User:Shadowboxer2005/Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast)/Early Screenshots/Dark Era Build

This is a sub-page of User:Shadowboxer2005/Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast)/Early Screenshots.

The Dark Era refers to the earliest known images of the Dreamcast Sonic Adventure from around April 1998, its name comes from the lighting which is far darker and more basic than the final game; most of the Tokyo International Forums unveiling shows this footage, with the exception being the ending, which is instead a much later build.

Windy Valley

Many screenshots and videos of Windy Valley shows it having a completely different, open-ended design; this early version was also found in the AutoDemo version, albeit without its textures and completely broken. The reason for its change was due to issues with the current design, making Takeshi Iizuka scrap whatever had been done at that point.

Ice Cap

Images of Ice Cap during the 'Dark Era' shows that Act 3 had a different beginning and has Sonic using the Sand Hill board instead of a unique board in the final.

"Dark Era" Build	Final

Many objects are missing here and icicles lack the transparency effect the final has, instead going with a simple greenish-white texture.

Red Mountain

Knuckles is seen here in Act 1 and using a scrapped uppercut attack, with a notably shorter draw distance (with the background mountains being completely missing as a result); in the final, Knuckles lacks this attack and is instead given a separate act.

"Dark Era" Build	Final

This image shows multiple differences:

• The background different UVs, making it look less stretched.
• The cloud layer is higher up and seems to lack the 'parallax' effect seen in the final.
• An extra dead tree is present, showing a different design to the final.
• The spinners, spring and fences are missing.
• The bridge has a much more red design and lacks any stakes.

Other

Many early images of the Chaos 0 arena show a very different looking city hall with more details such as larger bushes. The object layout shown here can still be found in the AutoDemo (alongside a leftover clock object in the city hall map).

"Dark Era" Build	Final
	320px

This scene takes place during evening in the final, the hotel is missing its doors and has the word "HOTEL" written above it.