Spoiler Thread (Spoiler Tags Please)

[Badnik Zero]

My issue with the minecart stage is that it takes up all of Act 2 in what I'm certain will be my favorite level. It would've been nice to have maybe half a regular level before finishing off with the minecart business. I like Sonic's hanging on for dear life animation when it goes upside down. It seems like there's no proper gravity in the stage, it's just relative to the cart. I also thought it'd be much faster than it is... maybe that was just the player? It's hard to comment on the controls.

[Agent York]

Time for my long winded post of tiny details and stuff you may or may not have noticed in the leaked footage!

-Lost Labyrinth Zone Act titles are as follows:

Act 1: Ancient Maze of Mystery

Act 2: Strange Mine Cart

Act 3: Underwater Maze Escape

-Splash Hill Zone Act 1 makes 2 references in a row, they first have the infamous first Motobug scene from the very start of Sonic 1, immediately followed by the first platform from the very start of Sonic 2.

-Sonic when he falls into the endless pit in Lost Labyrinth Act 1 doesn't just fall off screen, they add in a splash detail to imply it's not endless but too deep water. Nice little detail and explanation.

-Hitting an item box with a homing attack sends you straight up like if you hit an enemy.

-Sonic's homing attack move where he launches upward after hitting something is copied from Sonic Heroes

-Though the player doesn't hit any, if you look there are some item boxes hidden in palmtrees in Splash Hill

-There are rocks that are smashable and can hide items like Springs underneath, however they seem to change their looks each strange. In Splash Hill they look like the smashable rocks from Sonic 3's Angel Island, in Lost Labyrinth they have a new style of slabs but still destructible and act the same.

-Those retracting spikes are back, the ones that aren't there one moment, then pop out of the ground a second later, over and over.

-Crumbling and falling platforms (from Sonic 1) return.

-Waterfalls in Splash Hill often are linked to a Chopper bridge. Whenever you see a waterfall trail, that usually means there is a Chopper bridge either below or above you (just like Emerald Hill).

-When you destroy a Badnik, often weird spirals, screws, and machine parts will fly out, but occasionally as some type of sick joke I guess, googly eyes will briefly appear in the destruction animation too.

-Maybe as a visual gag, Newtons when turning into rockets jump into the air like the Grasshoppers from Sonic 3, then they turn into a rocket that literally looks like a missile.

-Item boxes in Sunset Hill have a red tint to them from the sunset.

-Chaining stuff with air time on attacks makes the points double each time (like if you hit five enemies, each enemy would give you points like "100-200-400-800-1600")

-So far we haven't seen any Blue Bubbles spout spikes, but Red Bubbles seem to do so quite frequently, and start appearing in Lost Labyrinth

-Jumping out of water makes you jump lower.

-The Hit Box on the Green Orbinats seems very forgiving with the Green Head being a large hit box and the spike balls being really small ones. The Red Orbinat seems much less forgiving though throws his spikes.

-I think they made another visual gag and effect, when you hit a Star Post it's Star symbol will shine brightly like a star.

-CONTRARY to early beliefs of the leaked Mine Cart screen, it wasn't poorly worded since you actually tilt the screen. =P

-Another visual gag, the Mine Cart has a spike in the very front of it probably to explain why running over enemies kills them.

-Another visual gag, Sonic has X's in his eyes when you get hurt in the Mine Cart or when landing from a jump.

-Another visual detail! Act 3 of Lost Labyrinth has vegetation sprouted around it, maybe to suggest you're getting closer from out of here or maybe because of all the water around the stage.

-ANOTHER visual gag, it seems Red Orbinats before they throw their spike balls show a quick animation of them getting angry (by their head growing in and out to show like heavy breathing).

-ANOTHER visual gag, Sonic when he gets an Air Bubble and makes the Hiccup noise, he covers his mouth and expresses an "excuse me!" expression for his hiccup. XD

-Dash Pads are a temporary speed boost that last 1-2 seconds but Sonic slows down a bit after the initial speed, since he rolls it decelerates a bit before he goes back to running.

-The part where Sonic launches out of he Water tunnel (that tilts) and he goes down the waterslide appears to be an endlessly looping segment until you jump onto something. There are multiple paths to jump onto evidently also.

-The water in the boss has a midway point to stop and let the player to catch up instead of keep rising, probably to give them a fair chance to catch up since this is the 2nd boss (assumption)

-The Lost Labyrinth boss, unlike the Splash Hill boss, has a hit que since yo have to hit him after his hurt animation is done. This was likely added so you couldn't beat the boss too quickly.

Edited April 2, 2010 by Dreadusk Chuckles

[Rusty Spy]

Just saw Lost Labyrinth act 2 and wow, as awkward as it looks, it actually looks very unique and very challenging without being unforgiving. Really impressive.

[Diogenes]

-ANOTHER visual gag, Sonic when he gets an Air Bubble and makes the Hiccup noise, he covers his mouth and expresses an "excuse me!" expression for his hiccup. XD

To me, it looked more like he was trying to pull the bubble into his mouth.

[SuperLink]

There was a pit in LLZ1. During the longer balancing section. And like, that was it.

Yeah, he missed the ball, but that reminds me of the icy stage on Sonic Advance 2, where you miss those little slide things and fall to your doom.

This could get annoying. Endless pit is still an endless pit.

Endless pits don't even annoy me that much, but the way people despise and rant about endless pits in Advance and Rush, why is Sonic 4 getting away with it so easily?

Edited April 2, 2010 by DreadSuperChuckles

[speedfreak]

Yeah, he missed the ball, but that reminds me of the icy stage on Sonic Advance 2, where you miss those little slide things and fall to your doom.

This could get annoying. Endless pit is still an endless pit.

Endless pits don't even annoy me that much, but the way people despise and rant about endless pits in Advance and Rush, why is Sonic 4 getting away with it so easily?

I think it's because people hate the unfair bottomless pits. They hate when you're running along at top speed as Sonic and then out of no where you run into a pit with no warning. The pit in STH4 was at a part where you are clearly meant to take your time and be careful while riding on the ball thing. Bottomless pits aren't always a bad thing. All great platformers have them (Mario, Megaman, etc.). It's the unfair pits that piss people off in Sonic games IMO.

[Blue Blood]

Yeah, he missed the ball, but that reminds me of the icy stage on Sonic Advance 2, where you miss those little slide things and fall to your doom.

This could get annoying. Endless pit is still an endless pit.

Endless pits don't even annoy me that much, but the way people despise and rant about endless pits in Advance and Rush, why is Sonic 4 getting away with it so easily?

There was no reason to jump even, since you're supposed to push the ball to get it going. That pit seems a heck of a lot more fair than the ones found in Starlight and Spring Yard.

[gato]

Not to mention so far is the only pit we have seen (sans the kart level, wich I haven't seen, neither act 3), unlike advance 2, where most of the levels are islands floating over botomless pits :V

Thought I doubt that it's the only one we are going to see in the game... but then again, I have yet to see an unfair pit (again, I just watched 'till LLZ1).

So far my only dissapointments with the game are the fact that LLZ1 seems to have a lot of speed (I hoped it would be like LZ from Sonic 1) and I haven't seen an underwater section (yet).

Also, the homing attack works like in Megamix =/ (SHZ gave me hope, but I have seen Sonic gaining a lot of momentum in some sections of LLZ).

p.d: This brings me back to the times where Sonic Megamix videos where flooding the internet and there was this bunch of people who screamed "this is Sonic 4" or "Sonic 4 should be like this" or "SEGA should hire you guys (Team Megamix) to make the next Sonic game"....

Kinda ironic that now we (including myself, BTW, I like the HA, but I think it doesn't belong to "classic Sonic") are complaining about a game that feels like Megamix HD after asking so much for it

Edited April 2, 2010 by imarafan

[Blue Blood]

Casino Street videos are out. Damn. I thought the leaks were going to stop. Ah well. Not posting the links here.

It looks great btw. Some very nasty springs to knock you back down the bouncy section you just tried ever so hard to get out of. Case in point, don't spam the homing attack. That's also the base with a Crawl (the badnik from CNZ in Sonic 2) near the end of act 3. he's placed ona tiny platform next to a massive pit. That's probably an unfair pit actually. Otherwise, it looks great. Act 2 makes for a terrible watch though. Fun play, boring to watch.

Edited April 2, 2010 by Blue Blood

[Indigo Rush]

You can find the links over on the Sonic 4 thread at Retro. I'm not posting them, though.

Going to watch.

EDIT:

THE BARREL HAS REINCARNATED. I REPEAT, THE BARREL HAS REINCARNATED.

It's not the same barrel of doom, it functions as the lifting platforms in Spring Yard Zone, but... you know what... just watch the video if you want to see what I'm talking about.

EDIT 2: Spinball Physic fans will love this stage.

Edited April 2, 2010 by Indigo Dude

[Vic Boss]

Seems like a level that encourages patience. It's not uber fast because you have to aim yourself up vertically. The player still seems to love the air dash too much, especially when he keeps doing it above the pit when really he should have let himself come down to the platform and then jump across patiently.

The backgrounds look awesome. It'll be a marvel to look at on a HD display, and the hot air baloons and city look incredible.

Edited April 2, 2010 by II Sora II

[GameboyHero]

Just watched it, and I want to play this zone now D: That one pit mentioned by Blue Blood is a cheap bitch. you gotta have fast reflexes to get through it. Yeah, you're bound to die at least once if you don't know what's coming.

And I know we're not allowed to post screenshots, but are little pictures taken from said videos okay? If it isn't go ahead and remove it.

Cause there's something about this that made me grin. There's probably exists an official mix of the two eggys, but I haven't seen it like this.

Edited April 2, 2010 by GameboyHero

[Blue Blood]

Yeah, loving the stage. Notice the U-shaped pits? Sonic 2 did those well, and CSZ is no different. =D. Gotta agree with Sora about the patience thing though. All the 2D bouncy stages after Advance 1 haven't had that same idea of "wait, and then time your actions". CSZ really doesn't want you to right hold, mash jump or anything. There's a lot of thought in it.

EDIT: I knew I was gonna be right about act 2 always being a gimmick stage. SHZ has you using the vines, LLZ is the awesome mine cart level and in CSZ you're in a very small area and have to rack up 100,000 points. Think Casinopolis without the sewer (and of course, points instead of rings).

Edited April 2, 2010 by Blue Blood

[Indigo Rush]

Yeah, loving the stage. Notice the U-shaped pits? Sonic 2 did those well, and CSZ is no different. =D

EDIT: I knew I was gonna be right about act 2 always being a gimmick stage. SHZ has you using the vines, LLZ is the awesome mine cart level and in CSZ you're in a very small area and have to rack up 100,000 points. Think Casinopolis without the sewer (and of course, points instead of rings).

I think every act has a gimmick of some sort... didn't SHZ Act 3 also have the sliding handlebars thing? LLZ Act 3 is the only level I saw that had an underwater part... CSZ Act 3 also has more of an emphasis on those SYZ moving-lift/ CNZ barrel of doom hybrids as well.

[BlueFlare]

Watched the first act of Casino Street. Looks very good to me. Something I've been paying attention to is the spinning animation when Sonic does the spin dash, it looks kind of slow even though Sonic goes really fast. It's not bad and probably will be changed at some point but it looks a bit weird to me.

edit: Also watched the boss of Casino Street. This is only my personal opinion but I think Sonic's gravity is still an issue to me because Sonic seems way too light when he jumps and floats in air. I think that makes the boss fights way too easy and there's hardly any challenge. Hopefully they'll change that as well.

Edited April 2, 2010 by Jimbo

[Aquaslash]

The most annoying thing is the end of act CSZ 3. A string of platforms over a bottmless pit right before the goal.

ARGH! That is a Dimps brand bullcrap level quirk! Don't believe me, play just about any later level in Rush, or the Advances. THEY ALWAYS DO THAT CRAP! I did NOT want to see those in this game :|

Also the boss was pretty cool.

Edited April 2, 2010 by Aquaslash

[Blue Blood]

I think every act has a gimmick of some sort... didn't SHZ Act 3 also have the sliding handlebars thing? LLZ Act 3 is the only level I saw that had an underwater part... CSZ Act 3 also has more of an emphasis on those SYZ moving-lift/ CNZ barrel of doom hybrids as well.

Much like S3K, each act seems to have something to differentiate it from the one before. But in the case of act 2, they seem to be especially prominent. Mine cart and "score to win" are obvious enough, but you really have to work the momentum on the vines too.

Let's see...

Splash Hill

1: Nothing really, it's the first level

2: Momentum-controlled vines

3: Zip lines

4: GHZ boss with a hammer like attack

Casino Street

1: Slot machines

2: Score to win, it's just a single pinball table

3: Cannons!

4: It looks like the S2 CNZ boss, but he has a grabber instead. And then this crazy buzz-saw pinball attack. Ouch

Lost Labyrinth

1: Ball-rolling

2: Mine cart of awesome

3: Lots of water, slides and the crushing wall

4: LZ boss at first, and then some intense pillar mashing room.

[DMNBT]

After watching the videos, it seems that the whole zone was built with an anti-HA sentiment in mind. You really need to be very careful of when to HA, as there are parts where it will help you, but many, many more where it will hinder you badly.

Also, stupid act 3 pit ¬¬.

[Barry the Nomad]

Adding up all the video lengths, I've found that SHZ to CSZ is 34 minutes of play time. I'd guess that MGZ is longer than the rest (maybe 15 mins in length) and then the final boss bringing us to just under an hour of gameplay. Not bad when compared to the classics and considering there are two more episodes, we'll have a 3+ hour game.

[gato]

Adding up all the video lengths, I've found that SHZ to CSZ is 34 minutes of play time. I'd guess that MGZ is longer than the rest (maybe 15 mins in length) and then the final boss bringing us to just under an hour of gameplay. Not bad when compared to the classics and considering there are two more episodes, we'll have a 3+ hour game.

Not to mention the "emmeroowds" stages and the replay value we will (probably) get in future episodes with more characthers (and their respective super versions, if they are).

In an old topic, I just watched the mine cart level, and seriously, I can't even think how any of you could be angry about it, that was one of the most creative things I have ever saw in a Sonic game, it looks hard as hell (but not battletoads hard like some of you made me believe) and lots of fun, also, I haven't seen a single botomless pit (actually I saw like 3 of them, but all had springs attached so if you go too fast, you get right back to the track and you can try again) in the whole thing, not to mention I can picture this level to be one of the hardest in time trial...

I freakin love it!

p.d: Also, it has the best track of the whole OST <3 (in my humble opinion >_>)

Edited April 2, 2010 by imarafan

[Detective Shadzter]

I'm going to start rescheduling the times I leave my flat for anything because everytime I leave is when the big stuff happens

Very disappointed Casino Street Zone has also leaked >_< Going to go watch now as I just can't resist this stuff :-/

[Shaddix Leto Croft]

I don't think anyone has picked this up but I noticed while watching the Casino Street Zone act 1 that the invincibility symbol in the TV box is exactly the same as the Sonic 06 invincibility symbol look

I know it's a random thing to pick up but i'm random anyway XD

Edited April 2, 2010 by Creature Of The Night

[Rusty Spy]

Gotta love act 1, especially since they didn't bother to do anything original. But those complaints are immediately silenced when I see that they've actually done a score challenge act and brought back the cannons from Carnival Night.

Casino Street is actually really cool. Act 3 in particular is a mixture of all the level elements from all previous casino stages in the classics. Sonic 1's barrel elevators, Sonic 2's badnik and obvious motif, and Sonic 3's badnik and cannons.

Seriously, why Sega aren't releasing vids of these is baffling, cause I can GUARANTEE the hype would be cranked up to eleven if people got a taste of these very unique level gimmicks. It's actually very awesome how Iizuka said that the homing attack will add speed that the classics lacked, yet by looking at these leaks, it shows that most of the levels outside Splash Hill have a lot more than just speed. It obviously shows that they may in fact KNOW what they're doing this time.

That bottomless pit at the end isn't all that bad since it's the only one we've seen so far, and looks pretty easy, aside from the badnik and slightly off screen platform. It's nice to see some actual CHALLENGE in a Sonic game.

I don't think anyone has picked this up but I noticed while watching the Casino Street Zone act 1 that the invincibility symbol in the TV box is exactly the same as the Sonic 06 invincibility symbol look

I know it's a random thing to pick up but i'm random anyway XD

They've been like that since, like Heroes.

Edited April 2, 2010 by Black Spy

[Detective Shadzter]

Just finished watching them and the whole zone looks awesome. I don't get why this leak stuff has happened again, surely SEGA would have sorted Infinity out after the last 2 leaks. Tristan has posted them up as he did the first 2 but what was odd last time is that Tristan said in the comments of 1 of the 2 posts that he hadn't been contacted by SEGA to remove them. This is just

[Shaddix Leto Croft]

Gotta love act 1, especially since they didn't bother to do anything original. But those complaints are immediately silenced when I see that they've actually done a score challenge act and brought back the cannons from Carnival Night.

Casino Street is actually really cool. Act 3 in particular is a mixture of all the level elements from all previous casino stages in the classics. Sonic 1's barrel elevators, Sonic 2's badnik and obvious motif, and Sonic 3's badnik and cannons.

Seriously, why Sega aren't releasing vids of these is baffling, cause I can GUARANTEE the hype would be cranked up to eleven if people got a taste of these very unique level gimmicks. It's actually very awesome how Iizuka said that the homing attack will add speed that the classics lacked, yet by looking at these leaks, it shows that most of the levels outside Splash Hill have a lot more than just speed. It obviously shows that they may in fact KNOW what they're doing this time.

That bottomless pit at the end isn't all that bad since it's the only one we've seen so far, and looks pretty easy, aside from the badnik and slightly off screen platform. It's nice to see some actual CHALLENGE in a Sonic game.

They've been like that since, like Heroes.

Have they? lol i've never really noticed it untill seeing it in Act 1 of CSZ and I agree Sega keeping such a awesome gameplay away from us IS NOO GOODD XD

Edited April 2, 2010 by Creature Of The Night