The Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Megathread

You know, if this game HAD been release in 1995, most people would have been kids.
Your head would have popped, just by looking at the graphics. Sure nowadays they are shit, but there is no need to say "If this was released in 1995, people would have hated it"
because they wouldn't have.
When you were between the age of 5 and 9, did you ever say to yourself "You know, the momentum is slightly off here and the angle at which you can crouch is rather dubious."
or "The graphics are rather poor because they utilise 5 light sources and noise filtres. Not to mention how ugly Sonic looks, it is really jarring, considering how endearing the first 4 games were"

No, I pretty much guarantee you wouldn't have said anything like that. You would have sat back and enjoyed the game for what it is, a sequel to a game series you enjoy.

Yes, this game could have had better graphics, but apprently, they are using the same techniques available in 1995, but doing it at a much higher resolution.

Yes this game could have newer levels, but apparently this is the reintroduction to the classics. A "Best of..." game if you will, because not every Sonic fan plays and replays Sonic 1- 3K on a daily basis, so they may have forgotten.

Yes this game could have had exact Genesis physics, and now apparently, Dimps are doing something to fix that. Somebody at the E3 floor said that Sonic Accelerated too slowly, so they will speed it up. Somebody also said how the flail manouvre after being sent off a quarter-pipe was bad, so they may change it.

Its different, move on. If its fun to play, then everything you said about it being a pile of shit, is meaningless.
When you were a kid, you played the games and had fun. Now you play the games and spend long hours learning every fine detail about the game and end up hating everything that is even slightly out of place in Sonic 4.
If I can enjoy this game the same way I enjoyed Sonic 2 when I was years ol, I'll call it mission success. If I can enjoy this game in the same way I enjoyed Sonic 3 and Knuckles when I was 7, then I'd call it a mission success. All the technical downfalls be damned.
You can call me stupid, but thats how we played games when the "Classics" were Brand new.

Also, I'm glad this game is so different to the classic games.
This game could have been a ROM-hack conducted by Dimps or Sonic Team. Just using the same engine with a few new sprites here and there for badniks.
However, they chose to make everything from the very begining.
Sure the badnik designs are rehashed, but each and every model has been made specifically for this game. Its not like they lifted the sprites from thos classics and placed them here.
Likewise with the level designs. They may have taken their cues from the classics, but they had to make everything from scratch.
So regardless of what people may say, thhis game isn't really as lazy as you think it is.

 

The way I see this, is it's just one episode. It has some appaling issues, like the graphical ones, the homing attack (Nobody make a wall of text over this, I don't even care anymore, others have said it before anyway) and boost pads, but it still looks fun.

There have been several games I judged harshly before playing. Bioshock being the most important, it ended up being one of the best regarded games of all time in my mind after I played it (previously it looked a little lacking), so I reserve judgement. This does have it's problems, yes, and even things I am staunchly against being included, but it looks good to play.

I mean, what do you want? The best game of all time? Christ. This is becoming a bit of a recurrance when I post in this thread but -



EDIT - The above image also applies to the people claiming this is the best Sonic game to have ever appeared. It isn't. It's just another Sonic game, but with a poorly chosen name.

 

Wow, we really must have been good friends at school Scartillery, because you seem to remember exactly how I viewed the Sonic games when I was younger. I apologize for my mothers cooking when you came over by the way.

Seriously though, I was VERY analytical of the Sonic games as an 8-9 year old. I was in no way stupid, and I wouldn't have been fooled by Sonic 4 in the slightest. Case in point, Sonic Chaos felt like absolute shit to play after playing Sonic 2. And Sonic 3D Blast and Chaotix with their advanced graphics should've blown us away, needless to say they were both shite in comparison to the holy trinity.

 

I'm so sorry to burst tee bubbles, but the E3 build didn't change anything on the game physics or anything at all.

To be fair enough, the only thing changed is the spindash charge speed; one revv up in the E3 build is absurdly faster than a whole lot of revv ups in the April built. Outside that, everything is the same, except in the E3 build the other levels were dummed out, and after you complete an ACT, a 'coming soon' message pops in.

The level layouts are still the same, everything is the same. And regarding the homming attack, no. It's virtually IMPOSSIBLE to complete the ACT 3 of Splash Hill Zone without homming attacking a bridge of Bubble badniks above a huge bottomless pit right in the end of the level. That's just an example. In the April built, besically every level after SHZ ACT 3 require you do homming attack a bridge of enemies to not die (looking at you, Casino Street Zone ACT 3).

Maybe in other built they will address all these issues, but my pessimism says otherwise.

 

The word you're searching for is "pessimism," actually. ^_^

I'm neutral until I see signs of where the design is going in a more solid way. Whether that means waiting for a trial build or just waiting to see how things come out over the next months in terms of their marketing, well, I'll know when I get there. I'm finding it hard to feel bitter over Sonic 4 when Sonic Colors looks so fun and promising, though.

 

Ops. So sorry. I changed my post accordingly. ^_^'

Well, I feel sad, that it's so unfortunate that Colors is looking so great, and that Sonic 4 didn't live up to my expectations... yet. I'm not optimist for a newer build either. I belive it will remain the same, and that the delay is just a marketing strategy to calm down the most enraged fans.

Also, I feel poisoned by Sonic 4 already; it feels so, so much different than, say, Sonic 1 for example. In order to make a proper analisys of the game, I had to play so much of Sonic 4, to the point of getting all Chaos Emeralds. Yesterday, I went to play a Sonic 1 hack. The physics felt so different, that, I don't know, Sonic 1 felt strange. It was so smooth, it was like controlling a ball.

 

April build? I thought the PartnerNET build was earlier than that. Are SEGA being forced to submit to PartnerNET again?

 

I don't think they are sending anything to PN anytime soon, anything at all. But for all extents, that's the April built, because it was when it was publically leaked. If it's from earlier before doesn't matter.

 

I believe it is best to just lower our expectations for the game instead of predisposing ourselves to outright hating it. I know this is suppose to be "the true successor" to the classic games and it should be blowing us away, but clearly we put so much stock into this game that our expectations were never going to be met anyway. It would be nice if Sonic 4 was this new classic Sonic game with Genesis physics, music by Naofumi Hataya and animation by Production I.G, but it isn't. I also realize that a Sonic game that is simply "competent" is not going to cut it anymore, but then why act as though it is such an abomination?

So Sonic 4 does not live up to its promises. Am I fond of the rehashed levels? No. Is the Homing Attack excessive in a game such as this? A little. Do I like how Sonic goes into his falling animation when he flies off slopes? Absolutely not, but none of that should break the game. They should be addressed, and I admit they will detract from the experience, but they should not cause us to deem Sonic 4 a bad game altogether. If they do, then we're obviously looking for something very specific from the series that we are not getting. Is it any wonder why some of us are always unhappy with the series, even when things are going okay? It's natural to be disappointed, but we don't always have to be in such a constant state of discontent.

Just step back for a moment and try to suspend whatever emotional investment you have put into the game. See it as it is, know it will change, and provide whatever input you can as calmly as possible. We will be heard.

The build in the leaks was from April? That's not very long ago. No wonder nothing changed from the E3 build. What did we get our expectations up for then?

 

Honestly, this seems more like an homage to the first 2 games than a sequel to me, which I'm fine with. "New Sonic the Hedgehog" would have been a perfect name, "Sonic 4" is misleading to hardcore players. I mean, I think it looks fine and I'll probably wind up getting it somewhere down the line, but there are so many better looking games coming out that I really don't care.

 

Is it just me or are there arrangements of rings in Splash Hill Act 2 that are very specifically placed along what look to be Knuckles glide trajectories?

I mean, I guess it is kind of a given that Knuckles and/or Tails will be in Episode 2, and I was kind of figuring they would probably be backwards compatible with Episode 1, so this is just another sign of that, I guess.

Or, I mean, they could just be weird placements because of all the vines, I dunno.

 

guys guys, seriously. You don't see what's happening here? The japanese people working on the game are making the game they want to make, following minor suggestions from their american PR team to cash in on the latest 'retro re-visit' trend. When people complain, the developers do next to nothing (because they don't care what the american/european players want) and the PR team does WHAT THEY GET PAID TO DO and try to convince the poor saps who want a good game that their pile of linear homing attack fest shit is in fact, the holy grail of gaming that everyone wants it to be.

All sonic team/dimps cares about is making the HAI SPEEDO ACTION GAEM

tl;dr - PR is doing their job by spouting this bullshit.

 

Sonic 4's gonna be sweet. That is all.

 

Well done.
You were very analytical when you were young. I didn't mean to say you were stupid. Most kids don't care about physics, they care about how much fun it is to play a game is all I'm trying to say.

And what do you mean "fooled"?
This game is exactly what it says it is; a 2D sidescroller entitled Sonic 4.
Also, in your senario of S4 in the past, the internet wouldn't have existed. There would have been very little media-hype because Sonic wouldn't be "returning to his roots", it would have just been an ordinary sequel. There would have been nothing to be fooled by.

You're acting as though this game appears to be utterly unplayable.
It isn't bad, it just isn't as good as you hoped it would be.
There are several things I find wrong with this game, but even if they don't bother changing a single element of the physics, it would still be fun.

I do however agree, that it will be tough for SEGA to live upto S3K given what they have made. I'm hopeing they do. There are at least 2 more Episodes to go or at most 4 more episodes. There is plenty of time for them to sort this shit out.

 

Video Gameplay at E3 Booth

In case anyone missed it.

 

I think that's like the fourth time I've seen it posted here.

 

Since I haven't played any build/version before the one at E3, I don't know what the differences are... I did play the boss stage to see what it was like, and as it's been mentioned, you can't damage the ship until he starts attacking.

Also, just look at this picture I took of the long line of people wanting to play it! Or not.

Honestly, I didn't have much of a problem with the gameplay, I guess I'm just kind of indifferent

 

That's a pretty awesome statue of Sonic.

Wouldn't mind having that in my nerdy collection. :>

 

You know, being a kid doesn't equal accepting everything that gets thrown at you like an idiot. I'm sure that a lot of us, after having played the Sonic games, weren't happy at all about the fucked up momentum in Bubsy the Bobcat, the extremely high acceleration in Zool or the awkward jumps in the curved floors that plagued Socket (if anybody even played that).