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Prerelease:Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis)/''Sega Shinsaku Soft Video'' Footage

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This is a sub-page of Prerelease:Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis).

The July 1991 volume of Sega Shinsaku Soft Video (a series of promo VHS tapes, produced for trade distribution in Japan, featuring Sega's latest game releases) features a six-minute preview of Sonic the Hedgehog. Despite broadly resembling the finished game, the footage nevertheless reveals a multitude of small––and not so small––changes in comparison to the final release.

General Differences

  • This is the earliest known build with the final RINGS counter, instead of RING as in earlier builds.
  • The PRESS START BUTTON text is still on the title screen.
  • The drum samples in the music have a lower pitch. The final Sonic the Hedgehog uses a modified DAC driver so that it can play the "Sega!" chant. As a side effect, the driver reduces the sample rate and increases the playback speed of every DAC sample. This can also be noted in the 1991 CES Footage, the Nick Arcade pilot and US commercial, but this is the most audible prerelease source where the difference can be heard.
  • The sound driver is rough around the edges; many clicks, wrong sound effects, sounds that don't cut off properly, etc, are audible.
  • Sonic acquires an extra life at 50 rings, not 100.
  • Sonic will fist-pump the air if the player jumps after finishing an Act.
  • Sonic cannot leave the screen after clearing a signpost. (Much like as in the 8-bit versions, except that Sonic does not automatically run off after the sign has landed.)
  • Warp rings and bonus points appear to be absent.
  • After defeating a boss, the stage music doesn't resume playing; instead the boss music just continues until the end-of-Act results appear.
  • Instead of initially being displayed inside the destroyed capsule, the animal friends spawn out of nowhere from the center of the capsule. They also jump much further and to the side.
  • The drowning mechanic is noticeably different. The countdown starts a couple of seconds after Sonic enters the water, and is, therefore, shorter as a result. The drowning music and breathing noise seem to be absent at this point.
  • In addition, the countdown numbers are completely different. They look quite similar to the air bubbles, which might explain their redesign.
    • Interestingly, these early numbers would later appear in the v0.51 prototype of Sonic CD. They would be later replaced with the final Sonic 1 numbers.
  • Title cards still say ACT. (with a period) instead of ACT (without a period).
  • No checkpoint lampposts are visible anywhere within the footage.
  • There is no combo bonus for destroying multiple Badniks in a row yet.

Green Hill Zone

Shinsaku Sonic 1 Green Hill Zone Act 1.png

Being the all-important first stage of the game, Green Hill Zone has the most visible differences:

  • Green Hill's background design was tweaked for the final game. For example, the Robotnik boss fight background doesn't have the waterfall. It also has more details than the final which were likely removed to save VRAM.
  • The Act 1 boulder is still functional and present. A second boulder can be seen in Act 2 after the spike pit encountered halfway in the level.
  • More of a general sound bug, but the video depicts it happening in Green Hill: The player begins the boss fight with speed shoes active, causing the boss music and the stage clear theme to play at too fast a tempo.
  • The loop in Green Hill Zone Act 1 has an invincibility monitor instead of a shield.
  • In the same act, the area between the two "S" tunnels has several rings instead of a lamppost.
  • The second rock in Act 2 (an additional rock is placed before it in this build) is missing the spring, which also means the five rings above it are placed lower.
  • The moving platform pit area in Act 2 has different ring placement. Right after it is a red spring that was removed.
  • The area right before the Act 2 signpost has two ring monitors instead of one.
  • Robotnik doesn't laugh when the wrecking ball drops down or when Sonic gets hurt. In addition, the lights underneath the Egg Mobile aren't animated.
  • When Robotnik is defeated, the Egg Mobile doesn't drop down after it stops exploding, and the sweating animation seems to never play.
  • During the fadeout to Marble Zone, the graphics decompress during the fadeout instead of after the fadeout in the final, meaning you could see trees getting overwritten with Marble zone tiles.

Marble Zone Act 1

Sega Shinsaku Soft Video Sonic 1 BETA.png
  • The UFOs can be seen in motion; as in the available prototype, they still only display 5 of their intended 6 frames of animation.
  • The block on the spike chandelier is further to the left.

Spring Yard Zone Act 1

Shinsaku Sonic 1 Spring Yard Zone Act 1.png
  • This is the earliest known build that uses Spring Yard's final background and name. It's possible that both things were actually added in the GPSGSG Build.
  • The 'spike bumper' is still present. Although now it's 5 spike balls long compared to earlier iterations of it being 6 spike balls long.
  • Three overlapped bumpers can be seen above the top-right bumper in the first pinball area.
  • The two yellow light bars before the first moving block section are positioned differently.
  • In addition, the borders of the flashing blue/red lights are blocky instead of round.
  • Two Rollers are spawned in the first ramp tunnel instead of one. Their rolling graphics appear to work correctly, suggesting the Caterkiller art hadn't been added yet.
  • The pillars still use their old blue/purple color scheme.

Labyrinth Zone Act 1

Shinsaku Sonic 1 Labyrinth Zone Act 1.png
  • This is the earliest known build that uses Labyrinth's final background, but it is positioned higher up. However, it's possible that the final background was already added in the GPSGSG Build.
  • There is an extra Shield monitor above where Sonic spawns.
  • A set of spikes near the entrance were removed.
  • The first two monitors in the level had their positions swapped. An Orbinaut near the lower monitor was changed to two Burrobots.
  • The switches don't make a noise when pressed.
  • The bubble generator near the three Burrobots was moved down and to the right.
  • Sonic begins drowning more quickly.
Proto Final
Sonic1 Prototype Drowning Numbers.png Sonic1 CD-Ver0.70-Final Drowning Numbers.png
  • The drowning countdown numbers use a slightly different design, resembling the bubbles that come out of Sonic's mouth. Interestingly, these numbers are loaded in VRAM at Tidal Tempest in the 510 and Ver0.28A Sonic CD prototypes. They are even used in the 0.51 prototype, although they use the same palette line as the bubbles there. Here, they seem to use the same palette line that the numbers in the final use.
  • The countdown drowning music is absent.
  • The air bubble sound effect is absent.

Star Light Zone Act 1

Shinsaku Sonic 1 Star Light Zone Act 1.png
  • A red spring near the left-facing double staircase was removed.
  • The ring placement around the staircase is also different.

Special Stages

S1ProtoSS.gif

The special stage shown off in the video has a unique design that doesn't appear in the final game. This layout also appears in several magazine screenshots and the prototype that was recently released.

  • There appears to be no rotation blocks in the level. As a result, the stage is permanently stuck in a counter-clockwise rotation.
  • There are circular red blocks that don't have GOAL on them.
  • The Goal blocks do not work and they don't blink in red.
  • The cycling palette for the blue blocks is different, changing to gold once instead of green.
  • Many blocks don't have cycling animations, some stay at their default colors.

US Commercial

The US commercial for Sonic the Hedgehog features gameplay footage of three zones. This appears to be the same build that was shown in the Soft Video footage. As such, it contains the lower 1-up ring count, deeper-pitched DAC, and invincibility monitor, and lack of lampposts in Green Hill Act 1. In addition, it shows off an incomplete Labyrinth Zone Act 3; some of the water tiles and objects are missing, including the hidden door. At the end of the clip, Sonic is seen going through the water slide without his animation changing.

Wayne's World

In the film Wayne's World, after Wayne interviews the owner of Noah's Arcade (and mocks him in the process), a TV in the background displays a commercial for the arcade. Even though it cuts out after around two seconds, the commercial lasts long enough to show Marble Zone with the UFOs in the background! In addition, it also shows Star Light Zone after that.

1991 Summer CES

During the 1991 Summer CES, there was a playable build of Sonic 1. At the 1:55 min mark, there's about 15 secs of gameplay in Star Light Zone and Green Hill Zone Act 1 (which was being compared to Super Mario World). The lampposts weren't present in Star Light Zone and Green Hill Zone is using its REV00 background with no cloud scrolling. Green Hill Zone has the lower-pitched drum snare if listened with very closely, and the Press Start Button text was also shown here.

Toys R Us Commercial 1991

Only 2 seconds of the title screen and Sonic going through Green Hill Zone Act 1, but it shows the title screen having the Press Start Button text and you can briefly hear the title screen music still has the lower pitched drums.