Some new gameplay footage has emerged from Astropede, a cancelled game for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, which would have been set in the same universe as Sonic The Hedgehog. It was in development in 1994, but sadly never got finished.
The game, which was called Segapede at an earlier state of development, would've put players in the role of a centipede. Those pods on its back give it powers. And if you got hit, you would've lost a pod.
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This new info on the game comes to us from SEGA Bits, and you can keep reading to check out the video and more...
Astropede gameplay footage
Fresh from the SEGA Bits YouTube channel, here's some prototype footage - with sound - of Segapede/Astropede in action...
It does look quite similar to Sonic, albeit with a slightly different style, and a zap attack that looks like a lot of fun.
Clearly, this is a very early build, but this still looks like a fun game that people would've played back in the day. So what went wrong?
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Why was Astropede cancelled?
Former SEGA Technical Institute artist Craig Stitt is quoted by SEGA Bits as saying this about the project:
“After the original pitch to the executives at SEGA America, they gave us the go ahead to make a playable version. Myself and Ken Rose went to work. You might recognize the art as being from Sonic 2’s lost “Hidden Palace Zone”. I figured since it didn’t get used in Sonic 2 I might as well use it here and save a lot of time.
"I also reworked the basic lattice in the art to create the art for the background in the first Astropede video I posted here. In that case, I reworked the art significantly, but if you look you can see the underlying nature of the pattern is the same. I also used the art from HPZ as the foundational art for Sonic Spinball’s Toxic Pools level. (clealy I really liked that little peice of artwork).” – Craig Stitt, former artist at SEGA Technical Institute."
As for why the game never went ahead, the explanation lies in this quote from Stitt: “Unfortunately after 14 months it was shelved after being starved to death by a lack of resources. The character had a train of pods with various power ups that would be pulled behind him. If hit, the pods would fly apart similar to Sonic and his rings. (my original intent was to have it be part of the Sonic universe) Somewhere I have a playable prototype… I just have to find it and hope it can be made to work!"
We'll be sure to let you know if a playable version of Astropede ever comes to light!
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