So Sega have announced that a new Sonic game, a direct sequel to the Mega Drive/Genesis games that will work on the same principles of fun, speed and 2D gameplay. A whole generation of gaming was defined by these classics, and they achieved legendary status because of it.
The first place Sonic popped up was on the Master System, which was the first major Sega gaming system, and the Mega Drive followed on from this. Sonic became the mascot for all of Sega’s operations, with a huge merchandising campaign behind him. The games improved greatly each time, with the Mega Drive ones being a massive step up. Sonic 1 and 2 set the benchmark, and the second one especially was brilliant. Then they set themselves new high standards on Sonic 3, with some amazing gameplay and graphics with lots of extra features. The lock on technology introduced with Sonic and Knuckles bought even more value from the older Sonic games as it bought in new characters and levels for these games. However when the Mega Drive met its end Sonic games started to lose their quality.
After the Mega Drive met its demise, the Sonic games started to go 3D. These games were not met with the same enthusiasm (though there was a lot of anticipation, which then led to a lot of disappointment). The games got progressively worse over the years, leading to the very poor effort “Sonic the Hedgehog” on PS3 and XBOX 360 a few years ago. It looked great but bought in RPG elements that were a bit strange and completely took away from the old fast, fun Sonic games.
Well now this may be about to change. Sonic 4 has been announced and it is going to be a Mega Drive-esque game bringing back all that was great about the series in the early to mid 90s. The graphics will be 2D, but HD, meaning they will look amazing, the music will be along the same lines of old but with a modern twist. It all sounds amazing.
Sonic 4 will be out in the summer as a download on all the next generation consoles. The game will be episodic, meaning there are infinite numbers that could be released. It is great that its coming out now because there will be a whole generation of children who don’t know Sonic, and this will introduce them to the old mascot on their spanking new systems. The release of “Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection” with all of the Sonic games included on PS3 and Xbox are giving them a slight introduction ahead of the new game being released.
It is an exciting prospect for those of us who used to play Sonic on the Mega Drive and is going to be just as good for those discovering him for the first time!
Ian Collins is an expert on gadgets and technical subjects, and runs Techie Reviews
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