Not sure what them being objects has to do with what I was saying, but if it was an extensive physics test, does that mean the bridge would have bent under its weight like Sonic running over it? What would have happened if both were on the bridge at different spots? Does the engine have any kind of link to the bridge ever being able to bend in multiple spots at once?
Sonic 2 copes with Tails standing on the bridge, as do its betas, although I don't know if that's new code.
What I mean is that the waterfalls you were referring to that would have hypothetically been there in the beta were background tiles, the others were objects. Don't quote me on this though, its been a LONG LONG time since I've modified anything in Sonic 1. And for the second part about the bridge, that is a very good question. It's possible that the existence of the ball could have been to test multiple objects on bridges. It could have been there to test a lot of things before Sonic's physics were perfected. My mind wonders so much wondering...
I bought it from someone who worked at a magazine. Believe me, if there was more from that particular source, I would get more. I have kept searching for more Sonic prototypes, there will be things coming in the future, but some of these deals require a lot of time and patience. As for Sonic 1 carts that exist, I have contacted a lot of people who might have come in contact with one. So far I found three carts: * a cart that turned out to be final ( /> ) * a review cart, close to final * a preview cart (yes) There were more than 3 builds of Sonic 1 out there, but few carts are extant (most were thrown away and are lost). I will publish my notes on these once I am confident it will not interfere with getting more protos released in the future. Please be patient.
I wasn't saying the waterfall would be affected or anything, just that the bridge could be destroyed leading to an alternate area. It was merely some speculation that popped in my head because of the waterfall that doesn't exist. It would seem to make sense from a game development standpoint (Heavy object breaks platform object that bends a lot when light character is normally on it). The lack of waterfall could have meant to hint "Hey dude go down here", scrapped because there's no sense in making the player immediately get pushed in to backtracking right after starting the game or for a more technical reason being that perhaps the several objects on screen together (Two of which adhere to physics) was buggy at the time. Isn't speculation fun?
Wait, I know you'll be releasing info when the time is right, but I am really left puzzled over the last one, so far as where in dev it is relative to the close-to-final review cart, and how far off the review cart is to final... heh, can't wait either way if and / or when we get these to see... :D
I've uploaded to Youtube just the Sonic footage from that Nick Arcade pilot, just in case anyone wants to watch it without having to rewind through the whole episode
Unfortunately, the rarest preview carts of a game would take very long to get. Maybe long as the development of Half-Life 3. You see, it's common if an owner has a valuable that nobody else has, the said owner likes to greedily hoard it for the longest amount of time possible.
The "hoarders" you speak of are not as common as you might think. These things take time because of the hundreds of other people you have to talk to before you find that one person with a build. And the owners of these carts are real people, with real lives and feelings. You can't just sweep in and make them do what you want. You have to work to their schedule. I've worked some deals for many years before they came to fruition, and it is not for lack of eagerness. This is not like buying something on eBay where someone is a priori willing to sell by the simple fact of selling it on eBay. I wish there was. Unfortunately these things can take weeks, months and years. If there are any updates I will post them. In the mean time, we (me and evilhamwizard) have analyzed the footage. Some interesting bits about the title screen shot: * no TM * the background cannot be reproduced in Sonic 1 final
I just spoke to Mr Miteff on the phone. He was the co-creator of Nick Arcade. He remembered the Sonic 1 cartridge specifically, and in fact, this was one of 2 or 3 that they had. They were all under lock and key while at Nick Arcade and were returned to Sega afterwards. Besides, he threw everything away recently anyways. There were no other people who kept anything. It's a shame, "Sonic 1 Nick Arcade" sounded good. edit: by the way, if someone lives near Orlando, FL, and is willing to help out with something Sonic prototype related, please PM me.
If that makes you feel better! It sucks for me Talking about the title screen, here's a bit more information for you. There's no sprite changes for the background at all, it's just been reordered to look more aesthetically pleasing. You can match up some of the parts between the versions, like in my GIF for example: (Look at the background on the left side) How can we tell the original didn't look so good? There's footage of the original title screen out there, and from the start we can see it looks barren. Look at how bland that looks below! Obviously it looks better once it's scrolled some more but upon first glance it doesn't look great at all. I'd say the rearrangement makes it look much better from the get go :v: EDIT: Also, from what I can gather, those random little chunks in the background weren't always missing. It seems like they messed up the graphics a bit. You can clearly see a part of the rock on the lower pre-release is not broken, but missing in the final.
This is so surreal to me. The idea that Nick Arcade got not one, but two Sonic prototypes! I never thought we'd see any more footage of an S1 beta. Whether a cart turns up one day or not, I've really enjoyed seeing this footage.
Nice find! Very cool that more secrets like this keep showing up after all these years. Wonder what happened to the cart once it was returned to SEGA - would be a shame if it was wiped and re-programmed or something like that.
Damn, I literally just got back from Orlando tonight. I only live a couple of hours away though so if you can't find anyone else closer I could probably help out.
