Sonic 4 Classic???

[VGTM]

Yeah maybe so

[Cornholio857]

That game was Sonic X-Treme. It was originally intended for the Genesis, then moved to the 32X and once again moved to the Saturn before being cancelled.

Sonic X-treme is an unreleased Sonic the Hedgehog game for the Sega Saturn. Originally conceived as a game for the Mega Drive, production moved to the Sega 32X until it was ultimately developed for the Saturn. Intended to be Sonic's first foray into a three-dimensional world, it was expected to be released in time for the Christmas 1996 season. Due to numerous development problems, the game was canceled in 1997, leaving in its wake a hole in the Saturn library. Though it can be debated if the game would have sent the Saturn to the same heights as the original Sonic the Hedgehog did for the Mega Drive, it is hard to argue that its lack of release was not one of the reasons for the Saturn's failure outside of Japan.

http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_X-treme

As others have said, those screenshots are from Sonic Ride.

Sonic Crackers became Knuckles Chaotix. Here's proof, check this out:

Sonic Crackers

The connection between Sonic Crackers was usually strong but it lacked concrete evidence. This was found in the early prototypes released by drx. xdaniel found text referring to Sonic Crackers while examining a savestate, it's possible for anyone to see it by following these steps:

• Start the ROM in Kega Fusion.
• Select TIME ATTACK in main menu.
• Advance through PLAYER and NPC SELECT.
• On ATTRACTION SELECT, create a Save State.
• Now, start the ROM in Gens and load the Save State (note: the game has a chance of crashing at this point).
• Enter the Genesis VDP viewer via CPU->Debug->Genesis VDP.
• If you can't see anything, select a different palette.

If it works you will get a screen like this, note the graphics in the green box:


When the tiles are rearranged they would look like this:

http://info.sonicretro.org/Game_Secr...les%27_Chaotix


Edit: So looking at the info, Sonic Crackers more than likely became Sonic Chaotic, which Da_Shocker mentioned, then became Knuckles' Chaotix.

More proof:

http://info.sonicretro.org/Game_Secr...les%27_Chaotix

[The Jackal]

^ Exactly. The game the article is refering to is ONE of the 32X versions during the X-Treme dev cycle; under the project name "Sonic Mars" (Mars being the in-house codename for the 32X); they canned it and moved development to the Saturn. Didn't know about that stuff in the Chaotix beta, though - remind me to rep you when I can (need to spread some first).

[Cornholio857]

Also, there were TWO pitch demos for Sonic Mars. One was 3D and the other was an over head view.


The over head view demo begins at 1:34.

[The Jackal]

Wasn't there a seperate early version based on SatAM at one point (different to the STI brawler demo/video) that never made it past the concept stages (some sketches)? Pretty sure I read it on Retro a few months back.

[Cornholio857]

Is this what you are referring to?


One of Sega-16's vids infact. LOL

Edit:

According to Chris Senn, a developer of Sonic X-treme, this game was actually another phase of the canceled Sonic X-treme.

http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic-16

[The Jackal]

I know it was STI developed, but I'm pretty sure it was a seperate project to the 'Mars' one; but I could be wrong. I'll check Retro, see what they say on it. EDIT: Oh, OK, no need . Thanks.

[Melf]

^ Exactly. The game the article is refering to is ONE of the 32X versions during the X-Treme dev cycle; under the project name "Sonic Mars" (Mars being the in-house codename for the 32X); they canned it and moved development to the Saturn. Didn't know about that stuff in the Chaotix beta, though - remind me to rep you when I can (need to spread some first).

It's all in our 2005 article on Sonic Crackers!

Is this what you are referring to?


One of Sega-16's vids infact. LOL

That's from our Peter Moraweic interview, which will be back up this week.

[The Jackal]

It's all in our 2005 article on Sonic Crackers! That's from our Peter Moraweic interview, which will be back up this week.

Cool, thanks Ken. I'll defo give them read, thanks.

[Cornholio857]

Jackal, there was another Sonic game being developed/pitched by STI. The Genesis version of X-Treme perhaps? I think so.

The image to the right shows an Untitled STI Sonic Game which was sort of a stepping stone in the development of Sonic X-treme. The image was created by Chris Senn whom was an employee of STI at the time. No actual game engine was created or any actual work was done to create a game based on the image. The concept art shows what could have been another game with a isometric view similar to that of SegaSonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 3D Blast, and Sonic Labyrinth. If a game were developed it may have been unlike Sonic 3D and featured a less wide open environment due to there being single column walls and platforms. It may have had more of a focus on platforming rather than exploring. From the single screen shown it's impossible to determine if this is entirely true, or if there was to be more open areas to move in.

According to Chris Senn this mockup was created before Sonic 3D was released and was during the development of the 32X.

http://info.sonicretro.org/Untitled_STI_Sonic_Game

[Nunzio]

I have a theory that the Sonic Ride footage was going to be incorporated as a pre-rendered video intro for the 32X version and that's how they got mixed up with the game. I don't know anything about the tech, just that it is a very obvious explanation for why it keeps getting mentioned.

Also, what Cornholio said.

[The Jackal]

Interesting; never seen that before. Wow, judging by that mock-up screenie I'd say you're probably right; maybe they got a no on the pitch, but kept the idea and incorperated into the X-Treme after they canned the Mars project?

[Cornholio857]

I have a theory that the Sonic Ride footage was going to be incorporated as a pre-rendered video intro for the 32X version and that's how they got mixed up with the game. I don't know anything about the tech, just that it is a very obvious explanation for why it keeps getting mentioned.

Also, what Cornholio said.

Your theory seems very plausible. The video would have more than likely been Cinepak encoded like the Ecco 32X Video.

[The Jackal]

Could the 32X handle video like that though; wouldn't it be choppy? (I'm no tech wizz; sue me for getting this wrong ). It does make sense, re-use footage they've already paid for; the art would have fit perfectly at least.

[Cornholio857]

Judging by the 32X Tech Demo, I don't think it would have been too hard for the 32X to pull off. If someone more tech savvy can add to this please do.