Sonic Outerland

Sonic Outerland, also known as Project New Age, was a cancelled Sonic game for the Sega Saturn, developed between late 1995 and mid 1997, and its lead developers were Hajime Takahashi and Honoka Yasuka. It had its own website, outerland.com, but this website no longer exists. The game was scrapped late into development for at the time unknown reasons.

## Description

Sonic Outerland would have been fully 3D, using an unreleased add-on to the Saturn called the SEGA Alpine. Known levels included in the game include a plains level, a snow level, a lava level, a factory level, a beach level, a ruins level, a city level, and a castle level. Gameplay-wise, it would've been a 3D platformer, with the objective of each level being to collect 10 shards spread throughout the level.

## Sonic Outerland Youtube Channel

A YouTube channel called SONIC Outerland Archive, managed by one Anthony J., has created several videos documenting Sonic Outerland and its development. This section will cover some notable videos released by the channel.

### Unreleased Promo Art, Assets and Screenshots

Unreleased Promo Art, Assets and Screenshots is the second video uploaded by Sonic Outerland Archive. It shows various images, presumably promotional art, game assets, and early development game screenshots in a loop, with a song called "OUTERLAND '96" playing.

### Level Concept Showcase (Sept. 1995)

Level Concept Showcase (Sept. 1995) is the fourth video uploaded by Sonic Outerland Archive. It showcases footage of a very early build of Sonic Outerland, and the description says that the video itself was presumably made to be shown to SEGA executives as part of a pitch. The video starts by showing a title screen with the words "Project NEW AGE", seeming to indicate that the project name for Outerland was "New Age", something backed up from an asset in prior video "Unreleased Promo Art, Assets and Screenshots", before then showcasing 3 levels: Grassland, Funland, and Mountain. The gameplay shown is very basic, with basic assets and textures, simple test-like layouts, a camera that clips through the layout, no music, and no animations for Sonic. It is believed this was the very first build of Sonic Outerland. At the end of the video, there is a credits screen, crediting the programming to Hajime Takahashi, the course design to Honoka Yasuka, and the playtesting to Konoji Takusama. This is where we first learn of the names of lead developers Hajime and Honoka. The video ends with a small animation of Sonic.

### a message.

"a message." is the fifth video uploaded by Sonic Outerland Archive. In it, Anthony explains why he hasn't posted anything for 7 months, stating that he has been working on a compilation of several video tapes totaling to almost 2 hours of footage, as well as most of the tapes being in Japanese, meaning that he has had to take the time to translate everything. He then says that to compensate, he will be releasing various video files from Development CDs that came with the tapes, with most of them including footage of various builds. He then signs off, but the video continues with various images, 2 being from some event involving Outerland and the other being a photo of an Outerland developer with the face blacked out, along with some seconds of a previously unseen Sonic Outerland build.

### Advertisement (Jan. 1997)

Advertisement (Jan. 1997) is the sixth video uploaded by Sonic Outerland Archive. In it, an advertisement for Sonic Outerland is featured, first showcasing gameplay, showing various levels, as well as showcasing the main gameplay aspect: shard collecting. It is seen that for every level, the main objective is to collect a number of shards, such a 10. A short 3D animation is also featured within this segment. After the gameplay segment, another animation is shown, this time handdrawn, which shows that Metal Sonic would make a return for this game. The ad then cuts to a title card, which says "Sonic Outerland: Coming Soon" ("Coming Soon" being in Japanese). The video then shows a different animation, revealing an add-on for the SEGA Saturn, the SEGA Alpine, with the caption "Reach new heights.", and then cuts off again. The video then ends with a recording of a Staff Room sign for a few seconds. In the description of the video, Anthony says that the advertisement was shown at a press conference, with it being the first time Sonic Outerland was revealed to the public. He then mentions that in that same press conference, the previously mentioned SEGA Alpine was revealed, an add-on to the SEGA Saturn which would enhance its memory and graphical performance, as well as announcing a SEGAWorld Game Show in London later that year, where a demo for Sonic Outerland would be playable, stating that this game show was the last time Sonic Outerland was seen by the public.

### Test Areas (Oct. 1996)

Test Areas (Oct. 1996) is the seventh video uploaded by Sonic Outerland Archive. It starts off by showing a title screen simply saying "Test Areas", as well as a small accreditation to Honoka as the player and Hajime as the programmer. After that, a small loading screen is seen before then showcasing the gameplay of the test areas. Controlled by Honoka, Sonic goes through various rooms (6 to be exact), while hopping and running around. All the rooms but the last one have the same layout, but with several changes, such as every room having a different color (blue, then pink and green, then cyan, pink, and yellow, then cyan, pink, and orange, and finally grey, pink, and red), the second room containing a warning/attention symbol, the third and fourth room being flipped along the x-axis and having the a display flashing "X, Y, Z", and the fifth room being flipped on the x-axis and rotated 90°, as well as containing additional assets, such as rings, flowers, and palm trees. At the end of each area, Sonic jumps into a black hole, which takes him to a loading zone to the next area. The sixth and final room is a blue room, except smaller and with no features other than a computer monitor sitting in the center, which flashes between blue and red. After a while, the screen shows a prompt that reads, "Did you make this?". The video ends with a few seconds of some outside footage.

### Maze Test (Jan. 1996)

Maze Test (Jan. 1996) is the eight video uploaded by Sonic Outerland Archive. The video starts off by a message from Hajime, translated by a friend of Anthony's, in which he informs that the build is a small test to see how big the levels in the game will be, as well as dating the message to January 4th, 1996. The video then shows a tape recording of an unseen playtester (Hajime) starting up the test build. Sonic then appears in the zone, a large maze with tall walls, while seemingly distorted music plays. It is important to note that due to the video resolution, it can be hard to see what is going on in the game. There appears to be some problems with the textures, as the floor alternates between a teal metallic pattern and a solid yellow, with a bit of clipping in the intersections of these textures, as well as the spontaneous appearance of a black rectangle in the distance. At about 3 minutes in, the video goes dark for 10 seconds before returning to normal, and around the 3:20 mark, the music abruptly stops. The video goes out again at the 3:50 mark for another 10 seconds, before resuming as normal, and then goes out again at the 4:18 mark for 5 seconds before then coming back, showing Sonic standing at the edge of the maze for a moment before falling off of it, but instead off falling into the void, he lands on another platform. The video then goes out again at the 4:30 mark for 3 seconds, coming back to Hajime exploring the platform. He encounters a floating platform with no collision, and the encounters several more structures, all like those usually seen in test levels. The video goes out for a second in 6:10, and when it comes back, Sonic clips through the floor, this time falling into the void. After 20 seconds of falling, the music from the beginning suddenly comes back, and after 15 more seconds of falling, the game suddenly bugs out completely, making a high pitched noise and showing messed up textures before going back to the start menu. Hajime reacts by saying "I did not... expect that.". He then boots up the build again and cuts the video off.

### May 18th 1997

May 18th 1997 is the ninth video released by Sonic Outerland Archive. The video starts off with a boot-up of both the SEGA Saturn and the SEGA Alpine, before then giving a prompt to insert a password to access a game file called "SO051897". The player then inputs the password "CABBAAACC". A title screen for Sonic Outerland is then shown, along with title music playing. The video cuts out momentarily a few times, and then a title card is presented that reads "Welcome To... Turquoise Valley", with Turquoise Valley being the official name of the plains level. The video cuts again, and then Sonic is dropped into the level. Sonic is seen running around for a bit, collecting rings and a what appears to be one of the shards to collect. It seems this build is still incomplete, as apart from the waterfall, there is no water where water should be, and there is also no music whatsoever, however it is much closer to the final product, with full animations and no visual errors. The video then cuts out at the 1:35 mark for about 2 seconds, and then comes back like normal, with Sonic in a different area of level. This happens again at the 1:58 mark, and when the video comes back, after a few seconds, Sonic activates a checkpoint, at which point the video cuts out again for a few seconds. Upon coming back, Sonic is in a different area, and he jumps onto a bench located next to him, and he remains there for the rest of the video until the video cuts out again. After 15 seconds of darkness, a picture is shown, depicting the real life counterpart of the bench Sonic was standing on, and at the last second, a text saying "rise and look around you" appears below the picture. In a comment posted a few months later, Anthony states that the build actually originates in December 1996, although the footage is from the date titled, saying that this explains the lack of music in the level, as the full soundtrack only started production in January 1997. He also states that within the same folder as the video, a text file saying "For You. -H" in Japanese was found.

## Gallery

Profile Picture of Sonic Outerland Archive as of 30/06/2022, seemingly a render of Sonic.Sonic Outerland Archive's banner as of 30/06/2022, seemingly a high quality render for Sonic Outerland.Seemingly another piece of promotional art. Interestingly, it reads "Outerland '96", seemingly contradicting it's final planned release of 1997.An early title screen for Sonic Outerland.A more recent title screen. The copyright reads 1996, once again suggesting that the game ma have been originally planned for 1996 as opposed to 1997.An early level card for Act 2 of a level called "Sunrise Hills". It is unknown whether this is an early name for Turquoise Valley, the name of a different level, or just a completely scrapped level entirely.Shot of the September 1995 Showcase build.The credits to the September 1995 showcase.A picture of a SEGA building, seemingly where Sonic Outerland was developed.A picture of a SEGA event featuring Sonic Outerland, possibly the SEGAWorld London Game Show referenced in "Advertisement (Jan. 1997)".A picture of a Sonic Outerland developer, with the face blanked out.