"It's unfortunate that such an early build of Sonic 4 was made more public than we liked. We do want fan feedback and part of the extended development is to incorporate a lot of the feedback we've gotten. We do want to hear it a lot, but we want to hear the right feedback. A lot of fans saw a build that was so early on that we've moved well beyond it. It's sort of like giving feedback on a concept car instead of the actual prototype, so while some of the criticism was relevant, a lot of it wasn't anymore, which is unfortunate because we want to hear what fans have to say." - Sonic 4 brand manager Ken Baloughs
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 was something many wanted to see for a very long time. Continuing the story from Sonic 3 & Knuckles, many had lofty expectations for this title. When it finally released, many were split on the project. From it’s episodic nature, different feeling controls and changes that felt strange to fans of Sonic’s classic adventures, Sonic 4 Episode I and II were divisive games to say the least.
I feel like if they could keep improving on the Sonic 4 physics, formula and level design they could have gone from the good Sonic 4 Ep II to something genuinely great for Sonic 4 Ep III.
Strange games. Definitely shouldn't have been "Sonic 4". Seeing as it re-used alot of ideas, level themes enemies and bosses etc, it really should have been called "Sonic Megamix" or something and the levels should have been named after the originals. This would have given SEGA a chance to see what fans reaction was to this style of game, before going in for "proper" Sonic 4. Sonic Mania feels far more "Sonic 4" than the actual Sonic 4 does haha
After today’s leak, Microsoft just confirmed via Xbox Live Director of Programming Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb that a bunch of new games are going to be compatible starting today with Xbox One’s backward compatibility feature.
Casually Hardcore takes a detailed look at sonics 25 year history. This video covers Sonic's 25 year history from the birth of Sonic all the way up to Sonic Boom, covering all the major Sonic games as well as how he changed the gaming landscape both with video games and non video game things.
... if it's a good game, people are still gonna like it.
The early feedback was on the animation, the 3d graphics on the 2d gameplay, and the fact that it's episodic.
Maybe they fixed the animation, and the 3d graphics debate is still valid (personally, I still feel Sonic 1/2/CD just looks better, and the new 2d Rayman title shows how gorgeous 2d can still look when you try hard enough...), but if it plays and looks good, it won't be a big issue either.
Finally, people, including myself, moaned about it being episodic, and TBH, I feel that's pretty fair criticism, regardless of what build they're showing.
Why are they worried? The series has already been butchered long time ago. It's up to Sega to make a sonic game that doesn't suck.
We haven't had a good sonic in over 10 years, what do you expect?
Most people complain because they care. Sonic is a great character with some truly awesome, and classic, games. We just want Sonic back where he deserves to be.