A very early prototype for an unreleased Sonic game, with the concept becoming Knuckles’ Chaotix. Sonic and Tails are tethered by rings and, just like Knuckles Chaotix, you have to use this to get around the level. The jump, hold and pick up are all on the same button, and there’s no way to recall the other player.

There are only two levels in the prototype. The first is a tall level where you have to get to the top of a rocket. It looks lovely and is a lot off fun to play, with the game being very speedy and being able to run up tall walls with ease. It’s also available in different colours, reflecting different times of the day, so it seems possible that each level was going to be set throughout a day to make them look a bit different.

The other level is a very long linear level, although this has sections with no collision and parts where you can’t progress without going into debug mode.

It’s definitely interesting to see the early ideas for Chaotix.