The Supreme Topic of 'Other' Knowledge.

This may or may not have come up before, but Australia's Sega MegaZone magazine published this with their review (note: not preview) of Sonic & Knuckles.



https://archive.org/details/megazoneau44/page/n33/mode/2up

This sparked a bit of controversy, but I didn't notice a retraction or any responses in the letters section of subsequent issues.

 

Is this a pic from a beta version or just a straight up montage? I've heard Sonic Team wanted to make Knuckles in Sonic 1 a thing, but couldn't due to palette problems.. so by all account this screenshot shouldn't really exist?

 

It wasn’t due to palette problems. I’m on mobile so I can’t link it, but Iizuka stated it didn’t happen because they didn’t think that Knuckles’ gameplay suited Sonic 1’s level design. I’m not sure if that screenshot is real or if it was just a mock-up, but given Iizuka’s explanation it seems more likely that it was running at one point.

 

Sounds like an excuse to me. Sonic 2 wasn't designed for Knuckles' gameplay either, so they addressed it by patching the levels. They could have done the same with S1. Not to mention that they allowed Tax and Stealth to put Knuckles in the S1 remaster.

 

https://www.gameinformer.com/b/feat...es-sonic-and-knuckles-lock-on-technology.aspx

It's his words, not mine.

 

I'm aware. I was questioning Iizuka's word, not yours =P

 

That misinformation page looking real tempting at the moment not gonna lie

 

Various internet sources about MegaZone all say that the screenshot was mocked up but *citation needed*

MegaZone did have strong ties to Sega Ozisoft, so there is maybe a tiny minuscule scintilla of a chance they had access to a unique prototype with Knuckles in Sonic 1, but I doubt it.

 

I personally think it's a mockup.

>we've got that classic "character way off center from the screenshot in a way that's not normally possible" thing going on

>HUD looks kinda weird, but that may be the image quality

>I'm not sure where in green hill this is. Act 1? Act 3? If it's act 1, having over 18,000 points is suspicious, so I think this needs investigation

>knuckles's sprite looks... different? Since when did he have gray soles on his shoes? I can't imagine them using his S&K sprites in sonic 2 but suddenly switching them for new ones in Sonic 1 (and no to the inevitable person who asks, it has nothing to do with the palette. How knuckles is drawn is unrelated to the colors he uses). However again, this could be another image quality thing.

I'm actually curious to see if anyone has any evidence suggesting this image is real. Like, I legitimately want to be wrong here, and have a new hope for some sort of lost Knuckles in Sonic 1 :p

 

Actually that's act 3, and the camera checks out:

 

That's a blast from the past. Pretty sure it's a mock-up; note the "convenient" cropping of the lives meter among everything else mentioned.

 

I guess even confirming it as a mock-up raises further questions. Was it mocked up by the magazine themselves, or was it provided by Sega Ozisoft?

 

It would have been far easier for Sega to make it, and I seriously doubt a mag would mock up a screenshot.

 

Various sources suggest that the magazine mocked it up themselves (although not sure of legitimacy of claims). Seems to suggest it was later revealed by the magazine as a hoax, but my quick scan of subsequent issues didn't find this reveal (although perhaps I didn't look hard enough).

https://www.retrogamingaus.com/wiki/index.php?title=Megazone

 

Found this while looking for any info on the hoax screenshot.


https://archive.org/details/megazoneau45/page/n49/mode/2up

Not sure if this comes from a cavalier attitude with the truth or a genuine misunderstanding on the magazine/Sega Ozisoft's part.

 

Maybe they heard about sonic 3 limited edition and were remembering that instead?

So the Sonic 3 proto chugs at half speed on 3ds virtual console injection. I tested other protos, final builds, hacks, etc etc- it's literally just this one rom.

And no, it's not my specific rom either. It's the same one that runs full speed on the genesis. I have literally no idea what could be going on lol, but yeah- sonic 3 proto chugs on 3ds. :v

Edit: Sonic retro bugged out. Didn't realize this was a double post

 

For a walking Knuckles in that part of Green Hill Zone, the vertical camera position looks correct, but Knuckles is off-center from a horizontal perspective. It's just enough space to swap out Sonic with water and put a Knuckles sprite there.

 

Yeah, that's what I was going for lol. I still can't get past his sprites though.

Edit: f***ing posted before I was done The only counter I have for the camera is that the image might be cropped a bit

 

Didn't see this posted anywhere, but the composer of Sonic 1 (8-bit) has gone into some detail in a tweet about how the music was made: https://xcancel.com/yuzokoshiro/status/1364128000699101186

There appears to be some unheard tracks in this video too, hopefully we get the full versions.

 

As far as I'm aware, all the unused tracks in that video were already released on the Yuzo Koshiro: Early Collection Box CD set - I believe they can also be heard online in full in the prerelease section of the game's TCRF page.