One game that has failed on several accounts, however, was the cancelled title, Sonic X-treme. Either way you look at this one, it was a travesty that thankfully didn't happen. It might seem strange to put these two titles together in one article, but why not? They're two titles that have been needing a closer look and it's just fun to make some comparisons, especially since these are two titles that were not so far apart.
The Sega CD and the Sega 32x were trying to keep the Genesis alive and well and maybe even spawn their own group. While there did come some fanfare for these two, especially long after their deaths, the cult following didn't really translate into phofit and their libraries were basically scrapped. Sonic CD showed itself as a very early gem among the dirt that was left in its wake. It had superior graphics, while also remaining loyal to its predecessors and introducing some new spins on old levels.
This also brought about some more interesting Dr. Robotnik boss battles. For some reason, these seemed a lot more challenging and part of it seems to be that he uses a lot more of his surroundings this time around. You can especially see that in the casino level "Collision Chaos". Those weird pinball mechanics really bring about that atmosphere while punching up the challenge. This was one of the more challenging games, especially compared to the past titles. This game is rightfully smashed in with the original trilogy as one of the greats and it most certainly deserves that.
Never is that more seen in the fact that this is where we finally meet Metal Sonic. He is a complete badass and still a fan favorite Sonic rival to this day. He is a creation of Dr. Robotnik that stood the test of time both with the fans and in the story. This is where he makes his debut and completely takes the spotlight away from old Eggy boy himself. These boss battles are not the most challenging, but they can be if you're not familiarizing yourself very quickly to his patterns of attack and movements. These are also some of the most high octane boss battles of the game and are highlights of it through and through.
Sonic CD really surprised a lot of people, being the fourth entry in the mainline titles, it was always the stipulation that the fourth games would be the dipping point. Not only was that not the case, it was said to be better by many fans. Whether that is true or not is a moot point opinion, but a lot of people also came under the false impression of one of the next titles for a long time.
Being a longtime Saturn fan, you hear a lot about the titles that are mostly spoken in whispers. For a long time, there was a rumor that Sonic X-treme was so amazing that it could have saved the Saturn itself from its horrible fate. That was until there came a build that apparently brings about the demo itself. If this demo is any indication to its overall quality, this was honestly doomed from the start.
Obviously, this cannot be confirmed as the actual game, and even if it is, the final product could very easily differ. As it is, though, the game looks and feels awkward. The demo isn't even all that long, but the game just looks so tight in on Sonic that you can barely see your surroundings and the controls in this demo are just terrible. It's hard to look at, especially with the 3D environment just being so awkward all around.
To think that this was cancelled was now brought into sharp realization as to why, if this demo is any indication. It's popularly thought that, the more titles there are, the better off a system is and this is not true. These games take resources and talent away from other games in development. This is talent and machinery that are all crucial to other programmers. One single coder brought into help a team can mean the difference between a game getting made or not. Sonic X-treme seems like it needed to be pulled away, if for nothing else than to get a better grip on the gameplay because it just looks like nothing there was solid in any case.
Sonic CD turned out to be the milestone for one system and it most certainly did not save the Sega CD add-on. I find it hard to believe that Sonic X-treme in this demo form could do anything in its finished state. Sure, if they brought the game to a more linear focus and maybe even as a 3D version of the 16-bit platformers before it, it could have been a smash hit. Even then, I doubt that it would do much in terms of helping the Saturn's sales in America. It had a lot of other things going against it. The Saturn's quality and performance outmached the CD by far, of course. Who wants to sit around playing FMV games all day? Their novelty wore off four or five games in.
These two games share a lot of parallels on the opposite ends. It's kind of strange how closely so many successes and failures that Sonic has in his library resemble one another. The quality whirlwind that was the blue blur has a lot of myths and lore in and of itself. That can be said about a lot of Sega's industry standings, come to think of it. Either way, it's not hard to find the Sonic X-treme demo for free if you ever feel like playing it. Don't pass up a good deal on Sonic CD either, if you ever come across it. Metal it up!!
