Sonic 4 Episode 2 Wish List

You could run on the ceiling in fucking Angel Island Zone.

See the part with those red tree things in Act 2.

Also YES to online co-op and Multiplayer! PLEASE! I have no friends in real life that still play platformers, all they ever play are shooters and RPGs now...

 

A fun game.

 

What's sad is that you're probably right. Iizuka probably is thinking of something that ridiculous and impossible. (Obligatory "Sonic is a superfast hedgehog if you wanna talk about impossible" comment,) but that aside, the physics in the classic games were at the very least believably realistic. We didn't question how things worked because they made enough sense for us to accept them. Sonic 4, on the other hand, just conjures up a whole lotta' "Huh?"

 

http://twitter.com/iizukaTakashi

Run on the ceiling! Let me close my eyes: Running. On the Ceiling.And Sonic is not meant to fall down. Man, it's time to rewrite the law on gravity and the UNDERSTANDING OF THE SONIC ENGINE AND PINBALL MACHINES!

 

This... this is a joke account of course? Right? I've never seen or been to his twitter, so I (being unfortunately curious as the cat I am) want to know if it's a joke.

 

Yes Greg, it is a joke account! The guy that runs the twitter account is just parodizing Ilzuka. So, its essentially just for fun!

 

Good. It's just that the Iizuka in that article and the Iizuka on twitter are so... scarily similar.

 

I'm not exaggerating in the least when I say I would wait 5 years for episode 2 if it means spot-on Sonic 3 physics. That's honestly the only thing on my wish list.

Oh, and no gimmicks.

 

Would you also pay them for every year that the game is not out? Because they don't care if people are willing to wait, they care that they will not be getting any money during this extremely long development time. If they spent that much time in development the thing would have to cost $200 in order to pay itself, which would obviously not happen because nobody would buy a game for that price. Waiting makes sense when we're talking about homebrews or fangames, but not commercial stuff, unfortunately.

 

>>No gimmicks
>>Sonic 1- Gimmick: Super fast. Sonic 2: Gimmick: Tails. Sonic 3: Gimmick: Huge Levels. Sonic & Knuckles: Gimmick: Knuckles, Lock-on
>>Every classic level having individual gimmicks
>>

 

Yeah, gimmicks are awesome, makes the game more varied and less monotonous.

 

Alternatively SEGA could hand production over to Inti Creates, who did a good enough job with recreating classic Megaman I'd have faith in them to do the same with Sonic. ..or have them hire Mercury and the Megamix team as the new 'Sonic Team' and get them to take over production (and port at the last seconds to current hardware). Both of those would be acceptable and I'm sure with a budget Megamix's production would speed ahead.

 

You guys thought Episode 1 was a shitstorm? A sequel is in the works -- Sonic 4: Episode 2 may be the biggest shitstorm that anyone has ever imagined. I'm almost excited.

Also, for my wishlish: I agree with an earlier comment ... the game to be fun. Oh, and no bullshit pitfalls. Why has SEGA not learned from pulling that crap?

 

Whoa, I know a lot of suggestions in this topic are preposterous, but let's try to be a little realistic here.

Daw, I shouldn't say that. People will take me seriously. I enjoyed episode 1. Then again, I enjoy lots of things; my standards aren't fantastic. I also enjoyed Adventure Island: The Beginning.

<!--quoteo(post=0:date=Nov 29 2010, 01:49 PM:name=)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE ( @ Nov 29 2010, 01:49 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Yeah, gimmicks are awesome, makes the game more varied and less monotonous.[/QUOTE]
Gimmicks are an interesting matter.

It seems to me that Sonic 2 is conservative about gimmicks as compared to Sonic 3. Remember the platforms in Angel Island that disappear behind the waterfall? Remember how those blocks only appear once in the entire game? That wraps up Sonic 3 in a nutshell for me. Sonic 3 uses so many different objects that it's just a whirlwind of thrills. Well, as compared to Sonic 2.

In a perfect world, I would prefer Sonic 4 to be conservative on the gimmicks. By that I mean I'd like to see fewer gimmicks used in a larger variety of situations. While gimmicks do provide variety, I think cutting back on them adds an element of subtlety, not monotony. (Assuming you've got a good developer at the reins.)

In reality, though? I don't know if I trust the devs to make a good non-gimmicky game. I dunno, their new gimmicks—when they come up with new gimmicks—seem alright. That is to say, their gimmick design seems to be stronger than their overall level design (which would include gimmicks, but also level structure and platform placement, stuff like that). If they gave us some new, finely-crafted gimmicks in episode 2, I'd be happy. And surprised, actually.

At the end of the day, I'd like to beat a dead horse. Just go back to Genesis Sonic physics. I don't know why they think these new physics are superior. They're not so bad at programming that they can't recreate the old physics. Heck, someone said already that it's been done in Sonic Advance 1. The frustration here cannot be overstated. Well, maybe it can. But it's funner if it can't.

And now, a postscript:

The prevailing thought amongst gamers today seems to be that platformers need to be gimmicky. The classic example: the success of Super Mario Bros. 3 over Super Mario World. Super Mario Bros. 3 has more memorable levels; in other words, it has levels with easy-to-remember hooks. This level is the Kuribo's shoe level, this is the Angry Sun level, this is the level where a fish eats you, this is the level that just loops until you fly up through the ceiling (you know, the one in world 6 below the toad house). All very easily identifiable hooks that have nothing to do with the structure of the levels.

Super Mario World, on the other hand, has relatively plain levels: you have a regular cast of enemies and objects, nothing more. There are a few gimmick levels here and there (the bubble level? wtf was that about), but for the most part, you're seeing different combinations of the same enemies and platforms. Gimmick levels may be more memorable, but Super Mario World's approach allows for a deeper exploration of the game mechanics. For instance, the enemy AI in Super Mario World, though still pretty simple, is much more interesting than the enemy AI in Super Mario Bros. 3.

The only stronghold for the second approach seems to be in Mega Man 9 versus Mega Man 10. 10 is by far the gimmickier title, yet there are a good number of people who take 9 over 10. Although, Mega Man titles in general tend to be on the gimmicky side...

 

The only thing I can hope for is Classic Controller support. No way Sega's going to change the physics or the dev team. And if it's $15 for Ep. 2 then I'm gonna stick with Mega Man.

 

I'd like to use my gamecube controller on that game, or at least Classic Controller/Nunchuck. I could also say a lot of things that I think should be in the game but aren't, but that would be rehashing overdone complaints, and really, who likes that?

Seeing that Metal Sonic is going to be in the next game, I'd like to see (read: SMALL) references to Sonic CD, and quite possibly the super peel out. Relying on the jump-dash to get Sonic going isn't that great, and for some reason I think spindashing and then jumping cuts my speed (I could be wrong). Plus, I always had a strong liking to the Super Peel Out. Making Sonic run at max speed in the matter of a few seconds just seemed plain awesome to me. Other people might disagree, but whatever.

Another thing I'd like to see is Genesis-esque 2-player Co-op. That is, one player (obviously the first) is Sonic and the second is Tails, or even Knuckles. That would be pretty fun to have my friend helping me out with beating Eggman's cheap robotic creations and carrying me to areas previously inaccessible. On top of that, seeing that the special stages were based off the Sonic 1 special stages, it would be no surprise to see the Sonic 2 ones "re-mixed" in Episode 2, which would make having Tails following me and helping collect rings I lost pretty helpful.

Also, just a thought, but maybe some new abilities for Tails and Knuckles. I mean, Sonic gained a new ability every game, (the spindash and then the Insta-Shield, and now the Homing Attack even though Adventure gave us that invention), and Tails got the swimming ability in Sonic 3. So, I'd only find it likely that Tails and Knuckles, ifwhen they make their return, gained new tricks of the trade.

Just my thoughts that probably mean nothing, but meh |D

 

You have to make sure to be holding forward. Otherwise, jumping when doing anything will result in a dead midair stop.

 

Yeah, along with aforementioned physics/jumping/running physics tweaks and overall better, original, and more momentum-oriented level designs, better music, no uncurling, etc., definitely want 2-player co-op with a dynamic vertical split-screen that maintains both player's positions on screen when separated too far apart. And then separate competitive race levels. I know this is probably beyond either DIMPs' skill level (har har jab jab) or the game's budget, but if I'm going to ask for stuff, might as well as for good stuff.

As for Metal Sonic, I think this would be a great opportunity to either a) make more challenging boss/midboss encounters that frustrate less than they engage; b) make Metal Sonic a more appealing character; or c) both. He could even be a conditional midboss, like in Mega Man X2 and X3, where facing the "major midbosses" depended on completing a certain amount of levels and entering either a secret room or just a regularly empty room on the path to the end.

 

Make sonic feel less weighted down
Base the special stage on Sonic 2's
Make the level design just a bit better (I personally felt that they were heading in the right direction with the level design. I really enjoyed it for the most part. I would like to see less homing attack chains and less boosters. They can remain in the game for all I care, just don't over use them. Especially when it comes to homing attack chains. I don't want them to be used in the place of actual platforming. )
Use some different or more interesting level tropes. I mean, I love obligatory casino levels as much as the next guy, but am I the only one that would like to see another level like Pirates' Island? (as long as there's more platforming involved and little/no grinding, of course. )
The return of hyper forms

And, I think that's it, really. I've been playing sonic games the way Sega wants me to since day one, so making the physics more like the classics really wouldn't effect me, sorry :specialed:

 

I'd love to see Sonic 2-style races return; those are great.

However, I think the coop idea here is flawed. This is something I've heard people request before, so I've had a lot of time to think about it. Maybe I don't understand the issue at hand, so I'll share how things seem to me.

It's hard enough to keep Tails onscreen in Sonic 2—it'd be even harder in Sonic 4, I imagine. To keep the screen from zooming out too far, you'd need some sort of Chaotix-style tether between Sonic and Tails.

I'm not sure I see the utility of coop, either. Tails can be useful in boss fights, since both Tails and Sonic can score hits on the boss in tandem. But what good would it serve during the course of the stage? Maybe Tails could fly Sonic to an upper path at some point, but outside of that, there wouldn't be any potential for cooperation. The only way I could see this working is if they develop stages purely for coop.

The coop works in New Super Mario Bros. Wii because Mario is a slower, more precise game—everyone moves at a similar pace, and people can generally stick together. Coop is fun here, then, because you're trying to squeeze a bunch of people on the same floating platform or something like that. Keeping two players side-by-side in a Sonic game would require quite a bit of effort.