This Sonic 4 level looks awfully painful to play

April 1st, 2010 Posted in News, Posted by Valay, Wii

A bunch of footage from Sonic 4: Episode 1 has been leaked online, but there’s one level in particular that is receiving quite a bit of attention. For reasons I can’t understand, SEGA decided to include some sort of mine cart level in the game that involves rotating the screen and jumping. Unfortunately, it seems like that portion of Sonic 4 will be irritating to complete.

Thanks to Cawdoor for the news tip!


  1. 46 Responses to “This Sonic 4 level looks awfully painful to play”

  2. User avatar

    By Austin on Apr 1, 2010

    What… How did they think this was a good idea!?

  3. By Shaun on Apr 1, 2010

    Ahh, what the crap SEGA?
    Why must you ruin everything with unwanted lame gimmicks?

  4. By bob on Apr 1, 2010

    does sega know how to make a good sonic game anymore?

  5. By Anders Norén on Apr 1, 2010

    Looks dreadful.

  6. By opiumx on Apr 1, 2010

    I think it will be fun drunk.

  7. By TR Reed on Apr 1, 2010

    hopefully this April fools

  8. By Ryan on Apr 1, 2010

    Urgh…this really looks like a frustrating experience for sure :(
    It’s a disappointing addition…

    Well good luck to everyone on getting through it as quickly as possible :P

  9. User avatar

    By Valay on Apr 1, 2010

    @ TR Reed – Sadly, I don’t think it is.

  10. By TheOnlySpero on Apr 1, 2010

    It looks bad because the guy playing the level is awful.

    You can’t knock something until you try it.

  11. By bob on Apr 1, 2010

    no way a gamer can be that dumb and you cant tell where the jumps will be because it goes to fast

  12. By Kyle on Apr 2, 2010

    OH MY FRICKING GOD! Can SEGA make a sonic game anymore WITHOUT screwing it up?! seriously! I mean sure this may not ruin the whole game but this just put my hopes for this game way down…

  13. By Thomas N on Apr 2, 2010

    I looks more frustrating to play than being painful. I really do not like to play a game like this, and there was high hopes that the Sonic franchise will redeem itself with Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

  14. By NMiyamotoStar on Apr 2, 2010

    I said this when Sonic 4 was announced. This is the exact same company that made all of the Sonic abominations following SEGA’s collapse as a hardware producer. They will not suddenly make something great, there will be no big turnaround. There would have to be a complete takeover by somebody else before they make something great again. I wish it wasn’t true but that’s how I see it.

  15. By TailsIsTired on Apr 2, 2010

    I don’t know, I thought that level looked fun. The problem is, the guy playing it was doing it painfully. And despite the idea that the game was built for the Xbox 360, it seems like this level would undoubtedly be perfect for the Wii or possibly SixAxis controller.

    Honestly, I think it’s too soon to say how Sonic 4 will turn out. As far as I could tell, it’s in multiple episodes, so we might not even be getting half of the content the first time around. I haven’t seen much of the leaked videos, but from what I saw, I liked it.

    The problem is that Sega is treating Episode 1 much like the “best of” – though all I saw in the boss videos are Sonic 1 remixes. I mean, the Wrecker Checker Ball? Second phase looks awesome, but it ends WAY too early. Lost Labyrinth boss? First phase is similar to the Labyrinth chase, second is kinda like Final Zone. All from the first game.

    The worst that could happen is that Sega treats Episode 1, 2 and 3 like each respective game’s remixes, and reserves Episode 4 for completely original Badniks and bosses. I like the idea of Episode 1 being the transition episode, the one where all the nostalgic fans can go “Hey, I remember that,” then get excited for future episodes which’ll take what worked and give something the nostalgic fans will appreciate rather than jumping into it. But as I said, it seems mostly Sonic 1-based, and I’d hate it if Sega used three full episodes as a redux of the original games.

    By the way, keep in mind that at least the senior level designer from Sonic 3 & Knuckles is back on the team, so I think it’s safe to say it won’t turn out horrible.

  16. By 7 0 N Ξ R on Apr 3, 2010

    this is going to make me barf.

  17. By a faggot on Apr 3, 2010

    yeah this level design is kinda stupid but the player is unbearably bad. the rolling premise is fairly simple and is presented early enough but he still keeps wanting to turn it all sorts of ways. just a somewhat faster version of loco roco, anybody with a sense of balance will do ok

  18. By moocow on Apr 3, 2010

    *has siezure* wow really really bad

  19. By Duo on Apr 3, 2010

    This shit looks actually rather easy, just don’t have a learning disability like whoever was playing it. Seriously people, you don’t understand spacial alignment and gravity? Really not the bad of a level. That and I bet its the only level like it.

  20. By Dave on Apr 3, 2010

    Painful to watch…yes

    Painful to play…probably not

  21. By Doug on Apr 3, 2010

    TO EVERY ONE DEFENDING SONIC 4:

    Your argument is that you shouldn’t judge it before you have played it/the guy playing it is terrible. Unfortunately you are wrong and this is a horrendous choice by Sega to make this level design. I don’t need to play in order to decide that it is not fun, irritating, and it is NOT classic Sonic. Seriously Sega get your junk together. If this is an April Fools joke, best one yet.

  22. By Leiwei on Apr 3, 2010

    So… sonic’s in a mine cart and yet the spears can poke through him? I wonder if they were high when designing this portion of the game.

  23. By Someone on Apr 3, 2010

    Wow, I can’t believe that not a single person likes this?

    Personally I think it’s good, it’s something different and that should be appreciated imho. I bet 80% of the people complaining probably suck ass at playing games and want baby games that spoon-feed them how to finish the level.

  24. By Translator on Apr 3, 2010

    I’m glad there are other people who will agree that the person who played that made it look a lot harder than it should be. It is possible that the controls are that touchy, but I think I’m gonna have to vote user error on this video and say I’m personally psyched to try it out myself.

  25. By esterisco on Apr 3, 2010

    omg…

    pleaase sega, dont ruin sonic anymore!
    give it to nintendo.. miyamoto must be full of ideas to do with sonic

    seha just lost their vision with sonic
    sega! just leave it..

  26. By L. R. on Apr 3, 2010

    They are just reusing a level from one of the game gear sonics. I think it was the second one. But, the level sucked then, there is really no reason to bring it back.

  27. By Pin Lou on Apr 3, 2010

    Amazing, Nintendo steps it up a serious notch! LOL

    Lou
    http://www.anonymous-surfing.us.tc

  28. By ken on Apr 3, 2010

    the screen is zoomed in too far, you can’t tell whats coming up.

  29. By TBizzle on Apr 3, 2010

    looks like the guy playing it might possibly have downs. stop whining.

  30. By random on Apr 3, 2010

    He’s defiantly got downs.

  31. By Jack on Apr 3, 2010

    Man a lot of people are acting so uptight. “Oh this one concept will RUIN THE GAME. Give me a break. It looks pretty fun. I’m still way excited for sonic 4.

  32. By Yaafm on Apr 3, 2010

    This looks great, reminds me a bit of Oil Ocean zone where you had no control as you fell down the oil slides, or how about snow boarding on Ice cap zone?

    It fits in with Sonic, and the game is still looking great.

  33. By FIREarms on Apr 3, 2010

    You people who say the guy playing it sucked are only kidding yourself. This level does NOT look fun, and it does look painful. Sega DOES suck dick. YOU should give up hope on this franchise and STOP supporting this BULLSHIT

  34. By sonic on Apr 3, 2010

    Looks awesome!! can’t wait to play it.

  35. By Treleus on Apr 3, 2010

    Quit spazzing out, you morons. It looks fun to play with motion controls. That’s kinda what it looks to be made for.

  36. By Alex on Apr 3, 2010

    This actually looks pretty fun. It’s good to see that they’re still trying new things. Looks like it would be better for Wii though.

  37. By Mygames19 on Apr 3, 2010

    Valay, your leaving out a very important point: This is ONE ACT. OF AT LEAST 16. I don’t know if you deliberately left out footage of the other 11 leaked videos, but there’s none of this mine cart bull in any of those videos. This is just a one-act gimmick, and because of it your all getting on Sega’s case about it. I must also admit that the person playing the game actually isn’t all that good at it anyways. I suggest watching the other videos and than make an honest assessment of the game from them.

    You can watch most of them here:
    http://spindash.org/sonic4/
    (Has videos of Zone 1 and 3)

    I’m not forcing my opinion on you or anything, I’m just saying that this video doesn’t and shouldn’t represent the whole game.

  38. By bejan on Apr 3, 2010

    ok yeah the level does look dumb but its one level… chill out, that doesnt mean the whole thing will suck, And the person playing the game in this video is aparently retarded which makes judging this level by the video much harder.

  39. By train on Apr 3, 2010

    I honestly think that the level looks bad is because the player just plain sucks. I could handle it better than this piece of cow droppings.

  40. By spitzy on Apr 3, 2010

    unless the controls are horribly sensitive, this guy pretty clearly sucks. he keeps flipping the screen upside, and turning it extreme angles when it seems like it’d be a lot easier if you kept it closer to level and only tilted it slightly.

  41. By Dusk Golem on Apr 3, 2010

    …The exaggeration here is TERRIBLE. I bet you $100 if this was Mario it would be receiving praise. Hell, Mario had gimmicks like this in New Super Mario Bros Wii and this looks similar to Donkey Kong Country’s mine cart stages. Watch players suck at those, their frustrating but no one ragged on rare for them.

    Plus the guy is playing terrible. People Overreacting.

  42. By ablestmage on Apr 4, 2010

    Whoever is playing this is excruciatingly bad at it. They keep tilting the screen WAAAAAAY too far over. You can tilt it just slightly and the cart will go slower. But the player is tilting it excessively far to one side and making it go too fast and keeps crashing. The level design isn’t bad, but whoever is playing it is absolutely horrendous at it. Make it stop!

  43. By Kanoo on Apr 5, 2010

    Man, I think I’d get dizzy a bit, I’m not sure why that level is even in the game, it throws off the pacing.

  44. By MogKnight on Apr 5, 2010

    Pfft, it doesn’t beat the crazy mirror level in Castlevania: Bloodlines in the Genesis. Now that was a massive headache.

  45. By jds on Apr 8, 2010

    April fools, azzes

  46. By cheat-master30 on May 1, 2010

    It’s an interesting looking level, but it sure as hell doesn’t look like it belongs in a game starring Sonic, the gameplay mechanics look rather painful and awkward, and in all, is it really a good idea to have over the top gimmicks with weird control schemes like this in the game that’s meant to go back to basics and revive Sonic’s series?

  47. By Lara on Jun 12, 2010

    If it is painful to watch, how can it be fun to play?

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