I kind of like the Dreamcast design for Sonic. That art style fits right in with the other games on the system like Jet Set Radio, Chu Chu Rocket, Skies of Arcadia, and Space Channel 5. It just oozes Y2K Aesthetic.

I'm willing to be that the "Touch Miles" part was just an unfortunate side effect of messy translation. The 90's were full of games with messy translations.

The Saturn version of Sonic Adventure has to be my number 1 most sought after Sonic prototype/beta. We know shockingly little about SA1's development compared to the classic games, and it would be so tantalizing to have one of the earlier prototypes. Even one of the earlier builds for the Dreamcast would be great, since the design change actually happened relatively late in development. The Dreamcast version of SA1 was originally going to be more similar to the Saturn version, just with better graphics, however that changes at some point. You can still see remnants of this version in the final game from the 1Up icons and mission cards. The Beta Windy Valley is also probably a remnant of this version, as it was supposedly the first full level they made. This explains why it looks straight out of Sonic Jam, with very classic aesthetics, which look jarring compared to all the other stages in the final game. Really hope it's found some day.

There's a part of me that thinks maybe the only thing that was ever in the Saturn stages of Sonic Adventure was a bunch of mock-ups, concept sketches, and small gameplay demos to test-out mechanics. Just a hunch since the both the core game design, and what's seen in Sonic Jam are so wildly different from the final game. Almost feels like what we got in Sonic Jam is pretty much as far as they got development wise on the Saturn (as in: basic movements and a small area to ream around in) Would be surprising if we got more gameplay from the Saturn stages of Adventure though.

Considering sonic never got a full 3d sonic for the Saturn, this has gotta be the most sought after sonic game prototype. Many fans miss the old artstyle and even music genre. Luckily the least we got is mods to give some sort of glimpse into what could’ve been. Great video! Needs more appreciation

Technically all we need is Sonic Jam. Sooner or later, the homebrew community will probably make a whole game out of it. By simply building off of what little there is once the code is inevitably decompiled.

Yuji Naka was the bane of Sonic. He got the glory, but all sonic games actually suffered from the leave of Yasuhara. He was the game designer. He deserves the credit.

This got me thinking about how some style changes in franchises tend to be temporary or specific to a sub series. Can you imagine if they just dropped the "modern" design after Sonic Adventure 2?

I’m the current director of an upcoming sega Saturn fangame called Sonic Ringworlds, our goal is to bring a 3d sonic game similar to adventure 1 on the Saturn!

I doubt the Saturn version of Adventure 1 went much farther than what's in Jam tbh, especially considering they were able to switch to an entirely new console without much issue.

For me, the redesigns are a case of mostly 'a good thing existing for a bad reason'. I enjoy all the modern redesigns introduced in Adventure, but the reasons they exist, being the perceived need to all but stamp out Sonic's softer side and such, is...really dumb. The Sonic cast would have been just fine if Sega/Sonic Team didn't mandate this change. Even still, I'm glad we have the modern designs, especially for the Chaotix. I'm also very grateful to have grown up with the (then) modern games along side having Mega Collection, so I was able to experience both versions of Sonic simultaneously, and appreciate the series and its characters even more.

The other designs (that are obviously scary af for Sonic) are actually a good representation of Scourge. Remember that guy, Anti-Sonic from Archie comic? The Evil Sonic? Yep, those pieces of artwork look just like he would've.

You thought Sonic Team was too distracted to work on a Sonic game? Camelot used to be called Sonic Software Planning and they never made a single Sonic title. lol

Akira Watanabe's artwork for Sonic the Hedgehog is truly timeless, and it will forever remain my favorite style for the character.

Holly shit, despite it being one of my most favorite games ever ,i never thought about the reason SA1 Started as an RPG take on Sonic, great insight about the Saturn's popularity in Japan, thanks for the vid

Yuji Naka had a lot of power when he was at Sega. Maybe leaving Sega/Sonic Team was a bad idea for him

5:03 “if someone tries to touch you in a place or in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable, THAT’S no good.” -Sonic, Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic Says, 1993

If you play Burning Rangers with the 3D pad on Saturn, the jumping and controls feel just as floaty as Sonic in Adventure 1

Dawg ur underrated ASF 🔥

As a kid, it was very nice to watch something I loved transform into some Beyblade/Yu-Gi-Oh tier shonen BS.

0:40 - "Then they pitched a 3D game for the 32X, that also took inspiration from the Saturday morning cartoon, to which Naka merely said 'Good Luck.'" Nice to know Yuji Naka was *always* a twat.

I honestly don't think a Saturn prototype exists simply becuase it was JUST being created at the end of Saturn's life. Plus, I'm sure Sonic Team had gotten word of the upcoming console (Dreamcast) so essenatly the saturn protoype morphed into the Dreamcast. That being said, develpment went quickly once it was moved over to the Dreamcast, thats possibly why even the Dreamcast version of Sonic Adventure didnt have much protoypes as well. As far as Sonic's redesign in Sonic Adventure, I LOVED it, it was a great balance between (chubby) Classic Sonic and Modern. I wish they stayed with it, but when Sonic Adventure 2 came out, Sonic was much thinner and taller which was alright but I felt that the Sonic Adventure model was a more perfect fit.

recently i saw a classic sonic in sa1 mod and it made me wonder, "what if sonics design didnt change, and we got a 3d classic sonic game?" ngl i think it would be interesting to see all the colorful levels with the classic design with an adventure style gameplay. dont get me wrong, i love the modern games but its just a "what if" scenario i had

I played Sonic on Genesis back in the 90's and on the Dreamcast in the early 2000's... I didn't notice a redesign. To me, he just looked like Sonic, but in 3D.

I would love to see some fan games with the Sonic Jam engine. Maybe a full remake of Sonic 3D Blast in that style?

Satoshi Okano also got to work in Sonic Adventure, just like Uekawa Uekawa's style in the final game is actually a mix of all the artists that were chosen in that contest, Uekawa got inspirations by all the artists, and Ohshima was directly involved in Uekawa's redesign, some of the iconic art in SA1 aren't even made by Uekawa, but by Okano (with some final touches like shading made by Uekawa, I'm alsmost pretty sure) If you compare Uekawa's first showcase of Sonic's redesign compared to the one in the final game, he didn't had that iconic shading method of his, that makes characters having a highlight with a brighter color close to the outlines He was still chosen and it's clear that the art in the final game is his, but he had some changes before coming up with the final design

Haha Nice nickname dude, kkk best channel nome ever

based nights into dreams enjoyer

Today I learned the tails flashback in sonic adventure was meant to specifically be to sonic 2.

Sonic The Fighters had a cool art style. Amy being all white and pink was a little weird though.

• Sonic Adventure (1995) • Sonic Adventure 2 (1999) • Sonic Adventure 3 (2010) • Sonic Adventure 4 (2019) • Sonic Adventure 5 (2026)

Honestly I like sonics redesign better but I can also see where your coming from however It makes sense that they redesigned sonic to fit a more serious story

I like the green eyes it gives everyone a wild and lively look to them in fact those redesigns inspired me to update my character's appearances, And to add to this video going back reminded me why I made my characters in the first place I need to start drawing again.

I actually agree with you on the classic design. I have always loved Sonic's old classic design better, honestly (no offense to the modern design).

How did I not get a notification for this 😭 so glad I see it now ❤

I think part of that universal appeal for Sonic's classic look with the black pupils and more rounded simplified 'cutesy' look was that the classical design harkens back to classical theatrical cartoons of the 1920s-1950s where many cartoon 'mascot' animals like mickey mouse, bugs bunny, Felix the cat and Disney characters that had the large black pupils, large white clown gloves, large muzzles with huge grins, and the colourful surrealistic environments. Huh, like Cuphead. Games in the 80s and into the early 90s were just that, an extension of the cartoons children watched in those days. Sonic's original presentation was that magical lightning in the bottle that had the right ingredients to make kids imaginations go wild. It's art style appealed to western audiences, because it reminds them of cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse, its simplified, easy to digest for the eyes, abstract and more timeless.

you're quickly becoming one of my favorite KZfaqrs! ☺

Sonic on saturn would have been epic! I also love the simpler sonic polygon look!

I just stumbled upon this video and I just think it's neat.

SA wasone of the last times I thought, graphics will never get better than this

Good video!

Here's a pointless fun fact about Sonic X-Treme that I don't think many know about. If it weren't cancelled we probably would've never got one of the most important 3D artist tools of all. Ofer Alon worked on the game and created zBrush, which basically every game (Even current Sonic games) and movie studio today uses.

Don't lose sleep over it

Nah. The green eyes look better on his modern design because it matches the amount of detail on the rest of their design. If Neo Classic Sonic has shown me anything, it's that they have a hard time modeling and animating the faces with just black eyes without it looking like a living doll rather than a conscious character.

Sonic is one of those franchises where the damage has been done. He'll never be on Mario's level ever again.

I wanna see this and more of the Shenmue prototype.

Underrated username

Thanks for a informative video

I like this video. The title had me expecting something else but I'm glad I didn't get what I expected. Nice to just hear a dude's raw thoughts and you made a lot of points I agreed with that I wouldn't have thought of before. I like your fresh perspective, ironically given the context of what you're saying.

They were only working on a Saturn version of the game for two months, and I doubt that lead to much beyond pre-production design material and engine tests that would later lead towards Burning Rangers. The Saturn couldn't really display a lot of polygons at one time, so I don't think they'd have been able to make the kinds of levels they were able to on the Dreamcast.

Sega not prioritizing a high quality game of its biggest and most important IP for the Saturn is probably one of the biggest blunders in gaming history. Especially with what that generation meant for gaming as a whole with the transition to 3D and disc based systems. I can just picture in my minds eye a great sonic game on the Saturn being an amazing 3D platformer and a legitimate contender with Mario 64.

ur a goat and i hope u get famous, deserve more subs

Interesting

nights is cool and all but saying it's a better Sonic Team game than PSO is blasphemy. heresy. truly despicable. i'm calling the cops

Hey, a new Sonic channel to follow. Great video, subscribed! I look forward to more.

I prefer Sonic's modern design. It's the one I grew up with.

The computer voice used for the correction about Mystic Forest was actually kinda funny so I think it's funnier you did that rather than just record it yourself. lol

1:45 THATS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT, THATS WHY NiGHTS IS THE MVP, THATS WHY THEY ARE THE GOOAAAT THE GOAAAT!!!

Omg seeing Saturn sonic has always been interesting to me to imagine if the Saturn really had its big mascot contender against the ps1 and n64

4:59 Sonics on some edp shit 💀😭

Sonic world basically is an adventure prototype in many ways. Sonic World shares a whole bunch of animations directly with Sonic Adventure even. A point you didn't make about Sonic's design is that the one shown at 5:10 seems to be a "classic" version of the sonic adventure model, looking generally the same but with black eyes, shorter spines, and shorter legs. It's also the design featured on the 1 up icons and Tails level icons. I would love it if this model was officially released somehow. I agree that a fully classic version of Sonic Adventure would have been amazing. It's my favourite 3D sonic game because it's closest to that ideal

modern games use lower poly models further away as well, not just older ones

"Since emulating the lock on games might have been impossible" EMULATING THE FUCKING SEGA GENESIS ON THE SATURN MIGHT HAVE BEEN IMPOSSIBLE, a lot of people don't seem to realize how cpu intensive emulation can be. Hell, I've seen some consoles more powerful than an n64 struggling to emulate anything newer than the NES.

Nights is one of the best games of the 32 bit era. Its basically a racing game with unique gameplay.

The Sega Saturn was the best prototype machine for Dreamcast classics lol

I was around for the sonic 4 arguments on sonic retro…. While I never participated, remembering that shit gives me bad PTSD because it was literally the sonic fan community at its lowest point.

Technically the last true Saturn game was Final Fight Revenge in 2000.

awesome vid !! thank you for sharing , dude :D

Yuji Uekawa's art has too much style, it's forever engraved in my brain, but it sure is interesting to think maybe Sonic never needed a redesign. I'm not a big fan of the Genesis era artstyle but stuff like Sonic OVA absolutely owns. You can make classic Sonic round and cute but still spiky and stylish, I wish SEGA would use more of that...

Sadly I don't think there's much to the Saturn prototype that wasn't already reused for Sonic Jam or prototypes on the Dreamcast. If you look at the timeline of events they were pretty much rushing the project to make it to the DC's release window in Japan and likely moved the project to the Dreamcast as soon as the Sega directives made the decision to move forward with the console, so who knows how much stuff actually even exists as Saturn builds and if it has survived to this day. I'd love to be proven wrong in the future but I truly believe that most of the material was in the concept stage and any actual programing went into the Sonic World mode that made it to the public, trying to track down early betas of Sonic Jam might be more likely to produce new discoveries.

Let's hope someone finds it.

I didn't even know such a perfect yet simple redesign even existed... I too wish they went with that... Though, I'd feel weird hearing him talking with his iconic voice yet having such a softer, somewhat less edgy design...

I like sonic

Sad thing is, they may have the concept art from the prototype as it was being made, as far as them having the prototype though that's completely up in the air, sega lost the source codes to alot of their games years ago, it's possible prototypes were lost as well

Nice to see my old ff7 background gif.

I think the modern design is wayyyyyy cooler and the best modern sonic moments wouldn’t hit the same if it was the classic design but the same can also be said for the best classic sonic moments. Both are cool for their own respective media and eras

I miss the Uekawa era artwork. Now we just get crappy 3D renders all the time

Interesting video. Easy sub.

Sonic Jam is the best way to play Sonic games to this day, everything was in some way enhanced, the soundtrack sounds amazing in Jam, all Sonic fans should hear it. Edit: And dude, please, it's just get near Tails, there is nothing lewd about it, jeez.

I mean, Sonic Xtreme was set to fail, instead of trying to figure out if it was even possible. Only allowing two people to work on a game is really not the smartest idea they have had. Or at least, they should have known that a Sonic game would have sold more Saturns.

To think about it modern sonic does look threatening

Your videos are really nice

Good video 👍

When there read "Touch miles" it maybe doesn't mean that you gonna Touch tails! Instead (I think) you might run some miles.

Touch miles um…. I think it’s a translation error

M'y favorite design is Uekawa's design.

Dude i hope we find it one day. Like come on what have yall got to lose just give it to us. We can only hope they're secretly finishing it or something for a future collection, but thats not likely bc when do we get what we want from any big company lmao.

Considering how people love the new super form in Sonic Frontiers (Despite the eye colour being the only real thing that changed). I think they made the right choice to give Sonic and Co non-black eyes. Uekawa will always be iconic. Same goes for the Japanese Classic Sonic too (Why is the Western Classic Sonic so *ugly*????)

you should make a video about the prototype sonic merch

I wish there was a mod for generations that replaces all the Moden characters with there adventure models, and the classic ones with there Saturn ones, I just love low Polly

I'm curious to see how sonic would look like in two different stiles The spider-verse movie style, just imagine sonic like a comic character with that type of animation Or the extreme opposite Sonic with the style of studio trigger, with shapes less round and soft and more angles and edgy. I think if done well it would be really cool

What if Sega never made the add-ons? And released Sonic CD and Knuckles' Chaotix on standalone Genesis as "Sonic Timepatrol" and "Sonic Crackers"? Also if Sonic 3&K was as small as Sonic 2 and never got split(if not for the McDonalds Deal)? Also if Spinball never existed. While Puyo Puyo was left unchanged while coming to the West. And the Saturn came out later in 1996 as a cartridge-based 64-Bit 3D console? While Sonic Adventure came out sooner on the Saturn on June 23, 1996(Sonic's 5th Anniversary) and kept the classic character designs? Also give back Tails and Knuckles their Spin Dash. Give Amy some speed, spin attacks, and psychic/tarot abilities. And instead of Big, we've got Cream as a 5th playable character(had Sonic Team thought of her sooner)? While both Metal Sonic and Fang returned as Amy and Knuckles' main antagonists respectively? Also if Silver Sonic MK2 was Tails' main antagonist? And likewise for Zero in Cream's story? Had these events happened, how'd they have changed history for Sega and Sonic?

Love the video

NiGHTS is cool, no question. It should have been sold on its own and Sonic should have had a pack in title instead.

Personally when i went from playing sonic 3 to adventure i really like the designs but it also could be the childhood factor because the redesign is the design i grew up over than the classic one

COO VIDEO

I like 2 sonic

yeah thats cool and all but did you know about the 06 beta (the one that got released was the alpha)

I'd imagine it would have a similar feel to something like Rayman 2 or Crash Bandicoot.

3:18 that is like asking MercurySteam who MercuryS is