It's funny, because Sonic's 3D model, at least the one they're using in the trailer, looks so ugly compared to the three 2D ones they have.

Not a good sign.

I can't help but feel that this is a "We give up on 3D platforming" from Sega and Sonic Team. It's a bit of a shame as I think they could've taken Jet Set Radio and made another great speed-based platforming game i.e. an ideal Sonic game.

Still, here's to hoping for a break of the Sonic cycle.

Perhaps more the fault of the Adventure redesign?

No, it's more the fault of SEGA for re-using models of low-quality and low-budget games.  Take a look at how Sonic looks in Brawl to see the Adventure redesign can look perfectly fine running in a 2D plane.

Is this the admittance of no Sonic revival on Wii?

16x9 Widescreen would actually help in Sonic games to help see hazards. It doesn't mention it in the article.

I've never been a Sonic fan, but this is an excellent move by Sega and a great addition to WiiWare.

Every time I see a game that forces me to make a platform decision makes me wish for Dyack's one console future.

I'm sure widescreen will be supported, since it's on all three systems.

At least they're doing 480P.  I can't even run games like Mega Man 9 on my monitor because of stupid decisions like outputting in NES resolution.

They had to fuck it up didn't they;

boycott!

Mario gets revived in 2D with 3D polygons and we get one of the Wii's most successful and popular games.

Sonic gets revived in 2D with 3D polygons and it's episodic WiiWare.  I think that somes up the difference in prestige very well.

I hate the trend to use polygons for 2D games.  At least 3D doesn't like like crap anymore like it did in the N64 days but sprites are part of the appeal.  As good as NSMB Wii is it would be a thousand times better with sprites.  I see polygons as something you use because you have to in order to provide full 3D gameplay.  But if you're making a game that's effectively 2D sprites are the way to go.  Warioland: Shake It is one of the most gorgeous games I've ever seen.

I generally agree.  But the problems with 3D as 2D could be mitigated with good antialiasing and advanced shader effects, which we don't have on Nintendo's systems.  It seems it is less work to create polygon models than sprite models nowadays since you mostly need just one model that you can reposition, whereas sprites have to be redrawn for each animation frame.

WiiWare

I assume you mean retail. They tried that with Sonic Unleashed.

Sound good, but episodic? Screw that.

Charge multiple times for minimal work. It's the turd party difference.

Sonic 3 was chopped into two episodes (Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles), so Sonic 4 should totally build upon that with episodic content! Yeah!

Based on the motion controls statement, I wonder if SEGA is making two different versions of this game for the Wii and PS3/360. They're probably just including a motion control option on top of classic controller equivalent to the PS3/360 controls, but they've done odd things with the Sonic franchise before.

Sega has said the game will be identicle for all 3 systems unlike unleashed, just a few Wiimote and sixaxis control differences, that are most likely optional.

I can't really speak of the 3D Sonic games since I haven't played them, but I enjoyed the three Genesis games back in the day. I might download this if the price is right, though the episode thing worries me a bit.

IMO the episodic approach is the result of not wanting to admit that Sonic just doesn't work right with a save system and trying to make enough content to last long enough with a save feature would just cost too much for a single game.

SMB1-3 had no save system and they turned out great.

But on the flip side, NSMB DS/Wii do have save features and they turned out fine as well.

Super Mario Brothers 3 was pretty lengthy for not having a save feature, though that was corrected in later releases. Plus, back in the NES days, save features were excluded to artificially extent game length.
If the game is too long to be played through in one sitting then it needs a save feature. This is WiiWare, nobody's expecting it to contain more than a few hours of gameplay anyway.

SMB works fine with saves due to the way Mario levels are played, Mario levels don't have tons of alternate paths and speed sections that you have to memorize beforehand if you want to influence them.

I have absolutely no issue with the episodic concept here. In fact, I think it's pretty cool as long as they are each a nice package.