The Sonic community has come across a previously unknown Sonic game intended for arcade machines. The game, entitled SEGASonic Bros., was discovered by the same person who had found copies of other obscure Sonic arcade titles, including Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car and SEGASonic Popcorn Shop – He was not the guy who found the SegaSonic Cosmo Fighter. The game’s owner had made a Tumblr post with an image of the title card, calling it a “megaton”, and tagging it with the word “unreleased”- since this post there have been 3 more awesome screenshots (1 , 2, 3).
Possible Confirmation That We Could Get A Dump
A forum thread on Sonic Retro is the primary place where fans have been hard at work trying to answer the many questions that the game’s discovery has raised. The game’s legitimacy has been confirmed and the owner of the game has come forward to say that we MAY get more screenshots and a dump of the rom all “in due course”.
As for the game itself, information is scarce. All we know is that SEGASonic Bros was designed by Fukio Mitsuji, the creator of Bubble Bobble, in the early 90s. A single player mode and a versus mode, the latter of which enabled you to “play against your bro”, was available – MyNintendoLife
Some say it is similar to Cleopatras Fortune
What we do know is that it wasnt like a traditional Sonic game, more of a puzzler game, which many have speculated similar to Cleopatras Fortune (which some of you may have played on the Dreamcast), although disappointing that its not an arcade levels game like the originals – we can only take heed in knowing that most of us have the originals on our cabs anyway!
We are following the Sonic Retro thread, as these guys are RIGHT ON IT, we’re hoping to hear of something soon and will let you know via our website, FaceBook page and Instagram the minute we hear of a dump to play.
TRANSLATED TO ENGLISH:-
“A is for Arcade”
#15 ‘Sonic Brothers’ (1992, Sega)
Mitsuji Fukio, known as MTJ and for the design of games like ‘Puzzle Bobble,’ ‘Sylvalion,’ and ‘Omega Fighter,’ was the director of ‘Sonic Brothers.’ Though he designed and developed the game, it was cancelled after the location test and was never brought to market.
I can only remember playing it a few times, but it seems there aren’t many people who have written down their memories of the game, I’ll attempt to describe it as I remember it. I’d be happy if any who knows the game could point out any errors:
The game was a falling-block puzzle game using ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ (similar to Tetris or Puyo Puyo).
The multi-colored Sonics in round spin attack form
In a 田 shaped block, a set of 4 fall downwards. You can rotate the block, and they will pile up at the bottom, and when Sonics of the same color surround a different colord Sonic, it disappears.
This can happen by forming a ring with the same colors or by using the walls. I’ve drawn the possible scenarios below. This character ■ (Same color) represents the Sonics that surround × (which can be any color) which are Sonics that will disappear:
Using the bottom
□□□□□□
□■■■■□
□■××■□
□■××■□
Using bottom + one side
□□□□□□
■■■■□□
×××■□□
×××■□□
Using bottom + both sides
□□□□□□
■■■■■■
××××××
××××××
Not using the bottom (for example, making a ring) might have been allowed too, and I think you could drop one block to complete two enclosures at once, but I can’t quite recall what would happen in that case (but I imagine that they disappeared in any case like that).
If you’re a puzzle game lover, you can probably imagine the game was a bit frustrating and difficult. If you make just one mistake with placement, your plan will fall apart, and it’s extremely difficult to start stacking over again. It’s also problematic that there so many blocks, since they come down in fours.
Since the surrounded blocks can be any color, as a bit of advice, it becomes extremely important to pay attention to the color as the game progresses. It’s infuriating to throw away a block when it turns out you needed it, –unsure–
Not just limited to the falling blocks, the game further adopted the concept of ‘encircling.’ While playing, (according to the rules) while keeping track of the situation inside and outside of the boundaries, it’s necessary to follow the tracks of the boundary line. It’s a difficult game where your eyes have to take in wide scope of things all at once. That concept reappeared in some later, released games.
That’s about all I remember of ‘Sonic Brothers.’ There may also been a kind of support item that looked like the gems from ‘Coumns,’ but I can’t recall.
I think a more polished example of the ‘Sonic Brothers’ idea is the Taito game ‘Cleopatra’s Fortune.’ The encircling idea greatly resembles it, but the parts that surround and can be surrounded are different, and there’s much easier to understand gameplay.
I think MTJ’s forte as a designer is to start with a single catchy idea and forcing it to work as problems arise.
— unsure —
I had only played the game a few times, and there are no materials, so the rules and such might differ from how it actually was. I’d appreciate any knowledge anyone has about it.
I think it’s awful that I won’t get to experience ‘Sonic Brothers’ once more. It might be amusing to program a game with the same structure..
