Those of you who haven’t turned your back on the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, listen up; this may rack your minds for a little bit.

Several months ago, Sega hinted at something codenamed “Project Needlemouse“, which we then came to realize is a new 2D Sonic game due to be released sometime in 2010….sort of.

More information about this new Sonic game finally surfaced over at the Gaea News Network. The article can be found here.

The good news goes as thus: The new Sonic, possibly Sonic the Hedgehog 4, will be a direct sequel to Sonic 3 & Knuckles (Sonic the Hedgehog 3 with Sonic & Knuckles). The game will be 2D with 3D influence, so we could see something like a 2.5D game here, which would be pretty awesome.

The not so good news is this: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 will be released in episodes, a la Watchmen: The End is Nigh. Sonic 4 is said to be the most expansive of the 2D Sonic games- even longer than Sonic 3 & Knuckles (25 levels in all. Doesn’t sound like much, and then you play it…). The episodic Sonic game will be available for only the PS3 and 360 at the moment, which completely alienates the places that the Sonic franchise shines; Wii,  the handhelds (DS and PSP, if there’s even a Sonic for PSP) and PC’s.

Honestly, when was the last time you played a decent Sonic game on either the PS3 or 360? Think about it… I’m patient.

Because Sonic the Hedgehog 4 will be a direct sequel, we can assume that characters from the Sonic Adventure universe and other 3D Sonic games will be out of the picture, which is fine with me- I hated Big the Cat. Even so, I would have liked to play as Shadow the Hedgehog, or Jet the Hawk (obscure reference) in a 2D game.

I’ll be sure to keep you posted as more things begin to surface, but that seems to be enough to swallow for now.