Knuckles' Chaotix

Knuckles' Chaotix
Also known as: Chaotix (JP) Developer: Sega Publishers: Sega (US/JP/EU), Tec Toy (BR) Platform: 32X Released in JP: April 21, 1995 Released in US: April 20, 1995 Released in EU: May 1, 1995 Released in BR: December 15, 1995 This game has unused playable characters. This game has unused enemies. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused sounds. This game has unused text. This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden level select. This game has a prototype article This game has a prerelease article

Once the only 32X title people could name off the top of their heads, Knuckles' Chaotix is a very quaint game in the Sonic series.

Considered the calm before the storm right before Sonic X-treme's development, Chaotix is an "anything goes" game consisting of bizarrely-constructed levels, claw machines, occasional 3D, a giant dose of the Memphis aesthetic, and a plot involving Knuckles being literally shackled to various people with magic rings while trying to stop Eggman/Robotnik from trying to induce disaster with his Chaos Rings.

Curiously for a Sonic-type platformer, Sonic is almost completely absent. Even more unusual is the game's development history, with a massive amount of digital archaeology to comb through (and not just unused graphics) and several prototypes for this site to sink its teeth into. And that's only just the beginning.

It's Sonic on the 32X without Sonic.

Sub-Pages

Prototype Info

Prerelease Info

Unused Sprites This game seems to have more unused sprites than used ones.

Debug Mode

To do: Other configurations.

Configuring the Color Test to look as it is on the left activates a stage select in the main menu. Choosing a stage and configuration also enables a free movement debug mode, activated whenever the game is paused. Use the D-Pad to move and combinations of A, B, and C to move faster. There are three numerical values shown: the X coordinate of the crosshair (which is always at the center of the main character sprite; all sprites are drawn relative to their centers in Chaotix), Y coordinate of the crosshair, and a value that indicates the Zone, the Act, and what time of day it is.

The second character on the player select menu is a deleted character named "**********" who uses Knuckles' art and Mighty's palette. This is the remnants of Tails, who was present in Sonic Crackers but scrapped sometime before the 1207 Chaotix prototype; in earlier prototypes, this character could fly similarly to Tails. Using this character may trigger game-breaking bugs. It should also be noted that Mighty is listed as the first character rather than Knuckles, indicating that he replaced Sonic.

For the five "attractions", the level numbers should be between 1 and 5; 0 is the same as 1, while 6 will crash. For the Special Stage, 0-5 are the six normal stages and 6 is the first wireframe stage. World Entrance Level 0 is the normal world lobby, 1 is the penultimate boss, 2 is the final boss, and all others crash the game.

Sound Test Stuff

Unused Sounds

In the prototypes, the Sega screen plays a sound at code 6B. While this was removed from the final game, a different version of the sound remains in slot 6B.

	Version of the sound from Prototype 0202 (February 2, 1995), the only known build to play a sound on the Sega screen, and the last known to contain this version of the sound.
	Final version of the sound, present in all prototypes after 0202 and the final builds.

Amy Rose

Configuring the Color Test to look as it is on the left will replace the volume meters with a dancing Amy Rose saying "Cool Sweet & Catchy!"

No 32X Error Message

When trying to play the game without a 32X attached, it tries to show an error message saying it needs a 32X. However, on real hardware the 32X security code tries to access the 32X directly without checking if it's there, which makes it hang up and the screen stays blank. The message can be seen in emulators that don't implement this hangup.

It always says "SUPER32X" (sic) regardless of region.

Oddities

Sonic in Special Stages

Mighty's normal level sprites weren't the only part of Chaotix that were just hastily edited from Sonic's. Two frames of Mighty's jumping animation in the Special Stages are just edited versions of Sonic's Special Stage jumping sprites from Sonic the Hedgehog CD, with some of the pixels on the edges shaved off since Mighty's ball is smaller than the others'. Sonic's quills are still present in one of the frames, and his eyes can be seen in the other.

That's not all, though. Knuckles' jumping sprites in the Special Stages are exactly the same as Sonic's Sonic CD Special Stage jumping sprites, with the only differences being the removal of the ears and coloring his flesh yellow and fur red.

"Unused" Sound Test Button Functions

Although the US and European manuals state that the six-button controllers don't do anything, they actually do! Pressing X lets you change the output between stereo and mono, while holding Y and pressing Left or Right lets you change the tempo.

These functions are mentioned in the Japanese manual, so it's unknown why the international manuals state otherwise.