Sonic 4: Episode 1 Discussion

Gentlemen, may I suggest we all take the bait and just focus on Generations until SEGA gives us something Sonic 4 related? I know that's kind of what they want us to do, but at the same time, we have nothing to talk about but how positive or negative each of us is about the prospects. =/

 

Well I do think that drilling into people's head's how DIMPS isn't really solely to blame for issues in Sonic 4 is quite important, and I hope that people reading this will now be enlightened, but you are right. Best to keep focus more on Generations, though of course I am anticipating Episode II for good reason. Can't wait for it personally. I think I'm most looking forward to the 3D Metal Sonic model, and having the chance to fight against him again, because we've seen squat about him since he got his arse kicked (in the future, mind) in Sonic Heroes.

I haven't really played Sonic Rivals much, and I know that in those games, Sonic's model was slightly different to what we have now, it was more like his Heroes/Shadow model than his new Unleashed style, so I'm wondering if Metal Sonic will be upped in height to match Sonic's new look, because of course he's basically his double in the previous games.

 

We have an accurate sense of what he'll look like from the Sonic 4 ending teaser, don't we?

 

Not really, considering it was much bigger than Sonic, set in a certain pose, was totally black (we didn't actually see any features, it was a silhouette) and it looked like a peice of character art.

 

I think this is fair. Direction speaks volumes about the vision and the final product.

 

I thought it looked like a 3D model in pre-render form, actually. But I was speaking of proportions.

 

But you just created a paradox. His Heroes/Shadow design IS his Unleashed design. The only changes between them are that they just scaled up Sonics body, and made his arms shorter.


Red/Heroes, Blue/Unleashed.

Also Metal Sonic will look exactly like he has for the past 5 years. Al the characters just use their CGI model designs now.


Here's the picture from the end of S4 without the dark lighting. Dimps were lazy fucks and just photoshoped another render.

 

I suppose photoshopping an existing render which looks more recognisable would be better than doing one that no one would be able to guess. Still, I had no idea the Unleashed model was the Heroes model, it looks so different. Obviously the texturing and colouring would make quite a difference, and, isn't the Wii versions Sonic from Unleashed different to the other versions (because maybe I should explain that I always talk about the Wii version, having only owned that particular one)?

Still, that's pretty awesome and I suppose it kinda answers the question as to what he'll look like, though I'd still like a model.

 

Ah wow, didn't know they did it like that. Cool. So it's just the same pose from the Sonic Rivals 2 box art but without all the other characters blocking the whole view of Metal Sonic.

 

Erm, wouldn't that have been more fun? If we couldn't guess who the mystery character was? I know Sonic fans are allergic to the suspicion of new characters, but come on. It at least could've been either a new Sonic doppelganger or one of his older ones.

 

Better from a design standpoint- use something already attributed to that character to show it off- seems pretty reasonable, really.

 

If you never played Rivals or seen the existing render then it defeats the point your trying to make.

It's also not that difficult to make out Metal Sonic's silhouette. He's got a very specific head shape and the limbs alone should be a big give away since no other Sonic character with the same body shape has them.

It pretty much is like Jim said. They weren't bothered enough to do another render. Hell, they use a wand tool on Sonic's textures from Unleashed.

 

Exactly; if you aren't going to put maximum effort into something that's on-screen nearly 100% of the time, you aren't going to put it into something that only shows up for a second or so and is greatly obscured. Sonic's mouth doesn't even face the camera when he looks up to the left, so it just looks odd.

The whole point wasn't to make you wonder who the mysterious character was, it was to get you excited and think "Oh man, Metal Sonic's coming back next Episode!".

 

To be honest, I'm not arguing it. :v: It was lazy. All I'm suggesting is that it was a deliberate lazy. Metal Sonic would have needed new art to be created, THEN shadowed, which could have looked odd and would have been quite pointless. Rather, take an up to date existing image, and then black it out. The image in question shows Metal Sonic in good proportion and is a bit of a giveaway (obviously, which I assume is what they were trying to do), unless you play Battlefield all the time and have no idea, which according to Sonic Team, you obviously all do.

I'm sure someone like Polygon Jim would be able to answer this; the game can't be patched, can it? Just checking, as I'm currently in various thoughts.

 

You mean like the Sonic Heroes booklet?

 

That had a real reason to hide the character. It wasn't until the Rail Canyon cutscene that I realised it was Metal Sonic, because I hadn't played a 3D Sonic game before 2004, and it looked vastly different to the Metal Sonic I was used to from Sonic CD. Sonic 4 was an intentional, obvious 'secret'. In Heroes, it looked more like a Wizard than anything else.

Besides, anyone who's only played Battlefield won't know what the hell that silhouette is anyway!

 

Anyone pick up the Windows Phone 7 version yet?

 

Still waiting on an Android port...

 

I downloaded the trial. Seems to be the same as the iOS version (a guess based on the screen rotating on the loops).

 

Here's a more obvious tell: do you get spinny feet by running normally, or only on rare occasions? If the latter, it's probably the iThing build.