Sonic 3D Blast
Sonic 3D Blast: Flickies' Island (originally titled Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island in Europe, the UK, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, and retitled Sonic 3D Blast in North America) is an isometric platform game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It was developed in the UK by Traveller's Tales, rather than Sonic Team or STI, and published by Sega. Flickies' Island was originally released in Europe for the Sega Mega Drive in November 1996 and released in North America later that month, under the new name "Sonic 3D Blast".
Publisher: Sega
Features
In addition to the original Mega Drive version, Sonic 3D was also ported to the Sega Saturn in North America to make up for the cancellation of Sonic X-treme, which was intended to be Saturn's killer game for the 1996 holiday season; the game was ported in seven weeks. FMVs, higher quality graphics (including a true 3D special stage, considered by many fans to be the best special stage in the series) and an entirely new, Red Book audio soundtrack composed by Richard Jacques (who later produced the Sonic R soundtrack). A European release followed in February, 1997.
In September, 1997 the Saturn version of the game was ported to PC in North America, with the videos and soundtrack intact, as well as the notable addition of a save game system, but lacking some of the Saturn's effects (such as the fog in Rusty Ruins) and with a less impressive special stage that mixed the 2D sprites from the Mega Drive version with the basic gameplay of the Saturn version. The PC port came to Europe on September 25, 1997. The Saturn version was eventually released in Japan on October 14, 1999, the same date as Sonic Adventure International.
Only one version of the Mega Drive game was released, with the title differing depending on whether it is played on a PAL or NTSC console. In PAL regions the title is Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island, and in NTSC regions the title is Sonic 3D Blast. This caused a problem, however, when the Mega Drive version was re-released in the Sonic Mega Collection. Due to the aforementioned feature, the game is titled Sonic 3D Blast when played on a PAL 60 or NTSC-J system.
The original title was used for the Japanese Saturn version, and although the PC version's title differed between regions its executable was titled "Sonic 3D Blast: Flickies' Island", a combination of both names. It should be noted though, that the combined name is rarely used, with fans usually favouring one name over the other.
In October 2006, a 95 percent complete prototype was acquired and dumped for Internet distribution.
In September, 1997 the Saturn version of the game was ported to PC in North America, with the videos and soundtrack intact, as well as the notable addition of a save game system, but lacking some of the Saturn's effects (such as the fog in Rusty Ruins) and with a less impressive special stage that mixed the 2D sprites from the Mega Drive version with the basic gameplay of the Saturn version. The PC port came to Europe on September 25, 1997. The Saturn version was eventually released in Japan on October 14, 1999, the same date as Sonic Adventure International.
Only one version of the Mega Drive game was released, with the title differing depending on whether it is played on a PAL or NTSC console. In PAL regions the title is Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island, and in NTSC regions the title is Sonic 3D Blast. This caused a problem, however, when the Mega Drive version was re-released in the Sonic Mega Collection. Due to the aforementioned feature, the game is titled Sonic 3D Blast when played on a PAL 60 or NTSC-J system.
The original title was used for the Japanese Saturn version, and although the PC version's title differed between regions its executable was titled "Sonic 3D Blast: Flickies' Island", a combination of both names. It should be noted though, that the combined name is rarely used, with fans usually favouring one name over the other.
In October 2006, a 95 percent complete prototype was acquired and dumped for Internet distribution.
