Wow. About the only way we could get a clearer look is by traveling back to 1990 and playing the damn thing. It's so sad, but I really want this demo to turn up someday. I have to wonder. Was it just an auto-scroller like that S2 gg proto we found?
As I said earlier I think it's very likely because it's a great way to hide bugs and unfinished areas while showing off gameplay.
You're welcome! One strange thing about the text of the article is that it says "Of course it has things like 2-layered scrolling." But Yuji Naka has said numerous times that this prototype had 7 layers of scrolling. You'd think they would comment on that! Maybe the writer of the article didn't actually see the game in action or couldn't remember.
According to emulator zone, Sega Genesis is capable of deal with 2 scrolling planes + 1 sprite plane, so I don't understand how could it have 7 layers. Or the most probably thing, Im confusing with something else... Emulator zone also says that 32x does hardware rotation and that's false, so this may be false too. May those extra layers be in the sprite plane and just have different priorities, like I suggested with the foreground rocks and palmtrees?
Here is a discussion on parallax scrolling on the Genesis: http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?14004-Why-is-there-more-parallex-Scrolling-in-the-Genesis-games Thunder Force IV has a ton of parallax scrolling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jXpm9Mj8LI
It's hard to tell exactly how many layers are being used, but from what we can see in the scans: 1: mountains / city on the low plane of the background 2: clouds on the high plane of the background (can be seen overlapping trees) 3/4: the main level art has high and low planes on the foreground layer (bush, trees) 5-7?: Sprites used for palm trees and rocks scrolling at different speeds with different priorities.
On the subject of Sonic's odd sprite: The History of Sonic The Hedgehog notes: "During the initial presentation to the SEGA teams, many programmers thought that Sonic's hair was composed of a series of spikes. But actually, when you look at the character from behind, you can see that there are three rows of spikes on different levels." Could it be that one or more of the mentioned "programmers" thought the "mohawk" look really was a mohawk?
I've at least questioned Kalinske's beliefs regarding how much longer the Sega Genesis could've gone on without a successor. His story about the Japanese side's views of his Sega Pico work also doesn't make any fucking sense when Japan was the most successful territory for the Pico and it was supported there way longer than elsewhere. Didn't expect he'd outright lie, but I suppose I SHOULD have. After all, he's a businessman.
Are you guys talking about stuff from the "Console Wars" book? If I remember correctly, it was established from the beginning that some of the situations depicted in there were "novelized" and may not be completely faithful to what actually happened.
Not new info, but I love how even these earliest S1 title screens had the bug in the second E in HEDGEHOG. Wonder how many builds there were counting both S1 and S2 with that missing pixel :P
I don't want to totally derail this thread, but Kalinske has fully endorsed Console Wars and Harris has defended the facts in it, claiming everything depicted was verified by the involved parties. Kalinske has said in numerous other interviews, though, that he had a major hand in redesigning Sonic. This included adding the red shoes, removing fangs, making Sonic look less aggressive, getting rid of Madonna, and according to Console Wars, getting rid of a neck collar and a guitar and making Sonic not look like a serial killer. Some of these, such as the shoes, are outright lies. The fangs have been confirmed by other SoA people, but there has never been any evidence of this, and I generally think it was a misunderstanding. These prototype screens clearly show no fangs. The Madonna changes, of course, are known to be true. Nobody else has ever confirmed the "goth" Sonic look that is mentioned in Console Wars and I am inclined to believe it is made up. Kalinske is guilty of other lies and exaggerations that always seem to be designed to promote his own image. He is, after all, a very good marketer. I think the community should be cautious with what he says. My rambling thread on this topic is here: http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?29801-Is-Tom-Kalinske-full-of-it
Because we have been taking about if it's even possible to have 7 layers of parallax on the Megadrive, remember the guy who tried to fool us with his hack. It was really impressive what he did to achieve that. https://youtu.be/QcMKVk7GgZ4?t=51s
It's a great thing to see new info arise because of magazine scans. Shows you can get some great info with physical objects rather than always digital!
Regarding the fangs, we had the first promotional Manga and some leaflets IIRC depicting him with fangs, so it does seem it was at some point, if not officially part of the design, then at least part of an illustration used as reference.
Can you link these? I haven't seen them before. That is the feeling I had about the fangs - SoA saw them on something and assumed they were part of the official design.
The first promotional Manga I was mentioning was posted on a Brazillian Sonic site, but has since been taken down and I didn't archive any of it- Adamis, on these forums, might have, though. That said, managed to find this bit on Tumblr Fangs clearly seen there, and it's not just a quirk of this panel, they were shown proeminently whenever he had an open mouth, IIRC. I'll try and find the for-internal-use leaflets, I think we have those on the wiki. It had some bizarre drawings but some neat stuff, like a drawing of beta Green Hill. EDIT: It was named "Sonic the Hedgehog Story Comic".
