Sonic 1 Beta Hoax

Sonic 1 Beta Hoax
Last release: 05/10/99
Status: Complete
System: Sega Mega Drive
Original game: Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit)
Credits: Cyan Helkaraxe

Sonic 1 Beta Hoax is a ROM hack created by Cyan Helkaraxe in 1999. When it was first released, it was purposely not described as being a hoax. As a result, many individuals mistakenly thought for a time that it was a legitimate prototype of Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Mega Drive.

History

In 1999, Cyan Helkaraxe wanted to stir up more interest in Sonic 1 among the Sonic community. He decided to do something which had never been done at that time: create a ROM hack. The resulting hack would become known as the Sonic 1 Beta Hoax.

Cyan set to work on the Sonic 1 ROM, researching its internal workings primarily by a trial and error process, since there was absolutely no documentation on Sonic 1 available at the time. His goal was to create a hoax prototype a game that mimicked the behavior of a "genuine" Sonic 1 prototype.

In May 1999, Cyan released his hack to Simon Wai's Sonic 2 Beta page. The ROM was deliberately not listed as a hoax; rather, it was released under the title "Sonic 1 beta?".

The release of the hoax prototype stirred up more interest in Sonic 1, and when it was identified as a hoax, Andy Wolan invited Cyan to the Sonic Stuff Research Group for his work in creating the ROM hack.

Features

• No SEGA Sound.
• No title cards.
• No "GAME OVER" text appears when you run out of lives.
• Music sounds different.
• Only Green Hill, Sparkling, Starlight, and Final Fight work. All other zones cause emulators to stop.
• Both Labyrinth and Clock Work Zone are neither implemented.
• Level Select has 2 renamed zones.
• Final Zone has three stages (neither implemented) and boss has its own stage: Final Fight.
• Special stage is called Special Zone (and not implemented).
• Sound test is unreliable.
• Zones are differently colored.
• Green Hill Zone appears to be at an early stage in development.
• Sonic has a different palette.
• The ending sequence does not work.
• Beating the boss of some levels, including Green Hill Zone and Star Light Zone, results in the game crashing with an Address Error.
• Waiting on the Stage Select screen too long will cause the game to crash.
• The "TIME OVER" text doesn't appear on the screen when the player reaches 10 minutes.

Download

Download Sonic 1 Beta Hoax File: Sonic_1_Beta_Hoax.zip (351 kB) (info)

External links

Fume Cupboard Facility Cyan's website. Beta hoax is listed under "Sonic 1 Hoax" in "Coding Capers."