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Tails Limited to 2 Player Mode in Sonic 4: Episode 2

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Author Shadzter
75 Comments

Follwing today’s Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 gameplay trailer, SEGA community staff member Kellie has been answering some questions from fans over at the SEGA Forums. Most interesting is Kellie’s response to a query about playable characters.

As Ranger posted, I’ve answered some of these questions for you. Tails is playable, but not in single player. When playing single player, you play as Sonic and interact with Tails to progress through the levels. When you’re playing two player, one of you will play as Sonic and the other as Tails, and work together.

Release date is Spring 2012, as noted on the trailer.

Hope that helps!

EDIT: I’m not Ken… hope that’s ok. 😉

Unfortunately, Tails can only be played in two player mode and not in single player. It appears Sonic is stuck with tails too, and can’t be played alone like in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles. It’s beginning to look like co-op play is essential to progress through the game, though why there still can’t be an option to play as Tails and the CPU play as Sonic and still progress is unclear.

Source: SEGA Forums

How do you feel about this? Speak out in the comments section below.

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75 Comments

  1. Pfft, well that kinda sucks, I always like playing with Tails, and what also sucks hard is how we HAVE to have the little butt monkey beside us when we don’t want him. I guess this kills all hope of Super Tails’ return.

  3. I’m so sorry, but I did not understand this, nor did I understand the problem. Isn’t playing Co-op with Tails the SAME thing as playing single player with a computer? I seriously do not understand. If you wanna play with Tails, then play Co-op, its not like it’s a different experience from single player…? Help?

      1. The problem is that we want to play as Tails without having to keep switching controllers. I mean really, the first Sonic game in several years where you can play as someone other than Sonic, and it can’t be done the traditional way.

      2. I think I understand now. It’s that Tails will not be playable in single player mode, right?

        Lol, TSS news headline messed me up, but the TSSZ sub-headline cleared it up for me 🙂

        This sucks…..now there definitely won’t be any lock-on feature going on for Sonic 4…:(

        1. Agreed shame there’s no options for switching characters in SP but nevermind…still looks good I won’t be able to get ep 2 though when it comes out

  4. why does every game these days rely so much on co-op? not that its bad, but still. if you wanted to play single player then why not

    1. Uh, there was co-op back in Sonic 3 & K, so that’s not valid for this game.

      But I see what you’re getting at.

  5. i’m going to be really ticked if the game is REALLY dependent on co op. i like having the option to play with a friend, but it SHOULD NOT be mandatory to play a game! and also i wish you could just play as tails. sigh. if they put knuckles in episode 3 like they kind of hinted at, and it’s co op only i will be so angry

  6. dang it! Don’t get me wrong, I love tails. but i cant stand having him follow me around. you have no idea how many times i got powned by the chemical plant boss, when tails would hit him right before me, making me faze through him, and fall to the pink water of doom!!

  12. Being player 2 in co-op mode is not REALLY playing, is it? The camera follows Sonic and your actions as Tails, even WHEN you’re on screen, are pretty pointless, plus there are those 2 or 3 instances per level where you are required, and then you simply act as a player controlled crane for Sonic… cool… not!
    THANKS for killing the hype for us Tails fans, SEGA! **** you!

  13. They did this because Sonic Team is to lazy to make a Super Tails. Seriously….its not hard to just allow for 2 different playable characters. They’re SOOOO lazy.

        2. Not saying… WHAT!? Sheesh. Next thing you’ll be saying there’s no Super Knuckles, Super Mecha Sonic, Hyper Sonic or Hyper Knuckles.

    3. For super Tails you need the 7 Super emeralds…which requires the Master Emerald, that probably won’t appear again any time soon.

      1. Even if it is DLC, I think it’s still no excuse to leave Tails out as a single playable character. I mean, we can probably do the things that Tails would let us do, but we’d need co-op or something, and that is not right.

  15. Makes sense for the most part, since it looks like there are combo moves that take the two of them to pull off. And it makes sense that you’re always playing as Sonic, especially during the Tails carrying Sonic segments.

  17. Kind of a weird decision on SEGA’s part. Even if you can’t play as Tails alone, it seems like they could’ve made Sonic the CPU character instead, should the player desire taking control of Sonic’s little fox pal. Ultimately, I’m not too shaken up by it, but it’s strange nonetheless. I guess we can count 2P versus out…

  18. Like I said before it’s looking like the gameplay will be heavily focused on combining the two characters abilities… Hope this time sonic gets speed and passes through the stage running instead of homing attack and passing on boosting panels all the time.

    1. I think we should save that for the inevitable Episode III, when they introduce Knuckles and “lock-on” options that allow you to play through Episode I and II with Knuckles, and Episode I with Sonic & Tails.

  21. eh, no tails isn’t that bad. i hope comments after mine, don’t bitch about this. I’m more interested in the levels they choose. :]

  22. I think that Tails is only playable in Co-op because the game will have lock-on tech, but both games are only built for Sonic and his homing attack. Tails can’t do the homing attack, so he would be at a disadvantage in Ep II, and he won’t be playable in Ep I. It will just be playable as Sonic from Ep I to Ep II with Tails.

  24. well that stinks. ‘^’

    . . . . oh well, at least we’ll still have Tails actually “partaking” in the journey, unlike in the last few games where he was just a side note (although I give epic props to Colors for focusing on their Brotherhood status). And besides, Sonic Team has been improving on Sonic games lately, maybe the final product will show us once again that Sonic still has some track to tread *shoot me for that lame joke*. |D

  25. Ooooh, I got mentioned 😀

    Ah well, Tails at least is playable in 2P mode…. I never played as him anyway, so it’s not a big loss for me.

  27. omg no tails solo dimps should get a new name like chimps because it seems like a bunch of monkeys made this game :(((((

  28. But really, you have to remember that you CAN’T play as anyone alone because teamwork is a huge gimmick in this game! If you weren’t with Tails, you would end up stuck in some levels. That wouldn’t be cool!

  29. to me this is good news and sad news, because i would have loved to play Tails solo along with playing sonic alone, but i love that we’ve got CO-OP which me and my little bro wanted.

  30. that’s a little disappointing ah well. I just hope retro purist don’t start whining about how this is nothing like Sonic 2 and how Sega’s “raping their childhood” But since their complaints died down a little I don’t think that’s going to happen

  31. i can’t believe so many years later we can’t play as tails? it’s honestly offensive and demoralizing to fans that sega, year after year, tells us what we’d enjoy when in reality, it’s US who are two steps ahead of sega. i’m not sure who/what this unmovable force is who won’t honestly (and not just in lip service), listen to fans- but they need to rid themselves of it quickly or continue in their stagnation. unbelievable.

    1. That’s some interesting concept art, but did you know that the Aquatic Ruin-ish level and the snow level have now gotten official names? Sylvania Castle Zone and White Park Zone. I swear, I’m not trolling! And I think these are pretty cool names. 😀 Especially Sylvania Castle being a play on Castlevania.

  34. This is just short of a deal breaker for me.
    But now that I think about it, could there be some sort of cross-game features reminiscent of the lock-on functions of Sonic & Knuckles? We may have to wait until the next episode (assuming that there’ll be one) to find out.

  35. Those ice blocks (concept art) perhaps you need the combined Sonic and Tails spindash to break through it.

  37. Ignore my last comment. Just watched the trailer again. Sonic just runs straight through the concept art d’oh!

      1. Oh wait, it works now… and oh my god… I cannot believe my eyes… those freaking red rings are returning… god help us all. And what happened to that oil desert stage?

  40. Awesome looking game but this is somewhat bad news, bit of step back if you ask me, Sonic 3 & Knuckles had Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Sonic & Tails together, that is 4 ways to play with loads of replay value. This game is meant to be Sonic 4, the sequel to Sonic & Knuckles and you can only play in one way. Its a poor excuse, not to mention there is no consistency with Episode 1 anymore so now it will feel like 2 experimental mini-games rather than one fully completed game. I’ll still enjoy the game anyway but I hope they mend this mistake otherwise it feel very odd, thats my rant over haha.

  41. Wait. did you guys even pay attention to the release date? spring 2012. SPRING! that means we could probably get it between the beginning of march and the end of june. IT’S EXCITING! but if it does delay, it will most likely hit the original 2nd Half of 2012 release date. besides, if it IS DLC, it would have to update the engine on episode 1, but correct me if I’m wrong, It should not be DLC.

  42. Pingback: Sonic 4 Ep II: Tails no será jugable en modo historia

  43. This is a huge bum out…
    I would really like to play as Sonic and Tails Alone.
    Dammmmmnnnitttt…

  45. (Copy-pasted from one of my posts at a message board that linked to this article.)

    …really?

    How hard could it possibly be to just make Tails a player one character? Limiting it to two player co-op has got to be the dumbest move Dimps has ever made. While two player co-op sounds pretty cool, they just completely missed the point of playing as an alternate character in the first place.

    The Sonic CD remake added an EXTRA CHARACTER, so why couldn’t they just make Tails playable in THIS game? At this point, I’ve already lost interest in the game.

  47. I could of sworn i saw tails ahead of sonic running in the trailer as if he’s the one in control and sonic would be following him.

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