Booo. They coulda’ taken the time to make a new render for the cover. But I should have expected laziness on their part.

They Mine as Well Have him Giving the Middle finger on this box art.
but really? nothing better then this?.. sonic three had three fingers..
i suspect sonic 4 is sonic 1-2 fused, and the next pack may be more original..
or i could be wrong, but yeah, rehashes… boooo!…

@Lando

It’s Episode 1, which may explain the use of one finger. The “cover” looks nice and nostalgic.

I like it. I think the “borrowing” from Sonic 1 is ok here. Better than the first level and boss being from the game ^^

Can they PLEASE change that smile? I don’t even care what version of Sonic they use, that smile just looks awkward as hell.

What Indigo said just be happy we`re getting Sonic 4 god… I freaking hate the fanbase when it b*th whines about something

Hey guys. Did you know that Sonic 4 will suck? And that the box art sucks? And that everything about the game sucks? And it’s all going to be “blah blah blah baseless sonic community whining blah blah blah yakkady smackaddy”.

Well maybe we wouldn’t complain if sega did something right

I agree with Indigo, Edwin, Edge, and MainEvent.

Okay so Sega can’t please everyone, but they’re at least trying to please the masses of 2D fans who have wanted a side scroller adventure on a major platform (not handheld). I nominate “beggars can be choosers” as the best example of Sonic fans 2010.

I still don’t appreciate that guy leaking information, kinda ruins the fun. I was excited when Sega was officially unveiling stuff ’cause it was coming directly from them, not some doofus looking for his 15 minutes of fame.

Bottom line for me is when this game comes out, I’m not gonna be flooding the forums, chatrooms, and comment sections criticizing this game, I am going to be playing the game and enjoying it. Other than Sonic Labyrinth, I have enjoyed all Sonic games in at least some way, if not entirely. I don’t know about you guys, but I am gonna enjoy Sonic 4!

We’re not beggars, we’re customers. Customers CAN be choosers.

A game that can only be downloaded, and they make boxart for it anyway? If you ask me, that’s just mocking those who can’t get there consoles online and download XD

Either way, we make the final choice.

@PM

If SEGA didn’t listen to the fans than this game would have never even been thought about. Elementary logic.

This game could end up being the best game of all time and THIS fanbase, and THIS fanbase only could find something to nitpick about. I swear all the dang people complaining about a game they haven’t played yet… I wish our fanbase could be more like Mario’s.

Don’t pick on Mario, Mario games are excellent. I can’t say the same for a lot of Sonic games. But the complaining about complaining has got to stop. GEEZ. It’s getting old. You think you’re superior because you don’t have any problems with Sonic 4? Guess what?! You’re not!

You can say nice things about Sega trying to do a good job to please the fans but that’s not where this was REALLY born. This idea was born from things like Mega Man 9 and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. They’ve known there was a market for it, but they didn’t choose to do it until they thought they could make some money off it. I love Sonic, but Sega and Sonic Team emulate more than they innovate.

So complaining is fine, because Sega has put itself in posession to be criticized to death by touting this as Sonic the Hedgehog 4 and not something like “New Sonic the Hedgehog” like Mario did. They’ve firmly made fans expect it to be an ADDITION to the original series and not a COMPLETE nostalgia trip. I think that there’s still hope for the game, I have a feeling the beginning of the stage and first boss are there, obviously, to pay tribute to the original Sonic. But I don’t think the ENTIRE game (or further episodes) will necessarily do that.

But if it does, I will have a problem with it. And I have the right to my opinion as does everyone else. So quit acting like because you don’t care or mind about any and all things they’re doing with Sonic 4 that you are somehow better. It’s just as lame to read over and over.

Lol. These comments are so pathetic funny. Little kiddies whining and crying over boxart.

It’s so pretty! ^w^

looks nice reminds me of sonic 1 but maybe your right about 4 fingers maybe sega will create concept art of sonic with 4 fingers IDK either way it’s a nice subsitute

I never said what I thought about the box art… lol. I actually really love it.

John : Glad you argee with me
Hudson : Totally stupid

God this makes me want to pop it into my genesis so bad!

I’ve grown pretty tired of explaining my opinion over and over again at other sites, mostly because everyone is gonna believe what they wanna believe, so there’s not much use trying to convice someone to think otherwise on sonic 4. But I’ll go ahead and say it again since I haven’t been here for a while.

First, the box art: not bad, nice and nostalgic, though it would’ve been nice to have a different image of sonic, mostly because that one just looks wonky. Not because it’s modern sonic, mind you. Other than that I have no gripes with it and I can live with what we got.

When it comes to this game, I’ve decided to give it a chance: therefore, I don’t think people should ‘complain’ about everything new (and old) that’s revealed about it, but I also don’t think everyone should complain about those who don’t like it, cause then everyone is essentially doing the same thing. There are a lot who seem to still buy what Endri said, and though I believe that he did play the game, after the official gaming magazines have spilt some beans on sonic 4, giving it a positive reception so far (and if you haven’t noticed, they came without the usual “but we’re still not getting our hopes up”), I’m fully confident that Endri made a mistake in claiming that it was the final build.

About the whole rehash thing: yes, its alittle unnerving, but I believe that’s why Iizuka said to consider this a prologue to the game. I have absolutely no doubt that in the next and later episodes we’ll get new material. I mean, try to put yourself in their shoes: you have to create the fourth installment in a series that hasn’t seen the light of day (any new light that is, in terms of continuation) in 16 years. The type of gameplay and most of the material hasn’t been seen in just as long. So you have to reintroduce it all, while also making the game a new addition; it makes a lot of sense to do it this way, with the first prologue episode looking like everything we’ve seen before. Bring back the old badniks, some of the old level types, even some of the bosses, and then give them new material. The original games never had to do this because they weren’t seperated by a decade and a half. Personally, I don’t mind it; I’ve thought for the longest time that sega should bring back old elements, like in the style of mario, because it helps the game to feel like the classics.

And while we’re on the rehash suject, I’ll mention something that gets at me, but doesn’t really surprise me, not because this is the sonic fandom, but because it’s people. A member of sonic retro just released some screenshots and footage of his new 2.5D sonic game, perhaps you’ve seen it. It’s garnered quite a lot of attention, mostly because it looks very good, it’s very bright and colorful, and they see in their minds a single person who has already beaten everything Sega has and could do with sonic 4. I’ve read comments like ‘Sega should just cancel sonic 4″ and “This is embarrasing for sega”. This mostly gets on my nerves because it feels like more anti-sonic 4, of which there is more than plenty already, but like I said earlier people will think what they want. But really, if you notice, what we’ve seen so far is a recreation of Emerald Hill from sonic 2–I could recognize it right away. It’s essentially just a remade sonic 2, A REHASH. No offense whatsoever to the creater–I mean I could never make something like that. But it’s kinda what everyone is dissing episode I for, except that sega didn’t make it so in your face. I mean, if you look at the one level wide screenshot, it’s the exact same level; people are saying sega should have done something like this, but then there would have been no originality. So the creater really hasn’t done anything new so far either, it’s really not different than sega in spirit.

As far as those who pick at the graphical design and style differences, I say that yes, this remake looks prettier than sonic 4, so far, but in my opinion, does it really make such a huge difference? Sonic 4 still looks great, though it’s not loaded with as much detail. It actually has about just as much detail as sonic 1 & 2, both of which look great but are still fairly simple (and amazing games). The detail really didn’t explode until sonic 3. Considering Episode 1 is just a prologue, and meant to reintroduce that classic-ness we’ve gone so long without, and seeing as how there’s still plenty to come, I don’t mind it one bit.

So there ya have it: overall I’m confident about this game, I’m willing to give it a chance, just like I’ve given all sonic games a chance. Cause really, if you don’t, you’re kinda screwing yourself, because you’re setting the game up for failure in your eyes. Remember, people will believe whatever they want to believe, and though many say they welcome being proved wrong, if they arent’ careful and become too carried away with the negatives, then that’s all they will see when it’s released. It’s kinda like calling someone stupid all the all time; you might not mean it all the time at first, but if you keep at it, eventually you will see them as stupid, and nothing else, because you’ve convinced yourself of it.

One other thing: people should try to realize that, even though this is a continuation of 1,2 & 3, no game will ever truly come close to the originals. Not becuase it can’t be good enough, but because we wont let it be good enough, because we’ve perfected the originals in our sight. Those were the originals, the classics, the ones we’ve compared every other sonic game to for years; do you really think that anything we try to make will ever compare to that, at least in the beginning? It kinda sucks, I know, but it’s reality, which can seem harsh sometimes. I’m giving sonic 4 a chance, and I plan on enjoying it, and I hope it’s great, but I do all of this with the knowledge that after I’ve played it a hundred times, I’ll still go back to the original and think “yeah, you just can’t beat these”.

Goodman, I couldn’t have put it better myself.