Sonic Adventure is the first true 3D Sonic game, with people either saying this killed the series or resurrected it. It's still considered a good game, despite it having aged pretty badly in many ways (like the in-game cutscenes and Big's fishing sequences).

It was later re-released with added features on GameCube and Windows as Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut.

Sub-Pages

Unused Audio

A whole load of unused voices, with a lot of them referencing features that didn't make it into the final game.

Unused Objects

Sky Chase was going to have a mechanical dragon boss at one point.

Version Differences

Sonic Adventure had some major work done over the nine months between the Japanese and Western release.

Unused Graphics

Menus

Title Screen



A "β version" of the Japanese title screen can be found in TITLE.PRS. This is technically used, but only in the hidden TGS mode.

Coming Soon Screen



A teaser found in COMESOON.PRS, a file only present in the original Japanese version. The Japanese text translates to "Scheduled for release at the end of the year".

It was used at the end of stages in prerelease demos, including the AutoDemo.

(Source: Windii (Translation))

Loading Screen



A loading image that can be found in LOADING.PRS. Like the title screen it's still technically used in-game, but only in the hidden TGS Mode.

Vs. Tails



Among the menu graphics for the last completed stage, "Vs. Tails" can be found. As Tails is never fought by any character, it goes unused. It can be found in AVA_STNAM_E.PRS.

HUD

Early Pause Menu



An early version of the Pause Menu can be found in CON_REGULAR_US.PRS in the original Japanese version of the game. This is a mockup of what the menu looks like put together.

Both this and a Japanese counterpart are in the Autodemo, with the latter being used albeit hidden. In later versions, this file was replaced with CON_REGULAR_E.PRS.

Level Icons



Icons for the letters S, A, B and C can be found. These were probably intended to be used with an older HUD that can be seen in prerelease materials and the AutoDemo, which contains a "Level" element in the HUD that these letters may have been used for. They can be found in CON_REGULAR.PRS.

Stopwatch Item



A stopwatch that would have likely frozen the timer and/or enemies, or add time back to the clock in E-102's stages. It can be found in OBJ_REGULAR.PRS.

Tornado 2 Health Bar



The red "Tornado" life gauge is used in both acts of Sky Chase, despite the fact that a separate life gauge exists for the Tornado 2. As such, this blue "Tornado2" gauge is never used. Both health bars are stored together in the texture file ST_128S_HPGEJI.PVR

Lure Icon



A fishing lure icon that can be found in FISHING.PRS. This icon is used as part of Big's life counter in the AutoDemo.

Misc

Chao Emotes



Other Chao emotions, left out for unknown reasons. They can be found in AL_ICON.PRS.

Realistic Blue Hedgehog



A photo of Yuji Uekawa (with Naoto Ohshima next to him) holding a drawing of a realistic-looking blue hedgehog. This picture can also be found in Sonic and the Secret Rings alongside a "making of" video. The photo seems to have been taken during recording for a Sonic Adventure production presentation VHS tape, as seen here. It can be found in DRAMA0.GIF

Star Panel



The star panel seen in various early materials for the game (including the AutoDemo) can still be found in 1ST_READ.BIN. It was used to mark the position the player would land at after finishing a series of jump panels.

Spring Model



Sonic Adventure was built on the engine seen in the Sonic World section of Sonic Jam, but this is the only Sonic Jam asset to be found on the Dreamcast disc. Its texture is also otherwise unused - other objects (Springs etc.) use a different, more detailed version instead.

Hot Shelter Website Screenshot



Among the files on the disc used for the Internet pages is this screenshot of Big in Hot Shelter. The screenshot implies it would have been used in one of the website's hint pages, but it's never used.

Adventure Mode

Early Station Square Sky

Early screenshots of the game (as well as the AutoDemo) showed Station Square with a different sky. While the file SS_BG.PVM is used for Station Square's sky in the final game, the images that were used originally can be found in the files SS_FINESKY, SS_NIGHTSKY,SS_NIGHTSKYB and SS_YUSKAY_MINI.

City Background

There are two versions of the skyline seen in Sonic's intro in the game's files - one 256×256 version and one 512×512 version. Only the 256×256 version is shown ingame however, meaning this higher quality 512×512 version is never used. It can be found in ICM0001_5.PRS.

Unlocking Sonic

Text for unlocking Sonic can be found:

Now you can play as SONIC!

This is never used as Sonic is unlocked from the start.

Inaccessible Super Sonic Recaps

On the first playthrough of the story Super Sonic has recap summaries just like every other character, but due to Super Sonic's story never saving after cutscenes, only two of them can ever be seen. This is because Sonic is in the past at these points and the only ways to save the game are to either complete an action stage or obtain the Crystal Ring.

Upon arriving in the past:

I’m Sonic! Sonic the Hedgehog! When I arrived at Angel Island, to my surprise I found both Eggman and Knuckles lying unconscious on the ground. What did you say? Chaos is still alive?? …And then all of the sudden I found myself in another world. Just like before…! What is this place!?

After approaching the Knuckles Clan:

I’m Sonic! Sonic the Hedgehog! In that mysterious world… I saw a girl… and many Chao. And an army of warriors marching towards the Emerald, Then… It was standing in front of them. But… who? Who is that girl?

Cutscenes

Unused

EV00B3

An unused cutscene can be found for E-102 Gamma that implies it would have been played after failing to complete Final Egg. Oddly, it was still given a localization despite never being used.

EV0134

In the original Japanese version, an unused cutscene for Amy's story can be found. When translated, she says the following:

Japanese Translation また来ることになるとは思わなかったなぁ… I never thought I'd come back here again... こんなとこにまだいるのかしらね、あなたの兄弟たち… I wonder if your siblings are still here in a place like this... ん？ Hm? 今、上のほうから声がきこえなかった？ Did you hear a voice/cry from above just now? 行ってみよ！ Let's go take a look!

The cutscene was intended to play before the battle with ZERO. Not only does Amy never go to this area before fighting ZERO, but it's impossible due to the forced cutscene and the only possible way into the Carrier (Chao Garden warp) being disabled. It does not play if Amy is forced into the area using cheats and was removed from later versions of the game.

(Source: evilhamwizard (Discovery), Windii (Translation))

FMV Placeholders

Four events (EV0063, EV006B, EV009C and EV00E1) contain nothing but a single Japanese message, suggesting they were placeholders for the Egg Carrier crashing FMV.

Japanese Translation ev00XX 墜落ムービー まだできていません。 ev00XX crash movie not ready yet.

Errors

This page or section needs more images.

There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough pictures. Please fix this.



EV000B/EV0039/EV008B missing dust effect

When Sonic/Tails collide with Knuckles, a dust effect is supposed to appear as they fall backwards. However, the object's rotation values are never set, which are used as a timer for how long it should appear. This results in the effect being absent from all versions of the cutscene.

EV0017 path

In Tails' story when Tails reunites with Sonic at Red Mountain, Sonic jumps off the ledge he's standing on to board the Tornado 2. However, in Sonic's own story, Sonic stands in place then suddenly appears on the plane afterwards. This happens because Sonic never leaves his "clear" animation from jumping on the capsule - a state where he can't move at all. Sonic will run towards Tails and jump like he's supposed to if he's put back into a moveable state manually. However, unless a nearby object is removed, he'll get stuck while jumping and fail it completely due to the path he takes being created using an earlier version of the stage.

As-is Intended

EV001A Animations

In the scene Sonic and Tails meet up with Amy and Eggman on the Egg Carrier, Tails and Gamma are affected by a bug - the game trying to call their character objects before they're finished being created - resulting in animations for them not playing.

Tails was meant to pose beside Sonic at the beginning of the scene. Alongside the animation error, he spawns below the floor and falls. As a result, he immediately gets moved to an off-screen spot behind Amy and Eggman.

Gamma is supposed to use a 90% slower version of his standing animation as he responds to the call from Eggman.





EV0024 pose

When Sonic jumps down off the ledge he enters the room from in the scene that introduces the Egg Viper, he's supposed to hold a pose when he lands. However, the pose gets called too early so it overwrites Sonic's rolling animation before landing instead and disappears before he lands.

As-is Intended

Past Cameras

In a number of scenes when characters appear at the Emerald altar after entering the past, the camera appears behind them in the same way it does when playing normally. This is actually a bug caused by the transition from the previous scene that prevents the proper cameras from being used. Through hacking, it's possible to see how the scene was intended to look.

Here's an example using EV00F6 - the scene that plays when Sonic enters the past in Super Sonic's story.

As-is Intended

The following cameras also go unused due to this bug:

EV008E (Knuckles 2A)

EV008E (Knuckles 2B)

EV0096 (Knuckles 3A)

EV0096 (Knuckles 3B)

EV00DB (Big A)

EV00DB (Big B)

The bug persisted into the GameCube version, but was fixed in the 2004 PC release of all things. The fix also applies to later ports.

Past Echidnas



The scenes involving Pachacamac and his Echidna army at the burning altar have a major texture bug that only goes unnoticed due to being heavily obscured by the game's lighting. The Echidnas behind Pachacamac are supposed to use the file PAST_KN_FAM for their textures, but instead they use KNUCKLES_DEBU, KNUCKLES_LONG and KNUCKLES_NORMAL instead - all otherwise unused files intended for earlier versions of their models that aren't compatible with the current ones. Making the event use the correct file fixes most of the texture issues, though one of the Echidnas is still bugged.

The bug affects three scenes - EV00F7, EV0160 and EV00FB. It was fixed in the GameCube version.

Casinopolis Entrance Camera

If the player stands inside the entrance to Casinopolis but not enough to load the stage, the camera slowly pans up to the Casinopolis sign and locks in place until the player leaves the building.

Egg Carrier Boss Arena

In the AutoDemo and earlier versions of the game, the center of the arena used to fight Chaos 6, E101Mk.II and ZERO was raised a lot higher than what can be seen in-game. This appears to be have been a very late decision, as all low-detail models for the Egg Carrier (Sky Chase and Adventure fields) and FMVs use this older design.

Unused Location Flags

There are a small number of flags in the game for certain characters that will open up areas that they usually will never go to:

Amy has a flag for opening the door to Casinopolis.

Amy has a flag for opening the door to the outer area of Angel Island.

Big has a flag that opens the door to the Casino area in the train station.

Flashback Images

Some differences can be seen in the images used for Amy and Gamma's flashbacks, due to being based on/taken using an earlier version of the game:

The early Windy Valley. Some embellishments can be seen here that weren't found in the level's geometry in the AutoDemo, including giant gears on the wall of the mountain and a metal crate on the ground.

What appears to be a much earlier version of Sky Deck.

Numerous. Beta's eyes are black instead of red, the bars around the front have different textures and the background is very different. Interestingly, the model used in-game actually has the textures shown in the flashback image applied by default. However, the game loads the Egg Carrier Adventure Field's default object textures after the E-101 Factory object's textures, and so the intended textures are overwritten by others from the default set which have matching indices.

Different lighting.





(Source: PkR @ SonicRetro.org - explanation of cause of Beta's texture error)

Action Stages

Unused Acts

There are a number of empty, unused Acts in the game. Most of these unused acts have files for them such as objects or textures, but the Acts are never used.

Hedgehog Hammer has a single unused Act after the one used in-game. The only file for it is its object file ( SET0001S.BIN ), which contains a single ring at ( 0,0,0 ).

), which contains a single ring at ( ). Hot Shelter has two unused Acts after the three used in-game. These unused acts have no geometry or starting coordinates, but they use the music from Acts 2/3. Act 4 has a single ring present at (0,0,0) but Act 5 has no objects at all.

Japanese Mission A Cards

The objective cards for timed missions include the exact time that the stage needs to be finished within. These are a group of alternate cards that don't have the exact required time on them, possibly placeholders from a period before the requirements were finalized. These cards only exist in Japanese, but interestingly they don't exist in the original Japanese version of the game at all.

The text for the balloon/capsule cards translate to "destroy the capsule/get the balloon within _ minutes", while Gamma's cards translate to "destroy the target/capture the frog with no less than _ seconds remaining".

(Source: Windii (translation))

Start Coordinates

There are many stages in the game that include starting coordinates for characters that don't normally go to that specific stage or act. They're mainly positions used by other characters, but sometimes they're entirely different due to the coordinates being set in an earlier version of the game.

Stage Character Position Notes Emerald Coast Act 3 Sonic 5815,5,1136 Same as Big. Windy Valley Act 2 Gamma 694,-113,-205 Sonic's starting coordinates from the original version of the stage. Windy Valley Act 3 Gamma 0,700,0 Sonic's starting coordinates from the original version of the stage. Casinopolis (All Acts) Everyone N/A Same as Sonic. Red Mountain Act 2 Tails -397,1039,3141 Near the capsule. The game forces him to leave the stage immediately due to the scene that takes place here. Sky Deck Act 1 Knuckles 0,-410,360 On the first platform immediately after the cannon at the beginning. However, a bug prevents him from spawning normally in this stage outside act 3. Sky Deck Act 2 Knuckles/Tails 327,-74,2535 Same as Sonic. Sky Deck Act 3 Tails -1237,15,97 An entirely different spot to Sonic and Knuckles on the edge of the stage. Lost World Act 1 Knuckles -264,-23,-168 Just below where Sonic starts. Final Egg Act 1 Gamma 187,-75,957 Used for Sonic in earlier versions/the AutoDemo. Final Egg Act 2 Amy/Gamma 1060,588,-384 Same as Sonic but facing right. Final Egg Act 3 Amy 1078,15,-830 Used for Sonic in earlier versions/the AutoDemo. Final Egg Act 4 Sonic/Amy/Gamma 2811,-405,-1001 Black void

Twinkle Circuit Tracks

While only one course is available normally, there are actually 6 courses for Twinkle Circuit in the game. One of these can be played via a VMU download (Samba GP), but the remaining 4 tracks go unused. Interestingly, the course used for Samba GP is actually the third course rather than the second. A "Mercury GP" banner can be found hidden on the game's website, but no downloads for it are known to exist.

Casinopolis Sound Files

In the Japanese version of the game, files containing sound effects and voices (.MLT) for Amy, Big and Gamma in Casinopolis can be found:

CASINO_AMY

CASINO_AMY_VOICE

CASINO_BIG

CASINO_BIG_VOICE

CASINO_E102

CASINO_E102_VOICE

Despite never going to Casinpolis, these extra files allow Amy, Big and Gamma to use their correct sounds for actions such as jumping or attacking. In other versions these files were removed, so the three use Sonic and Tails' sounds and voices instead. None of these files contain idle lines, as those weren't added until later versions.

Alternate NiGHTS Icons

The cards in the NiGHTS Pinball area of Casinopolis have a set of alternate designs that never get used. While some cards (NiGHTS and the Nightopian) look similar to the used ones, these versions have stars in the background that aren't present on the regular cards.

Sky Chase Cannon Failure

When the player gets to the end of Sky Chase 2, they must defeat the Egg Carrier's cannon to complete the stage. However, if the player waits for roughly a minute and a half the cannon will suddenly start to take damage and drain its own health bar, eventually defeating itself without the player needing to do anything.

It's not known why this happens.

Hidden Areas & Geometry

Extra Tubes in Casinopolis

Inside the giant tower in the center of the NiGHTS pinball map are two tubes just like the ones Sonic goes through after falling from the Reala board. However, the flight path around this area never goes inside the tower. This is a leftover from the earlier "spiral" version of the stage (seen on the right), when the flight path did go through the tower.

Blocked Passage in Casinopolis

Right at the start of "Dilapidated Way" (e.g., the sewers), there's a passage up to the right. Although it's clearly visible, it cannot be accessed due to an invisible wall. It goes on for some time, twisting and turning, but abruptly hits a dead end.

The items you find in the path are different for Sonic and Tails:

As Sonic, the path is empty except for two item boxes at the top of the path containing an Extra Life and Speed Shoes.

As Tails, the path contains a Lightning Shield box and many trails of rings throughout the path.

From the objects present in the path it was likely intended to have been used as a starting point for Tails.

The entrance to the unused path, seen at the start of Dilapidated Way.

The top of the path when playing as Sonic.

Icecap Geometry

Leftover geometry from other Acts exist in Icecap that can't be seen normally.

The top of the mountain from Act 3 in Act 1. Sonic never gets close enough for it to appear.

Part of Big's path in the small pool in Act 2. A layer of ice prevents Sonic from going here normally.

Final Egg Leftovers

Final Egg has some interesting leftovers from earlier stages of development.

There are a lot of inaccessible areas around the stage that are either permanently blocked off or impossible to reach:

An inaccessible area behind the start of the stage that was originally going to be used for the starting point.

A piece of geometry out-of-bounds in Act 2 at (0,0,0). It's impossible to see due to the background and the fog.

Above the first Beat room in Act 3 are two small holes that lead to this area. It's nearly impossible to access and completely empty though.

A blocked off area at the end of the stage. It was originally intended for Act 4's transition point and even has the cameras for doing so nearby.

This stage has an unused 4th Act complete with its own starting coordinates, objects and textures. However, it has no geometry and the object placement (SET1003S.BIN) is a copy of one of the early test stages (SET0000S.BIN), with the only difference being in object IDs.

The Act itself is a leftover from an earlier version of the stage where the map seen in the cutscene before fighting the Egg Viper was part of Final Egg rather than the Egg Viper's map. The second inaccessible area was originally part of the Act transition to this area - in fact, the camera for doing so is still used if the player walks up to the blocked entrance in the final game.

Blocked paths in Sand Hill

There are two forked sections in the rightmost path of Sand Hill that have one path blocked off by large objects. This is due to reusing the same geometry for both forks.

The first fork near Sonic's starting point.

The second fork just after the first open area.

Characters

Actions and Animations

Tails has a small number of actions in the game that he never uses as either the player character or while following Sonic:

Tails has a working "Pinball mode" for the pinball tables in Casinopolis. Tails lacks the ability to shake the table, just like Sonic in the original Japanese version.

Jump Panels are fully functional as Tails, despite him not being able to use them while following Sonic. Knuckles/Amy can also use them, but get stuck on the second panel. Big/Gamma can't use them at all.

A number of animations in the game go unused. Some are never used because they're never needed, but others aren't used entirely. There's also quite a few "empty" slots - which just point to the character's standing animation.

Sonic uses a "looking up" animation at the beginning of Tails' first two stages and in cutscenes. Tails has the same slot freed up for it, but it's empty.

Sonic, Super Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Gamma have animations for reverting back to the standing pose from their 'stage clear' ones.

Everyone has animations for landing from a fall both normally and while holding an object, but only Gamma's is actually used. Everyone else jumps to their standing pose (aside from Sonic, who goes into his 'action' stance). Despite this the animation slot for the standing animation they use after jumping is different to the regular one. A similar animation is used for Tails and Knuckles for Windy Valley's trampolines, but that one leaves them in the air rather than landed (And Knuckles can't go to Windy Valley without cheats anyway)

Sonic and Tails are both able to pull objects but neither of them can do so because they never encounter anything that can be pulled.

Knuckles has a number of empty animation slots that were formerly used for his early combos - the effects on his hands while performing the moves still exist and can be seen if his punching animation is replaced with one of these slots.

Amy has a "balancing" animation.

Super Sonic has animations for bouncing on a spring, despite the Perfect Chaos battle not having any springs.

Tails has slots for showering in Casinopolis. However, all of them are empty and don't trigger for 2P Tails regardless.

Eggman and Tikal

The Dr. Eggman and Tikal objects used in cutscenes are actually programmed the same way as the playable characters, and can be played via hacking. They both have only the most basic movement functions, walking and jumping. They can't hurt or get hurt by enemies and obstacles, and cannot run on wind paths and some loops. Pressing the Action button activates free movement mode.

Dying before hitting a checkpoint or changing segments in an Action Stage causes the game to crash, as they do not have starting position lists.

Z Button

By pressing Z, you can make the player turn their head towards the camera. This can be done with anyone aside from Gamma and Super Sonic (though Big will only move his pupils). It works on the character select menu as well, with Sonic responding to controller 1 and Tails responding to controller 2.

While this button was not standard on the official Dreamcast controller, some alternate controllers (such as Sega's Dreamcast Arcade Stick) supported it, and it can be mapped and used in emulators.

Additional Board Controls

By having A held after a jump or pressing B or X as Sonic or Tails while riding a snowboard you can make them duck. It has no effect on either character and they'll return to normal as soon as they use another animation such as turning or falling. The animation is part of an earlier set of snowboard controls (used in the AutoDemo) where Sonic and Tails visibly ducked down before jumping similar to realistic snowboards. It was removed from the final version's snowboarding likely because it caused uncomfortable delays that could cause the player to miss trick ramps.

Holding down on the analog stick as Sonic will cause him to stand sideways on the board. This seems to be part of a broken braking mechanic, as not only does Sonic attempt to slow down beforehand but neither of these animations appear as Tails - the board just appears to move on its own while playing as him.

The TGS tutorial screens do not mention either of these features.

Pachacamac's eyes

Tikal's father is always seen with closed eyes in-game, but his model does have them - they're just covered up every time he appears.

Lighting

Sonic Adventure uses a palette lighting engine that reads data from a group of files with the prefix "PL". Several of these files are never used at all.

PL_9MB

An extra palette for the sewers in Casinopolis, identical to the regular one other than its specular palette. When the object O MUD is present this is gradually applied, aiming to make the player look dirtier as they move through the stage. However, since O MUD itself is unused the same goes for the palette associated with it.

Egg Carrier

PL_T1B and PL_T4B are palettes for the exterior of the ship, much brighter than the palette normally used. Despite not being used, PL_T4B can be seen in multiple credit images (as well as Gamma's flashback of Amy), but PL_T1B isn't seen at all. They may have been related to a scrapped lightning effect that can be seen in pre-release footage of the Egg Carrier's transformation.

Mystic Ruins

PL_MRD, PL_MRE and PL_MRN don't follow the same naming convention as the other palettes. They're actually early versions of the Mystic Ruins palettes (PL_X0B, PL_X1B and PL_X2B respectively). They look similar to the used ones, but have darker shading on characters and objects.

Chao Gardens

All of the Chao Gardens have PL files for each time of day (with the exception of Station Square's evening). The Chao Gardens in Station Square and the Egg Carrier never appear at evening or night, so they never use these extra files. Interestingly, the Mystic Ruins garden does appear at evening and night, but doesn't use the files either - the garden uses the daytime lighting at all times.

SS Night (PL1D1B)

EC Evening (PL1E1B)

EC Night (PL1E2B)

MR Evening (PL1F1B)

MR Night (PL1F2B)

Tokyo Game Show Leftovers

Within all versions of Sonic Adventure remain the menus from the Tokyo Game Show version of the game. The ID for the current menu can be found at the following address:

Japanese: 8C84F4C4

US 1.0: 8C822B84

US 1.1: 8C81E904

Europe: 8C81E844

International: 8C8302E4

To access the TGS Menus, change the value to 12 in the Japanese release or 15 in the US, European, and International releases.

NOTE: For emulators the address needs to be adjusted. If using Demul, subtract 60000000 . If using NullDC, subtract 6FFE0000 .

For the 2004 US PC version, replace the seven bytes at C53A in sonic.exe with seven 90 bytes, or install the "TGS Menus" mod from this page.

Interestingly the address that controls the TGS Menu ID has a value (13) that sends the player to the Chao Garden, but there's no known way of doing this normally.

Title Screen

The title screen is a simple static image, which for some reason is flipped horizontally. After 10 frames (a third of a second in the Dreamcast version, a sixth of a second in the PC version) it plays Tikal's theme music. After 150 frames (5 seconds in Dreamcast, 2.5 seconds in PC) it displays the unused "Now Loading..." graphic and then plays a demo.

Pressing the X and Y buttons together in the Dreamcast version brings you to the level select described under the "Developer Tools" section, but in the PC version it causes the game to abruptly exit. Pressing the Start button brings you to the character select screen described below.

Pressing A+Start will cause Tails to say "Uh oh, What's this?". Note that if the voice file is swapped with the AutoDemo's, instead the voice that plays will be Knuckles saying (a line that translates to) "How dare you."

Character Select

The character select screen is also rather simple, pressing Left, Right, L, or R will switch the screen between six static images. After 600 frames (20 seconds on Dreamcast, 10 seconds on PC) the game will return to the title screen, although the character select music will continue playing. Pressing the Start button will display the two "How To Play" images and then begin the character's story from the beginning.

Pressing X+Y+A/Start on this menu plays a jingle, but doesn't seem to have any effect otherwise. Holding A or B sends the player to their selected character's demo stage instead of their story, with the B button version enabling controls.

Sonic

Tails

Knuckles

Amy

Gamma

Big

How To Play

How to Play pictures from the TGS version of the game. English versions of these files can be found in the AutoDemo.

Sonic's Instructions (1)

Sonic's Instructions (2)

Tails' Instructions (1)

Tails' Instructions (2)

Knuckles' Instructions (1)

Knuckles' Instructions (2)

Amy's Instructions (1)

Amy's Instructions (2)

Big's Instructions (1)

Big's Instructions (2)

E-102's Instructions (1)

E-102's Instructions (2)

Gliding Tutorial

In the TGS version of the game, Knuckles was given a gliding tutorial before playing his stage. While the tutorial doesn't appear in the final game even when accessing the hidden TGS menus, the overlay used for it can still be found in the file K_TUTORIAL.PRS.

Debug Menus

These menus are in the same section of code as the TGS menus, but there does not seem to be any way to activate them other than hacking. Pressing the L and R buttons switches between the three menus and Up and Down changes the current selection within the menu.

The "CHARACTER" menu changes the character you play as.

The "STAGE SELECT" menu allows you to pick a stage to start from, using the same text as the other level select menu. "PRACTICE 1" leads to Hedgehog Hammer, and "PRACTICE 2" and "PRACTICE 3" lead to empty levels. Left and Right can be held to scroll the list faster. In the PC version, the text for the level names was removed, but the "TGS Menus" mod restores the text from the Dreamcast version.

The "ADV SEQUENCE" menu seems to allow you to select a story, but it has no effect on anything.

Pressing the Start button begins gameplay in the specified stage with the specified character. Since none of the proper story events have happened, picking any Adventure Field level will likely leave you stuck with no option but to return to the title screen, and due to an oversight, the game puts you in "Adventure" mode in the Action Stages without setting an Adventure Field to return to, so selecting the "Quit" option from the pause menu simply puts you in Hedgehog Hammer (level 0).

Level Select

In all versions of the game, a level select menu exists. To access it, change the value of the following address to 02:

Japanese: 8C7694D0

US 1.0: 8C7649F0

US 1.1: 8C760970

Europe: 8C7608B0

International: 8C7622F0

X and B will change your character. The stage list is not visible in the versions of the game with an animated title screen (US 1.1, European, and International), but the character option can still be seen, the cursor can still be moved and stages can be accessed.

Japanese Level List

In each version of the game, there is a Japanese level list in the main executable (pointer table at 1B3EF4 in US Dreamcast 1ST_READ.BIN, 50A250 in US PC sonic.exe), which is not referenced by any code.

プラクティス (Practice) エメラルドコースト (Emerald Coast) ウィンディバレー (Windy Valley) トゥインクルパーク (Twinkle Park) スピードハイウェイ (Speed Highway) レッドマウンテン (Red Mountain) スカイデッキ (Sky Deck) ロストワールド (Lost World) アイスキャップ (Icecap) カジノ (Casino) ファイナルエッグ (Final Egg) きのこ (Mushroom) ホットシェルター (Hot Shelter) ジャングル (Jungle) 砂漠 (Desert) カオス０ (Chaos 0) カオス２ (Chaos 2) カオス４ (Chaos 4) カオス６ (Chaos 6) カオスＦＩＮＡＬ (Chaos FINAL) エッグモービル１ (Egg Mobile 1) エッグモービル２ (Egg Mobile 2) エッグモービル３ (Egg Mobile 3) ＺＥＲＯ (ZERO) Ｅ－１０１ (E-101) Ｅ－１０１改 (E-101 Mk.II) シューティング１ (Shooting 1) シューティング２ (Shooting 2) 砂ボード (Sandboard)

Notable items include:

Hedgehog Hammer listed as プラクティス (Practice)

Three empty level slots listed as きのこ (Mushroom), ジャングル (Jungle), and 砂漠 (Desert)

Adventure Fields and Twinkle Circuit listed as empty strings

Collision Display

A debug display that shows active collision near the player can be found by changing the value of following address to 0:

Japanese: 8C75B740

US 1.0: 8C756C5C

US 1.1: 8C752BDC

Europe: 8C752B1C

International: 8C75455C

The display also lists information such as which side of an object the player is colliding with.

SPR Task

A debug feature with 3 displays showing various in-game information. Changing the value of the following address to 1, 2 or 3 switches between displays.

Japanese: 8C1D487C

US 1.0: 8C1C1D10

US 1.1: 8C1BDFD8

Europe: 8C1BDF18

International: 8C1BE3B8

Free Movement Mode

There is a Free Movement mode that can be used to fly around. It can be found in the Dreamcast version by changing the Action ID to 83 for Sonic, 53 for Knuckles and 49 for Amy. In SADX, these values are 87 for Sonic, 57 for Knuckles and 53 for Amy.

The controls are as follows:

Analog Stick = Move

Analog Stick + X = Move Up/Down

A = Exit Free Movement mode.

B = Go to the current character's start position.



Free Movement mode seems to be partially removed from the game. Big's Free Movement can be seen by setting his action to 55 (59 in Sonic Adventure DX), but the only remaining feature of it being the way his arms move when pressing the buttons to move up or down. Tails and Gamma don't have free movement mode at all.

Leaving Free Movement mode puts the character in an action natural for the current stage. For example, in Icecap and Sand Hill the player will regain their board upon leaving free movement mode. This is the same for stages such as Perfect Chaos, which drops the player as Super Sonic.

Egg Walker

What seems to be a leftover debug feature can be found in the Egg Walker boss fight. Pressing the Y button during the Egg Walker fight seems to cause the Egg Walker to advance to the next cycle of its attack. For example, pressing the button while the boss is stamping its feet on the ground will instantly cause it to walk over to the other side of the arena.

Error Messages

There are a number of error messages that can appear if the player manages to do things they can't normally do through hacking or other means.

Some objects will only load in certain Acts of Station Square. If the Act ID is somehow changed through cheating, these objects will refuse to load and a message will show up saying "ACT STATION ONLY !".

Likewise, if the player does this in the Casino area it will say "ACT CASINO ONLY !" instead.

This error message will appear when the Menu ID is set to 9.

Oddities

Address Directory

In an extremely bizarre event, the root of the JP version's disc houses files labelled PDATA10 through PDATA19. These appear to contain thousands of random Japanese commercial addresses, belonging to various establishments including but not limited to stadiums, hospitals, cemeteries, and even Capcom. Due to their insane length, you can find these on the Notes page along with other minor information.

Developer Text

The following text string is found in ADVERTISE.PRS. It is also loaded into RAM upon entering the menu:

Team Andromeda

Team Andromeda was a development team at Sega from 1994 to 1998 responsible for the Panzer Dragoon series. How and why this string made it into this game is unknown.

Limited Edition Advertisement

The advertisement for the Sonic Adventure Homepage from Limited Edition is still present in the US, European, and International releases.

The graphics are missing, but the advertisement itself is still fully functional. It can be seen by setting the Menu ID to 12.

Credits

A number of the screenshots used in the game's credits for each story have subtle differences to what's seen in normal gameplay, suggesting that they were created using an older version of the game.

Sonic

The skybox is stretched - it's using the earlier sky's model and the final's texture.

There are no dash panels here and the lighting is slightly darker.

There's more debris flying around the stage and the objects below are missing.

The lighting on Sonic is different and it's impossible to fill the vault that high with 264 rings.

The scene where Eggman ambushes Sonic at the wrong time of day. This is the same time of day used for the version of this scene in the AutoDemo.

Knuckles is in a slightly different spot. The lighting here also looks slightly different.

Low detail Tornado model.

Very early prerelease screenshot.

Many different objects, including the star panel in the background.

Different Lighting. Notice Sonic's drop shadow is off-centered.

Different Lighting

Different Lighting

Tails

One of the falling spike balls is in a different spot.

The same scene highlighted above where Eggman ambushes Tails at the wrong time of day.

Tails is riding a different snowboard here. The lighting is also very different.

Slightly different lighting.

Low detail Tornado model, and possibly from the Saturn development era.

There seems to be very little lighting here.

Sonic looks odd in this screenshot. The lighting is also slightly different.

Different lighting.

Early prerelease screenshot using Sonic's layout.

The scene after defeating the Egg Walker at the wrong time of day.

Knuckles

It's impossible to have the fighting gloves at this point in the game.

Another prerelease screenshot being used in the credits.

Amy

Different lighting.

Different lighting.

Unknown. The closest to this is before Amy enters Eggman's base.

Different lighting.

Gamma

Different lighting and additional targets in the background are missing.

Appears to be the cutscene where Gamma enters the Tikal flashback. He doesn't start in this map though.

The background is horribly glitched and the lighting is different.

Different lighting.

The arena for the fight with E-103 is bigger - similar to how it appears when playing as Sonic.

Big

Big's eyes don't move in this scene.

Icecap has the lighting from Sonic's version here. This level is usually set at night as Big.

Another Icecap screenshot.

The scene where Big encounters Tails at the wrong time of day.

Different lighting.

Different lighting.

Another shot of the scene where Big encounters Tails at the wrong time of day.

Super Sonic

Different Lighting.

Super Sonic is never seen from this angle.

PC Wallpapers

If the game disc is inserted into a PC, a folder can be found containing a selection of different wallpapers depending on which version of the game is being used:

All versions











Original Japanese version









