The first thing Sonic fans do when they learn of a new game is analyse the hell out of every single aspect of whatever media has been thrust at them. With Sega's new, episodic, downloadable title Sonic the Hedgehog 4, that media has been restricted to less than three seconds of play. Until this morning, that is.1Up received a bundle of high-quality screenshots, and a not-so-high-quality video of
Sonic 4: Episode 1 in action, revealing a huge chunk of the first Zone's level design and giving viewers a first glimpse of the title screen and menu options. As an Alpha build, the physics are a touch wonky and there are some odd glitches, but generally it's looking very much like Sonic as we knew him.
In addition to this leak, the
Official Xbox 360 website page for the game lists
Sonic Rush developers Dimps as the studio tackling Sonic the Hedgehog 4. On top of
Sonic Rush, Dimps also developed the
Sonic Advance series,
Sonic Pocket Adventure on the Neo Geo Pocket Color and, most recently
Street Fighter IV with Capcom.
The video also confirms four Zones; Splash Hill, Casino Street, Lost Labyrinth and Mad Gear. They all seem to take a little bit of a cue from a past Sonic 2D title, with retro badniks to boot.