Besides the new Sonic game Sega had to show off, Sonic Colors, the blue hedgehog will also be featured in two followup titles, the much anticipated Sonic the Hedgehog 4 and Sonic Free Riders.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 hearks back to the more classic Sonic experience with a 2.5D graphics and low-rez characters that would look right at home on a Sega Genesis. As a continuation of the Sonic 3 story, our hero has decided to go off on a little vacation after stopping Eggman and returning Angel Island to its rightful place. What he doesn’t realize is that Dr. Robotnik isn’t done with him and has followed the hedgehog to his hideout.

Now Sonic will have to race, jump and homing attack his way through Eggman’s various robotic villains in a classic side-scrolling manner. Our E3 demo was done on a Wii and with the controller turned sideways, and we were able to race our way through much of a grassy-green world that simply made me reminisce about the old-school gaming days.

What we actually played was only the first episode of a new series of games, though exactly how many episodes Sega has planned on releasing under the Sonic the Hedgehog 4 name is unclear at this time. You can expect to download this game on WiiWare, Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and the newly coined iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch).

The other Sonic game is the third one under the Sonic Riders line. The twist with this one is that it will use the Xbox 360’s Kinect to allow players to grab and use weapons, gain a speed boost and even, when the need arises, swim through water. While we didn’t get a chance to actually play this game, we did have a fun time watching a pair of Sega employees go through the motions (literally). So we can’t comment on how the game feels personally, but it appeared to be pretty responsive to the tired pair playing the game.

Sonic Free Riders is set to release this Holiday season, while Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I will be available for download late this year.