Prerelease:Sonic Forces

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Sonic Forces.

To do: The original Excel file has been uploaded. Document further changes in detail. Pre-release videos and images.

Development on Sonic Forces began in 2013, although it was held up for its first few years due to the development of Hedgehog Engine 2. Sonic Forces was meant to act as a return to the more mature stories of the 2000s games, and introduced the Avatar due to the team desiring to let players play as their own character.

Reception to Sonic Forces was extremely lukewarm. While many regarded the game as competent on its own, it was generally derided for its short length, level design, story, and controls, not helped by it coming off the heels of the acclaimed Sonic Mania earlier that year. The mixed critical reception of Forces would influence the development of Sonic Frontiers.

Development Images

Appears to test lighting for 3D Models.

(Source: Uncle Windii's Brownie Hideout)

Early Japanese Script

An entire early Japanese script from January 19, 2016 (last updated on March 24, 2016, based on SoA comments) was found and released online by Windii. The basic story is the same, and some dialogue made it into the final, but even then it has many differences.

• According to the script, the original name was "Sonic Wars".
• Since Forces was in development before Sonic Mania was even conceived, the script makes no references to the Phantom Ruby. Instead, there's a piece of technology called the "Valtron", which is described as looking like a blue pebble.
• The Rookie/Avatar is referred to as "Buddy".
• A lot of the things are better explained, clearer, or make more sense than in the final. Examples:
  • Infinite is handled differently. He's portrayed as more ruthless and mysterious. His form, powers, and motives are left a mystery for nearly half the game.
    • In the script, the beating Sonic receives from Infinite is much more intense. It's implied that Infinite warps space to nearly kill him with a flurry of blows.
    • Infinite is finally shown to the player for the first time when Sonic encounters him in the Casino/Jungle. Sonic is once again seriously wounded from the encounter.
    • Since this script seems to predate the plans for "Episode Shadow", Infinite's backstory is different. It's implied that Eggman invented him to test the Valtron.
    • It's clearer that after Infinite's defeat, he is absorbed back into the Valtron/Phantom Ruby, as a beam of light pulls him into its power source.
  • Following Sonic's defeat and disappearance, Tails also disappears at the same time, which isn't explicitly stated (though implied) in the final.
  • The final game seems to imply that the entire resistance thinks Sonic is dead, leading to a scene where Knuckles is surprised to find Sonic's still alive. In this script, Knuckles confirming Sonic's status is treated more as a confirmation of the obvious. ("There's no way he'd die, is there?")
  • Instead of being "banished to space", Sonic was deliberately being held hostage on an asteroid near the Death Egg. Eggman's plan was to humiliate Sonic by conquering the world first and then killing him after his spirit had been broken.
  • Sonic breaking himself out of prison is more obviously a side effect of a larger battle being led by the resistance to assault the Death Egg, whereas in the final game it seems to happen somewhat at random.
  • The Rookie has a much clearer character arc: Early missions portray the Rookie as cowardly, as they are often anxious and shaking with fear. By meeting and teaming up with Sonic, the Rookie was meant to learn confidence, overcome their fears, and understand the power of teamwork.
  • There's a line to set up that the attack on Sunset Heights is a recent development, explaining why the city's still engulfed in flames and destroyed in the final.
  • Sunset Heights is meant to be the Rookie's first real successful solo mission.
• The opening of the game could have been different. The first level was Sonic entering a city located inside Green Hill Zone. Venturing into the city, Sonic would find the place swarming with Eggman's robots. It isn't stated if this is the same city as Sunset Heights, and no mention is made of Green Hill turning to sand.
• When Tails first encounters Classic Sonic in the early script, he was meant to hallucinate seeing Modern Sonic, before it becomes clear he's actually looking at Classic Sonic.
• Orbot and Cubot are barely featured. They only have dialogue in one scene.
• The Death Egg and surrounding asteroids were supposed to resemble Eggmanland from Sonic Unleashed. The final features a more traditional space station setting.
• Espio mentions Seaside Hill (from Sonic Heroes and Sonic Generations) by name as a location where battles are being fought in Stage 9.
• Instead of the crab robot attacking The Rookie at Guardian Rock (Green Hill Zone), it was meant to be a Death Egg Robot piloted by Eggman as part of their distraction plot.
• In the final game, it's suggested that things like Null Space or the artificial sun are Eggman's "plan". In the early script, they are more obviously just ways that Eggman and Infinite are using the Valtron to attack Sonic in preparation for an even bigger, grander plan (which is never actually detailed).
• The reactor core housing the energy source for the Valtron is described as resembling Central Dogma from the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion.
• When Eggman merges the Valtron with the Colossal Death Egg Robot, virtual clones of Mephiles (yes, that Mephiles) were supposed to appear among Eggman's army alongside Shadow, Chaos 0, Metal Sonic, Zavok, and Infinite.

Currently, only Windii's translation of the early script is available, but the full script was temporarily leaked on Reddit, which included lines of dialogue that were written but removed.

• These deleted lines include Silver making fun of Knuckles for his attachment to the mission name "Operation Big Wave", Vector berating Tails for not shutting down the Death Egg's defenses during an earlier mission, and Vector and Sonic agreeing they were making too many food-based Eggman jokes.
• Lines removed from the script also show that Classic Sonic could have been referred to as "Alt. Sonic" at some point.
• Cocoa Island from Tails Adventures was also referenced at one point, but was removed since Takashi Iizuka wasn't aware of what it was referencing.

Aaron Webber's Comments

There's a cell in the original Excel document labeled "AW" which contains some constructive criticism from Aaron Webber, who managed the Sonic series' Twitter account at the time. The comments all disparage the plot for inconsistencies and continuity errors, and are quite entertaining:

• "Tails defeats Eggman alone in SA1. Why is he suddenly so weak here? Is it just dramatic effect?"
• "Tails and co just let Sonic get captured? Big loophole here."
• "Lol this line is awful please remove it" (Referring to Tails' line "I'll be with you soon, Sonic." during the infamous 'Tails cowers at Chaos' scene. Seems like Sonic Team actually listened to Webber on this one, since it's not in the final.)
• "Wait, wha? Silver? Why is he here?"
• "Lets not call them [the Rookie] Buddy. Sounds childish."
• "Why doesn't Tails remember Generations?"
• "'We're going in Hard and Fast' will be the most played line from the game on YouTube out of context"
• "UGH! We do this every single time. EVEry SINGLE TIME. Generations end. 06 End. SA2 end. ALL OF THEM. Whyyyyyy" (Referring to how Sonic's friends always cheer him on during the final boss.)

(Source: SPEEPSHighway Twitter, Windii PasteBin, Sonic Retro, Sonic Stadium)

SXSW Version

During the March 2017 SXSW livestream, a few differences can be noted.

• There's no HUD and none of Sonic's friends inform him in Sunset Heights.
• An earlier version of the main theme Fist Bump can be heard. It lacks lyrics with instead a guitar being used (like a certain other demo) and is just overall unmastered at this point.

Custom Hero Trailer

"IS THAT BUBSY!?!?"

The most notable differences between the trailer and the final are the Avatar UI.

• At the left-bottom portion of the menu, you can see three icons. One for the World Map, another for the Avatar, and the other for the missions. In the final, only the icon for the avatar is shown.
• The "DRESS UP" was changed to "FITTING ROOM".
• The tone of red behind the clothing is lighter, along with slightly different tones of red for the borders.

E3 Demo

The early version title screen.

At June 2017, there was an E3 demo to try out Sonic Forces. A few differences can be seen in the demo, such as:

• There are only three stages: Modern Sonic at Sunset Heights (City), your own custom Avatar at Guardian Rock (Green Hill), and Classic Sonic battling Eggman with the Egg Mobile and the Egg Dragoon at Green Hill.
• Each Stage Number is just called "(Character Name) Stage".
• Sonic doesn't get that sudden "burst of speed" when accelerating.
• When reaching the Goal, there are no sound effects for it. And instead of the Results Screen appearing in 4 seconds, it is rather instead 3 seconds.
• The Results Screen music sounds pretty different from the final, as it is missing a few instruments.
• The title screen is a lot different here, as it just has the logo on a black background, along with "DEMO VERSION" highlighted in yellow.
• The "Loading" text is in all-caps rather than just the first letter being capitalized.