Episode 4 was easily the longest and most ambitious of the original Adventures of Mr. Stick!!!, and not coincidentally, it was also the last. And hey, if you’re going to let a series lapse for 10 years and possibly forever, you might as well do it on a cliffhanger.
This was the first episode where Mr. Stick and Stick Lady both appear on the title screen, to acknowledge that the series has essentially become a buddy movie. I did revert the title to the original “Mr. Stick blah blah blah” formula, because I began this as The Adventures of Mr. Stick!!! and you go to war with the army you have. I think there was an ironic point about the hapless hero in there somewhere, too.
As in the original, making Stickmania was the biggest challenge here, especially since the new aspect ratio meant I would end up showing even more of the city. I ended up spacing the buildings farther apart, and for some reason felt I had to differentiate them even more now that I was creating them in HD.
I had a similar problem with the Evil Robot Fortress, which didn’t look nearly as big and imposing on a wider screen. I also added some more detail to the robot bombers, though I’m still not too happy with how their design turned out. They’re the one element that I think looks significantly worse in HD. Oh well; not like they appear in the most pivotal scene in the series so far or anything.