SONIC 4 Episode One, for WiiWare/PSN/XBL

SEGA actually listening to its fans? Shocking.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 announced -
Wii/PS3/360; downloadable episodic release
#1 Trailer: http://kotaku.com/5463913/project-needlemouse-is-sonic-4-episode-i
Official Site: http://www.sega.com/sonic4/us/index.html

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1-
Released July 2010 on XBLA, PSN, and WiiWare-

Likely coming to iPhone / iPod Touch / iPad later as well judging by the "?" platform on the title screen at the end of the trailer-

Picks up right after Sonic 3 & Knuckles as far as story goes (so falls in Sonic 2 / Sonic 3 / Sonic & Knuckles storyline)- spin dash, power sneakers, and homing attack are in- Wii version uses motion control, PS3 version uses Sixaxis-

Wii version runs at 480p, PS3 and 360 version run at 1080p

Main Source, and mayhem-NeoGaf

 

It's been confirmed for iPhone, something on the official site leaked that info.

 

Thanks for the update, Feck.

 

ShinobiFist, your links are broken.

 

Weird, I posted about this on some other forums and the same thing happened even though the links were fine at first.

 

Thats weird, they were working, I guess they took them down, let me dig for sec.......

-EDIT-I put the Kotaku link up. It shows the video, but its very odd that Gamespot link is dead, but the Kotaku video isn't(The Kotaku video is a embedded video from Gamespot)

 

Link from their news page seems to be working, for now at least....

Gamespot article

 

If they're returning to the original Sonic formula, level design will make or break this game. That actually has me a little worried, because the level design principles in all the recent 2D Sonic games are on a totally different wavelength than the older ones.

Also, I just know the music is going to be mediocre. Between Masato Nakamura and Michael Jackson, the first three Sonic games had some of the best music to grace the a 16-bit platform. I don't think people appreciate just how critical that was to those games' success.

To be honest, I think at the end of the day, all this new Sonic game will do is make people realize that the problem with new Sonic games isn't that they're in 3D. It's that they're rushed, sloppy, and completely lacking the refinement and attention to detail that made the earlier Sonic games great. When Yuji Naka headed the Sonic Team, he insisted on greatness. He was like Sega's version of Steve Jobs. Especially the part where things completely fell apart after he left.

That being said, I really don't think the new Sonic game will suck. But it won't be great the way earlier Sonic games were. And given the sky high expectations people have on this game, they will almost assuredly be disappointed.

In summary, my prediction is: Sonic Unleashed/Sonic 2006 < Sonic Adventure 2 < Sonic Advance/Sonic Rush/Sonic 4 < Sonic Adventure < Sonic 1-3/S&K

 

I am super excited.

To XZY.....here is where I am ambivalent. I love 2d, but even then, design has to be pushed forward. I do not want sonic cd with prettier graphics.