I was a Super Nintendo kid growing up. But even the biggest Nintendo nerds couldn’t fake on Sonic. Mario games had more content, secrets and are arguably better in terms of replay value. But Sonic 1-3 were dope for their break neck speed, new moves and edgy flavor that truly showed they were a product of the 90′s. The first batch of sidekicks were great too as anything created after Knuckles can kick rocks.

Then the Sonic name fell off with one mediocre release after the other. You’d think that the franchise should’ve retired as its popularity waned over the years. But Sega decided to actually try to revive the glory days of everyone’s favorite Blue Hedgehog with Sonic 4 Episode 1. Like NBA Jam, the game (and trailer) obviously feeds on nostalgia as it’ll strictly be a 2D affair like the trilogy it’s based on. I’m happy the game is returning to its roots because that’s when the franchise was at its best. That also means Sonic will be the only playable character going by Joystiq’s word.

The trailer suggests that this will be a downloadable game from Xbox Live, PSN or Wii Ware. With that out of the way I’m somewhat skeptical about this “episode” malarkey they’re trying to pull. We haven’t seen any official word on how many levels are in an episode or how much each will cost. Let’s just hope consumers won’t have to break out the wallet too tough for the full experience. Anyway the blue bomber will be back in business this summer. Here’s hoping Sega knows what they’re doing with this one.