Johnny vs. Sonic The Hedgehog 4 

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“Probably won’t be returning to it” Also Johnny 10-15 years from now “Continuing the sonic marathon we have sonic 4 episode 1”

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is like the IRS. You forget about it at first, until there's nowhere left for you to run.

I’ve never heard anyone talk about the history of this game. Knowing it was supposed to be mobile only explains so much.

I like how in the original review of the game Johnny said He wasn’t a fan of episodic releases as Half Life Fans have been waiting years for episode 3 of that game. He was scared Episode 3 of Sonic 4 would experience a similar fate. Well…..here we are.

Fun fact, if you beat the leaked version of Episode 2, you'll be greeted with a "To Be Continued" message, which was removed in the released version

"The 69 attack" I laughed at that way harder than I should've.

14:35 Don’t forget the SGB playthrough! Poor Elliot. Never got cut a break during these 2D games.

17:13 this small part HURT, you can tell Johnny is just tired of this shit man.

If they were gonna bring back Little Planet, where were the Time Stones!? An updated, speedier version of the time travel mechanic could've been a great way to give Sonic 4's levels more incentive for exploration and variety, and it would have called back to Sonic CD without just repeating it.

I saw the bootleg Sonic 6 posted over on Facebook and somebody commented “What happened to 4 and 5?” We’ve reached a point in time where it’s become easy to forget about Sonic 4 now. Wew.

"I'm sure if he were wearing Raycons they'd still be on his ears, concussion be damned." You had no reason to spit great jokes at me in an ad but you did it anyways.

If I can thank Sonic 4 on any front, it made me appreciate retro games that much more when I was like 12. Used to enjoy the game, but once I tried Sonic 1 to 3&k at the time, my young brain asked "Why does this feel more fun than the newest title ?" But we now have Mania blessing us so now all is well

As a casual Sonic fan, I’m finally glad to learn the history of the production, the marketing shenanigans, and why it’s not held in the same regard as the classics. Thank you.

Holy shit, that editing took an already funny review and turned it up to 11. Johnny, please hire Lewis again, he's really talented!

17:13 Johnny actually sounds more exhausted here than during his day-long Sunshine streams. I feel that, after so many inconsistent years, but damn.

“The friends are just collateral damage “ - Johnny

Man I had no idea about Sonic 4's original history. You know it's dull when Johnny can't even muster up care for Slicers.

8:40 The experience is so dull, he doesn't even flip out over Slicers...

It has always been a mystery to me how Dimps, the team that had made Rush and Advance games, could make such mediocrity.

Even as a kid, I thought this game was weird. Before I really knew what a lot of proper Sonic physics, graphics, music, etc. were like, this game just felt off to me.

What I like about these revisits are all the research segments Johnny has placed in, I never knew about that Sonic The Portable for years! Well done John!

Not gonna lie, Sonic 4 honestly made me appreciate the NSMB games more for staying true to their classic 2D Mario feel & gameplay.

17:14 to 17:22 Man... I genuinely felt like a part of my soul _died_ while listening to this part. It's like...any kind of optimism I had just...evaporated. ...I think I need to be alone for a while.

"they can- they SHOUDN'T ignore that"... i felt that.

This is like the only Sonic game I never see people defend.

...it feels weird hearing Johnny talking about this game when he straight up abandoned both games.

8:37 Johnny said Slicers *without* losing his shit?! Is he becoming desensitized?!

Fun fact: Mr Needlemouse was a mistranslation, it was meant to be Mr Hedgehog. So the codename for this shoddy knockoff of the Genesis games is a name that wasn't ever really Sonic's. How appropriate

Wait... Little Planet is inside the Death Egg... Did Eggman technically build a Dyson Sphere?

"Almost like it was suposed to be a mobile game" This single sentence sums up Sonic 4 ep 1/2

Watching Dana Carvey's face slowly fade into frame with all the SEGA guys made me laugh much harder than it should've.

Imagine if Crash 4 had like 12 levels, all of the bosses were repeats from the PS1 games, and the ending is just the same ending as Crash 1. That's Sonic 4.

I remember having quite fun with Episode 1. However, now that Mania exists I don't bother going back. Plus, SEGA's idea to name the game Sonic4 because of marketing makes it... less good.

15:38 "What can you do?" Ad: "She knows exactly what she can do."

Before I start, congratulations to Lewis for starting a new career. The video was really well edited, the footage complimented Johnny's script EXTREMELY well. Sonic 4 failed what Mega Man 9 and 10 succeeded. While those games introduced new level themes and went away with a lot of the problems in the previous classic games; momentum and slow latter climb from MM1 and 2, being unable to jump out of a slide while underwater from 4 and 5 (or period in 6), increased I-frames for the bosses that was introduced just to make the charge shot seem more useful, rush jet being able to take damage from 7 etc... They also kept the good stuff like the better menu from 4 and onward, and the overall classic Mega Man feeling ON top of having some of the best weapons in the series and having multiple characters. P.S 9,10 and 11 are my favorite Classic Mega Man games. Meanwhile, Sonic 4 only had 1 character, fucked up the physics and the momentum based game-play and a whole lot of other unique stuff from the classic games. It also has a REALLY boring art-style, if I am honest. If you are not going back to the classics, at least do what Mega Man 11 did and be stylized. We have Mania now, so who cares.

In an alternate universe, these games were called “Sonic Mania” and Sonic Mania was called “Sonic the Hedgehog 4”

I still love that the sonic mania trailer just pretends that sonic 4 doesn't exist on that elevator lol.

Great re-review of Sonic 4 Johnny, and... at long last! The final BSC member made it into a Vs. video, and as editor no less! Stellar work there Lewis, hope we get to see you again in the role!

Sonic team is still on this ''Sonic only'' schtick to this day.

Honestly I enjoy when somebody is able to critique something without making me feel like they’re hyperexaggerating all the time, and the opinions feel genuine instead of basically being the same thing some other guy had already said a million times over

I’ll never forget that the first time I booted up this game on my Wii after downloading- knowing nothing about it and being amazed to see it- and thinking it was a student-made game

13:59 Gotta love that he still calls that the 69 Attack from the previous review of Episode II. XD

Episode 2 is a huge improvement over 1, but I remember vividly finishing the game with a big headache due the music

I remember telling people "just you wait, Sonic 4 will revive the series!" when the announcement came out

so does this mean we're missing out on a remade Sonic 3CD & Knuckles & Knuckles review?

Lewis did a great job editing for this one. You can tell the experience and long-term friendship you guys have because it blends really well with your video style.

i remember those animations. i also remember that animation called sonic generashorts and sonic stop motion adventures. god bless those animations they were childhood in the 2010s as well as sonic nazo unleashed

The story bebind these games sounds like classic Matt McMuscles material.

Internet: makes... questionable sonic fanart Sega: Sonic and Tails shall canonically 69

Ken tried so hard to market this game. You could tell he knew the game was soulless, too

12:08 "Sorry Wii owners" It's fine, store shut down anyways so... _scoffs_

4:09 "Needle mouse" is actually a mistranslation of the Japanese word for "hedgehog," and wasn't actually an early name for Sonic.

sometimes i sit at the beginning just to listen to your amazing theme song johnny

I remember being super excited for Sonic 4 back in 2010. Now I think it’s just not good and am happy with Sonic Mania being released

S/O to Lewis for his editing job on this video! Great stuff-loved the energy of this video due to his work!

Who else has their early copy of Sonic 4? Those special stages were nuts.

So that’s why Sonic could stand on wall in Sonic 4: Episode I it was the remnants of the original mobile game’s roots.

Do you guys remember when the game was revealed and people went berserk over Sonic’s modern design? I think this was one of the main factors of the whole ‘classic vs modern design’ war in the fan base. Oh my god, does anyone remember AKnotholeResident?

This game has the Phantom Menace effect, where people thought was okay at the time but now it's a joke.

I remember when Screwattack hyped this up at SGC 2010 like it was the biggest game ever. Funny (and sad) looking back.

"If they locked the next main entry to mobile phones, fans would go apeshit". Time is a flat circle. I'm glad I still haven't used my free trial for Apple Arcade.

Even when I already thought this game was inadequate as a sequel to the Genesis games, Sonic Mania comes along and becomes the final nail in this game’s coffin.

By the way, fun fact, Sonic 4 Episode 2 was the second to last Sonic game Dimps developed, with the last Sonic game Dimps developed being the 3DS version of Sonic Lost World.

6:17 this is why I like this guy so much! Thank you Johnny for your quality and objective reviews! I'm a long time listener and I like to use your videos to help determine if I want to try a game of not.

@SomecallmeJohnny should totally tackle the DKC series in the future👀

Bro, the Metal Sonic theme is lit. I can't believe you lumped it in with the rest of the 4 OST.

Damn man, gotta say that the editing was super on point in this video. Really accentuated the finer parts of the review while helping a lot of Johnny's jokes land all the better. A very enjoyable watch from start to end. - Smartass commenter

Who remembers when the final boss was Chuck Norris in his kitchen, while also cooking Pork?

Beautiful work as always, and much love to Lewis for his editing skills! He did an amazing job here!

5:15 LOL that barrel really wanted to hog the spotlight to itself

"I am of the firm cynical belief that the reason that it was called Sonic the Hedgehog 4 was simply to push units. And the reason it went multiplatform was because if they did lock the next numbered entry behind mobile phones fans would collectively go ape-shit." "Do you guys not have phones?"

The fact that Sega took a simple mobile game and rebranded it to Sonic 4 to sell numbers is a pretty hilarious thing to know.

Johnny I just wanna say thank you for doing what you do man, idk why but for some reason in the past year or so this channel has become a sort of comfort zone for me, whenever I'm feeling anxious or nervous, I just put the Vs. Playlist on Shuffle and watch/listen away. And in a time in the middle of my college years where shit is stressful as hell and most of my closest friends just left for this semester, anxiety and stress is at an all time high. So thank you so much for what you do, I can't imagine how my life would be without this channel, never thought I'd say that ab some channel on RU-vid of all things haha.

00:40 I find it funny that the carpet is so sparkly clean and then there's just a lump of a man laying full spread in the middle.

To any younger fans who missed out on the sonic 4 experience at launch, i recall a popular video that explained that if u input the homing attack late, your airdash would re-roll u into a ball to hit enemies to maintain the flow of the originals. Our copium during these times was hardcore

Been watching you and sgb since 2012, I’m glad you’re still making content💯💪🏽

Been having a couple of rough days recently, and these vids always cheer me up. Thanks, Johnny. ❤

man watching you take on these games again for videos really shows how your style has improved for the better over the years

Also, love the edits in this vid, I cracked up at several points. Well done, Lewis!

“Sonic 4 as we truly imagined it”

For me Sonic 4's main issue was the title. If it would've been called literally anything else, I wouldn't have as big of an issue with it, but calling it "Sonic 4" gave it really high expectations. Those were huge shoes to fill, and it didn't live up to the name. It wasn't *that* bad, but it absolutely pales in comparison to Sonic 1-3. I mostly hated the awful physics in episode 1, and the unoriginal zones that were basically just offbrand versions of classic stages. Still wish they'd re-release Sonic 4 with both episodes together in one package, and maybe some fixed physics for episode 1. Still feel that Mania is basically the true Sonic 4 lol

I can't help but feel this "series" was nothing but wasted potential. Despite how negatively received Episode 1 was, Episode 2 felt like the devs took all the criticisms people had and tried to fix them as best they could. The visuals, controls, level design, everything was at least a little bit improved from Episode 1, and with some more time I think it could've started to live up to the reputation of being called Sonic 4. This was entirely on Sega for forcing a spinoff mobile game into something bigger than it was supposed to be.

Alright, I'm loving all the editing that Lewis did for this video. Kudos to the both of you.

2:16 oh my... absolutely ruthless editing haha. kudos

12:01 ok Johnny did you add that thing near eggman what the absolute hell is it?

_"Look how OLD you've become..."_ *Me looking at Sonic 1/2: Dimps Edition*

Perfect timing, I just got back from shopping and now get to unwind with some Johnny goodness!

I have over 20 hours in sonic 4 episode 1 and I do not know entirely why. I loved that game, and still go back to it every now and then. I genuinely think if it was titled anything other than sonic 4 it would be looked at in a more positive light. But sega did a sega.

20 seconds in, wooo!! Usually have busy mornings so it’s nice. Really liking this retrospective... despite barely having over an hour of playtime of any classic Sonic game. Just can’t get past Labyrinth Zone act 3...

I peep the editing improvements. Never seen that before and I like it. Also, as a longtime fan, it's nice to see you go back to old videos sometimes. Keep up the good work

Man those Auctioneer lessons are really paying off, I thought I had this video on 2x speed during the sponsored AD part of the video

Johnny covers Sonic 4 at 400K subs. How fitting.

Real men know Sonic 4 is actually Sonic Mania!

Your videos increase in quality every single release. One of the best on the platform! Thx John

The editing was incredible in this great work congratulations on 400k

Man this is Lewis first time editing and what a job amazing job Lewis

14:30 Nah Johnny, you did a SGB Playthrough with Elliot back in 2014. I remember because Elliot does that bird scream while crashing the plane into a wall and killing you both, it was a fun let's play :D

Even SEGA doesn’t want to acknowledge Sonic 4’s Existence. They completely left it out of the Sonic 30th Symphony and didn’t even show it in Sonic Manias Announcement.

"Red or blue pilled, I like you all the same" Johnny confirmed based and friendpilled, here to make frens and peace