Sonic 4's physics deliberately different

By Tom Bramwell Published 30 November, 2010

Producer dodges momentum question.

SEGA's Takashi Iizuka has said that Sonic the Hedgehog 4's physics were deliberately altered from those of the Mega Drive/Genesis originals for gameplay reasons.

Sonic 4: Episode I launched in October and Ellie loved it to bits, but some gamers complained about ropey physics, which saw the hedgehog losing momentum at a moment's notice.

"In this title, we have not done a straight port of the gameplay, but rather updated it with actions which could not be done in the previous titles, like ceiling-running," Iizuka explained to Nintendo Power magazine (thanks Aeropause), which had noted that the physics were not the same as those in the original 16-bit releases.

"These changes probably made for a different feel to the long-time Sonic fans," Iizuka conceded. "We're happy for feedback like this, and we'll make sure we can improve the quality even further in upcoming titles."

Iizuka may well be sick of hearing about the physics, mind you, seeing as people were even moaning about them prior to the game's release – prompting SEGA's Ken Balough and Aaron Webber to tell GameSpot's On The Spot in May, "We're gonna try and make it a bit less 'floaty' and a bit more like the pinball mechanics style that the classic Sonic games are," when announcing the delay that eventually saw the game released last month.

SEGA has yet to say when we may see an Episode II, but Iizuka's comments suggest it's on the way sooner or later.

Earlier this week, SEGA upset Sonic fans somewhat by wiping the Sonic the Hedgehog 4 leaderboards in order to remove scores obtained by cheating.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 1 year ago

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

  • thesombrerokid #1 1 year ago

    it's one thing changing it, it's another when he stands still on a horizontal surface, it looks stupid.

  • LowEnergyCycle #2 1 year ago

    It did make the whole game a bit shit. It just felt frustrating to play.

  • Psiloc #3 1 year ago

    You can ceiling run in the originals.

  • Huxamalay #4 1 year ago

    Personally I think the physics are OK, I dont see why people have kicked up such a big fuss about them

  • Antaios #5 1 year ago

    ""In this title, we have not done a straight port of the gameplay, but rather updated it..."

    And that, in a nutshell, is the entire problem; Sega always trying to update and fix stuff not being broken. They promised an old-school Sonic game and whilst delivering a nice (if too expensive) game they also managed to not deliver on their own promises. If a few kids can nail it with a Sonic Fan Remix (even if there's too much going on visually), why can't Sega?

  • sifujames #6 1 year ago

    Really hope they bring back the old physics - Sonic 4 were IMO shockingly bad compared to the original games. All sense of momentum was gone which made judging the jumps in some of the platforming extremely frustrating. Not to mention how generally slow Sonic felt. Still a good game, but lots of work needed to bring back that sharpness of movement that Sonic had in the old games

  • Ranger101 #7 1 year ago

    Maybe SEGA need to take a page from the Capcom Mega Man games... keep it old skool.

  • arcam #8 1 year ago

    why can't Sega?

    Because SEGA fans and IP owners have different priorities. Backward looking retro-remakes have no long-term future.

  • drhickman1983 #9 1 year ago

    I'm still debating whether or not to buy the game. The demo did feel a bit odd compared to the older games. I'm all for progress, but in a game that very purposfully looks back to the past, it seems odd to not emulate the physics of the older titles.

  • Hog-lumps #10 1 year ago

    If my memory serves me correct, there was ceiling running in sonic 3.

  • drhickman1983 #11 1 year ago

    In the earlier Sonic games you could run upside down, but only at speed, and only for a limited time before gravity would drag you back down.

    From what I've seen of Sonic 4 (have yet to play the full game), you can ceiling run at much slower speeds. Furthermore, as demonstrated at the end of the gif posted by tachikoma, Sonic will follow the ceiling around outside curves.

    In the older games, if you had enough speed to ceiling run in the first place and you came across a curve like that, you'd unattach from the ceiling and continue long your trajectory, not stick the to the roof like your wearing magnetic boots.

    The only time you was able to stand on the "ceiling" in the older games was in Sonic and Knuckles, Death Egg Zone, where by you flicked gravity switches, but in that case the previous floor became the ceiling.

  • Loneck #12 1 year ago

    I absolutely agree with Antaios's post.

  • Ryze #13 1 year ago

    Broken.

    SEGA MUST DIE.
    Edited by Ryze at 30/11/10 @ 10:53

  • asphaltcowboy #14 1 year ago

    "In this title, we have not done a straight port of the gameplay, but rather updated it..."

    And that, in a nutshell, is the entire problem; Sega always trying to update and fix stuff not being broken.

    THIS! A million times, THIS!

  • SeesThroughAll #15 1 year ago

    I hope SEGA patches this aberration off long before releasing episode 2.

    Good that they tried to listen to the fans for once, but TRY HARDER.

  • JJrabbit #16 1 year ago

    Sounds like a case of the developer saying "it's not a bug, it's a feature".

  • Collymilad #17 1 year ago

    I thought Sonic 4 was great, and before you start I played all the old ones when they first came out and I have them on XBLA too.

    The whole physics thing was blown out of proportion to a ridiculous degree. Basically he only stops in mid air if you let go of the stick, that's the only major difference from the originals that matters and it's so easily remedied.

    The fact he stops when you let go of the stick actually made this game LESS frustrating than the originals imo.

    They changed the physics, get over it or shut up.

  • jack24 #18 1 year ago

    Major plus 1 to you Collymilad. Why is everyone claiming it to be broken just because it plays slightly differently?

    Seem to see alot of people acting as though if your a fan of Sonic 4 and the changes it made; then it isn't in anyway possible that you were ever a fan of the original sonics. Why not adapt to the game and enjoy new sonic, rather than complain endlessly about his bloody physics?

    /Derpppaa derp he drops in mid air therefore its wrong derp

  • Spong #19 1 year ago

    The demo (more importantly, the new physics) stopped me buying the new game.

    To SEGA; if it ain't broke, don't fuck about with it. Defying the laws of gravity/inertia is NOT, in any way, an improvement.
    Edited by Spong at 30/11/10 @ 19:57