Retro

[Popcorn]

Back in, like, 1996 or 1997 something, there were these rumours that a new Sonic game was being developed for Katana, or Blackbelt, or whatever it was supposed to be called at the time, and one day a screenshot surfaced. The screenshot was dark and fuzzy and it looked like some sort of night-time road with speed barriers and go-faster signs. No-one could decide if the thing on the road was Sonic or something else, like a motorbike. We on the GHZ debated for days, and in the end I think we decided it was more likely to be a racing game of some sort, and forgot about it.

In retrospect, I think the screenshot was of Speed Highway. And now I want to check.

Does anyone... have it? Or remember it?

Have I gone mad?

Is anyone... is anyone there?

[Cuckooguy]

I remember it. Probably lost on the internet forever by now.

[FlashTHD]

The SA1 museum page used to mention the confusion over that shot:

And so the groundwork was layed, and development began in the deepest, most secure regions of Sega. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite secure enough. Just around the time the Dreamcast was unveiled behind closed doors at E3 '98, a blurry screenshot of what was allegedly the new Sonic game spread like wildfire across the internet. The shot was, in reality, of Sonic in an early build of Speed Highway. After some investigation, however, most sources confidently proclaimed the screen to be a hoax, or a shot of another game entirely (a motorcycle racing game was the most popular guess, as Sonic's blurry silhouette could be made out to resemble a man on a motorcycle). It wasn't until the game was officially unveiled that all parties realized the enigmatic screen was indeed genuine.

[Green Gibbon!]

I don't have the image anymore, but it was definitely a blurry shot of Speed Highway. I'm pretty sure the Dreamcast proper had been announced by then, and if I remember correctly, it was a website, maybe Saturnworld or something, that had deduced it was a screenshot of a motorcycle racing game.

Although you are indeed mad.

[David The Lurker]

I think I might remember it.

[Delphine]

Location: Right behind you!

JESUS CHRIST

[K2J]

That Lurker is a SPAH!

[G.Silver]

It is still hard for me not to see the motorcycle.

[Neo]

I can't see the motorcycle at all.

The image is much easier to understand once your brain decides the two bright horizontal stripes below Sonic are part of the building in the background.

[Arcade]

Actually it kind of looks like a blue man in a blue motorcycle...

[Popcorn]

Excellent, excellent.

Also: http://www.whosampled.com/sample/view/1 ... op%20Mix)/

Who knew?

[gr4yJ4Y]

I can't really see Sonic in the picture. I mean I can see his head fine, but where are his legs? It kinda looks like something out of the Epic Mickey concept art with a half-Sonic, half-E-series robot.

I can totally see the motorcycle though.

[Neo]

[Locit]

K-kind of? I guess?

Since this thread is going nowhere anyway: which ad campaign for a post-DC Sonic game featured the word "sonical" as a substitute for "radical"? I'm racking my brain and can't figure it out.

[P.P.A.]

K-kind of? I guess?

Since this thread is going nowhere anyway: which ad campaign for a post-DC Sonic game featured the word "sonical" as a substitute for "radical"? I'm racking my brain and can't figure it out.

Sonic Advance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz-4e2vxyOw

[G.Silver]

Also while on the topic of things we remember but might have made up: Did anyone ever see an American TV ad for Rocket Knight Adventures (in the then-common "SEGA!" scream style) that featured a creepy old woman shouting "I love the smell of bacon in the morning?" I swear I saw this thing once.

[Crazy Penguin]

K-kind of? I guess?

Since this thread is going nowhere anyway: which ad campaign for a post-DC Sonic game featured the word "sonical" as a substitute for "radical"? I'm racking my brain and can't figure it out.

Sonic Advance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz-4e2vxyOw

What's going on at 0.26 with Sonic, Tails and Amy?

[K2J]

The multiplayer racing mode?

[Crazy Penguin]

I never realised you could have more than 2 players on that. Was it... good?

[K2J]

Never had multiple cartridges, so I can't say. The single-player "get the rings" mode was pretty lame.

[gr4yJ4Y]

K-kind of? I guess?

Since this thread is going nowhere anyway: which ad campaign for a post-DC Sonic game featured the word "sonical" as a substitute for "radical"? I'm racking my brain and can't figure it out.

Sonic Advance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz-4e2vxyOw

Did anyone else think of Shenmue when they saw that kid chasing the ball into the street?