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Originally the devs of Sonic R were working on some unnamed F1 racing game when they were aproached by
SEGA, who told them to turn that game into Sonic. SEGA was in desperate need of a Sonic game for the Saturn
after Sonic Xtreme was cancelled.
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Publically available = NO | Build Date = ??? |
The earliest build of Sonic R. It was shared by Jon Burton - the game's designer and programer on his youtube channel.
It features a test stage that resembles Radient Emerald in structure, with some unique building graphics and models in the background.
Around the start of the track there's a bunch of grey squares that I assume were meant to be like the finish line.
From what I can tell they have the same texture as the sidebar of this website! (I stole it from the Sonic Jam website haha)
This build is also unique in the sense that it's entirely played from first person. The only controlls are go foward, and go backward.
You can't jump or turn, but you can look around.
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Publically available = NO | Build Date = ??? |
We have a Sonic now! He doesn't animate and can still only move on rails. At least he has an opponent(?) now. That being... himself... again...
The test level from the previous build has been replaced with a very early version of Resort Island. There's some rings at the start of the track, but
you can't collect any of them. The skymap here is ripped from Mickey Mania. In the video below Jon somehow spawns a big spinning "Metal Sonic".
He was a test for the reflective effect that's used for stuff like the "R" on the titlescreen.
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Publically available = NO | Build Date = ??? |
First prototype with a unique name. Sonic still doesn't have animations but he can now move around freely!
He can jump but still has no double jump. Resort Island is seen in a much more complete state. The background is the sunset variant of itself
that's seen in the PC version. You can collect rings now, their layout is different here too.
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Publically available = NO | Build Date = ?? 1997 |
Nobody was supposed to know about Sonic R before E3 but whoops the press has it now! Not much is known about this build.
Ring gates have been added, taking 100 rings to open instead of 50. It also looks like you can fall into the water going by the particles
below Sonic's feet in one of the screenshots. There's also a very basic HUD.
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Publically available = NO | Build Date = ?? 1997 |
Not much to point out here other than the new HUD featuring old versions of the character portraits.
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Publically available = KINDA? | Build Date = JUNE 1997 |
Technically it WAS publicly available but there's no archive of it :P
The trailer claims the game was already 20% complete at that point but I doubt it. You could kinda see it in the previous 2 builds but
you can now clearly see that Sonic has been given animations. But it's not just him as the only racer, as the rest of the racers have
been implemented. No unique character abilities yet though. Shields have been added, their functionality is unknown though.
The trailer also says that the game features hidden characters and tracks suggesting maybe more hidden stages were planned.
At the end of it you can see the first iteration of the titlescreen, using the artwork by Hazuyuki Hoshino.
After a ammount of time passed the game would abruptly end with a "Coming Soon" screen.
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Publically available = NO | Build Date = AUGUST 1997 |
No longer is Resort Island the only stage as Radical City and Reactive Factory have been added. RI is now in day time like it is in the final product.
The layouts of the other two are mostly the same as final. Other big additions are the tokens (which don't seem to do anything as of now), and
multiplayer with one person playing as Sonic and the other - Tails with this being the first prototype where he's playable.
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Publically available = NO | Build Date = SEPTEMBER 1997 |
Regal Ruin is now part of the stage lineup. A coin counter and minimap have been added to the HUD.
More importantly - all characters are playable now!
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Publically available = YES | Build Date = SEPTEMBER 10 1997 |
One and only publically available build of Sonic R. Dumped by drx in 2008. Despite being so close to release it still has a ton of differences.
Menus are extremely simple only requiring button presses to select options but they do feature some unique renders.
Despite almost all stages being present in the previous build, this one is restricted to RI,RC and RF.
There's a butt load of small gameplay and graphical differences too.