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ONM Sonic 4 preview indicates minecart removal

At least as we know it.

The website for Official Nintendo Monthly put up a brand new preview for Sonic 4: Episode 1, which has been delayed to later this year for some fine tuning according to Sega.

While the preview contains very little in terms of new media (more pictures of Splash Hill Zone), the author’s comments about the Special Stages posted below might attract some attention from sore fans.

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.

This at least indicates that the infamous mine cart stage has been moved over to the iPhone version, in line with the statement from Sega community relations rep and Retro poster RubyEclipse on GameSpot’s On The Spot that it will be receiving two exclusive stages that take advantage of the phone’s touch and tilt capabilities.

The preview itself is fairly positive, with constant remarks on how the game has a similar feel to the Megadrive era of Sonic, simple controls and momentum required to build speed. You can check it out here.

[Via Sonic Stadium]

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17 Comments

  • Reply

    That’s really cool! I already knew it would be the original special stage as Sonic 1. You can see a small glimpse in the 2nd trailer behind the, “THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES” at the end!

  • Reply

    Huh, maybe the leaks weren’t such a bad thing after all!

    • Reply

      Well, we could start conspiracy theories that Sega purposefully leaked the game to get feedback… but then we’d have a few people running around believing it.

  • Reply

    Hooray!! I hated that mine cart stage from the moment i saw it! This game will kick Mario’s nutz!

  • Reply

    I suspected this as soon as it was stated the iPhone version would have “two extra stages”. Honestly I have to wonder if it was intended to be in the final XBLA build at all or if it was only in the PartnerNET version because that was the only one under development at the time and it was being made ready for porting.

    Look for the “score attack” casino stage to be the other “extra stage”.

  • Reply

    Now I like how they have the Special Stage set up, but I wish they kept the Mine Cart in the console versions… I actually thought it would have been cool to play. I’m not getting an iPhone anytime soon… >.>

  • Reply

    Well, it’s possible that the minecart will still be in, but not as a motion gimmick. Think of the mine cart segments in Rush Adventure or something.

  • Reply

    wow it’s good to see the above comments – it’s nice to know people still have faith in the game=D

  • Reply

    i actually liked the mine cart, as ONM said in it’s review of Super Mario RPG:
    “You can’t have a platforming game without one.” But could this also lead to the conspiracy that you DON’T shake the Wii Remote to Home Attack? :-0

  • Reply

    What minecart they talked about? Has I missed something?
    Gimme a pic of this scene. :p

  • Reply

    I won’t mind there being a mine cart as long as it doesn’t take up a whole stage and DOESN’T”T HAVE MOTION CONTROLS!

  • Reply

    I think I remember seeing somewhere that the special stages were timed and you could get clocks to boost your time, but maybe that was just the Pre-Alpha.

  • Reply

    wonder if 20 years from now people will be digging the minecart object out of a sonic 4 ROM and raving crazy theories on the internet.

  • Reply

    Motion control, huh? While that would make an interesting function, I can’t help but wonder if the function itself will not have any glitches once the full game is complete, let alone all the functions of the entire game altogether… Sure, the addition of multiple functions sounds nice, but will they actually work like Sega promises? Anyway, I just hope that Sonic 4 will turn out as good as it’s being claimed to be, especially since all these announcements promise fun and creative gameplay.

  • Reply

    This is cool and all, but what about the xbox 360 (I’m not complaining I’m getting it for Wii). But the 360 doesn’t have motion control and I’m quiet sure that SEGA won’t use the kinect.

  • Reply

    this game “recycles” all stuff from STH 1 & STH 2, but i am waiting for it. 

  • Reply

    ignore previous comment… Maybe SEGA will not make Sonic 4 for XboX 360…

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