Prerelease:Sonic Adventure 2 (Dreamcast)

This page details prerelease information and/or media for Sonic Adventure 2 (Dreamcast).

Sonic Adventure 2 was one of the games to be developed by an international division of Sega, whereas the team wanted to build on the previously-established mechanics and try out some new ideas. Development of the game was mostly kept secretive, but quite a few ideas were changed around or outright scrapped during the phase.

Development Timeline

1999

• September - Sonic Adventure 2 begins development following the American release of Sonic Adventure, which was when Sonic Team USA was formed in America to handle the overseas release of that game.
• October 4 - A "follow-up" to Sonic Adventure is teased.

2000

• May - The game is revealed at E3.
• November 15 - The Japanese and US versions of Sonic Adventure 2: The Trial are built.
• November-December - Sega signs a deal with Soap Shoes, which would appear in the game as advertisment, and eventually affecting Sonic's design.

2001

• June 19 - The game is released in North America.
• June 23 - The game is released in Japan and Europe.

1999

September

Early Development

Sonic Adventure 2's development started shortly after the American release of Sonic Adventure, where localization and quality-of-life improvements of the latter was handled. Unlike the previous game, it was developed in San Francisco under Sonic Team USA, composed of several members from Sega Japan.

The main target of developing the game was to take what made the previous game successful and take them to the extra mile, which was where the expanding the story came in.

Early Concepts

One of the original ideas for the story for it to be based on the player's decisions, where they stated an example of the player sinking in a submarine, and they could either escape or bring the submarine back. A system would be retooled for Shadow the Hedgehog.

Character Concepts

2000

May

E3 2000 Trailer

Sonic Adventure 2 was first announced at E3 2000, this build has many differences from the final. Only City Escape, Green Forest, Sky Rail, Pumpkin Hill and Iron Gate are shown in the video, though screenshots also show Aquatic Mine and the Chao Garden.

• This trailer reuses Introduction... featuring Open Your Heart from Sonic Adventure.

Characters

• Sonic is wearing his normal shoes, this was changed to SOAP shoes in the final.
• Tails, Rouge and Shadow's gameplay are absent.
• Sonic's running animation is smoother.
• Sonic's shoes has a different model than early screenshots and The Trial.

City Escape

• The rest of City Escape doesn't exist, just a long path that isn't in the final.
• The skybox is very simplistic, just a blue gradient, you can also see it end at certain points in the video.
• Some of the textures used here can be found in LANDTX02.PRS, which is a level that doesn't exist in any version.
• The design of the GUN Truck is different.

Green Forest

• There's two robots present that aren't there in the final, though they are present in Preview.
• There's a lot of complex camera work that isn't present in the final.
• Some parts of the level seem different.

Sky Rail

• Sonic is in Sky Rail, in the final, only Shadow is.
• The cameras present here are actually in the final, but can only be seen with the Debug Menu.
• The fog seems to be missing.
• Some parts of the level aren't animated yet.

November

Sonic Adventure 2 The Trial Commercial

A trailer for Sonic Adventure 2: The Trial, still based on an earlier build.

• This trailer, also reuses Introduction... featuring Open Your Heart.
• The lighting in the Hero Story intro is much darker.
• Sonic's running animation is still much smoother than The Trial.
• The demo tape version of Escape from the City plays. Prior to November 2020, this was its only known use.

2001

January(?)

Footage of a "Focus Test" version, being made between The Trial (November 2000) and Preview (April 2001):

• Barring the text "FOCUS TEST VERSION" below the logo, the title screen has already reached its final design at this point.
• Sonic is still wearing his classic shoes, putting a time frame for when the change took place.
• White Jungle's music seems to be different, having the same overall feel, but using much rougher instrumentation.
• White Jungle's doesn't have the 10-minute timer, suggesting the time limit hadn't been implemented yet.
• The Phantasy Star Online ad has already been replaced with the Chao in Space 2 ad, while "THE PIXEL NOISE" is still used instead of the SOAP Shoes advertisement.

Trailer #3

• Sonic is still wearing his normal shoes.
• The cameras shown in Iron Gate can also be found in the final.
• When Sonic meets Shadow, the lighting is very different.

Trailer #4

• Sonic is now wearing his SOAP shoes.
• Rouge, Tails, and Eggman are now shown to be playable.
• Tails is using the Tornado 2 from Sonic Adventure 1 in one cutscene. The water also isn't animated.