General Info

Intro In November of 1996, Sega of America announced that Sonic X-Treme was being postponed indefinitely. Actually, it was canned. Apparently, some Sega of Japan execs didn't like how the game was coming along, so they pulled the proverbial plug on it. A rushed Saturn version of Sonic 3D Blast to take its place, and Sonic X-Treme was lost in history... Probably the most infamous of Sonic's failed attempts, the cancellation of Sonic X-Treme was the final nail in the Saturn's coffin. It was supposed to be the Saturn's major flagship game, but without the guidance of Yuji Naka and the Sonic Team (who were busy with NiGHTS at the time), X-Treme apparently wasn't shaping-up so hot, and some Japanese Sega execs pulled the plug on the game. It was being designed by Sega Technical Institute...an American team who also developed Spinball, Sonic 2, and Sonic 3, but had Sonic Team support on the latter two. It's too bad it never had the chance to ship BUT then again, the game only looked good, and as gaming history has proven, looks can be deceiving. Some folks who played the short demo at E3 '96 weren't too impressed with the game, so maybe X-Treme is better off in the infinite bounds of gaming limbo... Story Professor Gazebo Boobowski and his daughter, Tiara, are the keepers of the six magical Rings of Order, as well as the ancient art of Ring smithing. Gazebo and Tiara have become scared that Dr. Robotnik is after the Six Rings of Order, and call on Sonic to get the Rings before the Eggman can. Robotnik has already made one previous attempt at stealing the Rings, and Sonic is the only one who can knock the thought out of his head. Zones Crystal Frost Zone Red Sands Zone Jade Gully Zone Galaxy Fortress Zone General Gameplay Basically, the gameplay was going to be like Bug!, only without being confined to paths. The most disturbing yet almost astonishing feature was the "wrap-around" camera view, which looked like viewing through one of those peep-holes on doors. The idea was to give the player a full view at all times, but really made the game look weird. One of the more heartening features was Sonic's major list of new moves...The most noticable was the ability to throw Rings, which is VERY novel ! Each Zone was also like the Knuckles Chaotix Special Stages...you could run up each wall because there was no center of gravity. Basically, each level was designed almost in a tubular aspect! Truly, STI took some innovative steps to moving to a 3D world, but it was all too left-field to attach the "Sonic" name to. It might've been a good game (it sure looked it, anyway), but apparently not good enough for the Sonic name.... The game's main characters were Sonic, Tiara, Professor Gazebo, and Dr. Robotnik. Nack the Weasel and Metal Sonic were set to cameo as boss characters, but there was no sign at all of Tails, Knuckles, or anyone else. The boss stages were largely based on the NiGHTS board...a giant, circular arena. In the middle of these arenas was a large circle on the ground, which Rings spiraled high into the air above...interesting, I never did find out what the deal with that was.