iPhone Sonic 4: Episode 1 released

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 7 October, 2010

Has two exclusive levels.

The iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch version of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 is out now.

It's available to buy from the App Store for £5.99.

The iDevice version of the side-scrolling platformer has two exclusive levels that make use of Apple's accelerometer.

The Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii versions are downloadable games due for release next week.

Dan Pearson went hands-on for Eurogamer.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (29) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • peteb #1 2 years ago

    Ooh tempted to get this AND the XBLA version...

    Damn you Sonic!

  • layleeloo #2 2 years ago

    SIX quid? No chance. It will be pretty much that on the 360 and PS3 so I'll wait for them thanks

  • peteb #3 2 years ago

    But its out NOW! :-P

  • richarddavies #4 2 years ago

    ^It's 1200 points on XBLA/£10 and by the sounds of it, it has less levels compared to the iphione one. Arseholes.

  • FreakyZoid #5 2 years ago

    Yeah, imagine charging £6 for a good game - outrageous. All games should be 59p or completely free, or you are being ripped off.

  • captain_Carl #6 2 years ago

    Yeah but it will control like shit on the iPhone, like most games do

  • woodnotes #7 2 years ago

    The iPhone really wasn't built for games like this. It was built for games like Angry Birds.

    Hence, I'll wait for the home console version. Hopefully SEGA will do a 3DS compilation of all the episodes or something.

  • Eraysor #8 2 years ago

    I bought it, died on the first badnik, then it crashed my iPod.

  • McBradders #9 2 years ago

    Is it a good game, @FreakyZoid? Really? Everything I have read about it points to the exact opposite. I think you need to pick your battles a little more carefully ;)

  • miiiguel #10 2 years ago

    Yeah, imagine charging £6 for a good game - outrageous. All games should be 59p or completely free, or you are being ripped off.

    But it doesn't have buttons! It's like eating at McDonalds you eat with your hands, not very hygienic.
    Edited by miiiguel at 07/10/10 @ 10:07

  • oldtrusty #11 2 years ago

    It looks great, but I think I'll wait until I can give it a bah on my mates iPhone before I buy it for mine. I think £5.99 is a great price for a great game, but I like to try before I buy, simply because the controls on the iPhone can be a little daft at times.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #12 2 years ago

    No Lite version then?

  • bluem4gic #13 2 years ago

    WAY TOO EXPENSIVE

  • Grievous1976 #14 2 years ago

    It was meant to be released for the Summer of Arcade but the development on the i-phone version held it back, i wonder

  • GamesConnoisseur #15 2 years ago

    Lots of Mr n Mrs Angrys here today


    Don't get iPhone version if this won't appeals to you, however the control is left, right and fire. That pretty much it aside from accelerometer enabled exclusive levels. So touch screen a problem? Maybe for some but it's played beautifully smooth on my 3GS.

    Plus TWO exclusive levels not available for other version and at cheaper price, £6 to £10 meant you shouldn't be too quick to discount iPhone version. Playing on the move, bog, lunch break or in bed is an advantage!

    Loving the retro blast from the past, looks nice too!

  • youhavenomail #16 2 years ago

    "Yeah, imagine charging £6 for a good game"

    Yeah, imagine doing that rather than charging £6 for the first third of it.

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #17 2 years ago

    way so it comes in 3 parts which means it will be £30 on xbla/psn and £18 on iphone, no wait thats still better value on iphone, but for me its not priced at an impulse buy, doesnt mean i wont get it one day, i think the best plan will be to wait till all 3 parts are out and pick up the inevitable cheaper bundle package, remember early adopters always get screwed :)

  • JoeGBallad #18 2 years ago

    Just bought it, and I'm loving it. It works well on the iPod/iPhone 3GS era. The d pad has quite a big 'catch' area so it works better than most touch screen d pads. I haven't tried the touch controls yet. Overall, I've got a big cheeser on my face so it's doing something right.

    Re: the price. Well, the way I see it, £6 is the standard price for a brand new iPhone game from one of the 'big' companies, so I dint have any qualms about it.

    Basically, if you played sonic 2 when you were seven years old and want a bit of (well made) nostalgia, it's worth buying.
    Edited by JoeGBallad at 07/10/10 @ 11:19

  • fizzyfish #19 2 years ago

    Any particular reason why the exclusive levels can't be included in the Wii and PS3 releases, given both of their controllers have accelerometers, too? Or is it simply a financial arrangement? Not that I'm fussed, if they're just minecart levels(?)

  • sonicyoda #20 2 years ago

    As far as I'm aware the 2 "exclusive" levels are the dodgy minecart level that caused a lot of controversy for its' wonky physics and a pinball-type, high score-based stage. The thing is, these 2 "exclusive" levels are in place of the improved and drastically changed levels on the console versions which means you miss out on those.

  • peteb #21 2 years ago

    Er, so I bought it, and its not too bad at all! Controls better than you would think on an iPhone, but still hardly perfect. I'm treating this as a little (expensive) preview of whats to come next week.

  • GamesConnoisseur #22 2 years ago

    Maybe I distorted it, but we do often see t'ouch screen are shite' from anti iDevice-it's-not-a-valid-gaming-platform crowd but believe me when I say that is a valid argument from iDevice owners who knows that it could go either way depending on games.

    My point was that control input for sonic only requires three inputs, left or right and jump/fire. I played through few levels and only had couple of deaths that wouldn't occur with physical d pad. I know would have been a perfection if had d pad, but fat it's doesn't and still played quite well.

    Don't get iDevice version of Sonic if you can't dated touch screen, but if you can play numbers of games and quite used to it, then worth considering as price plus exclusives makes this a serious contender.

    I m multi platform owner and would rarely ever recommend iDevice over dedicated platform, if ever... Plants n Zombie on iPad justify perfectly the touch screen and Sonic 4 doesn't but still in spite of lack of proper control.... A good game.

  • Quixz #23 2 years ago

    Sega are really trying to self-distruct.. At 800MSP they would be looking at a HIT!

  • Rev.StuartCampbell #24 2 years ago

    "I don't see anyone angry on here, just ppl saying games on iPhone have shit controls. And for the one game I saw someone playing on a bus once over their shoulder they do. At least I think it was an iPhone - frankly I'm so fucking stupid it might have been a box of Poppets."

    Fixed that for you. The controls on iPhone Sonic 4 are absolutely fine. The game, unsurprisingly, is a bit poor. Which is to say, it's about as good as Sonic 2 and 3 and better than almost any Sonic game of the last decade.

  • Rev.StuartCampbell #25 2 years ago

    "Re: the price. Well, the way I see it, £6 is the standard price for a brand new iPhone game from one of the 'big' companies, so I dint have any qualms about it. "

    It's not, though. The vast majority of "big" games come out at $6.99, which is £3.99 on the UK App Store. The new Modern Combat game, for example, launched today at that price. FIFA 2011 came out at £2.99, the new Gangstarr game was also £3.99. Very very few games aim as high as the $9.99/£6 tag - the only ones I can think of offhand are GTA Chinatown and Street Fighter IV.

  • ZeroAX #26 2 years ago

    so this game was developed to it will be playable on the iphone? Ok one more reason why it is going to suck.

    Also wii and PS3 have motion sensors in their controllers, so why aren't they getting the extra levels? Huh sega?

  • m0thr4 #27 2 years ago

    @Rev Stuart Campbell
    The controls on iPhone Sonic 4 are absolutely fine. The game, unsurprisingly, is a bit poor. Which is to say, it's about as good as Sonic 2 and 3 and better than almost any Sonic game of the last decade.

    Agree 100%, although I wouldn't actually use the phrase 'a bit poor', as I thought Sonic 2 & 3 were fairly decent sequels. My only real complaint (apart from maybe the price) is Sonic's ever-so-slightly-dodgy animation as he starts off running, but this is more than offset by the fact that I now have an alterative to playing the first 3 Megadrive games when I need a Sonic fix. Certainly looking forward to the PSN release later this month.

  • dfua #28 2 years ago

    Disappointed in this so far.

    First impressions:

    Controls are ok most of the time,
    Music is poor,
    Spinning is rubbish as you slow down too quickly or end up braking.
    I really hate the way the screen spins when you go round the loops and how easy it is to fall off them,
    You basically stick to walls now, no momentum needed just run right up which feels wrong.
    Finally too many horribly cheap ways to make you lose rings, particularly right at the end of the level.

    I love the graphics and it is proper 2D sonic again but it is definitely overpriced for the content, and as for replay value I think I'd rather go back to the originals. Also, you don't really get another level with the three acts and separate boss stage as has been suggested before, it really is just the boss fight and some rings that would have been at the end of the third act in the previous games.

  • Rev.StuartCampbell #29 2 years ago

    Review here for anyone interested:

    http://podgamer.com/1811/sonic-the-hedge...