Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II (Beta 8)

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Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II (Beta 8)
System(s): PC (Steam)
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sonic Team / Dimps
Genre: Action

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II (Beta 8) is a prototype version of Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II for Windows PC. It was accidentally released via the Steam store on April 21, 2012. The build appears to be mostly complete and is fully playable.

Leak

At midnight EST on April 21st, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II was made available for pre-order on the Steam store. Users who preordered the game found that they were able to download and play this build of the game. This security hole was fixed the following morning, and users who preordered the game afterwards could not download the game. Those who had previously downloaded it are locked out once their Steam library updates (via restarting Steam, for instance), thus making the game unplayable without use of a crack. However, videos, music, and other leaked material from the game still had time to surface before access was removed.

Prototype Issues

• Certain textures in Sylvania Castle Zone often fail to load, resulting in flat white geometry.
• The game crashes upon switching windows if run in full-screen mode.
• Pressing 0 on the keyboard (or LT on an Xbox 360 controller) increases the number of rings in stock by 99 which can be used to easily increase lives. This may be a debugging tool left in by the developers.
• Lightning effects are missing when the game is played in high resolutions.

Images

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  Window that appears when trying to boot game after Steam locked out players of the beta.

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  Glitched out level.