Sonic X-Treme (Cancelled 1996 Sega Saturn Video Game)

Sonic X-Treme was a game set up to be released on the Sega Saturn in 1996. One of the many lost video games dedicated to the legendary Sega mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog, its legacy is second only to that of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the Sega Genesis. Over the years, many video game enthusiasts have sought out various pieces of information to rebuild and learn more of the game's legacy.

Before the game became what it was, it was known as "Sonic Mars", which would have been set in the popular Saturday Morning (SatAM) Sonic the Hedgehog universe, involving Sonic's team, the Knothole Freedom Fighters (footage of that game only showed Princess Sally Acorn as a playable character). However, due to the ever-shifting focus of Next Gen systems - from the Sega Genesis to the Sega 32X to the Sega Saturn - this game would be abandoned in favor of Sonic X-Treme.

According to interviews with the game's creators, the game would have involved Sonic battling his arch foe Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik to rescue Professor Gazebo and protect six items known as the "Rings of Order", which is said to be how the Rings Sonic and his friends collect are made. Sonic is aided by a new female character named Tiara (though her last name is heavily disputed, the common one is "Boobowski"), a female, older, hedgehog who would have aided Sonic with the use of a wand, perhaps mimicking how fellow female hedgehog Amy Rose used a hammer. Confirmed bosses in the game beyond Robotnik included Nack the Weasel and a new version of Metal Sonic.

The game was quite infamous for its executive meddling and troubled production: the game was meant to have two types of gameplay, one for its main stages and one for its bosses. However, when some of Sega's executives had came in to check up on progress, they were dismayed by the supposed lack of progress for the main stage engine (which was actually an earlier prototype), but absolutely loved the boss engine and asked to use that engine for the entire game, forcing developers to rebuild the entire game from scratch. Realizing that their game engine was almost similar to a Sega Saturn game being worked on at the same time, NiGHTS into Dreams..., and asked to use the engine at a starting point. The request was granted, then taken away after Yuji Naka, creator of NiGHTS and, ironically, co-creator of Sonic, threatened to walk.

Ultimately, the game was forced to be shelved - internal politics and one of the spearheaders nearly driving to to the point of only having months to live lead to them realizing there was no hope in having it done. The game was shelved and a port of Sonic 3D Blast was created in its stead.

Over the years, many pieces of information has been gathered about the game, its characters and the gameplay and has been compiled across the Internet, especially websites dedicated to the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.