[SpeedStarTMQ]

This just gets better and better every time I open this thread. Honestly, get any more and I'll be throwing money at your PayPal account.

Well, maybe.

[Vendettagainst]

Maybe the letters are there to show off the multiple layers of scrolling. (If they are, indeed, a part of the game.

[tokumaru]

Flare, on 28 February 2012 - 05:14 PM, said:

Wow, the Sonic series really could have been very different if this ever went much further

Which is precisely why Sonic 1 prototypes are so interesting! The world of Sonic was still being conceived, so it could contain all kinds of crazy things (such as organic enemies, different physics, power ups, level design principles, and so on).

[Keith Stack]

This is some mind-blowing stuff right here.

Sonic's sprite also has some interesting things going on.

[MattManAGES]

SonikkuForever, on 20 February 2012 - 07:08 PM, said:

You know I just now noticed that next to the word "Hersteller" off to the right hand side in the photo above, there are two company names that appear, SEGA and Virgin. I believe I recall hearing that name from somewhere before, but where? I think it had something to do with the 8-bit version of sonic 1, but I can't be sure.

Edit: Ok I know nobody cares but I have to correct myself, it was Ancient that produced Sonic 1 (8-bit) not virgin. Derp.

This post has been edited by MattManAGES: 28 February 2012 - 11:31 PM

[Ayu Tsukimiya]

That beta Spring Yard Zone looks like a city from the 50s or something.

Awesome.

[SonicGenesis89]

I knew it was the monster from the concept art! lol XD I'm so happy! These screen shots are so amazing! You can really see some nice detail of the entire level now. I just love looking at Sonic's different moving / running sprites as well; even his ear points in different directions as he moves which I don't recall happening in the final Genesis games. I wonder why Yuji Naka never mentioned the monsters playable in the level? Maybe he doesn't remember. I wish we could show him these screens and ask him if he remembers anything. I'm extremely curious now as to what 'other' monsters from concept art were turned into sprites and active in the level / game as well as how this one guy and the others if any may have behaved.

It looks as though this guy was jumping to jump on Sonic but either jumped over him or Sonic ran under him at a good enough time. Since he was purple in the concept art but blue here, it makes me wonder if there were other monsters in the level who also had new paint jobs. I hope we find new and more pictures someday or even better actual gameplay footage! Surely someone had to of had a camera or recorder at that Tokyo Game Show. But man these finds are truly incredible because it shows us how far the development had gone along before the big changes. We finally get to learn a little bit more about Sonic the Hedgehog before the storyline, characters, and gameplay were stapled and finalized.

I wonder how Sonic attacked enemies and what happened after he hit them? Did it take more than one hit to destroy them too or just one? These are questions I wish we can find answers to. Man this makes me wish we could find this beta...sooo badly it itches under my skin. I'm so ecstatic that these screen shots were scanned in such nice quality. These two pictures are probably the best quality images of the early Green Hill Zone we have now too. About the whole red text in the one screen shot...I don't think that was in the level; I think that's just part of the magazine. Some other magazine pages showing different game screen shots also had the words in some of them. Also given what the red words are saying which go along the lines of 'coming soon' is a big indication that its probably a insert from the magazine company.

The early Sonic for some reason gives me a huge "Who Framed Rodger Rabbit" feel as well as being extremely similar to Mario as many had already pointed out. Madonna being like Peach blonde hair and all, this blue / purple monster being like a Goomba, Sonic basically the anthropomorphic version of Mario etc. It makes sense why they changed it in the end. I also just thought of something. Eggman is not the big guy in charge in this version. He's a random bumble bee guy with clawed hands lol. XD I have a feeling that big scary / badass looking monster in the very back of the picture was the original antagonist / big guy that was the sole reason for whatever bad things were happening in the world and the story plot.

[David The Lurker]

Since I know not all of you bother to look, just thought I'd let people know I made a writeup about all of this on the front page.

http://www.sonicretr...oull-see-today/

You could always read it if you want.

Otherwise, just know that I think these scans are super awesome.

[Sik]

MattManAGES, on 28 February 2012 - 11:17 PM, said:

You know I just now noticed that next to the word "Hersteller" off to the right hand side in the photo above, there are two company names that appear, SEGA and Virgin.

Wait a second, WTF? Unless Virgin was going to be the publisher/distributor in Europe for whatever reason.

[S1impikenz]

Hmm...? I didn't notice this before, but could that monster have been jumping out from behind that bush? It would be crazy to find out if that was its initial purpose. Then again, programming that from the state of development in which this tech demo was in would be a bitch.

[Walnut]

Sik, on 29 February 2012 - 12:46 AM, said:

MattManAGES, on 28 February 2012 - 11:17 PM, said:

You know I just now noticed that next to the word "Hersteller" off to the right hand side in the photo above, there are two company names that appear, SEGA and Virgin.

Wait a second, WTF? Unless Virgin was going to be the publisher/distributor in Europe for whatever reason.

It's very possible. Virgin Group is based in the UK and from what I can gather Virgin Games used to deal with PC games. They could've been publishing or even just investing in the project. They also published games for a variety of systems at one point according to Wiki

Looks like SEGA ended up publishing it by final release though. Wonder what happened there...

[Hivebrain]

I think Virgin distributed all first-party Sega things in Europe, including consoles. Magazines often listed them as the publishers of games instead of Sega.

[Lanzer]

I just can't believe that Rika Chou, ICEknight and the rest of you lot guessed how Mr. Monster Guy looked soo fucking accurately based on those 1st blurry shots from before! Bravo on nailing that.

Just out of curiousity, who was the designer/creator of the Sonic 1 sprites? Is he around on the 'net? Since we wasted our chance showing Yuji Naka this because of that idiot hoax, maybe we can ask someone else from the early days about Monster Guy.

[McAleeCh]

Amazing stuff - I really didn't expect the page scan to have quite such an increase in clarity compared to the photos. = ) Briiliant to finally have some much clearer shots of this tech demo, as well as to see the jumping monster enemy's sprite art in more detail.

Also, I'm glad the full page scan exists as well as the crop of the two screens - it means we also have a clearer shot of the title screen than the previously existing one, which allows a slightly better look at the details that differ from the final version.

Hoepfully something else from this demo will eventually turn up; be it screens, footage, or even the build itself (hey, I can dream). For now, though, it's wonderful to have an extra peek into something a lot of us probably thought we'd never see anything more of - especially as it's revealed elements of this demo that we hadn't previously been aware of. = )

[Sik]

Lanzer, on 29 February 2012 - 02:35 AM, said:

Just out of curiousity, who was the designer/creator of the Sonic 1 sprites? Is he around on the 'net? Since we wasted our chance showing Yuji Naka this because of that idiot hoax, maybe we can ask someone else from the early days about Monster Guy.

Oshima I guess, since he's credited as character designer. But I thought it was already said that it's a bad idea to go around annoying the developers...