Sonic the Hedgehog 4

[speedfreak]

I actually don't care who is in it as long as I can do a full game through as only Sonic. As long as the others are optional (like in the classics) then I don't care how many of Sonic's "shitty friends" show up. I'm actually worried about more important things, like level design.

[Phos]

Were this game to use classic style Sonic, they might be hesitant to show anything else in order to avoid any kind of "Lame Duck" situation with the yet to be released Sonic games using green eye.

[Blazey Firekitty]

Lol, the truth of the matter is that there IS no Project Needlemouse. SEGA just put this out there to divert our attention from all of their poorly protected/leaked info on projects we DO know about

Obviously they don't want us to do that their next game will have Sonic turning into a centaur who runs through Ancient Greek Loops.

[Sean]

Okay, no more "wow we have n number of pages already" posts, or any variation of the above. If I see anymore they will be promptly deleted. There's no point in filling this topic even more with those comments.

[Blazey Firekitty]

I don't see why a character's backstory would matter for this game. It's not like there had to be an explanation of where Shadow, Silver, or Blaze came from when they showed up in Secret of The Rings' multiplayer mode.

I'm not saying that those characters necessarily should be in this game, but I don't think it would harm anything just as long as they don't affect the story in any major way.

[Meow]

To be honest I don't really care enough as to who is in the game, or what their backstory is, or any of that. All I want is for the game to be primarily -fun-. I want them to make a fun, solid, well crafted game. I don't want there to be lots of bugs (small ones are fine, every game has them and some of the small ones can be fun haha) and I don't want there to be parts that feel unfinished. I just want it to be fun.

I'm sure just wanting a fun game is not a big expectation. Even if the story sucks, even if there are new characters, as long as the gameplay is solid I'm all for it. It isn't like the Sonic series is a series with an incredibly written story to follow anyway heh. Just give me some good gameplay 8). Even if there is something in here that deviates from the genesis games in the form of a new character - just as long as it has the points in the first paragraph I'll be cool with it.

TO STRESS MY POINT FURTHER - FUN. MAKE IT FUN. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-un.

[Blazey Firekitty]

Maybe the fact that were' getting so little information about the game so far is a good sign. Shadow and 06 had a lot of hype behind them, and they were critical failures. Maybe the opposite will be true of this game.

[Nepenthe]

They weren't critical failures because of their hype. They were critical failures because the gameplay was bad. Had the games been released as they are yet with as little promotion as possible, it wouldn't have mattered much.

I like hype, though; It's half of the fun of new game announcements. Leaks, new trailers and screenshots, interviews and stuff. That type of stuff helps one keep interest, especially in the midst of aggravating dry spells like this.

Edited October 24, 2009 by Nepenthe

[Sega DogTagz]

especially in the midst of aggravating dry spells like this.

Dry Spell?

What console are you gaming on? I am being bombarded with Grade A games with even more coming down the tubes pre-Christmas.

*can barely put down controller to type this*

[Nepenthe]

I mean dry spell in reference to the lack of information about this particular game and the length of time this has gone on.

[Sega DogTagz]

I mean dry spell in reference to the lack of information about this particular game and the length of time this has gone on.

*overhead Woosh-ing motion*

I was doing up my shoe-laces I swear!

Eh, heh, I gonna go be quiet and sit in the corner.

[Nepenthe]

D'aww, you don't have to go to the corner today. Everyone here has had the silly and utterly embarrassing oversight. :3 *pats his head*

[JamieDawg]

I'm almost sure that someone already speculated this but on SEGA's FTP, the project Needlemouse trailer is named "SonicDL" can this be the name of the game, or an indication on how the game will be distributed? Because DL can stand for Download, in which case the game would be called Sonic Download, in other words the game is a downloadable game.

Again just speculation, but worth thinking about it I think.

[Solid SOAP]

DL as in download, as in you download the file onto your computer.

There are no hints to anything in the name of the file.

[Blue Blood]

I believe that was mentioned before, but really nothing can be drawn from it. It could simply mean "This is a Sonic file to download" or something like that. Alternatively it could be something like "Sonic: Dino' Land". OOOOOH! Let it be Dino Land plz plz plz!

[Solly]

I'm almost sure that someone already speculated this but on SEGA's FTP, the project Needlemouse trailer is named "SonicDL" can this be the name of the game, or an indication on how the game will be distributed? Because DL can stand for Download, in which case the game would be called Sonic Download, in other words the game is a downloadable game.

Again just speculation, but worth thinking about it I think.

Well, I don't think that the game would be called "Sonic Download" or anything like that but there is the possibility of it being a download title. The only real evidence to support that theory, however comes from a statement made by SEGA's Sean Ratcliffe prior to Project Needlemouse's announcement:

Considering that hardcore fans would probably like to see a more traditional side-scrolling Sonic game, we asked Ratcliffe if Sega had given this some thought. After all, Nintendo is about to make another 2-D side-scroller in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, so why can't Sega give its mascot a similar treatment on consoles?

“The answer is yes; we're constantly looking at our classic IP, be it Sonic or anything else. And now we have different avenues open to us to deliver that," Ratcliffe said. "On iPhone, for example, we launched the original Sonic and consumers loved that. ... So we no longer have to think in terms of consoles and packaged goods and we can look at digital downloads. From a mobile and iPhone point of view, we've been very successful with Sonic. So we can look at XBLA and so on, and it means we can give those core fans experiences in different ways now. So that's a big part of our strategy, in terms of taking classic IP and making it available digitally, rather than spend a huge amount of money trying to re-imagine that IP on 360 and PS3; there's a lot more financial risk attached to that.”

Source.

DL as in download, as in you download the file onto your computer.

I don't think that's it. None of the other file names on the FTP site have that "DL" thing next to it.

I could be wrong though. All I'm saying is that there's a possibility that this will be a download title.

[Marcello]

I hope its not a download title. I don't have internet on my 360 or PS3 or Wii and anyhow, I want to have a case and manual.=-\

[Solid SOAP]

I won't mind if this is a downloadable game, but it'd be really sweet if this was 10+ hour retail game with loads of replay value and maybe online play, instead of a short arcade game. Also I like having games in boxes.

[Badnik Zero]

^ I wonder about multiplayer. Obviously a racing mode like the classics would be a good addition, but maybe you could expand that. I always wondered what it'd be like to play a battle mode like the S3&K Knuckles fight, with a human opponent. Also, if the game is the same length as the classics, a full game race mode would be interesting.

[Solid SOAP]

Player vs Player fights would be awful, honestly. They were never good in the first place in my opinion, especially in the Adventure games, they lasted like, 2 seconds if you button mashed. I like that 2-4 player races along the lines of Sonic 2 would be perfect, however.

[Badnik Zero]

I always thought the S3&K fight was easy because of the AI on Knuckles. The Blaze fight in Rush was much better because she moved properly. If each character was given a block move and arenas were built for matches, it could be fun. It might not be the best multiplayer mode, but it'd be there. They should do the main game first, though.

[Solid SOAP]

I'd rather it not be in the game at all and just have more Robotnik fights, really. Character battles have never been memorable, SEGA should just make all the bosses in this game robots.

[Badnik Zero]

Maybe it'd be better placed in a different game. I agree that we need some nice Robotnik bosses at the end of each level. Or double that if they continue the mini-boss trend from S3&K. I'm just thinking of new multiplayer styles.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Player vs Player fights would be awful, honestly. They were never good in the first place in my opinion, especially in the Adventure games, they lasted like, 2 seconds if you button mashed.

Only because the Homing Attack cheapened the combat in those boss fights. Only one where it was good was when Knuckles and Rouge fought each other, although that doesn't say too much.

If there are going to be Player vs Player fights, a way to amend this would be to make the Homing Attack less of an instant win button than it is and give Sonic a more expansive moveset for combat in a similar manner that they gave Knuckles his combat abilities.

Nonetheless, I don't think they would be much of a hassle in this game, especially if it's in 2D.

[Phos]

The problem with character fights is that Sonic & company speed up and slow down gradually, as opposed to the abrupt movements seen in combat focused games.