History VideoGame / SonicXtreme

Originally intended for the [[UsefulNotes/OtherSegaSystems 32X]] under the codename ''Sonic Mars'', ''Sonic X-treme'' was a PlatformGame developed by Creator/SegaTechnicalInstitute. Intended to be the franchise's big [[VideoGame3DLeap transition from 2D to 3D gameplay]], the game began production in late 1994 before being unceremoniously cancelled in '97.

What exactly the plot would entail changed a lot throughout development: It was originally conceived as taking place in the same continuity as the cult ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM'' cartoon on which the [[ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog Archie comic book series]] was based, along with popular {{Canon Foreigner}}s like Princess Sally and the Freedom Fighters, but Sega nixed that idea. (Sally and the gang had blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameos in ''VideoGame/SonicSpinball'' in '93, along with characters from ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' which ran parallel to ''Sat AM''.) Other ideas ranged from Sonic battling demons who were sealed in the Master Emerald (a kernel of this idea made it into ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' in '98) to him [[BadDate trying to make it to a hot date]] with Tiara Boobowski, a Manx cat whose status also varied in development. Many of these pitches involved playing as Tails and Knuckles, plus the new addition Tiara. But as the production shifted to the Saturn, it was agreed that Sonic should be the sole playable character in order to keep things simple.

As a sidenote, this game was at one point meant as a tie-in for [[https://www.kotaku.com.au/2020/02/the-sonic-the-hedgehog-movie-that-never-got-made/ a proposed live-action film]] called ''Sonic the Hedgehog: Wonders of the World''. The plot of the movie would have involved Sonic and Robotnik escaping from ''Sonic X-treme'' [[RefugeeFromTVLand into the real world]]. Additionally, ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'''s ChristmasEpisode was originally meant to be titled "An X-Tremely Sonic Christmas" in order to promote the new game as well, with it being renamed "Sonic Christmas Blast" after the game's cancellation.

''Sonic X-treme'' was planned to have two gameplay modes. Standard levels would have a fisheye camera known as the "Reflex Lens" which made levels appear as though they were moving around Sonic. Levels would also rotate around a fixed center of gravity as though they were small planetoids, allowing Sonic to run up walls and ceilings. If this sounds familiar, some of those ideas were realized in the widely-ignored ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'' 17 years later. Meanwhile, boss stages were free-roaming, with the boss fights themselves fixing the camera on an enemy in the middle of the arena, and Sonic running rings around them.

* TopDownView: When Knuckles was planned to be playable, his gameplay would've been like this, as [[http://web.archive.org/web/20090221101640/http://www.senntient.com/projects/xtreme/KnucklesTest.html shown here]].

%%* AlwaysOverTheShoulder: When Tails was planned to be playable, his gameplay would've been like this.

%%* FishEyeLens: All non-boss stages would have used this effect.

%%* TopDownView: When Knuckles was planned to be playable, his gameplay would've been like this, as [[http://web.archive.org/web/20090221101640/http://www.senntient.com/projects/xtreme/KnucklesTest.html shown here]].

''Sonic X-treme'' was planned to have two gameplay modes. Standard levels would have a fisheye camera known as the "Reflex Lens" which made levels appear as though they were moving around Sonic. Levels would also rotate around a fixed center of gravity as though they were small planetoids, allowing Sonic to run up walls and ceilings. If this sounds familiar, some of those ideas were realized in the largely-forgotten ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'' 17 years later. Meanwhile, boss stages were free-roaming, with the boss fights themselves fixing the camera on an enemy in the middle of the arena, and Sonic running rings around them.

Depending on who you ask, Team B's attempts to make this happen either compelled them to steal the engine from ''[=NiGHTS=]'' or create content that looked very similar to it; regardless, Yuji Naka saw this version of the game, went bananas and threatened to quit Sega if Team B's engine wasn't scrapped entirely. The stress of having to complete a game from absolute scratch in only a few months made the project head, Chris Senn, contract pneumonia. Told by his doctor that he'd quite literally die within months if he kept working at his current pace, he left the project and the game as a whole was cancelled. With no 3D Sonic to speak of, Sega decided to port over ''VideoGame/Sonic3DFlickiesIsland'' (known in the West as ''Sonic 3D Blast'') in its stead.

As a sidenote, this game was at one point meant as a tie-in for [[https://www.kotaku.com.au/2020/02/the-sonic-the-hedgehog-movie-that-never-got-made/ a proposed live-action film]] called ''Sonic the Hedgehog: Wonders of the World''. The plot of the movie would have involved Sonic and Robotnik escaping from ''Sonic X-treme'' [[RefugeeFromTVLand into the real world]]. Additionally, ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'''s ChristmasEpisode was originally meant to be titled "An X-Tremely Sonic Christmas" in order to promote it, with it being renamed "Sonic Christmas Blast" after the game's cancellation.

As a sidenote, this game was at one point meant as a tie-in for [[https://www.kotaku.com.au/2020/02/the-sonic-the-hedgehog-movie-that-never-got-made/ a proposed live-action film]] called ''Sonic the Hedgehog: Wonders of the World''. The plot of the movie would have involved Sonic and Robotnik escaping from ''Sonic X-treme'' [[RefugeeFromTVLand into the real world]]. Additionally, a [[ChristmasEpisode christmas episode]] of the ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' cartoon was to be titled "An X-Tremely Sonic Christmas" in order to promote it. However, with the game's cancellation, said episode was renamed to "Sonic Christmas Blast" instead.

In 2020, a few fans decided to take it upon themselves to remake what was seen of the game in ''UsefulNotes/{{Unity}}''. The end result was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qZPZD8CRAw a surprisingly one-to-one recreation of what was seen in the trailers]], created entirely from scratch and by eye. While only two of the levels seen in the trailer have been recreated, this version allows the game to ''finally'' be playable in some form.

As a sidenote, this game was at one point meant as a tie-in for a proposed live-action film called ''Sonic the Hedgehog: Wonders of the World''. The plot of the movie would have involved Sonic and Robotnik escaping from ''Sonic X-treme'' [[RefugeeFromTVLand into the real world]]. Additionally, a [[ChristmasEpisode christmas episode]] of the ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' cartoon was to be titled "An X-Tremely Sonic Christmas" in order to promote it. However, with the game's cancellation, said episode was renamed to "Sonic Christmas Blast" instead.

So what led to the game's cancellation? Basically, the dev team split into two (Team A and Team B), which is always a mistake. One team would concentrate on action stages and the other on boss stages. Team A's engine for the action stages ran great on computers, but struggled on the Saturn's hardware. They managed to get it working decently, but the team members who were supposed to demo it were just seconds late to a meeting held with CEO Hayao Nakayama in March '96. Team A ended up demo'ing the beta version to Nakayama, who demanded that all of their inferior work be scrapped and the entire game be done in the style of the boss stages. And to [[ChristmasRushed get the game done by Christmas]] to compete with ''VideoGame/SuperMario64''.

Depending on who you ask, Team B's attempts to make this happen either compelled them to steal the engine from ''[=NiGHTS=]'' or create content that looked very similar to it; regardless, Yuji Naka saw this version of the game, went bananas and threatened to quit Sega if Team B's engine wasn't scrapped entirely. The stress of having to complete a game from absolute scratch in only a few months made the project head, Chris Senn, contract pneumonia. Told that he would only have six months to live if he kept working at his current pace, he left the project and the game as a whole was cancelled, as it could no longer release by the holiday season. With no 3D Sonic to speak of, Sega decided to port over ''VideoGame/Sonic3DFlickiesIsland'' in its stead.

Watch the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6kdd8ZVf3g 4worlds demo footage here]] and the hilariously ironic [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue-jo2qWiFA commercial here.]] For more detail on the game's development, see [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6v-_nC2CZZhetZnyLvxnGLzRzWiouEc7 the three-part video series]] by [=YouTuber=] miiyouandmii2, and Sonic Retro's [[http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_Mars comprehensive]] [[http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_X-treme guide]] which includes characters, stories, scripts, and artwork.

In 2020, a few game devs decided to take it upon themselves to remake what was seen of the game in ''UsefulNotes/{{Unity}}''. The end result was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qZPZD8CRAw a surprisingly one-to-one recreation of what was seen in the trailers]], which is especially notable since it was done entirely from scratch and by eye. While there is only a demo for two of the levels seen in the trailer, it, even if it is never fully completed, at the very least allows the game to ''finally'' be playable in some form.

As a sidenote, this game was at one point meant as a tie-in for a proposed live-action film called ''Sonic the Hedgehog: Wonders of the World''. The plot of the movie would have involved Sonic and Robotnik escaping from ''Sonic X-treme'' [[RefugeeFromTVLand into the real world]]. Additionally, a [[ChristmasEpisode christmas episode]] of the ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' cartoon was to be titled "An X-Tremely Sonic Christmas" in order to promote it. However, despite the game's cancellation, the christmas episode thankfully wasn’t canceled, but was rather renamed to "Sonic Christmas Blast", most likely to tie in with the aforementioned ''Sonic 3D'' port (whose U.S. title is ''Sonic 3D Blast'') instead.

In 2020, a few game devs decided to take it upon themselves to remake what was seen of the game in ''UsefulNotes/{{Unity}}. The end result was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qZPZD8CRAw a surprisingly one-to-one recreation of what was seen in the trailers]], which is especially notable since it was done entirely from scratch and by eye. While there is only a demo for two of the levels seen in the trailer, it, even if it is never fully completed, at the very least allows the game to ''finally'' be playable in some form.

Watch the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6kdd8ZVf3g 4worlds demo footage here]]. For more detail on the game's development, see [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6v-_nC2CZZhetZnyLvxnGLzRzWiouEc7 the three-part video series]] by [=YouTuber=] miiyouandmii2, and Sonic Retro's [[http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_Mars comprehensive]] [[http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_X-treme guide]] which includes characters, stories, scripts, and artwork.

* TwoAndAHalfD: The game uses 2D sprites on a 3D plain. This element eventually came to a detriment of the title: the Saturn was designed for 2D games and ''Sonic X-treme'' was an early 3D platformer, however ''Mario 64'' changed the whole paradigm. ''Sonic X-treme'' didn't look that technologically impressive when compared to its rival ''Mario'' or other 3D platformers. Attempts to fix this by making ''X-Treme'' more 3D failed. Also, when Tiara was still planned to be playable, her gameplay would've been the much more standard "[[http://web.archive.org/web/20090221103551/http://www.senntient.com/projects/xtreme/SonicSide.html character walks through 3D plain on a 2D rail]].

* TwoAndAHalfD: The game uses 2D sprites on a 3D plain. This element eventually came to a detriment of the title: the Saturn was designed for 2D games and ''Sonic X-treme'' was an early 3D platformer, however ''Mario 64'' changed the whole paradigm. ''Sonic X-treme'' didn't look that technologically impressive when compared to its rival ''Mario'' or other 3D platformers. Attempts to fix this by making ''X-Treme'' more 3D failed. Also, when Tiara was still planned to be playable, her gameplay would've been like this, as [[http://web.archive.org/web/20090221103551/http://www.senntient.com/projects/xtreme/SonicSide.html shown here]].
* AlwaysOverTheShoulder: When Tails was planned to be playable, his gameplay would've been like this.

* DistaffCounterpart: Tiara was designed as being "Sonic, but female."
* FishEyeLens: All non-boss stages would have used this effect.

* HolidayMode: There was plans for a Christmas bonus level.

* MacGuffin: Sonic would have had to collect the Rings of Order, counterparts to the Chaos Emeralds.

* OminousFloatingCastle: Galaxy Fortress, as its name implies.
* PalmtreePanic: Judging by the name, Blue Ocean likely would've been this.
* PolygonCeiling: In some ways, the downfall of this game could be considered the first stumble in Sonic's long and troubled history with this.

* TopDownView: When Knuckles was planned to be playable, his gameplay would've been like this, as [[http://web.archive.org/web/20090221101640/http://www.senntient.com/projects/xtreme/KnucklesTest.html shown here]].
* UndergroundLevel: Red Sands is an underground cave level.

* FurryFemaleMane: Tiara was initially designed during the ''[=SatAM=]''-based ''Sonic Mars'' stage of development and, as a result, she's styled similarly to female characters from the show. She had either loose, long hair or a ponytail depending on her design (with her later designs all using TomboyishPonytail look).

What exactly the plot would entail changed a lot throughout development: It was originally conceived as taking place in the same continuity as the cult ''WesternAnimation/SonicSatAM'' cartoon on which the [[ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog Archie comic book series]] was based, along with popular {{Canon Foreigner}}s like Princess Sally and the Freedom Fighters, but Sega nixed that idea. (Sally and the gang had blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameos in ''VideoGame/SonicSpinball'' in '93, along with characters from ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' which ran parallel to ''Sat AM''.) Other ideas ranged from Sonic battling demons who were sealed in the Master Emerald (a kernel of this idea made it into ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' in '98) to him [[BadDate trying to make it to a hot date]] with Tiara Boobowski, a Manx cat whose status also varied in development. Many of these pitches involved playing as Tails and Knuckles, plus the new addition Tiara. But as the production shifted to the Saturn, it was agreed that Sonic should be the sole playable character in order to keep things simple.

Depending on who you ask, Team B's attempts to make this happen either compelled them to steal the engine from ''[=NiGHTS=]'' or create content that looked very similar to it; regardless, Yuki Naka saw this version of the game, went bananas and threatened to quit Sega if Team B's engine wasn't scrapped entirely. The stress of having to complete a game from absolute scratch in only a few months made the project head, Chris Senn, contract pneumonia. Told that he would only have six months to live if he kept working at his current pace, he left the project and the game as a whole was cancelled, as it could no longer release by the holiday season. With no 3D Sonic to speak of, Sega decided to port over ''VideoGame/Sonic3DFlickiesIsland'' in its stead.

* TwoAndAHalfD: The game uses 2D sprites on a 3D plain. This element eventually came to a detriment of the title: the Saturn was designed for 2D games and ''Sonic X-treme'' was an early 3D platformer, however ''Mario 64'' changed the whole paradigm. ''Sonic X-treme'' didn't look that technologically impressive when compared to its rival ''Mario'' or other 3D platformers. Attempts to fix this by making ''X-Treme'' more 3D failed.

* RaceAgainstTheClock: One of the many proposed plotlines for the game would've involved Sonic having to find the antidote to a deadly super-virus, which he himself has contracted. According to project head Chris Senn, there was to be a mechanic where the player needed to complete the game in a certain amount of time before Sonic succumbs to the illness.
* SlippySlideyIceWorld: Crystal Frost is level that takes place on a snowy mountain.

What exactly the plot would entail changed a lot throughout development: It was originally conceived as taking place in the same continuity as the cult ''WesternAnimation/SonicSatAM'' cartoon on which the [[ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog Archie comic book series]] was based, along with popular {{Canon Foreigner}}s like Princess Sally and the Freedom Fighters, but Sega vetoed that idea. (Sally and the gang had blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameos in ''VideoGame/SonicSpinball'' in '93, along with characters from ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' which ran parallel to ''Sat AM''.) Other ideas ranged from Sonic battling demons who were sealed in the Master Emerald (a kernel of this idea made it into ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' in '98) to him [[BadDate trying to make it to a hot date]] with Tiara Boobowski, a Manx cat whose status also varied in development. Many of these pitches involved playing as Tails and Knuckles, plus the new adfition Tiara. But as the production shifted to the Saturn, it was agreed that Sonic should be the sole playable character in order to keep things simple.

What exactly the plot would entail changed a lot throughout development: It was originally conceived as taking place in the same continuity as the cult ''WesternAnimation/SonicSatAM'' cartoon on which the [[ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog Archie comic book series]] was based, along with popular {{Canon Foreigner}}s like Princess Sally and the Freedom Fighters, but Sega vetoed that. (Sally and the gang had blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameos in ''VideoGame/SonicSpinball'' in '93, along with characters from ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' which ran parallel to ''[=SatAM=]''.) Other ideas ranged from Sonic battling demons who were sealed in the Master Emerald (a kernel of this idea made it into ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' in '98) to him [[BadDate trying to make it to a hot date]] with the new character Tiara Boobowski, a Manx cat whose status also varied in development. Many of these pitches involved playing as Tails and Knuckles, plus Tiara. But as the production shifted to the Saturn, it was agreed that Sonic should be the sole playable character in order to keep things simple.

So what led to the game's cancellation? Basically, the dev team split into two (Team A and Team B), which is always a mistake. One team would concentrate on action stages and the other on boss stages. Team A's engine for the action stages ran great on computers, but struggled on the Saturn's hardware. They managed to get it working decently, but the team members who were supposed to demo it were just seconds late to a meeting (no joke) held with CEO Hayao Nakayama in March '96. Team A ended up demo'ing the beta version to Nakayama, who demanded that all of their inferior work be scrapped and the entire game be done in the style of the boss stages. And to [[ChristmasRushed get the game done by Christmas]] to compete with ''VideoGame/SuperMario64''.

As a sidenote, this game was at one point meant as a tie-in for a proposed live-action film called ''Sonic the Hedgehog: Wonders of the World''. The plot of the movie would have involved Sonic and Robotnik escaping from ''Sonic X-treme'' [[RefugeeFromTVLand into the real world]]. A ChristmasEpisode of the ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' cartoon was to be titled "An X-Tremely Sonic Christmas" in order to promote it. After the game's cancellation, it was renamed "Sonic Christmas Blast", most likely to tie in with the aforementioned ''Sonic 3D'' port (whose U.S. title is ''Sonic 3D Blast'') instead.

What exactly the plot would entail changed a lot throughout development: It was originally conceived as taking place in the same continuity as the cult ''WesternAnimation/SonicSatAM'' cartoon on which the [[ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog Archie comic book series]] was based, along with popular {{Canon Foreigner}}s like Princess Sally and the Freedom Fighters, but Sega vetoed that. (Sally and the gang had blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameos in ''VideoGame/SonicSpinball'' in '93, along with characters from ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' which ran parallel to ''[=SatAM=]''.) Other ideas ranged from Sonic battling demons who were sealed in the Master Emerald (a kernel of this idea made it into ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' in '98) to him [[BadDate trying to make it to a hot date]] with "Tiara Boobowski" (no relation to Rogue the Bat). Many of these pitches involved playing as Tails and Knuckles, plus the new addition Tiara. But as the production shifted to the Saturn, it was agreed that Sonic should be the sole playable character in order to keep things simple.

What exactly the plot would entail changed a lot throughout development: It was originally conceived as taking place in the same continuity as the cult ''WesternAnimation/SonicSatAM'' cartoon on which the [[ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog Archie comic book series]] was based, along with popular {{Canon Foreigner}}s like Princess Sally and the Freedom Fighters, but Sega vetoed that. (Sally and the gang had blink-and-you'll-miss it cameos in ''VideoGame/SonicSpinball'' in '93, along with characters from ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' which ran parallel to ''[=SatAM=]''.) Other ideas ranged from Sonic battling demons who were sealed in the Master Emerald (a kernel of this idea made it into ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' in '98) to him [[BadDate trying to make it to a hot date]] with "Tiara Boobowski" (no relation to Rogue the Bat). Many of these pitches involved playing as Tails and Knuckles, plus the new addition Tiara. But as the production shifted to the Saturn, it was agreed that Sonic should be the sole playable character in order to keep things simple.

Depending on who you ask, Team B's attempts to make this happen either compelled them to steal the engine from ''[=NiGHTS=]'' or create content that looked very similar to it; regardless, Yuki Naka saw this version of the game, went bananas and threatened to quit Sega if Team B's engine wasn't scrapped entirely. The stress of having to finish a game from absolute scratch in only a few months made the project head, Chris Senn, contract pneumonia. Told that he would only have six months to live if he kept working at his current pace, he left the project and the game as a whole was cancelled, as it could no longer release by the holiday season. With no 3D Sonic to speak of, Sega decided to port over ''VideoGame/Sonic3DFlickiesIsland'' in its stead.

Following the release of ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles'', series co-creator Yuji Naka and the Japanese staff at STI returned to Japan, while all the other members of Creator/SonicTeam remained in the U.S. While Naka and co. were off making ''VideoGame/NightsIntoDreams'', the Americans were assigned to make a new Sonic game. What exactly the plot would entail changed a lot throughout development: It was originally conceived as taking pl

ce in the same continuity as the cult ''WesternAnimation/SonicSatAM'' cartoon on which the [[ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog Archie comic book series]] was based, along with popular {{Canon Foreigner}}s like Princess Sally and the Freedom Fighters, but Sega vetoed that. (Sally and the gang had blink-and-you'll-miss it cameos in ''VideoGame/SonicSpinball'' in '93, along with characters from ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' which ran parallel to ''[=SatAM=]''.) Other ideas ranged from Sonic battling demons who were sealed in the Master Emerald (a kernel of this idea made it into ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' in '98) to him [[BadDate trying to make it to a hot date]] with "Tiara Boobowski" (no relation to Rogue the Bat). Many of these pitches involved playing as Tails and Knuckles, plus the new addition Tiara. But as the production shifted to the Saturn, it was agreed that Sonic should be the sole playable character in order to keep things simple.

Following the release of ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles'', series co-creator Yuji Naka and the Japanese staff at STI returned to Japan, while all the other members of Creator/SonicTeam remained in the U.S. While Naka and co. were off making ''VideoGame/NightsIntoDreams'', the Americans were assigned to make the new Sonic game. What exactly the plot would entail changed a lot throughout development. It was originally conceived as taking place in the same continuity as the cult ''WesternAnimation/SonicSatAM'' cartoon on which the [[ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog Archie comic book series]] was based, along with popular {{Canon Foreigner}}s like Princess Sally and the Freedom Fighters, but Sega vetoed that. Other ideas ranged from Sonic battling demons who were sealed in the Master Emerald (a kernel of this idea made it into ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' in '98) to him [[BadDate trying to make it to a hot date]] with "Tiara Boobowski" (no relation to Rogue the Bat). Many of these pitches involved playing as Tails and Knuckles, plus the new addition Tiara. But as the production shifted to the Saturn, it was agreed that Sonic should be the sole playable character in order to keep things simple.