[Orengefox]

Ever since the recent unearthing of what were more images of Sonic 1's earliest development (including a few other images of its later development), there seems to be a keen interest again in finding more images of when a particular Sonic game was being developed. I myself have had an interest in this for quite some time now. I even have some video game magazines that I bought awhile back containing some images of Sonic 1's later development stages. While they're nothing grand, they are ones we don't have. I'll be uploading them onto Retro at some point but for now, I thought I'd share with you all what I've been searching through on the internet as of recently.

I decided to see what sort of archived video game magazines were made viewable on the internet now, and managed to find an impressive amount of results. Some of which we already have in our database, some of which we don't. The ones we don't, might be worth checking out. I checked to make sure these weren't already in the database but if there is any that are, then I do apologize. These images are from the Mega Drive/Mega CD era only and it's only the Sonic games in their development stages. There's a few review articles and later magazines which cover stuff past the Mega Drive/Mega CD era that I didn't bring up. Have a look if you like. There might be something (in the later magazines) there. You never know.

Website: http://www.kultpower.de/archiv/ - Credit goes to everyone on Kultpower for the magazine scans.
http://www.kultpower...1991-02_001.jpg - Sonic 1 stuff
http://www.kultpower...1991-02_025.jpg - Sonic 1 stuff
http://www.kultpower...1991-03_027.jpg - Sonic 1 stuff
http://www.kultpower...1991-03_020.jpg - Sonic 1 stuff

Website: http://www.abandonware-magazines.org/ - Credit goes to everyone on Abandonware Magazines for the magazine scans.
http://download.aban...0Page%20010.jpg - Sonic Chaos/Sonic Spinball stuff
http://download.aban...81991-04%29.jpg - Sonic 1 stuff
http://download.aban...81991-06%29.jpg - Sonic 1 stuff
http://download.aban...81993-02%29.jpg - Sonic CD/Sonic 2 stuff
http://download.aban...81993-05%29.jpg - Sonic CD/Sonic 2 stuff
http://download.aban...81992-07%29.jpg - Sonic 2 GG stuff
http://download.aban...2-08et09%29.jpg - Sonic 2/Sonic 2 GG stuff
http://download.aban...81992-09%29.jpg - Sonic 2 stuff
http://download.aban...81992-09%29.jpg - Sonic 2 stuff
http://download.aban...81992-09%29.jpg - Sonic 2 stuff
http://download.aban...81992-11%29.jpg - Sonic 2 stuff
http://download.aban...81992-11%29.jpg - Sonic 1/Sonic 2 stuff
http://download.aban...81992-11%29.jpg - Sonic 2 stuff
http://download.aban...81992-11%29.jpg - Sonic 2 stuff
http://download.aban...3%20page022.jpg - Sonic CD stuff
http://download.aban...4%20page032.jpg - One of the pictures in this article has got a statue of Sonic on the CNZ Barrel. Absolutely hilarious! =P

Website: http://www.worldofsp....org/magazines/ - Credit goes to everyone on World of Spectrum for the magazine scans.
ftp://ftp.worldofspe...CVG11800075.jpg - Sonic 1 stuff
ftp://ftp.worldofspe...CVG11900072.jpg - Sonic 1 stuff
ftp://ftp.worldofspe...CVG11900073.jpg - Sonic 1 stuff
ftp://ftp.worldofspe...CVG12000001.jpg - Sonic 1 stuff
ftp://ftp.worldofspe...CVG12600009.jpg - Sonic 1 stuff
ftp://ftp.worldofspe...CVG12600019.jpg - Sonic 1 stuff
ftp://ftp.worldofspe...CVG12600049.jpg - Sonic 1 GG stuff
ftp://ftp.worldofspe...CVG12600050.jpg - Sonic 1 GG stuff
ftp://ftp.worldofspe...CVG12600051.jpg - Sonic 1 stuff
ftp://ftp.worldofspe...CVG12600052.jpg - Sonic 1 stuff
ftp://ftp.worldofspe...CVG11700052.jpg - Sonic 1 stuff
ftp://ftp.worldofspe...CVG11700053.jpg - Sonic 1 stuff
ftp://ftp.worldofspe...CVG11200011.jpg - Sonic 1 stuff

And that's about all I found in those sites. There's still loads more of these video game magazine archive sites which I've found but not looked through yet. I would have a good look through these ones to see what you can find. Whatever you do find, please give proper credit where needed. Be it the the website or person that scanned the magazine.

http://www.racketboy...retro/magazines - racketboy.

http://www.oldgamemags.com/?page_id=29 - OldGameMags.

http://www.outofprin...talogue_UK.html - Out-of-Print Archive.

http://www.retromags.com/forums/files/ - Retromags.

http://www.emuparadi...scans/magazines - Emuparadise video game magazine scans

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A collection of Japanese Beep! Mega Drive & Mega Drive Fan Magazines

I notice that this guy's got quite a few Beep! Mega Drive magazines including quite a few of some other Japanese Mega Drive magazine called "Mega Drive Fan" At some point, it might be worth having someone message him to find out if the magazines he's got cover anything relating to Sonic. Maybe we might even get a scan or two off him. If not, then leave it at that.

http://disgruntledde...isc/secret.html - We've link to his site before; this being the one.
http://www.chrismcov...gazines-md.html - His Japanese Mega Drive magazine collection.

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Investing in some Video Game Magazines for Sonic Retro!

Now if you want to invest in some video games magazines; especially if they're ones we don't have in our database, a good place to start would be this link below. However, it's more than likely we have them already. It's worth having a look and see.

http://www.zzap64.co...zuperstore.html - Zzap Zzuperstore!

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Investing on some Japanese Beep! Mega Drive Magazines for Sonic Retro!

Now seeing as there's been talks about looking for more of the Beep! Mega Drive magazines. I did manage to find quite a few places that are either selling them or putting them up for bid. If you have the money and would like to invest on some of these magazines, not only are you doing Retro a favor, it'll look good on you.

Yahoo! Japan Auctions - Assuming any of these guys are willing to sell and ship outside of Japan, see how you can go about getting any of these Beep! Mega Drive magazines.

http://page.auctions...ction/152459212 - Beep! Mega Drive Magazines Auction 1
http://page19.auctio...tion/x200351692 - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine Auction 2 (Especially this lot)
http://page22.auctio...tion/l104090595 - Beep! Mega CD Magazine Auction
http://page5.auction...tion/e112233301 - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine Auction 1
http://page22.auctio...tion/l104090507 - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine Auction 2
http://page22.auctio...tion/l104090523 - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine Auction 3

eCrater.co.uk - Now you could always look into this person who's selling some Beep! Mega Drive magazines.

http://www.ecrater.c...BEEP!+MEGADRIVE - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine 1
http://www.ecrater.c...BEEP!+MEGADRIVE - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine 2
http://www.ecrater.c...BEEP!+MEGADRIVE - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine 3
http://www.ecrater.c...BEEP!+MEGADRIVE - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine 4
http://www.ecrater.c...BEEP!+MEGADRIVE - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine 5
http://www.ecrater.c...BEEP!+MEGADRIVE - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine 6
http://www.ecrater.c...BEEP!+MEGADRIVE - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine 7

Ebay - Last but not least, we have Ebay. This person's got some later issues of Beep! Mega Drive magazine including a few other SEGA related magazines. These ones won't come cheap but that's just the way it is sometimes.

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item20c204e3cc - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine 1
http://www.ebay.co.u...=item20c1fb6e92 - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine 2
http://www.ebay.co.u...=item53eb5e4ad0 - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine 3
http://www.ebay.co.u...=item53eb5ec1ab - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine 4
http://www.ebay.co.u...=item20c20577ae - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine 5
http://www.ebay.co.u...=item20c205156a - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine 6
http://www.ebay.co.u...=item20c2054ce9 - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine 7
http://www.ebay.co.u...=item53eb5bdbee - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine 8
http://www.ebay.co.u...=item53eb5be7ad - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine 9
http://www.ebay.co.u...=item53ebcb5f77 - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine 10
http://www.ebay.co.u...=item53ebca9477 - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine 11
http://www.ebay.co.u...=item53eb5e4a58 - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine 12
http://www.ebay.co.u...=item53eb5be22e - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine 13
http://www.ebay.co.u...=item53eb5e4ac3 - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine 14
http://www.ebay.co.u...=item20c2050c9d - Beep! Mega Drive Magazine 15
http://www.ebay.co.u...=item20c2f6ae0a - Japanese Dreamcast Magazine 1
http://www.ebay.co.u...=item20c2f69ad0 - Japanese Dreamcast Magazine 2
http://www.ebay.co.u...=item53ebb5ebed - Japanese Dreamcast Magazine 3

So that's about all from me, hope this really helped a lot. I'll be updating this topic (as well as this post) from time to time. I would strongly encourage you all to search through internet for more stuff like this. If you happen to find anything, post it here. I'll keep looking around myself. Even though we've been doing this for years, it still feels like a new frontier. Not only does looking for the stuff like this relives fond memories of the past, it gives us some hope for the future that one day (maybe some day), we'll end up playing that particular Sonic prototype build.

And so my good friends "The game is afoot!" =P

This post has been edited by Orengefox: 22 March 2014 - 02:06 PM

[Vendettagainst]

:V

[Sik]

Orengefox, on 29 February 2012 - 11:41 PM, said:

http://www.kultpower...1991-03_027.jpg - Sonic 1 stuff

Nice comparison screenshots... ._.' (also the Mega Drive specs are completely wrong, WTF 2064 sprites and 138KB of RAM - for the record, 256KB of RAM for SNES would be right, since Nintendo trimmed down the amount of RAM late in development I think)

Orengefox, on 29 February 2012 - 11:41 PM, said:

http://download.aban...81992-11%29.jpg - Sonic 1/Sonic 2 stuff

At the risk of sounding stupid: bottom left Special Stage screenshot. Is that specific combination ever used in-game? I mean going down, up and left all in the same frame. Because I recall one of the developers saying the program they made to render the pipes allowed many complex combinations, but they had to stick to the simplest ones to reduce space usage.

Orengefox, on 29 February 2012 - 11:41 PM, said:

ftp://ftp.worldofspe...CVG11700053.jpg - Sonic 1 stuff

Virgin again!

[MattManAGES]

alright going back to my earlier comment in the other sonic 1 proto forum, if Virgin was involved with SEGA at this stage in the game, then is it possible that they might still have this old Beta/Alpha version?
It's a longshot, but I just thought I'd throw that out there.

Edit: Alright after searching the web for a bit, I did manage to find some interesting stuff on Wikipedia(Which of course doesn't mean it's true). It seems that Virgin Games Ltd. actually got quite involved with SEGA and many other famous names( Nintendo? oh yes indeed) after taking over half of the company Mastertronic in 1987. It also explains that there was a Developer who worked for the company named David perry, the creator of the ever popular earthworm Jim, whom in the year 1984 headed to London to start working with Microsoft and Virgin games to create tons of games for the new Sega Genisis. He worked there until he moved to the U.S.A in 1991 and continued Developing Mega drive games until of course in 1993 he created his own company. If this is the case, and Virgin games was partnered up with SEGA during the time that Sonic 1 was being heavly worked on, then maybe David Perry might be able to help us out? Once again all of this is just guessing, but sadly guessing is all we have right now. Also, not sure how to contact David, so theres that issue as well.

Just want to mention that this is also posted in the Sonic 1 prototype images forum, but I'm reposting it here because I badly want people to read it.

[Sparks]

http://www.kultpower...1991-02_001.jpg

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Sonic never stood behind the grass in the final version, I believe.

[GagaMan]

ftp://ftp.worldofspe...CVG12600051.jpg
and ftp://ftp.worldofspe...CVG12600052.jpg

Never seen those bits of artwork in the background before! Featuring all the animals including the rock band monkey, chicken and crocodile amongst others.

[Black Squirrel]

Fascinating stuff.

To add to the above post
ftp://ftp.worldofspe...CVG12600050.jpg
all of this artwork seems completely new

[FuzzballFox]

Black Squirrel, on 01 March 2012 - 02:29 PM, said:

Fascinating stuff.

To add to the above post
ftp://ftp.worldofspe...CVG12600050.jpg
all of this artwork seems completely new

MEAGDRIVE

[ICEknight]

Oops, sorry, I hadn't read GagaMan's reply.

This post has been edited by ICEknight: 01 March 2012 - 03:07 PM

[flamewing]

Sik, on 01 March 2012 - 12:36 AM, said:

At the risk of sounding stupid: bottom left Special Stage screenshot. Is that specific combination ever used in-game? I mean going down, up and left all in the same frame. Because I recall one of the developers saying the program they made to render the pipes allowed many complex combinations, but they had to stick to the simplest ones to reduce space usage.

It is used, yes: on the very secondfirst special stage, in fact.

This post has been edited by flamewing: 02 March 2012 - 09:15 PM

[Sik]

Not feeling like making another thread and technically there's a prototype screenshot in this one (the prototype Sonic 2 title screen). Since SOST is cleaned up now I may as well take advantage of it to ask for something:
http://sost.emulatio...2_april1993.jpg

Does anybody have a better scan of this pic? That one is completely damaged and written all over it (blame my baby self =P). I don't even remember how I found it after several years (which is how it ended up at SOST). And now I lost it again anyways...

Whatever, for reference, this ad was in the April 1993 issue of magazine Descubrir (that had absolutely nothing to do with gaming, for the record). It may have also appeared in other magazines. And before somebody makes the same mistake again: it's from Argentina, not Brazil. If somebody can hunt down that ad and make a better scan, it'd be nice, especially since part of the text is missing

PS: yes, the text at the bottom refers to Tails as female.

[ashthedragon]

Ain't those game gear and master system screenshots of that scan different to what we see at final? I can't see them right, but..they seem so

[Sik]

At first I thought that, but when I submitted them Rlan said they were indeed places that exist in the final version. Only the Sonic 2 MD title screen is prototype it seems.

Here's a zoomed in version of those screenshots if you want:
http://sost.emulatio..._april19931.jpg

EDIT: for further information, the first Game Gear screenshot is some area in the level that has rings making up the word "END".

This post has been edited by Sik: 05 March 2012 - 07:02 PM

[ashthedragon]

oh,it's a shame. From all those new scans, the 8 bit ones are the ones that interest me the most. I absolutely love that games and their developement hasn't been very much documented ( not at least compared to their 16 bits counterparts)

[Sik]

You could always try to look for those areas in the games to see if they really exist. If even with hacking tools we're unable to find anything like them, we may indeed have prototype screenshots.