Sonic X-treme

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For the prototype hoverboarding game, see Sonic Extreme.

Sonic X-treme
Sonic X-treme pre-release conceptual box art for Sega Saturn
Conceptual box art
Developer(s)Sega Technical Institute
Publisher(s)Sega
Producer(s)Mike Wallis
Designer(s)
Programmer(s)
  • Chris Coffin
  • Ofer Alon
Artist(s)
  • Ross Harris
  • Fei Cheng
  • Andrew Probert
Composer(s)Howard Drossin
SeriesSonic the Hedgehog
Platform(s)
ReleaseCanceled
Genre(s)Platform
Mode(s)Single-player

Sonic X-treme was a platform game developed by Sega Technical Institute from 1994 until its cancellation in 1996. It was planned as the first fully 3D Sonic the Hedgehog game, taking Sonic into the 3D era of video games, and the first original Sonic game for the Sega Saturn. The storyline followed Sonic on his journey to stop Dr. Robotnik from stealing six magic rings from Tiara B. and her father.

X-treme was conceived as a side-scrolling platform game for the Sega Genesis to succeed Sonic & Knuckles (1994). Development shifted to the 32X and then the Saturn and Windows, and the game was redesigned as a 3D platform game for the 1996 holiday season. The plan was disrupted by company politics, an unfavorable visit by Japanese Sega executives, and obstacles using a game engine developed by Sonic Team for Nights into Dreams. Amid increasing pressure and declining morale, designer Chris Senn and programmer Chris Coffin became ill, prompting producer Mike Wallis to cancel the game. A film tie-in with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was also canceled.

In place of X-treme, Sega released a port of the Genesis game Sonic 3D Blast, but did not release an original 3D Sonic platform game until Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast in 1998. The cancellation is considered an important factor in the Saturn's commercial failure, as it left the system with no original Sonic platform game. Elements similar to those in X-treme appeared in later games, such as Sonic Lost World (2013).

Premise[]

A screenshot of Jade Gully Zone
"Jade Gully Zone" from Senn and Alon's engine (see Game engines), which used a fish-eye style view known as the "Reflex Lens"

X-treme was a platform game in which players controlled Sonic the Hedgehog, with the ability to move in any direction. Gameplay was similar to the Saturn platform game Bug!, though producer Mike Wallis said that X-treme would differ in that Sonic would be free to roam levels, unconstrained by linear paths.[1] The game featured a fisheye camera system, the "Reflex Lens", that gave players a wide-angle view,[2] making levels appear to move around Sonic.[3] Levels would rotate around a fixed center of gravity, meaning Sonic could run up walls,[4] arriving at what was previously the ceiling. Sonic was also able to enter and exit the screen as he moved.[4] For boss battles, levels were "free-roaming" and "arena-style'",[3] and rendered bosses as polygonal characters as opposed to sprites. These levels used shading, transparency, and lighting effects to showcase the Saturn's technical potential.[5]

The developers wanted to take Sonic into the modern era,[6] while building on the series' successes.[7] In 1996, Wallis said they planned to integrate familiar Sonic gameplay, plus new elements: "We're giving Sonic new moves, because Sonic is a hedgehog of the times, we're bringing him up to speed."[8] In line with other Sonic games, X-treme emphasized speed and featured collectable rings.[6] Additions included the abilities to throw rings at enemies, create a shield from rings, do spinning midair attacks,[6] strike enemies below with a "Power Ball" attack, jump higher with less control than normal, and execute a "Sonic Boom" attack, in concert with the shield, that struck in 360 degrees.[4] Surfing and bungee jumping were included as activities considered cool at the time.[6]

At least four stages were developed: Jade Gully, Red Sands, Galaxy Fortress,[4] and Crystal Frost.[1] Lead designer Chris Senn said he modeled and textured four main characters and created designs for 50 enemies and an hour of music.[6] Fang the Sniper and Metal Sonic were planned as bosses.[5] The plot described in promotional materials involves a Tiara B., who was set to become a major character,[6] and her father, Professor Gazebo Boobowski, calling on Sonic to help defend the six magical Rings of Order from Dr. Robotnik.[1][7]

Background[]

The original Sonic the Hedgehog was developed by Sonic Team in Japan. Released in 1991, it greatly increased the popularity of the Sega Genesis in North America.[9] After its release, developer Yuji Naka and other Japanese staff relocated to California to join Sega Technical Institute (STI), a development division led by Mark Cerny.[10][11] Cerny aimed to establish an elite development studio combining the design philosophies of American and Japanese developers.[11]

In 1991, STI began developing several games, including Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992), which was released the following year. Though Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was successful, the language barrier and cultural differences created a rift between the Japanese and American developers. Once development ended, Cerny departed STI and was replaced by former Atari employee Roger Hector. The American staff developed Sonic Spinball (1993), while the Japanese staff developed Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994) and Sonic & Knuckles (1994).[11] According to developer Takashi Iizuka, the Japanese team experimented with 3D computer graphics for Sonic 3, but were unable to implement them with the limited power of the Genesis.[12] After Sonic & Knuckles was completed, Naka returned to Japan to work on Nights into Dreams (1996) with Sonic Team.[10]

At the time, Sega of America operated as an independent entity, and relations with the Japanese were not always smooth.[3] Some of this conflict may have been caused by Sega president Hayao Nakayama and his admiration for Sega of America; according to former Sega of America CEO Tom Kalinske, some executives disliked that Nakayama appeared to favor US executives, and "a lot of the Japanese executives were maybe a little jealous, and I think some of that played into the decisions that were made".[13] By contrast, author Steven L. Kent wrote that Nakayama bullied American executives and believed the Japanese executives made the best decisions.[14] According to Hector, after the release of the Sony PlayStation in 1994, the atmosphere at Sega became political, with "lots of finger-pointing".[15]

Development[]

After Naka's return to Japan with his team in late 1994, STI was left with mostly American staff.[15] Early ideas for the next Sonic game included the experimental Sonic Crackers, which became Knuckles' Chaotix (1996) for the 32X.[2] Development of Sonic X-treme began in late 1994 at STI.[6] Michael Kosaka was executive producer and team leader, and designer and CGI artist Senn created animations to pitch the game to Sega executives.[3] Sonic X-treme was conceived for the Sega Genesis as a side-scrolling platform game like previous Sonic games.[2] As new consoles and the 32-bit era were on the way, the game was moved to the 32X under the working titles Sonic 32X[6] and Sonic Mars[2] after the "Project Mars" codename used for the 32X.[16] The initial 32X design was for an isometric side-scroller, but became a full 3D game with a view set on a floating plane.[2] Kosaka completed design documents for the 32X version before the 32X was released, without a clear picture of the hardware.[2]

In mid-1995, Kosaka resigned.[6] According to Senn, "[Kosaka] and the executive producer Dean Lester were not getting along, and I believe Michael felt it was his best option to simply remove himself from what he thought was a politically unhealthy environment."[3] Lester resigned later in 1995 and was replaced by Manny Granillo. Wallis, who had worked on the Genesis games The Ooze and Comix Zone, was promoted to producer and placed in charge of Sonic X-treme.[17] Lead programmer Don Goddard was replaced with Ofer Alon, who some staff found difficult to work with, saying he did not share his work.[7] As the design had changed significantly and the 32X struggled commercially, development moved to a planned Sega cartridge console to be powered by nVidia 3D hardware, to compete with the upcoming Nintendo 64.[2] Wallis said this request was made without hardware specifications.[17] After Sega announced that it would focus solely on the Sega Saturn, development shifted again.[3] When Naka visited STI and observed the X-treme development, he simply said "good luck".[2][3]

Move to Saturn[]

A screenshot of a level in the boss engine
Screenshot from Coffin's "boss engine", one of two engines used to develop Sonic X-treme. This version was displayed at E3 in May 1996.

The Saturn version was developed by two teams with two different game engines, starting in the second half of 1995. One team, led by STI tech director Robert Morgan and including programmer Chris Coffin, developed the free-roaming boss levels.[7] This engine used tools used by Saturn games such as Panzer Dragoon II Zwei and rendered bosses as fully polygonal characters.[5] The other team, led by Senn and Alon, developed the main levels, working on PC with the intent of porting their work to Saturn.[7] Alon and Senn focused on building an editor to construct the main levels. Music and backgrounds could not be coded in the editor, and had to be coded manually for each level. Enemies were created as pre-rendered sprites.[5]

Other staff included composer Howard Drossin, lead artist Ross Harris, artist/designers Fei Cheng and Andrew Probert, and designers Jason Kuo and Richard Wheeler.[1] According to Senn, his team was completely different from the STI teams led by Naka; this, combined with their inexperience, "set up seeds of doubt and a political landmine waiting to go off if we didn't produce amazing results quickly."[7] Wallis stated that STI shifted its resources toward Sonic X-treme in late 1995. He expressed frustration with the team structure, and felt that internal politics hampered development.[17] Coffin felt the division of responsibilities would ensure every element was perfect.[5]

"We had artists doing art for levels that hadn't even been concepted out. We had programmers waiting and waiting and waiting until every minute detail had been concepted out, and we had designers doing whatever the hell they wanted. It was a mess and because of the internal politics (the art director had trained his art team to hate the designers and programmers), it was even more difficult to get any work done."

—Producer Mike Wallis[17]

Other difficulties arose from the design. According to Wallis, the game would combine 2D side-scrolling with "the ability to have him go into and out of the screen", which created unexpected problems in implementation.[7] 3D graphics were new, and developers were still learning how they would affect controls and gameplay.[7] Programming for the Saturn proved difficult; as Alon could not get his engine, developed on Windows, to run fast enough on Saturn, Morgan outsourced the port to a third party.[17]

Disputes within Sega[]

In March 1996, Sega representatives from Japan visited STI to evaluate progress. Senn and other sources indicate that the key visitor was president Nakayama,[2][3][7] though Wallis recalls executive vice president Shoichiro Irimajiri.[17] The executive was unimpressed by Senn and Alon's work, as the version he saw, ported from PC to Saturn by the third party, ran at a poor frame rate.[2] Senn and Alon attempted to show their most recent PC version, but the visitor left before they had the opportunity. Although neither Senn nor Alon were officially part of the production after the visit, they continued working on their version, hoping to pitch it to Sega as a PC game.[2][3][7]

The visitor was impressed by Coffin's boss engine,[3] and requested that X-treme be reworked around it.[7] Concerned about the need to create essentially a new game before the strict October 1996 deadline, Wallis isolated Coffin's team, preventing outside influence.[3] The team consisted of four artists, two programmers, a contractor, and three designers, set up in an old STI location.[17] They worked between sixteen and twenty hours a day.[2]

"It was about as bad as I've seen. The politics that led to Kosaka-san's departure. Allowing a newbie wannabe designer like me to fill a veteran like Michael Kosaka's shoes without guidance and direction. Going through three lead programmers in the first year and a half of production, each time restarting the technology. A divide between people's ideas about what the game should be. Egos. Inexperience. Poor communication, bad politics… all of these things contributed to the inevitable demise of the project."

—Designer Chris Senn[3]

In April, Sega executive vice president Bernie Stolar approached STI and asked what he could do to help the game meet its deadline. At Wallis' suggestion, he provided the tools and source code for Sonic Team's 3D Saturn game Nights into Dreams. Two weeks later, Stolar requested that the team stop using the engine, as Naka had threatened to leave Sega if it were used. Senn said he understood Naka's interest in maintaining control over the Sonic Team technology and the Sonic franchise, and that "he must have felt very strongly about it he was willing to even threaten to quit".[6] Sonic Team started developing its own 3D Sonic game using the Nights engine, which may have motivated Naka's threat.[18] The loss of the Nights engine cost the Sonic X-treme team two weeks of development.[2][17]

Cancellation[]

In May 1996, Sega displayed a playable demo of X-treme at E3 1996,[19] and displayed a version of Coffin's engine.[2] By this time, team morale had dropped and turnover was high.[3] Wallis claims that he fired an artist for poor performance and for disrupting the team.[17] By August, Coffin had contracted severe walking pneumonia. Wallis praised Coffin's effort,[2][17] but acknowledged that without Coffin the team had no chance of meeting its deadline. Around the same time, Senn became so ill that he was told he had six months to live, though he survived. With both teams crippled, and only two months left before the deadline, Wallis canceled the game.[2][6]

Sega initially stated that X-treme had been delayed,[20] but in early 1997 announced that it had been canceled.[7] For the 1996 holiday season, Sega instead concentrated on Sonic Team's Nights into Dreams and a port of the Genesis game Sonic 3D Blast by Traveller's Tales, to which Wallis contributed.[3] STI developer Peter Morawiec requested that X-treme be reworked into bonus stages in 3D Blast, but Traveller's Tales was unable to properly transfer Sonic's model.[21] Sonic Team's work on a Saturn 3D Sonic game became Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast. Remnants of their prototype can be seen in the Saturn compilation game Sonic Jam.[22][23]

While Senn felt the version of X-Treme he and Alon were developing could have been completed with an additional six to twelve months,[6] Sega's PC division would not pay for its development, and may have been hesitant after the engine had been rejected for X-treme.[2] After the project was rejected, Alon left Sega.[3] Sega of America disbanded STI in 1996 following management changes. Hector believed that the success of PlayStation led to corporate turmoil within Sega that resulted in STI's dissolution.[11] According to Wallis, STI was restructured as Sega of America's product development department after the previous product development department had become SegaSoft.[15]

Canceled film[]

Further information: Sonic the Hedgehog (film) § Prior efforts

In August 1994, Sega of America signed a deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Trilogy Entertainment to produce a live-action animated film based on Sonic the Hedgehog and tie into Sonic X-treme. In May 1995, screenwriter Richard Jeffries pitched a treatment to Sega titled Sonic the Hedgehog: Wonders of the World. The treatment saw Sonic and Dr Robotnik escaping from Sonic X-treme into the real world. The film was canceled as none of the companies could come to an agreement.[24]

Legacy[]

An image of a Sega Saturn
With X-treme's cancellation, the Sega Saturn had no original Sonic the Hedgehog platform game.

Sonic X-treme's cancellation is cited as a key reason for the Saturn's failure.[16][25][26] While Sega claimed up to 55% of the console market in 1994,[27] by August 1997, Sony controlled 47%, Nintendo 40%, and Sega only 12%. Neither price cuts nor high-profile game releases saved the Saturn.[28] It never received an exclusive Sonic 4;[29] instead it received the game Sonic 3D Blast, and Sonic Jam, a compilation of past Sonic games featuring a 3D level.[2]

Journalists and fans have speculated about the impact X-treme might have had. David Houghton of GamesRadar+ described the prospect of "a good 3D Sonic game" on the Saturn as a "What if..." scenario akin to dinosaurs surviving extinction.[3] IGN's Travis Fahs described X-treme as "an empty vessel for Sega's ambitions and the hopes of their fans" and said it was an important change for Sega, its mascot and the Saturn.[2] Levi Buchanan, also writing for IGN, said while the Saturn's lack of a true Sonic sequel "didn't wholly destroy" its chances, it "sure didn't help matters much".[25] Dave Zdyrko, who operated a prominent Saturn fan site, said: "I don't know if [X-treme] could've saved the Saturn, but ... Sonic helped make the Genesis and it made absolutely no sense why there wasn't a great new Sonic title ready at or near the launch of the [Saturn]".[29]

In a 2007 retrospective, producer Wallis said that X-treme has been able to compete with Nintendo's Super Mario 64.[7] Senn believed that a version of X-treme built by him with Alon's engine could have sold well.[6] Next Generation said that X-treme would have damaged Sega's reputation if it did not compare well to competition such as Super Mario 64 and Crash Bandicoot.[30] Naka was dissatisfied with the game, and in 2012 recalled feeling relief when he learned of its cancellation.[23] Journalists noted similarities in level themes and mechanics between X-treme and the 2013 game Sonic Lost World,[31] although Sonic Team head Iizuka said the resemblance was coincidental.[32]

For years, little content from X-treme was released beyond promotional screenshots. In 2006, a copy of an early test engine was sold at auction for US$2500 to an anonymous collector.[6][33] An animated GIF image of gameplay was released, and after a fundraising project by the "Assemblergames" website community purchased the disc from the collector, the disk image was leaked on July 17, 2007.[34] Senn opened the "Sonic X-treme Compendium" website and revealed large amounts of development history, including early footage, a playable character named Tiara, and concept music. Senn considered finishing X-treme himself, and used some of its concepts in a Sonic fan game.[3] In February 2015, fans obtained the Sonic X-treme source code and created a playable build.[35]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d Baggatta, Patrick (June 1996). "Sonic's Red Shoe Diaries – Part 1". Game Players. No. 85. Imagine Publishing. pp. 38–41.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Fahs, Travis (May 29, 2008). "Sonic X-Treme Revisited – Saturn Feature at IGN". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on July 12, 2017. Retrieved April 30, 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Houghton, David (April 24, 2008). "The greatest Sonic game we never got ..." GamesRadar+. Future plc. Archived from the original on October 26, 2013. Retrieved July 23, 2012.
  4. ^ a b c d Baggatta, Patrick (July 1996). "Sonic's Red Shoe Diaries – Part 2". Game Players. No. 86. Imagine Publishing. pp. 42–44.
  5. ^ a b c d e Baggatta, Patrick (September 1996). "Sonic's Red Shoe Diaries – Part 3". Game Players. No. 88. Imagine Publishing. pp. 52–55.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Whatever Happened To... Sonic X-treme". Retro Gamer. No. 22. Imagine Publishing. March 2006. pp. 36–38.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "The Making Of... Sonic X-treme". Edge. Vol. 15, no. 177. Future plc. July 2007. pp. 100–103. Archived from the original on April 17, 2013 – via Edge Online.
  8. ^ "Sonic X-treme: Electronics Entertainment Expo '96 Special Report". Intelligent Gamer. No. 1. Ziff Davis. June 1996. pp. 28–29.
  9. ^ Kennedy, Sam. "The Essential 50: Sonic the Hedgehog". 1Up.com. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on August 22, 2004. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  10. ^ a b Smith, Sean (June 2006). "Company Profile: Sonic Team". Retro Gamer. No. 26. Imagine Publishing. pp. 24–29.
  11. ^ a b c d Day, Ashley (March 2007). "Company Profile: Sega Technical Institute". Retro Gamer. No. 36. Imagine Publishing. pp. 28–33.
  12. ^ Thorpe, Nick (2016). "The Story of Sonic the Hedgehog". Retro Gamer. No. 158. Imagine Publishing. pp. 16–25.
  13. ^ Fahs, Travis (April 21, 2009). "IGN Presents the History of Sega". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on November 20, 2012. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  14. ^ Horowitz, Ken (May 9, 2006). "Interview: Steven Kent (Author)". Sega-16. Ken Horowitz. Archived from the original on May 4, 2016. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  15. ^ a b c Horowitz, Ken (June 11, 2007). "Developer's Den: Sega Technical Institute". Sega-16. Ken Horowitz. Archived from the original on April 8, 2016. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  16. ^ a b Newton, James (June 23, 2011). "Feature: The Sonic Games That Never Were". Nintendo Life. Nlife Media. Archived from the original on June 15, 2013. Retrieved July 23, 2012.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wallis, Mike (April 2004). "Sonic X-treme Timeline". Lost Levels. Frank Cifaldi. Archived from the original on June 13, 2004. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
  18. ^ Hunt, Stuart; Jones, Darran (December 2007). "The Making Of... Nights". Retro Gamer. No. 45. Imagine Publishing. pp. 26–33.
  19. ^ "Sony's Video Games Onslaught Continues!". Maximum: The Video Game Magazine. Emap International Limited (7): 72–73. June 1996.
  20. ^ "New Sega Happenings". Next Generation Online. Future US. Archived from the original on December 20, 1996. Retrieved May 4, 2014. GunBlade NY and Sonic X-treme have now both been officially scheduled for Saturn release in 1997 ... [X-treme] had previously been scrapped to be reworked.
  21. ^ Szczepaniak, John (2018). The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers: Volume 3. S.M.G Szczepaniak. p. 292. ISBN 978-0992926083.
  22. ^ Barnholt, Ray. "Yuji Naka Interview: Ivy the Kiwi and a Little Sega Time Traveling". 1Up.com. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on March 4, 2014. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
  23. ^ a b Towell, Justin (June 23, 2012). "Super-rare 1990 Sonic The Hedgehog prototype is missing". GamesRadar+. Future plc. Archived from the original on March 24, 2016. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
  24. ^ Owen, Luke (July 6, 2018). "The Sonic the Hedgehog Movie That Never Got Made". Kotaku. Archived from the original on October 23, 2018. Retrieved December 13, 2018.
  25. ^ a b Buchanan, Levi (February 2, 2009). "What Hath Sonic Wrought? Vol. 10 – Saturn Feature at IGN". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on November 11, 2013. Retrieved July 23, 2012.
  26. ^ Hester, Blake (March 23, 2017). "Former Sega America CEO Tom Kalinske on Sonic's missteps and future". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on June 26, 2017. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
  27. ^ Greenstein, Jane (January 13, 1995). "Game makers dispute who is market leader". Video Business. Reed Business Information, Inc. Sega said its products accounted for 55% of all 16-bit hardware sales for 1994
  28. ^ Kent, Steven L. (2001). The Ultimate History of Video Games: The Story Behind the Craze that Touched our Lives and Changed the World. Roseville, California: Prima Publishing. p. 558. ISBN 0-7615-3643-4.
  29. ^ a b Sewart, Greg (August 5, 2005). "Sega Saturn: The Pleasure And The Pain". 1Up.com. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved March 17, 2014.
  30. ^ "In the Studio". Next Generation. No. 23. Future US. November 1996. p. 17.
  31. ^ Sliwinski, Alexander (May 28, 2013). "Sonic: Lost World finds gameplay footage". Joystiq. AOL. Archived from the original on June 7, 2013. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
  32. ^ Hawkins, Matt (June 14, 2013). "Sonic Lost World Has Nothing To Do With Sonic X-treme". Siliconera. Archived from the original on July 24, 2021. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  33. ^ Snow, Blake (March 9, 2006). "Man pays $2500 for Sonic X-treme demo". Joystiq. AOL. Archived from the original on February 28, 2015. Retrieved July 23, 2012.
  34. ^ McWhertor, Michael (June 4, 2007). "Sonic X-Treme "Nights Version"". Kotaku. Gawker Media. Archived from the original on October 18, 2012. Retrieved July 23, 2012.
  35. ^ Matulef, Jeffrey (February 24, 2015). "Sonic fans release long lost tech demo of unfinished Saturn game". Eurogamer. Gamer Network Ltd. Archived from the original on October 20, 2016. Retrieved January 7, 2016.
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