1990's Sonic The Hedgehog preview featured a quirky unused foe

As the issue of game preservation remains relevant, the same applies to the preservation of copies of game media such as manuals and magazines. Only recently @VGDensetsu shared an archive from a 1990 issue of Famitsu magazine, uncovering some intriguing screenshots of an early preview version of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Yuji Naka, such an important figure and part of Sonic's story, praised the discovery of the magazine's archive and shared his perspective on the screenshots. He explained that the screens come from a ROM prototype consisting of seven full screens, but he doesn't know the enemy's origin in the bottom right screen.

It's certainly a design that never made it to the final game in any conceivable form. Maybe it was a placeholder, but it's kind of funny that Naka-san considers it a mystery.

It's a fun piece of history, although we're pretty happy this enemy design didn't make it past the prototype stage.