Antithesis to Webber’s True Blue Initiative
Sonic Retro, which reopened Sonic 4 discussion Monday after the Wii release of Sonic 4: Episode 1 and recently channeled its Sega ties to reveal one of three Sonic Colors wallpapers exclusively, has announced a contest on its front page solely squared on mocking the still inconsistent physics in-game, and mocking some of Sega’s own staff who wish to thank supporters with a grand prize of $15–refunding Sonic 4‘s cost on consoles.
Headed up by staffer Brad Flick, the contest asks those interested to take pictures or video of Sonic in Sonic 4 at awkward places and in awkward poses. An example of Sonic resting on a steep incline of Splash Hill was used as an example.
“Most of us staff seem to agree that the game’s engine is solely holding back Episode 1‘s potential, so we’re going to have a little fun with it,” said Flick in the announcement, apparently speaking on behalf of most Sonic Retro staff about their Sonic 4 opinion.
All who participate get noted in a “shout-out” forum thread on Retro–a direct parody of Aaron Webber’s attempt to thank players who buy multiple copies of the game, dubbed The True Blue Initiative. Finalists get front page mentions, and ahe top 3 will be featured in a video, again mocking a promised video Webber and Ken Balough will produce on behalf of those who claimed to have purchased all four versions of Sonic 4. A single winner will be chosen for the $15 prize. Multiple entries from a single person are being accepted.
To be fair, Sonic 4, despite fan criticism of the game’s physics, has been met with mostly positive praise from the mainstream; it holds a 75-82 rating on Metacritic. That may be why the contest has drawn sparse critics. In comments attached to the announcement are accusations of Retro staff nitpicking. The bigger issue may be Retro’s ties to Sega itself in conducting this contest, even for purposes of humor. You may remember it was at Sonic Retro’s forum where the complete game, in video form, was originally leaked during the Spring. It ultimately forced the first shutdown of Sonic 4 discussion there, and forced Sonic Retro head Scarred Sun to admit an ongoing relationship and agreements in place with Sega with regard to Sonic 4. That relationship so far, aside from the aformentioned Colors wallpaper, has bore little fruit for its followers. It should also be noted Webber himself is a member of the site’s forum under his RubyEclipse handle.
If nothing else, it will be interesting to watch the participation of Retro’s contest versus the True Blue Initiative.
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That seems just… immature. I’m kinda disappointed in Sonic Retro.
i agree
I will admit there are things I wish were changed, the physics, sonic’s model, the new model animations….the music. But I can put all that aside and still try and enjoy it.
Well,My comment is the game is REALLY awesome
But really need fix the physics
Chance sega lauch free update to this?
I wonder how this will pan out.
Honestly, this a less harmful then it could be. Given some of the stuff that’s happened in the past, I think this is both funny and a clever way to drop a few hints at Sega to polish their physics engine without being incredibly antagonistic. After all, no ones really getting that slammed over this and a $15 grand prize for finding the best odd physics picture is a fun and cheap way to get the message across.
I may just enter this myself if I find a really good one. Not for the money, just for the laughs.
I wholeheartedly support this, and I agree with Viking.
@EEE
You shouldn’t have to ignore things and TRY to enjoy a game. It’s either good or it isn’t.
Makes you wonder whether or not Scarred Sun, Brad Flick, & co. have any comment to make about this. Oh wait!….
Personally, 75-80 is dissapointing. Even games like Splosion Man scored higher, and I personally thought that was wasn´t that good. You know, back in the day classic Sonic games scored 90+ everytime, because they were on the top of the best titles. Now they just are between mediocre and meh titles, and Sonic 4 is nothing else. You have tons of Arcades with better score. Even the lazy ports of classic Sonic games scored better than this.
There isn´t even a score over 90. That´s truly sad. Sonic deserved better than this, and classic Sonic ones truly deserved a better sequel. In fact, Sonic Rush scored the same and I wouldn´t say it´s the best of the Sonic franchise:
http://www.metacritic.com/search/all/sonic/results
Now I truly wish Sega is actually listening for one time and REALLY fix things for the next Episode. It isn´t that hard. They would probably score better. And if they screw up again, please, have some decency and don´t overprice it.
It wasn’t a sequel, it was the last three games mashed together.
But it was still a nice visit down memory lane… just not what I would’ve expected Sonic 4 to look like after I playing Sonic 3 a long time ago. As much as I like to have a new way to present new things, I would’ve expected them to do what Capcom did for Megaman and be as true as possible.
Yes, Biafra, I know, they’re still banned from posting here, and they just did the same for us today. I’m actually a little surprised they didn’t do it sooner. It’s a typical, understandable knee-jerk reaction on both sides, and one I do respect, given that fact that contrary to popular belief, there is a police investigation ongoing into what happened to this site last month. I don’t think that was taken seriously before. If the top brass at Retro don’t believe it, they will soon enough. That’s why I did what I did; it is far better for the two parties to not speak directly to one another until the matter’s resolved. If something’s up publicly that’s newsworthy, however…given circumstances, we need to cover it.
People need to understand that anything to support the case needs to go to the police first, and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing since the beginning of October. That’s why I can’t speak about details publicly. Putting any sensitive information in the hands of a third party, even in the name of cooperation or resolution, is not a good idea, given the magnitude of the incident and, in this case specifically, given how most of Retro’s top staff does have a personal ax to grind against me simply because from time to time they are the subject of our stories. Yet, when others Photoshop my head on things, make harassing phone calls to me at odd, random hours, and devote entire radio broadcasts to this site’s style of reporting, I don’t say a peep. Members of Retro staff *have* performed at least two of the three aforementioned, too. Yet I’m supposed to believe that Retro as a whole doesn’t promote and condone this kind of behavior? Isn’t it funny how that works?
I’m not sure what’s so hard to understand about these circumstances.
-T
@EEE: It’s 2010 not the nineties, the old school graphics in Megaman 9 and 10 were a turn off for me and multiple other people I know who play games occasionally. The visuals were the one thing better than the original games.
Sega’s fault for lying back in May about this shit being fixed and fooling sites like Retro into thinking they cared about any of their feedback.
This True Blue thing proves without a doubt they care more about selling than anything else at any cost, this initiative is nothing but exploitation of the community outreach they have been building since they started with those needlemouise contests at the beginning of the year.
Dangit, I should have had my camera when Sonic was standing sideways in midair.
Sega needs to release a “Genesis Pack” as DLC that fixes the physics and includes a classic Sonic model option.
@Sjmaster
Actually Megaman 9 and 10 were faithful to the classic Megaman games, and I enjoyed so much both of them I replayed them to death and I´m already waiting for Megaman 11. They are good platforming games, I would even say they are the best new 2D plataforming games of the generation for sure.
I would have prefered a Sonic 4 faithful to S123K than this for sure. Although I highly doubt Dimps or the current Sonic Team can make a game like that.
Oh come on this is just sad. Immature is a perfect word to describe all of this.
Sure the game wasn’t perfect, but I enjoyed the game (enough to where I still got more playing to do, I got Chaos Emeralds to obtain, more levels to beat, pathways to discover, etc). I especially applaud Sega’s attempt at trying to listen to the “fans.” Sadly you can’t please everybody, and this is defintely a testament to that statement.
One game that may be perfect in one person’s eyes can’t hold the same truths for every other player. It’s easy to appeal to a few players, it’s a little bit more tricky to appeal to a mass of players, but it’s nearly downright impossible to appeal to every player.
Sure everyone is upset now … but I bet so many more people would be devastated if Sega got tired of hearing all of the flack and shut Sonic down for good. Good thing for me though is through all the negative reviews that some of his games get people (like me) will never cease to buy the games and the merchandise, which keeps Sega in business which keeps Sonic alive. It’s sad to think that’s one of the big things that keeps Sonic alive but it’s true.
Honestly in my opinion the internet is what hurts Sonic. In the 90s before most people had such a worldwide access their view of the game would rarely go beyond word-of-mouth among their closest peers. The main source for game reviews came from old-school magazines like Game Informer. Now all you gotta do is blog or get on a website and your voice can be heard by millions of people. Although the flipside of the argument is that the Sonic games back then were groundbreaking, intuitive, and “set the standard.”
I always saw Sonic 4, as EEE said, “a trip down memory lane.” I knew it was gonna be fun, but I didn’t expect it to be ground-breaking. Sonic 4 was made for the fans who want a taste of their 2D sidescroller games childhood. I’m really looking forward to Sonic Colors ’cause the wisp powers sound fun.
Sorry for the long post guys … I just enjoyed Sonic 4 and it bugs me that big name websites like Sonic Retro are doing this refund petition thing ’cause they don’t like the physics.
Then again seems like negative feedback speaks the loudest.
If there were factions between those who think Sonic Retro is nitpicking and supporters of the contest, I’d have to choose the side of nitpicking. The original trilogy(or 4 parter, whichever way you slice it) wasn’t glitch-free, nor was its engine perfect. A very entertaining series on youtube backs this claim up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJfyC8R6ta4&feature=related
Don’t get me wrong, the classics deserved their high scores. The only thing that irritates me is that this game of discussion is called Sonic the Hedgehog 4, when it feels like a Dimps title created for the Xbox Live Arcade. I’d rather have Sonic 4′s story flow a little smoother just after Sonic and Knuckles. You could argue that ‘Sonic’s never been about the story,’ but that argument is just as weak as stating, ‘Sonic’s always been about speed.’ The story element has always been there, though given underhandedly in crumbs. Sonic 4 just seems like its own separate game, and unless further episodes can tie Sonic 4 back to the original games(regardless of similar-looking levels), I will be disappointed in Sonic 4, but will still enjoy it as a solid Sonic title a la Dimps.
SO my point being.. Sonic 4′s engine is solid, though different from what we’re used to. Why nitpick on something that seems fine when the classics apparently had hours of footage to nitpick and complain about?
Mega Man 9 and 10 were games MADE for the classic fans, not everyone. That’s the difference. They came from a company that CARED about the integrity of it’s franchise and the opinions of it’s most devoted fans.
Sega thinks they can just try to pander to everyone and take all their money while PRETENDING to give a shit about “classic old-school fans” by painting everything with a shade of retro.
Sonic 4 didn’t HAVE to be 16-bit, but it’s obvious that they weren’t REALLY trying to go back to their roots with a “classic” Sonic game. They just wanted to abuse our nostalgia and sell us an overhyped underwhelming 2D platformer.
Perhaps if they HAD taken the 16-bit route, they would have attempted to be more diligent and faithful in recreating exactly what it is that made the series great in the first place. Pro-tip: It wasn’t clunky platforming, and it wasn’t boost pads. Those physics that so many of us are “nitpicking” are the CORE of the classic series’ appeal. That smooth and fluid gameplay is what kept us coming back for more. It wasn’t the badniks, it wasn’t the sunflowers, and it wasn’t the goddamn sign posts.
Game is fun! Great even! I cant stop playing it… Who cares about the physics, it doesnt interupt my gameplay that much. This is just picky and immature
@ Ice Hedge.
I think I could haven gotten used to different. I really do. I’m not mad that the game’s physics aren’t exactly like the classics. I’m annoyed and frustrated because I think they’re just flat-out BAD. Whether I had ever played another Sonic game in my life, the controls feel rigid and clunky and it detracts from my ability to enjoy any aspect of the game. It’s a platformer that sucks all the FUN out of actually platforming, and a speed based game that doesn’t give me a real sense of speed or momentum.
So my counterpoint is that I DON’T think that engine is solid, whether you compare it to the classics or another platform series entirely. Glitches and imperfections are present in every game, but when basic controls and movement become so hampered by weak-ass programming and nonexistent counter-intuitive physics, it sucks the fun right out of the whole experience.
I could not enjoy Sonic 4. And I tried. Hard.
Some of you guys act like SEGA is going to get hot-headed about this and rage all over the place. I highly doubt they care, and more than likely, will find it moreso amusing than anything. Regardless of criticism, they’re still getting a lot of great positive feedback from this game, and I’m sure it’s pushing them into Episode 2 without as much worry.
Serpx: Maybe Sega should be mad. Between Kevin Eva’s support, Aaron Webber’s support, and their occasional “exclusives” direct from the company, Sonic Retro is, in effect, biting the hand that feeds them. Kellie, Aaron and the like wasted no time hating on us when we were critical of the company and their efforts as Sega employees, so why not? Why are they being held to a different standard–especially when Sonic Retro admitted they were the principal source of the major Sonic 4 leaks in the Spring?
-T
Since sonic 4 is online game
Is possible sega create update for physics?
Try contact sega by email? D:
Sega need fix physics
Meh. Figured something like this would come out from our fandom. While I will agree that it’s not the best thing, it’s only Episode 1. I don’t think they’ve started on Episode 2 yet precisely to see how EP. 1 goes. A sort of test run, considering this isn’t the same team that brought us the original classics.
But now people won’t give the rest of it a chance, and go into rants about how its ruined their lives forever and shit. Now if they don’t take this criticism and work it into further episodes, then that will be the right time to grab your torches and pitchforks.
But hey, at least something fun came out of it! Having fun with glitches, which has become pretty scarce these days.
Tristan Oliver: I thought I saw Tweaker post her not too long ago.
Sorry I meant here.
John the Breeze: I agree with the quality of the game. This was meant to be a sort of prototype for other episodes, one that went quite well.
Tristan Oliver: Good luck with the investigation, the fact this happened seems to show your notoriety online or at least in the Sonic fandom.
‘Kay, Now they are MOCKING Sonic Team for trying on a game?
Call me humorless, but they are shooting themselves in the foot here.
SonicR – I looked back, and you’re right. It must have been lost in the melee of New York Comic Con.
That’s been taken care of.
-T
People who whine about this not being the same as S123&K are really just nitpicking. Sonic’s appearance changed between Sonic and Sonic 2, then again for Sonic 3.
As for the homing attack, well, Sonic’s been getting lots of new moves. Remember that Sonic 1 didn’t have the spin-dash, and Sonic 2 didn’t have the special shields with their special moves, nor Tails’ flying.
Graphics changed. They always do. New moves get added. Live with it.
As for the physics, well, again…
NOT BEING THE SAME AS OLD GAMES DOES NOT MEAN BAD. Sure, this isn’t the old-school game we thought was coming, but the truth is, I played it from start to finish on WiiWare and XBLA, and I loved every second. Despite the compared-to-old-Sonic-games-weird physics, I felt like I was really playing Sonic again.
@Yamishi
I completely agree with everything you just said. Yes the physics still need finetuning (and hopefully they’ll get it right by episode 2)…but this game is still fun as heck I can’t stop playing it. Purists can sit and pout and unfairly bomb this game and just be stuck with Sonic 1 – S&K all their lives but I wanna see where the Devs take this project. It’s definitely better than any Sonic game ever made after S&K!!!
You know, you guys can bitch about this all you’ll like and that’s fine. It gives me a better chance at winning $15.
The demo was fun despite flawed physics. I liked it overall and I’m buying the full game.
End of story.
@Yamishi.
Bad physics are bad physics, whether you compare them or not. The game doesn’t handle well, period. Your character doesn’t move in a natural intuitive way, and that throws (and turns) a LOT of people off.
omfg Tristan you are stupider than i ever thought.
When are you going to keep this a news site and not a big ass feed to show your rants and grudges?
Since when does one guys contest automaticly prove retro admins hates sonic4!!111?
But, it doesn’t matter, because you’ll probably read this, go cry, cut yourself, and then delete this post. All because invisible people hates you and Retro doesnt love your ass kissing.
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In the case that your post is deleted, everyone disregard this portion of my comment.
@SMTP I’m in no way speaking for Tristan, but in his defense, he did not insult anyone at Sonic Retro, only insinuated and even stated that they are biting the very hand that is feeding them exclusive news. When you become an adult, you’ll realize ‘ass kissing’ is actually an underhanded tool used everyday to acquire more readers/raises/real-life renown/rooby roo(rust rok– I mean just joking on that last one). Would you rather see baseless insults like the ones you typed out, or elegantly metaphoric criticisms? I’d go for the latter..
By the way, it’s “more stupid,” not “stupider.” Ah, irony..
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…I like this joke of Sonic Retro. Keep them coming!