Oh finally, something interesting. That floor for Aqua Lake doesn't match with the screenshots we have though, which might suggest a couple of post-AutoDemo prototypes made it into the wild. Fascinating.
In addition, the grassy checkered ground in Aqua Lake in that footage is consistent with this early screenshot of Aqua Lake's title card;
Hate to derail, but... https://illustrationdept.com/podcast/giuseppe-castellano-talks-to-patrick-spaziante Voice call with the legendary Patrick Spaziante. As a budding comic artist who looks up to Spaz, I found this a very therapeutic listen.
His classic Sonic drawings have always been fantastic, like it was for a while the only good official American Sonic art available. I never felt like he learned how to draw Modern Sonic as well though. Maybe IDW thought that too and that's why they brought him in as a guest cover artist only for the classic issue, but it's a fantastic cover.
Dunno, I always thought his modern Sonic was really dynamic, especially with the gritty anime style from #98 and the covers from around that time
Personally I think Spaz's classic styled modern Sonic artworks are fantastic, but that may be a result of retaining a lot of the classic shape language.
Something else a part of that footage is the Streets Of Rage Game Gear footage: Which looks like this in the final: However the same image / area was seen back in this issue: https://retrocdn.net/index.php?title=File:MarukatuMD_JP_02.pdf&page=119
Funnily enough, TIME OUT is also in the proto footage/screenshots of the MD version. The Game Gear and Master System versions (which were clearly put together by different teams - I'm also certain the SMS one was outsourced) also have a pallete for the Nora (dominatrix) enemies that line up with the proto MD one closely (bare thighs). I wonder if they were working with proto assets when they put those ports together.
Yup, Spaz's art was so good. Long before I had the misfortune of actually reading the 90's Archie Sonic comics, I used to look at the covers on the internet and they made them look so amazing. It would have been great if SoA had hired him to do the western box arts. I bet he would have loved it too. Back in the day it felt like he was the only member of the Archie Sonic staff who actually played and cared about the games. Amidst the sea of apathy toward the games that were the comics, he often would work cameos of game characters, settings and elements into his art.
Was flipping through an issue of Beep! Megadrive (https://segaretro.org/index.php?title=File:BeepMD_JP_1993-08.pdf&page=129) and spotted this: Artwork of the Amenbo & Kemusi badniks! Neither appear in the manuals for the game.
Flipping through Mega Sega 16 Especial 06 and uhh.. https://segaretro.org/index.php?title=File:Mega_Sega_16_Especial_06_Sonic_Libro.pdf&page=7 Sonic... surfing? In Turquoise Hill Zone? Laying Down at the defeat of the Sunset Park boss?
These screenshots make me uncomfortable as Triple Trouble is my fav in the handheld franchise and this is just weird to see...
There's some prototype footage here: Starts around the 5m21s mark. Sonic surfing in Great Turquoise Zone starts at 5m40s. There's also an invincibility monitor in Sunset Park that's a ring monitor in the final game.
Wild stuff! I do wonder - if you hacked Sonic: Triple Trouble to put a Surfboard monitor in a stage with water, would it still function correctly?
https://www.newsweek.com/hedgehog-day-afternoon-florida-man-sonic-mask-tries-hold-bank-1676516 lolwut?
What on Earth? Sonic would never do that. Wait a minute, is that the Sonicman guy form Sonic 06? Sweet Jesus.
Here's how little I know about Triple Trouble - I would have seen this and not clocked it as being strange, because of course surfboards go on water. I wonder if it's a strange continuity thing. Sonic 3 cut its surfboard from the introduction, leaving only the one in Ice Cap. Perhaps "Sonic can't swim" also equates to "Sonic can't surf".