I always assumed they just combined the recordings into one, so that it sounded like there were more people.
Sonic Chaos proto shots from August 1993 Sega Power Magazine. There's some Sonic CD screenshots too on the same page, but nothing new nor interesting: From the same issue, several developers describe how they would approach Sonic 3 if asked to do so... And as an added bonus, proto shots of a very early Megadrive Virtua Racing (sadly the magazine is slightly creased here so the edge is a bit blurry).
It seems like the Mega Drive Collected Works book is going to include some English translations of the old Sonic 1 stage concept art, which I assume were the ones handed to SEGA of America: Note how "green hills" is in the description for the CG level that ended up being called just like that. =P Source: Preview at Kotaku. EDIT: Also... Is that Comic Sans.
Did the euro PAL release of Sonic CD come with a spinecard? I've seen a lot of 'complete' ebay auctions without the spinecard, and Sonic Retro doesn't have a scan of the spinecard. I know the Australian release did have a spinecard that I intend to scan soon, but I don't know if this was an Australian only quirk or whether it's just poorly documented
I have a sealed copy of the game, if it helps. Edit : I still have the spinecard that came with my other copy of the game.
Thanks! mystery solved. (Also saves me scanning mine, which was incomplete anyway due to a youthful indiscretion).
As far as I'm aware, all PAL jewel case quad Mega-CD games have spinecards. It's only the big Sony Imagesoft ones which don't.
Suddenly my apparently-complete copy of Sonic CD.... isn't. Thanks for that, I had no idea that PAL MCD games used the spinecards. >_>
Okay, I've got a question. O-TWO appears to have worked on three Sonic games (Unleashed, Riders: Zero Gravity, Free Riders), but I'm struggling to find any actual details. For the Riders games, they are listed as "Cooperated companies", and they don't even appear to be in the Unleashed credits (in spite of listing the game on their own site). Does anyone have any insights at all into what role these guys played in these three games? I'm completely at a loss here.
Another strange pirate cart http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Sonic-and-Knuckles-Sega-Mega-Drive-PAL-no-manual-/221601215640?pt=AU_PC_Video_Games_Games&hash=item3398763498
oh wow, a shame that the betas released for VR did not include anything like this. Saying that though, it might just be the scan quality but they look higher res and the orange for the bridge is actually orange, not red and yellow dots like the megadrive version uses. obviously a proto test, the formula looks rather cool here compared to the final version.
It's not that strange - it was even up on SOST back in the day. Why it's not up on the Sonic Retro wiki is anyone's guess. It should be.
Not sure if thread worthy, but there's a demo of Sonic Jam that wasn't brought up anywhere before afaik. The demo comes from Sega Flash Vol. 5 (PAL). The demo's executable is dated about 2 months before the final version was compiled. The demo is based off of a Japanese NTSC version. Unlike the final, the files featured in the demo retain their original modified last dates so it can give you an idea of how old some the files are. There are definitely some differences worth mentioning. The opening video has a Sega logo at the beginning, rather than just starting with the Sonic Team logo: Sonic 3 and Knuckles can't be selected, only Sonic 1/2 can be played in this demo. If you idle for about 30 seconds at this screen, the demo will reset and send you back to the demo disc menu: Selecting the games don't bring up any options, it starts you in a level right away. Both games run in Easy mode. In Sonic 1's case, it lets you play GHZ Act 1 and MZ Act 1 and a special stage if you go through a goal ring. The unique changes made to the Jam version for Sonic 1 are present (you can spindash, see skid smoke, etc). MZ's music doesn't seem to loop? You can't pause the game. Upon completing what the demo has to offer, it brings you to this screen: Selecting Sonic World immediately causes the screen to fade out (I remember the final version doesn't dissolve until a few seconds have gone by). Before loading Sonic World, this appears: Upon loading into Sonic World, many changes are apparent. You are immediately thrown into some kind of mission where you are only allowed to play for 1 minute. The game times down (which it never does in the final) while you can run in place before it lets you play. There's a lack of floating platforms to jump on, you can't go into any of the buildings, there are no cheat monitors, there aren't many sign posts or springs, and there's a general lack of sound effects throughout the level (Tails' flying sound effect isn't playing). The splash sound effect is different. You can't really do much besides run around and collect rings: And that's pretty much it besides what is playable. There could be some interesting goodies in the game's files, though. I'm not huge on Sega Saturn, but it looks like there are a butt load of demo discs that were released in Japan. I'm kinda curious what could be on them...
This mode is actually still in the final game -- hold A+B+C when starting up Sonic World. There's not much you can do but try to get all 100 rings before the time runs out, though. I have this demo, and I remember some things about it. The Sonic 2 special stage's framerate is uncapped and runs way too fast. In Sonic World, in front of the Art Gallery there's a spring instead of a floating platform. Sonic 2 actually has its proper invincibility theme instead of misusing Sonic 1's; either that or the file is on the disc but unused, I'm not sure anymore.
