Sonic Frontiers

Sonic Frontiers
Developer: Sonic Team Publisher: Sega Platforms: Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch Released internationally: November 8, 2022 This game has unused graphics. This game has unused cinematics. This game has unused sounds. This game has revisional differences. This game has a prerelease article

This page is rather stubbly and could use some expansion. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue this article?

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

This page or section needs more images. There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough pictures. Please fix this.

This game is receiving new content, by way of Expansion Packs and/or Downloadable Content. Be aware that any unused content you find may become used in the future. If this does happen, please specify as such!

Sonic Frontiers is the first "open-zone" Sonic game, where Sonic and his friends end up in the distorted, yet realistic Starfall Islands, filled with a few shocking truths about their world's history.

Also notable for being the first game involved with SEGA's "Sonic × Inugami Korone" project, with several (currently Japan-exclusive) DLC packs featuring things such as Korone-themed gloves and shoes for Sonic, changing many of the sound effects to her making cute noises, and replacing the Koco with Listener-sans (one of Korone's mascots, a 2D drawn head representing her viewers, the Koronesuki).

To do: Everything.

Sub-Pages

Prerelease Info

Revisional Differences

Sonic Forces Leftovers

Present in raw/ui/rpl_texture are several UI leftovers from Sonic Forces, which isn't too surprising given it was the previous 3D title.

Sonic's Idle Dialogue

Sonic has loads of fully-voiced dialogue in the game, a lot of which see him comment on his surroundings. Some of them also feature callbacks to characters and locales from past Sonic games and even comic books. While most of them are technically used, it is wildly unlikely that the player will ever hear them in-game, as they will only play if Sonic is left idle for upwards of ten minutes.

Unused Cinematics

To do: Format this better

The Nintendo Switch version of the game contains a bevy of unused cinematics, including early versions of existing cutscenes, unused quick-time events, and even some totally unique cutscenes. Most of them have broken sound effects, or none at all. These cinematics are listed in order of the videos.

test_bo2115

An early version of Wyvern spitting out its red path. The path itself doesn't move at all, and Wyvern's "whiskers" clip into its body.

test_sonic_walk

A test cutscene of Sonic walking and making various mouth poses. It also features the Chaos Emeralds, which rotate around Sonic as he walks and fly away at the end.

test_qe1080_result

An early version of Sonic's dance upon getting a Chaos Emerald. Appears to be identical to the final, but this cutscene never plays at this location in the final game.

test_qe2130_result

The same as above, but with no Chaos Emerald.

qe1310

Perhaps the most interesting unused cutscene, this depicts Tails handing Sonic a Chaos Emerald. This never happens in the final game.

test_CutTiming_Sync_cam_SN

Sonic in a T-pose with a seemingly randomly panning camera.

test_ev3060

An early version of the flashback cutscene from Chaos Island. Sonic and Tails use very basic movements, with not much easing and no lip-syncing. The cyber space effect does not appear, and instead of the hand-drawn art seen in the final game, this version simply sits on an in-game shot of the island.

test_qte_sample

A test quick-time event using Sonic's parry animation. If you fail the input, Sonic snaps to a "dead" pose where he'll lie on the ground.

test_sage_move

A test cutscene featuring Sage turning around from various angles and camera distances. Oddly, she uses her standard red color scheme, but with a blue eye. This never happens in the final game; she's always one color scheme or the other.

test_SN_exposure

Sonic T-posing in the void while the camera pans around him. Given the filename, this may have been used to test simulated camera exposure.

bo2020

A rather amusing cutscene found in Wyvern's files. It depicts a Caterpillar revving up and slamming into another caterpillar, knocking it over. The only other time a cutscene features Guardians is in Chaos Island during the Knight chase, so perhaps it was meant to happen more often. The Caterpillars use otherwise-unused animations for revving up, spinning, and being flipped over with its legs twitching.

ga3220

An unfinished version of the pinball table introduction.

Unused Supreme Events

Found within Supreme's data are several unused events, including two quick-time events. According to director Morio Kishimoto on Twitter, these were being worked on up to the final deadline, but simply weren't finished in time. Both QTE's lack polish, are not timed correctly, and end very abruptly.

The first is an unused extended version of the final game's QTE, where Supreme fires several more shots. In the final, only the very first shot and the very last cut are used. The second is an entirely unique sequence where Supreme jumps around the arena and fires his gun at different angles.

Early Kronos Island Layout

To do: Get a render of the prototype Kronos Island and do some comparisons. Document the object layout differences. Look into the PS4 version, which has more leftovers from Early Kronos Island.

During development, Kronos Island, Rhea Island, and Ouranos Island were all originally the same landmass. This can be seen as late as the announcement trailer in December 2021, where it showcases areas of the final game's Rhea and Ouranos Island, making this a fairly late change. This was cut because playtesters thought that the island was "too big" and "boring". In the final game, Ouranos Island is a completely separate area.

Kronos and Rhea Island are a strange case: in-game they are treated as different areas, but both use the same map model. This means you can see areas of Kronos Island while playing on Rhea Island, and vice versa. However, the story still seems to be treating it as one single area; the cutscene upon entering Rhea Island clearly show areas only accessible on Kronos Island, and the minimap is the exact same for both islands, but cropped differently:

Kronos Island	Rhea Island

This Kronos Island split can even be seen in-game: Going high enough in Kronos or Rhea Island reveals that the water outline of Ouranos Island is still present, and vice versa.

Kronos/Rhea Island	Ouranos Island

(Screenshots: Storm107)

The Nintendo Switch version includes a full, complete model of Kronos Island before the island was split up. This model is internally named "w1r02", and the final is "w1r03".

Early Height Map (w1r02)	Final Height Map (w1r03)

(Source: RobowilOFFICIAL)

The combined Kronos Island as seen in the final game.

The combined Kronos Island lacks many of the rail and platform objects in the final game, making the overworld feel emptier. It also includes several early object layouts, including more of the rail-creating puzzle that is only seen once in the final game.

In Egg Memo #7, Dr. Eggman refers to the Starfall Islands as "three piddly islands" rather than five. Presumably this was written before Kronos Island was split into parts, and wasn't rewritten or rerecorded to account for the change.

Internal Name

Sonic Frontiers is named "Sonic Rangers" internally, according to the name of the game's .acf sound archive file. This title also appeared in the metadata of the game's first teaser, and in a SEGA press release on May 27th, 2021.