Splash Hill Zone

"Jeez...

I guy tries to find some peace and relaxation and the next thing you know Eggman returns from the dead after I destroyed his Death Egg and is sending every freaking badnik after my spikey blue ass!

I guess heroes can't have vacations."

A drawing of Splash Hill Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

I was inspired to do this after I recieved my new Nintendo Power Issue in the mail which had a large article on Sonic 4 and a interview with Takashi Lizuka, senior game designer on both Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles and is the developer on this game.

He revealed many things:
0) Game takes place after Sonic 3 and Knuckles, Sonic tries to go on vacation, but is mercefully hunted down by Dr Robotnik who is still alive and out for revenge.

1) Only characters are Sonic and Dr. Eggman, the two primarily main characters of the series. Their is no multiplayer and no reference to anything beyound the original trilogy. It's believe that Tails and Knuckles will appear in Episode 2

2) Eggman wil be using some of his old boss models like the Green Hill Wrecking ball, but after 3 hits, Eggman will go into overdrive and swing the ball 360 degrees and slam the ball into the ground. Old bosses, new Tricks.

3) The badniks are from the first 3 games (maybe Sonic CD too) and redesign too. Motobug, Newtron, Batbrain, Asteron, Bubbles, Shellcracker, chopper and many others return.

4) Sheilds are present, but no elemental sheilds have been confirmed yet.

5) Rumored to be 6 or 7 zones including Splash Hill Zone, Lost Lybrinth Zone, Casino Street Zone and Mad Gear Zone. Similar to Sonic 3 and Knuckles, the scenery will change in act 2, like Splash Hill starting in the day and the sun starting to set.

6) Chaos Emeralds and Super Sonic are confirmed. The ability to freely use Super Sonic is believe to be in the game.

7)Homing attack is present, will be used for certain exploration and new means of attacking badniks/bosses. The distantance has been greatly shorten.

8) Game is available to PS3, XBOX 360 and Wii as Downloadable content

Hopefully some of those nerds on the Sega Forum will shut up now.