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At first, Kataoka was worried that Sonic characters beating each other up wouldn't be approved by [[Yuji Naka]], however Naka was actually very receptive to the concept. A decision was then made to continue working with the ''Fighting Vipers'' engine, modifying it to better represent the world of Sonic, and simplifying the gameplay. ''Sonic the Fighters'' remains very close to ''Fighting Vipers'' in terms of style, with one of several unused characters even resembling Honey from the aforementioned game.
 
At first, Kataoka was worried that Sonic characters beating each other up wouldn't be approved by [[Yuji Naka]], however Naka was actually very receptive to the concept. A decision was then made to continue working with the ''Fighting Vipers'' engine, modifying it to better represent the world of Sonic, and simplifying the gameplay. ''Sonic the Fighters'' remains very close to ''Fighting Vipers'' in terms of style, with one of several unused characters even resembling Honey from the aforementioned game.
  
''Sonic the Fighters'' was the first game to render Sonic the Hedgehog as a 3D polygonal model in real time. Many teams at Sega struggled at the time to convert what was then a predominantly 2D character into the third dimension, and AM2 were initially no exception, however Sonic is unique for having been partially designed in 3D from the outset. A physical 3D model of Sonic, used by the artists of the original ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' to better understand how the character should aniamte, was reportedly given by Naka to the team for reference.
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''Sonic the Fighters'' was the first game to render Sonic the Hedgehog as a 3D polygonal model in real time. Many teams at Sega struggled at the time to convert what was then a predominantly 2D character into the third dimension, and AM2 were initially no exception, however Sonic is unique for having been partially designed in 3D from the outset. A physical 3D model of Sonic, used by the artists of the original ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' to better understand how the character should animate, was reportedly given by Naka to the team for reference.
  
 
==First screenshots==
 
==First screenshots==
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<gallery widths="320" heights="240">
 
<gallery widths="320" heights="240">
 
SonictheFighters Development PlayerSelect 01.jpg|"Sonic vs. Sonic" in a distinctly ''Fighting Vipers''-esque player select screen.
 
SonictheFighters Development PlayerSelect 01.jpg|"Sonic vs. Sonic" in a distinctly ''Fighting Vipers''-esque player select screen.
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Sonic_and_Tails_in_Fighting_Vipers.png|A screenshot from an emulator showing the full Fighting Vipers player select screen with Sonic and Tails.
 
SonictheFighters Development SouthIsland 05.jpg|Sometimes the characters have shadows.
 
SonictheFighters Development SouthIsland 05.jpg|Sometimes the characters have shadows.
 
SonictheFighters Development SouthIsland 06.jpg|
 
SonictheFighters Development SouthIsland 06.jpg|
 
SonictheFighters Development SouthIsland 07.jpg|
 
SonictheFighters Development SouthIsland 07.jpg|
 
SonictheFighters Development SouthIsland 08.jpg|
 
SonictheFighters Development SouthIsland 08.jpg|
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SonictheFighters Development SouthIsland 23.jpg
 
SonictheFighters Development SouthIsland 09.jpg|
 
SonictheFighters Development SouthIsland 09.jpg|
 
SonictheFighters Development SouthIsland 14.jpg|
 
SonictheFighters Development SouthIsland 14.jpg|
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==[[sega:AOU Show 1996|AOU Show 1996]]==
 
==[[sega:AOU Show 1996|AOU Show 1996]]==
A build of ''Sonic the Fighters'' was playable at [[sega:AOU Show 1996|AOU Show 1996]] in February 1996. It is not entirely clear how much of the game was accessible at this point, though screenshots suggest Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy were playable (presumably in two-player fights). Aurora Icefield and Mushroom Hill make their appearance, the former looking very different to the final game.
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A build of ''Sonic the Fighters'' was playable at [[sega:AOU Show 1996|AOU Show 1996]] in February 1996. It is not entirely clear how much of the game was accessible at this point, though screenshots suggest most characters were playable and an AOU "Thank you for your playing" screen hidden within the final game's data reveals the game was approximately 50% complete. Aurora Icefield, Mushroom Hill and Death Egg's Eye make an appearance.
 +
 
 +
AM2 chose to make less of a fuss about the remaining four playable characters. Fang and Espio were announced first, followed by Bean and Bark. All were thought to be playable, though Bark is noticeably incomplete.
 +
 
 
<gallery widths="320" heights="240">
 
<gallery widths="320" heights="240">
 +
Fighters-aoushow.png | Hidden within the final ROM is this fullscreen image. This suggests the game was 50% complete by the AOU show.
 
SonictheFighters Development AuroraIcefield 01.jpg|In this prototype, player one always has a blue health bar, while player two has a yellow one. Perhaps a leftover from when Sonic and Tails were the only playable characters?
 
SonictheFighters Development AuroraIcefield 01.jpg|In this prototype, player one always has a blue health bar, while player two has a yellow one. Perhaps a leftover from when Sonic and Tails were the only playable characters?
 
SonictheFighters Development AuroraIcefield 02.jpg|Also missing are the "barrier" indicators.
 
SonictheFighters Development AuroraIcefield 02.jpg|Also missing are the "barrier" indicators.
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SonictheFighters Development AuroraIcefield 05.jpg|Different winner text.
 
SonictheFighters Development AuroraIcefield 05.jpg|Different winner text.
 
SonictheFighters Development AOU1996 1.jpg|An over-the-shoulder shot, showing different K.O. text.
 
SonictheFighters Development AOU1996 1.jpg|An over-the-shoulder shot, showing different K.O. text.
SonictheFighters Development MushroomHill 01.jpg|The mushrooms are all the same height and colour. In the final, this is varied slightly and there are bigger mushrroms in the background.  
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SonictheFighters Development MushroomHill 01.jpg|The mushrooms are all the same height and colour. In the final, this is varied slightly and there are bigger mushrooms in the background.  
 
SonictheFighters Development MushroomHill 02.jpg|
 
SonictheFighters Development MushroomHill 02.jpg|
 
SonictheFighters Development MushroomHill 03.jpg|
 
SonictheFighters Development MushroomHill 03.jpg|
 
SonictheFighters Development MushroomHill 04.jpg|
 
SonictheFighters Development MushroomHill 04.jpg|
</gallery>
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SonictheFighters Development SouthIsland 21.jpg|It looks as if a single player mode was also available. Knuckles takes on Sonic in stage 8, but it's South Island instead of Giant Wing. The stage has a smaller checkerboard floor with orange/yellow highlights instead of light green.
 
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SonictheFighters Development SouthIsland 22.jpg|Getting to stage 8 in under 4 minutes is neigh-on impossible in the final game. This suggests not every stage was being shown.
==Fang, Espio, Bean and Bark==
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SonictheFighters Development DeathEggsEye 03.jpg|Metal Sonic appears in stage 9, alongside the Death Egg's Eye stage.
AM2 chose to make less of a fuss about the remaining four playable characters. Fang and Espio were announced first, followed by Bean and Bark, though gameplay showing any of them did not emerge until after the AOU show. AM2 had also announced Metal Sonic and Dr. Eggman at this point, but neither were shown in-game prior to release.
 
<gallery widths="320" heights="240">
 
 
SonictheFighters Development CasinoNight 07.jpg|Casino Night now has walls, but is still missing detail from the final game.
 
SonictheFighters Development CasinoNight 07.jpg|Casino Night now has walls, but is still missing detail from the final game.
 
SonictheFighters Development CasinoNight 08.jpg|Bean's bombs are creating a lot of smoke. This effect is only seen for a small fraction of a second in the final game.
 
SonictheFighters Development CasinoNight 08.jpg|Bean's bombs are creating a lot of smoke. This effect is only seen for a small fraction of a second in the final game.
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SonictheFighters Development SouthIsland 18.jpg|Bark is entirely white (as a polar bear perhaps should be), wears a slightly different hat, lacks a scarf and has different "hair".
 
SonictheFighters Development SouthIsland 18.jpg|Bark is entirely white (as a polar bear perhaps should be), wears a slightly different hat, lacks a scarf and has different "hair".
 
SonictheFighters Development SouthIsland 19.jpg|There's little in this design that carries through to the final game. He was likely completely re-modelled.
 
SonictheFighters Development SouthIsland 19.jpg|There's little in this design that carries through to the final game. He was likely completely re-modelled.
SonictheFighters Development SouthIsland 20.jpg|South Island is looking closer to the final game, but has a smaller checkerboard floor with yellow highlights instead of light green.
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SonictheFighters Development SouthIsland 20.jpg|
SonictheFighters Development DeathEggsEye 01.jpg|The Death Egg's Eye stage also appears in this build.
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SonictheFighters Development DeathEggsEye 01.jpg|
SonictheFighters Development DeathEggsEye 02.jpg
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SonictheFighters Development DeathEggsEye 02.jpg|
 +
</gallery>
 +
 
 +
==Patents==
 +
 
 +
<gallery>
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Sonic_the_Fighters_-_Patent.pdf|A patent for the squash and stretch mechanics within the game.
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Sonic the Fighters - Patent Amendment.pdf|An amendment to the patent.
 
</gallery>
 
</gallery>
  

Revision as of 22:19, 29 January 2021

Back to: Sonic the Fighters.

While likely not intentional, Sonic the Fighters started its development during the creation of Fighting Vipers. During his spare time, an unknown AM2 developer added crude, but playable versions of Sonic and Tails to the Fighting Vipers codebase. Neither were finished and cannot be selected during normal play, but it was enough to attract AM2 head Yu Suzuki, who delivered the Sonic the Fighters concept to Hiroshi Kataoka.[1]

At first, Kataoka was worried that Sonic characters beating each other up wouldn't be approved by Yuji Naka, however Naka was actually very receptive to the concept. A decision was then made to continue working with the Fighting Vipers engine, modifying it to better represent the world of Sonic, and simplifying the gameplay. Sonic the Fighters remains very close to Fighting Vipers in terms of style, with one of several unused characters even resembling Honey from the aforementioned game.

Sonic the Fighters was the first game to render Sonic the Hedgehog as a 3D polygonal model in real time. Many teams at Sega struggled at the time to convert what was then a predominantly 2D character into the third dimension, and AM2 were initially no exception, however Sonic is unique for having been partially designed in 3D from the outset. A physical 3D model of Sonic, used by the artists of the original Sonic the Hedgehog to better understand how the character should animate, was reportedly given by Naka to the team for reference.

First screenshots

Sonic the Fighters stems from Sega AM2's previous arcade fighting game, Fighting Vipers. Simple models for Sonic and Tails can be found within in Fighting Vipers but are unplayable through normal means. When Sonic the Fighters was first announced, they finally had a time to shine.

In-game screenshots

A different build was used to demonstrate Sonic and Tails fighting each other. All of these screenshots are believed to have come straight from Sega, and depict a different South Island with a textured floor and barriers similar to Flying Carpet (with palm trees as the corners).

Knuckles

Knuckles the Echidna was announced as a playable character, alongside the Casino Night stage. A set of screenshots were released showing him facing Sonic from different angles.

Amy

Next to be shown off was Amy Rose, and the Flying Carpet stage.

AOU Show 1996

A build of Sonic the Fighters was playable at AOU Show 1996 in February 1996. It is not entirely clear how much of the game was accessible at this point, though screenshots suggest most characters were playable and an AOU "Thank you for your playing" screen hidden within the final game's data reveals the game was approximately 50% complete. Aurora Icefield, Mushroom Hill and Death Egg's Eye make an appearance.

AM2 chose to make less of a fuss about the remaining four playable characters. Fang and Espio were announced first, followed by Bean and Bark. All were thought to be playable, though Bark is noticeably incomplete.

Patents

References


Sonic the Fighters
Sonic the Fighters title.png

Main page
Comparisons
Achievements


Magazine articles
Reception


Development
Hidden content


Move list