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56 lines
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---
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layout: layouts/base.njk
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eleventyNavigation:
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key: Sonic Xtreme
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parent: Playing the games
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order: 3
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---
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# Sonic Xtreme
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Sonic Xtreme is an unreleased game that was supposed to be on the SEGA Saturn and PC during the mid-90. Due to complication of developpement, disagrements between SEGA Japan and USA, and other issues, it was never released. There have been a lot of fascination with this game, and here I'll aim to show all that have been released for this game, leaked content and fan-remakes.
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## Brief history of the project
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So, first of all, you have to know that Sonic Xtreme has been on a lot of media before being on the Saturn. The project was planned for Megadrive (Sonic-16, and a 3D iso game), then for the 32X (Sonic Mars), for a console based on an NVidia card from SEGA of America which was replaced by the Saturn from SEGA of Japan, and finally for a Saturn and PC.
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The final iteration of the game was composed of two engines:
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- The level engine (the ones found in the different releases by Jollyjogger, the levels having already been leaked in 2009) which uses a block system to define the levels, and from some builds a fisheye system to offer fisheye system to offer a better visibility on the sides. It was also planned that Sonic could run on the walls and everything (using a special mode in fact that allowed this). This is also the engine that we see in most of the video. This engine was developed by a team led by Ofer Alon.
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- The boss engine, which is a totally different engine, developed by Chris Coffin, and which dates back to the 32x era of the project. We only have a demo of it, from a much later time, it's the famous "718" iso.
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For what happened, basically, Ofer Alon's engine could not run under the Saturn, and had a very *very* low framerate. So we had to rework it quite a bit. The programming work was then entrusted to a company called, who had to make the level engine run on the Saturn and everything. If I understand correctly : the engine was quite different from Alon's engine. It's one of the released engines. As a result, we ended up with two teams, Alon who wanted to continue his engine, and PoV, which had as much difficulty as Alon.
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In March 1996, some representatives of SEGA came to see the work, and so we ended up with two, Alon's and Chris Senn's (the main designer of the game) who presented his PC, and the Point of View version.
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Now, I have some reservation with what will follow, because it's Chris Senn version. Basically what he said is that when Hayao Nakayama arrived and saw PoV's work, he was furious (and didn't know that Alon had an engine on PC that was more complete), because it looked like they had not advanced at all. So he pointed to the boss engine and asked that the whole game be like that. If I understand correctly, when Chris Senn came in, not only was it too late, but he would have gotten mad or something. As a result, all of Alon's work went out the window. Now, something surprise me a bit about that, is that the PoV engine seems to more more stable and functionnal than what we've seen from the original engine (even if the engine we see in the videos seems even more functionnal). So I take this version with a grain of salt.
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Chris Coffin became the main programmer instead of Alon, and this started the period where Xtreme was entirely made with the boss engine (the "Project Condor" period). The iso "718" would come from this period. That's when they asked for the Night engine, because they needed the development tools tools in it. However, it went wrong, and was refused. Note that Yuji Naka said recently that it never happenned at all (and could never happens as Sonic Xtreme was written in C, and Nights in assembler). Then Chris Coffin got pneumonia (he was working like crazy because of the deadline), and he had to leave the project. And so without a lead developer, the project ended up being abandoned.
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## Content discovered
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- [Sonic Xtreme Compendium](http://scp.webulate.com/) - Rehosted version by Dav09
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- [Sonic Xtreme Sprites](http://sost.emulationzone.org/sonic_xtreme/sprites/index.htm)
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- [Sonic Xtreme TCRF Page](https://tcrf.net/Sonic_X-treme)
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- [Sonic X-treme Package X Leak](https://archive.org/details/package-x)
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## Prototypes
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Here are the different prototype and leaks we got from Sonic Xtreme :
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- [PC Restoration and assets](https://hiddenpalace.org/Sonic_X-treme_(PC_Restoration_and_Asset_Collection))
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- [Sonic Xtreme v40 prototype](https://hiddenpalace.org/Sonic_X-treme_(V40_prototype))
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- [Sonic Xtreme 714 prototype](https://hiddenpalace.org/Sonic_X-treme_(Jul_14,_1996_prototype)) - A prototype by Point of View
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- [Sonic Xtreme 718 prototype](https://hiddenpalace.org/Sonic_X-treme_(Jul_18,_1996_prototype)) - A prototype using the Boss Engine from Chris Coffin
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## Remakes
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Note : For the moment no project have recreated Sonic Xtreme as a complete game, and all are unfinished.
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- [Sonic Xtreme Remix](https://www.mediafire.com/file/u547usobiidx6jv/Sonic+Xtreme+Remix.zip/file) - By [Dobermann Software](http://dobermannsoftware.net/)
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- [Project AXSX](https://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?threads/project-axsx-sonic-xtreme-and-sonic-cd-remix-a-2-5d-game.19713/)
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- [Sonic Z-Treme](https://sonicfangameshq.com/forums/showcase/sonic-z-treme-saturn-sage-2018-demo.161/)
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- [Sonic Z-Treme Metal Sonic Demo](https://sonicfangameshq.com/forums/showcase/sonic-z-treme-metal-sonic.851/)
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- [Project SXU](https://sonicfangameshq.com/forums/showcase/project-sxu.525/)
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- [Sonic Xtreme](https://sonicfangameshq.com/forums/showcase/sonic-x-treme-sega-saturn.1383/) (2022 Demo on Saturn !) |