Laboughs: Sonic 4 had "right team at the right time" 

SEAG Brand Manager Ken Laboughs has said that the only reason Sonic 4 exists is because the “right team" was in "the right place at the right time.”

Speaking with Destructiod, Laboughs said this was also the reason the long delay in creating a new title for the series.

"Fans have been demanding this game for a long long time and obviously we're in the business of giving fans what they want," he said.

"The other thing is we had the right team in place at the right time. We have a group of people that have an incredible passion for Sonic that goes back years.  We on the team grew up with Sonic on the Genesis and this is a project that we've been wanting to make, so, we just thought 'yes, our new project is Sonic 4.'

"Sonic's a lot of different things to a lot of different people. We're gonna try and hit the broadest audience possible with this game, but at the same time we know who we're really making the game for, and that's people who love digital stuff, [and] loved Sonic in the classic days on the Megadrive and Genesis.

"We want to make you feel like you're a kid again, in your parent’s living room, playing that hardware."

Destructiod also asked Laboughs how the studio planned to repair the Hedgehog's damaged reputation, thanks years of sub par games released for the series.

"We're making Sonic 4," he replied.

Good enough, we reckon.

Episode 1 is due for release later this year on XBLA, WiiWare, iPhone and PSN.