Sonic the Hedgehog (lost Tokyo Toy Show prototype build of Sega Genesis/Mega Drive platformer; 1990)

The original title screen.

Status: Lost

The first showing of the 1991 Sega Mega Drive game Sonic the Hedgehog was at the Tokyo Toy Show in June 1990, which also happened to be the first time the game could be played by the public. In an interview with Yuji Naka, it was revealed that the original Sonic Team put together a small, playable technical demo for the show featuring Sonic in an early version of the Green Hill Zone. Though development had just begun, this build was actually more technically advanced than the final version of the game, possessing seven layers of parallax scrolling, with trees and rocks in the foreground being independent from the clouds and other objects in the background, all separate from the scrolling of Sonic the Hedgehog as he ran through the hilled terrain.

Differences

Being the earliest representation of the Green Hill Zone, it is also reflective of what was found in early materials used both internally and in promotional articles. One of the most noticeable differences between this version and the final are the strange blue structures in the background, though it is unknown if they are meant to represent a city or are simply a natural yet surreal rock formation. With both trees and giant rocks in the foreground (which presumably had layers of scrolling independent of each other), the entire style was indicative of what was to come. Though foreground items were not found in the final, the rocks would be modified and used in the released layouts of the game, transformed into downsized, colored purple obstacles in the final release. The clouds of this early pre-release are also bigger, seemingly appearing with less frequency than in the final product.

The demo has not been released or leaked in any way. In the same Game Radar interview with Yuji Naka, Naka reveals that the prototype was planned to be included in Sonic Mega Collection (A compilation of all Sonic the Hedgehog games for the Sega Mega Drive, released for the Nintendo GameCube in 2002), but was never put in due to Sega apparently losing the ROM. This makes it highly unlikely that the demo will ever be found.

Gallery

Videos

LSuperSonicQ's video on the subject.

Images

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  August 1990 issue of MegaDrive Fan, which featured some new high-quality screenshots of the prototype.

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  An unused enemy can be seen here. It appears to be the purple enemy with a large jaw seen in early concept art for the game.

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  Sonic in midair with his running sprite. It is unclear whether Sonic is jumping or was hit by the enemy, since in the final game, Sonic always goes into a ball when jumping (except in certain spots due to a bug) and has a unique sprite for when he takes damage.

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  Japanese message in the background. Translates to "debut approaching". Presumably shown after the demo was over.

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  A close-up of the early Sonic running sprite. It differs from the final game.

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  A peculiar "Welcome" sign is spotted (presumably at the beginning of the level). It is thought to say "YOU ARE WELCOME NEVERSEEN", and has a picture of a palm tree in the top right-hand corner.

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  An area that is presumably the start of the stage. Sonic's standing pose is also different from that seen in the final game.

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  Another shot from the title screen. Similar to the final, it lacks a background, making it appear more like the 8-bit version of the game.

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  A higher-quality screen of the concept enemy.

See Also

• Shadow the Hedgehog (lost Teen rated version of platformer; 2005)
• Sister Sonic (lost build of cancelled "Sonic the Hedgehog" localization of "Popful Mail" Sega CD side-scrolling platformer; 1993)
• Sonic 3D Blast (found cassette demo tape of unused game soundtrack; 1996)
• Sonic Adventure New Year's DLC (found "Sonic the Hedgehog" holiday-themed DLC; 1998)
• Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (found iOS game; 2010)
• Sonic DS (lost Nintendo DS tech demo; 2004)
• Sonic Generations (lost game demo; 2010)
• Sonic Jr. (lost build of unreleased Sega Pico game; existence unconfirmed; 1994)
• Sonic Saturn (lost build of cancelled Sega Saturn prototype of platformer; mid-1990s)
• Sonic Sports (lost build of cancelled Sega 32X sports game; 1995)
• Sonic Synergy (lost original build of "Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric" Wii U action-adventure game; 2007-2013)
• Sonic the Hedgehog "2006" (lost complete build of Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 platformer; 2006)
• Sonic the Hedgehog (lost build of cancelled Amiga port of Sega Genesis platformer; 1992)
• Sonic The Hedgehog (lost build of cancelled Sega CD port of Sega Genesis platformer; 1992)
• Sonic the Hedgehog (lost Winter Consumer Electronics Show 1991 demo build of Sega Genesis/Mega Drive platformer; 1991)
• Sonic The Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles (lost build of cancelled iOS port of Sega Genesis platformers; 2014)
• Sonic The Hedgehog: Awakening (lost build of cancelled "Sonic the Hedgehog" game; existence unconfirmed; late 2000s)
• Sonic X-Treme (found build of unreleased Sega Saturn video game; 1996)
• Sonic-16 (lost build of unreleased Sega Genesis/Mega Drive game based on "Sonic the Hedgehog" animated TV series; 1993)
• Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car (Spanish Dub) (lost Spanish dub of Sonic arcade game)