Oh god, I really wish you could release this. SEGA Channel is sadly under-preserved since games weren't saved when downloaded, meaning a lot of things were lost to time.
Jordan Scott Keeping record of history, mostly. Sure, they've re-printed books from the 1800s over and over but there's still special history behind the original manuscripts and certain reprints after the original ones. Having stuff like this around is interesting to enthusiasts.
That is the ultimate result of always-online DRM. Sega Channel demonstrated it years ago. (Satellaview WOULD have demonstrated it if Nintendo was competent at it, as well, but thankfully their DRM was a bit stupider.) There are several other Sega Channel-specific builds of games that, to my knowledge, may very well be lost forever because only developers or Sega Channel staff could back them up. This is why I put effort into game archival. And if anyone asks me who cares? I can point them to GameHut's channel. The audience is there. :)
Armando92 Stuffyou bought off Steam is locally downloaded and stored, although the steam DRM may be a hassle to deal with if it needs to be removed to such a wide scale.
GraveUypo You know the sound effect does sound a lot like a sine wave, and most people would refer to a sine wave as a sound, rather than visuals, though I have just noticed that each character moves separately and all of them create a sine wave together (I was originally referring just to how they move up and down, not the image they create)
Well I do have Sonic 3D Blast Directors Cut so it has a password save for each level. Plus it's on my Genesis mini so I dont acknowledge it much since the mini console already has its way of saving.
I think it's just the fact that Sonic 3D has that isometric view and Act 1 of Not Available Zone just messes with the lack of depth perception too much leading to some pretty cheap deaths. I have a greater appreciation for the non-euclidean level geometry introduced in Act 2; that was pretty memorable.
I remember wanting a Sega Channel adapter, but unfortunately the service wasn't available where I live, so I missed out... Maybe it was for the best, considering Sega Channel was way ahead of its time and I'm sure my parents wouldn't be too keen on having us buy the adapter, plus an activation fee, PLUS a subscription service on top of that. All in all, this is a nice glimpse of what I couldn't get as a kid, even if I did enjoy the same game in cartridge form anyway.
I remember vaguely going to some Sega Channel promotional thing as a kid. We never did buy it, but I remember Sonic 3D Blast from it. We ended up getting a second-hand Saturn and Sonic 3D on that, but that Sega Channel logo was burned into my brain with no idea where it came from. Thanks for this!
There was a significant amount of improvement on that regard earlier this year - demo ROMs featuring menus for most of the 94/95 year were unearthed along with SC editions of Primal Rage and several Japan exclusives. Hidden-Palace and TCRF should have those covered by now, and I uploaded footage of much of it to RUclips.
Oh WOW, this was my request! THANK YOU! :) (Meanwhile, on the Satellaview side of things, a new Event Version of Wario's Woods was unearthed. A nice month for preserving the 90's network gaming scene!) Anyway to put a technical question into this: the password DID save your emerald count, and if you were qualified for good ending, right?
Haha, I was actually helping Luigiblood along with figuring out those Magazine ROMs when they were initially dumped; my most notable contribution was finding the header for the CT magazine, which was confusing because it was a hiROM header placed after the data of the AK Live magazine data, which had a loROM header. HiROM, loROM, both on the same 8M memory pack.
Call me crazy, but I was absolutely in love with this game. I'm really happy to see that someone who worked on it is taking the time out of their days to break down how the game itself was developed. Also, this game's music.
Thank you so much for uploading this! Can’t tell you how confused I was as a kid on how or why it was split into two and didn’t understand why I could access part two... I miss SEGA Channel.
You've surprised me yet again Jon, I've known about the Sega Channel version of Sonic 3D blast for years and was always curious about how this version worked, but to see actual footage of this rarity and how the game was split for the service is something I never thought I would see, another excellent find from your archives, I hope you can release this one like you did with the test build of Puggsy, this is an important piece of Sega Channel history and it'd be cool to have this preserved for future generations so they can see how certain games needed to be changed for the Sega Channel due to limitations of the adapter.
Yeah! There were a few games that only got releases in North America on the Sega Channel. Golden Axe III was one I think, also Mega Man: The Wily Wars. Apparently even Pulseman too?
There were even games like Chessmaster, Garfield: The Lost Levels, Gotron, Klondike, The Flintstones the movie and World Series Baseball '96 LE which were exclusive to the Sega Channel and were never released in retail form anywhere else, so these games are currently not preserved until they are found in prototype form. At least games like Golden Axe III, Megaman: The Willy Wars and Pulseman were released in retail form in Japan and even Europe in the case of Megaman (I believe several Europe exclusive games like Addams Family Values and Mr. Nutz were also released in North America that way) so they are not lost.
There's also Donald Duck in Maui Mallard, Power Drive, Mr. Nutz, Pulseman, Megaman: The Wily Wars, Golden Axe III, Chessmaster, Garfield: The Lost Levels, Gotron, Klondike, The Flintstones: The Movie, World Series Baseball '96 LE, a special version of Earthworm Jim for SC, International Rugby Body Count, Nightmare Circus, Hurricanes, Blood Shot (Batle Frenzy), The Addams Family Values & apparently Sonic Eraser.
KGRAMR As I said, some of those games were released in retail form in either Japan or Europe (or Brazil in the case of Nightmare Circus) and therefore can be obtained and played, but some others were 100% Sega Channel exclusives and are now lost until they are recovered in prototype form somehow.
I played this game on the Sega Channel, I never had a physical copy of Sonic 3D blast sadly. I think I remember Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 or Mortal Kombat 3 having to be split into two parts as well.
I remember seeing Sega Channel at a hockey buddy’s house years ago. I’ve always wanted one, but never did get one as a kid. On the other hand, I never did see the Sega Channel version of Sonic 3D Blast. That is intriguing.
It *would* make sense that the whole of "Sonic 3D Blast" couldn't fit in the Sega Channel's memory at once; the same is true for "Ancient Stone Tablets", which technically is an official Nintendo hack / sequel for "A Link To The Past" played over the Bandai Satellaveiw X modem. "Ancient Stone Tablets had to be broken into *four* broadcasts.
I love how you jumped back up to collect the Green Flicky real quick before heading back down into the hot zone at the end. Anyway, it's awesome to see these little bits of history, as always. Thank you for this.
Thanks so much for sharing this! My neighborhood out in the middle of nowhere (SOMEHOW) was one of the test areas for Sega Channel. AAA I wanted it so much, but my mom was not havin' it. (We still rented games from the video store so... ?!) One of my neighbors had it, and I was totally fascinated. Seems like I remember it taking a while to download. Wasn't much worse than waiting on a C64 game to load at the time, heh.. Was crossing my fingers that some day they would have the capabilities of long distance 2P! (That's how we used to dream before the internet, kiddos) In the early 80's during the arcade craze and the birth of consoles, we used to get teased that somehow you'd be able to get games through your TV in the future. Wish my dad had lived to see how all of this stuff ended up progressing. He called some of it.
Two reasons - 1) cost. It added a lot to the manufacturing cost of the cart. 2) Game length. If you could save you could very quickly complete the game. That's why most games didn't have a save at the time. You could complete Mickey Mania in 25 minutes if you were good. Same with Revenge of Shinobi etc.
GameHut I won't lie, I do wish the Saturn version had a game save, that saved your score, lives, and Emeralds. This makes it so much easier to do score runs (since the Special Stages are pretty long in the Saturn version). I will say, I like how y'all did the Saturn version's acquiring of Emeralds, with one Emerald per act. This kept you from getting all the Emeralds by Rusty Ruin Act 2.
I am loving these videos. I grew up playing so many Traveler's Tales games. Sonic R, Sonic 3D Blast, Toy Story 2, and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command were some of my favorite games and they hold up. Thank you for sharing developer secrets!
This is cool to see. As a fan of this too-often overlooked game, and someone who had the Sega Channel, it's nice to get this look back. I can't remember now if I played this on the Sega Channel, but I had a subscription from roughly May 1995-November 1997, and I think I was already somewhat familiar with the game when I rented it a year or two later, so...probably did play this version.
I forgot how astonishingly good this game's music is! What was it like making this game in England whilst working alongside Jun Senoue and Tatsuyuki Maeda in Japan, Jon?
Whenever I think of Sonic 3D Blast, I can’t help but wonder: Did anyone go through the whole thing from start to finish in just one sitting? The answer is obviously yes, but I can’t imagine how much patience you must have to do so. Not only it's a pretty long game, but it’s also kinda hard and even frustrating at times.
Man, I remember playing Part 1 years ago on my Sega Channel, and having to wait two weeks (by that time they went bi-weekly updates) just to play Part 2.
I remember seeing this game being demoed at a Sega Channel kioskset up by the local cable TV company. I signed up for the 2-week Sega Channel free trial, and borrowed a friend's Genesis (for the next 6 months) for the purpose. That is when I became the Sonic fan that I am today.
I'll agree with the "best OST" part, at least. Either version, really. They brought their A game when designing the two soundtracks, seriously. Some of my favorite songs of the entire franchise come from this game's two soundtracks.
I loved sega channel. I though I was the only one who remembered any facts about it all and here's a video precisely about that. This was always the best video game subscription ever. Screw Gamefly. Sega brought you seemingly infinite amount of titles and a ton of demos ahead of release dates. It was nuts. That's why the guy had to say SEGA all freaked out after awhile because that's what we, the sega channel players would exclaim every month when a new pack of about 40 games came in along with many of the favorites from the previous month. All thr sonics , road rash, fifa, nhl, skitchin, it was crazy. Pair this sheer ingenuity with the magical wizardy of an x - band and you were the coolest kid on the block. Don't get me started on modern cross-compatibility issues, '94 didn't have that problem. Ok I rambled enough for now I'm passionate about sega channel.
not only is he from Travellers Tales, he is also the *director* of Travellers Tales, Jon Burton. His name is the first to come up when he shows the credits in this video!
Jon , I've got to say, I've really enjoyed your channel so far keep up the great work. I fondly remember this game and even played the Sega Channel version which led me to by the copy of the game. Seriously Sega Channel was awesome. Thanks for making that version! I would love to see if there could be anything further that you can share about the Genesis Development Platform Hardware? Likes? Dislikes? Things that were super annoying? Qwerks? What was all of the information/hardware/software did you need to start programming for it back in the day? Is that something you could even share? If you don't, maybe somebody else you know could also comment regarding developing for the 32x and Sega CD as well? I Personally would like to try my own hand at it and enjoyed the little demo that you released on one of your previous videos. I would really like to do some homebrew for the genesis and potentially release a modern game for it maybe an RPG along the lines of Pier Solar and the Great Architects. I always wondered if there could be some great RPG potential for the Genesis other than Phantasy Star. Maybe with some modern thinking applied there could be some more power squeezed out of it. Shining Force Series is one of my favorites.
You should really get in touch with Unseen 64 sometime if you have anything else interesting to show off, they specialise in cancelled and undeveloped video games so I'm sure they'd jump at the chance to talk with you.
I had a friend with Sega Channel. It'd be amazing if someone ever found the NTSC US version of Mega Man: The WIly Wars that doesn't run at 50hz but is in english.
sega channel, one kid in school had this, but their parents didnt like other kids coming in their house, one time i was lucky enough to come in and see sega channel. i remember sonic 2 was on there and mega bomber man, the games changed each month or something like that
Meaning that password would've needed to carry information on emeralds collected among other things. No wonder you were able to put that password system into Director's Cut. Awesome.
Who wrote the music for Sonic 3D on the Megadrive? Some of the tracks were recycled in Sonic Adventure, why did the Saturn version of Sonic 3D get a completely new score? Would love to see a video about the Saturn version. Was the special stage built on the same technology as Sonic R or was it written specifically for Sonic 3D on the Saturn?
I actually had Sega Channel back in the day and it was pretty amazing. Defiantly ahead of its time and something that modern game companies are only taking advantage of. Out of curiosity, do you know exactly what month Sonic 3D Blast 1 & 2 went live and if it was one of the premium games you had to pay extra for? I remember playing Sonic 1 for the first time on Sega Channel, but I never remember seeing 3D Blast.
Always exciting to see new tidbits related to the Sega Channel, especially since I wasn't able to experience it at the time due to - well, probably a variety of reasons including it not being rolled out in my area. I would be curious to know how wide Sega Channel distribution was in it's short-lived heyday.
Great stuff! Btw, I always been wandering why this game had sega scream and other don't. Is there anything special about it? Why you decided to use it here?
3:38 I was thinking to myself: ‘AGH! I know this song from somewhere!’ Then I realised... It was in one of sonic mania’s trailers... One that hyper potions and other one worked on called checkpoint... They recreated it XD
Ah Sega channel. One thing I wanted as a kid that I never got. I remember my cousin having the second Channel and playing Sonic 3D Blast in asked if the regular cartridge. That I owned had a part one and part two to it. Sugar was way ahead of its time with the Sega Channel. If it had caught on a lot more when I was out we probably all be playing stream counsel's instead of actually buying the actual software and Hardware.
Not to be morbid but do you have it set up so that your entire archive of Sega projects gets uploaded somewhere when you die? Or at least a drive will all the files will mysteriously show up at several of the people biggest in the retro Sega preservation scene? I think the work you did and are doing now is absolutely amazing and I love all your videos. I just really hope your work gets preserved for as long as possible.
Thanks for this video. It's a gem for sure. IMO, Sonic 3D Blast is an amazing, underrated game. It's just get tired in late stages, once the game is more focused in exploration... In this case, a save feature could help a lot for sure, but, as Jon said when answering Ryan's question, add a save feature would increase the game's cost, or even the final price. Until this point I understand. What I don't understand is why the Sega Saturn version don't have this feature, once the loading times are long, increasing the time of gameplay, and the game could use the console's internal backup memory (or even the backup cartridge too). Other thing I miss in the Sega Saturn version is an option/code to directly access the Special Stages. Sonic Team made an amazing work recreating Sonic 2's Special Stage in 3D. I always have a wish to play only the Special Stages in this version of the game, specially the last one, but I have no patience to play the game just to kill my will. Sadly, this version of the Special Stage didn't make the cut at the PC version. Hey, Jon... Can you confirm if the concept to Sonic rescue the Flickies came from the original Flicky game, or if this concept is just a coincidence...
RE Flickies - they are the same creature from the Flicky game. Sonic rescues creatures in all his early games, so I guess SEGA chose Flickies for this one.
Thanks for the reply, Jon. Just to note, because it looks like you do not know, the idea to rescue birds, making them follow Sonic in a row, and delivery them to a check point, this concept came from an old Sega's arcade game called Flicky, where the titular blue bird must catch other birds and guide them to the exit. You can check the gameplay of this game here: ruclips.net/video/Gth96brPsxM/видео.htmlm8s It's pointed by the comunity this concept was a tribute to the old Sega's arcade game, once the Flicky character from this game was included with the other animal friends Sonic must rescue in the first game and sequels (until this point, Flicky made cameos in other Sega games). So, this reference from the Flicky game was Sega's idea, and not from TT, right? That's interesting... Can you answer if it was an idea from Sega to offer Flickies in different colors (for different reactions), or it was a TT idea? It's because, until before Sonic 3D Blast, only blue Flickies existed in the franchise (all with the same draw), and the colored Flickies (with different draw) could hit even other Sonic's medias, like the anime Sonic X...
I played the demo version of this way back when before they released it! It only had Green Grove zone but I thought it was the neatest thing to try games early like that. Sega Channel was way ahead of its time.
@GameHut, How did the level select work on this? I thought that the reason it worked on the original was because moving the cartridge technically caused a crash that was intercepted and turned into the level select. Did the adaptor work like a rewriteable cartridge?
Interesting that you added that password system...that's a good way of carrying that progress over. I mean....I suppose you could have just stuck people into those levels without doing that but it seems like a more complete and cohesive experience if you're bringing progress over.
I distinctly remember a Sonic 3D Blast demo on the Sega Channel that ended with the boss in Green Grove and gave us a password. It was either to continue with the full game once that dropped, or it was for some contest because the game was brand spanking new. Does anyone else remember that?
A question related to 3D Blast... one of the prototypes has a sort of cross-eyed Sonic on the main menu, which got a bit infamous over the years. Was it an intentional screw-up, or just an accident? Just curious. Awesome vids as usual!
Watching this makes me wish I could've experienced SEGA Channel, even if there was like a mock version of it. I'd have been way too young to take advantage of it.
Out of curiosity, what would have happened if you had cut the intro FMV from the game instead of splitting it into 2 parts? Would it have been able to have been done in a single part without the intro, or was the game still too large even with the removed? Could any other methods have been done to save space instead of splitting it into 2 parts that you could think of that would have allowed it to be a single part?
This is amazing, the Sega Channel has so many lost games it's magical to see some of these survive. By any chance, do you have some of the Sega Channel-exclusive games like Garfield's sequel that doesn't even have pics of it online anymore?
Interesting! Honestly, I never knew there was a SEGA Channel version of this game... Such a good game... Thank you for sharing this video! Although I'm curious - in level select, what happens if you try to choose any of the 'not available' zones? I mean I'm assuming nothing happens, but I'm still curious.
Oh god, I really wish you could release this. SEGA Channel is sadly under-preserved since games weren't saved when downloaded, meaning a lot of things were lost to time.
So is Nintendo and Satelliview's service. I mean, there's ROMs, but there's missing audio what with that being streamed via satellite.
Wtf? What reason would this be released? Sonic 3D Blast but with a password to keep playing?
That's ridiculous.
Jordan Scott
Keeping record of history, mostly. Sure, they've re-printed books from the 1800s over and over but there's still special history behind the original manuscripts and certain reprints after the original ones. Having stuff like this around is interesting to enthusiasts.
Fancy seeing you here, Tina Bean. These games should not have gone to waste like this, but I guess that's SEGA's fault.
Jordan Scott - and the ability to not start at the beginning of the game without cheats or buying a whole other system? Sign me up!
Considering the rom is deleted from the Sega Channel adapter when the Genesis is turned off, it's no surprise that there's no footage.
Seriously, that bugs me. You're basically just asking for shit to be lost forever.
That is the ultimate result of always-online DRM. Sega Channel demonstrated it years ago. (Satellaview WOULD have demonstrated it if Nintendo was competent at it, as well, but thankfully their DRM was a bit stupider.)
There are several other Sega Channel-specific builds of games that, to my knowledge, may very well be lost forever because only developers or Sega Channel staff could back them up.
This is why I put effort into game archival. And if anyone asks me who cares? I can point them to GameHut's channel. The audience is there. :)
Kiddo Cabbusses | サテラビュー好きの外人さん
I care
Thank you for keeping stuff archived
@kiddo this, its scary to think what would happen if steam dies tomorrow, all those games gone forever
Armando92 Stuffyou bought off Steam is locally downloaded and stored, although the steam DRM may be a hassle to deal with if it needs to be removed to such a wide scale.
I wasn't even aware this version existed! Thanks for bringing it online to show the rest of the world.
Such an incredible find! And that sine-wave password text is just *so* mid-90's Traveler's Tales.
You mean the sound effect or the way the characters float up and down?
the floating characters
GraveUypo okay. But how do you know what they meant?
because that wasn't very ambiguous. there's no way he's referring to anything else.
GraveUypo You know the sound effect does sound a lot like a sine wave, and most people would refer to a sine wave as a sound, rather than visuals, though I have just noticed that each character moves separately and all of them create a sine wave together (I was originally referring just to how they move up and down, not the image they create)
Automatically better, because of the save system.
A password save feature IS better than nothing, huh?
Well I do have Sonic 3D Blast Directors Cut so it has a password save for each level. Plus it's on my Genesis mini so I dont acknowledge it much since the mini console already has its way of saving.
Ok let's be real here people
Not Available Zone Act 2 is the best sonic level in history.
Edward Ender Nah, Not Available Zone Act 1 has better level design.
Well, I like the boss of Not Avialable Zone Act 3
Nah dude, Not Available Zone Act 2 was waaaaay better than Not Available Zone Act 2
I never could like Not Available Zone act 1 though, something there just rubs me the wrong way...
I think it's just the fact that Sonic 3D has that isometric view and Act 1 of Not Available Zone just messes with the lack of depth perception too much leading to some pretty cheap deaths. I have a greater appreciation for the non-euclidean level geometry introduced in Act 2; that was pretty memorable.
I remember wanting a Sega Channel adapter, but unfortunately the service wasn't available where I live, so I missed out...
Maybe it was for the best, considering Sega Channel was way ahead of its time and I'm sure my parents wouldn't be too keen on having us buy the adapter, plus an activation fee, PLUS a subscription service on top of that.
All in all, this is a nice glimpse of what I couldn't get as a kid, even if I did enjoy the same game in cartridge form anyway.
I remember vaguely going to some Sega Channel promotional thing as a kid. We never did buy it, but I remember Sonic 3D Blast from it. We ended up getting a second-hand Saturn and Sonic 3D on that, but that Sega Channel logo was burned into my brain with no idea where it came from. Thanks for this!
Very interesting insight. Understandably, the Sega Channel service wasn't as well preserved as some other gaming history.
There was a significant amount of improvement on that regard earlier this year - demo ROMs featuring menus for most of the 94/95 year were unearthed along with SC editions of Primal Rage and several Japan exclusives. Hidden-Palace and TCRF should have those covered by now, and I uploaded footage of much of it to RUclips.
Oh WOW, this was my request! THANK YOU! :)
(Meanwhile, on the Satellaview side of things, a new Event Version of Wario's Woods was unearthed. A nice month for preserving the 90's network gaming scene!)
Anyway to put a technical question into this: the password DID save your emerald count, and if you were qualified for good ending, right?
It was an obvious question tbh. It's highly likely the case to save emerald count. If it saves something as minor as SCORE, it saves emeralds too.
Man, we need the exclusive tracks that are missing from BS F-Zero Grand Prix 2.
Not to mention, a previously lost Chrono Trigger e-magazine (check Hard4Games!).
I think Yoshi no Panepon is more common - or at least that is what I was most likely to run into.
Haha, I was actually helping Luigiblood along with figuring out those Magazine ROMs when they were initially dumped; my most notable contribution was finding the header for the CT magazine, which was confusing because it was a hiROM header placed after the data of the AK Live magazine data, which had a loROM header. HiROM, loROM, both on the same 8M memory pack.
Sega Channel strikes again! Thanks again Jon for showing this to us :-D Also, Sonic 3D Blast fan here ;-)
Whoa, I didn't know the Sega Channel version was split like this! Cool to see.
Call me crazy, but I was absolutely in love with this game. I'm really happy to see that someone who worked on it is taking the time out of their days to break down how the game itself was developed.
Also, this game's music.
Thank you so much for uploading this! Can’t tell you how confused I was as a kid on how or why it was split into two and didn’t understand why I could access part two... I miss SEGA Channel.
You've surprised me yet again Jon, I've known about the Sega Channel version of Sonic 3D blast for years and was always curious about how this version worked, but to see actual footage of this rarity and how the game was split for the service is something I never thought I would see, another excellent find from your archives, I hope you can release this one like you did with the test build of Puggsy, this is an important piece of Sega Channel history and it'd be cool to have this preserved for future generations so they can see how certain games needed to be changed for the Sega Channel due to limitations of the adapter.
Not even aware of this
only knew about alien soldier being the US version on sega channel
awesome video dude
Yeah! There were a few games that only got releases in North America on the Sega Channel. Golden Axe III was one I think, also Mega Man: The Wily Wars. Apparently even Pulseman too?
There were even games like Chessmaster, Garfield: The Lost Levels, Gotron, Klondike, The Flintstones the movie and World Series Baseball '96 LE which were exclusive to the Sega Channel and were never released in retail form anywhere else, so these games are currently not preserved until they are found in prototype form. At least games like Golden Axe III, Megaman: The Willy Wars and Pulseman were released in retail form in Japan and even Europe in the case of Megaman (I believe several Europe exclusive games like Addams Family Values and Mr. Nutz were also released in North America that way) so they are not lost.
There's also Donald Duck in Maui Mallard, Power Drive, Mr. Nutz, Pulseman, Megaman: The Wily Wars, Golden Axe III, Chessmaster, Garfield: The Lost Levels, Gotron, Klondike, The Flintstones: The Movie, World Series Baseball '96 LE, a special version of Earthworm Jim for SC, International Rugby Body Count, Nightmare Circus, Hurricanes, Blood Shot (Batle Frenzy), The Addams Family Values & apparently Sonic Eraser.
KGRAMR As I said, some of those games were released in retail form in either Japan or Europe (or Brazil in the case of Nightmare Circus) and therefore can be obtained and played, but some others were 100% Sega Channel exclusives and are now lost until they are recovered in prototype form somehow.
...Or unless we recover that damn Galaxy 7 satellite drifting in space: www.n2yo.com/?s=22205
Man....just thank you for all your contributions to this era of games.
This is amazing, you're doing videogame history a great contribution by uploading these videos!
I played this game on the Sega Channel, I never had a physical copy of Sonic 3D blast sadly. I think I remember Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 or Mortal Kombat 3 having to be split into two parts as well.
“Let’s activate the secret level select”
So you mean punching the Genesis?
Jay Leu i’m sorry megadrive 2, but i need to get back to regal ruins. **clenches fist**
@@kekodemoner6915 damn you gotta break the genesis to enter regal ruins
Alex Garner just a deluded sega fever dream
No. At the title screen, you need to type "BARACUDA" and press Start.
Y E S
It's amazing how much beta and different content from games gets leaked by the developers. Excellent work, Jon!
I remember seeing Sega Channel at a hockey buddy’s house years ago. I’ve always wanted one, but never did get one as a kid.
On the other hand, I never did see the Sega Channel version of Sonic 3D Blast. That is intriguing.
It *would* make sense that the whole of "Sonic 3D Blast" couldn't fit in the Sega Channel's memory at once; the same is true for "Ancient Stone Tablets", which technically is an official Nintendo hack / sequel for "A Link To The Past" played over the Bandai Satellaveiw X modem. "Ancient Stone Tablets had to be broken into *four* broadcasts.
Does the password save the number of Chaos Emeralds collected as well?
The game probably generates a different password, depending on how many Chaos Emeralds have been collected in the previous part.
I love how you jumped back up to collect the Green Flicky real quick before heading back down into the hot zone at the end. Anyway, it's awesome to see these little bits of history, as always. Thank you for this.
Never thought I'd see any SEGA Channel games see the light of day, this is amazing! Thank you for posting this!
man i totally had the sega channel, don't remember this being cut into parts at all. keep these rad vids coming man.
SEGA was really all over the place in the early to mid 90s. Genesis/Mega Drive, SEGA CD, SEGA 32x, Saturn, Game Gear, Pico, SEGA Channel...
Thanks so much for sharing this!
My neighborhood out in the middle of nowhere (SOMEHOW) was one of the test areas for Sega Channel. AAA I wanted it so much, but my mom was not havin' it. (We still rented games from the video store so... ?!) One of my neighbors had it, and I was totally fascinated. Seems like I remember it taking a while to download. Wasn't much worse than waiting on a C64 game to load at the time, heh.. Was crossing my fingers that some day they would have the capabilities of long distance 2P! (That's how we used to dream before the internet, kiddos) In the early 80's during the arcade craze and the birth of consoles, we used to get teased that somehow you'd be able to get games through your TV in the future. Wish my dad had lived to see how all of this stuff ended up progressing. He called some of it.
How come Sonic 3D Blast did not have a save feature?
The PC version did
Two reasons - 1) cost. It added a lot to the manufacturing cost of the cart. 2) Game length. If you could save you could very quickly complete the game. That's why most games didn't have a save at the time. You could complete Mickey Mania in 25 minutes if you were good. Same with Revenge of Shinobi etc.
GameHut I won't lie, I do wish the Saturn version had a game save, that saved your score, lives, and Emeralds. This makes it so much easier to do score runs (since the Special Stages are pretty long in the Saturn version).
I will say, I like how y'all did the Saturn version's acquiring of Emeralds, with one Emerald per act. This kept you from getting all the Emeralds by Rusty Ruin Act 2.
Should of added a Save feature or a password system to the Saturn version, since it's the only Sonic game on that system to not have one.
probably... we only had 12 weeks to port it though...
When I played Sonic 3D Blast, I could never find Tails of Knuckles in Volcano Valley.
I had Six Chaos Emeralds as well...
It's always wholesome to see a dev showcasing their own game, especially an over 20 year BLAST from the past
People: sonic 3D blast is lost media
Gamehut: mind if I am a witness
I am loving these videos. I grew up playing so many Traveler's Tales games. Sonic R, Sonic 3D Blast, Toy Story 2, and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command were some of my favorite games and they hold up. Thank you for sharing developer secrets!
This is cool to see. As a fan of this too-often overlooked game, and someone who had the Sega Channel, it's nice to get this look back. I can't remember now if I played this on the Sega Channel, but I had a subscription from roughly May 1995-November 1997, and I think I was already somewhat familiar with the game when I rented it a year or two later, so...probably did play this version.
Ahaahaa, what?? I had no idea this exists! How cool! Thank you for sharing
I forgot how astonishingly good this game's music is! What was it like making this game in England whilst working alongside Jun Senoue and Tatsuyuki Maeda in Japan, Jon?
The best thing was having Yuji Naka come visit and him drawing Sonic on a restaurant table-cloth!
Hehe wow, that's awesome! Thank you for telling me about it!
@rightangle4748 LMAO
Whenever I think of Sonic 3D Blast, I can’t help but wonder: Did anyone go through the whole thing from start to finish in just one sitting?
The answer is obviously yes, but I can’t imagine how much patience you must have to do so.
Not only it's a pretty long game, but it’s also kinda hard and even frustrating at times.
Man, I remember playing Part 1 years ago on my Sega Channel, and having to wait two weeks (by that time they went bi-weekly updates) just to play Part 2.
I remember seeing this game being demoed at a Sega Channel kioskset up by the local cable TV company. I signed up for the 2-week Sega Channel free trial, and borrowed a friend's Genesis (for the next 6 months) for the purpose. That is when I became the Sonic fan that I am today.
MAN, GameHut is just so cool! Your content is totally awesome!
People dont beleive me when I say 3D Blast is my favorite sonic game and has the best OST, underated
It's not a bad game and the music is great. Rusty Ruin, Diamond Dust, and Volcano Valley esp.
saturn/PC OST is my fav
You right...this game was really underrated.... ESPECIALLY the OST
This game is great, dont know why people hate it
I'll agree with the "best OST" part, at least. Either version, really. They brought their A game when designing the two soundtracks, seriously. Some of my favorite songs of the entire franchise come from this game's two soundtracks.
Okay, this is really damn cool, it's something that'd probably be lost to time without this channel.
I loved sega channel. I though I was the only one who remembered any facts about it all and here's a video precisely about that. This was always the best video game subscription ever. Screw Gamefly. Sega brought you seemingly infinite amount of titles and a ton of demos ahead of release dates. It was nuts. That's why the guy had to say SEGA all freaked out after awhile because that's what we, the sega channel players would exclaim every month when a new pack of about 40 games came in along with many of the favorites from the previous month. All thr sonics , road rash, fifa, nhl, skitchin, it was crazy. Pair this sheer ingenuity with the magical wizardy of an x - band and you were the coolest kid on the block. Don't get me started on modern cross-compatibility issues, '94 didn't have that problem. Ok I rambled enough for now I'm passionate about sega channel.
Dirk Berserk Sega Forever does sound like a modern version of Sega Channel.
SonicMaster Sword I agree and am very excited about it
Sega forever is pure ad filled garbage lol
Oh wow, how did the ROMs for this version survive after all these years?
The guy who made this video is (or was) from Travellers Tales, so he kept the backups of the game.
That's awesome
Too bad the infamous 'Garfield Lost Levels' wasn't made by them, that's a real loss :-(
not only is he from Travellers Tales, he is also the *director* of Travellers Tales, Jon Burton. His name is the first to come up when he shows the credits in this video!
They SPLIT Sonic 3D Blast to 2 parts, like Clockwork Knight?
Scott, Glad Sonic 3D Blast is the full game on SUGC!
Jon , I've got to say, I've really enjoyed your channel so far keep up the great work.
I fondly remember this game and even played the Sega Channel version which led me to by the copy of the game. Seriously Sega Channel was awesome. Thanks for making that version!
I would love to see if there could be anything further that you can share about the Genesis Development Platform Hardware?
Likes? Dislikes? Things that were super annoying? Qwerks?
What was all of the information/hardware/software did you need to start programming for it back in the day? Is that something you could even share?
If you don't, maybe somebody else you know could also comment regarding developing for the 32x and Sega CD as well?
I Personally would like to try my own hand at it and enjoyed the little demo that you released on one of your previous videos. I would really like to do some homebrew for the genesis and potentially release a modern game for it maybe an RPG along the lines of Pier Solar and the Great Architects. I always wondered if there could be some great RPG potential for the Genesis other than Phantasy Star. Maybe with some modern thinking applied there could be some more power squeezed out of it. Shining Force Series is one of my favorites.
You should really get in touch with Unseen 64 sometime if you have anything else interesting to show off, they specialise in cancelled and undeveloped video games so I'm sure they'd jump at the chance to talk with you.
oh boy, you haven't seen the cutting room floor
tcrf is filled with political bs tho
It is? I'm curious to know more about it.
Falcon Bleck I don' t get it...
ZoneofDoom Seconded
I had the sega channel when I was like age 11. That was awesome!!! It was available when TCI had took over Viacom in Seattle. Around 1994-1996
Oh my god. I love you and your channel so much!
I haven't seen the Sega Channel version of Sonic 3D Blast in over 20 years! I remember it being split into two parts along with other games.
one of the best sega genesis hardware pushers. sound/ music is top level and so are the graphics.
I had a friend with Sega Channel. It'd be amazing if someone ever found the NTSC US version of Mega Man: The WIly Wars that doesn't run at 50hz but is in english.
ClexYoshi Quick internet search will find you an actual repro cart for sale.
I was under the impression that the Repros are just a homebrew fix of the PAL carts or something.
such an underrated channel
Now THESE are the original Sonic 4 Episodes 1 and 2!
sega channel, one kid in school had this, but their parents didnt like other kids coming in their house, one time i was lucky enough to come in and see sega channel. i remember sonic 2 was on there and mega bomber man, the games changed each month or something like that
I realized that the music at the credits was remixed and used at the Sonic mania trailer
Erika Palacios Which trailer? The credits theme sounds so familiar.....
EDIT: Never mind, it's from the very beginning of the reveal trailer.
O_O I NEVER NOTICED THAT!
so interesting. thank you for showing it!!
Meaning that password would've needed to carry information on emeralds collected among other things.
No wonder you were able to put that password system into Director's Cut. Awesome.
I found amazing the effect on Robotnik's glass shield as you hit it, man i loved this game as i was a kid
I miss Sega Channel, I always looked forward to the next batch of games every month. I remember Mortal Kombat 3 had 2 parts as well.
Wow! I didn't even know such a version existed!
Who wrote the music for Sonic 3D on the Megadrive? Some of the tracks were recycled in Sonic Adventure, why did the Saturn version of Sonic 3D get a completely new score? Would love to see a video about the Saturn version. Was the special stage built on the same technology as Sonic R or was it written specifically for Sonic 3D on the Saturn?
Jun Senoue
And a big thanks to SEGA for the SEGA Channel. Best childhood memories ever!
Is there a uncompressed version of the intro to sonic 3D Blast??
Fusion There was but he lost it
Megane That's ashame.
:(
I actually had Sega Channel back in the day and it was pretty amazing. Defiantly ahead of its time and something that modern game companies are only taking advantage of. Out of curiosity, do you know exactly what month Sonic 3D Blast 1 & 2 went live and if it was one of the premium games you had to pay extra for? I remember playing Sonic 1 for the first time on Sega Channel, but I never remember seeing 3D Blast.
Weren't sega channel games stored in volatile memory? Meaning they were deleted everytime you turned off the console? What a weird idea.
Always exciting to see new tidbits related to the Sega Channel, especially since I wasn't able to experience it at the time due to - well, probably a variety of reasons including it not being rolled out in my area. I would be curious to know how wide Sega Channel distribution was in it's short-lived heyday.
I remember playing Sonic Spinball on a Sega Channel at the cable company back in the 90s. I never knew Sonic 3D blast was available on Sega Channel.
Great stuff!
Btw, I always been wandering why this game had sega scream and other don't. Is there anything special about it? Why you decided to use it here?
I always thought it was robotnik screaming it. To this day I imagine classic robotnik with that voice.
There's a beta version of 3D Blast online somewhere that uses the "Se-gaaaaaaa" sound bite and not the scream. It must've been changed late.
There's a beta version of 3D Blast online somewhere that uses the "Se-gaaaaaaa" sound bite and not the scream. It must've been changed late.
There's a beta version of 3D Blast online somewhere that uses the "Se-gaaaaaaa" sound bite and not the scream. It must've been changed late.
Maybe because they were short on cartridge space, and decide to use the scream, since it's shorter?
"Let's activate the secret level select"
*gives the cartridge a GRAND UPPAAAHH while it's running*
3:38
I was thinking to myself:
‘AGH! I know this song from somewhere!’
Then I realised...
It was in one of sonic mania’s trailers...
One that hyper potions and other one worked on called checkpoint...
They recreated it XD
This music also played in the "NO WAY? NO WAY!" anti piracy screen
Ah Sega channel. One thing I wanted as a kid that I never got. I remember my cousin having the second Channel and playing Sonic 3D Blast in asked if the regular cartridge. That I owned had a part one and part two to it.
Sugar was way ahead of its time with the Sega Channel. If it had caught on a lot more when I was out we probably all be playing stream counsel's instead of actually buying the actual software and Hardware.
I could watch this guy talk about old games forever
1:22 the exact same music was used in the Sonic Chronicles level Central City
Same music just butchered to fuck.
I remember Mortal Kombat 3 having a special preview version on Sega Channel. It had half the characters split up into two versions like this...
Not to be morbid but do you have it set up so that your entire archive of Sega projects gets uploaded somewhere when you die? Or at least a drive will all the files will mysteriously show up at several of the people biggest in the retro Sega preservation scene?
I think the work you did and are doing now is absolutely amazing and I love all your videos. I just really hope your work gets preserved for as long as possible.
Thanks for this video. It's a gem for sure.
IMO, Sonic 3D Blast is an amazing, underrated game. It's just get tired in late stages, once the game is more focused in exploration... In this case, a save feature could help a lot for sure, but, as Jon said when answering Ryan's question, add a save feature would increase the game's cost, or even the final price. Until this point I understand. What I don't understand is why the Sega Saturn version don't have this feature, once the loading times are long, increasing the time of gameplay, and the game could use the console's internal backup memory (or even the backup cartridge too).
Other thing I miss in the Sega Saturn version is an option/code to directly access the Special Stages. Sonic Team made an amazing work recreating Sonic 2's Special Stage in 3D. I always have a wish to play only the Special Stages in this version of the game, specially the last one, but I have no patience to play the game just to kill my will. Sadly, this version of the Special Stage didn't make the cut at the PC version.
Hey, Jon... Can you confirm if the concept to Sonic rescue the Flickies came from the original Flicky game, or if this concept is just a coincidence...
miasuke They could have had a password system on either of them.
RE Flickies - they are the same creature from the Flicky game. Sonic rescues creatures in all his early games, so I guess SEGA chose Flickies for this one.
Thanks for the reply, Jon.
Just to note, because it looks like you do not know, the idea to rescue birds, making them follow Sonic in a row, and delivery them to a check point, this concept came from an old Sega's arcade game called Flicky, where the titular blue bird must catch other birds and guide them to the exit.
You can check the gameplay of this game here: ruclips.net/video/Gth96brPsxM/видео.htmlm8s
It's pointed by the comunity this concept was a tribute to the old Sega's arcade game, once the Flicky character from this game was included with the other animal friends Sonic must rescue in the first game and sequels (until this point, Flicky made cameos in other Sega games). So, this reference from the Flicky game was Sega's idea, and not from TT, right? That's interesting...
Can you answer if it was an idea from Sega to offer Flickies in different colors (for different reactions), or it was a TT idea? It's because, until before Sonic 3D Blast, only blue Flickies existed in the franchise (all with the same draw), and the colored Flickies (with different draw) could hit even other Sonic's medias, like the anime Sonic X...
miasuke He mentions the flicky game in his comment, so I think he does know.
No one You know -> Thanks to point this. I think I missed this info.
how many people used to have the Sega channel subscriprion back then?, i didn't even knew it was avaiable in America or Europe
At its peak it had about 250k Subscribers
This does remind me of games on 8-bit Amiga computers, and even a few Sega CD games like night trap, where the second part is on the second disc.
I played the demo version of this way back when before they released it! It only had Green Grove zone but I thought it was the neatest thing to try games early like that. Sega Channel was way ahead of its time.
This channel just keeps those undocumented Sonic prototypes coming.
@GameHut, How did the level select work on this? I thought that the reason it worked on the original was because moving the cartridge technically caused a crash that was intercepted and turned into the level select. Did the adaptor work like a rewriteable cartridge?
I miss the sega channel. It was awesome
I love this RUclips channel!!! Sega Channel was awesome! My friend had it when we kids... 50 new games a month... Too had they didn't have it for SNES
You know what I would love to know? How this SEGA intro was made. It's my favorite Sega intro!
Sonic 3D & Knuckles
That Sega intro is the best one ever! Also Sega Channel was the shiz back in the day!
Interesting that you added that password system...that's a good way of carrying that progress over. I mean....I suppose you could have just stuck people into those levels without doing that but it seems like a more complete and cohesive experience if you're bringing progress over.
I distinctly remember a Sonic 3D Blast demo on the Sega Channel that ended with the boss in Green Grove and gave us a password. It was either to continue with the full game once that dropped, or it was for some contest because the game was brand spanking new. Does anyone else remember that?
one really great looking game. i remeber beekng blown away by it's graphics.
A question related to 3D Blast... one of the prototypes has a sort of cross-eyed Sonic on the main menu, which got a bit infamous over the years. Was it an intentional screw-up, or just an accident? Just curious.
Awesome vids as usual!
Watching this makes me wish I could've experienced SEGA Channel, even if there was like a mock version of it. I'd have been way too young to take advantage of it.
Out of curiosity, what would have happened if you had cut the intro FMV from the game instead of splitting it into 2 parts? Would it have been able to have been done in a single part without the intro, or was the game still too large even with the removed? Could any other methods have been done to save space instead of splitting it into 2 parts that you could think of that would have allowed it to be a single part?
This is amazing, the Sega Channel has so many lost games it's magical to see some of these survive.
By any chance, do you have some of the Sega Channel-exclusive games like Garfield's sequel that doesn't even have pics of it online anymore?
Thanks this was lost till you found it great job wish you good luck with sonic r
How much space did that FMV at the beginning take? Would any reasoanble amount of content be able to be put into part 1 if the FMV wasn't there?
it only uses up 660 Kilobytes.
I had sega channel and the early (good) version of cartoon network. Life was good.....
Interesting! Honestly, I never knew there was a SEGA Channel version of this game... Such a good game... Thank you for sharing this video! Although I'm curious - in level select, what happens if you try to choose any of the 'not available' zones? I mean I'm assuming nothing happens, but I'm still curious.
Any idea how many people actually had access to this service?