They feature the same options (used and unused), and were likely used before the final graphics were complete. These graphics are very much like the final menu, only less polished. There are two graphics in the GD-ROM that imply via file name that they would have been used on the two player menu, but they aren't. To top it all off, the emerald Tails is holding has the wrong color (white as opposed to yellow).Īll of the unlockable 2 player mode characters (Amy, Metal Sonic, Chao Walker, Big, Tikal and Chaos) have their own life icons, but they aren't ever seen due to 2 player mode not using the lives system. The icon for the option does exist though, and it's slightly different to the icon that was used for the Dark story.įound in E0127TEXTURE.PRS, this screen was meant to appear on Eggman's monitor in the cutscene where Eggman finds that Sonic's group made it to the Space Colony ARK from the pyramid base, but it's never shown. However, the player must complete a stage before they're able to access the equivalent part of the Hero story, as its scene select doesn't include the option to start at the boss. The Dark Story's scene select has the option to start the game at the second Sonic boss. According to the original file name, itemp_randomring, this would have given the player a random amount of rings. There is a capsule graphic of a ring with a question mark on it as opposed to a 5, 10, or 20. It would have been located next to the objective's radar and flashed when the robots were nearby.
That was also the birth of Sonic’s new rival, Shadow the Hedgehog, and it ended up becoming a profoundly memorable title for me.According to an unused line from Omochao, this was a radar for Egg Quarters that was planned to detect the beetle robots patrolling the stage. As a result, I believe we were able to make something that felt complete overall. We chose a game design based on work efficiency. While we kept the element of six playable characters, the story was split in two (between hero and dark). We decisively removed any unnecessary elements. For Sonic Adventure 2, the theme was about ‘how do we surpass the previous title’ with a staff of only 11 members. Takashi Iizuka: “ Sonic Adventure 1 was crammed with different elements since we established high goals for it. I practically have no memories of any difficulties.”ĤGamer: I get the impression that the game was mostly shaped up from the previous game. In any case, development in America was just so much fun. In a sense, you could say that we were the select few. We went from an organization of over 50 people before that to a reckless project for a sequel made by only 11 people. Takashi Iizuka: “I went back to America again for Sonic Adventure 2, but at first we only had 11 people that went to the States. The chaotic situation went on for a while.”ĤGamer: Then, three years later, Sonic Adventure 2 was released. Up until that point, we had at the most around 20 people on a project, but that suddenly increased to an organization of over 50 people for Sonic Adventure. Takashi Iizuka: “As the director and lead designer, I was in charge of the game direction and everything. The sheer amount of resources was a battle in itself.”ĤGamer: What were you in charge of for Sonic Adventure? However, the volume for the game was just enormous, and we still had a mountain of work to do from there.
However, when an image showing a looping part of Speed Highway appeared, everybody praised it, saying, ‘This is it!’ I remember being so happy about that. The people around us were also skeptical and asked, ‘Will it really be fun?’ and such. Takashi Iizuka: “The hurdle of getting the 2D Sonic we knew and ‘making it 3D’ was really high. We went through great hardships in creating the former, but I have memories of how fun it was to develop the latter.”ĤGamer: Sonic Adventure was the series’s first 3D Sonic game that was released in the early days of the Dreamcast. Takashi Iizuka: “I have profound memories of Sonic Adventure and its sequel Sonic Adventure 2.
Continuing the Sonic the Hedgehog 30th anniversary interview with 4Gamer, Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka shared his memories behind the development of Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2.ĤGamer: So you practically worked on each main series title after Sonic 3. Are there any notably memorable titles that come to mind?