All-new 2D Sonic rolling out in 2010

[Segaholic2]

Why does rolling Sonic look like Kirby's Wheel power?

[Kogen]

Knuckles is in it for the same reason Megaman 9/10 have Protoman/Bass (people like it and pay money for it). Stop being stupid.

The reason Sonic looks like a Kirby wheel is because DIMPS is DIMPS.

[Shadow Hog]

I dunno, but I'll take Kirby's Wheel power over that retarded jump he's had since SA2.

[Opa-Opa]

Yeah. What's up with THAT?

You know... I had no problem with the homing attack until I saw that huge ugly crosshair above the badnik in that second picture there.

Ew.

[Kogen]

Apparently the excuse for adding it is to "get to high areas". I guess they forgot about springs, stage gimmicks, Megaman dissapearing block things, moving platforms, jumps, physics that let you bounce high off enemies normally, and Tails carrying Sonic to places.

[Crazy Penguin]

That being said, limiting Super Sonic to the final stage is the perfect way to solve this problem, and everybody moans and groans about it.

Mainly because it's become an over-used and predictable game finale. Any level based game with a definitive end point should have a spectacular grand finale that builds upon everything that went before and turns it up to 11. Sonic Adventure's final boss worked (momentum killing music change aside) because it was fresh and brought everything to a head.

Another reason most of the Super Sonic bosses fail is because they often fundamentally change the premise of the game - essentially pulling a genre switch. I love Sonic 3 & Knuckles, it's one of my all-time favourites, but is a final Zone where you can't jump, can't roll, can fly and don't lose rings when you get hit really an appropriate conclusion to everything that went before? Almost every one of them has been some variation on Doomsday Zone, even Sonic Adventure 2, and they were all cheats. The original Sonic Adventure played it fair, I think, in that you were still running on ground and avoiding obstacles and collecting rings and jumping just like you would as regular Sonic. It felt appropriate.

[Crazy Penguin]

I think I see some rabbit ears coming out of one of those badnik clouds! : D

Yay Pocky!

The most promising thing from that page is the zip-line Sonic is riding (despite how stiff and poorly animated Sonic looks), it shows that they're at least trying to think up new stage gimmicks instead of just copying Green Hill Zone outright.

[Neo]

Another reason most of the Super Sonic bosses fail is because they often fundamentally change the premise of the game - essentially pulling a genre switch. I love Sonic 3 & Knuckles, it's one of my all-time favourites, but is a final Zone where you can't jump, can't roll, can fly and don't lose rings when you get hit really an appropriate conclusion to everything that went before? Almost every one of them has been some variation on Doomsday Zone, even Sonic Adventure 2, and they were all cheats. The original Sonic Adventure played it fair, I think, in that you were still running on ground and avoiding obstacles and collecting rings and jumping just like you would as regular Sonic. It felt appropriate.

I wholeheartedly agree with you, but I was more addressing the "give us Super Sonic in regular levels back" drama that everybody whines about. The segregated Super Sonic stage is the right solution to the problem, but I didn't say any of the games released so far had executed it in the best manner.

The concept of a balls-hard Super Sonic stage which is still based on the rest of the game's gameplay is appealing to me, and I wouldn't mind if Super Sonic were unlocked on all the other stages after it, but please leave it as an option.

[Locit]

In case anyone was wondering how that one Sonic riff comic turned out:

I love that he used the Clone High makeout tongues.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

It took me a couple of look-overs to notice Super Sonic shat out the Chaos Emeralds.

[Delphine]

It was difficult, deciding whether to use apologetic Knuckles or Super Sonic's muscular buttocks as my new avatar, but in the end insincerity won out over masculinity.

There's a joke about my lack of long-term relationships in there, I just know it.

[Malchik]

I shan't pass up on a good ass.

[Opa-Opa]

Gotta love the "Do not steal!". The guy knows things.

I like Super Sonic in the last level. It's that last straw of desperation where the bad guy knows he is losing and decides to run away with everything he's got, and you have to chase him. I think it's a great level and it's no wonder it's been copied so much in later games. It's the final showdown. It feels like closure and looks pretty cool. Quoting Penguin quoting Spinal Tap: "turning up to 11".

The whole point of the last level (talking about S3&K here) being different from the rest of the game is good, actually. The game gives you a lot of power to crush the bad guy, and it's a lot more than when you were Super Sonic during the regular levels, so there's a reason why Robotnik is running away so fast. He's so powerful now that he doesn't lose rings and he can crush asteroids, missiles only throw him back and stale him for a little while, and he flies, and you actually get to control him there, in space, doing that. That's what's important here: you HAVE that power. It's you who's ramming the giant robot and it was you that came up with using his own rockets against him. You ultimately kill Robotnik with no need for cutscenes, only gameplay. Perfect gaming.

Now, the main problem is that they turned this into a formula. Sonic HAS to turn Super and fight in space in every game. That's what really sucks. I'd say, for Sonic 4, ditch that for something fresh. I like the whole "hard as balls Super Sonic zone" idea.

Maybe a battle in a Special Stage? I'd like to see something like that. Special Stages never felt very canonical or part of the plot, except for Triple Trouble.

[G.Silver]

I'd like to see an end boss that kind of has two parts to it, like the super-hard Sonic 1/2 boss where you don't get any rings, and then you get to cut loose with Super Sonic afterward (if you have the Emeralds, anyway). Another way to do it would be to have a fight where you have to build up enough rings during the battle itself (as regular Sonic) to turn Super and then actually start doing the damage. There's a lot of possibility with something like that, I think.

[Shadow Hog]

I actually wanted to see something of the opposite - you start off fighting the giant behemoth (hopefully a robotic, Eggman-controlled one) as Super Sonic, as per the cliche - but then he gets wise to your act and whacks you out of it, a la the intro of Unleashed. Except, instead of turning you into a goddamn Werehog, you're simply powered-down and left with 3 rings, while he's suddenly super-powered (or at least as potent as he was - which is still saying a lot since you had to go Super to fight him in the first place). The game then expects you to have at him despite the odds stacked against you.

That'd be one hell of a finale. That's one of the cool things Sonic used to do more often - the odds get clearly stacked against him (Shadow is technically faster, Metal Sonic is not only faster but emotionless, cold, calculating, precise, etc), and yet he comes through through the power of his will alone (kicks Shadow's ass post-Final Rush, creamed Metal Sonic at Stardust Speedway, etc). Nowadays he just goes Super when the odds are against him and that's that.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

Pssh, underdogs are so passe.

[Arcade]

Shadow is not faster, it just cheats using Chaos control. You know, one of my many many many problems with heroes is that you didnt fight a powered up robot Sonic, but a huge monster, I think thats when I started to realize the "New" Sega had no idea of what to do with Sonic...

[G.Silver]

I actually wanted to see something of the opposite

It's the opposite, but it's still really the same thing, in that it exploits the fact that Sonic is shifting modes during the fight. There's a lot you could do with either type of encounter.

[gr4yJ4Y]

That'd be one hell of a finale. That's one of the cool things Sonic used to do more often - the odds get clearly stacked against him (Shadow is technically faster, Metal Sonic is not only faster but emotionless, cold, calculating, precise, etc), and yet he comes through through the power of teamwork.

Fix'd.

Oh hey guys! Are you mad enough about Sonic 4 existing to... buy a different Sonic game? That really ought to stick to Sega! They'll regret it this time for sure.

[j-man]

Seeing the gameplay of sonic 4 has made many of us realize what we already knew, Sonic 4 will simply not be anywhere near as good as the original sonic games.

These people are everything that is wrong with the world, and should be first against the wall when the revolution comes.

[Crowbar]

Okay, while I have been moaning about Sonic 4 as much as anyone, that is ridiculous behaviour. While Sega have been doing things wrong alot, part of the blame is with the fanbase being unable to make up its mind what it really wants (I've been guilty of this too), and this is a model example of that. As such, I can only truly express my reaction to this in one fashion.

（ノ ಠ_ಠ）ノ　＝＝＝＝＝＝＝　┻━━┻

[K2J]

Finally, a high-profile blog understands what the fans really want.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

Sonic-bayonetta will haunt my nightmares.

[K2J]

There are now Nintendo Power scans, including an interview with Iizuka on the third and fourth pages:

Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4

The interesting points include there being four Zones (which we surmised already from the leaks), there not being any additional moves beyond the homing attack, the stages being designed with the homing attack in mind (which could be good or bad...), and the first boss changes his pattern from the third hit onward, not just mimicking the first boss of the franchise. Also, Iizuka and Senoue are the only members of one of the original teams involved with the project directly.

[Neo]

There's a green Meleon shooting a fireball from within a wall in that last page.