Mips
From Sonic Retro
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| Mips |
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| First seen: Sonic Mars (unreleased) |
| Created by: Chris Senn[1], Michael Kosaka[1] |
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Mips are the good-natured inhabitants of Micro Mobius, the setting of the unreleased 32X game Sonic Mars. Created by Chris Senn and named by Michael Kosaka, they acted as the virtual reality replacement for the series' traditional Animal-powered Badniks, with Dr. Robotnik capturing and using the small creatures to power his robotic army.[1] The concept of Mips survived the project's transition to the Saturn when it became Sonic X-treme, remaining in both the background of the game's story and gameplay.
History
Development
| “ | "Mips were the replacement for Flickies. Each zone had a unique design of Mip, with it’s own color and movement. The name "Mip" was dubbed by Michael Kosaka and is an abbreviation for a computer term "Million Instructions Per Second." | „ |
| — Developer Chris Senn[1] | ||
The Mips appear to have been redesigned sometime during the later development of Sonic X-treme, specifically its SonicPC branch. In the 4worlds demo by Ofer Alon and Chris Senn, a group of colored spheres greets Sonic at the conclusion of the Jade Gully test stage, flying erratically around the ending platform. These beings are more spherical than the peanut-shaped creatures depicted in concept art, and are lacking the unique accessories depicted in it.
Game appearances
| Game | Description |
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| Sonic Mars | Mips appear in both Mars' game's story and in its Zones, with Sonic able to call Mips to him by pressing the  button. The effect of this ability is unknown.
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| Sonic X-treme | Mips' role in X-treme's gameplay took a backseat to more pressing development concerns, but they do appear in a video for a Jade Gully test stage. |
References