Sonic Team: Sonic 4 Ends With Episode 2

Earnest Cavalli

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Jun 19, 2008
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Sonic Team: Sonic 4 Ends With Episode 2



Proving once again that episodic game publishing is way harder than anyone might guess, Sonic 4 producer Takashi Iizuka has confirmed that Episode 2 will be the game's swan song.

"We are looking forward to hearing the feedback from the users for Episode 2, but we are currently not planning to release another episode," Iizuka told Digital Spy. "We just want to see how the users accept this episode."

Additionally, Iizuka confirmed that Episode 2 will not appear on Nintendo's WiiWare service. The game will still appear on the Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network (or is it SEN now?), PC, and all manor of mobile devices at some nebulous time later this year.

In fairness, when Sega released Sonic 4: Episode 1, the company never made any guarantees as to how many episodes the 2D, side-scrolling title would see, but given the arguably disappointed sighs greeting Iizuka's latest proclamation, most Sonic fans assumed the total would be higher than two.

Then again, given the slightly-better-than-lukewarm reception seen by Episode 1, it should be no surprise that Sega isn't too keen on pumping cash into an apparently moribund series. Especially since the company struck fiscal (if not critical) gold with the recent Sonic Generations.

Sonic The Hedgehog is by no means dead, but this experimental, episodic iteration of the beloved mascot seems to have run into a brick wall of apathy.

In happier news, Sega issued a handful of new images from Episode 2 earlier today. I've embedded five of the choicest pics in the gallery below, and you can see the rest at Sega's blog [http://blogs.sega.com/2012/03/13/new-screens-for-sonic-the-hedgehog-4-episode-ii/]. Unexpected gift, or cold comfort?

[gallery=670]

Source: Digital Spy [http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/news/a370750/sonic-4-sonic-team-has-no-plans-for-future-episodes.html]

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Fappy

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I may get it after some reviews hit. Episode 1 was just... meh.
 

TitanAtlas

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In Sonic generations people LOVED to play has classic sonic, with that speed and mechanics that made everyone fall in love for him in the first place.

Why not do that, with less of the annoying friends? Keep the classic sonic, have the same 3d world - 2d gameplay, only knuckles and tails, and epic levels that people love? And that speed. Cuz let me be honest Sonic 4-epi 1 the hedgehog.... looked sluggish and really slow.. people want speed, they want to go supersonic.
 

Mrsoupcup

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antipunt said:
Why does Sonic looks like he needs to take a poop
The better question is why Tails looks like he's giving a hand job D:

OT: I'll probably will give this a pass, Episode 1 was just to meh.
 

Rad Party God

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Feb 23, 2010
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Well that's a shame, I loved Generations and I was hoping for something similar to Sonic 3 & Knuckles with the third episode.

I guess it's just the curse of the episode 3's, just ask Valve.
 

Trivun

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Dec 13, 2008
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This really is a shame, yet it just proves once again that gamers are the most self-entitled and fickle bunch of consumers on the planet. People always complain that the newer Sonic games are crap, and demand a return to the old style of 2D platforming, and then when they're given exactly what they asked for (except with even better graphics), they don't bother buying it, to the point that the developers see no reason to continue what they started. At least, for any decent amount of time. Generations has been the only exception so far, and even there it's a split bunch, with pretty poor reception critically (though personally, after playing the demo, I love it and would certainly buy it if AC Revelations wasn't my priority game right now).

At this point, Sonic Team are doing what they've been asked and it's still not good enough. Which is a shame, since Sonic 4 Episode 1 was a genuinely good game and a welcome return to the old days. Seems to me that Sonic 'fans' won't be pleased until they get the first three games re-released every few years on rotation. And they'll still complain then about having to keep paying every time...
 

antipunt

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Patrick_and_the_ricks said:
antipunt said:
Why does Sonic looks like he needs to take a poop
The better question is why Tails looks like he's giving a hand job D:

OT: I'll probably will give this a pass, Episode 1 was just to meh.
Ugh...God why. Why???
 

Baresark

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Dec 19, 2010
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Too bad. It was a great return to 2D Sonic. Though it felt a bit short. They will still keep pumping them out though. I just don't really want to see anymore 3D Sonic games.
 

SilverUchiha

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Is it me? Or are they borrowing the gameplay element used in Sonic Generations where Tails can fly Sonic around during the stage (which was just a challenge in Generations).

I'm still not convinced that Sonic 4 was even worth it. I'm still partial to the 3D games (SA, SA2, Colors, and Generations are the best) and it seemed like episode one was just retreading a lot of the old ground the 2D games have already done. Episode two looks to have better stuff going for it, but I don't think it'll be nearly as fun as Generations was.
 

TIMESWORDSMAN

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Mar 7, 2008
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And so we remember that your characters names are not Sam and/or Max, your episodic game won't make it past episode 2.
I theorize that game developers are cursed to forget the number 3, but only at certain times.
 

duchaked

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Dec 25, 2008
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oh, no Sonic is definitely dead. he's just been reanimated repeatedly (due to true love I suppose)
 

RJ Dalton

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Patrick_and_the_ricks said:
antipunt said:
Why does Sonic looks like he needs to take a poop
The better question is why Tails looks like he's giving a hand job D:
He's not. He's just providing us with an appropriate metaphor for literary criticism.
 

Goremocker

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May 20, 2009
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duchaked said:
oh, no Sonic is definitely dead. he's just been reanimated repeatedly (due to true love I suppose)
I thought generations was proof that sonic wasn't dead, and indeed never did die. I like to think of him as a recovering alcoholic. back in the good ol' days he was clean and on the top of his game. Then thinking he's all that; he jumps straight into 3D. And that's where things faultered. Shooting out hit and miss games, stumbling over, sometimes flat on his face, before getting back up.

I like to think of generations as his apiffiny. That moment where he looks back on his life and compaires what he was to what he is now. Then hopefully he'll go clean, take what he learned, and improve his life for the better.

The episodes were sort of the first attempt at that.
 

MarsProbe

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Dec 13, 2008
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Earnest Cavalli said:
Additionally, Iizuka confirmed that Episode 2 will not appear on Nintendo's WiiWare service. The game will still appear on the Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network (or is it SEN now?), PC, and all manor of mobile devices at some nebulous time later this year.
As soon as I'm rich enough, I'm going to move myself into a nice big country manor.

Anyway, in my opinion it would be a pity if this was the last of Sonic 4. I enjoyed Episode 1 for what it was so would like to have seen more after this. I know there was also Generations, but I guess I'm just not that bothered to pick up a full retail Sonic game these days.
 

Tanis

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Aug 30, 2010
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I think Sonic 4 would have done better had it been longer or cheaper.

It's not like they were making 'Journey', they made a SONIC game...and a short one at that given the price.