FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Tech

'Sonic ERaZor' Is the One Sonic Mod That Demands Your Attention

Sonic ERaZor is a great example of the creative minds behind the video game modding community.
Sonic ERaZor. Image: Steam

When Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima came up with the idea of the Sonic the Hedgehog character back in the early 1990s, who would have ever thought their creation, and the subsequent video game, would be turned into a Michael Bay-esque explosion fest that would drive people crazy? Thanks to Sega recently allowing its games to be modded on Steam's workshop, that idea is now a reality. Over the last couple of weeks since the hub's inception, lots of inventive creations, both old and new, have been uploaded, further proving that modding older games is just as relevant as it was a decade or so ago.

Advertisement

But one of the most interesting mods that I found was Sonic ERaZor. Developed by Seldi Inkille, he mentions that the hack is sometimes referred to as "What if Michael Bay directed Sonic 1". And that seems to be true, judging by gameplay—along with new graphics and cutscenes, the game also seems to have plenty of explosions on just about every screen.

"The whole hack was one random mess" explained Inkille. "Sometimes it was total garbage, sometimes something unintentionally awesome spawned".

ERaZor has been around for years, dating back to around 2012 and is popular enough that it has several Let's Play videos on YouTube. While the mod has been proven to be difficult to those who play it, ERaZor can best be described as a game so hard to beat, it's a true accomplishment once it's cleared.

"You have created something really fucking difficult, but so satisfying when you beat it" mentions MegaDWolf on his Let's Play video.

It's not all flowers and sunshine for Sonic ERaZor. While it's one of the more popular games on the Steam hub, there have been problems transporting the game to Steam with various bug issues since launch. While things haven't gone smoothly in the transition, it's a step in the right direction for companies—Sega's one of the first to say it's perfectly okay to mod its older games. Will it encourage other developers to do the same?

"I honestly see Sega doing this for one reason and one reason only--they don't want to pull the Square Enix, banning all modification to their games," said Inkille. Square Enix has shut down ROM hacks of their older games in the past, one example being Crimson Echoes, a Chrono Trigger mod that was shut down just weeks before release.

If this will actually increase relevancy in older game modification is anyone's guess. It could mean nothing in the long run, but it could also mean Sega may have just potentially opened a Pandora's Box for older games to receive a new lease on life. Inkille doesn't see it that way, but still welcomes Sega's intentions.

"I see it as a pure money making machine, but in a good way," he said. "I always love it when companies at least ACKNOWLEDGE we exist."