Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)/Unused Graphics

This is a sub-page of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).

Early Game Icon

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This image appears to be an early version of the game's icon. It's located in system.arc as sonicnexticon.png.

E3 Leftovers

result_bg01.dds

result_bg07.dds

Two loading screens from the E3 demo can be found in the folder containing results screen assets. They were intended to be overlaid on top of the empty striped box in the upper-left corner. Note that both of them state "Head for a Goal Ring!"

Unused Pause Menu

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  maindisplay_pausemenu02.dds

These assets were presumably supposed to be used in place of the retail pause menu, they go unused in sprite.arc. Oddly enough, the blue arrow in this image is actually used in-game as the default select icon.

Unused Xbox 360 Controller Icons

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  fontpicture.dds

The XBLA demo has the LT and RT trigger icons shaped more like traditional triggers and the LB and RB bumpers are more rounded. Some of these controller icons go unused, due to such buttons not being assigned at all.

Sonic's Mouth

Sonic usually only has one texture on his mouth in-game, where he grins. However, there exist two more unused expressions that were intended to be used alongside his different facial animations. The first has him smiling more enthusiastically and showing some teeth, similarly to his render in Sonic Heroes. This was intended to accompany the "squinting" animation used during Sonic's run animation and some of his moves. Strangely, the unmapped part of the normal map is wrong - the used file has a light blue instead of this file's magenta. The game still accepts it unmodified, though.

A similar texture was used on Sonic's face in the TGS 2005 teaser for this game.

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  ch_sonic_tex04a_df.dds

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  ch_sonic_tex04a_nw.dds

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  ch_sonic_tex04a_sp.dds

The second expression is for frowning. It's very similar to Shadow's mouth texture, but he uses the one in his own archive. This was intended for Sonic's idle animation.

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  ch_sonic_tex04b_df.dds

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  ch_sonic_tex04b_nw.dds

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  ch_sonic_tex04b_sp.dds

Multiplayer

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  e_battle_result2.dds

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  battle_result2_English.dds

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  battle_result_English.dds

battle_result_English.xncp

tag_character.xncp

Several graphics related to an early version of multiplayer mode. Note that these graphics go up to four players, but the final game's multiplayer only allows 2 players and only lets you pick between three characters (Sonic, Shadow, and Silver), implying more characters (such as the various "amigo" characters) were able to be picked earlier in development.

Unused Icons/Rainbow Gem

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  gem.dds

Some of these HUD icons are not used in the game. The first 7 gems are normally obtainable, however the rainbow-colored one is not. A reference to it can still be found in the final game's text file for the shop, stating "???: You'll need to buy it to see what it does!"

Originally, there was going to be a Gem that could be purchased at the store which would allow you to play as Super Sonic in more than just the final stage (similar to how it was in Sonic 2, Sonic 3, and Sonic & Knuckles whenever all seven Chaos Emeralds were collected).

The item can still be accessed through hacking, but isn't fully functional. All it does is make Sonic perform a transformation animation and float in place for a few seconds, with no effect otherwise.

The icons that clearly don't fit in a texture named gem.dds are more fit for collectibles or missions:

• There's an unused HUD element that acts as a counter for Bronze Medals, despite actually using the Silver Medal icon seen here.
• The blue arrows could suggest a lap count for races.
• The flat shaded ring could be for pass rings in missions.
• The head could be related to NPCs that the player must guide.
• The dog could be related to dogs that the player must guide.
• The "E" would've been used for multiplayer as an enemy counter.
• The star could be related to the Goal Ring, as it uses the exact same shape and shading as the one seen inside its model.

(Source: Sonic Cult, Sonic Retro)

Unused Warp Gate Images

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  twn_warpgate03A_dfxx_d.dds

These images are displayed on the warp gates that appear on the Soleanna map, among which are levels that do not have warp gates, such as Crisis City and Flame Core, barring the normally inaccessible non-functioning ones in the early New City.

(Source: Sonic Retro)

Unused Menu Graphics

These images were basically stapled to the bottom of title.xncp (XNCP being a UI layout and animation format) - the first image shows a sprite sheet for a menu with a copyright date of 2005, speculated to be used at Tokyo Game Show 2005. The second image shows a graphic of Sonic's head, which would appear at the bottom-right of the screen as a decal - recolored to blue by the XNCP.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Unused Temporary Particle

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  kari_tex.dds

This particle texture is located with all the others. As suggested by the file name and the symbol in the texture, this was only "temporary" before they opted for seemingly something else. There is a used texture called ef_st_flare016_00.dds which is essentially identical, but red and missing the symbol.