Sonic Saturn (lost build of cancelled Sega Saturn prototype of platformer; mid-1990s): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 02:36, 5 February 2023

The loading screen for Sonic Saturn.

Status: Lost

During the production of Sonic X-Treme, Sega Technical Institute were planning to make another Sonic game for Sega's ill-fated console, the Sega Saturn. The game's work working title was Sonic Saturn.

Unlike Sonic X-Treme, the game's world was meant to be more realistic. Based on what very little concept art that has actually been leaked, it (like X-Treme) appeared to have Metal Sonic in it.

It was never actually announced to the general public, and also didn't get far into production before cancellation.

Sonic Pool

Like other Sonic the Hedgehog games, Sonic Saturn was planned to have 3D special stages. (Similar to Sonic 2, Sonic 3 and Knuckles, Sonic 3D Blast, e.t.c.) It had Sonic in a 3D environment playing pool.

The main objective was explained by Peter Morawiec, who worked on the game:

“The idea was that Sonic would run around to position himself behind a ball, go into a stationary spin-dash, then you could 'aim' your direction and... let go -- the camera went overhead to show the resulting action as he smashes into other balls. The goal was to put all those balls away (into those portals) within one minute, or some such time limit. He could also push into the balls, but that wasn't very fast and thus wasn't the preferred way to play. In later stages there were little enemies crawling around, making your job more difficult (Sonic would get hurt and lose rings upon colliding with them). There were some other arenas in the works, such as South-Western courtyard etc”

When Sonic Saturn was cancelled, Peter Morawiec attempted to integrate the Sonic Pool special stages into Sonic X-treme's Project Condor phase. However Sonic X-treme would then be cancelled in August 1996 which put Morawiec in a tough spot again. In an attempt to save the project, Morawiec urged the producer of Sonic 3D Blast (Yutaka Sugando) to rework the Sonic Pool special stages into bonus games for the Saturn version of 3D Blast, but eventually the deadline proved to be impossible to hit which meant Sonic Pool would have to be canned. Sonic Team then stepped in to develop the Sonic 2-esque Special Stages seen in the final version of Saturn 3D Blast.

It's worth noting all the screenshots we have of Sonic Pool come from Peter Morawiec himself and the first two in game screenshots are dated from October 1996 while all the other in game screenshots (not including the title screen) are dated to September 1996.

Gallery

Videos

LSuperSonicQ’s video on the subject.

Images

Background art used for the game.
Concept art of the wetlands level.
Cybernik Badnik concept art.
More Cybernik Badnik concept art.
The title for the Sonic Pool special stage.
Sonic Pool screenshot 1 of 6.
Sonic Pool screenshot 2 of 6.
Sonic Pool screenshot 3 of 6.
Sonic Pool screenshot 4 of 6.
Sonic Pool screenshot 5 of 6.
Sonic Pool screenshot 6 of 6.

External Links

@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 ==Sonic Pool==
-Like other ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games, ''Sonic Saturn'' was planned to have 3D special stages. (Similar to ''Sonic 2'', ''Sonic 3 and Knuckles'', ''Sonic 3D Blast'', e.t.c.) It had Sonic in a 3D environment playing pool. The objective (like other main-series Sonic games) of the special stages are assumed to be to collect the seven Chaos Emeralds.
+Like other ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games, ''Sonic Saturn'' was planned to have 3D special stages. (Similar to ''Sonic 2'', ''Sonic 3 and Knuckles'', ''Sonic 3D Blast'', e.t.c.) It had Sonic in a 3D environment playing pool.
+The main objective was [http://www.sonicdatabase.com/interviews/peter.htm explained] by Peter Morawiec, who worked on the game:
+“''The idea was that Sonic would run around to position himself behind a ball, go into a stationary spin-dash, then you could 'aim' your direction and... let go -- the camera went overhead to show the resulting action as he smashes into other balls. The goal was to put all those balls away (into those portals) within one minute, or some such time limit. He could also push into the balls, but that wasn't very fast and thus wasn't the preferred way to play. In later stages there were little enemies crawling around, making your job more difficult (Sonic would get hurt and lose rings upon colliding with them). There were some other arenas in the works, such as South-Western courtyard etc''”
+When ''Sonic Saturn'' was cancelled, Peter Morawiec attempted to integrate the Sonic Pool special stages into ''Sonic X-treme's'' Project Condor phase. However Sonic X-treme would then be cancelled in August 1996 which put Morawiec in a tough spot again. In an attempt to save the project, Morawiec urged the producer of ''Sonic 3D Blast'' (Yutaka Sugando) to rework the Sonic Pool special stages into bonus games for the Saturn version of ''3D Blast'', but eventually the deadline proved to be impossible to hit which meant Sonic Pool would have to be canned. Sonic Team then stepped in to develop the ''Sonic 2''-esque Special Stages seen in the final version of Saturn ''3D Blast''.
+It's worth noting all the screenshots we have of Sonic Pool come from Peter Morawiec himself and the first two in game screenshots are dated from October 1996 while all the other in game screenshots (not including the title screen) are dated to September 1996.
 ==Gallery==
@@ Line 62: / Line 70: @@
 ==External Links==
 *[http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_Saturn Sonic Retro page on ''Sonic Saturn''.]
+*[http://www.sonicdatabase.com/interviews/peter.htm Sonic Database: ''Peter Morawiec Interview'']
 [[Category:Lost video games]]
 [[Category:Completely lost media]]