The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog
Developers: Sega Publisher: Sega Platforms: Windows, Mac OS X Released internationally: March 31, 2023 This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused music. This game has unused text. This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden level select.

Sonic is dead! This absolutely 100% canon game, coincidentally released on April 1st (kind of), has you investigate the case. Can you find out who committed The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog?

Sub-Pages

Unused Dialogue Test conversations, trailer-only dialogue, playtest text, and more!

Debug Features

The game has a debug flag that enables certain debug UI elements.

Level Select

A level select menu that allows for on-the-fly switching between scenes. It is also available in the top-right corner while playing.

Instant Win Button

In addition to displaying the current level name, buttons labelled "I WON!!!" and "I LOST :(" appear during running levels. As the labels imply, clicking these buttons instantly triggers either a win or a loss. The instant loss button is absent from the final running sections.

Settings Button

An unused Settings button. Identical to the Options page that appears in the menu. Unlike the other debug UI elements, it is not enabled with the Debug flag and must be enabled separately.

Unused Music

23 - Mirage Saloon Act 1 _ Wildstyle Pistolero - K Mix

Knuckles' version of the Mirage Saloon Zone music straight from Sonic Mania is present among the Lounge Car music files.

29 - Spagonia - Night

The night version of the Spagonia hub theme straight from Sonic Unleashed is present among the Conductor Car interrogation sequence music files.

music fun funky whistle groove loop

An unknown original track is present among the game's sound effect files.

(Source: Sonic News Network)

Default Character Name

The default main character name is Barry. This can be seen both when loading scenes from the debug menu and in the dialogue files. This name is also used for the footage in the game's launch trailer.

Portrait name oddity

One of Shadow's dialogue sprites is humorously named portrait_shadow_tsundere.

Internal Project Name

The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog is named "ChooChooBooBoo" internally, according to the paths of various Unity files listed in a TXT file found the launch version's 'The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog_BurstDebugInformation_DoNotShip' directory. The name could reference the song with a very similar name (Boo Boo, Choo Choo) from Thomas the Tank Engine.

--output=/Users/gbatha/Documents/Unity Projects/ChooChooBooBoo/Temp/StagingArea/Data/Plugins/x86_64/lib_burst_generated
--root-assembly=/Users/gbatha/Documents/Unity Projects/ChooChooBooBoo/Temp/StagingArea/Data/Managed/UnityEngine.UI.dll
--root-assembly=/Users/gbatha/Documents/Unity Projects/ChooChooBooBoo/Temp/StagingArea/Data/Managed/Unity.VisualScripting.Flow.dll