Get ready for the Third Sonic Movie on January 1st of 2025! Cuz you will see some references from the game. Despite the Second Movie that I watched and loved ❤ it contained Knuckles and some Sonic 3 References and levels
9:18 That ending sprite is definitely different; his eyes are thinner than the final and his shoes seem to have a bigger shine at the bottom. The previous frame also appears to be left unchanged from Sonic 1, missing the shines on his eyes.
"Mega Drive" with the lack of Japanese text on the VHS label, and the first few seconds of the tape being from a previous playthrough implies this is a Sega Europe QA/progress worktape
The player recording this seems to be good at the game. Using the insta shield on sonic at appropriate times. Playing the minigame well, aiming for the lightning shield and dodging the rest, probably going for testing the lightning shield on water bug. It's not like some random reporter or random employee playing. It's probably a QA tester who has done this a thousand times, re-recording over the same VHS tape even.
Always appreciate your run down on these, fun to see how Sega created people’s childhood memories and is still talked about all these years later. I wonder if the devs ever knew how much interest there would be around the development 👍
9:19 I decided to compare the sprites of this and the final ending sprite, and even though yes, this one IS very blurry, there still is a noticeable change. The shapes of the pupils are slightly thinner here than in the final sprite.
6:17 - I got stuck here twice even with the baloons on the original Genesis. I believe it I had one of the super forms activated, but not sure which character.
I think this tape really puts things into perspective. For every bug and oversight that remains in the final game, think how many more they must have driven themselves mad trying to remove in these prerelease builds. Definitely a recording of a play test by a Quality Assurance team to be sent back to the devs. You might even find that glitch with the Lightning Shield and the Hydrocity water was pulled off on purpose.
It's really interesting to see this VHS tape and see how many differences are in this very late prototype. But boy, the sound quality of this VHS is like a video recorded with HyperCam 2. I always thought that the one change in Sonic 3's credits was accidental. It just feels like last minute change.
Another interesting change I noticed, in the original video the special stage does not ramp up in speed gameplay wise, only the music does. I’d assume it was done to simplify debugging and such to developers.
Interesting, I noticed that the ring sphere in the gumball machine gave them 20 rings instead of the usual 10. It was like this in 1103 as well, right? It's also giving them a strange amount of those spheres let alone every shield is a lightning shield. Those, rings, repairs, bubbles and bumper spheres are all that appear, no other shield. Lightning is like the least common normally too
The Gumball Bonus Stage wasn't playable in the 1103 prototype, but I think you're right about it giving the player 20 rings instead of 10 like in the final game.
@@SilverSonic1992 Yeah it's normally 10. Why it also only gave out a lightning shield is also quite strange. These appear less often, I thought. At least this is the case in the big glowing spheres one that appears when you have 35-49 rings (cycle of 15 repeatedly between the 3 starting from slots). The glowing spheres one has little triggers and only 4 of them can be a lightning shield, so it can be difficult to find one there. This is the best stage to get hundreds of rings though. Sometimes I've gone in with 40 and come out with 400. If the gumball gave out rings as much as we saw here, that'd be even better.
Personally, I believe the person who said that the tape was intended as a progress report, for a few reasons: -The tape says "CONFIDENTIAL" on it. -Hidden Palace has not given a reason why the word of someone actually involved with the tape should be ignored. -No known press publications are known to have used this footage (though I suppose this could be a matter of intent versus actual use). -The recording at the immediate start of the tape shows reuse, which seems consistent with revisions requiring updated progress reports (unless the previous playthrough was considered unsatisfactory for external publication, though this could be applied to its use as a progress report).
Another thing (which I forgot to include) is that the player is clearly experienced with the game. This obviously isn't their first or even second playthrough of the game, though I suppose this could be applied to either theory.
There's also the fact that the audio quality is really damn poor throughout the entire thing, if this was intended to be shown to the public they would've certainly gone through the effort to get a higher quality recording.
Given that this is recorded at 50 FPS, and is a Scotch EXG+ High Performance tape, this was likely made for Sega of Europe. However, it does seem to be running from an NTSC-U system as it appears to be running at full speed (and it's definitely not NTSC-J, as then the trademark symbols would've been removed). Thing is, very few PAL televisions were capable of displaying an NTSC signal back in the 90s (and 00s, hence why PS2/Dreamcast games look screwed when running in PAL60, as it's really just running in NTSC), so it would've been cumbersome to record. Maybe Sega of America recorded this before creating a copy for the European branch?
Huh. i tought this was gonna be one of those sonic.exe creepy VHS tapes. but no. just a guy thats explaining a sonic 3 prototype VHS Nice! Btw i really liked this video it explained me why there are some garbled sprites in the prototypes Thanks!😃
In Sonic 3 the Big Shaker uses the regular boss theme when it should use the S3 miniboss theme. After triggering the drowning music and coming back up for air, it uses the Sonic & Knuckles miniboss theme.
DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM the quality of this vhs tape made the music in the prototype more bass making it more FIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEE i mean like: 9:22
What I still find interesting in this tape is that they already seemed to have settled with the insertion of MJ's tracks into the game as heard in the final, as well as confirming though the staff roll in this build, that they weren't going to credit him as they were just about finalizing the game (especially considering that they were still swapping names in the credits, like that programmer's name seen at the end of this tape but is removed from final S3A). I'm only thinking all this out loud because I could have sworn someone from Sega of America (or someone from MJ's circle?) said that MJ's contribution was supposed to be a surprise announcement upon release day, and previous accounts from people close to Sonic 3's development suggest that his music was pulled at practically the last minute (as Roger Hector notes, they had to "sort of scramble" to replace his work). But clearly, nothing here suggests a hectic, messy attempt to erase his name. Of course, this could practically be a release candidate build, or they could have theoretically had his name in the credits in an earlier build made just before this one was made. If the behind the scenes making behind this game is any indication, it had quite a lot of close calls where anything could have happened at any point.
very interesting differences here, i'm especially glad the audio somehow was kept well-enough intact for you to notice that transition from ice cap zone to launch base, makes me wonder why they decided to not use that sound in the end
6:47 huh, I always assumed it was so players would get the memo to not backtrack (since the spikes also prevent you from backtracking). Remember, this is the room right before _that_ barrel.
Doesn't the barrel room already prevent you from backtracking? Though I could also see them not wanting you to backtrack in the lights out section while the lights are on.
@@SilverSonic1992 You could get a time over and try to backtrack from the checkpoint. In any case Super Sonic by-passing the switch does seem like a more likely reason anyway (or maybe it was both lol).
4:35 - If what another user here said is true about this possibly being a progress report of sorts then the person probably did this on purpose to show the glitch that happens after he leaves the Bonus Stage, as if to say "Yeah, this is something we still need to fix". There's no real reason to get it otherwise and it looked kind of purposeful.
May be my ignorance, but the bonus stage at 4:34 let Sonic bounce on the safety springs 3 times before collapsing. In the final game you're only able to bounce on it once, correct?
This tape doesn't appear to have been recorded more than 3 days before the final version, considering how few differences it has. It baffles me that they removed the snow sound effect from the ice cap transition for seemingly no reason
Probably because the spinning sound effect plays there. Not the only place where it's an issue, the tube teleporters in Launch Base Zone quite often "don't" make noise because it gets overriden by something else making noise at the same time on the same sound channel.
Hey @Silver Sonic 1992, in your video with Mecha Sonic copying abilities from Sonic, is the Hyper Sonic ability in the Sonic 3 prototype was putting on the shield abilities to Sonic?
@SilverSonic1992 I mean, Sonic 3 Nov 3 prototype, shields don't have their final abilities, so I was wondering that if the unused Hyper Sonic ability in the prototype was applied to shields. For example - Fire shield help Sonic to performs fire dash (and protect you from fire); Hyper Sonic can perform Hyper Dash. Electric shield performs a double jump with Sonic; Hyper Sonic performs double jumps.
hi want to know if there is a way to make it possible to finish the game in the sonic 3 1103 prototype because there is a part of launch base act 2 where you can no longer continue. I want to know if that part can be restored to finish the game
man some times i can't help but ask my self, WHERE EXACTLY ARE the rest of sonic 3 prototypes, and why do game companies even bather keeping more than deacade old prototypes so secured that it's nearly impossible to release them, is sega really that willing to keep it a secret ? and would it be even possible to see the very first version ever made of sonic 3 ? OR EVEN THE completed one before it was actually split, and how long would it be for that, some one please i need answers
You have to consider and this is purely speculation but the earlier betas might have music from MJ/Buxer team in it and SEGA definitely wouldn't want to rock that boat again. The only real chance we have is if someone finds and dumps the SEGA archives disc 2, if anyone remembers the 2008 massive rom dump by drx some may remember that a disc was missing from the set, that disc would contain betas of different games in development during the time of S3's development so some S3 prototypes might be on that disc if it can ever be found (pretty much the literal white whale of the 1990's SoA archives discs preservation effort we literally have everything else it's just that 2nd disc that's missing). And before anyone says highly unlikely consider this, all of the S3C &K KiS2 prototypes from 408 onwards we have are thanks to those discs so there is precedent for the possibility (heck if I'm right about there being S3 protos on the missing disc there a chance there might even be some pre-408 S3C prototypes as well giving us even more insight into development both before the split and after standalone S3 was finalized and sent out for manufacture).
@@superrayman3 More than likely, an earlier prototype would probably have music similar to that heard in Sonic Origins. MJ didn't come into the picture until around fall 1993.
Now i want dead corpses, blood, a demonic bloody knuckles that killed alot of children like William Afton. Then sonic being the victim arriving to various zones from sonic 3 and then some creepy cryptic atmospheric things happen in game. Like tails being dead and Dr eggman being in a gravestone saying "R.I.P. Robotnik 1994-1994" then a bunch of Chinelin Mario Clichés happen.
_"waiter waiter! more sonic 3 prototype content please!"_
Patience, my liege.
The servers scramble to unveil more of Sonic's previous samples
Get ready for the Third Sonic Movie on January 1st of 2025! Cuz you will see some references from the game. Despite the Second Movie that I watched and loved ❤ it contained Knuckles and some Sonic 3 References and levels
-and knuckes!
@@BengalEmpire767-plus
9:18 That ending sprite is definitely different; his eyes are thinner than the final and his shoes seem to have a bigger shine at the bottom. The previous frame also appears to be left unchanged from Sonic 1, missing the shines on his eyes.
"Mega Drive" with the lack of Japanese text on the VHS label, and the first few seconds of the tape being from a previous playthrough implies this is a Sega Europe QA/progress worktape
Scotch EXG+ High Performance seems to be a model line of blank VHSes that was only sold in Europe, too
Original video is in 50FPS too and not the 60 of NTSC
it's cool seeing early stuff and the changes in the final game
useott, what are you doing here???
@@the3bros0S3 watching an video
Aren’t you the guy who made the sonic 3 air weather mod? My friend roshi bro makes a bunch of videos of your stuff
tru dat
The player recording this seems to be good at the game. Using the insta shield on sonic at appropriate times. Playing the minigame well, aiming for the lightning shield and dodging the rest, probably going for testing the lightning shield on water bug. It's not like some random reporter or random employee playing. It's probably a QA tester who has done this a thousand times, re-recording over the same VHS tape even.
Always appreciate your run down on these, fun to see how Sega created people’s childhood memories and is still talked about all these years later. I wonder if the devs ever knew how much interest there would be around the development 👍
The Sega GigaLeak will be here before you know it
We can only dream.
@@SilverSonic1992 -...cast.-
Very cool to see this. Who knows what else is out there that could shine more light on the MJ connection to the game!
The audio quality sucking is probably because of tape damage/wear.
9:19 I decided to compare the sprites of this and the final ending sprite, and even though yes, this one IS very blurry, there still is a noticeable change. The shapes of the pupils are slightly thinner here than in the final sprite.
9:24 goes hard with the bass boost
7:51 I wish they could keep that noise of the snow when Sonic dashes through it.
6:17 - I got stuck here twice even with the baloons on the original Genesis. I believe it I had one of the super forms activated, but not sure which character.
"Congratulations, you fucked yourself over"
You can get softlocked in that room as Tails if you swim/fly in there and don't escape before the water lowers.
@@robertanderson9447 Yes, I think that was it. Either I was stick swimming and getting bounced or the water went down and I was stuck in fly mode.
I think this tape really puts things into perspective. For every bug and oversight that remains in the final game, think how many more they must have driven themselves mad trying to remove in these prerelease builds.
Definitely a recording of a play test by a Quality Assurance team to be sent back to the devs. You might even find that glitch with the Lightning Shield and the Hydrocity water was pulled off on purpose.
My paranoid ahh: "Is this an ARG?"
The maker of the video: "No"
man the BASS in this rip is so CRUNCHY i love it
It's really interesting to see this VHS tape and see how many differences are in this very late prototype.
But boy, the sound quality of this VHS is like a video recorded with HyperCam 2.
I always thought that the one change in Sonic 3's credits was accidental. It just feels like last minute change.
that does tend to happen when you're forced to release the game in time for the mcdonald's happy meal promotion
4:25 "We do a little trolling" -Probably someone at Sonic Team
More like reporting the bug for fixing
Another interesting change I noticed, in the original video the special stage does not ramp up in speed gameplay wise, only the music does. I’d assume it was done to simplify debugging and such to developers.
Average viewer: "Oh cool, a video tape of Sonic 3!"
Zoomers: *existential dread*
1:48 In some frames you will see broken wave sprites
i love the VHS audio quality
Good to have you back!
Thanks!
Interesting, I noticed that the ring sphere in the gumball machine gave them 20 rings instead of the usual 10. It was like this in 1103 as well, right? It's also giving them a strange amount of those spheres let alone every shield is a lightning shield. Those, rings, repairs, bubbles and bumper spheres are all that appear, no other shield. Lightning is like the least common normally too
The Gumball Bonus Stage wasn't playable in the 1103 prototype, but I think you're right about it giving the player 20 rings instead of 10 like in the final game.
@@SilverSonic1992 Yeah it's normally 10. Why it also only gave out a lightning shield is also quite strange. These appear less often, I thought. At least this is the case in the big glowing spheres one that appears when you have 35-49 rings (cycle of 15 repeatedly between the 3 starting from slots).
The glowing spheres one has little triggers and only 4 of them can be a lightning shield, so it can be difficult to find one there. This is the best stage to get hundreds of rings though. Sometimes I've gone in with 40 and come out with 400. If the gumball gave out rings as much as we saw here, that'd be even better.
sonics ending sprite looks like it has thinner eyes and slightly different shading than in the final, though i dont know for sure
Personally, I believe the person who said that the tape was intended as a progress report, for a few reasons:
-The tape says "CONFIDENTIAL" on it.
-Hidden Palace has not given a reason why the word of someone actually involved with the tape should be ignored.
-No known press publications are known to have used this footage (though I suppose this could be a matter of intent versus actual use).
-The recording at the immediate start of the tape shows reuse, which seems consistent with revisions requiring updated progress reports (unless the previous playthrough was considered unsatisfactory for external publication, though this could be applied to its use as a progress report).
Another thing (which I forgot to include) is that the player is clearly experienced with the game. This obviously isn't their first or even second playthrough of the game, though I suppose this could be applied to either theory.
There's also the fact that the audio quality is really damn poor throughout the entire thing, if this was intended to be shown to the public they would've certainly gone through the effort to get a higher quality recording.
Given that this is recorded at 50 FPS, and is a Scotch EXG+ High Performance tape, this was likely made for Sega of Europe. However, it does seem to be running from an NTSC-U system as it appears to be running at full speed (and it's definitely not NTSC-J, as then the trademark symbols would've been removed).
Thing is, very few PAL televisions were capable of displaying an NTSC signal back in the 90s (and 00s, hence why PS2/Dreamcast games look screwed when running in PAL60, as it's really just running in NTSC), so it would've been cumbersome to record. Maybe Sega of America recorded this before creating a copy for the European branch?
Huh. i tought this was gonna be one of those sonic.exe creepy VHS tapes. but no. just a guy thats explaining a sonic 3 prototype VHS Nice! Btw i really liked this video it explained me why there are some garbled sprites in the prototypes Thanks!😃
3:34 I don't think that's the boss theme that should be playing here, I thought the final used the sonic and knuckles miniboss theme
That is the sonic and knuckles boss theme though >v
@quilllllyoh I meant miniboss theme
@therollingcreeper1 well in that case, it *should* be playing the miniboss theme, but even in the final game it plays the boss theme. It's weird.
In Sonic 3 the Big Shaker uses the regular boss theme when it should use the S3 miniboss theme. After triggering the drowning music and coming back up for air, it uses the Sonic & Knuckles miniboss theme.
DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM the quality of this vhs tape made the music in the prototype more bass making it more FIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEE i mean like: 9:22
What I still find interesting in this tape is that they already seemed to have settled with the insertion of MJ's tracks into the game as heard in the final, as well as confirming though the staff roll in this build, that they weren't going to credit him as they were just about finalizing the game (especially considering that they were still swapping names in the credits, like that programmer's name seen at the end of this tape but is removed from final S3A).
I'm only thinking all this out loud because I could have sworn someone from Sega of America (or someone from MJ's circle?) said that MJ's contribution was supposed to be a surprise announcement upon release day, and previous accounts from people close to Sonic 3's development suggest that his music was pulled at practically the last minute (as Roger Hector notes, they had to "sort of scramble" to replace his work). But clearly, nothing here suggests a hectic, messy attempt to erase his name.
Of course, this could practically be a release candidate build, or they could have theoretically had his name in the credits in an earlier build made just before this one was made. If the behind the scenes making behind this game is any indication, it had quite a lot of close calls where anything could have happened at any point.
given this build is dated a few days before the final, i feel like it's very likely a release candidate (or at least close to it)
9:16 what changes does it really have? i can't notice it
very interesting differences here, i'm especially glad the audio somehow was kept well-enough intact for you to notice that transition from ice cap zone to launch base, makes me wonder why they decided to not use that sound in the end
7:59 isnt it the same SFX the death egg does in sky sanctuary?
Yeah, that's it. Oops.
6:47 huh, I always assumed it was so players would get the memo to not backtrack (since the spikes also prevent you from backtracking). Remember, this is the room right before _that_ barrel.
Doesn't the barrel room already prevent you from backtracking? Though I could also see them not wanting you to backtrack in the lights out section while the lights are on.
@@SilverSonic1992 You could get a time over and try to backtrack from the checkpoint.
In any case Super Sonic by-passing the switch does seem like a more likely reason anyway (or maybe it was both lol).
we ought to find Sonic 3 Nick Arcade now!!
4:35 - If what another user here said is true about this possibly being a progress report of sorts then the person probably did this on purpose to show the glitch that happens after he leaves the Bonus Stage, as if to say "Yeah, this is something we still need to fix". There's no real reason to get it otherwise and it looked kind of purposeful.
May be my ignorance, but the bonus stage at 4:34 let Sonic bounce on the safety springs 3 times before collapsing. In the final game you're only able to bounce on it once, correct?
You're right, you're only allowed one bounce before they break. It's because the player collected the green Rep orbs, which restore the springs.
Why did I think the tape was a creepypasta?!💀
This tape doesn't appear to have been recorded more than 3 days before the final version, considering how few differences it has. It baffles me that they removed the snow sound effect from the ice cap transition for seemingly no reason
Probably because the spinning sound effect plays there. Not the only place where it's an issue, the tube teleporters in Launch Base Zone quite often "don't" make noise because it gets overriden by something else making noise at the same time on the same sound channel.
@@sikthehedgehog I didn't know that, that's so interesting
Hey @Silver Sonic 1992, in your video with Mecha Sonic copying abilities from Sonic, is the Hyper Sonic ability in the Sonic 3 prototype was putting on the shield abilities to Sonic?
What do you mean?
@SilverSonic1992 I mean, Sonic 3 Nov 3 prototype, shields don't have their final abilities, so I was wondering that if the unused Hyper Sonic ability in the prototype was applied to shields.
For example - Fire shield help Sonic to performs fire dash (and protect you from fire); Hyper Sonic can perform Hyper Dash.
Electric shield performs a double jump with Sonic; Hyper Sonic performs double jumps.
@@tylerparkes-jk7uv It isn't.
@@SilverSonic1992 Thanks for clarification. Is there more to talk about Sonic 3?
@@tylerparkes-jk7uv Always.
oh, awesome, i was waiting for this!!
could someoen try fixing the audio randomly becoming quiet and loud
Hidden Palace has said it might be possible to restore the tape's audio sometime in the future.
Hopefully they'll get recreated in form of modding!
Thank you for new video >3333
Glad you enjoyed it!
8:22
how have i never noticed that until now
hi want to know if there is a way to make it possible to finish the game in the sonic 3 1103 prototype because there is a part of launch base act 2 where you can no longer continue. I want to know if that part can be restored to finish the game
I've been watching your restoration videos and I'm left wondering if the game can be finished completely.
No, because the ending/credits/Big Arms don't exist yet.
This is cool
that'sa pretty neat
😮
Why no big arm?
Big Arms is in VHS Sonic 3 prototype
man some times i can't help but ask my self, WHERE EXACTLY ARE the rest of sonic 3 prototypes, and why do game companies even bather keeping more than deacade old prototypes so secured that it's nearly impossible to release them, is sega really that willing to keep it a secret ? and would it be even possible to see the very first version ever made of sonic 3 ? OR EVEN THE completed one before it was actually split, and how long would it be for that, some one please i need answers
You have to consider and this is purely speculation but the earlier betas might have music from MJ/Buxer team in it and SEGA definitely wouldn't want to rock that boat again.
The only real chance we have is if someone finds and dumps the SEGA archives disc 2, if anyone remembers the 2008 massive rom dump by drx some may remember that a disc was missing from the set, that disc would contain betas of different games in development during the time of S3's development so some S3 prototypes might be on that disc if it can ever be found (pretty much the literal white whale of the 1990's SoA archives discs preservation effort we literally have everything else it's just that 2nd disc that's missing).
And before anyone says highly unlikely consider this, all of the S3C &K KiS2 prototypes from 408 onwards we have are thanks to those discs so there is precedent for the possibility (heck if I'm right about there being S3 protos on the missing disc there a chance there might even be some pre-408 S3C prototypes as well giving us even more insight into development both before the split and after standalone S3 was finalized and sent out for manufacture).
@@superrayman3 More than likely, an earlier prototype would probably have music similar to that heard in Sonic Origins. MJ didn't come into the picture until around fall 1993.
ice dj on the beat
I think they recorded this on the tape so they can show what the start and cutscenes look like to SEGA staff.
Yet the game still wasn't complete
cool
I want the rom
This build was only an internal build shown on this VHS tape as far as I know
The VHS beta build of Sonic 3 is not available to the public. Just the video of the beta game is existed to the public.
Hopefully that should be found and dumped
Sadly, only this playthrough video on a VHS tape was found currently. No ROM currently, unfortunately
its ok
Launch base act 1 sounds fire in terrible quality in my opinion
Launch Bass Zone.
𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦
Now i want dead corpses, blood, a demonic bloody knuckles that killed alot of children like William Afton. Then sonic being the victim arriving to various zones from sonic 3 and then some creepy cryptic atmospheric things happen in game. Like tails being dead and Dr eggman being in a gravestone saying "R.I.P. Robotnik 1994-1994" then a bunch of Chinelin Mario Clichés happen.