Sonic the Hedgehog 4

[Chris]

Sonic himself, maybe, but the background looks horrible, with the wierd-looking CGI plants which don't look good when the parallax scrolling gets into gear. The corkscrew looks weird. Hell, everything is just too glossy and unnatural. It would look tons better if it were sprites or hand-drawn.

It looks absolutely fine in motion. Hell, it looks wonderful. Since they're trying to cut down on the number of polygons which have to be rendered (to put more processing power for the game itself) the background will look a little stale in still screenshots, but with applied motion blur it's gorgeous.

[Marcello]

Oh, yeah, I forgot some things..

Maybe(probably) the reason why the other characters aren't in, is because Sonic is on a journey. He probably went on it alone, so the others have no business of being there. At least at the start. Maybe he'll need help, and Tails will come sometime in this episode or one of the next.

Our Legendary hero returns! With the Death Egg finally destroyed, and Angel Island back in the sky, Sonic decides it's time to take a break and heads off to explore a new territory on his own. However unbeknownst to Sonic, Eggman has also survived their last encounter, and has begun taking measures to rid himself of our hero. Armed with his signature Speed, super Spin Dash - and powerful Homing Attack, Sonic is ready for an all-new adventure!

So, I guess we know the (Story-wise) reason for the others not being in.

Something that caught my interest was what someone found out about a few pages ago.

Broniks

What are they? Eggman Badniks who have changed sides and are now helping Sonic ala Kirby? Badniks who are "Bros'" and use team attacks? Just some stupid name they accidently used? Intriguing..

Also, the Sonic model. I think he skin is a bit too yellowish and his fur to bright. Id've liked it to be dark blue like in Sonic Adventure or even SA2...

Edit: Oh, and Shad: You can See Sonic's Shoe-buckle a little bit on the character page. Its on his right shoe. Its only a little bit, but you can see something yellow

Edited February 4, 2010 by MarcelloF

[redmenace]

To be very honest, I haven't seen charm in environments since Sonic Adventure, and yes, it includes Advance and Rush whatnot. There was some in parts in some of them, but a full game, not since then. I've no idea abotu Sonic 4, but at last it LOOKS colourfull enough to qualify.

http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/6497/datshine.png

[The-Master-Board]

If so, why would they bother locking it? We all know he's in the game, unless it's Fang in disguise or something...

That would be very cool! Make Nack/Fang happen SEGA!

I do, however, hope that Knuckles stays on the island and only appears if the game returns to Angel Island. I fact, how awesome would that be? An Angel Island level that takes place on the edge of the island, as it floats in the sky? Sort of a Sky Chase fused with Mushroom Hill.

This would be equally as cool. I really hope that we do at least get to see some of Angel Island, that place had the coolest levels out of all the classic Sonic games! But I agree, no Knuckles outside of Angel Island....All the more reason to pay a quick visit to Angel Island in Sonic4 and have a Knuckles cameo!

[psikeout]

Note: Let me first say that the following is not directed toward any individual. If you feel offended by it, though, consider yourself addressed, and feel free to harass me all you want.

I knew that even if what this game turned out to be was pretty much ideal for a modern Sonic game, I'd wake up to a pile of fan bitching.

It's not perfect. Nothing's going to be perfect. If you're somebody who's butthurt because the game doesn't have Silver the Cockhog in it, then just go molest the hole in your Sonic 2k6 disc until the next major Sonic title comes to full-scale retail release. He'll be there, along with the rest of Sonic's five million friends. They know kids are probably less likely to do DLC since they can't easily buy games without Mommy & Daddy's credit cards, and to appease the ~12 year old boy audience, Sonic's assclown buddy posse will doubtlessly remain in full force.

On the other hand, if you're upset that it's not an absolute replication of a Genesis title, then what is there to be said? Did you actually want the Sonic equivalent of Megaman 9? I guess that's not an awful idea, and I'd still play it if it was, but at this point, the fanbase could easily make it happen by dedicating their collective Bitch-Time to creating a Sonic 2 hack or fangame rather than whining like a neverending klaxon on every corner of the internet.

I don't even expect this game to be all that good, but I will say one thing: It managed to get me interested in a "new" Sonic game, and that's the first time this has even remotely started to happen since my disappointment in Sonic Heroes. I'm probably not alone in this. I think it deserves at least some modest degree of optimism, so is there any way at least one decent corner of the community—Hopefully this one—can keep its plaintive cries at a tasteful volume, with a graceful lack of nitpicking over tiny things that won't really matter in the long run? Like... running animations? (It's not awful. It's probably not even final. But it'll work if the game is fun.)

I mean, hell. I really, really, really wanted sprites, a retail release, and all that crap, too, but it still looks pretty decent to me so far. I think this is gonna work.

[gato]

SO...

I'm kinda late to the party (mostly because i sleeped more than I should and life sucks and stuff), but here are my thoughs about Sonic 4...

I FREAKIN' LOVE IT!

but I have 2 complains about this...

1) it probably was the trailer but something looked odd in the colors, for a moment I tough I was watching "Sonic Blast"...

2) That running animation... it looked slow and boring as heck, I'm not asking for circles or 8 form... but at least they could have used the Advance/Rush animations =/

Then again, July is far away, I hope this is just an early build and they can get this things fixed for the relase date

Just my 2 cents, also, glad to see the fanbase didn't exploded here, now, off to Retro!!!!!!!!1!

EDIT: also, if homing attack worked in Megamix and SonicCD++, it can work here right?

Edited February 4, 2010 by imarafan

[Carbo]

To be very honest, I haven't seen charm in environments since Sonic Adventure, and yes, it includes Advance and Rush whatnot. There was some in parts in some of them, but a full game, not since then. I've no idea abotu Sonic 4, but at last it LOOKS colourfull enough to qualify.

http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/6497/datshine.png

The contrast in that is absolutely stunning. I hope that's how it will look like on 1080p godly motion.

[Dr. SEGA Monkey]

I think the backgrounds are amazing. These backgrounds are exactly what I wanted for this game. Kind of a hand drawn look to them.

As for the model, I really hope it's cell-shaded in the final. I really wanted high-res sprites, but this is fine....except for the run animation. It looks horrible. Maybe because that's not really the full-speed running animation or something (like in Advance 2).

And I love how his head is massive. That way, we can sort of pretend it's classic Sonic if we squint a little!

Also, HE WAVES HIS FINGER IN THE LOGO.

[Marcello]

Oh, yeah and this:

I'm guessing won't be used ingame. I'm thinking its just for now. They (The Title Screens), have always been animated, so why start making them static now. Also that SONIC THE HEDGEHOG logo was never used in the games. Only on boxarts.

[psikeout]

Oh, yeah and this:

I'm guessing won't be used ingame. I'm thinking its just for now. They (The Title Screens), have always been animated, so why start making them static now. Also that SONIC THE HEDGEHOG logo was never used in the games. Only on boxarts.

Didn't even think about that. You're probably right, but I bet the final logo will look very similar, at least with the ring, banner, wingtips, etc., given the general vibe they're going for.

[Dreadknux]

What do you do when a game has no box though?

[Marcello]

They always have those Boxart pics on XBLA and I'm guessing PSN.

Edited February 4, 2010 by MarcelloF

[Barry the Nomad]

Have it appear as the icon and digital box art in the games library.

You know, Sega games have appeared sans-box since the Master System came pre-loaded with Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Snail Maze and Hang-On/Safari Hunt.

[jeremycarrier]

About the whole 'continuity' thing; Sonic 4 is after S3&K but before Sonic Adventure, right? Who's to say Sonic 4 will be the only game wedged between those two games? We might see a Sonic 5 that takes place after Sonic 4 and before Sonic Adventure. Sega could really just treat the Adventure series as a 'future' branch that has no binding on the numbered series (excepting the homing attack's presence of course, but then I think that's just making mountains out of molehills) besides the flashback references.

This is what SNK does with the Metal Slug series. Metal Slug 6 and 7 take place before Metal Slug 4, so they can use the old Nazi bad guys and General Morden. Also, Metal Slug 4 sucks so they pretend it doesn't exist. They can do the same thing to SA1!

Also, did you notice how Sonic only held up ONE finger in the logo!? This symbolizes that this is gonna be just another fucking rehash of Sonic 1. Continue your fall into oblivion, Sonic!

...

No I'm just kidding, I'm not some mentally deficient child who thinks this is gonna be Sonic Rush because SEGA showed Sonic running for 5 seconds. I think can very much be like New Super Mario Bros Wii for the Sonic series, and I'm all up for that!

And perhaps the reason its DLC is because its probably just gonna be 6-7 zones in this game, and if they expect people to pay full price for that, well you can just kiss my ass right now.

[Larryb]

So is this game only on XBLA and PSN or has it been confirmed for WiiWare yet?

[Dreadknux]

And do you think they'll use this logo just for the virtual box art, or both the box art and the title screen? I reckon the latter. At least I hope so - I really like that logo.

[Kai]

Haven't been paying attention to Sega for awhile now so I didn't think Sonic 4 was actually in the works. Especially didn't expect to be 2D but it does look good. I hope they tweak his running animation though before final release.

[Barry the Nomad]

I'm sure episode I will be $15-$20 which is totally worth it.

[turbojet]

I'm looking forward to this game. Can't really say much because it seems to be still in the development stage.

[Marcello]

So is this game only on XBLA and PSN or has it been confirmed for WiiWare yet?

http://www.sonicthehedgehog4.com/us/ Its also on WiiWare

And do you think they'll use this logo just for the virtual box art, or both the box art and the title screen? I reckon the latter. At least I hope so - I really like that logo.

Hmm, I'm guessing the first and like Psikeout said something close to this for the game

I'm sure episode I will be $15-$20 which is totally worth it.

Really? I was thinking along the lines of 10-15$/€/whatever at most...

Edited February 4, 2010 by MarcelloF

[the godfather]

was kinda hpoin for a June 23rd release, maybe the Iphone is July and the dowload is in June? never know?

[Detective Shadzter]

I honestly agree with everything Dread has said, I don't see the point in the complaints about how Sonics model is. They are trying to cater to the new and old fans so they've mixed things up a bit. I think he looks great, watching those sprites progress in the trailer to what we have now looks like a nice step up from the Sonic 3 sprite. He's got the charming appeal of the Sonic 3 sprite with an added bit of shape. I like the added dust clouds from his spin dash into the chequered path, they make me think of the classic cartoons.

I stand by my old statement that someone here has in their sig, I forget who but I have the one I'm about to say now in my sig -

Not even the AWESOMA POWAH of Sonic 4 can please this fan base.

[YoshiUnity]

Well, I have to say that I am happy from what I saw. I was hoping to see more gameplay, but some is better than none. Hey! They could have shown more concept art! I always wanted to see how the rocks were illustrated. I'll probably get this on Wiiware since I usually take my Wii to my family and they are all about retro games. I look forward to seeing more and playing it in July.

And I'm also glad to see that everyone's... debating. Oh well, it can't be anything over the top, right?

1. The homing attack- Okay. I can respect that. Not everyone likes the homing attack. I did have fun with it, even when it wasn't all that reliable. Honestly, if they have a few moment to where it's needed, I wouldn't mind. Hey, you got the Spin dash again! That's cool, right?

2. Artstyle- like music, artstyle is always hit or miss. I'm cool with the cel-shading myself. Although it does seem a little weird that Sonic was cel-shaded in the game footage, but wasn't in other parts of the trailer. Not that I'm complaining. I'm just saying.

3. Return of Rush- Well, I can't really say that this is the return of Rush. From what few seconds that was shown, it was just a piece of what I assume is an early level. And weren't the 1st Sonic levels in the classic games filled with speed gimmicks? They had platforming, but still wasn't it possible to run through a good chunk of level without even trying that hard? Plus, this was only a few seconds of footage anyway. Eh, doesn't bother me, even if it does follow Rush. I like Rush.

4. Running animation- I can sort of agree with this. It does look a little weird. But even if it stays like that, I probably won't notice if I'm having a blast with the game. Confession Time: I always thought Classic Sonic's circle legs looked weird. There I said it! ...Please don't hurt me. ._.

5. Just underwhelming- Eh, whatever floats your boat. I can't really argue with that reason.

6. Green Eyes- ... AAPOSKAKODPDKOAPKDDPDKPOAK.... *facepalm.* ... *Facepalm.* ... *FACEPALM!*

Oh well. I'm looking forward to this game.

[JezMM]

I can't believe how dense people are being about the homing attack. Seriously guys?

The Sonic Advance games (or at least 2 onwards), Rush games and Rivals game all had the homing attack in.

You know what happened? You hardly ever use it.

You know what happens if you do? It makes enemies a little easier to hit.

The homing attack is going to be completely optional the entire way through the game, and it's greatest purpose will be an aid for younger players who are not used to the increased precision required to destroy enemies in the older games.

Man, it honestly makes me sad for half the people here that you are so pessimistic. Can we split the topic so us happy people can celebrate without being dragged down?

[Spanner]

Whilst Sonic 4 - Episode 1 looks great, I'm not exactly impressed. The episodic structure looks useless unless there's going to be some sort of "Lock-On" with another episode to produce more items. Also the fact that they ignored us PC gamers from playing this game. It's just stupid really, SEGA could've done this properly if they added a PC version to the mix and used Steam or another downloadable source to play it. It's what another old game's sequel is doing and it should be done here.

I have no plans to purchase a 360, PS3 or Wii right now just to play one game. Perhaps SEGA should look at making a PC version, if there's going to be others in the works.