The Sega Dreamcast’s dramatic launch campaign left a distinct mark on the late ‘90s. Zipping around its masthead, chased by a killer whale, was Sonic Adventure. It debuted a new look and attitude for the beloved blue mascot, with longer limbs, weirder friends, and a then-modern setting. As we inch closer to Sonic’s 35th birthday, a nostalgic Sega has begun digging up materials. Starting with never-before-seen concept art for Sonic’s big millennium adventure.
“Get a load of this early concept art for Sonic Adventure we found in our archives,” posted official Sonic socials.
This thread of lovely concept pieces shows a variety of characters and environments with a far different vibe than the final product’s. A more squat Sonic overlooking vast green fields with Ghibli’s googly-eyed soot balls tucked beneath rocks. Numerous Eggman-branded flying ships. Amy Rose is snooping around an eerie castle. Humans with more Osamu Tezuka-like features than the mannequin-proportioned ones we ended up with.
These concepts look a lot more consistent with where Sonic left off in Sonic CD (especially its iconic opening animation) than where he arrived in Sonic Adventure. Sega didn’t give much context to these pieces. It’s possible they date so far back in Adventure‘s development that they were conceived for the Sega Saturn and prior to art director Kazuyuki Hoshino’s addition, who felt Sonic’s traditional look had gone stale. If this game was being developed for hardware with Saturn-like expectations, a more cartoony look would pair better with those limitations.
As the Saturn faltered and various 3D Sonic projects dissolved, the team shifted their attention towards what was possible on the Dreamcast. Sonic Adventure had become one of the biggest productions in Sega’s history, with 100 developers tasked to bring Sonic into the new millennium (though Yu Suzuki’s Shenmue would bust through those budgetary records before long).
The Sonic Adventure series has remained the signature Sonic look for over 25 years. Sonic became a fully vocalized wisecracker, Robotnik began dressing for warehouse raves and Shadow joined up to relentlessly mope around. Sega’s a lot more willing to make themselves fashionable and pin themselves to a moment than Nintendo’s evergreen everything approach. It risks looking corny from moment to moment, but rewards each game with a far more uncanny feeling. A Sonic Adventure with Sonic’s then-traditional appearance is interesting to think about, especially how it would apply to the greater 3D world, but I’m glad we ended up with a Y2K-defining ‘tude instead.
