I just found this supposed image of the Sonic 1 Alpha from the Tokyo Toy Show '90: I would have posted this in the other Sonic 1 Alpha thread but didn't feel like necro-bumping, it so I posted it here. Is this legit or a good hoax?
The first image in the scan has similarities with a blurry image from previously. That blue munchface has become a staple of discussion since then. If this scan is legit, then it shows a frame of animation he has that we may have never seen before. It looks like he wobbles around as he approachs Sonic? I'm imagining now him having AI similar to the Rollers.
Wow the clarity of that picture is amazing. Also I get the impression from the bottom right hand screen shot that Sonic doesn't curl up into a ball when he jumps. It appears his spin jump was added later.
Another thing I noticed was that screenshot with the Badnik in the air seems to have been taken a half second or so before the blurry shot we have. The objects in Green Hill all seem to match up. Even the screen scrolling to the right between the two screenshots.
I would imagine the gameplay is automated so you would end up with the same results every time. Automated gameplay is a good way of showing off gameplay without showing unfinished or buggy areas.
Hmm.. looks like the Badnik could have kicked Sonic, like if it acted as a moving bumper. If he was actually jumping though, then his curl sprites didn't seem implemented at the time. Just like how every game in alpha would have placeholders. EDIT: PALMTREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES
Given the clarity of the screenshots, and the smaller SONIC font on the title screen there, I strongly consider this to be real. Your average hoaxer would've hardly put out more than one badly blurred screenshot and probably not given that much attention to detail.
Beautiful screens! Argh I just want to know what other secrets the real alpha holds. I also think by the looks of it that gurnface acted like a bumper of some kind, before the ring scatter was implemented. Seeing as the spin attack was fundamental to the idea of Sonic, I'd assume it would have been implemented by this point. They would have wanted to show it off.
I went ahead and cropped, resized and slightly touched up the screenshots from the image I posted. Title Screen: Side-by-side with the blurry shot we have from Beep! magazine: Badnik kicking(?) Sonic: Close up of Sonic's sprite:
I've split this off into its own topic, it's an awesome find that deserves to be discussed separately from the topic about the fake Sonic 1 prototype videos. Yeah, I totally agree. If anyone has a way of tracking some of them down, it could potentially be amazing. It's lovely to see scans of such high quality! It makes me wonder if it'd actually be worth tracking down the Beep magazine that those earlier scans came from in order to get a scan with higher clarity.
It's amazing how different the blue guy looks in the high quality scan. I actually thought it was a different sprite until I noticed the bleeding (?) colors in the low quality one.
There was a lot of effort put into that jumper's sprite. Sonic 1 really was going to be a completely different game back then; I'm hoping drx's new lead to get a build doesn't go cold.
If you want to go full circle, you can merge this topic with this other one, or something. It's the one cornholio857 didn't want to "necro-bump", but it's your call if you want to keep all the information organised. At least this post will help people cross-reference the old stuff, I guess.
@third screenshot: Walk-jump bug, we all know the thruth :p EDIT: Theres a huge shading difference between theese Sonic sprites and the final ones, as if he would be more cartoonish like and then they decided to give him more detail. Besides that, there's nothing weird on that sprite.
Looks like Sonics eye sprites were not connected to his muzzle at one point. So much clarity, so much awesome... Good find!
