Sonic 4: Episode III cancelled according to Ken Balough

Never forget your mistakes, for you will be doomed to repeat them. Instead, welcome them as the experience they were and learn from them.

SEGA shouldn't forget Sonic 4, but should learn from what they did right and wrong and work on a better game from it.

 

The official understanding of Sonic 4's mistakes is that it didn't sell because the levels were too long, complicated and difficult for mobile play and it didn't make enough money because people weren't interested in that.

So SEGA learned that people simply didn't appreciate Sonic 4 and that a shallower, microtransaction filled game would be better.

 

Same here. I wanted a Sonic 4: Episode III only so I could see the conclusion of the overall story, but now since Episode III was cancelled, I refuse to acknowledge its existence (I HATE unresolved stories!) and after Generations I really hope that SEGA will never make any reference to that game ever again.

 

Like I said, we could just have Sonic the Fighters stand in for the conclusion. It does star the Death Egg II, has various characters come back for the 'finalé' and it has stages you could say represent all 4 games (I'm aware it actually doesn't since Sonic 4 came out long after it, but like I said, it's a stand in for a proper conclusion), to quote my post on the Classic Timeline Thread:

Giant Wing might be what's left of Sky/Wing Fortress after it blew up in Sonic 4 Episode 2. There you go, a big finalé.

 

I can't say I'm disappointed. There was no saving Sonic 4 after the episode 1 debacle. I haven't touched the game in a long long time or beaten the two episodes on Xbox.

At this point I'd rather trust Taxman with making a new 2D Sonic. He's definitely earned it with the remakes of CD, 1 and 2. Call it Sonic Project Retro or something. :specialed:/>

I got nothing....

 

Not to mention that now Sonic 4 is over, Sega likely won't ever touch the classic series again with a 10-foot pole because they'll have Sonic 4's reception as an excuse to claim people don't care for the classic formula (enough) to justify making a new classic Sonic game.

 

This goddamnit! Sonic 2006 was horrible and still got the conclusion it deserved!

Hell, just make an animated version of a proper series ending, there doesn't have to be a game. I hate unresolved cliffhangers. Some are intentional, in order to leave things up to the imagination....but this ain't one of them.

 

I'm confused about people giving a damn about the story. There barely is one, and what story there is merely serves as an excuse to jump on things until they die.

The games had neither compelling gameplay or narrative, and are really best left dead.

 

There's one reason and one reason alone people are so interested in the story:



Everyone loves a good Death Egg.

 

For me, the death egg story starts at Sonic 1 and ends with 3K. Anything after is null & void.

I like it that way

 

I actually went back and finished Episode 1 on Friday night. I apparently made it to the second casino level and then stopped for whatever reason, but I got all the way to the final boss and beat it.

Jesus. Fucking. Christ. I don't know how I made it through without destroying my apartment. I remembered the physics being weird but when you're trying to get a game finished so it's done and over with, and there's tons of pivotal moments where you HAVE to be precise with your timing on things, this is unacceptable. I can't begin to count the number of times I fucked up and/or died because of Sonic moving too slow when I started moving or because I somehow accidentally spin dashed even though I swore I wasn't anywhere near pressing down on the D-Pad. Thankfully it's done so I don't ever have to touch it again.

As a comparison, I played Sonic CD afterwards. Much, MUCH better game, and actually easier too. Special Stages are still a bitch, though, and I think I gave myself carpal tunnel trying to lower my Time Attack total time to under 25 minutes (which I still haven't done). >.>

 

@Mecha Sally - have you played in console version? I've ended quite recently StH 4 Ep 1 (PC version on steam). And first two zones were for me like a walk in the park, especially in comparison to "classic" trilogy (and I never was some "great guy" in platformers - I like them, but I'm not some sort of hiper-veteran) . I've encountered sometimes one problem you've mentioned (about lack of speed in some moments and its negative consequences), but it was rather rare issue. And never met such problems like unintentional spin dash (although I think that it may be connected with controllers we were using(I was playing on keyboard), on gamepads analog stick can be sometimes really tricky, I've heard about 4 months ago about almost indentical problem with "rolling" in this new version of Abe ("New'n'Tasty")).

Of course I'm not implying that you're not telling the truth, I was just quite surprised, that in case of the same game it can make such different impressions (at least I didn't hear/read about any serious differences between PC & console version).

 

Oh well. I never played Sonic 4, but I have episode I on my Wii, I'll get to it someday.

I still have hope for another Sonic Generations II. It doesn't even have to be based on past zones. I just want another fun Sonic game.

 

Wouldn't be Sonic Generations without the Nostalgia :specialed: But I know what you mean, I want a sequel as well.

 

Mine was the Steam version as well. I had played the first two levels ages ago, so I don't remember how they were then but I assume I didn't have any issues then. I guess in the harder levels when speed and/or timing is vital that it becomes a pain. As for the accidental spin dash, could've just been the D-pad on my controller (I was using a 360 controller) but I swore there were moments where Sonic would spindash when I wasn't even trying to. Maybe my thumb was ever-so-slightly in the "down" area that it registered as a down...

 

I hate how SEGA took the poor reception of Episode II as "people don't like 2D Sonic" instead of "people don't like poorly-made games". God, just reading about the entire history of Sonic 4 just makes me sad.

Although with that logic, SEGA of Japan should now be thinking "people don't like Sonic at all", so wonder what that will culminate in.

 

Perhaps it'll result in a subseries designed to cater to a new, younger audience, with a game and cartoon? Wait...

 

I wouldn't exactly call Ep 2 a poorly made game. For a mobile game it's actually pretty solid and fun.

 

Seconded. Oh, don't get me wrong, it has some rather irritating design flaws. (Why can't I play Tails alone? Why are the combo attacks required to proceed?) But overall, it held up fairly well, at least for a mobile game.

Still, it didn't hold a candle to the Taxman remakes. You'd thing Sega would learn a thing or two from them. (Then again, you'd think Sega would learn, Period.)