Sonic Extreme (found prototype build of cancelled Xbox skateboarding game; 2003)

Title screen.

Status: Found

Date found: 24 Jul 2016

Found by: Andrew Borman

Sonic Extreme (not to be confused with the cancelled Sega Saturn game, Sonic X-Treme) is a cancelled 2003 skateboarding game for the Xbox created by Vision Scape Interactive.

Gameplay

Sonic Extreme was an Extreme Sports game in which the players controlled Sonic on a hoverboard and possibly would have more characters from the series. But the prototype only showed Sonic and Shadow The team retooled Bare Knuckle Grind to resemble Sonic games; An example is that the world was based on Green Hill Zone. The Prototype featured three game modes:

• "Mission"
• "Combat"
• "Race"

Mission was single-player and involved the player in finding keys to unlock a room with the Chaos Emerald. Collecting the emerald will return the player to the title screen. Combat was a split-screen multiplayer mode where players would attack each other with explosives. Race was a multiplayer game mode where the players will pitted against each other in a race.

Development

Mark McDonald, the cofounder of Vision Scape decided to pitch a spin-off that uses the Bare Knuckle Grind engine with the Sonic the Hedgehog IP The prototype was made in a week in 2003 without SEGA’s knowledge about the game The game was made on the Xbox because of Vision Scape's experience on making games for the Xbox, with intention to port it to the PS2 and GameCube.

McDonald then hold a meeting with Yuji Naka and showed the prototype. According to McDonald, Naka was very impressed and said that the project will moved forward as a collaboration. Vision Scape's management thought they had secured the deal. However, SEGA didn’t respond to Vision and cut communication with them after Sonic Heroes cutscenes were completed. McDonald never took SEGA silence personally, assuming it has their own plans. Thus, Sonic Extreme never came to fruition.

Sonic Riders and Closure

In September 2005, Sega announced Sonic Riders, a new Sonic game they were developing. Vision Scape was stunned by the similarities it has between Sonic Riders and Sonic Extreme by the characters riding hoverboards, and performing tricks through worlds, and even the game modes were presented in Sonic Riders, just heavily modified. McDonald believed this was the reason of Sega's silence of taking Vision Scape's concept and went with a different direction. McDonald asked his agent if they can take legal action, but his agent stated that the Non-Disclosure Agreement they signed with Sega during Sonic Heroes' development gave Sega ownership of anything that uses their IP, which meant that Sega legally owns Sonic Extreme.

Vision Scape then closed in 2006, sending their development hardware to a recycling plant to dispose it, though, Sonic Extreme was lucky enough to survive and was traded between collectors.

Availability

In May 2011, user ProtonX3 released videos and publicly revealed Sonic Extreme, demonstrating the environments and modes. However, this gotten poorly received by video game journalists like Game Informer, VG247, and GameRadar.

In July 2016, Andrew Borman, a video game preservationist and now owner of the prototype released the build onto Hidden Palace, making the build become playable and found.

Gallery

Photos

• 

  Mode select.

• 

  Character select.

• 

  Loading screen.

• 

  Pause menu.

• 

  Mission objective.

• 

  Sonic and Shadow in the Battle mode.

• 

  Race mode.

• 

  Debug camera.

• 

  Map overview.

• 

  2nd map overview.

Footage

Gameplay footage of the prototype.

Videos

Yuriofwind's video on the subject.

PtoPOnline's video on the subject.

DidYouKnowGaming's video on the subject.

See Also

• Shadow the Hedgehog (lost early build of platformer; 2005)
• Sister Sonic (lost build of cancelled "Sonic the Hedgehog" localization of "Popful Mail" Sega CD side-scrolling platformer; 1993)
• Sonic Adventure New Year's DLC (found "Sonic the Hedgehog" holiday-themed DLC; 1998)
• Sonic Boom (non-existent lost episode of animated TV series; 2014)
• Sonic Boom 2013 (lost livestream of "Sonic the Hedgehog" convention; 2013)
• Sonic DS (lost Nintendo DS tech demo; 2004)
• Sonic Generations (lost game demo of platformer; 2010)
• Sonic Jr. (lost build of unreleased Sega Pico game; existence unconfirmed; 1994)
• Sonic Riders (lost build of cancelled Game Boy Advance port of racing game; 2006)
• 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 (lost build of cancelled Sega CD port of Sega Genesis platformer; 1992)
• 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 platformer; 1996)
• Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (found iOS game; 2010)
• Sonic the Hedgehog (lost complete build of Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 platformer; 2006)
• Sonic the Hedgehog (lost Tokyo Toy Show prototype build of Sega Genesis/Mega Drive platformer; 1990)
• Sonic the Hedgehog (lost Winter Consumer Electronics Show 1991 demo build of Sega Genesis/Mega Drive platformer; 1991)
• Sonic the Hedgehog (lost build of cancelled Amiga port of Sega Genesis platformer; 1992)
• Sonic-16 (non-existent build of unreleased Sega Genesis/Mega Drive game based on "Sonic the Hedgehog" animated TV series; 1993)
• Sonic Runners (found endless runner mobile game; 2015)

External Links

• Wikipedia article on Sonic Extreme.
• Hidden Place link to the game's build.