Sonic X-Treme

Sonic X-Treme was a platform game developed by Sega Technical Institute from 1994 until 1997, in which the game was canceled. It was supposed to be the transition between 2D to 3D for the game franchise Sonic the Hedgehog. Originally developed as a Sega Genesis game, development of the game shifted from it, then to the Sega 32x, and finally for both Sega Saturn and Windows platforms.

Problems arising from the development of the game was assumed to be the main factor of the game's cancellation. Such dilemmas included company politics, an unfavorable visitation by the executives from Sega of Japan, and obstacles using a game engine by Sonic Team that was supposed to be used for another game. Along with these problems, illnesses from the staff made it impossible for Sonic X-Treme to be finished on time, leading to the game's eventually ceasing of development.

The cancellation of Sonic X-Treme was considered to be one of the most important factors to the commercial failure for the Sega Saturn console, as it left the console without any original Sonic platformer as a kickstarter to selling more consoles.

Recent developments regarding Sonic X-Treme's competitor Super Mario 64 and it's Personalisation A.I. had unveiled new discoveries regarding the development of Sonic X-Treme, and a new main cause onto why the game was cancelled.

Personalisation History
Development on Sonic X-Treme was considered a nightmare, with the system in which the game was on changing from the Genesis to the 32X to the Saturn and Windows. On the final engines that were used for the game in the latter half of 1995, one was used for the normal levels of the game and the other was used for the boss levels of said game. Developing the game was considered a hassle between two separate engines being used. Along with this, poor communication and a hands-free sort of development strategy led to internal struggles between artists, programmers, and designers working on the game, with each sect having it out for each other.

The leap to 3D was also another main cited cause for the struggle of development on Sonic X-Treme, with the engine causing problems for the developers. Along with this, maintaining a stable build for both the Sega Saturn and Windows platforms meant more trouble for programming the game. The Saturn port was then outsourced to a third party development team in order to reduce problems.

Around Winter of 1995, a former disgruntled employee of Nintendo who worked on Super Mario 64 was hired by the third party studio to work on the Saturn version of Sonic X-Treme, as it was assumed that developers who worked on Nintendo's then upcoming game. The employee had leaked coding of a certain prototype build of Super Mario 64 to the development team, particularly that of the unstable personalisation A.I used for the prototype to the development team. This code was used so that development of the game would be shortened in order for the developers to work on more important parts of the game.

However, testing the builds of Sonic X-Treme proved that the personalization A.I was too unstable to be properly used for the game, as the entire framework of the game was altered in different ways, making each build of the game significantly altered. This was the result of improper utilization of the AI in the game's coding. Deleting the code of the personalisation A.I was impossible, as it embedded itself deep into the coding of the level engine of the game. Rebuilding a stable build from scratch was considered to be taking too much time for the game to work properly, as the deadlines were increasingly looming over development of Sonic X-Treme.

This eventually culminated into Sega of Japan vetoing the normal level engine being used for the game in March of 1996, as it was considered publicly to have made the framerate of the game sluggish in the Saturn build of Sonic X-Treme. However, the unstable personalisation A.I being a huge hassle for the game was now theorized to be the true reason why the level engine used was ultimately scrapped in favor of the boss engine being used. This was because the A.I's coding was mainly in the level engine at this time.

However, more internal struggles after the switch between engines had led to the downfall of the game's development. The morale of the team for Sonic X-Treme was at an all-time low, and employees were replaced left to right. The main programmer of the game's boss engine, Chris Coffin, had suffered from a severe case of pneumonia. Along with this, Chris Senn, one of the main designers of the game, had became so ill that he was told that he had only six months to live, although he had survived. Both of the teams were crippled because of these dropouts and illnesses, which lead to the cancellation of Sonic X-Treme.

Theories
The development of Sonic X-Treme was considered a main topic of discussion regarding cancelled games, and with the recent news that every copy of Super Mario 64 is personalized, many new theories surrounding the development of Sonic X-Treme have been emerged.

Disputes with Sega of Japan
The most popular depiction of events leading to the shift of development for the Saturn and Windows builds of the game is that Sega of Japan was not impressed with the build of the third party's Saturn version of Sonic X-Treme, particularly that of the poor framerate being used. However, considering what we know now, it is now theorized that Sega of Japan knew of the unstable capabilities regarding the A.I being used for the Saturn build, and pressured Sega Technical Institute to change engine priorities to both maintain stability of the game and to not face legal repercussions from Nintendo over stolen code for said A.I. It could also explain why Sega of Japan was in such a hurry with the interactions they had with the developers of Sonic X-Treme; they knew that somehow that the work used for the game as of then could've led to disaster.

The Build of the Personalisation A.I
The build of the personalization A.I that was leaked to Sega was most likely from the infamous 07/29/1995 build of Super Mario 64. This was assumed because of the A.I's execution in Sonic X-Treme was unstable to the point of the framework being altered. It is assumed that the reason that the disgruntled employee's reason on why they left Nintendo was over the build of the game, and over disputes regarding the A.I of the game. This however, takes in mind that the employee did indeed left Nintendo.

Another theory would be that Nintendo had set the employee as a mole for Sega to sabotage the development of Sonic X-Treme, disguising said employee as an ex-worker for Nintendo. Competition was high for both Sega and Nintendo at this time, so it was most likely that Nintendo did some dirty work to maintain its' number one status of being a video game company.