Almost everyone remembers how popular the Sonic the Hedgehog series was back in the Genesis era of the early 90’s. While original trilogy of Sonic the Hedgehog from ’91-’94 were considered to be classics the Sonic 3D Blast game from ’96 was a game that ended up falling below the expectations of many people. Around ’96-’97 we were supposed to get Sonic X-Treme for the Sega Saturn since it had been in development since 1994. The Sonic X-Treme title was supposed to be the first real 3D video game within the Sonic series until its cancellation around early 1997. There were several reasons why Sonic X-Treme ended up getting cancelled including company politics within Sega along with it behind far behind schedule in terms of development. The issues regarding the development stemmed from division within the development team who often clashed on various ideas on what the design and final product for Sonic X-Treme should look like. The development process for Sonic X-Treme was so tumultuous that it lead to some staff members having mental issues and suffering from burnout. Unreleased footage from Sonic X-Treme have emerged on Youtube over the past several years and people can see that the game was clearly incomplete. While the beta gameplay for Sonic X-Treme looked impressive some parts of different levels seemed transparent and would only be visible to players based on how far or close they were to certain objects. It was also noted that along with Sonic the Hedgehog both Tails Miles Prower and Amy Rose were also supposed to be playable characters in Sonic X-Treme as well. Despite, how bad the unfinished version of Sonic X-Treme may have looked some would agree that it was more impressive than isometric Sonic 3D blast game from 1996. Sonic X-Treme for Sega Saturn ended up being cancelled around early ’97 mainly because it was in developmental hell for too long; along with the fact that Sega started putting more time and emphasis on the development of the Dreamcast console which came out in 1998.
Gaming Hearts Collection 