These seem to pop up every now and then, usually on 16/32-bits system.
This is one of those rare more recent canned Sonic games found by fans.
Sega just sold some Xbox development kits (the first original Xbox) which they didn't had a use for anymore.
On one of these, an early build of some undiscovered Sonic game was present.
It's (temporary) name? Sonic The Hedgehog: Extreme.
Without a doubt, this looks like an early Sonic Heroes.
The models, engine and physics seem pretty close to what Sonic Adventure 2 on the Dreamcast was.
But the background is clearly a sort of "Seaside Hill" (1st level of Heroes).
Sonic seems to ride a board, but I doubt it was going to be a very early Sonic Riders.
Probably a gameplay variation like those "cart-thingies" in Heroes.
And here's some videos:
Courtesy of ProtonX3 youtube account
As you can see, there even was a 2-player mode. Clearly taken from SA2, but it probably ended as Heroes' multiplayer mode.
I'm still not quite certain the whole game would have been on boards, this looks like early testing, decision making/brainstorming-kinda stage.
Here's Shadow doing what he does best (being anti-social?):
And the mission mode:
Battle mode:
Entire race level:
Curiously, a later build was also present but titled Tech Deck Bare Knuckle Grind.
At this stage, they probably decided to make a separate game instead of a Sonic spinoff, build up new models, new artwork, new characters. The level looks more polished and the pace is faster.
Very interesting stuff.
The Sonic Team was probably totally into the extreme and grind aspect while making SA2, so they tried a little concept...which sort of evolved over the time into a more traditional Sonic Heroes later on.
These sort of finds are always fun to look back at.
They were experimenting and having fun with the character "back then", unlike nowadays, with the hordes of Nintendo-era Sonic fanboys, dissing and critizing stuff all the time.
I kinda preferred back when Sega (and Sonic) had a smaller audience.. I miss that time..
