The GHZ Forum

No, because the level design was also terrible. A bunch of gimmick levels that weren't even strung together with any coherence, hence the ability to play them in whatever order you please.

I had fun with it. I'm glad I didn't come here until I had a chance to play through the game and develop an opinion.

Its biggest flaw is it's short. This game shouldn't have cost $15 for sure. The stupidly easy (other than the last), rehashed bosses are a complete joke and the music just plain sucks. It would had been nice if the zones had original themes instead of coming from the first two games. It doesn't deserve the Sonic 4 title.

It's better than Sonic Advance, but not as good as any of the original trilogy. I'd put it on par with or slightly below Sonic CD. It's really different from any of those games. Acts 2 and 3 have gimmicks going for them in each zone which were mostly interesting, but I can see how some would disagree. The homing attack could have completely broken the game, but it is well used and defines the way the game is played (just like Sonic 1, 2, and 3 all played slightly different from one another due to each having additional abilities). The level design's pacing is okay (but not great) and the "oh DIMPS!" moments come up at least once per act. The physics are a lot different, but it wasn't hard to adjust to them. I never found myself getting stuck on things or the physics going completely haywire.

I haven't played the Special Stages much yet, but that you can pick them from the stage select screen is pretty lame. They should had toned down the difficulty and made them only accessible by playing through the levels, to encourage replay.

And what's with the lack of a ghost system for time trial? What year is this?

This is Sega's best effort at the classic formula since S&K, though maybe that's not really saying much...

I got the last chaos emerald last night and beat the game. I really liked it over all. It's as gr4yj4y says: better than advance but falls short when compared to the originals. The level design is really quite good once you get over the fact that they've been made with the homing attack specifically in mind. Chaining a few hits off of some enemies that are popping out of the ground in order to reach a previously inaccessible spring is a pretty great feeling.

The special stages were also devilishly made. Getting the seventh chaos emerald was very rewarding. Looking forward to the next installment.

I haven't played the Special Stages much yet, but that you can pick them from the stage select screen is pretty lame. They should had toned down the difficulty and made them only accessible by playing through the levels, to encourage replay.

Im pretty sure you can only access from the menu those special stages that you have already beaten. So you still need to replay the levels to get them all.

It seems that Sonic Advance is not too well liked here! I thought the first one was far better than this. Despite questionable art design and bad special stages, it did everything one expected for a classic Sonic game (for a handheld, anyway).

Saying Sonic 4 is better than Pocket Adventure seems to be really pushing it, though. Both games tried the same thing and Pocket Adventure did everything better in literally every way. I would like to know how Sonic 4 is better than it.

I never played Pocket Adventure, but Advance was pretty cool. I liked Egg Rocket a lot, for some reason.

I haven't played Pocket Adventure. Is it really that good?

The level design in Advance is worse than Sonic 4's. There's probably more to it, but it's been a while since I've played Advance. I just know I had a better time with S4 than Advance.

gr4yJ4Y wrote:I haven't played Pocket Adventure. Is it really that good?

It's the "best hits" thing, except done right. And with unique bosses.

Dammit now I wanna play Pocket Adventure. Aquatic Relix! With an X!

Wasn't it essentially just Sonic 2 with Tails taken out? Noteworthy at the time, but perhaps less so now? If I'm remembering it wrong, please enlighten me.

People who have not played Sonic Pocket Adventure and like Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I should be banned without a warning.

No exceptions.

MiraiTails wrote:Wasn't it essentially just Sonic 2 with Tails taken out? Noteworthy at the time, but perhaps less so now? If I'm remembering it wrong, please enlighten me.

The only thing that makes it less "noteworthy" is that it was cool at the time to successfully make 16-bit esque games for the comparatively weak handhelds that were available then. It's pretty good aside from some cheap bits of level design, a few bugs (you die if you stand right next to a crusher), and special stages that the system can barely handle resulting in a draw distance of about, oh, a foot and a half in front of you.

MiraiTails wrote:Wasn't it essentially just Sonic 2 with Tails taken out? Noteworthy at the time, but perhaps less so now? If I'm remembering it wrong, please enlighten me.

No. It had entirely unique level design and bosses.

The themes were from Sonic 1 up until Sonic Adventure, not just Sonic 2. People who never played it just banter about that.

The special stages are also fine.

Opa-Opa wrote:What the hell is wrong with Jun Senoue?

That's a very good question. I mean really, just what the hell is the story behind Sonic 4's crappy music? Didn't he give enough time to the game cause he was busy writing music for Colors, or is he simply way passed his creative peak after all these years?

Up until now, one thing you could pretty much always count on regarding the Sonic series is that if it's a game with Jun involved, you know you're at least going to hear some sweet tunes even if the game sucks in every other respect.

Of course, i must admit that after hearing the Splash Hill act 1 theme arranged as a Mega Drive tune, i can actually sorta imagine it being a bonus level or 2 player competition theme in the classics (even if it still wouldn't cut it as a main level theme).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCtXDkMX9Ss

Okay so I haven't d/led the demo of this game yet, however I did play that nice fan-made Sonic 2-ish remix some guys at Sonic Retro made that was mentioned in this thread.

What I'm asking is, was it a mistake to play a surprisingly good demo of a fan game before the Sonic 4 one? How disgusted will I be?

Pretty bad. It's better to download the demo than the full version, though.

Ngangbius wrote:What I'm asking is, was it a mistake to play a surprisingly good demo of a fan game before the Sonic 4 one? How disgusted will I be?

I don't think it would make much of a difference, you'll loathe Sonic 4 just as much either way.

Guess I'm in for some fun times!

It won't make playing different in anyway. You'll still be alienated by the physics and controls the same. The fan demo just takes you to the conclusion that Sega is truly incompetent or just don't care and aim for the lowest common denominator (small children/mentally handicapped).

So the ending you get for collecting all the Chaos Emeralds actually has nothing to do with the Chaos Emeralds. That's not how alternate endings work Sega. Jesus Christ.

Did you expect anything less then a lack luster effort of an ending?

Someone on the internet attempts to improve the mediocre Sonic 4 soundtrack by arranging it in this fashion.

What do you think sirs/ma'ams?

That was fairly queer and not too funny.

I think I laughed when I heard the first track. It's a pretty extensive joke.

At least the tracks aren't as bad as Sonic R.

Yeah, because they are worse.