Development:Sonic Heroes

This page details development materials of Sonic Heroes.

Japanese Scripts

To do: Add all the actual wording and script changes.

In November 2023, Windi posted all three scripts online, including one for the main story; while most of the dialogue would make it into the final Japanese version, there are many, many differences including references to scrapped bosses, and even a scrapped stage!:

• Team Sonic and Team Rose were meant to have an introduction in Seaside Hill like the other teams in the final.
• The dialogue for Team Sonic at the beginning of Casino Park and Robot Carnival was shortened in the final.
• Neo Metal Sonic was meant to fight the player directly in Robot Carnival (in an Egg Hermit Crab or Egg Tank) and Robot Storm (an Egg Sea Anemone); the Robot Carnival encounter in particular seems to have been scrapped early on, as starting with Team Rose, he is no longer described as being in the mech. The Egg Emperor was also called the Egg Mobile Force, although its appearance isn't explained in the script other than being gigantic.
• Team Sonic and Team Dark would've actually witnessed the fake Eggman turning into liquid metal (but not Metal Sonic himself); in the final, both teams run off just before Metal Sonic transforms. For unknown reasons, this change wasn't retained for Team Rose's final cutscene.
• Rather than a character battle, Lost Jungle was supposed to feature a proper boss fight; this is only mentioned in Team Sonic's version of the script under the name "Boss 5", with any actual dialogue for the encounter having never actually been written.
• After finishing Lost Jungle, the player was meant to progress to a Christmas-themed stage with the character battle from Lost Jungle taking place there instead; like Boss 5, this is only mentioned in Team Sonic's script and not the others.
• Rouge would've winked at Omega in Team Dark's final cutscene.
• The transformation of Neo Metal Sonic into his final form was different; rather than parts from the Egg Fleet attaching to him to form Metal Madnass, he would've hatched from a silver egg to form Super Metal Sonic.
• The final scene of Team Sonic running off was supposed to play after the credits.

Early Xbox Soundtrack

These pieces of music come from a presumed Xbox build from between the E3 and 9.28 prototypes, which was apparently owned by a former Sonic scene member named Solly. Unfortunately, she has long vanished from the internet. The only reason why these songs have been archived is because of another Sonic scene member by the name PACHUKA, who managed to get them from a 1 kb/s download. The rest of the songs are identical to the 10.8 prototype and thus are not covered here.

Name	Early	Final	Notes
Ocean Palace			Obviously a work in progress. Some instruments are missing, and uses a ROMpler guitar sample for the guitar sections. Appears to be Hataya's original composition before Senoue's arrangement.
Grand Metropolis			Different percussion, the rest of the instruments sound much quieter. The same percussion track appears to be reused for the "Boss: Vs. Team Battle" song heard in the 10.8 prototype.
Power Plant			Louder percussion.
Lost Jungle			Much slower, has a much different, "wilder" feel from the final version. Includes a new panflute melody that's entirely removed from the final's song, amongst many other structural changes.
Egg Fleet			Different drums and no synth.
Boss: Egg Albatross			Has a different beginning, and the synth loop plays throughout the whole song, rather than during certain sections, like in the final.
Last Boss ver. 2: Metal Overlord			Very early version of What I'm Made Of, only containing scratch lyrics from the chorus, ending early. The ending riff was later reused in Shadow Generations, 20 years after the initial release of Sonic Heroes.
Battle: City Area			Appears to be a loop of one of the instruments heard throughout the Lost Jungle song above.
Battle: Casino Area			A much shorter and rougher composition compared to the final song, with completely different instruments.

(Source: Sonic Retro)