Here's a fun little piece of 16-bit history for you -- did you know that when Sega made its big announcement last week, a game called Sonic 4 had actually been floating around for 14 years? Sure, it's not an official Sonic game, mind you -- it was merely a modded version of the classic Sunsoft SNES platformer Speedy Gonzales: Los Gatos Bandidos. 1UP recently shared the game's illicit history -- a group of Peruvian hackers known as Twin Eagle Group got their hands on the game in 1996, removed all instances of the hasty Mexican mouse, and replaced them with Sega's spiny mascot.
Check out a gameplay clip of the unsanctioned Sonic 4 after the jump. Yeah, it doesn't look great -- but to be fair, Sonic doesn't whip out a gun at any point, nor does he engage in light bestiality, so we guess it has its charms.
[Via Kotaku]
Reader Comments (35)
Posted: Feb 9th 2010 12:39AM (Unverified) said
They actually changed it in the mod from a mouse to Mario... I recently played this with my sister a couple months ago. :P
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Posted: Feb 9th 2010 9:29AM IrateGamer said
I wanted to say the same thing. I always thought SEGA put the Marios in the cages to mock Nintendo
I was even more confused when I got to play the real Speedy Gonzalez game
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I was even more confused when I got to play the real Speedy Gonzalez game
Posted: Feb 9th 2010 12:15AM ColorblindMonk said
OOh, I played that before. God, it went too fast for me.
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Posted: Feb 9th 2010 12:32AM therandomizer said
The sound effects when the cages fall sounded like farting! I remember playing this on Zsnes thinking "uh, what the heck's going on? Since when did a Sega game have Nintendo games on it!?" I never thought such a thing could be possible, but here we are.
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Posted: Feb 9th 2010 3:25AM LaughingTarget said
Dunno, it was phoned in even for a bootleg. Why is Sonic kicking everything?
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Posted: Feb 9th 2010 12:36AM ArchiGamer said
Sonic! Sonic! Sonic!
Mario!
I'm annoyed by this already.
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Mario!
I'm annoyed by this already.
Posted: Feb 9th 2010 12:39AM (Unverified) said
God those McEllroy brothers look like they'd have a hard time in jail. Just so much mushy, willing flesh.
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Posted: Feb 9th 2010 12:42AM Danny51990 said
Man this game reminds me of when I was young and I used to play Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Hidden Treasure on the sega genesis. Good times good times
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Posted: Feb 9th 2010 12:42AM KazamaSogetsu said
Funny thing is, it's still at least on par with all 3D Sonic games Sega released since Sonic Adventure 2.
They should hire those hackers.
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They should hire those hackers.
Posted: Feb 9th 2010 3:21AM Azarielzx said
I remember this game, a decade and half ago,an "awwe" about Sonic on a Snes game ( Ohhh Speedy.!!. Miss your cartoons.. those pussy republicans censoring your golden WB cartoons!!..damn it!! ), .
No ROM downloading hacking on PC "do it urself".., was a FULL snes cartridge hack..with cover!!! ....who did this hack anyways?? ;-)
Reply
No ROM downloading hacking on PC "do it urself".., was a FULL snes cartridge hack..with cover!!! ....who did this hack anyways?? ;-)
Posted: Feb 9th 2010 5:19AM LaughingTarget said
FYI - The only entity that can censor, the FCC, is a creation of the Democratic party. Both major parties readily censor when it suits them.
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Posted: Feb 9th 2010 6:32AM (Unverified) said
Oh my, the usual bullsh*t again.
First, who cares about some crappy old ROM hack? Just because it was called Sonic 4 doesn't make it interesting. Are you gonna report now about all the fangames called Sonic 4 too?
Second, Sonic never whipped out a gun. That was Shadow. If McElroy were competent, he'd have made a reference to Sonic weilding a sword in Black Knight instead.
Third, yes, Sonic 2006 was awful, but enough of that bestiality crap. McElroy apparently needs to look up the definition of that word, because it doesn't apply to that game. And even if it did, there are worse things than "light bestiality". Like picking up a story from Kotaku, for example.
Reply
First, who cares about some crappy old ROM hack? Just because it was called Sonic 4 doesn't make it interesting. Are you gonna report now about all the fangames called Sonic 4 too?
Second, Sonic never whipped out a gun. That was Shadow. If McElroy were competent, he'd have made a reference to Sonic weilding a sword in Black Knight instead.
Third, yes, Sonic 2006 was awful, but enough of that bestiality crap. McElroy apparently needs to look up the definition of that word, because it doesn't apply to that game. And even if it did, there are worse things than "light bestiality". Like picking up a story from Kotaku, for example.
Posted: Feb 9th 2010 11:53AM MisterSquared said
If you don't like the article, you don't have to read it. There are plenty of other gaming blog websites for you to complain about out there.
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