This Sonic Fan Game Looks As Good As The Real Thing

There are a lot of great fan-made Sonic the Hedgehog games out there. Sega has been notoriously chill with fans of the Blue Blur using its characters in their own projects, and there are even a handful of community-driven remakes of old games that could use a modern touch-up. The one we’re talking about today is Sonic Galactic, a sidescroller evocative of the series’ 16-bit roots, but made to look like the series might have on the Sega Saturn. The developers over at Starteam have released a new demo, so if you want a look into an alternate universe where Sonic Team got to make a classic Sonic game for the Sega Saturn, you can do that right now.

Starteam describes Sonic Galactic as “a ‘what-if’ scenario: an imagining of what Sonic Team could have potentially produced” for the Sega Saturn if the system had been more successful and Sega had produced a mainline Sonic game for it. However, the team also notes that it didn’t limit itself to the Saturn’s technical specifications, instead using the hardware and games that were created during the early-‘90s era as inspiration for a Sonic game. As a result, it looks similar to the original sidescrollers and features several returning characters, but you’ll also notice smoother animations and more vibrant scenery. See it for yourself in the trailer below:

Sonic Galactic includes five playable characters, including the main trio of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. Fang the Sniper is a returning character primarily seen in spin-offs who has most recently shown up in Sonic Superstars, 2023’s modern take on the series’ 2D entries. Also joining the crew is an original character called Tunnel the Mole who can dig himself into the ground or walls and launch himself across the screen. He’s neat! The demo is available now as a free download on Sonic Galactic’s site, and it’s pretty small, coming in at just 238MB. So if you’ve just seen the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie and are looking for something to scratch the Sonic itch, here’s a free option.