Skip to main content

Previously unknown Sonic skateboarding game has been revealed in video

Sonic the Hedgehog has long been a symbol of speed. At the start of the century, few things were cooler that riding a skateboard. Putting the two together seemed like a no brainer. However, unearthed footage of Sonic the Hedgehog Extreme has revealed this failed concept predating Sonic Riders.

According to Unseen64Sonic Extreme began development without Sega’s knowledge. The prototype was developed by Vision Scape Interactive as a pitch to Sega for the Xbox, GameCube, and PlayStation 2.

Recommended Videos

In the early build, Sonic and friends would skate around on hoverboards in an open world level inspired by the iconic Green Hill Zone. Just like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series, Sonic Extreme focuses on performing tricks on various half-pipes and grind rails.

Vision Scape’s early work includes SeaBlade on Xbox and Tech Deck: Bare Knuckle Grind for PC. After the company was hired to work on the cutscenes in Sonic Heroes, they created a demo of Sonic Extreme using the same engine from Bare Knuckle Grind. The prototype featured three different modes. Single players could enjoy a mission mode, while two players could enjoy local multiplayer in the combat or racing modes.

While Sega declined the pitch, Sonic would finally appear on a hoverboard years later in Sonic Riders. Rather than the open world style of Sonic ExtremeRiders took on a more competitive racing design. With the obvious similarities, Vision Scape reportedly inquired about taking legal action. However, the studio had already signed a non-disclosure agreement during the development of Sonic Heroes. This meant that anything created during that time with the Sonic name legally belonged to Sega.

Sonic was last seen on a hoverboard in 2010 with the Kinect game Sonic Free Riders. However, Sega is releasing two new games in the franchise later this year. Sonic Mania harkens to the classic 2D entries while Sonic Forces blends new and old in a similar fashion to Sonic Generations. 

Garrett Hulfish
Garrett is the kind of guy who tells you about all the tech you haven't heard of yet. He also knows too much about other…
The best video game Lego sets
The Great Deku Tree Lego set.

It doesn't matter if you're 4 or 40, Legos are always fun to play with. We all have memories of digging through some giant plastic bin of pieces searching for that one we saw 50 times before we needed it. If you grew up just a few decades ago, the best you could do was use your generic Lego sets to re-create the best video games as close as possible. Now, Lego has partnered with almost every major brand and company under the sun to make official Lego sets for everything from Star Wars to your favorite video game series.

If there's a popular gaming franchise, odds are it has a Lego set. Whether you want to give a creative gift to a gaming fan or want to build yourself a nice display piece in honor of your favorite game, these are the best Lego sets based on video games.
Nintendo Entertainment System

Read more
Sonic X Shadow Generations’ new levels are surprisingly cinematic
Shadow grinds away from an alien in Sonic X Shadow Generations.

Back in 2011, Sonic Generations came up with a unique idea: combining Sonic’s classic 2D side-scrolling self with his modern 3D self. That made for a fun mix of two distinct kinds of Sonic levels. A lot has changed since then. With 2022’s Sonic Frontiers, the series finally took the next step to transition to an open world, for instance.

Now, Sonic Generations is making a big comeback with a remaster for modern consoles. However, the main star is the brooding Shadow the Hedgehog, who now joins Sonic in the newly packed Sonic X Shadow Generations. Here, Shadow Generations acts as a completely standalone adventure and it once again shakes up the Sonic formula -- this time within a remaster.

Read more
We went hands-on with Sonic X Shadow Generations (the milkshake)
Sonic grinding on a rail.

Throughout the weekend, Digital Trends has been on the ground at Summer Game Fest. We've had the chance to demo tons of upcoming games, many of which you can read about right now. There's still plenty of games we're hoping to get hands-on with over the next few days, including the upcoming Sonic X Shadow Generations. But before that, we got hands on another Sonic treat at the show.

I drank Shadow the Hedgehog's milkshake. I drank it up.

Read more