Posted on: Thursday, June 24th, 2010
Posted in: AJ Exclusives
Comments: 53
Sonic 4: Episode 1 – Why the Hell is it Episodic? (Angry Interview)
Angry Joe asks the Sonic 4 Developers, “Why the hell is Sonic 4 Episodic?”, as well as how many episodes, how much gameplay will be in each and what we can expect to pay for these episodes. Sonic is finally returning to its 2D roots but will you like the answers given? Check it out!
How do you feel about Sonic going Episodic? Is it truly “A promise to the fans” where “feedback can be implemented” or is it a crock of BS?
Regardless of its new Episode format are you excited about playing a 2D sonic game again?
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53 thoughts on “Sonic 4: Episode 1 – Why the Hell is it Episodic? (Angry Interview)”
SORRY FOR THAT COMMENT:D anyways
i was wondering why they dont make a sonic adventure 3 with chao garden? it would be awesome if they did
hello, i really hope sonic the hedgehog 4 episode 1 will be a great game but i wonder why they dont make a sonic adventure 3 with cha
There is no way of getting the same feeling you did when the original sonic games came out, as those games back then were the call of duty 4 or FIFA 10 of the 90,s. The 3D games are for the fans of sonic who were young at the 3D era, and the new sonic 4 is for the older fans who just want to run through complicated side-scowling stages where small robotic creatures attack and frustrate you.
i’ll never buy this piece of crap. angry joe is trolling, didn’t you guys HEAR what they said? INSTEAD OF COMING CLEAN ABOUT WHY ITS EPISODIC, they just pulled some PR BULLSHIT out of a hat, and said “WAIT! WAIT!……. THIS IS WHY!”.. when the truth is… they wont do shit. and if they listen to teh ‘fan’ like they say they are gonna… they’ll never finish the game, because fans are too damn picky, ask too damn much, and give too damn little. this is about money, sega usa is almost done, and they know it. sonic is dead, i suggest you go bury those genesis tapes. its pretty official, sonic is dead, and sega killed him.
I have not enjoyed a Sonic game since Sonic & Knuckles. Yeah, I hated Adventure, too. I think Sega should just pump out the 2D games while R&D tries to figure out how to make Sonic work in 3D. Let’s try not to ship it out until it doesn’t suck, eh guys?
I played Heroes and was disappointed, I played Shadow the Hedgehog and I died on the inside. I haven’t played a sonic game sence, and anything I’ve heard or seen of the Series tells me it’s good I’m not looking back.
Sega Made Shadow the hedgehog because the Fans wanted “sonic with guns”, and because of it this life long fan of sonic the hedgehog has stopped playing sonic games.
The Sonic Advance games have been the only games I’ve enjoyed since Sonic Adventure 2.
The real turning point for sonic was sonic’s arrival at the 360, sonic adventure 1 and 2 were excellent. The occasional glitches were not game breakers, far from it. Plus it had secrets up the wazoo, the chao mechanic was really nice, the store, the kart racing even. Sonic adventure 2 battle was my favorite sonic game of all time. So, that was a long time ago…What sonic now needs is not to return to its roots, that was overdone and taken as far as it could go, hence the movement to 3D, however if they insist on it, DONT START US OFF AT GREEN HILL ZONE. Make a new, fresh world. Also, why did you recycle the first boss from sonic 1, 2, 3, advanced, advanced 2, and advanced 3? we are tired of it.
I don’t get it. Mario goes back to 2D with New Super Mario Bros. and New Super Mario Bros. Wii, everyone loves it. Mega Man goes back to 8-bit 2D with Mega Man 9 & 10 and everyone loves it. Even Donkey Kong is getting a lot of love with his return to 2D in Donkey Kong Returns, and the fact that its incredibly similar to the SNES games is hailed as a positive. But Sonic, who has near universally-reviled 3D games, a series that the fans were CRYING for a return to its 2D roots, finally does so with Sonic 4 and now the response is “this is gonna suck, they should be moving forward not backward.” What!? Give me a break! I can understand criticizing the episodic format, but I think criticizing it for being 2D and taking some beats from the Genesis games is ridiculous.
So I’m assuming that everyone here hating Sonic 4 also hates the new NBA Jam and Mortal Kombat games, right? After all, they’re moving backward instead of forward. That new Rayman Origins game is going to suck out loud too, right? And obviously, Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 must be an incredible mistake also! Sigh. Sarcasm aside, poor SEGA…they’re damned if they do, damned if they don’t. Well, I’m looking forward to both Sonic 4 and Sonic Colors in any event.
you lot are pathetic, you’re not fans, you’re like the angry customer who buys the same thing everyday and keeps demanding change, you don’t even enjoy being sonic. But then again i can’t blame you so i’ll just hope please don’t give up on sonic, and if you do don’t say BS like “3d sonic sawkz cuz sonic 06 glitchy azzz” blame your beloved microsoft and sony pushing sega and missing out half of the development of it, i’m just mortified of the gaming community, stubborn closed-minded thorough pedantic so-called fans, i enjoyed the genesis games but those days are gone and i still extend that joy even further with the next gen games, it’s all about sonic and if you don’t like playing sonic go play modern warfare 2 or something
IKR!? the sonic fans of today complain constantly on the fact that sega do not make ACTUALL 2D 16-bit games. Amagin charging an adult about 40$ for a game that has the same graphics as sonic 3?!
My respect for Sonic died with Sonic Shuffle. Everything about the series was golden until Sega decided to make a party game out of it.
If Sonic 4 can recapture the excellence that came from the early years (like some DS games were able to do) then I’ll be hooked. Until then, I’m going to stay as skeptical as I can.
Heres hoping that tails and knuckles are in it.
Sorry, but it’s already confirmed, nope. I’m glad, personally.
[...] Sonic 4 Angry Interview [...]
Okay. Basically it is like new super mario bros with sonic instead.
It’s not a Complete rehash, if it was, every level would have the same design. But there aren’t enough zones in this episode. I’ll probably beat it within 2 hours. lol
But yeah, sonic is my faithful childhood friend. They didn’t require you to play the new sonic games? So just don’t play them if you don’t want to. It’s not that big of a deal.
here is the fan feedback: FIFTHEEN!!! lol they cant make it higher now can they.
Wow this game looks so bad. So this is why they wanted to boycott it lol, now I understand
And the homing attack looks really stupid wow. Don’t remember such thing from the old games
Are you going to review this game Joe? Even if it’s just a short one or written one? Just asking.
I wish I could play this game, but can’t because xbox live hates me. Oh well…-sigh-
From what i seen from gameplay…im not buying it. WHy? 3 reasons:
1. ITS NOT TRUE 2D! If i want Sonic 4, i want a 2D game with sprites! NOT 3D!
2. A homing attack…seriously?!
3. TOO MANY SONIC GAMES! And 98% of them are CRAP! I…I FEEL LIKE IVE BEEN BETRAYED BY SEGA! COME ON SEGA! GIVE US A TRUE, 2D WITH SPRITES SONIC GAME THAT FANS TRULY WANT!!!
This is one game I WILL NOT fork over my hard-earned cash on
(Jeez…im sounding like AngryJoe lol)
Yeah yeah that’s nice and all balhough you gave the classic fans what they wanted now WHERES SONIC ADVENTURE 3??
This one better be good!!!
I love sonic. Hell i would choose sonic over mario ever day. But there has not been a good sonic in along time. This one better be good or else im abandoning the series and never playing another one.
Ken looks arrogant and stuck-up and corrupt just like Yuji Naka and ken youre just ignoring the fact on purpose that the Sonic Adventure Series were good just to make up your own fantasy world thinking that everyone wanted Sonic as the only playable character take heed
Im glad theyre ignoring all the sucky games,yea there were some good ones they ignored,but having played alot of the sucky Sonic games,starting with Sonic 06′ It would be better to just reset the series from the original Trilogy.
I’ve seen no reason why they haven’t yet tried to play with quantum physics with Sonic. They could make an interesting mechanic for time travel that Sonic runs so fast he can go fast foward in time, and maybe use the some mystical power like the Chaos Emerald to go back in time. It would be so cool to have 3 different settings of the game, as in Past, Present and Future.
already done it. It was called Sonic CD.
What I’m more interested in is multiplayer and time trials with an online leaderboard. In Sonic and Knuckles you had split screen multiplayer which was just see who could get to the end of the level the fastest, bring that back with either split-screen, systemlink or online modes and you are going to get over 7 hours of gameplay out of it and make it worth $15.
Regarding the episodic gameplay its really the only way they could go about it, everybody wanted oldschool Sonic so you couldn’t really bring the slight innovations that Super Mario Bros had on the Wii and make it a fully fledged retail product. Episodic allows them to also try out new gameplay styles without affecting the overall game, we could see Knuckles or Tails return for an episode and have that entire episode focused on working with them or having alternate routes just for that character and then have a different character, bonus levels or additional gameplay styles in the next episode. Having focused episodes would be less disjointed than having separate ideas running from level to level in a full sized game.
You should have asked him if you can play the game as different characters. Like Knuckles, Tails or Shadow.
Sonic 4 look more like Sonic 2 and 3 so why make it
i play Sonic 2 and 3 im not going play it
I want to believe, I really do want to. But Sonic has just hurt me too many times. Bringing my hopes up, and then dashing them upon the rocks. But maybe, just maybe this will bring things back in the right order.
Well enough melodramatics there.
I do hope this does well, but I am highly skeptical about it. The episodic format sounds like BS to me and another way to make fans pay more money for a short and lower quality product. However, I certainly will wait till I can see how much it will cost, and how it plays before I’ll make a final judgment.
This is your last chance Sega, don’t f#%* this one up.
Y’know, It makes me kinda sad. I want to see Sonic do well in 3D. In fact, he was doing well in 3D for a while with the Sonic Adventure Games. I loved the hell out of both of them. I’m excited about Sonic 4, but I can’t say I grew up with the Genesis games. I’m 15. The only game I had as a kid was a Game Boy Pocket. When I turned 6, I got a Gamecube. The first Sonic game I ever played was Sonic CD at my cousins house, but It didn’t work very well. Then came along Sonic Adventure 2, and that really got me into Sonic. Next thing I knew, I had bought Sonic Mega Collection and played that to death, admittingly never even getting past Marble Zone (fucking lava). I quote Kynelwynn, a few comments below me. “You can’t move forward by looking backward”
This is Sonic’s last chance. If this OR colors screws up, I’m more then completely done with Sonic. I will take hammer to my old sonic games 1-3. Just to know that they will never be appreciated is sad to me. They REALLY need to hit these two games out of the park for me to obtain my hope for this treasure.
Sonic is like masterbaiting with a cheese grater slightly amusing but painful.
Great interview Joe. I love your interview style.
Would love to see Sonic make a TRIUMPHANT return to gaming. But that isn’t going to happen if it’s just a rehash! I need a game that is going to be not only nostalgic, but is also fresh and new. Mix it up! New levels and enemies mixed with old favorites. If not, then i can save my money and play my Genesis or Saturn instead. 6-7 hours is a good chunk of gameplay for the money. Hell, Ironman 2 wasn’t even that long and it was FULL PRICE for god’s sake! But will it be true or are they just blowing PR smoke up our asses! I , for one, have a ‘wait and see’ attitude about this one.
The biggest worry I have are the bosses. I want new bosses. I don’t want to see the same garbage I’ve seen before, especially not if they go with the typical one boss per a zone. Hell, only four zones worries me a bit, but if they can make it last 6-7 hours, that’s a decent time. I like how they are going back to the old style because of how bad Sonic has been recently (though Shadow the Hedgehog is a guilty pleasure of mine), and I missed the old enemies. Really though, again, this is the biggest thing. I want new enemies, new zones mixed in with old favorites, old favorites having NEW ASPECTS to them, etc. THOSE ARE MY MUST HAVE FEATURES. If they don’t, why would I play it when I can just get Sonic 1-3 on the Wii? Oh… also I would LIKE to play as Tails… he’s always been my favorite in the series really.
It’s kinda weird that I’m actually looking forward to this title. Sonic The Hedgehog was the first game I ever owned as a kid so I guess there’s a lot of nostalgia for me when I comes the the character, game play, and classic style of this game. $15 would be a perfect price for me when this game gets released, and I can easily see my self wasting away precious free time running that blue lil rodent all around.
I’m not really looking forward to it. It looks more like a live arcade game than an actual release. I’ve never really liked any type of episodic gameplay. I like the reasons he gave about doing episodic for feedback, but I have no faith in that statement. The most I think they would change is cosmetic issues and bugs, nothing really groundbreaking that would actually make people think better of the game.
Glad to see Sonic back the his roots, but I honestly think it is too little too late. This game should have been on Dreamcast or much much earlier in the Wii’s life instead all the other shit Sonic games and re re releases they’ve done.
im not too woried …valve did a great job doing episodes for half life 2 ..if its anything like that we should be in good shape
[...] (via AngryJoeShow) [...]
I will have to bring up the statement, “You can’t move forward by looking backward” in regards of this game being developed. While the appeal of making Sonic game that returns to its roots sounds good given the recent slush of garbage games released, one needs to analyze what it was that made Sonic so good when it was released. It was the flagship title of the first true 16-bit system. It, at the time, was faster, had better graphics and more gameplay than its rivals. However, I was twelve when I was playing games on my Genesis, I’m not twelve any more, “When I was a child, my speech, feelings, and thinking were all those of a child. Now that I am a man, I have no more use for childish ways.”
Nostalgia can only do so much for a franchise.
6-7 hours my ass sonic 1 is longer and it takes about an hour to complete it and this guy here says sonic 4 ep 1 6-7 hours is he mad that he thought we were that stupid to not know that this game is about an half hour game maybe even 20 minutes and like bijan i have lost all hope for sonic he’s around amateurs now!
6-7 hours my ass sonic 1 is longer and it takes about an hour to complete it and this guy here says sonic 4 ep 1 6-7 hours is he mad that he thought we were that stupid to not know that this game is about an half hour game maybe even 20 minutes and like bijan i have lost all hope for sonic he’s around amateurs now
Its very possible that each act is longer than we’re used to… only explanation I can come up with for the length. I hope that’s the case.
And another thought: all this retro gaming to me is a sign for the lack of originality of nowadays games. It’s all sequels or bodybuilders shooting shit. I’m so sick of gaming right now..
“..making you feel like you are playing this Genesis game you always wanted”
I played all the Genesis games I always wanted back then. Now I wanna play all the next gen games I always wanted. And Sonic 4 certainly isn’t one of them.
I feel a bit taken back with Sonic 4 because it seems like it’s going to be like Earthworm Jim 3D where they just rehash already created games. Not that I’m bashing Sonic, I still consider myself one of the few last hardcore Sonic fans and it’s been hard defending Sonic. Now they may have new features in Sonic 4 and I do have hope for Sonic, it’s just that it seems to be like a “find a way to profit off it in anyway possible” scheme. Furthermore, it’s also to my understanding that Sonic 4, while popular and hyped, isn’t going to be the mainstream Sonic, rather just a dedication (I guess you can say) to the retro-gamers and that “Sonic Colors” is going to be the next game after Sonic ’06 (sniff…). I’m a little torn about both Sonic games, but if they can utilize the Hedgehog Engine into Colors and not have any gimmicks and stay “pure,” they will definitely have a hit and Sonic will be back, otherwise if both fail, we may see an end of Sonic much to my dismay in saying that.
You know, I’m hoping that this actually does work, because I don’t want the old Sega game, I’ve got those in a box in my closet. I want a game that is worthy of the title of Sonic 4. But to be fair, they got rid of all the extra characters so that up 10 points in my book, so here’s hoping that everything goes right for them.
Yeah, I’m hopeful about this. It looks to be very promising. I’ll hope to see this do well.
At first I said what everyone else said, and wondered why it’s episodic, but I’m with them if they’re using that as a plan to have feedback change the game to make it better, then I’m with them.
But I do think that sends a message of Sonic Team saying:
“Yeah, we kinda suck. Please tell us where we don’t suck, and maybe we can make an awesome game again”
Which having played Sonic(2006) I think they needed to say that badly.
If nothing else, it’ll probably introduce a new generation of gamers to a solid, classic platformer-style game. Let’s just hope it’s not, as Spoony panicked about, “Sonic 1 + 18 years”.
I personally am more hyped about Sonic colours. Perhaps its because I got into sonic in the Adventure era, but I still believe that 3d is the way forward for Sonic, and colours looks like all thats good about Unleashed without all that was bad, with some Mario esc power ups as well. It looks like being the definitive 3D Sonic game. That appeals to me more than some more of the same 2D Sonic, lets face it there is 0 chance of Sonic 4 being the definitive 2D Sonic experience
Before i get this, i wanna know if they will release all the episodes in one large piece of content after all the episodes are done.
As long as it’s a decent enough 2D sonic game, I’ll be happy. The 3D sonic games have been unplayable and just plain embarrassing. If it has taken out the pointless friends, stories and terrible gameplay, it’ll be at least a minor success be it episodic or not. I doubt it’ll be as good as the originals, but I hope it’ll at least be a fun enough throwback.
I’ve lost all hope in sonic