a few moments

Doctor Oak

Staff member
Overlord
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You'll have to indulge me as an old Sonic fanboy for a bit with this post, I'm afraid.

Today, Sega revealed that the rather hyped Project Needlemouse is, in fact, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (Episode 1) (first footage in vid) - and when they say Sonic 4, they do actually mean Sonic 4. 16 years after Sonic 3 & Knuckles, this game follows directly on, covering the return of Dr 'Eggman' Robotnik (no info yet on whether we'll see him called Robotnik or Eggman [or both] here) following his defeat at the end of Sonic & Knuckles and the 3rd destruction of the Death Egg.

The game looks great. It's a fantastic mix of 3D animation on a 2D plane that we already know works really well on the DS, and looks to be superb in HD. The music, what little we've heard of it from another teaser, has definite references to previous Sonic games throughout, and is very much a blend of classic and modern Sonic themes (which, personally, I hope extends to a proper Crush 40 theme with the same theory applied). If nothing else, the concept is very much what fans have been wanting for over a decade and a half (that's longer than the amount of time Pokémon's been around at all).

Unfortunately, and this is why I feel compelled to bring this to discussion here, the concept is let down by the execution (in true Sega form, I guess). Even if this had been left as a PSN/XBLA/WiiWare title in general, ala MegaMan 9, I could have dealt with it. I'd prefer a proper disc release and the extra effort required for it - but, digital distribution is an unavoidable part of our future, and I'd have gotten past it.

To break it down into episodic gaming, however, is the real issue. Unless your name is TellTale Games, episodic gaming is a flawed medium. Through so many failed examples of it, we come to expect that we'll, first of all, end up paying a premium price (1600 MSPoints/£13.60, for example) for a small amount of content and that, secondly it's unlikely the 'series' will ever actually be finished and, frankly, I had my fill of Sega selling me unfinished games, and then never bothering to finish them, with Sonic Heroes and Sonic 2006.

Maybe these worries are for naught, and maybe Sonic 4 could be the title that resets the playing field for episodic content. But, this is a franchise and a company that consistently only ever gets it almost right. You'd be tempted to say 'these days', but, then, this behaviour and resulting failure can be traced all the way back to Sega's early days with a clutter of failed hardware and franchises. Despite all that we can identify as good, great and following the right steps - deep down, we know; and expect; to be disappointed and let down.

I only hope for my sake, the fans' sakes - and definitely for Sega's sake, that they prove us wrong.
 
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Linkachu

Hero of Pizza
Staff member
Administrator
Oh gods... Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts! I've waited so many years for this one. It just looks so promising ;-;

If, like you said over MSN, the episode thing is indeed similar to Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles then it shouldn't be so bad. Guess all we can do is wait and see if Sega (don't want to say "finally", but yeah) does this one right.
 

Prof. Cinders

Mathemagician
Staff member
Administrator
I have to say, I'm already rather disappointed. Whenever a game is just for download, I know that (at the very least) my brother is going to miss out on it. He's a big Sonic fan, and, due to some paranoia about the internet and download limits, we can't download games at home. So, oh well, have fun playing it, everyone else. >>
 

Doctor Oak

Staff member
Overlord
A disc-based release is actually quite possible - once all the 'episodes' have been released - should they ever be. It could be quite some time before it comes around, but it's still a possibility.
 

Linkachu

Hero of Pizza
Staff member
Administrator
Considering that Sega is making yet another Sonic Collection game for DS, I'd be surprised if they didn't re-release this game in a disc/cartridge format at some point. :p
 
Well, At least Sega have actually LISTENED to their fans and not given them a game involving Werewolfs and talking swords >_< Yes, I also have been waiting for something like this btw, but a little too pricey for my taste.
 
I had heard somewhere - and sorry I can't cite this - that the episodes were going to be comparable to full-fledged games on their own. So that could be a good sign.
 
Well, its about time.
Actually I thought its gonna be a complete reboot of the series, starting the cycle anew, like New Mario Bros did, but they did the right thing and keep the old story intact. Thats cool in my eyes, and with the game being a perfect transition from 2d to 3d on a 2d plane that was showed in this vid Im sure that its gonna be fun at least.
Megaman 9 was already a good continuation of an ongoing but somehow forgotten series even though it was full 2d style, but still, I have some hope.

I dont even know how they could destroy this type of gameplay. It will most likely just be updated graphics and new levels/bosses, and the whole Episodes thing can work out too.The plot will most likely be basic stuff, and they wont add new characters as Plot devices, only Knuckles and Tails als Rival/Support I guess.

And the whole Episodes idea can work out, at least if they dont plan to release 1352462525 Episodes just to cash in on that game as much as possible, while dropping the quality.
Back in the days they wanted to release sonic 3 and knuckles as one game but couldnt. Today they could divide the same content into 2 Episodes.
2-3 Total Episodes would be ok for Sonic 4 in my eyes.
But Sega is acting weird for..well they always acted weird so thats nothing new, but I think that they will do the right thing, when they try to keep it simple and basic and true to the original. I think they can do it.
 
That game was a horrible port D:

But the DS has the power to emulate the genesis.
They could just emulate it 1:1 like they did on the GCN.

I hope for megaman collections for the DS. That would be nice. 1-7 would be cool to have on a portable console without using homebrew stuff ;O
 
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