Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1

[Barry the Nomad]

Sonic Stadium and Retro are reporting that a press release with big Sonic 4 news is coming Thursday: http://www.sonicstadium.org/news/joint- ... -this-week

My guess: iPad version and late June/early July release date announced

[Orta]

It's funny how even Sega is announcing this on their twitter account. For the love of god, the game leaked everywhere.

Maybe they're announcing proper music and NDAs for Episode II. :lol:

[Happy Cat]

I'm sad AAUK didn't want to include SEGAbits into this Sonic 4 exclusive announcement of an announcement orgy. =P

[Orta]

It's probably because the people here like their Sonic games good.

[Barry the Nomad]

^ Aw, that's just stupid. Game isn't released yet, so don't be a hater. Play THEN judge.

Also, we don't have karma points. That is truly why we were excluded.

[Orta]

Actually I was referring to most of the games released after Sonic Adventure 2.

[crackdude]

Sonic Adventure 2 was godlike.

[Barry the Nomad]

I recently played Sonic Advance 1&3 and found those to be rather great. Those and Unleashed day levels were the best post-SA2 Sonic I've played.

[Sega Uranus]

^^^Aw, that's just stupid. Game has been released, so don't be a hater. Play THEN listen to every excuse I do to make it sound okay.

[Sharky]

^^^Aw, that's just stupid. Game has been released, so don't be a hater. Play THEN listen to every excuse I do to make it sound okay.

What does that mean?

[Aki-at]

Sonic Adventure 2 was not that very good, not at least one of the greatest Sonic games or anywhere near there (See almost every level not belonging to Sonic and Shadow) Sonic Advance was indeed good and before Dimps started to lose their direction, but Sonic Advance 3 I cannot get behind, the level design was missing something and I thought the whole buddy thing was an un-needed gimmick.

I will say the music has always remained good though and probably my favourite part about Sonic Advance 2 and 3.

[Barry the Nomad]

I'd say in hindsight SA2 was nowhere near the best Sonic game. But at the time think about all that was going on: The Dreamcast was at its height of greatness, Sonic was having his 10th birthday, there was a really fancy exclusive birthday pack, the SA2 demo disc in PSO v.2 built up a lot of hype, Shadow was a mysterious character, Eggman was playable, the plot was actually well executed and fun to follow. Tons of great nostalgic bits contribute to the love SA2 gets.

I remember at the time how crazy it was that Eggman would team with Sonic and that he had a grandfather. It was also very cool that Shadow gave his life to save the Earth and, at the time, was dead forever. He had this brief level of coolness to him until he became an emo zombie in future games. So point I'm getting at: Heroes and the Shadow game greatly hurt SA2.

[George]

I'm sad AAUK didn't want to include SEGAbits into this Sonic 4 exclusive announcement of an announcement orgy. =P

Even though we were said to get exclusive info the title. Will not be shocked if we get nothing.

[max_cady]

@Aki-at,Barry the Nomad

Don't forget the god-awful camera system in which it would reset everything you adjusted it. Or the rushed and distracting english dubbing.

Of coure, browsing through Metacritic I am puzzled over of was critics though about back then and how critics react to these same issues now.

Here's a quote from Gamespot's original review from 2001:

The ghosts of those original 2D Sonic titles are exorcised in the game's amazing pace, heart-pounding platform jumping action, and in the unyielding barrage of creatively designed levels--much more so than the original Sonic Adventure. Although Sonic Adventure 2 isn't without its faults, the game is both entertaining and addictive, and will easily become one of the last great games on the Dreamcast.

Saying something like this now would result in suffering the wrath of Internet trolls in NeoGaf.

[Orta]

The hatred started with the Gamecube version of the original Sonic Adventure. We know how that didn't improve the original game at all, even introducing a number of new glitches.

That was the first (or second?) Sonic game rabid Nintendo fans ever played. It's as if the superior Dreamcast version never existed. Too bad these fanboys are infiltrated in every major games site. These sites dominate the internet and influence general opinion a tad too much.