The rumours are true...
I think I'll come back and compose my thoughts a little later, but at the moment I'm feeling like I'm done with the whole "critical, whiny" attitude that many fans seem to think is cool nowadays. Sure, that's a fairly generic looking Green Hill clone, but if any game has permission to use it, it's this one. It looks fantastic and I want to feel like a ten year old again, eagerly awaiting and thinking over the possibilities of the next game in my favourite series. Well done Sega, you did it!
*Later that day*
Well we've had a few hours to let it sink in and a few more details to trickle out. I recommend the Q&A with good 'ol Ken if you haven't read it already. Also http://www.sonicthehedgehog4.com now lives and breathes. The design of the site is a little generic-Sonic, the kind of default styling they give to most of their general purpose Sonic websites, but hopefully it might mutate into something more appropriately retro. They're probably still establishing the branding characteristics of the game as a whole.
All in all everything that we suspected is true though;
- A direct continuation of the original series, picking up where S&K left off. The official site even mentions Angel Island and the Death Egg having just been dealt with!
- High res 2D graphics (there's a lot of talk of 3D around, but I suspect it relates only to the characters, not the environments, and even then it could just be pre-rendered).
- Classic moves such as the spin dash. Homing attack also pops in.
- The first game of at least two parts, exactly like Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles.
- The first download only Sonic game, through XBox Live, PSN, and also Wiiware will not be left in the cold afterall. And interestingly, unofficially uncovered, iPhone. Christian Whitehead's Retro Engine perhaps..? Hmm..
- July release. That's not long!
Overall, I love what I'm seeing and reading and I love the whole approach. As I've said somewhere before (or maybe just in my own head, I can't remember now), making it a smaller downloadable title ultimately makes it more likely to be of a higher quality because the developers won't feel like they have to pad the game out by introducing other mechanics, which everyone always hates - it won't matter if this game can be completed within a couple of days and only really has one central gameplay mode. Plus, its cheaper price is perfect for the 'normos' who stopped paying attention after Sonic & Knuckles, will one day come across a Sonic 4 advertised on their XBox, download a quick demo, love it and buy the whole thing there and then.
Now I make no secret about reservations over their choice of first level. I was holding out for something more original, however I will admit that a Green Hill clone does shout "look at me, I'm Sonic like you used to know me!!" to lost, casual fans, whom I think this is partially aimed at, in addition to the ones like you and me who have hung around and spent years building complex websites (or maybe that's just me). It does, however, look gorgeous. It's bright and colourful as it should be, and I love the extrusions and intrusions on the individual checkers, creating lovely lighting and shadows. It bodes well for the graphics of the game as a whole, because you just can't find this kind of quality in the world of fan gaming, and I can't wait to see this applied to the other levels too. Those also downhearted by the lack of originality behind this level should hopefully be comforted by the fact that at least one more game will follow this one with a whole new set of levels, and between the two of them, I'm sure they can concoct some more interesting ideas. It's hardly the end of the world.
Inevitably, this game will be nitpicked and such evidence can already be found. I can understand resistance to be excited if you've felt let down multiple times, but clearly some people will never really get the big picture. I speak mostly of those shouting at their monitors about how Sonic has green eyes, how the homing attack will make an appearance, etc etc. I think each Sonic fan needs to realise that the franchise does not revolve around the exact specifications of what they, individually, deem to be a worthwhile Sonic game, that anything less than that is not automatically crap, and that their opinions do not necessarily reflect, even by majority, the opinions of the whole fanbase. Whatever the specifics are that you want, you are unlikely to get all of them in one go, because everyone has different needs - I think some of us need to be a lot more accepting, and less fussy over the details.
Also, I think it's unlikely that any future Sonic game will ever really be better or possibly even as good as your favourites among the original Mega Drive selection - in a way, their quality is time-locked, it's directly linked with the nostalgic memories of playing them in their own time period, when you were probably a youngster and because of all that you've seen and played since, nothing will ever quite live up to that. I personally, have come to accept that and I urge fans not to have those kind of high expectations for new titles, official or otherwise, because they'll probably never really be met. Each game should be judged on its own merit, with its own approach, in my view.
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Zone: 0 is a Sonic the Hedgehog game information site aiming to provide reference and strategy guides of more depth and clarity than ever before. With screenshots, maps and incredibly thorough descriptions for every level, Zone: 0 is an unofficial Sonic site like absolutely no other..
Hydrocity Zone Sonic 3
Welcome to Hydrocity, the ancient, submerged aqueducts of Angel Island. Sonic 3's main water level can be fairly troublesome in places, what with some lengthy underwater segments in Act 1 that you'll really want to hunt out a bubble shield for, and one or two particularly tricky corridors where you must avoid crushing blocks in Act 2. Other than that though, it's mostly speedy and fun, and you actually spend more time above water than below it. Each act also varies considerably in its structure. Great background music and simple but challenging features make this stage a true favourite for me.
15th December 2009
Hydrocity Zone added to the Sonic 3 section
Hydrocity Zone added to the Sonic 3 section
9th September 2009
Sonic 3 guide has begun! Angel Island Zone has been added, in addition to the Background info and Stages and Story pages.
Sonic 3 guide has begun! Angel Island Zone has been added, in addition to the Background info and Stages and Story pages.
4th September 2009
Zone: 0 officially launches its own forum!
Zone: 0 officially launches its own forum!
8th August 2009
Sonic CD guide now fully complete! Metallic Madness page added.
Sonic CD guide now fully complete! Metallic Madness page added.
21st July 2009
Sonic CD update triple pack! Other Modes, Miscellaneous and Downloads pages now available!
Update history
Sonic CD update triple pack! Other Modes, Miscellaneous and Downloads pages now available!
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 |
Secret talent for fake Needlemouse concept art |
A Retrospective of Sonic's Second Decade |
Zone: 0 captures its first award!
Sega are playing interesting games at the moment. They've already revealed who's going to be in Sonic 4 - whoops, I mean, "Project Needlemouse", and teased toward its content with concept art of a classic badnik design, all by connecting to the fans directly and more personally, through setting us challenges on their blog. We complete the challenge, we get the info or media that, like crack addicts, we desperately desire! I must say I think it's a much more original and involving approach than the traditional "we release trailer, press release, screenshots, you talk amongst yourselves kthxbye" way of doing things, and particularly appropriate for the subject matter. They know they've got something big and probably franchise-shaking on their hands, if that's a term, and they're being charmingly sneaky about it. Crucially though, as a fan, I feel like more of a part of this than I would otherwise. They could have gone to all the big gaming sites who facelessly slam their games when it comes to review time and ask them to pass on this kind of stuff, but I do admire their alternative marketing strategy here. It makes a world of difference to have this kind of thing delivered in such an informal way, and cut out that unnecessary middleman.
Today they've launched another challenge, and made big promises about what's at stake; The game's real name, concept art from the first Zone (note that they use that term rather than level or stage) plus a "very cool" bonus surprise, which I might predict would be artwork of Sonic himself, perhaps in his original form. Tantalising, but this time the task is a little more strenuous than just answering a few questions that everyone knows, we need to get our creative hats on and come up with our own concept art of our favourite classic badniks, a challenge inspired by Trakker, an artist who in turn was inspired enough by the first Shellcracker Needlemouse artwork to come up with a couple of his own. We have until Monday to get a hundred of them over to Sega.
This post continues, click here to read on or add a comment...
Today they've launched another challenge, and made big promises about what's at stake; The game's real name, concept art from the first Zone (note that they use that term rather than level or stage) plus a "very cool" bonus surprise, which I might predict would be artwork of Sonic himself, perhaps in his original form. Tantalising, but this time the task is a little more strenuous than just answering a few questions that everyone knows, we need to get our creative hats on and come up with our own concept art of our favourite classic badniks, a challenge inspired by Trakker, an artist who in turn was inspired enough by the first Shellcracker Needlemouse artwork to come up with a couple of his own. We have until Monday to get a hundred of them over to Sega.
This post continues, click here to read on or add a comment...
I was all set to wave the year, and the decade off as quietly as always, but last night I was struck by a good idea for a little article. It's been a fascinating decade in Sonic's life, filled with ups and downs, innocence, optimism, pessimism, dramas, diversity, disappointments, sadness, rage, passion, dedication, anticipation and excitement. Come with me now as I take you back on a journey through them all. It's a rocky road at times but it accounts for over half of Sonic's life and by the end of it he's still as alive and exciting as ever..
The Adventure Continues (2000 - 2002)
We began the decade still knee deep in the joys of Sonic Adventure, particularly if, like me, you were lucky enough to get a Dreamcast for Christmas in 99. This is the game that valiantly broke the Sonic drought of the late nineties, kick starting this new generation of Sonic that reminded everyone of the once adored blue icon. It would run rampant in the noughties with its new emphasis on dialogue heavy cutscenes, a larger cast of characters (who all now looked older and funkier) and large, slightly more realistic worlds. Speaking personally, I liked SA1, but by its release I'd lost touch with Sonic somewhat, and though this new game was still Sonic, at the same time it felt quite different and alien, and as such the couple of small releases in the year 2000 passed me by. Dreamcast's Sonic Shuffle was a party game game akin to Mario Party that saw Sonic and co do battle with the Void through the deadly medium of a large, life-sized board game. I caught up with it in 2003 and have played it about twice since. Sonic Pocket Adventure meanwhile was a handheld platformer sitting very quietly between the Game Gear titles of yesteryear and the Advances, and defying the new age of Sonic by essentially providing a shrunken down, portable version of Sonic 2. Its appearance on the Neo Geo Pocket meant that it was technically the first proper Sonic game to appear outside of a Sega console.
This post continues, click here to read on or add a comment...
The Adventure Continues (2000 - 2002)
We began the decade still knee deep in the joys of Sonic Adventure, particularly if, like me, you were lucky enough to get a Dreamcast for Christmas in 99. This is the game that valiantly broke the Sonic drought of the late nineties, kick starting this new generation of Sonic that reminded everyone of the once adored blue icon. It would run rampant in the noughties with its new emphasis on dialogue heavy cutscenes, a larger cast of characters (who all now looked older and funkier) and large, slightly more realistic worlds. Speaking personally, I liked SA1, but by its release I'd lost touch with Sonic somewhat, and though this new game was still Sonic, at the same time it felt quite different and alien, and as such the couple of small releases in the year 2000 passed me by. Dreamcast's Sonic Shuffle was a party game game akin to Mario Party that saw Sonic and co do battle with the Void through the deadly medium of a large, life-sized board game. I caught up with it in 2003 and have played it about twice since. Sonic Pocket Adventure meanwhile was a handheld platformer sitting very quietly between the Game Gear titles of yesteryear and the Advances, and defying the new age of Sonic by essentially providing a shrunken down, portable version of Sonic 2. Its appearance on the Neo Geo Pocket meant that it was technically the first proper Sonic game to appear outside of a Sega console.
This post continues, click here to read on or add a comment...
Hope you're all enjoying the holiday season! The results are in for 2009's Sonic Site Awards, held by the Sonic Stadium, announced earlier this evening on their Sonic Hour radio show. Zone: 0 was nominated in four out of five categories, (the most frequently appearing site on the lists, which alone is worth boasting about!), and we won the best layout and design award, which I'm thrilled with! I must admit I did spend a lot of time carefully sculpting out this new look, I'm really pleased with it and in fact it's probably the nicest looking thing I've ever built! There's a certain ironic neatness to this as well, because I actually aimed to try and get the new look up and running in time for the 2008 awards, which never materialised - fortunate because it never would have been ready for them anyway! So I'm really happy about that, if I may say so, I think it's well deserved.
We came third in the Information Station award, fourth for community (more than fair - it's only really just sprung up and isn't a hive of constant activity) and, as it did in 2007, got the runner up prize for the Sonic site award itself! Who knew Sonic was quite so big in Brazil, eh? Smiley225 is already very kindly translating the site into German, maybe I should look into a Portuguese version as well, if that'll win more votes!
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We came third in the Information Station award, fourth for community (more than fair - it's only really just sprung up and isn't a hive of constant activity) and, as it did in 2007, got the runner up prize for the Sonic site award itself! Who knew Sonic was quite so big in Brazil, eh? Smiley225 is already very kindly translating the site into German, maybe I should look into a Portuguese version as well, if that'll win more votes!
This post continues, click here to read on or add a comment...
Featured Posts
Sonic's had a turbulent decade filled with heartache, surprise and joy. Relive those moments with me as I take you on a journey through every game of the last ten years, and how the community has grown along with them.
Zone: 0 wins Best Layout and Design award at the Sonic Site Awards 2009! Nominated in three other awards, including runner-up in the Sonic Site Award itself!
We now have our own forum! Bring your intelligence and wit and participate in some interesting Sonic discussions!
It's time to expand! I'm looking for passionate and enthusiastic Sonic fans to write and research for Zone: 0. Create game guides of your own to be added to the site, and help take it into a new direction!
Find out all about the new updates in the brand new design of Zone: 0! New look, new features, new content!
@SonicWrecks Those 4/5's will come around eventually, and if they don't, screw em. Not Sega's fault if they've forgotten how to enjoy Sonic!
Sat Feb 06 23:47:34 +0000 2010
Sat Feb 06 23:47:34 +0000 2010
@jennytablina Yeah, absolutely, I think they've been doing a really good job of connecting with the fans on this one. Hats off to them!
Sat Feb 06 23:38:04 +0000 2010
Sat Feb 06 23:38:04 +0000 2010
@jennytablina Well, it's all early days anyway. That's the kind of thing that gets addressed later on if it's such a big concern.
Sat Feb 06 23:29:50 +0000 2010
Sat Feb 06 23:29:50 +0000 2010
What I want to know is whether or not the sprint will feature "whirly legs". Also the arms - will they be the modern, thrown back variety?
Sat Feb 06 23:22:19 +0000 2010
Sat Feb 06 23:22:19 +0000 2010
I never knew what the big deal was about Sonic 4 running animation. Obviously it's the pre-sprint animation, and it looks fine anyway.
Sat Feb 06 23:21:15 +0000 2010
Sat Feb 06 23:21:15 +0000 2010
Still, it's nice to see them recapping on the original storylines too. Even with bad English.
Fri Feb 05 09:39:41 +0000 2010
Fri Feb 05 09:39:41 +0000 2010
That Sonic 4 storyline doing the rounds this morning isn't exactly spoiler-riffic is it? Essentially boils down to "Eggman's making things".
Fri Feb 05 09:38:05 +0000 2010
Fri Feb 05 09:38:05 +0000 2010
It's so surreal to see people just using the name "Sonic 4" so many times, just in a normal paragraph. Hasn't quite sunk in that it exists!
Thu Feb 04 13:24:10 +0000 2010
Thu Feb 04 13:24:10 +0000 2010
Sonic 4. My views. Click. Read. Enjoy. http://www.soniczone0.com/blog/index.php?id=63
Thu Feb 04 11:32:41 +0000 2010
Thu Feb 04 11:32:41 +0000 2010
Green eyes?! Homing attack?! That's right. Deal with it.
Thu Feb 04 09:17:27 +0000 2010
Thu Feb 04 09:17:27 +0000 2010
Hedgehog 4 is a twitter trend, woohoo!
Thu Feb 04 08:20:55 +0000 2010
Thu Feb 04 08:20:55 +0000 2010
Pretty much everything that was rumoured is true. Yes, that Green Hill clone may be generic, but it looks FANTASTIC all the same!
Thu Feb 04 08:15:25 +0000 2010
Thu Feb 04 08:15:25 +0000 2010
http://us.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/sonicthehedgehog4episode1/news.html?sid=6249445&tag=topslot;thumb;1&mode=previews IT'S HERE!!
Thu Feb 04 08:05:06 +0000 2010
Thu Feb 04 08:05:06 +0000 2010
@Kaatridge It's on gamespot but they should submit a link to it on http://blogs.sega.com/usa/ any minute now
Thu Feb 04 08:02:16 +0000 2010
Thu Feb 04 08:02:16 +0000 2010
Come on Sega, you can do it!!
Thu Feb 04 07:57:29 +0000 2010
Thu Feb 04 07:57:29 +0000 2010
Man, so much for sleeping right through, I was like a kid at Christmas! Kept dreaming about Needlemouse and waking up! Only 11 minutes to go
Thu Feb 04 07:50:14 +0000 2010
Thu Feb 04 07:50:14 +0000 2010
Feel sorry for the Americans who have to be conscious and eagerly wait for the rest of the day. I get to sleep right through it!
Wed Feb 03 23:02:42 +0000 2010
Wed Feb 03 23:02:42 +0000 2010
...Ok, screw the modern "it's cool to be critical and whiny" thing, it's time to be excited and to be a kid again.. SONIC 4 IS COMING OMG!!
Wed Feb 03 23:01:24 +0000 2010
Wed Feb 03 23:01:24 +0000 2010
Hope you've enjoyed today. It has been the last, in a long long line of days, in which Sonic 4 did not exist.
Wed Feb 03 22:03:37 +0000 2010
Wed Feb 03 22:03:37 +0000 2010
http://bit.ly/8YSXJJ - Needlemouse is coming! 8am UK time tomorrow morning. Alarm: set.
Wed Feb 03 21:58:48 +0000 2010
Wed Feb 03 21:58:48 +0000 2010