Was Sonic The Hedgehog 4 THAT BAD? 

"Sonic 4 is so bad that Sonic Mania's reveal trailer didn't even reference it on this elevator with the other classic Sonic titles." *~ Nathaniel Bandy, probably*

Fun fact: Sonic Superstars was apparently going to use a hand-drawn art style, but changed it to 2.5D graphics, likely because hand-drawn was too expensive.

Sonic 4 Episodes 1 & 2: “You guys always act like you’re better than me!” Sonic Adventure, Sonic Advance, Sonic Mania and Sonic Superstars: “Yes, because we are.”

Little trivia about Arzest: its founder is literally the dude that first designed Sonic back in 1991, Naoto Ohshima, so yeah it's actually kinda in good hands from what we know

It's crazy that the guys who had a hand in making stinkers like Yoshi’s New Island and Balan Wonderland (Edit: It's actually called Wonderworld lol) are making Sonic Superstars, which looks amazing. Hopefully, it means we’ll have a Classic Sonic pillar of games, something that Sonic 4 failed miserably to do.

Overwatch 2 wants a word with you friend

I think you should review episode 2, not that it’s like a great game or anything, but it does improve a lot of what episode 1 did wrong. Also, fun fact, if you have both games on your system, it’ll unlock metal sonic in episode 1.

This game almost felt like if Sega wanted to copy the New Super Mario Bros series

This was actually my first time seeing what this game looked like. It looks ugly and you're right, it does look unofficial. Even for 2010 standards and I know this was originally a mobile game, but that doesn't excuse it. The game just looks awful. But Sega had to make this a much bigger deal like they did eleven years later with Sonic Colors Ultimate. And speaking of Colors, that released a month after Sonic 4 and Colors absolutely destroys this game in every way. Those physics look wonky and it's clear this game was made with zero care put in. I'm lucky I never got to experience this game, Sega and the fans have the right idea to pretend like these games never existed. This game in particular is why you shouldn't lazily try to cash in on nostalgia. Go play Sonic Colors instead, avoid Ultimate, if you can, the Wii version still reigns superior.

I want a sonic 4 remake, with the classic genesis physics, just to rewrite history.

The wildest part of Sonic 4's physics is that it uses Sonic Rush's engine. No one has ever complained about Sonic Rush's physics. That's how bad the Sonic 4 team butchered it.

Every Sonic 4 review seems to leave out the best part: Once you get a chaos emerald from a stage, you can't replay it to get another one. So if you knocked out the easy ones early on, you'll be replaying Not-Labyrinth Zone and Not-Metropolis Zone repeatedly.

Reviewing Episode 2 would be a great idea for a future video - it is a huge improvement over Episode 1, and is in my opinion, the only real Sonic 4.

I’m very happy Trash or Treasure is back, it’s been too long! Hopefully we get some more soon.

Imagine being having one of the best trilogy... and a half of games and your next instalment is some cheap mobile game that played best on the wii

The funny thing is, Dimps has already made a 2D sonic game similar to the originals, Sonic Advance

I got an ad from Sega for Sonic Origins before this lol. Yeah I barely know anyone who actually likes Sonic 4. Even Mania didn’t acknowledge it on the elevator of 2d Sonic games.

I find it funny that Crash Bandicoot has a game with 4 in its title years after Warped, and it was amazing. My only complaint was that deep down, the game doesn't try to dig into what fans ask for, like Tawna (or Crash reacting to seeing her again) or explaining the games in-between the continuities. I felt empty when the game just winked and nudged at things like Crunch. Compare that to the sheer nostalgia stream that was Sonic Frontiers. That was worth it.

15:20 Does anybody know the name of this Mario fan game? Unrelated, I know, but it’s been on the back of my mind for god knows how long.

That mention of Flash Mario games reminded me of when I used to play them at school or when I wanted to try out something similar to the older stuff. It was also a time where we'd get genuinely good games like Super Mario Flash, Tetris, Crossover, and 63 or something weird where Mario had to kick a shell at Kamek or his head came off when he died with SM64 voice clips.

15:16 Ah yes, my favorite game, Super Mario Bros 4.

I enjoyed Sonic 4 (mostly), but just couldn't beat Dr. Eggman in his giant mech. Even with that, I hard you'd need to get all chaos emeralds prior to the fight... which I wasn't able to do yet due to how hard the bonus stages were.

I thought you'd be covering all of it since the title didn't specify Episode 1. But this was good either way. I do recommend Episode 2 and Episode Metal though.

11:50 - To be fair, the solution of the puzzle IS realizing that you need to manage the time that each platform is set out so that you can pass, so is not so bad.

I remember they screwed over wii owners, as episode 2 never came to the Wii so they couldn’t get the episode metal content in episode 2.

When he talks about the music, reminded of Pokémon, how all the music is the same in all the gyms.

I love how in the first half of the video he was optimistic for the game but in the second half he snaps

Fun Fact: In Casino Park Zone, you can still see a Sonic The Portable sign I the background because the device were too lazy to fix it.

there's a reason the last time this was acknowledged was a truck Knuckles punched through

Fun fact: the game was made by dimps (the company who made the advance and rush games, colors ds, générations 3ds and lost world 3ds) and the ost was made by Jun Senoue (who made the ost’s of sonic adventure 1 and 2, heroes and shadow the hedgehog (I think) he is even working on the sonic superstars ost with tee lopes (who made mania’s ost)) so why did screw this up? This guy told the reason at 18:00

The best part about the game is the reused sonic heroes sound effects then I can act like I'm playing a different game (also I don't like sonic heros at all but its way better than this abomination)

Good retrospective. You should make more Sonic ones.

Ive played Sonic 4 Episode 1, very fun game held back by short game length and no original zones, but despite this, i love the games upbeat music, fun level design with interesting gimmicks and puzzles and i actually find the stop and go nature of the physics to be better than sonic on the mega drive and much more satisfying and beginner friendly

Honestly always felt like Sonic 4 ep 1 and 2 were underrated. They have their obvious problems for sure, but they always felt like they had alot of potential especially episode 2. I remember being really hyped about it and was excited when they would release weekly development content about it on segas Facebook page. A real shame episode 3 never got to see the light of day.

Game Gear Sonic 2 also had a minecart section

A Retrospective Of The WORST Sequel EVER Made? Is Sonic The Hedgehog 4 Actually GOOD?

Sonic 4 episode 2 is kinda decent, it had much better graphics and actual original lvls

Devil May Cry 2 says otherwise

Worst sequel until june 30th 2023 for alternative title as we know that 1-2 switch sequel is coming

it's rather counter-productive that takashi iizuka admitted he wanted to give the game a different feel from the mega drive titles, even though this game was marketed and designed as a nostalgia trip and despite him being the head of sonic team, some people still pin the blame entirely on dimps for the game's issues...

Demeech: dark sections don’t belong in Sonic games Me who sees dark sections in Superstars: well have fun

"Because it's a sega production, I can't be 100% confident it'll be a great game" poor sega man

Thing is, Sonic 4 was originally not even meant to be a Sonic 4 to begin with and was instead basically just a mobile Sonic game for phones of the era and nothing else. Some moron at Sega decided "Hey, what if this tiny game we made just for mobile devices were the follow-up to one of the most legendary games our company has ever created and we make this carry on its legacy?" No surprise it didn't pan out. In other words, this is a Sonic game made for mobile devices in an era where mobile gaming was WAY more primitive and underdeveloped than its at now, and Sega decided to make it a console release as the sequel to one of the biggest names in the franchise as well as the next chapter in said franchise. As for proof of this, in the game's assets is its original title: Sonic the Portable.

Arzest?! Well that explains the 3DS like shading on those jungle vines. What I mean is that a lot of 3DS games have lighter colors on the edges of a model and darker ones in the inner parts.

1:21 Demeech: Oh no. RU-vid: ADVERTISE RED BULL NOW!!!!!!

Sonic 4, Devil May Cry 2, and Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5 have got to be the top contenders for worst sequels ever made 😅

Oh yeah don't forget that in episode 2 playing casino night in episode metal UR GONNA HAVE A SEIZURE!

What a coincidence! I always thought Sonic Remix would've been a better name for Sonic 4.

The only reason why Sonic 4 is so infamous is simply because it's called "Sonic 4". If it was called "Sonic the Portable" and only released on mobile devices like originally intended, no one would care about it and probably think it was impressive for mobile standards.

06 at least had the decency to remove itself from canon, one last mercy at the end of a trainwreck of rushed development. Something that is actually finally getting finished properly thanks to Project 06.

18:11 that might actually explain why the presentation looks so off because it's an iphone, so to keep the game playing smoothly makes the graphics looks worse than they should on console

If Sonic 4 wasn’t called Sonic 4, it probably wouldn’t have gotten as many complaints as it had. Apparently, Sonic 4 was just its own thing but SEGA chose to call it Sonic 4 for nostalgic reasons.

I like to make fun of the Sonic fanbase, but the truth is... I'm a huge Sonic fan

Yeah, yeah. Have you heard that new Metal Sonic theme, though? It slaps.

i forgot sonic 4 was a sequel

Episode 2 actually is better in every single way. Not even kidding, every point here is improved upon. The physics are more momentum-based, it has unique Tails mechanics, it has new stage themes, and the weird shading is replaced with a much more natural look.

Sonic 4 episode 1: sure people hate me, but atleast there’s not another actually masterpiece that released a month after me! Sonic Colors: you were saying? Sonic 4 Episode 1: Oh no…

And don’t forget hey! Pikmin

People are making noise for nothing. Sonic 4 is better than Sonic Chronicles (on Nintendo DS), but some people don't call the latter a bad game, and they call Sonic 4 bad.

The less we talk about this game, the better.

sonic 4 is the hotel Mario of the sonic franchise, Sega wants you to forget about it

1:38 Mr Needlemouse 4: Episode 1

That one reason why I hate Sonic 4 is because it’s not Unleashed.

Sonic 4's main sin is stealing the name from Mania

Demeech: Sonic 4 is the WORST sequel ever made! Hello Neighbor 2: I'd like to have a word with you.

On its own? No. But as a sequel? Yes.

Did you seriously just imply that Sonic 1 is trash? It's a beloved classic.

Updating and evolving are two different things.

I remember playing this game when i was little i actually good time im thinking about revisting this game to play it as an adult i wounder if this is going to the worst 2d platformer i have ever played in life

I think the light trash was honestly the fairest rating you could’ve given it

2:15 Also Balad WonderWorld To be fair, the company seems to specialize in smaller games. It was probably a case of bitting off more then they could chew with that game. Or something like that

New Super Mario Bros didn’t evolve 2D Mario. What are you talking about?

fellas is it unethical to have episodic releases?

Don't ever remind me of that... thing again

Oh look, it's Sonic The Portable

I've never heard of this game before. I'm familiar with most of the Sonic games but this is my first time seeing this

Awesome retrospective!

I think it'd be cool if you reviewed Episode 2 too. Whilst it's nowhere near as good as the original trilogy, I think it's decent enough and way fucking better than Episode 1.

Well, now you must try Episode 2 as well...😅

Sonic Mania actually uses 32-bit pixel graphics not 16-bit.

No, the reason why it’s called sonic the hedgehog 4 episode 1 because there are two episodes the othe episode featuring two new playable characters. And all new gameplay

3:35 here's when he actually starts talking about sonic 4. I know, he took a 3 whole minutes.

sonic rush, rush adventure and colours ds are fantastic 2.5d sonic games that came out before this also made by the same people so it baffles me how this just noticeably worse

Hey man, I’ve been trying to do the event Pokémon thing you made a video on in HeartGold, can’t get it to work, was wondering if it is still possible and if so can you remake the video on it pls

Oh, I have a suggestion for the next Trash or Treasure. It's a little game called Street Fighter V. I hope you'll love it! *laughs evilly*

If you enjoy classic sonic you have no basis to dislike this one. Oh my physics like the little sonic 4 struggles at is worst than all the shortcomings of the actual bad ones, the actual classics. Sonic 4 may of carried the name of the classics but isn't limited in the same. Let's forget how sonic 4 wasnt built as a console seller cause we wanna talk like 1-3/Mania + Superstars weren't designed with the intention of being mega hits, 4 wasn't, don't expect a new coming or something

Demeech what are your thoughts on sonic unleashed

Imagine Mobian Deemch looks like.

As a big fan of the sonic series I was disappointed after playing sonic 4. The art style is atrocious and the game is too bright The controls are slow and sluggish and feel unnatural. The level design is terrible with an over abundance of boosters, bottomless pits and gimmicks that aren't fun. The bosses are way too easy thanks to the homing attack. The final boss is unoriginal with sixteen hits and a bullshit final instant death attack. And finally special stages with time limits are bullshit This game is a DISGRACE

Of the Sonic games I've played, this is the only one I actively dislike. The game actually uses the physics engine from Sonic Rush... but Sonic Rush is a boost game, has a funky soundtrack and stylish presentation, and features Blaze the Cat. S4E1 on the other hand just doesn't "get" Classic Sonic. While the sequel is a lot better, it's still not great. If someone asks me what Sonic game they should play, I'd tell them to get the PC version of Generations as a starting point since it's arguably the best incarnation of the modern boost style. I would've also recommended S3&K, but naturally Sega got rid of it and replaced it with their terrible remaster that has a toothpaste shader smeared over everything. Still, I do wonder what Episode 3 would've been like. Perhaps they would've cracked the code and made a good game?

Maybe you can try the second episode of sonic 4?

I had it on Wii Actually loved it at the time and was so proud of beqting it i wrote a school essay on it

Pls review sonic frontiers I want to see your opinion on it

I like how the mobile version look better than the console version

I liked it

Still would take sonic jam for the game com over this. At least with that it isn’t like advertising itself as the 4th game in the franchise.

Okay tbh the first New Super Mario Bros did evolve 2D Mario. The first New Super Mario Bros is so much fun. The other New Super Mario Bros games are bland.

sonic 4 is a mediocre game at best but the fact that it's supposed to be a sequel to some of the best 2d platformers of all time (not sonic 1) makes it one of the worst sonic games

Are you planning on doing Mario Golf: Super Rush, or Splatoon 3?

I dont think blaming sega is the right thing because most of their other franchises are goods