Prerelease:Knuckles' Chaotix
This page details prerelease information and/or media for Knuckles' Chaotix.
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In contrast to the other Genesis-era Sonic games, whose development processes have been thoroughly documented, the story of Knuckles' Chaotix's development remains somewhat enigmatic in spite of the number of available prototypes. The few details that are available point to a troubled development with platform changes and scope reductions, although the game itself doesn't seem to have undergone many drastic changes to its design and gameplay throughout the process.
Contents
Timeline
- 1994
- January - Development begins, according to CVG's coverage of Winter CES 1995.
- April 1st - Sonic Crackers is built.
- June - The game is seemingly still in development on the Genesis at this point; a prototype build of Yuu Yuu Hakusho: Makyou Toitsusen contains Field sprites for Tails that are not in the available Crackers build.
- Unknown date - Development shifts to the Sega Saturn, according to Tom Kalinske.
- Unknown date - Crackers is canceled due to issues with Sega of America, according to Masato Nishimura.
- Unknown date - The decision is made to scale the game back and release it on 32X, which may be the "cancellation" that Nishimura refers to.
- October/November - The first reports of a Sonic game for the 32X begin to appear in magazines, with EGM referring to the game as "Sonic Chaotic". This name also appears in Clint Dyer's Sonic & Knuckles walkthrough he wrote for Sega of America.
- 1995
- January 6-9 - Knuckles' Chaotix makes its public debut at Winter CES 1995.
- April 20 - Knuckles' Chaotix is released in North America.
- April 21 - Knuckles' Chaotix is released in Japan.
- May 1 - Knuckles' Chaotix is released in Europe.
Character Origins
An interesting aspect of Knuckles' Chaotix is the origins of the playable roster - aside from Knuckles, three of the four are known to have been repurposed from other projects.
Vector the Crocodile is the earliest member of the Chaotix, having been created for the original Sonic the Hedgehog as part of the "Sonic the Hedgehog Band" that would've appeared in the sound test. Vector's appearance in Knuckles' Chaotix more closely resembles his appearance in the unused sprites in SegaSonic Bros. than his appearance in Sonic 1 concept art.
Charmy Bee debuted in Pops Out of the Time Box Whenever There's a Crisis!, which was published in September 1992 as the sixth manga strip featured in Shogaku Ninensei's Sonic the Hedgehog manga series. This makes Charmy the second Sonic character who appeared in the Sonic games after being introduced in the Sonic manga, following Amy Rose in Sonic the Hedgehog CD.
In a 2018 interview, Sonic co-creator Naoto Ohshima confirmed that his only contribution to Knuckles' Chaotix was reworking the existing Vector and Charmy designs for the game.
Mighty's origins are by far the most well-known, as he appeared in an actual Sonic game before Knuckles' Chaotix, the game in question being 1993's arcade-exclusive SegaSonic the Hedgehog. He would end up replacing Sonic in the finished Chaotix after Sonic and Tails were removed.
The only character who's never been confirmed to have been repurposed from another project is Espio the Chameleon, who was designed by manga artist Takumi Miyake. However, it's possible that he's based on early concepts of the character who ended up becoming Knuckles - an April 1993 document about Knuckles describes him as having the abilities to run up walls and create whirlwinds, which matches Espio's behavior in Chaotix, rather than gliding and climbing.
Genesis Phase
Concept Art
Includes Sonic doing a wall jump, several places that aren't in Chaotix or Crackers, what looks like concept art of Techno Tower on the top-right of the page, and what looks very much like the Cave of Wonders from Aladdin at the bottom-left.
Sonic holding a ring in a similar stance to Mighty's.
Looks to be basic artwork of Sonic and Tails drawn with marker, based on their artwork on the Sonic 2 US box.
Special Stages
In 2011, Masato Nishimura revealed that the Special Stages in Crackers were to feature wireframe polygons, similar to Chaotix.
Saturn Phase
Not much is known about what form Knuckles' Chaotix took when it was in development on the Saturn other than that it still featured Sonic and Tails and was intended as a proper sequel to the Genesis games. Tom Kalinske recalled the Saturn phase of development in a 2011 phone interview.
"Yeah I remember it. It was another one of these things where we just needed titles, because we didn't have enough. The original game was long and it was taking too long to get done, so the decision was made to cut it into parts and introduce it quickly on 32x and that was a simple decision because there were too many needs to have more products on the 32X, it wasn't going to be ready on Saturn, it was too big, it was taking too long, it was over budgeted, it was behind schedule — all those reasons."
-Tom Kalinske, when asked about the Saturn phase of what would become Knuckles' Chaotix [3]
drx, responsible for the releases of many Sonic game prototypes and the conductor of the Kalinske interview, corroborated that Chaotix was indeed a Saturn game at one point and a prototype did exist at one point.
"What ended up as Knuckles Chaotix was at first a true Sonic 2D game (think Sonic 4) for the Sega Saturn. It was instead ported to the 32x and Sonic & Tails were cut and the rest is history. I know this from talking to people involved in Sonic Saturn / Chaotix developers. The sad part, I almost snagged a Saturn proto of this, but it was sadly lost."
-drx on Sonic Retro
32X Phase
After development shifted to the 32X, Sonic was removed and the game was repurposed as a spin-off featuring Knuckles. Tails was also playable in the 32x version for a brief amount of time but was scrapped rather quickly.
Pre-1207 Builds
SuperJuegos #33 (Cover-dated January 1995)
This issue, probably published towards the end of 1994, contains the earliest known prerelease coverage of Knuckles' Chaotix.
| SuperJuegos Build | 1207 Proto |
|---|---|
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At this point in development, the game's international title was "Knuckles' Ringstar" and it had a very crude title screen almost devoid of shading and a background. Notably, the Greek symbol for "beta" (β) is present, though it's not certain whether it's part of the title screen or something added in by the magazine. Because of the outlined Helvetica as an early logo and the incredibly crude Knuckles, it's possible most of the title screen is a mock-up by the magazine in an attempt to make it look good for coverage, as the only thing that doesn't look like a mock-up in the title screen is the Scenario Game 1P text at the bottom.
| SuperJuegos Build | 1207 Proto |
|---|---|
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The character select screen is similar to the one seen in the 1207 prototype, though Mighty the Armadillo is known as "Nat" here, presumably his original name. Given the way the characters move around, it is likely this is a composite made by the magazine highlighting each character and taking screenshots.
Also, Heavy is listed as "Heavy the Mechanic", rather than "Heavy the Eggman's Mechanic" as it would by the 1207 build.
Marina Madness is listed in the article as "Marina Museum". Given that the 1207 prototype contains the alternate name "Marina Drive" in places, it suggests that there was a lot of renaming going on at this point.
TodoSega #23 (Cover-dated February 1995)
Appears to be using a different build, or at the very least broke an information embargo. The pages themselves don't seem to have any noticeable differences, but the article text reveals that the build used by TodoSega had a playable Tails!
| Issue #23 | Translation |
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"Co-starred by a new and extensive list of new characters, this cartridge will arrive with the only premise to amuse and break the game layout from the weak Sonic saga. Remember that this series was standing on pillars as simple as time and some rings are. The only goal of the game was to collect as many rings as possible in the least amount of time, not forgetting to avoid enemies. This gave birth to a series that offered four titles to gamers and fans of the Sonic clan: Sonic I, II and III, and «Sonic & Knuckles». This latter character is now the one in charge of becoming a star for the 32 bit machine from Sega, MD 32X, in a cartridge with a similar game layout. As we commentated previously, the cartridge will offer almost 8 new characters, from a bee and a crocodile to an armadillo or chameleon, going through two very weird dudes, without forgetting Knuckles and Tails. Another news is the inclusion of a second character that will help the protagonist in a more direct way. The rest is focused in the cheerful and colorful design of the stages, as well as some sound effects and music up to the level of the 32 bits. End of February is the date chosen by Sega for launch." |
Hobby Consolas #45 (Cover-dated June 1995)
Appears to be the same build covered by SuperJuegos, as evidenced by identical differences referred to in text.
- The game is alternately referred to as "Chaotix", "Knuckles' Ringstar", and "Chaotix: Knuckles' Ringstar".
- The article text still refers to Mighty as "Nat". All other character names are essentially finalized.
- The title card seen on the first page refers to the game as "Knuckles' Ring Star". Also, based on the spacing and letter shapes, the level name would appear to be "Amazing Area" rather than "Amazing Arena". The 1207 prototype uses the name "Amazing Zone" in some places.
