Sonic the Hedgehog 4

[Slingerland]

Some fun shit for you guys today. A fan draws up some more concept art:

http://sonicstadium.org/community/more-needlemouse-concept-art

Slicer is a douchebag.

[Firo]

Some fun shit for you guys today. A fan draws up some more concept art:

http://sonicstadium....use-concept-art

Slicer is a douchebag.

OMG i freekin HATED that badnik XD

Good draw up tho!!!

~Edited for stupid spelling~

Edited January 19, 2010 by Firo

[Blue Blood]

There's Egg Robo ones too. But sshhh! Don't tell the official SEGA foruns that they aren't real....

I love the guys over at Retro.

[Badnik Zero]

The Badniks in Metropolis were the worst. Slicer and Shellcracker, and those damn starfish. These guys are part of the Badniks that look like Pokemon club. There's a lot of them. Slicer is Scyther, Shellcracker is a Krabby or Kingler, and those stars look just like Staryus. Badniks > Pokemon though.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Seriously, concept art is fucking sweet even if it was made by a fan.

It's a fusion of the Classic style with that of Sonic 06. How sexy can ya get?

[azoo]

Seriously, concept art is fucking sweet even if it was made by a fan.

It's a fusion of the Classic style with that of Sonic 06. How sexy can ya get?

Not much more. :3 Nextgen robots were awesome, and the classic Badniks were awesome, so using both and/or fusing their designs is probably the best idea ever. Seriously, what is there not to love about that idea?

And like said by Blue Blood, gotta love Sonic Retro.

[Diogenes]

I'm becoming aware of a slight uneasiness with these sort of badniks.

They've got all these lines and fiddly bits, and Sonic...doesn't. He's mostly big flat areas of color and organic lines (at least, the modern look is organic). The original badniks had a lot less detail, and some of them barely look mechanical at all.

Maybe you could argue that it's a good contrast between robots and organics, Eggman's forces and Sonic's friends. But...I dunno.

[Guest Jordan4K6]

God, it's been over 4 months since this was announced and still not one screenshot.... if Sega doesn't show any screenshots by the end of march, I'm sueing them. They cant even get a port right haha, what a messed up company.

[Indigo Rush]

God, it's been over 4 months since this was announced and still not one screenshot.... if Sega doesn't show any screenshots by the end of march, I'm sueing them. They cant even get a port right haha, what a messed up company.

And while you're suing them, can you make them tell us when Sonic Rage is coming out?

[Blazey Firekitty]

I'm becoming aware of a slight uneasiness with these sort of badniks.

They've got all these lines and fiddly bits, and Sonic...doesn't. He's mostly big flat areas of color and organic lines (at least, the modern look is organic). The original badniks had a lot less detail, and some of them barely look mechanical at all.

Maybe you could argue that it's a good contrast between robots and organics, Eggman's forces and Sonic's friends. But...I dunno.

Come to think of it, unless Sonic himself gets a redesign, the new Badnik style might lead to the same sort of uncomfortable "realistic vs. cartoonish" dissonance that 06 did, only on a smaller scale.

[psikeout]

I'm becoming aware of a slight uneasiness with these sort of badniks.

They've got all these lines and fiddly bits, and Sonic...doesn't. He's mostly big flat areas of color and organic lines (at least, the modern look is organic). The original badniks had a lot less detail, and some of them barely look mechanical at all.

Maybe you could argue that it's a good contrast between robots and organics, Eggman's forces and Sonic's friends. But...I dunno.

Hasn't this been going on since Metal Sonic? And Gamma? And Omega? Sonic Team has applied more detail to machines in their artwork for quite a while, I thought. I guess it just doesn't bother me, personally.

[HunterTSF]

Agreed. Eggman's robots have always been sophisticated in design, even in the Mega Drive days. It simply wasn't as noticeable seeing as everything was rendered in 16-bit sprite form. Take a look at Handrill from Sonic the Hedgehog 2...

Handrill has a whole bunch of intricate detailing around its treads, enough to infer that the larger and smaller wheels rotate in a cooperative manner to move itself in various directions. The painted body is easily identifiable as being constructed out of some kind of metal, and bolts are visibly keeping the multiple layers of its exterior shielding in place (it has three). It even has Eggman's original insignia emblazoned upon his shoulder, as to identify who it's affiliated with.

I suppose it's just a wee bit jarring to see what used to be simplistic and pixelated common robot in a more detailed and identifiable higher resolution form, eh? The inverse applies too - the Egg Pawns looked quite strange to me in a 2D form in Sonic Rush.

Edited January 20, 2010 by HunterTSF

[Octarine]

Hm. I normally despise "realism" in Eggman's machines, but I'm not bothered at all by a few extra rivets. Maybe the giant googly eyes did it for me, but I'm not getting anywhere near the chills I get around '06's generic mechs. I don't know where all the love for those things is coming from; I found them worse than the Eggpawns by far.

...no, the thing that really bugs me is that of all the bastard badniks they could've resurrected for this game, they chose Shellcracker? That thing's giving me 'Nam flashbacks of Metropolis Zone.

[Diogenes]

Hasn't this been going on since Metal Sonic? And Gamma? And Omega? Sonic Team has applied more detail to machines in their artwork for quite a while, I thought. I guess it just doesn't bother me, personally.

Eh, maybe...it's only really started bothering me now, though. Maybe it's just because it's an updated look for something I'm already familiar with.

Agreed. Eggman's robots have always been sophisticated in design, even in the Mega Drive days. It simply wasn't as noticeable seeing as everything was rendered in 16-bit sprite form. Take a look at Handrill from Sonic the Hedgehog 2...

But the treads are really the only complex part about it. Almost everything else is big, smooth pieces.

And compare New Shellcracker to the original. The original's big claw was just two big smooth red pieces with some tiny bolts and some completely detail-less spikes. The new one's got all sorts of panels and notches and a big honking hinge in the middle of it. And look at the legs; all those lines, whereas the original was just plain tubes with some bolts.

[Remy]

I see nothing wrong with complex enemies, they're robots after all and I don't think seeing more detail on the badniks means we're going to see a hyper realistic sonic, either.

[Phos]

Eh, maybe...it's only really started bothering me now, though. Maybe it's just because it's an updated look for something I'm already familiar with.

But the treads are really the only complex part about it. Almost everything else is big, smooth pieces.

And compare New Shellcracker to the original. The original's big claw was just two big smooth red pieces with some tiny bolts and some completely detail-less spikes. The new one's got all sorts of panels and notches and a big honking hinge in the middle of it. And look at the legs; all those lines, whereas the original was just plain tubes with some bolts.

Yeah, the updated version is a rather busy design. Gamma was a bit more complex that the old badniks, but then again, he wasn't a badnik. He also doesn't have a massive number of essentially inconsequential lines on him, especially not in his in game appearance. Omega actually pulls off the humanoid badnik look pretty well, though. He has a bunch of angle on him, but he's still forgoes most of the superfluous body panels and joints.

[Remy]

Old design is lame compared to the new one.

[Tornado]

Because my life isn't complete without ragging on Sonic Advance 3 once a week:

Draw on the physics?

*insert obligatory "haha oh wow pic here*

True Adv 3's controls were loose, but Sonic at least stopped when he was logically supposed to stop.

I'm aware of how bad Sonic Genesis was (while I wasn't insane enough to buy it, I have played in on my PSP). And I'm guessing that, in a technical sense, the physics engine of Sonic Advance 3 is much better. But in terms of doing what the game wants you to do? They are practically identical. The floaty, delayed-control-inputs shenanigans that the Advance 3 engine suffers from worked fine when they were used in Sonic Advance 2, because the levels were designed around it. With exceptions, the levels of Advance 3 aren't like those of Advance 2, though; and they oddly get less and less like that the further you get into the game (coincidentally, they also get cheaper and cheaper, but that is largely unrelated to the physics of the game). And, in practice, the more like a "real" Sonic game that Advance 3 becomes as the game reaches its conclusion (by which I mean actual platforming in comparison to hold-right-a-thons like Advance 2), the more glaringly awful the physics engine stands out as being.

And in a flimsy pretext to make this post on-topic, you know, it would really suck if Needlemouse was anything like Advance 3.

[Badnik Zero]

My only issue with the Badnik, and it's a small one, is that it looks plastic compared to the old one. The old one has a metal look to it, like it'd hurt if it was dropped on you. It looks sharp and dangerous. This one uses a lot of whites and grays like it snaps together from a kit. It kind of reminds me of educational toys I've seen. I guess it's a little truer to real animatronics, but it looks like the things from the I Robot movie. Not terrible, just a little flimsy looking. But it's still awesome.

Edited January 20, 2010 by Cupcake Hedgehog

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

And in a flimsy pretext to make this post on-topic, you know, it would really suck if Needlemouse was anything like Advance 3.

Way to drop a heavy ass bomb with that one, Tornado.

That would throw a lot of things out of disorder, and would pretty much show that the current Sonic Team aren't capable of making a game like the Classics.

Not much more. :3 Nextgen robots were awesome, and the classic Badniks were awesome, so using both and/or fusing their designs is probably the best idea ever. Seriously, what is there not to love about that idea?

I wouldn't be too sure that Sonic Team can't top these designs with a new style. They might even use more organic looking parts in future robot designs and have them look like a badnik version of Metal Gear Ray and Gekko. I would love to see that.

Edited January 20, 2010 by ChaosSupremeSonic

[Firo]

Old design is lame compared to the new one.

I dont minde either way, since i think both are good =P

My only issue with the Badnik, and it's a small one, is that it looks plastic compared to the old one. The old one has a metal look to it, like it'd hurt if it was dropped on you. It looks sharp and dangerous. This one uses a lot of whites and grays like it snaps together from a kit. It kind of reminds me of educational toys I've seen. I guess it's a little truer to real animatronics, but it looks like the things from the I Robot movie. Not terrible, just a little flimsy looking. But it's still awesome.

Havent you heard we are in a depretion?!?! Plastic is cheaper LOL XP

[Toffkat]

I personally put the kind of plastic building kit look down to how it was all flat colours, the other one has metallic shading on it. The newer one looks far more vicious to me though xD

Random thought that just crossed my mind, I don't know if it's been said before: What if Eggman's decided to redesign his old badniks and go for world domination the traditional way. Simple storyline, I think it could work xD

Edited January 20, 2010 by Toffkat

[Frozen Nitrogen]

I don't share any of the unease about the detail. Matter of fact, this is essentially exactly what I've wanted in a Sonic enemy since those damn Pawns took over. Old-style badnik, animal-themed, but (and this is what makes it better than the Genesis ones) actually looking like it is going to kill you.

The spikes, rivulets, and general diabolical intricacy are all plus points for me.

(I still maintain that Needlemouse is vapourware, mind. Even X-Treme had concept art.)

[Badnik Zero]

Random thought that just crossed my mind, I don't know if it's been said before: What if Eggman's decided to redesign his old badniks and go for world domination the traditional way.

Ha ha ha ha ha. It would be really great if they worked this into the storyline so we could laugh at ourselves. If Eggman realized his recent schemes aren't working and he adopts a "back to basics" philosophy with Badniks and giant robot bosses.

[Marcello]

I'm still for my "Eggman changing the climate" story I came up with :-/.

That, or he resurrects an ancient god. Thats never been done!