Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit)/Development
From Sonic Retro
Sonic the Hedgehog has gone through several changes over its development process. There are several rejected ideas, levels, and other things that were left on the cutting room floor. The following details several of these things.
Contents
Development Process
Development for Sonic the Hedgehog began in April 1990, after Sega ordered its AM-8 team to develop a game featuring a mascot for the company. After choosing a hedgehog as the main character, the 5-person group changed its name to Sonic Team and started working on Sonic the Hedgehog. The main minds behind the game were character designer Naoto Ohshima, game programmer Yuji Naka and designer Hirokazu Yasuhara.[1] According to a 1991 issue of Computer & Video Games, US Gold bought the rights to create computer ports, meaning that Spectrum, C64, Amstrad, ST, and Amiga could have all received a port. No port was ever released, although media for the Amiga port has been found. US Gold did work on another Sonic game for the Master System which was ultimately cancelled, called Sonic's Edusoft.
Rejected Characters
Interestingly, one of the first designs of Sonic that was selected for use was that of a rabbit which could pick up objects with his ears and throw them at enemies. It was used in early versions of the game but as the game got faster and the item throwing gameplay was removed the character design was dropped and Sonic took on his final form, a hedgehog. Below are several other scrapped character designs.
- S1concept-WARRIOR.jpg
Warrior Design with two outfits.
- S1concept-CLOWNNWOLFBOY.jpg
Clown and Warrior wearing head of a animal.
- S1concept-Human.jpg
Human character with Bart Simpson like hair.
- S1concept-MRHEDGEHOG.jpg
A hedgehog with more human-like features.
- S1concept-WINDUPROBOTROOK.jpg
Robot character and two other characters.
- S1concept-eggman.jpg
Man with strange outfit. Definitely a prototype version of Robotnik. He was considered for the hero position according to this EGM article.
- S1concept-WEIRDCREATURE.jpg
Possibly a porcupine?
- S1concept-Chick.jpg
Chicken with an attitude.
Dr. Robotnik Naming Game
There were many names for Dr. Robotnik that were suggested. An early name for Robotnik was Dr. Badvibes as discovered by hxc in a short interview with a game tester for Sonic the Hedgehog named Dean Sitton. You can find the discussion thread on Sonic Retro forums here.“ | The game Sonic game in in an early state (just a few levels and some of the characters appeared as garbage chars that flickered. The producer of the US version would be in Japan and call in for updates. Like how many rings for a free man...how many rings for a continue etc.. I got to play the game for a week or so and I submitted a document that showed the characters in the game that I could see and a few names for each of them. Dr. Badvibes and many other names were not chosen.
I named Ivo Robotnik, Ballhog, and 3-4 more from that game. I helped to flesh out the fiction for Greenhill and Sally/Sandy/Amy? whatever the girls name is now... with a guy named Jamie Wojik... usually producers of games have only to fill in the blanks..it doesn't always matter how the blanks get filled in. |
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In January 2009, Dean Sitton joined the forums and was asked a variety of questions by the members. When he was asked if the Eggman name had to be changed due to legal reasons, Sitton replies with this:
“ | as far as the change, its as if someone held up an object and said "what do you call this"? ... meaning I didnt create the object... I just named it. I found the list someone else asked about - other names that I suggested that were rejected. other robotnik names were, doctor X, Doctor Gloom, Dr. What. | „ |
In a later post, Dean also revealed a few other names, Mister Badwrench, Mr. Bad Year and Fatty Lobotnik.
Madonna
This magazine clip describes a blonde female character, whom was supposed Sonic's girlfriend, named Madonna. She was scrapped before development of the game even started. However, concept art of her was included in the Sonic Gems Collection photo gallery. The idea of Sonic having a human love interest was eventually realized in the 2006 game when he interacts with Princess Elise. Although, with the time travel being used near the end of the game to reset most of the events of the game Sonic technically didn't meet her.
Sound Test Band
The game was originally intended to feature a sound test menu, with animated graphics based around Sonic break-dancing to the music of a "Sonic Band" consisting of Sharps Chicken (guitar), Max Monkey, (guitar), Mach Rabbit (drums), and Vector the Crocodile (keyboard/synth).[2] Vector was later re-designed and re-used for the games Knuckles' Chaotix and Sonic Heroes. The development schedule meant that the feature had to be scrapped, and Yuji Naka decided to replace the test with the "SEGA!" chant used in TV advertisements, which took up 1/8 of the 4-megabit cartridge. A text-only sound test option remained in the final game's level select cheat menu.
Other Concept Art
The following is concept art for the game which doesn't fit in any of the preceding sections.
- S1concept-HEDGEHOG.jpg
More Sonic art, this time in colour.
Early Videos
European Mega Drive Commercial
A European Mega Drive commercial which can be found on Sega.16.com shows a wrecking ball for the Green Hill Zone boss that has a sparkle which circles around it. Footage from this add is recycled into the add below.
Translation of commercial
“ | Mega Drive by Sega. Infernal Machine. |
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French Sonic Commercial
This French commercial has a few interesting bits about it. The spring in Marble Zone seems to be extra long and when bumped into the two blocks behind it dissapear. The red wrecking ball on the Green Hill Zone boss is shown again.
Translation of commercial
“ | Well... are you angry? It's me, master Sega. So you're choosing Sonic. Let's go. |
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Early Game Design
Various
Titlescreen with a black background similar to the 8-bit game.
- S1SpecialStage3.JPG
...and again...
- S1Debug.jpg
Very strange shots of what appears to be a different debug mode. This can be enabled by using the Game Genie code 2E6T-BCS6.
Green Hill Zone
The ball again. A magazine says the ball moves when pushed but can also kill the player.
- GHZ loop.png
Sonic on a loop.
Marble Zone
One of the main features of the prototype Marble Zone was the existance of rotating UFOs in the background. All traces of these graphics are removed in the final game (though a single frame appeared in the mobile phone port of Sonic 1).
- MZ-UFO.jpg
These Yadrin badniks don't appear in this level normally, but can be placed via the debug mode.
- MZ-UFO3.jpg
UFOs appear red in this screen for some reason.
Spring Yard Zone
- SYZ-Sparkling2.png
Sparkles are present.
- SYZ-Sparkling9a.JPG
A "Good Luck" sign.
Labyrinth Zone
Star Light Zone
Scrap Brain Zone
- SBZ-Pic4.gif
More of the different layout. The background blends in with the foreground here, so it's fairly obvious as to why it must have been changed.