Long Lost Balough Interview Defers Hope to Episode 2
How would you like to play Sonic 4 in its entirety–regardless of how long it is–via a nice tip of the hat to the tech of yesteryear?
Take a look at the video below; it may appear to you to be yet another Ken Balough E3 interview leftover regarding Sonic 4, and on the surface of is, this time with AngryBananas.com. But have a listen at about 1:13. Discussion ensues on add-ons, including a well known reference to the classics.
“You’re talking about lock-on technology, huh?” Balough said. “We’ll have to see. We’ll talk about that during Episode 2.”
It may have simply been an off the cuff remark, or it may have been the sign of something more. As standalone, the episodes to Sonic 4 are comparatively short–just four main zones with three acts and a boss stage each. With Balough previously disclosing that Sonic 4‘s storyline and episodic timetable has been cemented, the ability to play the assembled product in one swoop may give some speculators reason to show their support.
And it’s not like Sega hasn’t figured out Lock-on for the new generation of consoles. After releasing Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles as separate game for recent fare like Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection, the company figured it out for S&K’s XBOX Live and Wii Virtual Console release–allowing the complete Sonic 3 & Knuckles to be played on the current generation consoles for the first time.
Watch the video below, and judge for yourself in our comments section.
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Ken has absolutely no idea what he is talking about, he’s been that way since day one when he acted like Sonic Chaos was the most disappointing Sonic game.
Haru–we got in an anonymous news tip.
-T
@Dr. Eggfang: Sonic Chaos?! What the hell, Balough? Sure, it’s not the best Sonic game, but I can think of three other Sonic games, all modern, that were a hell of a lot more disappointing right off the bat.
Fortunately, not everything you see on the Internet is the truth, as some people kind-of exaggerate. But if this news is to believed, then it would be awesome if future episodes of Sonic 4 had the lock-on technology and other cool stuff, but we will have to be patient about it.
@Tristan: Bullshit. It was in a topic that came up YESTERDAY and this just so HAPPEN to show up under a day for news from the forums on Sonic 4 and it JUST SO HAPPENED TO BE the exact same video. I know you gotta keep a PR image but it’s pretty obvious.
@Haru: I know for a fact that it was a news tip since I’m the one that sent it anonymously! Even get Tristan to check the IP!
Some bad news:
Wii’s S&K may have both S&K, S3&K and S2&K included (after all, they’re not that big) and only check have you got S3 or S2. Including both E1 and E2 in E2 is not an option, thanks to WiiWare 40MiB limit.
Man I’m super hyped with Sonic4
:D:D:D:D:D
LET’S ASK KEN THE SAME QUESTIONS AGAIN
Hey Tristan, if you got this from my thread over at the Sega forums, I’d at least like credit for finding it. :/
Mighty — Unless you send it in and opt not to be anonymous, we give credit to whoever sends it to News Tips.
-T
……All right. Its not that big of a deal to me really, but still, if the person who tipped to you(VB.Net)got this from my thread, it almost feels like I never found this info originally at all.
Eh, oh well. People know from my comments here now I guess.
right because sega knowing how to make lock-on technology work for the genesis is the exact same thing as making it “work” on new consoles
I don’t care if they call it “Lock-On Technology” but don’t go referencing Sonic 3 & Knuckles as if they are using the exact same technology. Call it a nod to a lost age, but nothing more than that.
Of course, I don’t see how it’ll work well since episode 1 is basically forcing itself to be a “complete” game. Even though it has no right to be. It would be far better to write off episode 1 at this point as a “prelude” to what could actually be a proper Sonic 4, but that’ll never happen. Instead we’ll get three or something episodes that don’t fit well with each other, trying to do their own thing but never getting anywhere properly. And the Sonic fans will cry, and those who say “oh you have nothing to cry about you got your way you’re just insane” will not realize that this is not what we asked for.
Also: who cares if Tristan got this news story by “browsing forums” or “got it sent anonymously” or whatever. As long as he isn’t shouting that he had this first or he did the interview himself. Now, if he did that…I could see why you might be weird about it.
O.O I’ve never played with the Lock-on Tech, so Sonic 4 would be an epic start!
25 levels 4 zones??? I actually dont see special stages as levels….
Here’s an idea, SEGA: Why didn’t you just skip the episode idea entirely and make an actual Sonic 4. No episode 1, no nothing. I realize this is an old argument, but in all honesty, rather than paying an honest 15$ for the WHOLE, ACTUAL game, we’re going to have to pay 10-15$ an episode. And of course, its not only the money. For all we know, we’re going to wait another year for episode 2, etc. Why? Capcom didn’t release Mega Man 9: Episode 1 which featured 2 levels, than a year later made episode 2. No, they made Mega Man 9, then 10. Anyone for Sonic 5? And no one get on my ass about how it’ll take a long time. I’d rather wait 2 years for a COMPLETE game than a few months for a third of a game, which was rightly described in the comments as “trying to be a whole game”. This is blatant fan service of the wrong kind. “Oh, it’ll feature lock-on technolodgy, which was a BLAST 16 years ago”. Before anyone gets the wrong idea, Sonic 3 and Knuckles is my favorite game of all time, and the concept was brilliant… 16 years ago, when they could barely squeeze 3 MB in a cartridge. The PSN, WiiWare, and Xbox Live Market can hold a WHOLE game, so why are you trying to appease fans in this way? If they could’ve fit Sonic 3 and Knuckles into a single cartridge, creating the true Sonic the Hedgehog 3, I would rather of had that than shell off X amount of dollars twice, the same amount that I would’ve paid for Sonic 2, a full game. I agree wholeheartedly with dav, who said this game should be a prequel for a full Sonic 4. Maybe, just maybe, SEGA will have the sense to scrap the episode idea before its too late, and integrate these 4 Zones into a full game. Again, before anyone gets the wrong idea, I love Sonic 4 as a whole, its just the whole episode idea that really, REALLY bugs me. If they made an episode, say, 5 bucks, it wouldn’t be that bad… huh. I guess in the end, it really is about the money. But I still argue against the concept itself, no matter what.