wiiware – The Sonic Stadium

Nintendo Wii owners may have noticed that while SEGA’s new port of Sonic CD is coming to many many download platforms, WiiWare isn’t one of them. SEGA has told GamesRadar that the reason for this is that the CD quality sound won’t fit within Nintendo’s strict 40MB file size limit for games on the platform.

In an excuse that carries a whiff of that old “the SNES doesn’t have the technology to render blood” chestnut, Sega has explained that the WiiWare platform lacks the chops necessary to replicate the CD-quality sound of the technologically-mindblowing-circa-1993 original – so, no Sonic CD for Wii owners.

Unfortunate for Wii owners. But at least if you’re not fussed about the new additions or Japanese soundtrack, there is still the option to play the original game on the GameCube title Sonic Gems Collection.

Source: GamesRadar (via GoNintendo)

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xxOLDOfficial News

Sonic 4 WiiWare Out Now In Europe and Australia

15th October 201015th October 2010

Shadzter

17 Comments

European and Australian Wii owners can now finally purchase the WiiWare version of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 from the Wii Shop Channel. The game costs 1,500 Nintendo Points and weighs in at 387 blocks of memory. Those hoping for multiple control schemes such as the Classic Controller and Gamecube Controller will be disappointed, because the game only supports the Wii Remote. Special Stages do have some control choices however, with the option of playing with the d-pad or with motion control.

Will you be buying Sonic 4 on WiiWare today? Let us know and share your thoughts on the game in the comments.

Thanks to just4lolzz in the comments for the heads-up on the Australian release.

xxOLDOfficial News

Sonic 4 WiiWare Out Now, First Gameplay Video

11th October 201011th October 2010

Shadzter

54 Comments

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Kg-JsR5LNA[/youtube]

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 is now available to Wii owners in the U.S. via the Wii Shop Channel for 1,500 Nintendo Points. This is the first of the console edition releases this week, with the PS3 version out on the PlayStation Network in the U.S. tomorrow and Europe on Wednesday. The Xbox 360 version will also release on Xbox Live in the U.S. and Europe on Wednesday and finally the Wii version will hit Europe on Friday. Courtesy of crinos43 at YouTube we have some gameplay footage of the Wii version of the game above.

Will you be downloading the Wii version? Let us know in the comments.

xxOLDOfficial News

Aaron Webber: “Sonic 4’s Physics Not to Have Too Many Massive Changes”

8th September 2010

Nuckles87

39 Comments

Aaron Webber just wrote a post over at the Sonic Retro forums regarding the amount of changes that will be made to Sonic the Hedgehog 4’s physics for the final game.

There are some minor changes to music, most notably being one act that has actually had its music revamped completely. We’ll reveal which act this is as part of our S4 Update Blogs.

Physics in general are not going to see too many massive changes, though know that I did push months ago to see how much would be possible. The biggest hurdle here was the level design, and the many ways that even small physics changes require updating almost every stage. It is never as easy as many might think, but I did ask and made sure it was brought to certain people’s attention.

Our biggest focus with the updates has been to make a game that people can have fun playing. When you play Sonic 4, whether you’re an old fan or a new fan, that you can enjoy the levels and not have any moments that are too frustrating or difficult, or that make you want to stop playing. No moments where a random gimmick forces you to lose the fun factor that the game had. This is why Lost Lab Act II saw major updates from the original design, and why other parts of the game are also being polished, including another big level update I think you guys will be glad to hear of.

In addition to the big stuff, and though physics won’t be changed to the extent I know some people here would like, we have thrown in a number of small but important updates to other minor parts of the game. They are things that I doubt most reviewers will ever take note of, but that you guys as fans will hopefully appreciate. Some of these will also be revealed in our next S4 Update blog coming this month.

Though it’s impossible to fulfill every request,I hope that the changes we have made will prove that our claims to have been listening are founded solidly, and that while we can’t make every single person happy, we are doing what we can to make the game more enjoyable for everyone.

Aaron Webber is a member of SEGA’s Community Team and has been their main liaison between Sonic 4 and the fans for awhile.

xxOLDReviews, xxOLDVideo

Sonic 4 Wii Footage, Preview from PAX

8th September 20102nd June 2013

Nuckles87

30 Comments

Well, I’m finally getting around to uploading the stuff I got from PAX. This is the first piece I’m putting up: footage for the Wii version of Sonic 4. Jason tells me there hasn’t been much footage of this version, so he told me to get some. Not sure if you’ll notice the differences, but the only real changes are more noticeable jaggies and darker colors, the most notable of which being the darker color of Sonic himself. The Wii’s D-pad was a really nice change in control from the crappy D-pad on the Xbox 360, so unless I can get my hands on a good 360 retro controller before the game comes out, I might find myself buying this version instead.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCjxMmZg3QI[/youtube]

As you can see, I screwed around in the demo a bit. Mostly, I was experimenting with the game and trying to find things I didn’t see last time. The game was, of course, fun. As I’ve said before, the game focuses primarily on momentum, with many of the boosters only acting to keep you moving along, or help you up steeper areas that don’t give you much room to build up speed. I skipped a couple, some by accident and some on purpose, but that didn’t impede my progress much.

I will say this, though: upon repeated play, the different physics have become glaringly apparent. They don’t do anything to actually hurt the fun, but really, if the fans figured out the equations to Sonic physics years ago, would it really be that hard for you to realize them in Sonic 4, Dimps? It almost feels like the game is “faking” the physics at times. Yes, Sonic could go through loops, but he couldn’t horizontally on them! That said, Dimps has successfully made the closest thing we’ve had to a classic Sonic game in 11 years in this demo.

Naturally, this is the E3 demo. Aaron Webber confirmed this for us before the show even started. It’s still a really fun game all around and I’m looking forward to the final product, which will hopefully change the physics enough to please those who want something even closer to what the classic games where.

xxOLDOfficial News

ONM’s Sonic 4 WiiWare Preview

2nd June 20102nd June 2010

Shadzter

34 Comments

UPDATE: We’ve just been given the following info via the comments section from long time ONM subscriber and Sonic Relief founder MK –

MK says:
2 June, 2010 at 11:29 pm (Edit)@Shadzter: Hate to break it to you, but this is a preview from an old issue that they’ve only just now put online. So everything you read is at least a month or two out of date.

So the removal of motion controlled act’s may still be rumour for now.
/UPDATE END

Official Nintendo Magazine UK have posted a new preview for Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 on their website together with a bunch of screenshots of Splash Hill Zone in the WiiWare version. Most interesting is the part about the Special Stages and motion control aspects where ONM confirm rumours going around the Sonic community that the two motion controlled Act’s have been removed from the console versions of the game.

A Special Surprise

The Special Stage is a fantastic update of the spinny, psychedelic one from the first Sonic game. In the original, you had to guide Sonic through a maze of coloured stones to reach a Chaos Emerald. It’s exactly the same here, with the same lovely sound effect going off every time Sonic bumps into one of the colour-changing gems, and the same familiar chime when he picks up the Emerald at the end of the stage.

There are a couple of additions this time though. There are also ring gates that you can’t get past unless you’ve collected enough rings, so if you haven’t managed it you need to go back and get more. What’s more, the Special Stages also have motion control, so you’ll be tilting Sonic left and right with the Remote.

I Second That Motion

This is the only time you’ll be tilting the Remote in the game, and it works. The Special Stages look superb and the addition of tilting controls doesn’t seem to detract from the experience whatsoever. And yes, the rest of the main game is very much the traditional D-pad and buttons setup from previous Sonic games.

Overall the preview is very positive, ONM continually throughout express their love for the games classic Mega Drive controls, feel and design especially the momentum required to build up your speed from the classic Sonic games. You can check out the preview for yourself in full with screenshots over at ONM’s website.

xxOLDOfficial News

Nintendo Listing Reveals Sonic 4 Cover Art

25th February 201025th February 2010

Slingerland

46 Comments

Yeah, it’s a downloadable game, but people still make boxart for it. A listing at Nintendo’s website reveals the game’s “boxart.” It’s nothing that you wouldn’t expect, but I figured most of you guys would be interested to see it:

Looks pretty similar to another piece of boxart (amongst other things), if you ask me.

[via Nintendo.com]

xxOLDOfficial News

Naka’s Prope Releases “Let’s Tap” and “Let’s Catch”

15th June 200915th June 2009

Slingerland

9 Comments

A double dose of simplicity hits the Wii today in North America with the retail and download releases of Prope’s “Let’s Tap” and “Let’s Catch.” “Let’s Tap” is going at a $29.99 price tag, while “Catch” is worth 1,000 Nintendo Points on WiiWare. A European release date has yet to be announced for either title, as many outlets list it as “Summer 2009” or “To Be Announced.” Check out some video of the two titles below:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR4dQxQEaIo[/youtube] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO7XmN8On_4[/youtube]

Are you interested in picking up either of Naka’s new projects? Let us know in the comments below.