What Made Sonic 4 Episode 1 So AWFUL
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- čas přidán 20. 08. 2021
- The Meta Era of Sonic begins in style with Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, a retro Sonic throwback meant to cash in on the retro gaming nostalgia of the late 2000s as well as the rising mobile game market. I am not even trying to hide it, this game is one I have basically no respect for. One of my least favorite Sonic games to ever exist, and I am here to say why.
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I see Sonic The Hedgehog 4 as the true start of the Meta Era. An Era in which SEGA just stopped trying to make their games ambitious and groundbreaking and started pandering towards nostalgia. Every game after Sonic and the Black Knight is just playing it safe because SEGA is fearful of making the same “mistakes” they made with Sonic in the mid to late 2000s.
Generations still pretty good tho
despite de unfinished story
"Playing it safe" *looks towards sonic generations which had care put towards it*
@@celltrark7161 Gens, mania, and colors I have a lot of fun with despite their flaws. Every other game is a big ol nope for me
@@icee1683An anniversary game that dives head first into nostalgia by literally having levels from past Sonic games be the main selling point is the ultimate example of playing it safe. Even if it was good gameplay wise.
@@infinitedreamer9359 Exactly, people should start realizing that Generations and Mania, despite being good and well-made, are really safe and unimaginative
only good thing about the sonic 4 series is that it gave Christian Whitehead the determination to push forward and give us sonic mania
Some sonic superfan was able to give us what we all wanted from a classic
@@dylanconner3418 funny how a fan did that and not sega team
@@duckieduck1175 sonic team is trash they’re not even the same people who made the original games. I think it’s basically just a name.
@@TimDespairBear11 the way you didnt lie tho
Yeah, but Sega still screwed him and his team over by forcing them to reuse old zones from past games instead of all new ones. It's like Sega didn't learn any lesson from Sonic 4.
Sonic 4 a joke?
But aren't jokes supposed to be funny?
If Sonic 4's a joke, the joke would be
Knock knock.
Who's there?
...
Who's there?
...
Hello?
....
I'm so lonely.
Y'know, generic and sad.
Hey, Midrolls on a better spot, excellent.
Great video.
Glad to see you here
Now do sonic 4 in 5 minutes! itd be funny since while i like 4, episode 1 doesnt really have a plot to it, its just some sort of downloadable level pack really
@@cakelayer ok
@@cakelayer order episode 2 instead.
@@gabbpolicarpio1236 ive played it, its really bad compared to episode 1, and the music, eww, episode 2 is the REAL travesty of the sonic 4 series, episode 1 deserves better
Fun fact: "Sonic 4" was just last-minute title change. The original name for the game was "Sonic the Portable" (check the background in Casino Street) and it was supposed to be exclusive to mobile phones, but SEGA being SEGA just had to intervene
Which is why Episode 2 is not compatible with Episode 1, since EP2 was made with consoles in mind
That just makes it worse, honestly. XD
Oof. Lol
I saw Johnny VS cover this and yeah I was wondering why sonic 4 EP1 felt weird. Discouraged me from wanting to try EP2(the real sonic 4) and because of EP1 we never got the other episodes
@@SHADOMEGA7569 no it's Sonic 3 & Knuckles chronologically
We already knew that the last 50 times this comment has been posted
They should have kept the title “Sonic the Portable” instead of remove Portable and slap Hedgehog 4 on it. That’s a complete insult to fans who wanted a legitimate sequel to Sonic 3K.
which is why it makes no sense when people ask for sonic adventure 3. The TITLE of a game doesn’t mean it will be good. Sega could easily make a game called sa3 and it would be shit.
@@TimDespairBear11 It's true Sega could easily go the same route with Adventure 3 as they did with Sonic 4. But if they actually aren't confident in making a sonic adventure styled game themselves, why not look to fan developers who know that gameplay like the back of their hand, like what they did with Sonic Mania?
@@kntranced719 I agree if sa3 is made I think fans should make it, sega can’t really be trusted
@@TimDespairBear11 I hope they don't do the same thing they did with Mania were Sega forces the team to recycle stages from the old games instead of letting them make all new ones. And also give them as much freedom as possible with the story.
@@inendlesspain4724 I agree, while I loved mania I think it’s annoying that it’s mostly rehashed stages. I think the new stages were the best part of the game.
I remember when Screwattack hyped this up at SGC 2010 like it was the biggest game ever. Funny (and sad) looking back.
i remember watching that crowd cheering and then have the guy play it and bumble about in the game
Who is screwattack
@@theminecraft2516 The original channel name for Death Battle (after the YT algorithm essentially made it so that their non DB related vids got shafted, they decided to change their name).
I believe the Screwattack content got moved to another channel (related to Rooster Teeth) but I forgot the name.
Hey, those guys called Black Knight the worst Wii game of 2009, just because Sonic had a sword, and they ignored the abundance of shovelware on the system. The fact that they considered a game that ends with a lesson to live life to the fullest beneath the garbage on the same console is a bigger crime than IGN's review on Unleashed.
@@sambridgers9543 Yup, that's them.
Sonic 4 might be the biggest example of how little Sega cares about their own mascot. Throwing a number on a cheap mobile game just to move units.
And like with most Sega mistakes instead fixing it and/or improving upon it, they straight out abandon it after episode 2 (just like how they abandoned the storybook and riders games).
The worst thing about it was that critics praised this game as well as Sonic Colors at the time, so Sega thought they had made the right move.
I don't think it's much more on Sega but more like on critic's desire to make Sonic more like Mario ... Ugh
@@Mepphy99 Nah... that's an insult to Mario, it more like double standards tbh. Mario can use weapons but Sonic can't, Mario can have humans as well as anthros on the same world but Sonic can't, Mario can have a large cast of characters but Sonic can't, Mario 64 aged like wine but the Adventure games aged like milk, etc.
Critics don't want Sonic to be like Mario, they want Sonic to be a watered down less creative Mario clone because "that what's best for Sonic" apparently.
@@lynxfresh5214 From how you interpreted it, it sounds like critics just want to "prove" Sonic was "always" bad. It seems like they manipulated sega into thinking the games were sold well and encouraging games like Sonic 4.
The side scrolling gameplay in Generations was better than the gameplay in 4. I don't really count it as an official sequel. That honor goes to Mania.
The 2d gameplay in generations was honestly pretty solid. If we got a "sonic 4" based on those physics and level design I wouldn't complain
@@creativeusername6453 Same.
@@creativeusername6453 About the mechanics, it was really irritating for me how Sonic feels way slower when trying to accelerate from a standstill, and they didn't need to give him this "fall back" animation when he gets hit like modern Sonic that's almost 3 seconds long. Also the physics and sense of momentum, while not horrible, could have been better; even the Advance games did this better.
I don't hold it against Gens for it, but if they made a new game recycling these same mechanics I would complain because I'm tired of excusing Sega for looking for the path of least effort that always leads to mediocrity. Hell, they already tried to do it again with Forces and somehow couldn't copy the same mechanics from Gens without making them feel even worse.
Amen
@@inendlesspain4724 They did give him back his falling back from damage animation tho? Just go to the skill shop.
I think this was a sign where they listened to the criticism of critics, fans, and “fans” to a malignant degree.
- Scaling back characters from being playable.
- Banking on nostalgia
- Playing things too safe
- Trying to outright kill its past mistakes and unknowingly making new ones
- Chasing trends (Kinect, Boom’s Crash/Jak Aesthetic)
And I can go on, and on, and we go to infinitum.
Some of the things they removed did come back later… but to bank on nostalgia rather than any honest reason.
I mean chasing trends was more of an adventure era thing
- Trying too hard to be funny with embarrassing Sonic memes
- Flanderizing every single character since either Colors, or Free Riders
On a related note, I've always found Unleashed to be the best example of Sonic Team listening to the fans in the worst way possible. Like mentioned in this video, back in the mid 2000's many fans didn't like Sonic's friends. But from my observation of the community back then, it wasn't really that we didn't like the characters. It was that we hated the gameplay they brought with them. Sonic's gameplay was always the most fun, and the rest ranged from decent to terrible. It's no coincidence that most people still liked Shadow and Blaze. No one minded Sonic's friends in the Advance titles either. People back then never complained about Sonic's friends when they played like him.
So then comes Unleashed, where they touted that they listened to the fans by making it a Sonic focused adventure...only to give us yet another gameplay style no one wanted. But they defended it because "It's still Sonic". Literally the worst possible way to interpret the criticism of Sonic's friends
@@ctpp64 chasing trends has been Sonic's problem since the mid 90s. Mario stayed true to itself from 85 to 2021. Sonic changes every couple years to chase trends. Which is why it sucks.
Fun Fact: Sonic 4 was originally meant to be a mobile game called Sonic the Portable, a mobile game that was meant to appeal to both “Classic” and “Modern” Sonic fans. But they changed the games name to Sonic 4, in order to sell more units. They only ported it to other platforms because, let’s be real, if the sequel to 3&K was a mobile game, fans would’ve gone insane. And in the background of Casino Street, you can see a small graphic that displays “Sonic the Portable”.
So basically sega just wanted money instead of just putting more effort into the game
@@Sup_nw85 knowing how sega was back then, basically yea
@Gatling Spletzer the Inkhog both Nintendo and sega are scummy sometimes
@@QWERTY-mo6cq "back then"?
@@playathesaints9599 I mean it was released it 2010
A 2D Sonic game that I have not revisited in years and probably never will outside of marathons. Kid me would've only loved this because it was another Sonic game.
How tf this come out 3 weeks ago?!
@@FixyFlow Patreon
@@ProtectorOfMemes Ooooooo
Ok
Funny because this was actually my first sonic game
Hard to believe that this was the same people who made the Advance and Rush games. Can't believe SEGA thought this was a good direction to go.
Even their Wii port of Unleashed was better.
Well those Advance and Rush games was made from Dimps. But still...
It seems like they have gone down hill since this game. that's sad to me since the advance 1,3 and the rush games (yes i count colors DS as a rush game) are all great games that i have a ton of memories with.
@@spinballproduction9678 Well, they did make Crash Boom Bang...
The 2010s were disastrous for the Sonic Series at least in terms of games. Dimps was reduced to making handheld versions of whatever Sonic Team was making instead of their own games by Sega's decision & once the age of handhelds ended they were left with nothing. What Sega should have done was let Dimps make Rush Style games for Blaze to expand upon her world.
Fun fact: this was one of the first games I 100%ed.
Yes, I _was_ a sad child.
To be fair, it doesn’t take much to 100% Sonic 4: Episode 1. The worst of it is the achievement for beating E.G.G. Station Zone
Hey I don’t blame you… I 100%ed Sonic 06 and people hated me and still do even to this day…
Man... Whta Have You Done To Your Life :(
Spot on review. If I can give anything to this game, it's that it taught me how important the rolling ball physics of the Genesis games truly were. As a kid, I used to suck at Sonic 3 on the Virtual Console before watching reviews of 4 Episode 1 at the time that discussed how bad they screwed up the physics.
Even with that imo. I thought it was an okay game and not abysmal bottom of the barrel garbage like this guy. Though that’s just me of course.
@@digimonlover1632 What would YOU count as abysmal, bottom of the barrel garbage then? Please don't bring up games that are simply utterly broken/unfinished like Sonic 06, that's too easy.
@@inendlesspain4724 superman 64 is objectively terrible.
@@cypher838 a very low bar to surpass, Superman 64
@@miimiiandco.8721 solve my maze.
Somecallmejohnny: That's why after this video I likely won't be going back to it. (Quote from Somecallmejohnny's Sonic 4 both episodes rereview)
9 days later
J's Reviews: Thank God the video is over now I never have to play Sonic 4 ever again and can just unistall it from my pc that sounds fun.
Cybershell: "Good news, everyone! it looks like we'll never have to talk about this steaming pile of fucking dogshit ever again!".
Great minds really do think alike.
Eldarin: "WTF is this crap?!"
@@hgarr "great minds"
@@hgarrGreat minds plus Johnny.
And in a post Sonic Mania world, I have to say it was very hard getting back into this game in fact I didn't get back into it at all, this game is dull I do not enjoy it anymore (Also from Johnny's re-review)
The fact this was supposed to be a smaller scale mobile game meant to just be a zone compilation of the various genesis games makes it all the more insulting that they retitled this Sonic 4.
It's one of the worse mobile games at that
Remember when people really loved Sonic 4 and the only complaints you'd hear about it were how Sonic had green eyes in a supposed "classic" game? Times really do change, huh... No idea how I thought this game was anything more than tolerable back in 2010.
Wait, what? People used to like this game?
I honestly don't, the game's reception since the debut trailer has been mixed at best and I was one of the people who thought it looked like garbage from the start, not because of Sonic's eye color, but the visuals looked half-assed and then the gameplay videos showed up and the physics were obviously terrible even in their own right, as well as the stages seemed to sport all the worst aspects of Dimps' level design. It honestly baffles me that there were people who thought it looked even remotely acceptable, but then again, a huge portion of Sonic's fanbase are sheep who will defend even a literal turd if Sonic's logo is plastered on it.
@@liamschermer7901 , yeah, believe it or not, critics, whatever CZcamsrs were active at the time and many fans really liked the game, even if they acknowledged that it had many flaws not present in its "prequels."
The whole marketing that it was a return to Sonic's roots did work. SomecallmeJohnny even said "It seems the more I play it, the better it seems to get."
Most of the criticism before release was in fact due to Sonic having the homing attack and green eyes in a "Classic" game. Sonic Shorts Vol 6 which was released around that time even starts by poking fun of that. You'd often hear people who defended the game back then say it was doomed to fail just because of Sonic sporting his modern look.
As time went on, though, people started to see that the game's replayability is actually a flat 0 and the rest of its problems really started to wear it down.
Personally, I was 10 when the game came out and remember not thinking much of it but not really disliking it. Over the years, though, I started to feel almost personally insulted by being nostalgia pandered so hard.
@@liamschermer7901 I used to like it. Probably because at the time, Sonic was just getting out of the dark age, and it was refreshing to have a new 2D Sonic game. But over the years, the flaws really started to present themselves more, especially after Sonic Mania, which is really the true "Sonic 4," came out.
@@NeoKokoro20 I can understand that, It's a "Right game at the right time" type of deal. As someone who got into the franchise in a post Maina world, this sort of thing was kinda lost on me.
Honestly, out of all of them, I think Sonic did the whole going back to the retro era the worst. The New Super Mario games were a bit on the uninspired side but they were still fun and competent games. Mega Man 9 and 10 were extremely fun and got rid of a lot of the issues with the previous games, like the momentum from 1 and 2, being unable to go into the menu, being unable to jump out of a slide underwater (or period in 6's case), rush taking damage from enemies in 7, slow latter climb from 1 and 2 and the extended I-frames for bosses which was added to make the charge shot more useful but in return made normal buster shots useless against them. Whether going back to the 8-bit art-style was a lazy move or not can be discussed another day (personally I like it but I also love the direction 11 went with) but Mega Man 9 and 10 are easily my favorite of the classic series with Mega Man 11 being my 3rd favorite (GOD I LOVE 9,10 and 11!).
P.S My order for the classic series is: 9>10>11>4>1>7>6>5>Bass>Powered Up>2> 8> 3
Back to Sonic though, at least now we have Sonic Mania which is probably my favorite or second favorite one in the series.
New Super Mario Bros was actually a legit return to a 2D format. Most of the levels were original, physics were flawless, and NSMBW’s Bowser fight brought on chills
@@Sea_of_WavesDS & Wii were the more acceptable ones. It's 2 & Wii U where they start getting lazy & stale.
11:34 I think mentioning Sonic 3 being split makes 4 look even worse. Sonic 3 (not & Knuckles, just Sonic 3, the first half) has the same number of stages (4*3=6*2) as 4 Episode 1, and is better in every possible way. More original level ideas, more original ideas in general, an existent story (which is especially insulting because that’s a Genesis game beating a seventh-gen game in the story department, especially because 3’s story is actually good), playable Tails, WAAAY better level design and special stages, better bosses, functional (really good but still) physics, arguably better visuals, and it handles the split better too. Sonic 3 sets up Sonic & Knuckles brilliantly if you knew they existed, not to mention the two parts are actually similar, with my only problem in this department being that the two parts were released at opposite ends of 1994. In general, while I think Episode 2 is alright, though it would’ve been better as a mobile exclusive with more levels and maybe without the name Sonic 4 (maybe Sonic Mobile Dash or something as I believe it came out before Sonic Dash) Episode 1 just gets annihilated by Sonic 3 & Not Knuckles (shoot me), and would’ve been mediocre at best even as a mobile exclusive.
Episode 2 is alot better than the first one - though it didn't have to try very hard - however I am still not happy that for all they brought back Tails they did not make him playable. No, locking him behind player 2 does not count, because if you are playing by yourself and you want to play as the little fox cub, well I'm afraid you're out of luck. But I guess that was the style at the time, the only character you can play as is Sonic, because nobody cares about Sonic's "stupid" friends... I miss the other characters.
Wait I always thought Sonic 4 Episode II was Mobile Phone exclusive. I missed playing as characters other than "Just Sonic" 11 years ago. Sucks the series chose to cater to loud obnoxious trolls & betray half the fanbase in the process for the 2010s Direction where Sonic was more dumb than his friends.
"Sonic 3 & Not Knuckles"
I played it on Mobile and it doesn't really stand to some other games imo
This is why I see Sonic 4 as a mediocre mobile game ported to consoles and PC.
I always hated the "sonic's friends are holding back the games" bogus narrative, Sonic stopped being solo in Sonic 1, people aching for less content and gameplay must have a "we like to see games get worse" kink.
I hate the sonic stupid friends notion with a passion
i problem i notice with people is that they seem to think the only thing that matters in a sonic game is going fast and they seem to forget that sonic friends aren't sonic so of course there not always gonna go as fast as him.
they that the second you slow down in a sonic game is a flaw if going fast is the only thing matter to some players then maybe the sonic series isn't for them.
I hated the whole "Character Countdown" thing that they did to market this game. It was insultingly obvious that Sonic was going to be the only playable character in this game, it just felt like a pitiful attempt to get brownie points from the "I HATE SONIC'S STINKY FRIENDS" crowd! Not to mention rubbing salt in the wounds of all the fans who actually LIKE the other characters and wanted them to be treated better!
@@bowmaj8666 Wait, that was actually a thing? I thought that was a JOKE screenshot J included in this review.
I say the critics and the fanbrats are what hold Sonic back.
Never deserved the title of Sonic 4 for what it offers. Would be fine as simply a mobile game which apparently was originally intended as before Sega wanted to make it a Nostalgic cash grab.
Agreed yet it's funny how the game sold quite well and was praised by many critics as "reviving the true essence of Sonic".
Yet more proof Sega should stop listening to these non-fans.
@@lynxfresh5214 I remember Sonic 4 getting slightly higher scores than Sonic Unleashed and the like but reviews sounded middling, as if they're supposed to love a 2D Sonic game but something isn't quite right.
It was originally going to be called Sonic Mobile actually
@@Jackattack359 Sonic The Portable is what I heard
@@Turbulation1 maybe it was that, I dunno but either way it wasn’t always called Sonic 4
I really hope we see more characters in Rangers. I can’t believe those people wanted and begged for Sonic’s friends to be wiped away, look where that got us lol
This is why Boom exists; the demand to have them back.
@@austinreed7343 idk if exists is really the right word lol
Those Character Haters who wanted Just Sonic Mentality ruined the Sonic Series for the people who liked playing as them. We never wanted Boom we wanted to return to the Adventure & Advance way of doing things! The Meta Era was the worst & we can only hope we see a return to form soon.
@@WaterKirby1994 sa2 having 3 gameplay styles is pretty fun imo.
It makes sense for a 3d game because it is inherently more complex than a 2d sonic game, but in 2d sonic games the extra characters were just sonic but with extra features.
coping because Sonic 1 2 and 3 were so great even tho Tails and Knucles exist
Remember J, the only Modern Throwback from the early 2010s that still hold up will be DKC Returns/Rayman Origins
Now that you mention it, this era had a lot of HD revivals that mostly sucked. Those two being the only successful ones.
@@JsReviews How is this reply from three weeks ago when you just posted this now? I'm confused lol.
@@JsReviews Which other HD revivals were subpar?
@@JsReviews Yeah because they basically took the formula of the older games and modernized them for the time
@@DanielFahimi patreon people can watch early
It still genuinely surprises me that many at the time hated sonics friends soo much that they wanted all of them out, even tails and knuckles. I think it's mainly the critics and not the actual fans that thought that.
I agree and I have another thought to go along with this. There's a part of my mind that has a very sneaking suspicion that if you ask the "Sonic and Eggman ONLY" purists if character exclusion should apply to the cast from, say, SatAM or the Pre-Genesis Wave comics, some of them would drop that notion completely and go on and on about how the Freedom Fighters are so much better than any of the cast introduced in the games and yadda yadda yadda.
@@MagmaPaint Yeah, Antoine beats the crap outta Shadow and Gamma!
@@alexlents4689 Don't even mistake me championing the SatAM and PrGW cast. Extremely unpopular opinion, but I don't care for these casts at all with very rare exceptions and Sally Acorn is worse than Elise.
@@MagmaPaintDAMN
I'm glad you put Sonic 4 here and emphasized that it is the true start of the Meta era. To me the meta era is embodied by the active culling and stripping away of everything Sonic was and intentionally being proud of it out of fear of ridicule, and supplementing it with shallow memberberries to what people think they remember of the genesis days. And Sonic 4 truly is the start of that.
Agreed
Nope the dark age is worse
The dark era is way worse sonic fans are idiots
@@schakiarligonde1736 is it really though?
@@jaretco6423 Didn't say they were bad, though I find Colors Wii mediocre and generations lacks content and an identity.
Games like Colors and generations are nice, but that's just 2 games. mania is nice but its ultimate in the same camp of Generations in regards to being a celebration game of the past as opposed to a true leap forward.
The "dark age" had Rush games which were good, Black Knight, ShtH, Unleashed have things that can be enjoyed depending on who you ask. etc
If this game was given names like Sonic Retro, or Sonic Mobile, or it's original title, (Sonic the Portable) I would be more forgiving towards it. The fact that they called this Sonic 4 is legit the reason it's hated! Titles like these intending to be a sequel to its predecessor have to be *earned,* not given! In order for it to be earned, it has to what proper sequels do, which is maintaining what made its predecessors so good while adding to it! There is a reason why Sonic Mania (or debatably, Sonic Advance) is referred to as the true "Sonic 4." Sure, the majority of the stages are rehashed from the classics but the game adds A LOT to make it feel brand new. Such as 5 playable characters to the multiplayer options. This is the same reason why Sonic 06 is referred to as "Sonic Adventure 3" despite the missing chao garden. In fact, it's the closest we will EVER get to a SA3 whether it deserves the title or not.
Devs at sonic 4 really drew sonic 1 from memory, damn
Funny enough, it WAS actually initially just a mobile game called Sonic the Portable. However, once Sega saw the retro revival trend, they ported it to consoles and changed the name to Sonic 4 to sell more units.
There's this one little nuance of the controls that can make this game fun. Notice how the homing retical disappears before you land. You can air dash in that tiny window, and then jump into an enemy chain, defeating several in a single swoosh without breaking flow. Forget the spindash, it's the air dash.
If I can thank Sonic 4 on any front, it made me appreciate retro games that much more when I was like 12.
Used to enjoy the game, but once I went back to Sonic 1 to 3&k , my young brain asked "Why does this feel more fun than the newest title ?"
But we now have Mania existing so now all is well.
Funny you and Johnny both did reviews of this game almost days apart!! It’s a good review man but sorry you had to play this. I can already tell the meta era will be extremely painful given how sad you sounds in this review but I hope you can tough it out!! I’m so excited to see you get to this point
I absolutely adored this game when it came out simply because it was a return to form, something a lot of people, myself included, thought was necessary for the series' success. Looking back, how blind I was. I didn't realize the unnecessary gameplay additions (i.e.: Homing Attack), the physics were a joke, the art style was questionable, and that simply reusing old stage tropes did nothing to advance the series despite it being called Sonic 4. Younger me was blinded by nostalgia, but older me completely writes this one out of the games' timeline.
I keep forgetting Sonic 4 exists.
Nice character development
Honestly, the series at that point really needed a return to form, specifically so they can remember what made sonic so great in the first place. But they didn't do that, they spammed classic sonic and the wisps until they weren't fun anymore.
@@lukebytes5366 And now, they flanderized Sonic and the gang.
SEGA doesn't care about Sonic anymore
Sonic needs a return to form. But Sonic 4 ain't it. Neither is Sonic Colors, Lost World or Generations. Anybody who relates those to the classic games has no clue what the classic games were.
Maybe repurposing an originally mobile only game into “Sonic 4,” was a terrible idea.
Yeah, SEGA was just nostalgia pandering to the purists that wanted to go back to a time when the Genesis games was everything Sonic. Well, look how that shortsightedness got us.
@@sambridgers9543 yeah, but the purists reacted with anger because they are ungrateful
To be honest, it was the worst idea Sega could've ever come out.
@@dragondelsur5156 We keep thinking they can't come up with worse ideas, but then we challenge something that should not be challenged to get worse than it already is.
@@dragondelsur5156 Don't forget Sega splitting Sonic team in two to make Sonic 06 and Sonic Wildfire (Secret rings)... :/
This has to be in my top 3 worst sonic games.. this is a great video explaining why this game is just really lame
Sonic 4 is hot garbage, next to '06, Shadow, Forces, Lost World and Boom.
@@tiruliru1189 Sonic Labyrinth
@@thecinematicmind And 3D Blast
@@thecinematicmind Labyrinth is just a bit slow and dull, not actually godawful like it's memed to be. The true garbage 8-bit game is Sonic Blast I think.
Sonic 4 can only dream to be like sonic generation
"Sonic 4 was the best Sonic game I have played in years! We didn't get 2D games for a while (Completely ignores the DS games) and continues to get mediocre 3D titles, and that's why Sega failed so miserably. This is the future we wished for since 1994! This is Sonic!!"
Just wanted to joke around XD
Jokes on sega
And yet I can totally believe that IGN, Game Grumps, and their legion of fanbrats actually said that.
-said every video game journalist ever
@@smashmaster521 so, im not allowed to like the game?
@@cakelayer Hey, if you like Sonic 4, more power to you. I'm not stopping you.
This game is so bland and unremarkable that makes it all the more offensive on how meh it is.
I see that this is a bad car, thus it is more offensive due to it being a bad car.
Excellent!
*Sonic 4 Episode 1 score*
Presentation: ⭐️⭐️ (the only thing about the game that is partially good is the music being catchy, but because it tried too hard to sound like a song from a main Sonic game of the early 1990s (16-bit Sonic 1, 16-bit Sonic 2, Sonic CD and Sonic 3K), that’s what made it sound all the faker)
Gameplay:
⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Never, ever play this game! - CS 2017 m.czcams.com/video/SJp5UN-oqk4/video.html)
@@kieranstark7213 Huh. Gotta love that Cybershell reference
@@anonymusmysterious5401
Absolutely, that’s just what I went for!
In the video “Why Sonic 4 Doesn’t Suck” (of course, most of us strongly (and respectfully) disagree), it mentioned that maybe the Homing Attack would be a redeeming quality that would likely be the most fun way of playing S4E1 that could make us enjoy the game more.
Not even. I think that while the homing attack in a 2D Sonic game is an interesting concept and one of the best/least bad things about the game, even that was poorly executed because the game itself had no intention of industriousness and therefore it started the trend of the “Meta Era” whereas good Sonic games were just decent and bad ones are even worse than the ones of previous decades.
@@kieranstark7213 Yeah. The homing attack was a intruding mechanic, the should have been like a mechanic when selecting easy mode in Sonic 4, but the fact that is as intruding as it is, being a must use to continue and even worse because they made it slower that in 3D games. Everytime it is required, it's just a pain to play through
Another fault of Sonic4 is how it doesn't work well with the canon. What we know about this game and considering how characterdesign-changes are somehow supposed to be canon, that means this happens a short while before SA1...except characters act in SA1 like they didn't see each other in a long time. Oops?
I feel as if it would be better if the characters looked like in Pocket Adventure, classic look with colored eyes. It would prevent Sonic from looking out of place while we are at it.
Imo S4E1 is the absolute worst mainline game in the franchise. Absolute middle finger to fans it felt like attaching Sonic 4 to the name. I do enjoy S4E2. Also check out the Senoue actual instrumental version of the Splash Hill medley, it’s great!!!
this exact comments goes to show how much nasty hate goes towards this game, id rather have 06 hated than this! why is this the new 06? the new punching bag? i just dont get it!
@@cakelayer because they decided to label a mobile game as Sonic 4 with less content than not only Sonic 3K, 2, CD but also 1 to lure people in for nostalgia and make a quick buck. It’s scummy. If it was still called Sonic the Portable literally no one would care. It’s a failure of a sequel in every form and to label it as the coveted sonic 4 purely for sales is wrong. No one is saying you can’t enjoy it if you do, that’s totally fine. I actually enjoy episode 2 though.
Imo episode 2 was even worse than 1. I hated the tails mechanic and I thought it was stupid how you couldn’t even play as tails by himself.
@@TimDespairBear11 I liked episode 1 but thought episode 2 was mid personally, but I feel insulted watching this "review" this guy almost sounds like ign in a way
@@cakelayer
Ahem.
Shoddy physics, awful graphics, gimmicks (minecart and torch) that doesn't fit what the previous 3 2D games established (it's not out of the question to assume that Sonic 4, a sequel to 3K, would have actual momentum based physics.), the homing attack (It was implemented in 3D out of necessity, you don't need it in 2D), rehashing old levels in the worst way possible, and a crappy OST to match.
What more can I say? It's a godawful mess of a game, and an insulting sequel to Sonic 1, 2, and 3K.
Considering Sega has no problem with reusing game titles, I think a new game also called Sonic 4 would be a good idea. Essentially it would expand on the story concepts shown in Sonic 3, continuing the lore surrounding the Emeralds, perhaps going over their creation. It would transition the series from 3K to SA1, and show how Sonic and co got to the mainland.
It really is repulsive how proudly non-essential this game is.
Great stuff as always J
3 weeks ago??
What? It s that a bad thing?
@@RadonAtom_ no it’s just that this video released 2 hours ago, but the comment time is showing up as “3 weeks ago” on my end, and that’s a little weird
Oh yeah that’s right, I forgot that this video becomes public today. I’m a patron for J’s Patreon so I was able to watch this video early
@@RadonAtom_ ahh that makes sense, thanks for clarifying
J: Talks about dark age of sonic. *Puts Dark age of the law from DD in the background*
Me: Perfect...
Ah, the start of the Mediocre Meta era and the drastic decline of quality.
Sonic has been declining since 2005.
@@mason2978 OBJECTION! Sonic may have hit a rough patch from 2005 to 2009, but the passion and drive that defined the franchise was still there. Nowadays, we're lucky to get Sonic games that are even close to the quality of Generations and Mania.
@@smashmaster521 2005-2009 was so bad Yuji Naka left. The meta era sucks too. There have been good and great games since 2005 but it's mostly meh.
@@mason2978 Naka left because he was promoted into an executive position, and was no longer allowed to be involved in actually making the games. So he quit so he could go back to doing what he loved. He didn't leave because the games were bad.
Also, if he _had_ stuck around then said games might've been worse. Like, imagine 06 but everything is controlled by a single context-sensitive button like in SA2, because Balan Wonderworld seems to indicate that the fixation on minimal button-mapping was Naka all along.
@@ToaArcan 2005-Present isnt bad but what I meant is SEGA making poor choices and Naka getting sick of that, also Unleashed had minimal button mapping as well.
This game is the epitome of corporate what possessed ign to think this was sonics big comeback game. I'm never touching this shit ever again this game has no business calling itself sonic the hedgehog 4
I would persinally say the music has a similar problem to classic's music from forces as the compositions are good but the instruments ruin the music for me
12:44 As JebTube so eloquently put it: "Hitboxes, my favorite concept."
It's funny how you called the mobile version a "port" since this game was actually supposed to be a mobile game originally but then sega decided to name it sonic 4 and make it a console release.
For a 2010 mobile game (ik it was released in 2011 for mobile),it's not that bad
Mania is Sonic 4.
Change my mind.
S4E1&2 aren't real; they can't hurt you.
I'd argue Sonic Advance 1 is Sonic 4 while Sonic Mania is Sonic 4 HD.
@@smashmaster521 That implies Mania is an HD re(something) of Advance which it isn't. Mania can be 5 or any numbered entry if you'd like Advance to be included.
@@runningoncylinders3829 Fair enough.
I don't considered Advance to be Sonic 4. More like the next gen of 2D Sonic ( a good one reminding u ) and Mania being the true Sonic 4 since it plays like the classic games; even with the rehashed zones ( An good rehash zone reminding you. But still. ). That's just me. They're both still great games and don't matter which u think is Sonic 4, they both deserve to be Sonic 4 than this one ever will.
@@jaretco6423 Fair enough, but Sonic Advance 1 does play like the Classic games just Sonic Mania does.
I happen to prefer Sonic Advance over Sonic Mania because it was my first 2D Sonic and is exactly what I want out of a 2D Sonic game, with levels that contain multiple pathways I can explore for more goodies that don't overstay their welcome (my ideal 2D Sonic level length is 2 minutes with exploration taken into consideration) while also rewarding good gameplay with the high speed that Sonic is famous for.
That's not to say I don't like Sonic Mania, mind you, since I consider it to be just as good as Sonic 3 & Knuckles, which is my third favorite 2D Sonic game and fifth favorite Sonic game overall. I just prefer the likes of Sonic Advance and Sonic Advance 2 when it comes to 2D Sonic due to nostalgic bias, ironically.
As I learned SomecallmeJohnny's re-review of Sonic 4, Episode 1 is literally a port of a mobile game called Sonic the Mobile. But still, no excuse for horrible physics and ideas
Sonic 4 deserves every hate it gets
OK cybershell
@@cakelayer OK sonic 4 defender
@@nedalomar4216 ARENT I ALLOWED TO HAVE AN OPINION, ARE YOU THAT THICK?
@@cakelayer you didn't say anything about your opinion you just said I'm cybershell
Don't forget that Sonic 4 was originally a mobile game with a different title, but Sega changed it.
"Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I" was actually meant to be a mobile spin-off. It ended up *becoming* a multiplatform mainline game during development! 😅
I remember losing all 28 of my lives on the final boss, waiting for eggman to land on me, then the floor started shaking and I got a game over cause I didn't know the floor would break probably the worst experience of this game but I blame myself for that one
Hearing my name while I wasn't paying full attention at the end scared the shit out of me 😂 I thought my screen name would be mentioned instead
To be fair, we did eventually get a proper successor to the Genesis Era Sonic
Sonic Mania. Christian Whitehead and the boys did it well.
I'll never forget how Jim "dollar store wig" Sterling called Sonic Retro "the biggest sonic hate site" because this game is fucking shit.
Jim Sterling is to games, what Ellen *Degenerate* is to TV
@@gamingnubs7628
You didn't spell degenerate or DeGeneres right.
@@theonlybilge i know. It was on purpose
@@gamingnubs7628
The joke would probably work better if you just went with “degenerate”.
To think Eurogamer gave this a 9/10, acting as if the game was the second coming of Christ all while claiming it to be the game Sega should have made 15 years ago and not just a return to form, but an apology (for 06), all while claiming Vanilla is a slutty rabbit.... no I am not joking!
Wow, the slander for Sonic's supporting cast is just disrespectful.
@@sambridgers9543 I know right! There was also mention of "a stupid alligator" in the review from the writer, but I really don't get where woman who wrote the review got Vanilla is slutty. Is it because she's a single mother or something, or that was one thing I saw being brought up when posting about it on reddit a few months ago.
Sheesh I expect that insult to Rogue (she's not a slut though). But VANILLA THE RABBIT?! What is wrong with these critics. If they hate Sonic's friends so much then they hate sonic 2 and sonic 3k.
@@superhedgehog6447 She and Cream are way too wholesome to be "slutty". Whoever did them dirty like that should've been fired.
@@sambridgers9543 I agree, I feel like some of these Critics are spoiled Nintendo fans trying to take down Sonic.
I still can’t wrap my head around this being an actual console release
10:01 The way he said "great game we got over here" cracked me up😂
Are you gonna wait for colors ultimate to review it? And just throw in an extra video or are you going to cover only the 2010 version?
Sonic Rush and Sonic Rush Advenutre are still genuinely really good to this day though!
Jim Sterling must be one of the 53 dislikes.
Or the dislikes (now 71) come from Sonic 4 fanboys claiming that _"Sonic 4 is love and life"_ while shitting on people with valid criticisms.
Hey J what’s your favorite song in the game besides the act clear theme?
imma be honest i forgot this game existed after sonic mania lol.
Probably for the best.
Your content is 🔥🔥🔥
The end of the dark age! :)
and the beginning of the BLAND Age, which in my opinion is far worse because "gameplay" became a suggestion and not a guarantee.
Will you be doing the 2nd part soon. It is the last good (Ist) Sonic game I grew up with.
I was going to comment this on your video about the eras, but since you came up with this in this video I decided to comment here.
What do you think about the next era? I mean, what should we call it?
I was joking about it with my friends, and I said it should be "A new Hope" or "Hope Era", since u know... We are all hoping that Sonic Rangers fixes this mess with the sonic franchise, and since a lot of things are changing inside Sonic Team, it could be a sign that things are getting fixed.
Ever since I started playing Sonic 4 back when it was relevant, I immediately gave up after Splash Hill. For me, it was SO boring and lifeless that it didn’t gave me the energy to finish it. And I agree, this game really does suck. BTW, I recommend Cybershell’s video on Sonic 4, he holds no punches on why this game sucks. Great analysis as always.
Cybershell's review was absolutely amazing.
@@khriskirby8986 not allowing opinions? Such a great review!
@@cakelayer I’ve seen you two dozen times in this comments section, and every time you act like everyone’s cramming their opinions down your throat when you’re doing exactly that. Did you watch the video, or even read the title? Obviously you’re going to be in the minority that thinks this game is good, since most people here - nay, most of the Sonic fanbase - thinks this game is hot garbage. But you come barging in anyway yelling at people to let you have your opinions. Guess what? No one here’s yelling at you for your opinion, because you’re yelling at everyone first. You’re the exact “Sonic 4 defender” strawman archetype Cyber mocked in his review. You’re probably not even reading this part and already typing your 10/10 comeback, but please, please take a long look in the mirror and assess the decisions that got you to this point. Have a good day, I likely won’t bother responding to whatever personal attack you send in response.
@@genericperson360 _"You're the exact "Sonic 4 defender" strawman archetype Cyber mocked in his review"_
**Braindead Sonic 4 fanatic*
Here, fixed it for you.
@@tiruliru1189 thanks for the clarification, I just didn’t want to piss him off and start a pointless argument
People who praised Sonic 4 at the time were high as fuck.
People who praise Shadow The Hedgehog and 06 are high as fuck.
@@mason2978 And damn proud of it. At least those games had effort put into them despite falling short and are still memorable experiences regardless. I keep forgetting Sonic 4 exists.
@@smashmaster521 06 had effort, but was rushed. Shadow2005 was a lazy attempt at being edgy only existence was to cash in on edgy teens but failed.
I love how people went from hating sonics friends to hating the fact all modern games are essentially just sonic and the new cool gimmick.
God, I remember buying this and I believe episode 2 on sale as a kid when I had PS Plus waaay back around 2011 or 2012. I just thought to myself "Oh cool, a brand new sonic game on my PS3!" and never got far enough to realize just how bad it was lmao.
Keep up the great work on the videos! Been a fan for a long while. It's refreshing to see someone from my own generation give their genuine takes on things like modern sonic or, yknow, the old DCAU cartoons
Sonic Mania imo is the true sonic 4
This game sucks
Something we all said one time
_"Sonic doesn't work on 3D, Sonic should just go back to 2D."_
False, Sega proved that they can't even do 2D Sonic correctly.
Are you going to include sonic colors ultimate in your sonic colors review?
Sonic 4 is 100x worse than 06. Sonic 06 was made with passion, it was just rushed. Sonic and the Secret Rings was made with passion, but had bad controls. Sonic 4 is bad because well... it’s passionless. It’s the only Sonic game that is just... nothing. It’s a nothing game.
I feel sad this is my introduction to sonic and hell even when I was little I thought it was shit.
i actually remember that bizarre countdown (especially how it had chip and shade really showing people were done with the friends when the problem was the different gameplay styles they should've put to a different ip than the friends themselves outside flanderization for some like tails,knuckles,shadow outside 06 and amy as the solution could just be making them playable in sonic's style with their own unique qualities/designing the levels off that.) and the contest for 4(how i got introduced to somecallmejohnny looking up entries finding the interview.:3) and a scrapped image for a doomsday zone esque boss.
like super sonic returning to stage gameplay(do think colors handled it better.) but this and forces are definitely where the use of nostalgia got bad that the title is only for marketing a bare mobile game(that also shows the problem with rush outside cream/blaze when the boost is taken out for it's level design and very stiff control.) and while sonic being by himself was alright to me for colors(even if hover made me wish tails was playable/the friends were playable in generations.) i definitely felt tails was missing outside of the lame rocket,personally felt the 3d model was stiff and really made it feel like there should've been dialogue with how there's no story at all(like that actually funny story point of eggman being broke from the death egg's destruction explaining him going after the casino zone.),no originality giving the game it's identity and was with forces,lost world,boom and free riders the worst/actually bad of the meta era playing it safe,banking on nostalgia without it's charm(that thankfully christian whitehead & his team fixed with the mobile classic games/mania being the true sonic 4.).
I have a problem I can’t play the game it says I need Java script 1.60.0 how can I play it
I was quite surprised when I found out that Sonic 4 Episode 1 was not just a mobile game, considering how low quality it already was. No idea how they thought this was acceptable to release on consoles.
God, I still cringe whenever someone refers to the discount hack and slash combat as "god of war styled" when DMC was the first one in the genre and the one that inspired god of war
But Sonic Unleashed was clearly trying to be like God of War, not Devil May Cry. Games that are in the same ballpark, but games trying to be like DMC and games trying to be like GoW are often quite different.
@@JsReviews they are literally the same genre, and DMC was the one that created it, so claiming every game in the same genre or having similar gameplay to GOW is kind of disrespectful to the founder of the genre. It's like saying a platformer is sonic based instead of Mario based
But in that very example, I believe a game like Freedom Planet is inspired by Sonic. When something like Shovel Knight is more like Mario/Mega Man. It's all the same genre, but you can be inspired by a particular game. I'd compare Bayonetta to Devil May Cry. but Sonic Unleashed is unmistakably trying to be like God of War.
True dat
@@blyat8832 "they're the same genre, DMC created it"
How does that make sense, Goldeneye basically invented the modern FPS and that game is a steaming pile. Who cares who started it, it's not who did it first, it's who did it best.
15:31 What do you mean by amy's campaign? Like in the sense that she plays completely differently from the other 3 characters? Or that Amy wasn't present in the Genisis titles?
Both
3:19 is this an actual picture that Sega posted online during the
pre-release please let me know because it seems so weird if it is
Just a terrible game that shows how little SEGA cared about the fandom at the time, just about the moolah. Mania literally destroys Sonic 4 in every possible way.
@Malik Nal That's what the critics thought (too many playable characters), not the fandom itself
Sonic 4 trailer looks better without the trash cell shade
Hello friend. It's been a while. This is a bit off topic but are you ever going to do a review on that Harley Quinn Batman Movie or did you already do that I've forgotten. Anyway what about Static Shock? You said you were going to review that too. Lol. Just wondering out of curiosity. Yay.
Words cannot describe how pissed off I was in Sonic 4 ep 1 and 2 for the walking controls. It was so slow and sluggish and even made the special stages in ep 2 (especially stage 7) impossible to beat.
Personally I really like this game, they have their own charm, their own identity.
They're like the New Super Mario Bros of Sonic, and I like them all the same.
That actually sounds like a fun concept...
Making Sonic 4 into the "New Super Mario Bros." of Sonic games.
I hate the physics in this game
I agree, but the lack of momentum bugs me more 😑
@@tiruliru1189 Right? Like gaining momentum from rolling down a hill. Something that's was there since day one is just missing is this game
I’m guessing the Sonic Free Riders review got canceled. Is that right, J?
I got a question for you will you do colors on uiltame
Amazing video but nothing will ever top the raw anger displayed in cybershell's review of this game.
Who remembers Sonic Fan Remix which back in the day put Sonic "4" to shame?
Me.
will the upcoming Sonic Colors Ultimate be a seperate review?
If the “keep 50+ rings til the end” special stage gimmicks had an option to go on still if you missed it than it would be good for not only getting emeralds but getting continues for the final boss just in case
Let's all hope and pray 🙏 that rangers won't play it safe
"If this was just a mobile phone game then it would be decent"
Well that's because it was supposed to just be a mobile game called Sonic The Portable, but at the last minute Sega forced the game onto consoles and changed the name to Sonic 4 to gage more interest.
Also in the casino level in the background, you can see a ferris wheel with the original logo for Sonic The Portable on it.
I think it would've just been a blip in history like the Game Gear spin-offs.
The Game Gear Sonic games were far better than that garbage
@@the757general2 yea even the Game Gear games had more original levels
What's funny is that they blurred the texture (likely) in an attempt to hide it instead of just changing the logo.
I am going to get super hard mode on SONIC HEROES. Ahh this is really painful
It's really insulting that this game is called Sonic 4 when it adds nothing to the table and does nothing new, this game makes Sega look like they hate their own mascot and told Dimps "make this game as mediocre as possible".
You know what's really weird? When Black Knight came out, people lambasted it due to the fact that *SoNiC hOlDs A sWoRd!!!,* and yet these people didn't (and probably still don't) understand why people hate Sonic 4, Lost World and Forces.
I’ve been saying this since Sonic Mania, Sonic 4’s worst aspect is it’s title. If it stuck with it og title, Sonic Mobile and stayed off of consoles people would not be as upset with this game as they are
That’s why sega won’t make a game called “sonic adventure 3”, people would just flip out if it wasn’t perfect. I think they were going to call Unleashed sa3 but they decided to change its name, likely out of fear