In a new video from Unseen 64 and Did You Know Gaming?, former Vision Scape Interactive developer Matt McDonald claims that their Sonic Extreme tech demo, which was pitched to SEGA as a new Sonic skateboarding title, was in fact stolen by SEGA and used for the basis for the Sonic Riders franchise.
The demo predates Sonic Riders and was discovered by a private collector who obtained the Xbox dev kits that contained the original demo used for Vision Scape’s pitch. McDonald recounts a story where he pitched the game to Yuji Naka himself who was allegedly impressed by the demo and even went as far as to green-light the development of the game if Vision Scape could produce a design document for the finished title.
SEGA then refused to maintain communication with Vision Scape, who had only been hired to work on the animated cut-scenes for Sonic Heroes. After Vision Scape completed the cut-scenes, their contract with SEGA ended and the development of Sonic Extreme never progressed. It is during this time that McDonald claims SEGA held onto the idea and developed it further in-house to create Sonic Riders.
Vision Scape had signed a non disclosure agreement with SEGA during their time working on the Sonic Heroes cut-scenes that said that any material they pitched to the company would become an intellectual property of SEGA, so sadly McDonald can’t legally press charges against SEGA. You can check out the rather fascinating video on this discovery by clicking the embed below:
Overbound’s Sonic Time Twisted is a Sonic CD-style fan game that has been in development off-and-on for 12 years and earlier this month it finally saw release. We’ve been following the development of this game since its earliest incarnations and to say we never expected it to make it to a final release is a massive understatement after such a protracted development period.
Congratulations to Overbound and company for seeing this project to its conclusion because the finished result is a really impressive 16 bit-style Sonic game that you can download from Overbound’s website right now.
SEGA have unveiled the first extended look at Classic Sonic’s gameplay from Sonic Forces. It resembles his gameplay from Sonic Generations very closely except keen-eyed viewers have noticed his move-set may have been expanded to include the drop-dash from Sonic Mania.
The stage featured is a remixed version of Green Hill Zone that has been flooded with sand, a result of “the heavy desertification caused by Eggman’s industries”. Check out the gameplay trailer by clicking below:
Sonic Forces is scheduled for release in Winter 2017 for Xbox One, PS4 and Nintendo Switch. Its development is being lead by Sonic Team.
The first direct feed footage of Sonic Forces is now available to view below. It showcases Modern Sonic doing his thing in a post apocalyptic city-setting that’s interspersed with scenery from Green Hill Zone. What’s even more surprising is the footage is in 60fps. However there is currently no word on whether all versions of the game are going to run at 60fps, but this is certainly a promising demonstration. The gameplay is extremely similar to that of Sonic Generations and we even see the return of the red star rings. Take a look:
Sonic Forces launches for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC in Winter 2017.
The latest retro Sonic stage to be confirmed for an appearance in Sonic Mania is now the Flying Battery Zone from Sonic & Knuckles. The stage appears in a remixed form that has a different layout to the original, but has plenty of nods and gimmicks that call back to the original stage. Check it out below:
It’s also worth mentioning that we recently got an insight into how the 2nd act of Sonic Mania’s take on the Green Hill Zone is playing out. The following video shows how the progression from act 1 to act 2 occurs and how different the 2nd act is in comparison. There’s some interesting new gimmicks and some lovely nods to early Sonic the Hedgehog screenshots that showed mountains in the background. Take a look:
Sonic Mania will launch this summer on Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC.
The ROM file for the recently dumped and extremely rare Sonic shoot-em-up SEGASonic Cosmo Fighter Galaxy Patrol has finally been compiled and released by DaGuAr and MAME World’s Dumping Union. This means we have direct feed gameplay footage of the game in action courtesy of Ash the Dragon. Check it out below:
SEGASonic Cosmo Fighter Galaxy Patrol was a 1993 arcade-only Sonic release that up until this week had never been dumped to play in MAME.
The extremely rare 1993 Sonic-themed shooting game SEGASonic Cosmo Fighter Galaxy Patrol has finally been dumped and is now available to play within the MAME emulator. The ROM file itself has not been released so it still might be some time before the public can play it, but if the anonymous contributor does release the ROM file then it’ll be instantly available to play in the latest version of MAME.
The game is a hybrid children’s ride/shoot-em-up cabinet that tilts when you activate the “SPEED UP” ability. Take a look at some gameplay on the actual cabinet below:
Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice’s existence is a strange one. A sequel to 2014’s Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal, the 3DS game was delayed an entire year to be a game that, “fans will continue to play for years after they pick up the game” and an overall, “stronger, more enjoyable experience”. It was a bold move by SEGA who have come under criticism for the way they have taken the Sonic franchise in new directions with the previously released and poorly received Sonic Boom games.
New footage of Daytona Championship USA 3 shows us a much more detailed look at this game’s version of the famous Three-Seven Speedway. Of particular note is the new Sonic the Hedgehog model that’s carved into the cliff-face. Check it out by clicking the embed below:
Daytona Championship USA 3 is due for release in arcades soon. The game was previously demoed at the IAAPA Attractions Expo last year.
We return to the world of Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) with another episode review. In this feature we take a look at the first “proper” episode after the pilot. This episode is called Sonic Boom and you can read a review of it by clicking here.
More episode reviews will be added to this page as I make my way through the series. It would be great to get some feedback on this feature so please leave your thoughts and comments below!
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