I remember being upset that this wasn't gonna release on WiiWare, lol
Every Sonic fan seems to have one or more game that they talk in this specific kind of reverence, as if its existence is this romantic tragedy. And apparent-f'ing-ly this is that game for me???
The game we know as "Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I" was at first all but a humble little iPhone game meant to cash in in the app store craze, seemingly built from the rush games' engine, borrowing its aesthetics from the series first few outings, no different from what other companies were doing with their IPs
Then some executive (likely from SOA) saw it while in development and thought that actually, this is exactly it, this is what we should hype up, expand and market as the Next Big Thing, the thing that would improve the IP's reputation
"Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II" is then a game made with everyone involved trying to just figure out what make out of this, attempting to make something out of such a thoughtless idea, attempting to make a new exciting game while handcuffed to this extremely limiting vison made out of the title that came before it. And despite its best attempts, it's been fated to only ever be looked back on when lumped with its predecessor
I had a nice time with Episode 2, the way you can exploit the team-up moves to bypass challenges has that "metal blade" fun to it and most act gimmicks being designed around it means they never get as bad as the ones in Episode 1 (though also not as interesting). White Park is my favorite zone aesthetically, it feels the most like a new take on ideas done before rather than a imitation, design-wise none frustrated or bothered me (that was the 7th special stage's job) but if I were to point out which stood out positively, the most I could say is like, Oil Desert
This is also one of those few 2.5D games that makes some use of the fact they have a whole Z-axis to play with for stage platforms, hazards and bosses, only a bit, and never as cool as what gens did, bit it still was a nice sight when it happened. I hope Superstars gets to do more stuff like that
Every Sonic fan seems to have one or more game that they talk in this specific kind of reverence, as if its existence is this romantic tragedy. And apparent-f'ing-ly this is that game for me???
The game we know as "Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I" was at first all but a humble little iPhone game meant to cash in in the app store craze, seemingly built from the rush games' engine, borrowing its aesthetics from the series first few outings, no different from what other companies were doing with their IPs
Then some executive (likely from SOA) saw it while in development and thought that actually, this is exactly it, this is what we should hype up, expand and market as the Next Big Thing, the thing that would improve the IP's reputation
"Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II" is then a game made with everyone involved trying to just figure out what make out of this, attempting to make something out of such a thoughtless idea, attempting to make a new exciting game while handcuffed to this extremely limiting vison made out of the title that came before it. And despite its best attempts, it's been fated to only ever be looked back on when lumped with its predecessor
I had a nice time with Episode 2, the way you can exploit the team-up moves to bypass challenges has that "metal blade" fun to it and most act gimmicks being designed around it means they never get as bad as the ones in Episode 1 (though also not as interesting). White Park is my favorite zone aesthetically, it feels the most like a new take on ideas done before rather than a imitation, design-wise none frustrated or bothered me (that was the 7th special stage's job) but if I were to point out which stood out positively, the most I could say is like, Oil Desert
This is also one of those few 2.5D games that makes some use of the fact they have a whole Z-axis to play with for stage platforms, hazards and bosses, only a bit, and never as cool as what gens did, bit it still was a nice sight when it happened. I hope Superstars gets to do more stuff like that