Know something we don't about Sonic? Don't hesitate in signing up today! It's fast, free, and easy, and you will get a wealth of new abilities, and it also hides your IP address from public view. We are in need of content, and everyone has something to contribute!
The early icon of the Shop resembles a house while the final version has some souvenirs added to it.
The early level select icon does not show the sun and moon, unlike the final version.
The location of Professor Pickle's laboratory shows his face in the early files. The final version displays books with a feather.
Early (unused)
Final (used)
Early Night Stage loading screen
The early splash screen.
In the data for the game, there is a splash screen showcasing the game controls for Sonic the Werehog meant for the preview showcases.
Early Werehog Vitality Shield
The Vitality Shield's sprites.
The Vitality Shield had a different design during the early versions of the game.
Unused UI install
A small video clip of the UI left-over from the install process.
Beta cutscene
The scene where Sonic gets electrocuted in the beta cutscene of Sonic Unleashed.
In a beta opening of Sonic Unleashed, everything plays normally except the part where Eggman turns Sonic into a Werehog via his machine. The scene plays like in the final version. However, unlike its final version, it shows Sonic's skeleton while him being shocked alive. The reason why Marza Animation changed and toned down this scene is unknown.
Preview build
On 6 December 2016, user "N!NJA" of the Sonic fan-site, Sonic Retro, leaked a disk containing the preview version of Sonic Unleashed for the Xbox 360. This version contains most of the content in the final version, albeit with a number of differences:
This version has a full debug mode (its menu is mostly written in Japanese).
This version has a near-stable 60 FPS.
Sonic the Hedgehog's Spin Jump has a mild blue aura instead of the bluish one in the final version of the game.
The Werehog stages contain the HUD system seen in the E3 previews, such as the original "Shield" and "Vitality" gauges.
Sonic the Werehog's circular attacks create green slashes instead of purple ones.
The Medals' counter icons have different lightening.
The Sun and Moon symbols are different on the World Map, and there is a twin-tail icon in the upper left area of the map screen.
When Tails is explaining how the World Map works, his talk bubble has a different icon for Tails than that used in the final version.
Some Town Stages have other names alongside those used in the final version; Spagonia has for example the "European Union" name instead of the title image, and Shamar has "Petra"). The descriptions for some of the Town Stages are also different from those in the final version.
Unlike the levels, the bosses' names are written in English. Most of them retain their English names from the final version, except for the Egg Devil Ray (which is named "Egg Ray Fish") and the Dark Guardian (which is named "Dark Gaia Keeper").
There is a time counter in the Entrance Stages, unlike in the final version.
A white font color is used for the options of the pause menu in this version.
The Skills option is placed at the end of the menu when playing as Sonic the Werehog in this version.
Villagers have random numbers and letters instead of dialogues.
Every enemy has a name label that appears above them when encountered. However, some do not have the name they were given in the final version (the Fright Master is named "MasterSpooky')
The arrow icons that appear above Dark Gaia's Minions are different from the final version.
When one of Dark Gaia's Minions are defeated, it will cry with a rough voice instead of a high-pitched screech in the version.
There is a Fright Master in the Nighttime version of Windmill Isle which cannot be encountered in the final version.
The Little Rexes are purple in this version of the game, instead of green.
The Egg Fighters have different sounds for their movements in this version.
The amount of Rings dropped when taking damage is rather random, unlike in the final version.
Sonic's model in the cutscene is the same used in gameplay, unlike in the final version of the game, which has a separate model for each situation.
Sonic does not start each stage with the sentence "Ready... Go!" in Japanese or "Here we... Go!" in English.
When a Point Marker is passed, no speed calculation appears, unlike in the final version of the game.
In the nighttime stages, the Chaos Orbs are colored dark-gray.
Unused level and object layouts exist in this version.
After finishing a Stage, Mission or a Boss Battle the player is given the option to restart it right from the result screen without having to navigate back to the level select screen.
Miscellaneous
In the Xbox 360 manual for the game, the first screenshot on page ten actually displays an earlier build of the game as it showcases some sort of day and night gauge. Though it is currently unknown what this did, it may have been to show time passing in the Town Stages.
