What Made Sonic 4 Episode 1 So AWFUL 

I see Sonic The Hedgehog 4 as the true start of the Meta Era. An Era in which SEGA just stopped trying to make their games ambitious and groundbreaking and started pandering towards nostalgia. Every game after Sonic and the Black Knight is just playing it safe because SEGA is fearful of making the same “mistakes” they made with Sonic in the mid to late 2000s.

only good thing about the sonic 4 series is that it gave Christian Whitehead the determination to push forward and give us sonic mania

Fun fact: "Sonic 4" was just last-minute title change. The original name for the game was "Sonic the Portable" (check the background in Casino Street) and it was supposed to be exclusive to mobile phones, but SEGA being SEGA just had to intervene Which is why Episode 2 is not compatible with Episode 1, since EP2 was made with consoles in mind

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

Sonic 4 a joke? But aren't jokes supposed to be funny? If Sonic 4's a joke, the joke would be Knock knock. Who's there? ... Who's there? ... Hello? .... I'm so lonely. Y'know, generic and sad. Hey, Midrolls on a better spot, excellent. Great video.

They should have kept the title “Sonic the Portable” instead of remove Portable and slap Hedgehog 4 on it. That’s a complete insult to fans who wanted a legitimate sequel to Sonic 3K.

The side scrolling gameplay in Generations was better than the gameplay in 4. I don't really count it as an official sequel. That honor goes to Mania.

Sonic 4 might be the biggest example of how little Sega cares about their own mascot. Throwing a number on a cheap mobile game just to move units.

I think this was a sign where they listened to the criticism of critics, fans, and “fans” to a malignant degree. - Scaling back characters from being playable. - Banking on nostalgia - Playing things too safe - Trying to outright kill its past mistakes and unknowingly making new ones - Chasing trends (Kinect, Boom’s Crash/Jak Aesthetic) And I can go on, and on, and we go to infinitum.

Fun Fact: Sonic 4 was originally meant to be a mobile game called Sonic the Portable, a mobile game that was meant to appeal to both “Classic” and “Modern” Sonic fans. But they changed the games name to Sonic 4, in order to sell more units. They only ported it to other platforms because, let’s be real, if the sequel to 3&K was a mobile game, fans would’ve gone insane. And in the background of Casino Street, you can see a small graphic that displays “Sonic the Portable”.

A 2D Sonic game that I have not revisited in years and probably never will outside of marathons. Kid me would've only loved this because it was another Sonic game.

Spot on review. If I can give anything to this game, it's that it taught me how important the rolling ball physics of the Genesis games truly were. As a kid, I used to suck at Sonic 3 on the Virtual Console before watching reviews of 4 Episode 1 at the time that discussed how bad they screwed up the physics.

Fun fact: this was one of the first games I 100%ed. Yes, I _was_ a sad child.

I always hated the "sonic's friends are holding back the games" bogus narrative, Sonic stopped being solo in Sonic 1, people aching for less content and gameplay must have a "we like to see games get worse" kink.

Hard to believe that this was the same people who made the Advance and Rush games. Can't believe SEGA thought this was a good direction to go.

Somecallmejohnny: That's why after this video I likely won't be going back to it. (Quote from Somecallmejohnny's Sonic 4 both episodes rereview) 9 days later J's Reviews: Thank God the video is over now I never have to play Sonic 4 ever again and can just unistall it from my pc that sounds fun.

Honestly, out of all of them, I think Sonic did the whole going back to the retro era the worst. The New Super Mario games were a bit on the uninspired side but they were still fun and competent games. Mega Man 9 and 10 were extremely fun and got rid of a lot of the issues with the previous games, like the momentum from 1 and 2, being unable to go into the menu, being unable to jump out of a slide underwater (or period in 6's case), rush taking damage from enemies in 7, slow latter climb from 1 and 2 and the extended I-frames for bosses which was added to make the charge shot more useful but in return made normal buster shots useless against them. Whether going back to the 8-bit art-style was a lazy move or not can be discussed another day (personally I like it but I also love the direction 11 went with) but Mega Man 9 and 10 are easily my favorite of the classic series with Mega Man 11 being my 3rd favorite (GOD I LOVE 9,10 and 11!). P.S My order for the classic series is: 9>10>11>4>1>7>6>5>Bass>Powered Up>2> 8> 3 Back to Sonic though, at least now we have Sonic Mania which is probably my favorite or second favorite one in the series.

Never deserved the title of Sonic 4 for what it offers. Would be fine as simply a mobile game which apparently was originally intended as before Sega wanted to make it a Nostalgic cash grab.

Remember when people really loved Sonic 4 and the only complaints you'd hear about it were how Sonic had green eyes in a supposed "classic" game? Times really do change, huh... No idea how I thought this game was anything more than tolerable back in 2010.

11:34 I think mentioning Sonic 3 being split makes 4 look even worse. Sonic 3 (not & Knuckles, just Sonic 3, the first half) has the same number of stages (4*3=6*2) as 4 Episode 1, and is better in every possible way. More original level ideas, more original ideas in general, an existent story (which is especially insulting because that’s a Genesis game beating a seventh-gen game in the story department, especially because 3’s story is actually good), playable Tails, WAAAY better level design and special stages, better bosses, functional (really good but still) physics, arguably better visuals, and it handles the split better too. Sonic 3 sets up Sonic & Knuckles brilliantly if you knew they existed, not to mention the two parts are actually similar, with my only problem in this department being that the two parts were released at opposite ends of 1994. In general, while I think Episode 2 is alright, though it would’ve been better as a mobile exclusive with more levels and maybe without the name Sonic 4 (maybe Sonic Mobile Dash or something as I believe it came out before Sonic Dash) Episode 1 just gets annihilated by Sonic 3 & Not Knuckles (shoot me), and would’ve been mediocre at best even as a mobile exclusive.

The fact this was supposed to be a smaller scale mobile game meant to just be a zone compilation of the various genesis games makes it all the more insulting that they retitled this Sonic 4.

Remember J, the only Modern Throwback from the early 2010s that still hold up will be DKC Returns/Rayman Origins

It still genuinely surprises me that many at the time hated sonics friends soo much that they wanted all of them out, even tails and knuckles. I think it's mainly the critics and not the actual fans that thought that.

I'm glad you put Sonic 4 here and emphasized that it is the true start of the Meta era. To me the meta era is embodied by the active culling and stripping away of everything Sonic was and intentionally being proud of it out of fear of ridicule, and supplementing it with shallow memberberries to what people think they remember of the genesis days. And Sonic 4 truly is the start of that.

I really hope we see more characters in Rangers. I can’t believe those people wanted and begged for Sonic’s friends to be wiped away, look where that got us lol

"Sonic 4 was the best Sonic game I have played in years! We didn't get 2D games for a while (Completely ignores the DS games) and continues to get mediocre 3D titles, and that's why Sega failed so miserably. This is the future we wished for since 1994! This is Sonic!!" Just wanted to joke around XD

Maybe repurposing an originally mobile only game into “Sonic 4,” was a terrible idea.

If this game was given names like Sonic Retro, or Sonic Mobile, or it's original title, (Sonic the Portable) I would be more forgiving towards it. The fact that they called this Sonic 4 is legit the reason it's hated! Titles like these intending to be a sequel to its predecessor have to be *earned,* not given! In order for it to be earned, it has to what proper sequels do, which is maintaining what made its predecessors so good while adding to it! There is a reason why Sonic Mania (or debatably, Sonic Advance) is referred to as the true "Sonic 4." Sure, the majority of the stages are rehashed from the classics but the game adds A LOT to make it feel brand new. Such as 5 playable characters to the multiplayer options. This is the same reason why Sonic 06 is referred to as "Sonic Adventure 3" despite the missing chao garden. In fact, it's the closest we will EVER get to a SA3 whether it deserves the title or not.

I absolutely adored this game when it came out simply because it was a return to form, something a lot of people, myself included, thought was necessary for the series' success. Looking back, how blind I was. I didn't realize the unnecessary gameplay additions (i.e.: Homing Attack), the physics were a joke, the art style was questionable, and that simply reusing old stage tropes did nothing to advance the series despite it being called Sonic 4. Younger me was blinded by nostalgia, but older me completely writes this one out of the games' timeline.

Funny enough, it WAS actually initially just a mobile game called Sonic the Portable. However, once Sega saw the retro revival trend, they ported it to consoles and changed the name to Sonic 4 to sell more units.

Devs at sonic 4 really drew sonic 1 from memory, damn

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 went back to Sonic 1 to 3&k , my young brain asked "Why does this feel more fun than the newest title ?" But we now have Mania existing so now all is well.

There's this one little nuance of the controls that can make this game fun. Notice how the homing retical disappears before you land. You can air dash in that tiny window, and then jump into an enemy chain, defeating several in a single swoosh without breaking flow. Forget the spindash, it's the air dash.

Imo S4E1 is the absolute worst mainline game in the franchise. Absolute middle finger to fans it felt like attaching Sonic 4 to the name. I do enjoy S4E2. Also check out the Senoue actual instrumental version of the Splash Hill medley, it’s great!!!

This has to be in my top 3 worst sonic games.. this is a great video explaining why this game is just really lame

This game is so bland and unremarkable that makes it all the more offensive on how meh it is.

Considering Sega has no problem with reusing game titles, I think a new game also called Sonic 4 would be a good idea. Essentially it would expand on the story concepts shown in Sonic 3, continuing the lore surrounding the Emeralds, perhaps going over their creation. It would transition the series from 3K to SA1, and show how Sonic and co got to the mainland.

It really is repulsive how proudly non-essential this game is.

Ah, the start of the Mediocre Meta era and the drastic decline of quality.

Funny you and Johnny both did reviews of this game almost days apart!! It’s a good review man but sorry you had to play this. I can already tell the meta era will be extremely painful given how sad you sounds in this review but I hope you can tough it out!! I’m so excited to see you get to this point

Mania is Sonic 4. Change my mind. S4E1&2 aren't real; they can't hurt you.

Another fault of Sonic4 is how it doesn't work well with the canon. What we know about this game and considering how characterdesign-changes are somehow supposed to be canon, that means this happens a short while before SA1...except characters act in SA1 like they didn't see each other in a long time. Oops? I feel as if it would be better if the characters looked like in Pocket Adventure, classic look with colored eyes. It would prevent Sonic from looking out of place while we are at it.

As I learned SomecallmeJohnny's re-review of Sonic 4, Episode 1 is literally a port of a mobile game called Sonic the Mobile. But still, no excuse for horrible physics and ideas

J: Talks about dark age of sonic. *Puts Dark age of the law from DD in the background* Me: Perfect...

To think Eurogamer gave this a 9/10, acting as if the game was the second coming of Christ all while claiming it to be the game Sega should have made 15 years ago and not just a return to form, but an apology (for 06), all while claiming Vanilla is a slutty rabbit.... no I am not joking!

It's funny how you called the mobile version a "port" since this game was actually supposed to be a mobile game originally but then sega decided to name it sonic 4 and make it a console release.

"Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I" was actually meant to be a mobile spin-off. It ended up *becoming* a multiplatform mainline game during development! 😅

Great stuff as always J

I'll never forget how Jim "dollar store wig" Sterling called Sonic Retro "the biggest sonic hate site" because this game is fucking shit.

12:44 As JebTube so eloquently put it: "Hitboxes, my favorite concept."

I would persinally say the music has a similar problem to classic's music from forces as the compositions are good but the instruments ruin the music for me

To be fair, we did eventually get a proper successor to the Genesis Era Sonic Sonic Mania. Christian Whitehead and the boys did it well.

Ever since I started playing Sonic 4 back when it was relevant, I immediately gave up after Splash Hill. For me, it was SO boring and lifeless that it didn’t gave me the energy to finish it. And I agree, this game really does suck. BTW, I recommend Cybershell’s video on Sonic 4, he holds no punches on why this game sucks. Great analysis as always.

This game is the epitome of corporate what possessed ign to think this was sonics big comeback game. I'm never touching this shit ever again this game has no business calling itself sonic the hedgehog 4

Hearing my name while I wasn't paying full attention at the end scared the shit out of me 😂 I thought my screen name would be mentioned instead

Sonic 4 is 100x worse than 06. Sonic 06 was made with passion, it was just rushed. Sonic and the Secret Rings was made with passion, but had bad controls. Sonic 4 is bad because well... it’s passionless. It’s the only Sonic game that is just... nothing. It’s a nothing game.

I remember losing all 28 of my lives on the final boss, waiting for eggman to land on me, then the floor started shaking and I got a game over cause I didn't know the floor would break probably the worst experience of this game but I blame myself for that one

God, I still cringe whenever someone refers to the discount hack and slash combat as "god of war styled" when DMC was the first one in the genre and the one that inspired god of war

_"Sonic doesn't work on 3D, Sonic should just go back to 2D."_ False, Sega proved that they can't even do 2D Sonic correctly.

I still can’t wrap my head around this being an actual console release

Sonic 4 deserves every hate it gets

The most baffling part of this game is that of all zones to reuse, they used Labyrinth and Metropolis, the two most hated Sonic levels from the Mega Drive games.

"If this was just a mobile phone game then it would be decent" Well that's because it was supposed to just be a mobile game called Sonic The Portable, but at the last minute Sega forced the game onto consoles and changed the name to Sonic 4 to gage more interest. Also in the casino level in the background, you can see a ferris wheel with the original logo for Sonic The Portable on it.

Personally I really like this game, they have their own charm, their own identity. They're like the New Super Mario Bros of Sonic, and I like them all the same.

Sonic Mania imo is the true sonic 4

10:01 The way he said "great game we got over here" cracked me up😂

I was going to comment this on your video about the eras, but since you came up with this in this video I decided to comment here. What do you think about the next era? I mean, what should we call it? I was joking about it with my friends, and I said it should be "A new Hope" or "Hope Era", since u know... We are all hoping that Sonic Rangers fixes this mess with the sonic franchise, and since a lot of things are changing inside Sonic Team, it could be a sign that things are getting fixed.

Jim Sterling must be one of the 53 dislikes.

I love how people went from hating sonics friends to hating the fact all modern games are essentially just sonic and the new cool gimmick.

God, I remember buying this and I believe episode 2 on sale as a kid when I had PS Plus waaay back around 2011 or 2012. I just thought to myself "Oh cool, a brand new sonic game on my PS3!" and never got far enough to realize just how bad it was lmao. Keep up the great work on the videos! Been a fan for a long while. It's refreshing to see someone from my own generation give their genuine takes on things like modern sonic or, yknow, the old DCAU cartoons

As a fan of the classic 90s and the "Sonic Adventure 2" stuff- I immediately hated this game as soon as I played the first level. Music is nice, but when the mechanics of a 2D sonic game feel this muddy, and the graphics look like a flash fan game... You know it's gonna be bad. My problem isn't that it exists... It's that 1. For it being this bad and different, calling it "Sonic 4" was a massive, unfixable mistake. 2. The fact it's broken into two parts... I understand why, but that right there should have been a deal-breaker for sega working with whatever team, and it just further drives home that this doesn't belong in the franchise, let alone as a sequel to Sonic 3.

Sonic Rush and Sonic Rush Advenutre are still genuinely really good to this day though!

Just a terrible game that shows how little SEGA cared about the fandom at the time, just about the moolah. Mania literally destroys Sonic 4 in every possible way.

It's really insulting that this game is called Sonic 4 when it adds nothing to the table and does nothing new, this game makes Sega look like they hate their own mascot and told Dimps "make this game as mediocre as possible".

I was quite surprised when I found out that Sonic 4 Episode 1 was not just a mobile game, considering how low quality it already was. No idea how they thought this was acceptable to release on consoles.

People who praised Sonic 4 at the time were high as fuck.

I hate the physics in this game

Sonic 4 trailer looks better without the trash cell shade

the beginning of the true dark age

imma be honest i forgot this game existed after sonic mania lol.

Who remembers Sonic Fan Remix which back in the day put Sonic "4" to shame?

The graphics make it look like a bootleg mobile game

Ever since Sonic Mania came out, fans have really come to see that game as the True Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

Sonic 4 was an embarrassment. Episode one was a terrible rehash of old stages. Episode 2 did more of its own stuff and is somehow less enjoyable. I wouldn't care if I never played Sonic 4 ever again.

Your content is 🔥🔥🔥

i actually remember that bizarre countdown (especially how it had chip and shade really showing people were done with the friends when the problem was the different gameplay styles they should've put to a different ip than the friends themselves outside flanderization for some like tails,knuckles,shadow outside 06 and amy as the solution could just be making them playable in sonic's style with their own unique qualities/designing the levels off that.) and the contest for 4(how i got introduced to somecallmejohnny looking up entries finding the interview.:3) and a scrapped image for a doomsday zone esque boss. like super sonic returning to stage gameplay(do think colors handled it better.) but this and forces are definitely where the use of nostalgia got bad that the title is only for marketing a bare mobile game(that also shows the problem with rush outside cream/blaze when the boost is taken out for it's level design and very stiff control.) and while sonic being by himself was alright to me for colors(even if hover made me wish tails was playable/the friends were playable in generations.) i definitely felt tails was missing outside of the lame rocket,personally felt the 3d model was stiff and really made it feel like there should've been dialogue with how there's no story at all(like that actually funny story point of eggman being broke from the death egg's destruction explaining him going after the casino zone.),no originality giving the game it's identity and was with forces,lost world,boom and free riders the worst/actually bad of the meta era playing it safe,banking on nostalgia without it's charm(that thankfully christian whitehead & his team fixed with the mobile classic games/mania being the true sonic 4.).

Sonic 4 was so bad they didn’t even put it in the mania trailer only 1,2,3,K, and M

This review pretty much sums up my issues with Sonic 4 in general, and Episode 1 especially. Although I never played Sonic 4 myself, I have seen playthroughs of it, and I have never seen a Sonic game so proud of putting so little effort - The graphics look unappealing, the music didn't really grab me, the gameplay itself looks stiff and pretty brain-dead, and overall nothing in either Episode really excites me(except the final boss of Episode 2, I really like that one). It's one of the few Sonic games I didn't even bother buying when I could. And I actually bought Sonic Forces pretty close to launch, so my standards are quite low lol.

Let's all hope and pray 🙏 that rangers won't play it safe

Hey, J, wanted to say thank you for making this content, but unfortunately my road ends here. I already know how this story is going to end and I've expressed my hatred for the meta era many times before. Thank you for shining light on good of the 2000s instead of shunning it like many youtubers have before you. I really appreciate it.

Words cannot describe how pissed off I was in Sonic 4 ep 1 and 2 for the walking controls. It was so slow and sluggish and even made the special stages in ep 2 (especially stage 7) impossible to beat.

Just wanna point out, the soundtrack is not a chiptune soundtrack. It's basically a modern soundtrack trying to replicate the simplicity of old hardware sounds. So putting it that way, you can see how it's pretty much a perfect match for the game itself. By the way, here's what an actual chiptune soundtrack would sound like. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-75seAhWGpd4.html

I feel sad this is my introduction to sonic and hell even when I was little I thought it was shit.

Now I really want to see your review of Episode 2

Was I the only one who thought (at the time) "we already had Sonic 4 and it was called Sonic Advance, this is just a mistake"?.

I see sonic 4 as a soulless game

Hey J what’s your favorite song in the game besides the act clear theme?

Sonic 4's physics of being able to stand upside down on loop the loops without falling off are the best physics in a game I've ever seen.

This game sucks

Amazing video but nothing will ever top the raw anger displayed in cybershell's review of this game.