Archaeological Dig: The First Sonic the Hedgehog Screenshots

[Phillyman]

On June 7, 1990 -- just about twenty years ago today -- at the Tokyo Toy Show in Japan, Sega showed off its ambitious new project, Sonic the Hedgehog, for the very first time.

The game was just two months into its fourteen-month development cycle, meaning the preview was extremely early. Hell, I'd be surprised if the thing was even playable at the show, it was probably a "rolling demo" of still shots from the game, which was a common practice back then.

We don't know exactly what was shown at the time, but we do have two screenshots courtesy of our crusty old office copy of EGM #13. Let's examine them!

As you can see, the title screen is more or less the same as the final game's, meaning it was among the earliest pieces of the game to be finalized (without the scrolling Green Hill Zone background, of course). Note that Sonic's hand appears to be moving, meaning that even if the game wasn't playable, it at least contained some basic animation. The title screen from the retail game -- released one year after this shot -- is below, for comparison.

Much more interesting is this in-game shot:

Boy, where to start? Those mountains do not appear in the final game, nor does the strange cubic city. Sonic's wide-stanced pose is unique to this shot, though his head is more or less the one we know. The bush behind Sonic is odd too.

These early shots demonstrate that the game's surreal, iconic art style was more or less in the game from the beginning (and in some cases, was even weirder than what came out!).

Does anyone out there happen to have a really awesome collection of Japanese videogame magazines from 1990? EGM was the only American mag at the show, and these are the only two shots they published. If there was more to this demo, videogame archaeologists the world over would love to see it!

UPDATE!

Here's another snap from this early Sonic demo, courtesy of EGM #16:

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Edited June 13, 2010 by Areala
Fixed image URLs to display correctly. :)

[TheRedEye]

Hey phillyman, you need to add 1up.com in those image URLs for them to work.

[Thor]

That's funny I just played this game today on the Saturn. I've never done so well either. Got all Chaos emeralds early in the game and only spent 1 life. I was kinda shocked by the whole thing, I used to be really good at that game but since I've not really played it recently (that is all the way through) I couldn't believe I did that well.

[Toocool100]

Did anyone ever watch the sonic cartoon that used to be on? Best show ever!

[Mister Zero]

The Saturday morning show was the best! The one based more on the comics, not the Disney version.

Sonic the Hedgehog is an excellent game.. After I played it at my friends house in 1991 I was hooked and just HAD to have a Sega. Christmas of 1992 I got one and it came with Sonic 2! Fond,fond memories..

Something interesting is all the early prototypes of the Sonic games. They featured many different layouts of levels and animations. More on this over at Sonic Retro.