“Sonic 4”, not the one that Sega revealed a few days ago, but the one that’s been around for well over ten years now! As noted by Frank Cifaldi, it’s obviously not an official game, but a rom hack of an old SNES Speedy Gonzales game. It’s been getting a decent amount of attention since Frank put a spotlight on it, though a few simple observations have yet to be made:

• Since the SNES can’t handle Sonic’s normal running speed (you know, because Genesis does what Nintendon’t), the programmers decided to add puffs of smoke wherever he went. Either that or it originally belonged to Speedy.

• Sonic’s sprite is from Sonic 2, with one sole exception: when he slides down a line via handlebars, that’s actually from Sonic 3!

• But for whatever reason, Sonic’s “curling up into a ball” animation is completely absent. Instead, he jumps with his body completely stretched out, utilizing the sprite normally displayed when he’s jumping off a spring.

• And because he doesn’t use his backside in an offensive manner, i.e. as a spiky ball, he can’t jump on top of enemies. Instead he simply kicks his opponents by walking/running into them. Which begs the question of whether or not foes can do harm at all. The boss battle in particular is anticlimactic.

• For whatever reason, Mario is in the game, and trapped in a cage. Which Sonic can free him from by, once again, just running into him It’s funny how, whenever Sonic is in a rom hack, his company’s primary competitor is not too far behind…

You know, stuff like this is precisely why I miss the 8/16 bit era. Granted, not all bootlegs are this interesting, but most have some degree of charm, plus the more ambitious ones are actually quite fine games in their own rights. Now, if you go to YouTube, you’re going to find a mountain of Sonic rom hacks, but here are my personal favorites:

[Note: I originally forgot to attribute this to guest poster Matt Hawkins. Sorry about the error! -jc]

For starters, no discussion of Sonic ROM hacks is complete without a mention of Somari, which is so well known that it even has a Wikipedia entry! Mainly because virtually every bootleg NES Sonic in existence is based upon it. Here’s part three of a play-through, chosen mostly because of the rather ghetto-riffic NES version of the Spring Yard Zone track that I very much enjoy:

Time to switch places! It’s Sonic in the SNES version of Super Mario Bros. from Super Mario All-Stars, ported to the Genesis. Get all that? For anyone that cares, I’m pretty sure the Sonic sprite here is primarily from Sonic 3, but treated in a manner to make him fit into the Mushroom Kingdom:

And here we have Sonic in Adventure Island. It’s actually the lamest bootlegs of the bunch, but there’s something about Sonic running around with Wonder Boy/Master Higgins’ legs that I find absolutely hilarious:

Check out Sonic 3D Blast 5 for the original Game Boy. I’ve noticed other (non-official) Sonic 3D Blasts elsewhere, and none of them seem connected in any meaningful manner. I’m guessing most of the assets are lifted from the official Game Gear titles, but haven’t been able to figure out what is from what:

Time for Sonic and Mario to share the stage once again! Along with some Street Fighters, a Ninja Turtle, Haggar from Final Fight, Goku from Dragon Ball Z, and the cast of World Heroes 2? I especially like bootlegs that feature original sprites, and the Sonic and Mario trading blows here are particularly awesome (and well ahead of their time, predating Super Smash Bros. Brawl by a good 14 years):

And I’ve saved the best for last; both Mario and Sonic running around in a rom hack of Chip & Dale’s Rescue Rangers. Mario here is clearly from Super Mario Bros. 3, whereas Sonic has a face that only a mother could love:

Guest post by Matt “Fort90” Hawkins