Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is a side-scrolling platformer that is a throwback to the blue hedgehog's roots on the Mega Drive/Genesis, as well as being a response to the series' Polygon Ceiling-related criticism. It's a direct sequel to Sonic 3 & Knuckles and also an episodic game, with only two episodes released so far. Each episode has four zones with four acts each (not including final zones), making for a decently-sized downloadable game that Sega initially designed to test the waters for classic Sonic's return.Following the destruction of the Death Egg at the hands of Sonic the Hedgehog, mad scientist and aspiring world conquerorDr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik seeks revenge on his perpetual arch nemesis by rebuilding his best Badniks to go on a hedgehog hunt. Now, Sonic must counter Eggman's offense and save the world from the doctor once again.Episode I was released on the Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, PC, and iPhone/iPad. It was hyped as essentially Mega Man 9meetsNew Super Mario Bros. from the outset, thanks to its codename of "Project Needlemouse".note "Mr. Needlemouse" was Sonic's name back when his very first game was still in the planning stages. The game featured almost no momentum thanks to the physics being copied and pasted from Sonic Rush. The developers even admitted to doing so intentionally to place more emphasis on using the Homing Attack.Episode II was launched on May 15, 2012 for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Android, and iOS platforms. It featured an improved graphics engine (which kept it from releasing on the Wii since it wasn't powerful enough) and somewhat improved the physics of Episode 1. The plot involves Dr. Eggman creating a new Death Egg by roboticising the Little Planet from Sonic CD. Metal Sonic returns as a reoccurring boss, and Tails follows Sonic everywhere just like in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. He also allows for three new team-up moves: flying, swimming, and a barreling cannonball spin attack. Owners of Episode 1 could also play Episode Metal, a four-act mini-episode starring Metal Sonic.The performance of both episodes has not convinced Sega to make an Episode III.Here's where you can discuss all matters pertaining to this miniseries.
This Game Provides Examples Of:
Action Bomb: Asterons make a return but they got a nerf so they don't blow up instantly.
Advancing Wall of Doom: Lost Labyrinth Zone has one as a tribute to Hydrocity Zone, and if you thought those were hair-raising, just wait until Mad Gear Zone Act 3, which does a little Lampshade Hanging by being named "Impending Doom."
Another Side, Another Story/Interquel: Episode Metal, unlocked after playing the first act of Episode II on a device with Episode I save data installed.
Ambidextrous Sprite: The Crawl badniks have a turning animation that shows them switching their shield from arm to arm.
Amusement Park of Doom: The second and boss acts of White Park are entirely set on roller coaster tracks. The former has sections of moving track, while both have sections of missing track.
Anti-Frustration Features: The IOS port of episode 2 special stages has Sonic's horizontal movement slightly slowed down; although this sounds like hell, they removed the traps.
Bait-and-Switch Boss: The first boss of Episode II does this by tricking the player into thinking they are going to fight another nostalgia boss, but then Eggman goes to the REAL boss machine immediately afterward.
Bash Brothers: Episode II sees the return of "Sonic & Tails" mode with 2-player co-op (offline and online), complete with at least one new combination attack and Tails being able to carry Sonic.
Bears Are Bad News: White Park Zone features a gigantic polar-bear type badnik with large claws that takes three hits to go down instead of the usual one. Its name? Snowy.
Blackout Basement: Lost Labyrinth Zone Act 2 has some sections without much light.
Bonus Stage: The Special Stages. In the first episode there's the rotating mazes, which now play just like Cameltry (you control the maze's rotation and there's a time limit). The second episode features the half pipe challenges often used in other Sonic games.
Boss Rush: E.G.G. Station Zone pits Sonic against the four previous bosses in Episode I with half health, but they go into pinch mode after one hit.
Boss Subtitles: Shown in the acts' intro screens, even for non-boss acts.
Broad Strokes: The official website has an intro section that gets the story wrong for Sonic & Knuckles (the Sonic story comes before the Knuckles story, but the website says they happened simultaneously).
Damn You, Muscle Memory: Episode I's engine is based on Sonic Rush (and by extension, the DS version of Sonic Colors), which threw off quite a number of fans used to the tighter physics of the Genesis games.
Difficulty Spike: First one during Lost Labyrinth Zone. Second one during the final boss.
Development Gag: The earliest publicity for the game referred to it by the code name Project Needlemouse. "Mr. Needlemouse" is what the developers of the original game called the blue hedgehog before they settled on Sonic as his name.
All of the Zones in Episode II are based on aborted Sonic 2 Zones: a forest (based on Wood Zone), a desert that would be palette shifted to resemble a winter snowdrift with a Christmas theme (based on Dust Hill Zonenote
In betas, this is not implemented at all except for the name; selecting it redirects to an early version of Mystic Cave Zone with the Dust Hill name used instead
), and an extension of the final Death Egg Zone (it was originally going to be two acts). Additionally, Oil Desert Zone is very reminescent of a hoax mockup for yet another scrapped zone, Genocide City Zone.
A far more subtle one comes with Sky Fortress; as revealed by late prototypes of Sonic 2, Sky Fortress was meant to be Wing Fortress's original name◊.
Easter Egg: During the ending to Episode I, you can make Sonic jump and collect some rings. If you get them all, Sonic will either do his winpose from Sonic 1, Sonic 2 or turn Super, depending on how many Emeralds and Rings you got.
Expressive Ears: Both Sonic and Tails have these in their Idle Animations. Sonic's ears flick with irritation at being kept waiting whilst Tails' move about when he's sleeping. Their ears also droop in disappointment if they fail to get a Chaos Emerald in Special Stages.
Foreshadowing: The ending to Episode I with 7 Chaos Emeralds has this. After Sonic leaves, Eggman appears onto the screen, laughing as he reveals a darkened silhouette of Metal Sonic. Guess who comes back in Episode II?
Game-Breaking Bug: Like the Genesis games, every level has a ten minute time limit, and reaching that limit causes you to lose a life and sends you back to the last checkpoint. Unfortunately, the game has a tendency to start the timer at 09:59:99 when you restart, with the result that you die instantly, again. Generally the timer resets to 00:00:00 after that, so you just end up losing two lives... but sometimes it doesn't, and you get locked in an infinite loop which will rapidly eat up all your extra lives unless you reset the console.
Guide Dang It: Lost Labyrinth Act 2 (the console version) seems to have sent many running to YouTube with its torch puzzle. Once you figure out what each torch does, its much easier but until then, it can be extremely frustrating.
Act 3 has the spiked water chamber, which some fans consider to be this game's Barrel of Doom.
The "Metal Sonic Falls" achievement. Those cannonballs Metal Sonic shoots at you in Sky Fortress Act 1? Yeah, you can hit him with those.
Hailfire Peaks: Much of the levels in Episode II seem to be this. See the main description.
Helpful Mook: Bubbles is the unintentional version. Rows of them help you to go to cross pits, as well as provide an instant boost in score.
He's Back: A villainous variant appears in the secret ending of Episode I - a brief silhouette of Metal Sonic.
History Repeats: Metal Sonic tries to kill Sonic by goading him into a race, beat him to the finish line and trick him into running into an electrified door. Apparently he didn't learn from Stardust Speedway.
Load-Bearing Boss: Both the Wing Fortress and the Death Egg Mk 2 fall victim to this. Appropriately, the end boss of the latter is shaped like a heart.
Marathon Boss: The final battle of the game at E.G.G. Station will take some time. It's made longer by the fact after some hits, Eggman becomes invincible to direct contact unless you hit him with something else first.
Minecart Madness: Lost Labyrinth Act 2. The section was reworked into a proper Blackout Basement stage (the minecart still shows up at the end, sans Scrappy Mechanic) after fans gave it a poor reception.
To clarify, the Portable version was this entirely, while the Wii version is Black Out Basement.
Part of White Park Act 2's music is based off of Twinkle Park theme, "Pleasure Castle", a song that composer Jun Senoue previously worked on. Twinkle Park also had a roller coaster game play element as the Pleasure Castle section opens.
You can also catch a bit of Metropolis Zone's opening snare in the theme for act 1 of Oil Desert.
The intro to Episode Metal has traces of the US and Japanese versions of Sonic CD's main theme.
Episode I's default boss music is a remade version of a Sonic 3 D Blastbeta boss theme.
The race against Metal Sonic in Death Egg Mk. II Zone Act 1 is, of course, overlaid by the bad future Stardust Speedway zone theme from Sonic CD but with a Sonic 4-style instrumentation.
Non Fatal Explosions: After the boss is defeated, the Eggmobile is rather charred.
As for Episode II, only one throwback zone will be in the game. It's Sky Fortress, taking cues from Sky Chase and Wing Fortress from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. However, the Death Egg Zone returns for athirdtime, but is once again different to the previous times Sonic was there. The final battle with Metal Sonic, whilst taking place in the Death Egg Zone, is a throwback to his race in Stardust Speedway complete with the original song using Episode II's instruments. In addition, the opening cutscene for Episode Metal takes place in the place of Metal Sonic's defeat in Sonic CD, Stardust Speedway Act 3, and even features the original title card for the zone used in that game.note The aesthetic is lifted from the Rival Battle in Sonic Generations, however.
Nonetheless, all the zones have some throwback elements and resemblances to previous zones: Sylvania Castle to Aquatic Ruin and Marble Garden; White Park to Ice Cap (the snowboarding section is a clear nod), Oil Desert to Oil Ocean and Sandopolis.
Obvious Beta: Episode I seems to be a justified example. It feels experimental; the programmers probably wanted to see what the average player would and wouldn't like in future installments.
Old Save Bonus: Metal Sonic is playable if you purchased Episode II on the same platform as Episode Inote Since episode II wasn't released on Wii, people who got the Wii version of the original thus have to either rebuy the game on another platform or forgo the bonus. Episode Metal is one redesigned Act from each of the 4 main Zones in Episode I (in reverse order).
Oxygenated Underwater Bubbles: Present in levels with underwater sections. You touch the bubble to refill your air supply.
Pinball Zone: Casino Street Zone has giant pinball bumpers and controllable flippers.
Prequel: Episode Metal is the prequel to Episode II, explaining how Metal Sonic reappears in WhitePark Zone's Boss, Sky Fortress Zone, and Death Egg MK.II, Sonic CD itself can be seen as a prequel to Episode II, and the Sonic 4 saga itself is a prequel to the Sonic Adventure-onwards era.
Prequel Difficulty Spike: What Episode Metal amounts to, as it takes different acts from Episode I, and amps up the difficulty with more hazards and different badnik placements. The physics are taken directly from Episode II, however.
Rise to the Challenge: Oil Desert Act 3 has this, with the ground rising while you try to avoid being crushed by the ceiling.
Scenery Porn: There are some very detailed and animated backgrounds, particularly in Episode II, which ditches the pre-rendered 2D graphics in favor of true 3D graphics.
Shout Out: Episode 2's escape pods. They're a slightly more egg-shaped version of Saiyan pods. Them returning to Earth is even a re-creation of a scene from Dragon Ball Z.
The Episode I final boss theme is also this to the Sonic 2 final boss theme - not surprising, since it's practically the exact same boss.
Temple of Doom: Lost Labyrinth Zone and Sylvania Castle Zone.
Timed Mission: Like the classic Genesis games, you only have 10 minutes to make it through the level. Good luck on E.G.G. Station.
You also are under a time limit in the Special Stages in Episode I.
Transformation Is a Free Action: When Sonic and Tails do their tag-team animations in Episode II, the entire game world (and the clock) stops and kindly lets them finish, making those moves much more useful in speedruns.
Trick Boss: A habit of Eggman in these games. In particular, every Episode I boss appears to be a returning boss with absolutely no changes, but after a few hits Eggman unveils new tactics. See Turns Red for specifics.
Each boss in Episode I starts out relatively simple, using a silly, cornball boss theme (which just happens to be recycled Dummied OutSonic 3D Blastmusic). But once you've gotten far enough in the fight, the music changes to the faster-paced, aggressive second boss theme, and whatever machine Eggman is using starts fighting for real.
Splash Hill's Boss is the wrecking ball from Sonic 1. Once Eggman takes enough damage he starts spinning the wrecking ball in a circle.
Casino Street's Boss is the electric eggmobile from Casino Night. Bash it enough and it rolls around the arena with two electric buzzsaws.
Lost Labyrinth's Boss starts out as the obstacle course from Labyrinth Zone, but when you reach the end you end up in a room where Eggman gets to control the walls. You have to predict exactly which walls will extend so you can hit him based on his movement.
Mad Gear's Boss is the clone machine from Metropolis Zone, with the exception that hitting Eggman moves him forward, hitting the orbs does no damage to you, and hitting the clones DOES do damage to you. Upon being hit enough times, you enter a Death Egg style chase, but Eggman throws the clones at you to halt you.
E.G.G. Station runs through all 4 bosses' 2nd forms in a row. Make it to the end and you fight the Sonic 2 Death Egg final boss - the Eggman Mech. Once you do enough damage to it, sirens start going off and it starts going berserk, running around the room in a jerky fashion and firing its rocket punches at an angle. It also has electricity coursing around it due to the malfunction and you can get damaged by it unless you knock his rocket arms back at him. His final attack makes him fly everywhere and try to crush you under his immense weight, and if you don't hit him in time the floor will open and you will fall to your death. On top of all of that, if you're standing on the floor when the mech hits it, you will lose your footing and not be able to control Sonic until the floor crumbles. Have fun with that.
Episode II, in contrast, generally has each boss gradually pick up the pace as you attack it more.
Sylvania Castle's boss starts out as what looks like a giant plant swinging metal vine tentacles at you, which you have to have Tails carry you up to. Once you hit it four times, it grows two more tentacles to hit you with. After six hits, the tentacles stop attacking you and act as energy conduits for a Wave Motion Gun that Eggman aims in a circle around the arena.
Metal Sonic in White Park normally attacks by rolling at you, but as you hit him, he gains two more attacks: throwing lightning bolts at you that you have to get around and pounding holes in the track you have to jump over or suffer instant death.
The scrap metal mecha in Oil Desert starts dropping shipping containers on you faster as you hit it. After two or three hits, it drops boxes with spikes on top, and after five or six, crates of dynamite start falling.
Metal Sonic's jet in Sky Fortress will start to attack with its lasers more frequently, and sometimes it goes to the bottom of the screen where you can't hit it. At the end of the fight, the fortress launches a bunch of missiles at you that you have to dodge so you can get close enough to boost into and finish the boss.
The platforms in the final boss start to be electrified more as you hit Eggman. At around four hits, he gains an orange shield that you have to team roll through, along with a singularity attack that, if you're too slow in hitting him, will suck you in and not only throw you against the wall to hurt you, but it will also make all the rings disappear.
Unwinnable by Design - Polite: The Steelions in White Park Act 3 start creating large chunks of ice the moment they spot Sonic. Towards the end of the Act, they're deliberately placed to completely obstruct Sonic's path, making it impossible to proceed further (even with the powerful Rolling Combo or using Super Sonic) and your only option to let Sonic drown and try again. Since these Steelions are located in a narrow corridor and are already facing the direction where Sonic would emerge, the only way to get through this area is to run past the Steelions' range of ice before they finish (or defeat them before the ice starts forming, which is much harder), easier said than done as there are so many of them. And it's underwater.
Wall Master: Newtwons which appear when Sonic goes near them.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Sonic and Tails defeat the Egg Heart! Yay! The Death Egg mk.II is exploding! Double yay! But Little Planet is now drifting in space, and still encased in metal. Um... Not yay?
Here's where you can discuss all matters pertaining to this miniseries.
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