Sonic Blast (Game Gear)

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Sonic Blast
Also known as: G Sonic (JP) Developer: Aspect Publisher: Sega Platform: Game Gear Released in JP: December 13, 1996 Released in US: November 22, 1996 Released in EU: November 22, 1996 This game has unused code. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused abilities. This game has a hidden level select. This game has regional differences. This game has a prototype article

Sonic & Knuckles + Sonic 3D Blast + worse gameplay = Sonic Blast.

Level Select

Press Up, Up, Up, Down, Down, Down, 1, 2, 1, 2, Start at the title screen.

Unused Text

A build date is present at 0xC0:

GG SONIC 96     
      Ver E3 ROM
1996/05/01 @SEGA
/Aspect Co.,Ltd 

Oddly enough, the build date said it was a E3 Demo ROM, probably they didn't even bother to change it when finishing the game.

Error Handler

All of the 8-bit Sonic titles developed by Aspect contain a generic error handler routine at ROM 70. While the other games' routines consist of some variation on "print an error message and reset", the Sonic Blast handler simply freezes the game by going into an infinite loop. Since the game doesn't call this routine and the Z80 has no hardware error trapping, this code will only execute in the extremely unlikely event that a bug coincidentally causes the game to jump directly into it.

Strike Dash

Present in the graphics for Sonic is this unused animation of the Strike Dash ability, which was in Sonic Chaos and Sonic Triple Trouble. All that remains of this move is this animation, which is stored with a vastly different object palette than used in the final game. (The above sprite animation was given a proper palette for visual clarity.)

Regional Differences

US/Europe	Japan

The game's name was changed to G Sonic in Japan.