Polygon has published an extensive report on Sonic Lost World. We’ve rounded up details from the article below, though feel free to check out the site’s full piece here. You can also find a few comments from Sonic brand manager Aaron Webber and producer Sam Mullen after the break.
– References to previous games while staying fresh
– Old enemy types
– Familiar environment elements
– Has bouncing mushroom enemies from Sonic and Knuckles
– Artwork from Sonic 2 is featured in a casino area’s spinning roulette wheels
– Appearances from a dozen other characters including Knuckles and Amy
– Easter eggs/references aren’t the main focus
– Team wanted to make a world that was “100 percent Sonic” while not relying too much in the past
– Sonic teams up with Dr. Eggman for the first time
– Webber says the rivalry “got kind of stale”
– Jungle level lifted from Sonic and Knuckles
– New twist introduced with the parkour system
– Slide along rails and zip across narrow strips of grass avoiding swathes of muddy water infested with alligators that can deplete all of Sonic’s gold rings in one chomp
– Parkour system came about through the team’s wish to make Sonic more fluid to control, and give series newcomers the chance to breeze along as quickly as longtime Sonic gamers
– Game won’t be bogged down with tutorials
– Tutorial is optional
– On Wii U, tutorial seelct has been moved to the top of the GamePad screen
– Can access tips right away
– 3DS version has you running into floating question marks for tips on how to scale obstacles
– All stages have rare red rings
– Collect them all to unlock “something special” that “Sonic fans are sure to love”
– Surprise isn’t the announcement of a third game in Nintendo/SEGA’s Sonic deal
– Sonic needs different moves to defeat enemies
– Moves include jumping, kicking, honing attack, and trickery moves
– Enemies include giant spiders and huge caterpillars
– Number of moves was increased to add strategy and give players more options
– Some areas have unique mechanics
– Casino level: Sonic needs to navigate a brightly-lit corridor strewn with light rails that will electrify him on impact
– In the level, you can pick up silver chips and cash them in at the end for more points and progress to the next level more quickly
– Snow-themed level: Sonic rolls up into a giant snowball and needs to be navigated across thin floating platforms similar to that of Super Monkey Ball
– All 3DS levels are unique
– Nintendo-exclusive deal “just made sense”
“Every enemy you see is a reference to a previous Sonic game, which could date all the way back to Sonic 1. So everything from the old Sonic games up until now make an appearance.” – Webber
“The whole parkour system, conceptually, comes from the simple fact that in past Sonic games, Sonic would move really fast and he was kind of uncontrollable, and then you’d run into objects and just stop. So we went back to basic controls and said, ‘Okay, how to we get past this? People don’t like running around fast, fast, fast and then stop.’ It started out with really simple things, like when Sonic hit a corner he would just glance past it. So we thought, what if he runs up walls or grabs ledges? And it sort of evolved from there into the state it is now. It all boils down to the fact that we want the player to maintain a flow, even if they’re not having a sort of perfect playthrough. This way, the flow of a high-level Sonic player can be enjoyed even by a novice player.” – Webber
“It’s a matter of giving players reasons to use that kick attack versus the honing attack, and having enemies where you’ll have to use a certain combination, such as the honing attack and then a kick. It’s really nice to have that kind of control in a Sonic game.” – Webber
“We’re working with [Osaka studio] Dimps on the 3DS version, and Dimps has done a really great job on the previous handheld games. But in particular with this one, it’s like getting to look at our piece from a different perspective and a different angle. So it’s the same style and look of the game, but it’s as if someone else is giving their own take on it. We also wanted to give fans something brand new, so if you buy the Wii U version and then the 3DS [version], we didn’t want to give you the exact same game. You beat those levels already. So for Sonic fans that are going to buy both, or even for people that will just get one or the other, you want something that not only works but feels at home on the platform. So 3DS will have some changes to it that make it feel more natural, better on the 3DS. And likewise there’s some stuff on the Wii U that just makes more sense and fits better there.” – Webber
“Sonic has never stood still — it isn’t about churning out yesteryear’s game with new levels. That’s not what Sonic is about. We did that with Sonic: Generations, but with Generations, that was the whole concept of the game. But Sonic as a property is about trying new things and taking him to places he’s never gone before, and having him do new things. Lost World is all about going back and rethinking the way he controls, trying new things and just like we did with Colors [and the color powers]… Well, if these things work, you’ll see them in future games,” he explained.” – Mullen
“If we trace Sonic’s third-party roots all the way back to just after the Dreamcast, we released Sonic Adventure 2: Battle on the GameCube and it did phenomenally well. We think that’s because there was a lot of overlap between the Sonic/Sega and Nintendo crowd at that time, and we just found historically that Sonic performs really, really well on Nintendo platforms. Sonic Colors did great, Sonic and the Black Knight did well and Sonic and Secret Rings did well — all Nintendo. When we look at the numbers, we thought — this is clearly where our audience is.”
