Sonic 4 Leaked Gameplay Video Breakdown

Back on February 16th, 1UP received an anonymous leak of Sonic the Hedgehog 4 gameplay.  While the video was taken down at Sega’s request,  there are still some sites that have been able to keep the video accessible.  Predictably, it has also appeared on (Edit: and been continually removed from) Youtube.

I’m actually quite excited by the content of the video.  The game looks better than I’d expected, with plenty of retro throwbacks shown in a short time. I’ll go ahead and list some highlights from the footage after the jump.  Keep in mind, however, that this is an alpha build, so the gameplay of the final product might work somewhat differently. Read more »

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Sega’s Retro Revival

In the early to mid 1990′s, the console wars were once much simpler than they are now. The 16-bit era was ruled by gaming juggernauts Nintendo and Sega. All attempts by other companies to gain a piece of their financial pie failed miserably. Other companies like Panasonic and Atari may have promised more powerful hardware, but the ability of the Big Two to consistently produce quality software for the SNES and Genesis ensured for years that the Nintendo/Sega rivalry would not be challenged.

Part of the reason that Sega was able to keep up with Nintendo was their mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic was basically designed to be Mario’s polar opposite. Nintendo’s spokesman was a humble everyman who defended a happy go lucky wonderland. Mario was all about accessibility and fun for all people of all ages.

Sega, on the other hand, tried a more rebellious and youth-oriented approach, casting their mascot as a cocky teenager with a devil-may-care attitude. While Mario fought in a whimsical fantasy world with the typical fairy tail goal of saving the princess from the dragon, Sonic provided a bit of subtle social commentary, dashing through a quasi-cyberpunk landscape, protecting the natural world from the looming danger of pollution and out of control technology.

The difference in approach was reflected in the gameplay styles as well. While in Mario games, the player had to tread carefully to avoid death, Sonic was all about speed. Sure, the player was still quite vulnerable (especially to drowning!), but it was easy to feel invincible when Sonic could fling himself across obstacles and through enemies with ease.

This was just the way it was for years. Mario was the perfect comfort food, but Sonic also provided a great way for gamers to take what was, for its time, a walk on the wild side.

It couldn’t last, however, and both Sega and its mascot had to adapt to changing times. What was cool then wasn’t so cool anymore, and it would take more than “edginess” and “attitude” for the company to stay on its feet.

At the turn of the century, it seemed like the Dreamcast would keep Sega in the console race for another decade. It wasn’t to be, of course, and Sony’s superior marketing and third party support crushed the once great giant. Sega was forced to become a lowly software company, and as the company fell into the background, so did its once popular mascot.

The last ten years haven’t been kind to Sonic, to say the least. It used to be that when you played a Sonic game, you knew what you were getting. However, modern Sonic games presented the player with a mystery box more often that not. There were so many experiments in the Sonic franchise’s gameplay structure over the last decade that one would be, at times, hard pressed to believe that all of these games were part of the same series.

Out of nowhere, evidence surfaced that suggested Sega was finally willing to change that and go back to the basics. Last year, on September 9th,2009, the tenth anniversary of the Dreamcast’s launch, Sega released a trailer for a brand new retro-styled Sonic game. Watch the trailer and more after the jump. Read more »