Sonic Forces' Original Script Dated 2016 May Have Been Revealed

Sonic Forces is one of SEGA's mascot's current 3D games, and as with all games in development, some ideas are eliminated or modified over time. This time, that appears to have become visually apparent through a self-proclaimed fan named "Windii," who says she managed to get her hands on a script for Sonic Forces, dated January 19, 2016, from an employee of the game's developer.

The text is in an Excel document. At the time, the game was still called "Sonic Wars" (you can still find that name by digging through the internal files of the PC version of Sonic Forces). Original portions of this script also appear to have been mentioned by Shun Nakamura, the producer of Sonic Forces, on his Twitter account.

One part of the original document containing the script had an overview tab called "regarding Sonic Wars voice acting," requesting translations of character names, lines, and expressions, as well as the number of lines each character has.

Many elements of this script are still the same as those we see in the final version of the game, including Infinite being defeated by the combined forces of Sonic and the Avatar, the absence of the Chaos Emeralds and Super Sonic, and the presence of Classic Sonic, indicating that his inclusion may already have been planned even before Christian Whitehead pitched Sonic Mania to Takashi Iizuka, the franchise representative.

The changes found in the script are:

Possible spoilers for the original game follow.

• Green Hill would begin intact in the game, which would have a brief cutscene at the start showing Sonic relaxing in the sunlight in Green Hill. It would only begin turning into a desert after Dr. Eggman's six-month rule. In the final version, however, the game already begins with it deserted;
• In the final game, Sonic loses consciousness following an attack organized by Infinite and his gang after being thrown to the ground. In the older script, Infinite is said to create an illusion in which Sonic takes a succession of multiple blows, causing the hedgehog to pass out;

  

  The characters who accompany Infinite against Sonic.

• The old script also says that Sonic and Tails disappear at almost the same time, making the reason Tails did not join the resistance during a six-month period clearer;
• Suspense is created around Infinite's appearance. He does not appear immediately in the game; the characters keep saying how powerful and strong he is and how mysterious he is. The player would only learn that he existed through shadows or other characters talking about him over the radio until he was revealed halfway through the game;
• In this script, the Phantom Ruby does not exist. The powerful item this time is called "Valtron," and it can do the same things the Phantom Ruby did. Apparently, the Phantom Ruby was created by the Sonic Mania team and then began to be used in Sonic Forces;
• In the final script, they say Sonic would be "banished into space," but in the 2016 version it was stated directly that Sonic would be executed by Eggman;
• The Death Egg invasion was not just a small mission for the Rookie/Avatar; it was a full-scale resistance attack to rescue Sonic;
• As in the final version, the Avatar is weak and very cowardly, but there were more scenes showing that he was too frightened or unsure of what to do. Then comes the scene where Sonic rescues the Avatar after the resistance's invasion of the Death Egg;
• The Death Egg was originally going to use some Eggmanland tilesets, serving as one of Eggman's largest bases. In short, it would have looked much more like Eggmanland from Sonic Unleashed;
• When Sonic fights Infinite in the jungle, this would be the first time the audience saw Infinite, and apparently Infinite would come close to defeating Sonic at that point. But Sonic realizes he cannot face him and flees after his friends insist over the radio;

  

  Sonic vs. Infinite in the forest/casino stage.

• There is a line indicating that Sunset Heights (the ruined-city stage) had just been attacked by Eggman. When Sonic entered that stage, it would be entirely engulfed in flames and explosions because Eggman had just attacked. This indicates that Classic Sonic's first stage would not have been Ghost Town as we know it;
• The Avatar's mission to rescue civilians in the city would be his first mission to prove his worth to the resistance, so the next stage would have him going to Chemical Plant to get a rocket and rescue Sonic;
• There was a plot twist involving Classic Sonic in Sonic Forces. At the end of the game, it was apparently going to be revealed that he had been an illusion all along, the result of Valtron's power. This would have been an illusion based on the original Classic Sonic whom Tails meets in Generations.

With Sonic Mania likely being pitched to SEGA, changes were made to the plot of "Sonic Wars" to create an integration between both games. Classic Sonic from Mania was made to be the same one from Sonic Forces, along with the inclusion of the Phantom Ruby.