One thing that a lot of developers have to do in order to make a game, is to pitch it first. The Sonic series is no different.
Tonight, the Sonic community got a glimpse of a pitch made in 1993 for a Sonic game that never got to see the light of the day.
Craig Stitt, a former member of the SEGA Technical Institute, has stumbled across a few mock-up stills of a 1993 pitch for a Sonic game. The game was named Treasure Tails, and it featured the fox in what would be his first outing as a protagonist in an isometric puzzle and adventure format. Stitt relayed the details in a post inside a closed Facebook group.
Stitt originally attributed the pitch to former SEGA Technical Institute designer Bill Dunn, but Stitt has since retracted the claim.
Stitt’s original quote and the added correction can be seen below.
I’m curious if anybody has heard of this one before. I’d love it if someone had something that would shake a few memories loose from my head. Back in February 1993, Bill Dunn, a game designer at STI, pitched an idea for a Tails solo spin-off game.
(CORRECTION: I’ve talked with Bill and he didn’t have anything to do with this game.. damn my memory. Time to check other sources)
Craig Stitt, former SEGA Technical Institute employee
It was to be called “Treasure Tails”. It was going to be an isometric platform puzzle/adventure game. I mocked up these few static screens for Bill to use in his presentation.
Unfortunately, that is about all I remember. In fact, I had totally forgotten about it myself until recently rewatching a VHS resume I had put together in 1995, in preparation to leaving SEGA. I don’t remember how far the game got, or anything else about it. All I have are these blurry screen captures from a 25 year old VHS tape.
“I’m drawing a blank on this game proposal,” said Al Nilsen, former head of Global Marketing at SEGA of America in a reply to Tails’ Channel contributor Donnie. “Perhaps it didn’t make it out of STI, and therefore never made it upstairs to be presented to SOA. Don’t know. STI was a great source for game ideas.”
When asked by a fan about the pitch having an influence to the creation of Tails’ Adventure on the SEGA Game Gear, Stitt replied, “Possibly. But I don’t remember much (anything) about how this was pitched or who would have seen the pitch.”
This is really interesting to see a Sonic game not further going through the pitching process. This would’ve been the first Sonic game to center around Tails as a protagonist. Very interesting. By the way, I’m a huge Sonic fan here, so this story made it sound more exciting to hear about it. Very cool!