Unreleased Chaotix prototype, why is this here? lol
Is Sonic 2 beta here too?
Is Sonic 2 beta here too?
Sure, I could get into what little is known about Sonic Crackers, but perhaps the most remarkable thing about it is how an extremely early alpha build of what would become Chaotix only plays marginally worse than the finished product.
It's still neat as hell that this is out there. I think the Sonic series has played a significant role in people's fascination with video game prototypes, and this might just be the earliest available build of a Sonic game, being in an even more bare and unplayable state than the infamous Simon Wai beta. The most complete zone, which is an industrial themed stage with a vertically oriented level structure, has several variations depicting it at different times of day, and much like Chaotix, it has you darting back and forth as you scale repeating chunks of geometry. It makes sense here where you'd want to pitch the whole dual momentum gimmick, but it's a little depressing to know level design didn't evolve much.
The second zone is carnival themed and largely unplayable due to busted collision issues, and there's a couple overhead maps that seem like they would serve a sort of "adventure field" function but were ultimately scrapped. That's about it. Very novel as a proof-of-concept, though I'm surprised anyone at Sega looked at this and thought "yeah I'll greenlight that" instead of immediately throwing whoever programmed this garbage into an agony booth. I suppose condemning Chaotix to the 32X is meeting in the middle.
It's surprising that none of this has been mined by the bloodsuckers at Sonic Team, who have apparently scratched through the bottom of the barrel and are now incorporating even more obscure beta/prototype elements in their games in a desperate attempt to claw at whatever nostalgia is left. It's not that they have no new ideas, just that 80% of them hinge on you remembering a thing and clapping because you saw that thing again. But maybe it's just a matter of time. I feel like one of these two Zones is either going to show up in a future game or someone will yank all the assets out and do a fan game that serves as a sort of "what if" look at Sonic Crackers had it been built upon in a more linear fashion.
Not rating this because c'mon, it's an alpha build.
It's still neat as hell that this is out there. I think the Sonic series has played a significant role in people's fascination with video game prototypes, and this might just be the earliest available build of a Sonic game, being in an even more bare and unplayable state than the infamous Simon Wai beta. The most complete zone, which is an industrial themed stage with a vertically oriented level structure, has several variations depicting it at different times of day, and much like Chaotix, it has you darting back and forth as you scale repeating chunks of geometry. It makes sense here where you'd want to pitch the whole dual momentum gimmick, but it's a little depressing to know level design didn't evolve much.
The second zone is carnival themed and largely unplayable due to busted collision issues, and there's a couple overhead maps that seem like they would serve a sort of "adventure field" function but were ultimately scrapped. That's about it. Very novel as a proof-of-concept, though I'm surprised anyone at Sega looked at this and thought "yeah I'll greenlight that" instead of immediately throwing whoever programmed this garbage into an agony booth. I suppose condemning Chaotix to the 32X is meeting in the middle.
It's surprising that none of this has been mined by the bloodsuckers at Sonic Team, who have apparently scratched through the bottom of the barrel and are now incorporating even more obscure beta/prototype elements in their games in a desperate attempt to claw at whatever nostalgia is left. It's not that they have no new ideas, just that 80% of them hinge on you remembering a thing and clapping because you saw that thing again. But maybe it's just a matter of time. I feel like one of these two Zones is either going to show up in a future game or someone will yank all the assets out and do a fan game that serves as a sort of "what if" look at Sonic Crackers had it been built upon in a more linear fashion.
Not rating this because c'mon, it's an alpha build.