Sonic The Hedgehog Project 06 - An Amazing Effort and Fun Remake

 

An unofficial remake of the infamous Sonic The Hedgehog (2006) being developed by Ian Moris (ChaosX). One of the most impressive efforts I have ever seen from the Sonic fan community. A new updated Demo dropped known as the Silver Release dropped in April of this year, 2023, and it is beyond impressive. Truly a story of what could have been. Click "read more".

Background

Let give a quick history lesson about the retail game and this project. The original game was simply titled Sonic The Hedgehog but hardly anyone refers to it by that name because that is also the name of the first Sonic game back in 1991. It had many nicknames over the years, Sonic Next Gen, Sonic the Disaster, but nowadays most people refer to it as Sonic 06 because it was released in 2006. 

The game was meant to be a reboot of the franchise, but due to holiday deadlines, a long list of development problems, and have the team being taken off to work on Sonic and the Secret Rings, the game's release was a disaster. It was in a horribly unfinished state is loads of glitches, broken physics, cut content, tons of load screens, and critics bashed the game relentlessly. However, many people have kept the mindset that maybe the game would have been great if it was finished.

As for Project-06, it is basically an attempt to fix/finish the game. Ironically, ChaosX did not even play Sonic-06 before beginning this project but was a fan of Sonic and already familiar with the fangame community. So, what followed was years of analyzing footage, gigabytes of reference material, and collaboration with several other developers. Check the work out yourself.

The Current demo (April 2023 release)

Having now put around 20 hours into this demo I am honestly at awe. All of the action states are now playable, none of the bosses, open worlds, or Last story, but what is currently here is phenomenal. Not only are the physics and glitches all fixed up, there were new animations, new mechanics, re-added features, and even the visuals got a big improvement. Every character got new moves or had their existing ones made much better. I was speechless with how much fun I was having. There were even new powerups including being able to go Super Sonic in the regular stages.

It has not been easy to be a Sonic fan since the release of Sonic 06, and not just because the games have been hit or miss. Sonic haters are everywhere in the gaming community and they tend to associate all Sonic fans with the crazy fans. But, that actually leads to a funny thing in regards to this remake. Some Sonic haters have been known to refer to Sonic 06 as Sonic Adventure 3 just because Sonic fans get annoyed by that. *cough* Antdude. However, this remake honestly feels like a next gen Adventure title. Characters play like they did in Adventure 2 except smoother with better button layout. So, now I am taking that "insult" as a new sign of optimism. 

This is an ongoing project so I highly suggest following ChaosX and giving this demo a try. It is free. Till next time, this is Cendoo the Ghost Ranger, signing off.