Sonic the Hedgehog 4

[atmuh]

why cant they just do sprites

[Nabeel Ansari]

why cant they just do sprites

There's a conversation between a couple guys and some kid named "Neblix" (he's a n00b, don't even bother talking to him) somewhere on this thread about that.

EDIT: Here it is. http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=27249&page=9

[atmuh]

thats the same page as this one

[Red Shadow]

yeah not everybody uses the same threadview, neb

[BlackPhantom]

Well, regardless of how this turns out, it's good to see that SEGA is actually listening to what the fans want.

I'm curious what the music will be this time. Will they also go back to the old music? Will it be something entirely new? It would be cool to see some remixes.

I think it would have been good to at least have Tails in it. I had lots of fun playing Sonic 2 or 3 with my brother controlling the invincible Tails.

[Dr.Flintlock]

Ehh, I remain cautiously optimistic about this so-called Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (I always thought Sonic and Knuckles was 4 technically). When Sega was interviewed about the title being episode 1, they explained its 1 in the way that Sonic 3 was the first episode to that story and Sonic and Knuckles was the 2nd episode. If that's the case, and each game is self-contained with new stages and such, I think I can support that. I imagine that's why you only play as Sonic in the first. They'll add tails and (maybe) knuckles in the later episodes.

I don't care if it is episodic, as long as its standalone and not "expansions".

And yes, Eggman isn't menacing at all, but then I always thought Robotnik was more of a Saturday morning cartoon evil genius than a genuinely malevolent one. So I think the new name works to an extent.

But then again, I always felt his voice actors helped with that image.

I have no issue with the visuals. I think they capture the retro feel of the older series and there's always the chance that things can be smoothed out.

I really am getting tired of hearing people complain about it looking ugly though. We get a 2D sonic game and people still want to bitch to cry foul about Sonic needing to die.

For a second, I thought I'd walked onto a Gamefaqs board. Ahem...

[Red Shadow]

would be neat if ep 2 was tails only and ep 3 knux only or something of that nature

same game concept with twists instead of "LOOKIT ALL HIM FREINS"

[Red Shadow]

project dog cousin and project ant eater

[NeoForte]

Actually this is a 2D game. It just seems to be using 3D models as sprites (kinda like DKC or Mortal Kombat). So I guess they are giving us a HD 2D game.

[zircon]

Well, what some people are asking for isn't "3D 2D" or "2.5D" as some call it, but true HD sprites in 2D. The problem is, as has been stated earlier, drawing high-res sprites is incredibly expensive and time-consuming. In fact, drawing regular sprites is expensive, too. There are FAR more advantages to going 3D (for example, being able to use any kind of camera rotation, particle or lighting effect, to name a few), and games like Valkyria Chronicles and Tales of Symphonia have proven that you can achieve a very stylized feel while doing that.

[friendlyHunter]

Dr. Robotnik sounds menacing.

I'm giving you a...

[SoloGamer]

So it seems you can access the intro (countdown right above "News") on the site by hitting tab and pressing enter once it's highlighted

Story thus far:

It began as Sonic’s animal friends begin disappearing from South Island. Soon Sonic discovers that evil scientist Dr. Eggman has been kidnapping them and turning them into robots to collect the legendary treasure – The Chaos Emeralds. Sonic decides it’s up to him to save them and embarks on a quest to free his animal friends. Sonic battles Eggman through many different zones. Sonic eventually pursues Eggman to Final Zone where the first in many epic battles between them begins. In the end Sonic is victorious and Eggman’s Mecha fly’s away badly damaged. Sonic returns to Green Hill Zone and re-unites with his friends.

Their reunion is short lived however, as Eggman resurfaces and begins kidnapping Sonic friends again, in an effort to create more workers to finish his ultimate Weapon – The Death Egg! Teaming up with the newly met, Miles ‘Tails’ Prower, Sonic embarks on a new mission through West Side Island in an effort to free his friends and ensure Eggman does not obtain the 7 Chaos emeralds to fuel the Death Egg.

Once the West Side Island is freed, Sonic and Tails eventually board the Tornado and assault the Death Egg itself. After destroying Mecha Sonic, Eggman flees and enters his new Eggman Robot attacking Sonic! After a heated battle Sonic destroys the Eggman Robot and the Death Egg begins to explode.

Sonic and Tails fly down and come across mysterious island called Angel Island. This island is floating by the power of the precious stone called Master Emerald, but now this mysterious island are dropping down to the ocean surface because the Death Egg had been falling on this island. Sonic and Tails are attacked by a Red Echidna named Knuckles the guardian of the island.

Knuckles steals the Chaos emeralds from Sonic, being tricked by Eggman that he is an enemy come to take the Master Emerald.While Sonic and Tails are entangled by Knuckles, Eggman repairs the Death Egg and preps it for launch.

Sonic manages to jump on Death Egg just as it’s flying off. After confronting Eggman on the Death Egg, Sonic defeats Eggman once more and the Death Egg plummets back to Angel Island.

Back on the ground Dr. Eggman begins the repairing Death Egg again. Feeling Knuckles has served his purpose, he sends EggRobo to eliminate this potential threat. EggRobo finds Knuckles relaxing in Mushroom Zone and drops a bomb on him but Knuckles manages to survive. Enraged, the Wild Echidna sets off to defeat EggRobo. Meanwhile Sonic and Tails explore the island to find traces of the Death Egg and find out Eggman’s fate. After and Epic showdown between Sonic and Knuckles, Eggman uses the opportunity to finally steal the Master Emerald and re-launches the Death Egg. With the power of the emeralds, Sonic goes after Eggman, who has taken the Master Emerald into space.

Sonic and Tails secure the Master Emerald and return it to Knuckles on Angel Island. With it’s power restored, the Angel Island lifts off into the sky as Sonic and Tails fly off into the sunset.

But this humiliating defeat only serves to further Eggman’s rage, and he has determined once and for all to rid himself of Sonic. Eggman revisits – and improves – the very best of his creations to defeat our spiked hero.

And so a new Adventure begins…

Hope this means a new Metal Sonic, though I'd be happy if they just reused the one from S3&K.

[Inimitable]

So it seems you can access the intro (countdown right above "News") on the site by hitting tab and pressing enter once it's highlighted

Hope this means a new Metal Sonic, though I'd be happy if they just reused the one from S3&K.

I thought this was a joke at first, because I figured no self-respecting company would release something written so poorly. But lo and behold, it's real. At this point, this isn't just me being a grammar nazi, this is sad.

[Dr.Flintlock]

Hope this means a new Metal Sonic, though I'd be happy if they just reused the one from S3&K.

I dunno, like I said earlier, I'd prefer a nastier version of the Death Egg over another Metal Sonic any day.

After all, we've already seen Metal Sonic AS AN OVER THE TOP FINAL BOSS already...

Now if we wanted to get serious, I say he makes an uber lumberjack bot like the minor boss from Mushroom Hill Zone 1

[Bleck]

In fact, drawing regular sprites is expensive, too.

I've never understood this. Do you mean that it's time consuming, and thus you have to pay artists much more than 3D artists? Or is there some sort of thing involved in drawing sprites that somehow inherently costs money?

[SoloGamer]

I dunno, like I said earlier, I'd prefer a nastier version of the Death Egg over another Metal Sonic any day.

After all, we've already seen Metal Sonic AS AN OVER THE TOP FINAL BOSS already...

Yeah, but I'm not talking about a giant fuck you boss, just a normal sized one for Sonic to fight/race against. Maybe as a semifinal boss in a new Death Egg.

A brand new Robosonic would be preferable, but if they're just gonna reuse an old design, I prefer the one from S3&K than the Sonic CD design.

[Schwaltzvald]

Do you mean that it's time consuming, and thus you have to pay artists much more than 3D artists? Or is there some sort of thing involved in drawing sprites that somehow inherently costs money?

Both pretty much.

To my understanding it took 2 months to get one character of Blazblue to be made and I'm not even sure if this even included the animation; not to mention the background stuff that is sprite animated. Wouldn't any one prefer clean art over the doodles of a highschooler in something like an arcade game?

3d models on the other hand is much easier to make; heck I can do 3d models with a "borrowed" copy of maya or whatever program utilized for 3d animations for a dime.

edit* This is the content exclusive to the console version of Blazblue, not on the arcade that would be related to sprite/art.

* New music, animations, backgrounds and a console-exclusive story mode

This would have cost less money had they just ported over the arcade version to the consoles but they went further in making them have more content.

As for Metal Sonic I'd prefer the S3&K version or

[Poke'G]

Why do I remember the three bots being named Silver Sonic (2), Metal Sonic (CD), and Mecha Sonic (S&K)? Is that official? Maybe I'm remembering that from the Archie comics.

Regardless, it beats calling all three Metal.

[chivesontheweb]

I started thinking about this, and are they going to bring the old Chaos Emerald/Super Sonic system back into the mix? You know, being able to to go Super Sonic anywhere in any level? That would be awesome!

[Nekofrog]

Oh jesus christ, Sega, Sonic doesn't need a story. That's one of the things that ruined the series in the first place.

[zircon]

I've never understood this. Do you mean that it's time consuming, and thus you have to pay artists much more than 3D artists? Or is there some sort of thing involved in drawing sprites that somehow inherently costs money?

As Schwaltzvald said, drawing sprites is just incredibly time-consuming. Thus you have to pay artists way more. The process for 3D models is much simpler and more flexible. After you construct the model with however much polygon detail that you want, it is given a skeleton via "rigging", then textured (the skin, clothes, etc.) After that, you can animate it by simply moving around the skeleton.

With a sprite, every time you want it to do ANYTHING else, it needs to be redrawn frame by frame. So, a smooth, 20-frame attack requires 20 different drawings. A 20-frame 3D animation requires nothing more than clicking and dragging a point on the skeleton.

3D models also give you way more flexibility which ultimately saves money. Maybe the developers decide halfway through that Sonic's head is too big. With sprites, you're screwed. All of the original sprites are basically unusable. You have to redraw every single frame of every single animation, at every single angle and with every palette. With 3D models, it's no problem. A few tweaks and the changes are done, and they impact all animations too.

[Sir_NutS]

I love how some companies are taking a step back and bringing the old school feel to old franchises. I absolutely loved Bionic Commando rearmed, New super mario bros, megaman 9, contra rebirth and castlevania rebirth. We also have been waiting for a 2d-only, sonic-only game for a looooong time and endured so many shitty sonic games for more than a decade(yes I know about the handheld games, but its not just the same).

I hope they deliver.

[Bleck]

3D models also give you way more flexibility which ultimately saves money.

But they don't look anywhere near as nice!

[Schwaltzvald]

But they don't look anywhere near as nice!

That's why you go high end and have sprite work done, but be ready to pay an arm and leg~!

[Bleck]

I'd rather pay good money to have a good looking game that people enjoy playing than pay less money to have a terrible series that flounders around on the bottom of the video game barrel for almost fifteen years!