If you’re a Switch owner who’s been wanting to try out the upcoming Sonic Forces game, today is your lucky day: SEGA has released a demo on the system’s Japanese eShop.
While the demo is currently only available on the Japanese shop, any Switch owner can play it. The Switch has the ability to allow users from across the globe to make a Japanese account and access the Japanese eShop from there. Nintendolife has posted a tutorial to show users how to access the eShop from different regions.
The demo features Green Hill Zone with Modern Sonic, Space Port with the Avatar, and the Egg Dragoon boss with Classic Sonic. However, each of these stages have a one-minute time limit, after which the player will be booted back to the level select screen.
Sonic Forces will be released on Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam on November 7th, 2017 in NA and EU, and in Japan on November 9th.
UPDATE: The Sonic Forces demo is now up on the PSN store. In terms of content, its essentially the same demo, but a lot prettier. The demo also still has a 60-second time limit for each stage.There is one other notable difference: the entire demo is in English, including the voice acting.
Like the Switch, the PS4 is region free, but also like the Switch, you’ll need a Japanese account. Unfortunately, setting one up on the PS4 is a tad more complicated, though there’s a guide you can check out here. Finding the demo is also more complicated, since the store is a bit difficult to navigate in Japanese. In order to find it, scroll down the tab on the left side, until you reach the section below the bit that says Playstation Plus. Click that and a new tab on the left will pop up. Scroll down again, until you reach the section just above the solid white line. You’ll find the Sonic Forces demo there.
Pretty good visually great and not input lag!
No PC demo ,so bad
Okay, the controls for modern Sonic and the avatar feel really… Wrong. They both seem to slow down and speed up randomly. I even noticed Sonic speed up mid jump, which threw me off. And when Sonic is going in a straight line, I feel like it’s just automated. I’m glad I can still quick step freely, but didn’t get an opportunity to use it, unless you count avoiding the hint rings. And avatar gameplay felt boring. I know the game is technically sound but that frozen chemical plant stage looks ugly on switch. Also don’t pay with a Gamecube controller, it’ll confuse you
Seems a bit weird that they only give you a one minute sample of the 3 levels on offer. Saw GameXplain play the demo and it was awkward watching him get booted to the menu so quickly.
I got very excited and then I read “Japanese” and then I got very sad.
And then I realized how to setup a Japanese account and downloaded the demo right now and I got very excited again.
Haha made me laugh
Switch demo good. Shame about the time limit. However I’m not a frame rate junkie (DOB 1990) so I can’t comment on the 30 v 60 fps debate. The demo has made me reconsider buying the game though – I had pretty much considered myself out of the running but playing this has got me back on board (a little).
I loved it!
Instant buy in Switch AND Steam.
let the data mining commence
WOW! I’m pretty inpressed. I had real concerns about Switch performance but I’m sold. Will be picking up on launch for sure.
It’s one stingy ass demo though haha. Performance wish though, yeah. Very good.
can only play for a minute at a time though…
It’s hard to be sure with only a minute per turn, but now that I’ve actually played it and experienced it first-hand, even after all the negative demo reviews and comments I’ve swam through on social media, and without having even attempted to defend it before, I’m surprised to say it’s more fun that I thought it was going to be (let’s put it that way)!
Holy cow modern Sonic controls horribly with no sense of speed this really is the Anti-Generations. The arch of the boost short jump is the only neat addition to his controls everything else is a bastard child of Generations and Lost World in the worst way possible.
You can’t go 5 seconds without some character opening their %&$#ing mouth which gives flashbacks to some of the worst games in the series, and speaking of seconds congrats on that 60 second idea SEGA you guaranteed to even piss off even your most brainless fans.
“However, each of these stages have a one-minute time limit, after which the player will be booted back to the level select screen.”
That is so amazingly pathetic. So you barely get to start the level and are promptly kicked out? What’s the point? It almost feels like Sega has no faith in the quality of their product and are trying to hide as much of it as they can in the demo. Either that or the game is so abysmally short that they would be giving away a significant portion of the game if they didn’t have the time limit. Bad sign either way, IMO.
The English translation is limited to Japan only, and the demo ends automatically after a minute.
Am I the only one thinking Sega are trying to hide just how bad this game is?
It’s hideous.
At least we learned today Hogfather doesn’t actually have eyes. He just sees in code streams like lines in the Matrix.
Switch version surprisingly looks great. I’ll get both. Early impressions had me scared.
This is true.
But he also played it on his PS4.
It was terrible.
I actually played the demo on switch i personally think its not as bad as people say it was
-the modern gameplay was as good as in colors in my opinion
-the level design is too linear? i doubt its linear there were multiple paths and the level is good enough.
-i notice how the classic spindash has been instant instead of charging but that really doesn’t matter to me
-though i would question the Avatars acceleration but other than that its ok.
the 1 minute time limit was my only dread
i just believe people are criticizing forces too harshly for a game that hasn’t even came out yet