Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Good or Bad? - Pikasprey

[@Megamean09]

"The sequel fans have waited 16 years for". Sonic Advance would like a word.

[@Scurge237]

Yo for real sonic advance games kick ass. I still play them on my gamecube

[@Scurge237]

@RETROgeist that's kinda funny. I didnt know that. Maybe I just wasnt paying attention. I have sonic 4 on my 360 but only played them a few times before deletion

[@edgelord8337]

Sonic advance was way better.

[@patchmoulton5438]

@RETROgeist Must have been two different teams then because advanced was much better than this

[@Dat1snivy]

Yeah.. that's accurate. Sonic advance 3 is the best one though.

[@melskunk]

The first impression DOES look a lot like a bootleg game... I'm surprised I never saw this when it came out but I'm glad I didn't (the second looks much better)

[@steviejames6322]

Looks like a game from mini clip or y8

[@melskunk]

@@steviejames6322 haha, yeah, I was thinking cheap flash game

[@godofdefeat]

@@steviejames6322 lol y8, now that's a blast in the past

[@steviejames6322]

@@godofdefeat yep back to when I was in elementary

[@someguy9571]

I've played flash games that look better than Sonic 4...

[@silentkill450]

Here's an interesting fact: A week prior to the release of episode 2, the pc version of the game was leak in it's entirety and was uploaded to mediafire. This pre release version was more or less the same as the final release save for a few glitches that were fixed later. But one key difference was that beating this version of the game with all the chaos emeralds ended with a "to be continued" similar to episode one. Apprently a 3rd episode was planned but was eventually scrapped and that "to be continued" screen was removed in the final version of the game.

[@joshuawilloughby2696]

I remember hearing something about that back in the day, that they had planned to make the game a three parter but scrapped it because of the poor sales of the first game.

[@abiwonkenabi7027]

RIP Sonic 3 & Knuckles portion of Sonic 4 Seriously, that feels like what they were doing with each of these episodes. "Look remember Sonic 1? Look its Tails, remember Sonic 2?"

[@CrashFan03]

is there any video evidence of this?

[@mrgreenmario64]

You can blame the Classic Sonic fanboys for making Ep 3 get cancelled

[@CrashFan03]

@@mrgreenmario64 that or the games just weren't that good. And I kinda liked them

[@rhysdog8600]

6:39 what do you mean? the casino level is pure luck! just like a casino! its brilliant!

[@ChillDragon]

Agreed, losing your sanity and time with an extremely low to a basically zero chance of fun does seem to be the main theme.

[@justsomejojo]

But is it addictive though?

[@ChillDragon]

@@justsomejojo Not to me, but for some people, it can ruin their lives, but much like how I feel about real life casino's, I just walk away and pretend they don't exist.

[@URFTBOUND4LIFE]

The problem was the wasn't really a risk /reward style level design like previous games. It was just boring.

[@AmyraCarter]

If casinos in real life weren't a bunch of cheating fucking assholes, lolz (oh wait, that's just the staff nevermind)

[@SnydeX9]

Idk, I thought the Sonic Advance series did a good enough job carrying the torch for 2D Sonic games.

[@mattbeste6627]

But this game has a torch.

[@Mizticall]

Would recommend watching Broken Base Gaming's video on the Sonic Advance series; I definitely loved the games as a kid but playing them again now is kinda rough

[@blackdot105]

@@Mizticall It'd be nice if they had a remastering. Widescreen and all.

[@DanoLefourbe]

Is was nice as kids because it was close to the original design and really beautifully done. But the tiny resolution and cropped camera made it pure trial and error. Very frustrating in the end.

[@StinkTerios]

Advance 1 certainly did, Advance 3 is has great mechanics but is a mess overall, and then Advance 2 is... barely playable.

[@AspreyArchive]

The Chaos Emeralds caused him more pain than the video would make you think. Pure unfiltered agony. I can't believe he stuck it out and got them all

[@hatjousuke]

Was it streamed?

[@URFTBOUND4LIFE]

This is the only Sonic game I never bothered getting all the emeralds. It was so damn tedious.

[@Blueflag04]

Now thats what i call hard special stage

[@StevenRogers268]

@@hatjousuke I would assume so - he has a "Blue" channel where you can see streams

[@ahmadkazan7994]

@@URFTBOUND4LIFE good thing that the sequel's special stages were fun except the last one.

[@ncisfan1002]

1:38 To be fair, the movie Sonic looked like literal nightmare fuel and if nobody complained about it that would be the cinematic Sonic we'd have gotten Thankfully he looks a LOT better now

[@ahmadkazan7994]

@Tayebz Tayebz :3 It is quite okay for this sonic to do,he spent 10 years of his life just viewing pop culture without any interaction.

[@_V.Va_]

NoBoDy cOmPLaiNed aBoUt iT

[@deathmetal271]

*spoilers…..maybe* …. We also wouldn’t have gotten Ugly Sonic in Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers

[@Trapewurm]

This game looks and plays like an ugly fangame on a flash based website from the 2000's that probably gave me several viruses for clicking on it.

[@SW33wNecie]

I played the flash remake of some Sonic game and it probably played better than that.

[@AAAAAA-bm9qd]

Only episode 1, though.

[@WakoDoodle]

@@SW33wNecie I can agree on that, I had more fun just looking at the 3 levels of the flash game than sonic 4. At least it was 2d sprites on a 2d rotascoped (background layers that move at different speeds) stages. This, sonic 4 keeps throwing 3d images on 2d enviroment. Even the barrel in metropolis looked static! At least in sonic 3 those spun around; at least make it look like a 3d image. Blinking light don't help sega >.

[@drhaxan]

This is oddly specific and I love it lol

[@DexDexter0]

@@WakoDoodle parallax scrolling is what you meant. Rotoscoping is something else entirely.

[@TheNewSoda]

Can't wait for Sonic The Hedgehog 2006 2

[@luisangel8729]

Oh a new Pikasprey video: nice. It's a Pikasprey Yellow video: HERE WE GO!

[@Forever_Zero]

I like Sonic, don't get me wrong... but I'll never understand why Sega struggles so much to release a good Sonic game

[@ahmadkazan7994]

Basically the diversity and unencoragment of the fan base.And the limitation of both budget and time for big projects like one year for 06.

[@kyrenity]

Personally I think it's just their experimental nature, it was after all what brought Sonic to life in the first place. It's just in this day and age, an experimental game isn't as well recieved as one based on familiarity and formulae. Look at Mario games, they don't stray far from what makes them work but it makes all of them feel rather similar and a bit constricted in how far they can subvert expectations; whereas Sonic will do the opposite to the point that the games can be barely functional. In cases like Sonic 4 is when Sega have tried to conform to this idea of "back to basics" and "keeping it simple" but have sacrificed their creative juices in the process; when Sonic Mania was in the hands of essentially third party developers they were basically making their first Sonic game and so that's why it was full of creativity, but keeping up this trend of classic 2D Sonic will soon reach a point of "been there, done that" and people will be clamouring for something new again. It's a hard audience to please and Sega are, most of the time, just rushing out what they think the fans want (e.g. Sonic 4 and Sonic Forces) or trying something new because that's what they felt compelled to do at the time and didn't care what people thought, for better or for worse (e.g. Storybook series, Lost World).

[@gManGabe]

@@kyrenity I agree with this, but you really need to emphasize the *rushing out* part. I honestly think the problem with new Sonic games is that they seem really unfinished! I really don't know what they're thinking; when they release a half-baked game, it just tanks, but when they actually put time into it it's great! Remember Unleashed? The day stages were AWESOME to play! I didn't need any reward for replaying levels and learning the ins-and-outs, it just felt good to beat the timer. Now think about Forces... God... They couldn't be bothered to add NPC variety on a game WITH AN NPC CREATOR! It's not really about experimentation, or "what the fans want". What we want the most is a game that was actually FINISHED! Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

[@Skallva]

@@kyrenity It's not really about Sonic being experimental but Sonic being inconsistent to the core. I can't really think of a single thing that has stayed consistent in Sonic. The gameplay style changes on a whim, the characters come and go randomly, there isn't even any real sense of continuity between games, making it hard to tell which games matter and which don't. No wonder the community seems so polarised when SEGA has shown time and time again that they've no clue in which direction they want to take the series and have created such a flimsy foundation of what a Sonic game should be. They should've taken some cues from the other blue platforming mascot because Mega Man, despite the many subseries residing in it, has shown an excellent display of consistency, which is why the community is now so healthy and the fans of each subseries are generally open to the rest of the franchise. When Mega Man 11 was announced, everyone was celebrating, which is not really an image I can picture Sonic fans in.

[@cumcockproductions6433]

@@gManGabe yeah forces sucked big balls

[@wistful3631]

Where’s my review on Sonic chronicles dark brotherhood?

[@MaleficWeegee]

Loved that game

[@edgelord8337]

How about 1 on sonic the fighters?

[@swishfish8858]

@@MaleficWeegee Asprey didn't. That's why we want the review.

[@virtualgamer673]

Weird way to say Sonic Battle

[@wistful3631]

Virtual Gamer? Do you know what game that is

[@oneguy9349]

There is a good Sonic 4 game, except that people calls it Sonic Mania instead.

[@Blueflag04]

Plus

[@Geostelar4920]

Sonic Advance was fun

[@PretentiousLatinName]

1 guy I’m so glad I skipped out on everything between s3 s&k (sonic adventure 2 battle for GameCube was alright) and sonic mania

[@philatio1744]

Pretentious Latin Name Generations is pretty good, imo.

[@DemonDethchase]

Plus it (Mania) has a hassle free playable Tails. Really not sure what Sega were thinking with ep.2's set up, where to play as Tails it was player 2 or bust. They could have added a tag mechanic like Mania's encore mode - if you were playing solo - because Tails since Sonic 06, much the other characters like Knuckles and Amy, doesn't really get much love as a playable character these days, and only seem to be playable once in a blue (outsourced) moon (Boom and Mania).

[@MaleficWeegee]

Can't think of this game without Cybershell coming to mind

[@riseoftheflutes1739]

brooo cybershell/hell is amazzzing

[@ilavain]

I miss him so much man

[@riseoftheflutes1739]

@@ilavain frick i checked... 2 years and growing... :/

[@MaleficWeegee]

@@ilavain Chances of him returning are slim after he was stalked. Apparently, his dicsord server was ass

[@MaleficWeegee]

@several webms Is that what happened? I heard his mom was getting calls from people in his dicsord server.

[@animeking1357]

I-I didn't even know this was an official Sonic game. Thought for sure it was a fan made Sonic 4. Wtf Sega?

[@Professor-Badger]

The first one just looks like a fan game that was close to being considered good, that or a mobile game

[@randominternetuser5872]

If I remember correctly, There is a Sonic 4 Mobile game, Somehow, It looked better than the Console version Lol

[@edgelord8337]

(Sega says they will make sonic 4) Sonic advance: allow me to introduce myself.

[@EpicMarioPlayer]

Ironically, Sonic Advance actually offers new characters on top of what already was in Sonic 3, while Sonic 4 has less characters and less features.

[@edgelord8337]

@@EpicMarioPlayer sonic 4 is kinda crap.

[@TechBlade9000]

@@edgelord8337 Also same company do what went wrong at DIMPS?

[@zooooooooom]

@@edgelord8337 I FOUND YOU AGAIN

[@weegle.]

Why do i keep seeing you...

[@evillecaston]

Up Next: BAD Pokemon ROMhacks (ft. Snakewood and Dark Rising Kaizo)

[@pablodelgado7919]

That would be a video worth watching. Explaining what it is and how both games broke his sanity to the point of hating himself for playing the games 😂 the salt would be glorious as he flashbacks to those days

[@therobotchickenMLP]

1:35 To be fair, movie Sonic V1 is just a straight up hideous design that no one sane could possibly like. Boom Sonic was weird with all the sports tape but ultimately harmless.

[@JohnWilliams-wl9px]

therobotchickenMLP certainly shows since Movie Sonic everyone thought t was ugly, while Boom was just a vocal minority that people even at the time we’re making fun of.

[@hoodedman6579]

The real issue was Boom Knuckles; I watched half of that cartoon and he still looks really weird to me.

[@Unk3mptLup1ne]

I think he showed Boom sonic because Chris Chan made a big deal about them changing his arm colors

[@HybridAngelZero]

I actually did enjoy both of these games for what they are, especially, Episode 2. I will say, though I did enjoy it, Episode 1 feels like someone made an AI play every Sonic game up to that point and then told it to make a 2D Sonic game

[@GyroMan5136]

i honestly liked episode 1 much more, the more broken psychics made it more enjoyable for me somehow lol and episode 2 felt a lot messier and less polished (outside of the graphics improvements)

[@rafaelpereiragomes1735]

I'm with you, Micaiah. And no joke, i liked Episode 1 MORE than Sonic 1 and Sonic CD, and i liked Episode 2 more than Sonic 2. I liked Episode 1's zones, except for Mad Gear, and i adored that you can replay the acts. The musics for both episodes are pretty good, unlike what people say. So, yeah, dude, you are right.(the other people are wrong.)

[@mysticmallachi777]

"So, that really slow water level with the frustrating, terrifying air timer from the first game? We should have, like, three of those every game. Fans love those levels!"

[@ChaoticMeatballTV]

I wish we got Sonic 4 Episode 3. It's a shame since I actually enjoyed them, even though they felt different from the Genesis games. Classic Sonic doesn't always have to feel like the Genesis games, but I'll probably get yelled at by 20 people for saying that.

[@Andulvar]

Some of my favourite Sonic games were 3d and Pinball. Those aren't your typical Sonic games

[@KizulEmeraldfire]

Ehh… **I** won't yell at you - everyone's got their own opinion, after all - but in my opinion, Sonic the Hedgehog 4, to me, looks more like, "Modern Sonic - but *all* of the levels are 2-D." That's not to say it's *bad* (again, I can't really state any fair opinion of how it *plays,* nor on its level design: I can comment only how it *looks* (and how it sounds)), but to me "Classic Sonic"… basically *is* the '90s games (and Sonic Mania) in terms of graphical style and physics. In Sonic Generations and Sonic Forces, every time I play the "Classic Sonic" stages, I keep getting thrown off because even though Classic Sonic *looks* like he used to (albeit as a 3-D model instead of a low-resolution 2-D sprite), the physics he uses in those games are *completely different* than what I'm used to in the classic Sonic the Hedgehog games. XD If you like Sonic the Hedgehog 4, though, that's cool. :) I still want to play it someday, just so that I can form a more fair - or at least a less-superficial - opinion on it, myself. Now, if instead you'd said "Sonic '06", I think then you **would've** gotten a lot of people yelling at you. XD (Not necessarily me, though: I prefer to stay out of that.)

[@fenomozo9108]

15:16 Yeah, those little signs became an standart for future games.

[@Sean_Bird]

1:16 I suppose things never change, huh?

[@pages4573]

Sonic 4? Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time... Truthfully I don't think it's a good game. It not only falls well bellow the original trilogy. But Even the advance and rush games, both series that were smart enough to realize it was better to do their own things rather than try to leech off nostalgia

[@cumcockproductions6433]

And they didn’t even succeed in leeching off nostalgia. The physics are garbage, the game looks bad, bad level design, bad music...

[@Ghosty_Dosty]

@@cumcockproductions6433 Bruh what? The music is awesome, the physics are garbage but acceptable, the level design is good, the graphics are fine in Episode 1 and beautiful in Episode 2, the BGs in Episode 1 are very bad while in Episode 2 they're very beautiful.

[@kingofcrap4414]

@@Ghosty_Dosty The mindset "garbage but acceptable" is the whole reason why Sega, and other game companies, can get away with releasing buggy, unfinished disasters. Because brainless fans will keep buying them every single time.

[@thatitalianlameguy2235]

@@cumcockproductions6433 wtf the advance physics are great and the level design is open and fun aside from advance 2.

[@IzanamisBurden]

I remember playing these and thinking it was some sort of fever dream

[@Gcrab71989]

The 2D Sonic games have always had their share of bs obstacles that punish you for not knowing whats coming.

[@thereptiliani27]

*Glares at metropolis zone in Sonic 2*

[@SquinkyThreepwood]

@@thereptiliani27 Enter the metal tubes as Super Sonic. Get spat out into oblivion.

[@PeruvianPotato]

@@thereptiliani27 *Glares at Slicers*

[@DisplayThisOkay]

Yeah but it's prettying bad in some of the Dimps games. The final Zone in Advance 1, all of Advance 2 on Normal mode, and most of Advance 3. I also heard Rush Adventure had a huge problem with it as well.

[@rockman2197]

“You’ll probably finish it in one or two sittings and then never play it again.” Whew I feel personally attacked

[@EpicMarioPlayer]

That was unexpected. Great video. Episode I feels more like a sequel to Sonic Blast than the Mega Drive Sonic games, while Episode II seems... alright. Like you said, I feel like these games didn't need to be called Sonic 4, in fact, they probably would have been way more well received if they were called anything else. I think the idea of putting out a numbered sequel to a game really old after you already had a bunch of games in that series that take place after said old game really unnecessary. That's like if at some point, for no reason, Nintendo just decided to release a New Super Mario Bros. game and call it Super Mario Bros. 5 or something.

[@Emily12471]

Well something about the point of being unable to react is that well that's kind of how the original games were too

[@zdude0127]

My review: Just play Mania

[@palaceswitcher]

or sonic advance

[@Helicopter7]

nah sonic 06

[@palaceswitcher]

@Yung Sooty honestly, the DS version of colors sucked. The Wii version was amazing though.

[@theknuckchuckanimations4832]

sanic mana suc

[@ryaquaza3offical]

Aw yes, the times when people complained about Sonic’s eye colour, such innocent times,....

[@CoralCopperHead]

"Y-you maniacs... stop it... zzz... no... _why are you colouring my arms?!"_ "Sonic, wake up." "GAAH!" *Thud*

[@locomokuu2471]

Hold on, this isn't a ridiculous pokemon challenge video

[@JetSetDman]

I need the full version of your profile pic and I need it NOW.

[@Sonic171K]

I never thought he would talk about Sonic.

[@janLilin]

Ah yes, my favorite Pokémon, sonic

[@Aeghamedic]

"Lack of polish." Pretty much the standard for Sonic games.

[@HitBoxMaster]

Official* Sonic games.

[@Gnidel]

Except for Sonic Forces and Team Sonic Racing. They have Polish, but only subtitles.

[@HitBoxMaster]

@@Gnidel Sonic Forces is pretty lazy though

[@blackdot105]

@@HitBoxMaster yh, no substance

[@Venomous9]

@@HitBoxMaster whoosh

[@maskofthedragon]

5:15 Dimps Sonic games in a nutshell

[@DJTileTurnip]

What a coincidence that I got a Sonic Movie trailer before the video

[@kingkrispy5289]

Episode 1’s model looks like some cheap 2000s beta model for modern sonic they made to test out 06

[@otterbeans]

Today we have been blessed with a new Pikasprey video. It is a good day.

[@smc_sennpaii999]

Omg new video hell yea XD love both channels but missed this one haha keep up the great work brother

[@Dat1snivy]

With the casino levels, it reminds me of sonic 2. I feel it's very unfair in a lot of areas.

[@EDifyer881]

It is sonic 2

[@AmyraCarter]

*_Casino Night Zone* in Sonic 2 is far more fair than this crap...

[@Dat1snivy]

@@AmyraCarter I meant the game in general. Not just casino night. I think that's one of the better zones. It's one of the 4 fun and fair zones.

[@AmyraCarter]

@@Dat1snivy Hmmm... Sonic 2 has some difficulty spikes, yes. Sonic 3 has more of them, and that was part of the design plan, to increment the difficulty with each game. Spinball and Mean Bean Machine are brutally difficult.

[@Dat1snivy]

@@AmyraCarter I can see that.

[@ComaAlpha]

7:30 "I just don't understand why they thought it was fair to put hazards in places where you can't even react to them unless you know they're there beforehand" THE SEGA GENESIS GAMES DID THAT TOO!!!!

[@imthebird]

Awesome job as always man, your opinions clearly come from the heart and I appreciate your passion to make these videos

[@FixyFlow]

What I would do with Sonic 4 would be something similar to the Sonic Advance trilogy. Give each game/episode at least 7 zones but tell a continuous story merging them all together.

[@slayers4life81]

I completely forgot about this games existence

[@TheInquisitiveMug]

I'm down for any Pikasprey Yellow content, hell yes. I dig your Pokemon stuff, but I've been excited for other games ever since your Castlevania: Bloodlines vid. Hell yes AGAIN!

[@bellowingsilence]

Not a fan. However, a check for the good column I never noticed before: the effect when he’s behind the waterfalls is such a wonderful HD and 3D recreation of how the dithering effect on the waterfalls in the old games looked on appropriate TVs

[@JoseAlberto-dh8pf]

Welp, hearing a non sonic fan talking about sonic 4 is pretty interesting. Also a couple of notes here -sonic 4 was originally called sonic hd adventure but then a sega of america executive approached the idea of called it sonic 4 to sell more downloads. -blame the wii ware version for making episode one so ugly looking as the game need it to be as small as possible to fit in the system. -The main developer of this game was dimps, many of the issues you cited are extremely common on the sonic games develop by them mainly the weird controls, poor enemy placement and bottomless pits. -Episode metal marketing and concept was a "throwback" to the lock on feature in sonic 3 and K, that's why you play episode one as metal sonic. -The green eyes debacle was believed or not initiated by a furry diaper lover who made a video trying to imitate the nostalgia critic and also years later try to pitch to sega of america a sonic satam movie, I recommend listening to the pizza party podcast sonic diaper fetish special episode to know more about it.

[@PatrickBoi6497]

José Alberto “sonic hd adventure” dosent that just roll of the tounge

[@emeraldrangersWhite]

There is unused content in episode 2 with the "to be continued". But, episode 3 will never happen so it was obviously cut. Not that anyone but me cares about what episode 3 could have been. Knuckles

[@ridleyrage5283]

I personally will always, always vouch for the Sonic 4 games. Yes, theyre flawed, but I had a good time. Its a damn shame we never got an Episode III; and I think its due to that, that these games HAD to be made no longer canon. Its not a bad catalyst-fall since Sonic Mania is now the official, canon Sonic 4, but...will we just not get numbered mainstream Sonic games from now on? Hmm...

[@PhazonEnder]

But is there really a thing as "canon" in the Sonic series? The world we explore in the 3D games is vastly different from the world we see in the 2D games, even the origin stories of characters isn't 100% consistent. Blaze, for example, was introduced as being from a different dimension in the Rush games, yet in Sonic 06 she's from the future.

[@CanaldoZenny]

Fun fact: Sonic 4 Episode I started development as a cellphone game called "Sonic the Mobile". Episode III was canceled for... reasons. Mania wasn't even a thing at the time. On the Episode II files, players found an unused "To be continued" screen and companion music track to go along with it. It seens Episode III was scrapped during Episode II's development. Both games were developed by Dimps, not Sonic Team. Oh, if you're wondering, the order of events are: Ep 1>Ep Metal>Ep 2.

[@LonelySpaceDetective]

I assume those "reasons" are lacking sales (though I have no numbers to back that up) and poor reception from fans. They probably thought it was better to cut the game short, than try to salvage it.

[@JmKrokY]

0:40 Its not forgotten We just trying to forget

[@fleetway6659]

Can't wait for the sonic 4 bonus video

[@AlbertFingernoodle959]

Sonic mania did this really well (I’m gonna talk about the plus version), they added a new power to sonic (drop dash) added ray and mighty as actual characters, added new villains, and controls really well

[@aurorablaize]

Wait...I remember when Sonic 4 came out but I don't remember the eye controversy. Was that really a thing? Were people complaining about a design that he had for eleven years at that point???

[@esmooth919]

I think the best way to describe the physics for Sonic 4 episode 1 is: Sonic Rush, but without the boost.

[@matthewsano6006]

Episode 1 of Sonic 4 looks like an old flash game from the internet.

[@stephen7185]

Cybershell, we will be faithful till your return.

[@onlyjust7250]

3:32 "the first time I saw him at full speed I thought the game was glitching out" That's too good

[@juliewinchester1488]

I just realized. 2 of the 4 levels of the first episode... *are based on two of the worst levels in the franchise.* Holy hell, why did they do that. Jesus Christ.

[@rjante2236]

It's almost like they wanted this game to suck..

[@theutubepower1243]

If sonic 4 episode 1 was actually good, only half of it would be good because of the two awful levels

[@LonelySpaceDetective]

*NOSTALGIA!!!*

[@TheDiscoGenre]

Misguided nostalgia pandering. I'm impressed they put the worst levels of Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 in there with a straight face

[@Dat1snivy]

Got a sonic movie ad before this

[@plushifoxed]

fun fact: Sonic 4 was originally conceived as a download-only game codenamed "Sonic DL" they shoehorned it into being a sequel later on

[@Megamean09]

At the most, I'd say forgettable.

[@ArcRay20]

you conveyed back to me some old feelings i had forgotten about for these games and even nailed what ended up happening (finishing in a few sittings and never playing it again and beating the Metal Sonic stuff in about 10 minutes). man am i glad we got the actual sequel to Sonic 3 with Sonic Mania! the one thing that sucks(???) for these 2 games is that it was going to be 3, in continuing with the idea that the Sonic4 games were just half rehashing the first 3 Sonic games, they were going to have Knuckles in Episode 3 and probably give the over all "story" a proper ending since episode 2 kind of leaves off weird. i think it was due to poor sales(not surprising) that Episode 3 didnt happen.

[@CyanicCore]

I was also curious and had some free time, so I downloaded II on my phone. Aside from the lifeless feeling, I didn't actually complete it. The software ran so badly lag drove me away before I made the mistake of playing more.

[@cumcockproductions6433]

3:09 The last few frames of him jumping are him standing sideways for a little bit What the actual fu- oh wait I shouldn’t be surprised, this is sonic 4

[@esmooth919]

3:10 the thing about that, is, Sonic always did a somersault every time he jumped. He's practically curled into a ball during this animation. He's just not spinning fast enough to make it look like a ball

[@Calcifrizzle]

Nice video! I hardly see anyone talk about these games, it was cool to see a bit of in-depth coverage of them. I think I'm gonna stick with 1, 2, 3&K, and Mania for my 2D Sonic fix!

[@Calcifrizzle]

Thanks for the tip! I was always put off of them before because I'm not a huge fan of the modern Sonic art style, but I've heard lots of good things about them in recent years, so maybe I'll give them a try.

[@misterzygarde6431]

Honestly I think people would’ve given it a chance if Sega gave it a different name like Sonic Micro instead of advertising it as a proper sequel to the Genesis games Also I think if Sonic Mania ever gets a sequel and it still uses old stages, I think the retro stages should try make a point to use stages from the Game Gear games, Sonic 3D Blast, the Sonic Advance trilogy and the modern games. That way we could see stages like Emerald Coast, Diamond Dust, and Sunset Park in the style of Mania.

[@MidoriMushrooms]

I remember the "sonic's green eyes" thing from way back when, and it probably did look like that from the outside, but the debate really was mostly fueled by people who associated sonic's modern design with janky physics that don't work and certainly were nothing like the classics. They weren't wrong either, if I'm being objective. Adventure was where his design was introduced and that game's physics are an acquired taste. As a huge fan of the adventure era, I can understand why the drastic change in formula left a bad taste in so many longtime fans' mouths. And you might be thinking "wait, those games sold well. What's the problem?" The problem is 06 and the collective disillusionment with the franchise a lot of fans felt, going so far as to say that 06 itself was just the culmination of every misstep the series had taken since SA1 and those mistakes were only now catching up to it, as opposed to the catalyst for the dark era. The next time you hear someone memeing about "green eyes", this is where the meme originates: dissatisfaction with the drastic shift in design priorities the adventure era brought in that happened to coincide with making sonic look more like a lanky anime character. It just happens that his new design is an easy pot-shot to take, but it does obscure the classic fans' actual (and sometimes valid) problems with the way sonic as a game series has been handled since the early 2000s. Again, I love adventure, and I think that's the best look and feel for sonic in both style and substance, but I understand the frustration of people who had to wait until fucking Sonic Mania to get anything resembling the games they fell in love with. I'm still here, waiting on a proper adventure 3, hoping to god it doesn't turn out like 06, so I get it.

[@PeruvianPotato]

What about Shadow the Hedgehog, didn't that game fuck up his reputation

[@philatio1744]

Peruvian Potato As OP said, Sonic 06 was the culmination of all of the design problems brought to the table by Sonic’s jump to 3D. That includes Shadow The Hedgehog.

[@MidoriMushrooms]

@@philatio1744 More like, their lack of initiative in solving those problems really. I think every big-name game should jump to 3D eventually, because 3D is ultimately more immersive than sidescrolling or top-down, but Sonic's 3D journey has been messy and experimental and I don't blame people for not really being into it.

[@MrSupermaze]

Shout out to the Extras Menu music from Sonic Mega Collection!

[@esmooth919]

7:30 That's Dimps for ya... A tradition that began with the endgame of Sonic Advance 1. Lol

[@katiem9128]

As a kid back in the day, I'd heard about Sonic 4 being bad and wondered what it was like, but without checking any videos/game footage. It's good to have your analysis on it now, Pikasprey! Thank you. It kinda looks like a downgraded, cheap Sonic Rush, which is a far superior game in my belief.

[@SydeLeaderRay]

When I first discovered in Mid 2011 Sonic 4 Ep. 1 was VERY excited about it. Discovered Ep. 2 in Mid 2013. At the time I was 11 and only had a Nintendo GameCube playing Sonic Mega Collection, Sonic Adventure DX and Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. I knew every level, boss and song before playing the game. I learned about the game via 1 hour on KZbin on my parents computer. It took me 3 years to play Episode 1 finally on my Mom's phone. I did noticed the physics was off via the momentum but I kept playing though because I just very excited to finally play a "new" Sonic game. It was new to me back in Mid 2014 because it always took years to get my hands on new video games. Anyways around Late 2015 is when I got both episodes of Sonic 4 on PC and realized the games are not that good. I enjoyed Episode 2 more because it was more visually appealing. Around I think March 2016 I just got tired of both games because I realized it didn't offer any improvement over the original trilogy. So I just stopped playing them. I wish Sonic 4 was like the original trilogy. I was hoping back in Mid-2016 for a new Sonic game like the original trilogy made by the Christan Whitehead team. 😏

[@Unato]

Why yes, it's 5 am and a Pikasprey Yellow got out, I don't need sleep

[@TheHeroOfTomorrow]

To be honest, if this was the worst Sonic game ever made, we’d be in pretty good shape. As it stands, there are a ton of worse Sonic games than 4, to the point where complaining about it honestly feels kinda trivial.

[@URFTBOUND4LIFE]

TheHeroOfTomorrow Just because they're worse games doesn't make this a good game. It's still a bad game. The failed to capture the essence of the Genesis games. The physics are wonky, The music is anaemic, and it feels too automated with dozens of speed boosters and springs. They don't trust the player to earn momentum on their own.

[@AmyraCarter]

*AVGN has entered the chat*

[@krxxc.kk6]

@@URFTBOUND4LIFE I feel that failing to capture genesis essence isn't a valid criticism.

[@URFTBOUND4LIFE]

Bloody Stream But It is if it's supposed to be a direct sequel.

[@Bacchus325]

Thank God I passed on this series despite being really close to buying it. It looks like a damn browser game but I've even seen better looking browser games.

[@kutaoizumi4189]

A new Mr.Picklesprey video! Today is a good day!

[@veikku5245]

Grinding these games must have required some impressive patience

[@AzraelThanatos]

If I remember right, if you get all of the red rings, you unlock metal sonic stuff for episode 1

[@Protofall]

The way you describe the casino level...isn't that just every Sonic casino level ever? They all fell like a huge pain and you're thrown around everywhere. I can't remember if the other ones have bottomless pits though.

[@icecoldbluesonic]

Episode III was gonna be released in April of 2015

[@kamirappa6098]

I didn’t get to play Sonic 4 in its entirety until a few months ago when I bought both episodes on PS3. I was prepared to like them, but I should’ve realized that I wasn’t playing something by Sonic Team themselves. I completely agree with Episode I being a straight up bad game, there’s almost nothing unique or interesting about it aside from having decent music, but even those are ruined by bad instruments. Episode II is definitely a strong improvement in every way, and I like the idea of mashing two old zone themes into one to make something a little more unique, but even still, it just goes from one ear and out the other for me. Then again, this is a Sonic game made by Dimps, so what did I expect? Aside from Advance 1 and Unleashed PS2, their Sonic games are usually very poor quality when it comes to how they’re designed. Particularly Advance 2, that game is the perfect example of a truly horrendous Sonic game. But yeah, Sonic 4 would’ve fared significantly better if Sonic Team were to make it themselves.

[@baval5]

This feels like a lot more of a fair review than most I see. I personally really liked both episodes of Sonic 4. Im not going to pretend like its a flawless game or that it stands up to the other numbered Sonic games, but for what it is its a fun game to go fast in. I didnt have the issues you did with feeling like all the levels were a slog, and particularly enjoyed the casino levels especially the card one which is the one I personally grinded for Super Sonic. I also spent a good amount of time trying to master the first level for the speedrun boards before they got overrun with 0'0"00 times. It wasnt a great game, but it was a good one IMO and I wish we had gotten Episode 3.

[@BeckyNosferatu]

Going into Sonic 4 after playing a decade or more on the original Sonic 2 and 3 for Genesis was like watching someone set your first born child on fire and you were absolutely powerless to do anything about it. And you know what was worse? You could tell the MOMENT you made Sonic take his first step in game.

[@TheJadeFist]

The eye colour isn't a an issue, but that low frame count animation on the title screen sure is awkward.

[@WakoDoodle]

On episode 2, why is tails even there for super sonic? Would he be redundant? Super sonic can fly and has super strength; wouldn't it be better to have tails fly away when you go super, so you can perform those skills without him? Just add a cancel button to go to normal if you want to save the form. Best part, add a swap button to become tails and have him go super as an option too!

[@biggusgreenus]

Or just make it so that you don't turn off Super whenever you perform a team move.

[@phil2160]

Imo these games are underrated as heck.

[@outofideas6243]

I have a new soft lock for Pokémon sun and moon, I don’t know if this works in ultra, but here it is: Finish the Melemele island challenge, and prepare to sail to Akala, but have the last Pokémon center you stopped at on Melemele, and ride the boat to Akala. In the first Pokémon battle you do, lose to them, MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT ENTER THAT POKÉMON CENTER THERE, and bing bang boom, you’re stuck on Melemele with no possible way to escape unless you go back to your last save. Stumbled upon this one by accident, and want to see if there was anything I could do to escape.

[@LiveHedgehog]

Sonic 4 Episode 1 was originally a mobile-only game called "Sonic the Portable", with simple throwback levels. You can still see evidence of this old name in Casino Street Zone. It's SEGA who mandated it be renamed to Sonic 4.

[@TealZero]

I will say: StH4's graphics look like when you know your arms bout to fall asleep but you can't do anything about it

[@j.p4974]

Beautiful comparison

[@s12y6o24]

It also looks like a decent portion of it was from previous Sonic games(same types of special stages as 1 and 2, same/similar final boss as 2, etc.). If so, it kinda goes along with the idea that they were originally supposed to be remakes(or...something like that)

[@aurorablaize]

Kinda surprised it wasn't mentioned that Ep 1 was so lazy that they literally just reused the bosses from previous sonic games.

[@worldoffiction4882]

Didn't even know this game existed until this video

[@Tracequaza]

I know the channel name is a combination of pika and asprey, but I always think it's pika spray, and the checkered icon you have makes me think of the default tf2 spray

[@terminalvelocityrunner2202]

I can personally confirm that when you have literally nothing else to do (because you didn’t have access to a DS in the pre-switch days) on a school bus that decides the ideal route to your house that is about a five minute drive from school is to drag you literally out of the city and suburbs before dropping you off at your house over an hour and a half later each day that Sonic 4 is actually a gift from god himself.

[@LeftyTheClown]

If I can recall from back then, I don’t think this game(s) sold well, even with the name to lure people in. I remember seeing that Episode 3 was being planned just around Episode 2’s release, but after that came out, they just cut their losses and scrapped everything.

[@Dragonrealms245]

New gimmick = torch , according to Sega

[@kulrigalestout]

I had quite a bit of fun with Sonic 4 E1, haven't tried E2 yet. But hey, it was my first Sonic game, so that's probably why I had no issue with the physics.

[@Sound_Judgement]

Fun fact for anyone that doesn’t already know: Sonic Mania includes one level from Sonic 1 (Green Hill), two from Sonic 2 (Chemical Plant and Oil Ocean), two from Sonic CD (since it was originally developed as a sequel to Sonic 1 concurrently with Sonic 2)(Stardust Speedway and Metallic Madness), three from Sonic 3 & Knuckles (Flying Battery, Hydrocity, and Lava Reef), with the remaining four being originals in Sonic Mania (Studiopolis, Press Garden, Mirage Saloon, and Titanic Monarch). This probably is meant to give the idea of Sonic Mania being the true Sonic 4, since the “Sonic 4” we did get was so disappointing (though Episode II got maligned unfairly by critics in my opinion, as it was a big improvement on the first one that (speculation incoming) critics realized they were too nice to and their ire/disappointment got piled onto the better half to make up for it).

[@Svmmyy]

Came for the Pokemon videos, stayed for the great content.