Petit Hedgehog is probably one of the more notable entries at this year’s SAGE, with a refined version from last year’s expo being showcased for 2018. Created by Chengi, Petit draws upon influences from the Sonic Advance era, as well as translating elements from the Sonic Adventure formula into a 2D environment.
The most striking element of the game is it’s visual style, which undoubtedly separates it from most demos at SAGE this year. Players can choose between Sonic, Shadow, or Amy, with each character brought to life through an original set sprites with impressive levels of life and fluidity for their scale. The demo contains six playable stages including a wonderfully NiGHTS-themed Avant Garden Zone (intriguingly both reminiscent of older and newer 2D titles), all built from the ground up and all the more impressive and interesting for it. Each stage’s design boasts several novel gimmicks for movement which are designed to be exploited using each character’s unique move set such as Sonic’s air dash, which allows fast movement though the stages. Shadow’s Chaos control also allows a limited teleportation in a desired direction, which adds another dimension to how landscape obstacles are overcome.
Some of the moves do fundamentally alter the “traditional” game play and takes some getting used to; some might find they are accidentally activating the air dash and inadvertantly propelling themselves into danger. After a few stages though, many will find that it adds an interesting means of movement, and increases the pace in a satisfying way.
The 2018 edition of the game includes a boss battle at the end of the second act of Jade Lagoon, however it is a fairly generic Eggmobile fight and little to write home about; it perhaps seems to have been placed in the game as more of a proof-of-concept, and hopefully means more inventive encounters are set for future editions.
The game still contains the odd glitch (as the creator admits, although many fewer than its predecessor), and one in particular we encounter seemed to drag our character in a direction to the right, as if homing in on the goal. Granted this was the only error we found in our play through, and didn’t affect our enjoyment of the game.
Overall, Petit Hedgehog is an impressive creation in both game play and graphics, and is definitely a highlight title to check out at SAGE 2018. We look forward to seeing this game develop in future demos!
To find more information on Petit Hedgehog or to download the game, check out the Petit Hedgehog SAGE 2018 page.
