Sonic the Hedgehog prototype discovered after 15 years of searching

Sonic fans love to dig around in SEGA's past to see just how different Sonic's games were before they released. All sorts of prototypes for Sonic 2, 3 and so on were discovered, but a playable prototype for the original Sonic the Hedgehog seemed impossible to find. There were magazine features on that build and screenshots from development, but nothing playable no matter where people looked. Well, until today, that is.

After 15 years of trying to find something, a playable prototype for Sonic the Hedgehog has been discovered. This build includes a lot of infamous features that were spotted in early screens. Players can run through Clock Work Zone and Sparkling Zone, interact with the ball in Green Hill Zone, and more. You can see a lot more about the prototype here.