Interview: Jason Kuo (2006-09) by drx

This is an unaltered copy of an interview of Jason Kuo, for use as a primary source on Sega Retro. Please do not edit the contents below. Language: English Original source: Sonic CulT

Hi Luke,

Sorry the late response.

I don't know anyone who would have any real interesting materials, most of old PD is gone. Below are my answers to your questions. They probably aren't very interesting, though.

1. Do you know/remember if there were any cut levels or anything that didn't make it to the final games in Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles, Spinball, R, Adventure? Things like bosses or other stuff would be nice too. I know it might be hard to remember such things, but anything would be nice to know.

I worked as a tester during Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles, and Spinball. I don't recall there really being any levels that were cut when we received the code from Japan, although initially I thought things weren't working correctly in Sonic 3 until realizing later that it would be unlocked in Sonic & Knuckles. Otherwise, there were only minor changes, such as the Front End screens evolving and changing a few times and eliminating or moving some objects within a level to resolve bugs. However, I don't recall any radical changes that were made to any of the levels or bosses.

Sonic R, I worked as the localization producer, but there were no major changes that I could recall either. I think some of the music went through some minor changes, but that was about it.

2. Do you know anything about a game called 'Sonic Crackers' or 'Sonic Studium' that later got converted to 32x and was called Knuckles Chaotix?

I am not familiar with Sonic Crackers or Sonic Stadium. During the 32X era, I was actually working on another title in game design, so I didn't have much contact with the Japanese developers at the time.

3. In Sonic 3, it's possible to access a red sphere object made of smaller spheres through hacking. Do you know what it did? I assumed it was for testing purposes, hence why I'm asking this question.

I don't recall seeing a red sphere object made up of smaller spheres. We didn't use anything like this for testing purposes. For all intents and purposes, the code we were involved in was almost identical to the final, except for small level changes to fix bugs.

4. Was there anything major cut from the scripting of Sonic Adventure? I know there's a load of voice ADXs which have no use in the final game. Was the game much bigger in size textually/audiably (sp?) originally? If so, why were the cuts made? Disc size? Time? Other reasons?

I didn't really do anything on Sonic Adventure, so I'm afraid I can't really answer any questions regarding the title.

5. I'd like to know your opinion on the hungarian developed Novotrade/Appaloosa games you tested (how well was their testing enviroment set up, do you hink they were making memorable games, did you feel you were working with amateurs or pros, etc).

During my testing days, I can only recall Cyborg Justice and Ecco the Dolphin. During this time, I thought Novotrade/Appaloosa did a good job examining and fixing our bugs. I didn't have any vocal communications, but their bug response was solid.

On Ecco the Dolphin for the Dreamcast, when I was the localization producer, I found Appaloosa fairly good to work with as well. They worked hard to resolve the numerous bugs we found in the game, and I found them receptive to comments. My only real disappointment was that given the stage of development that Ecco the Dolphin was in, we weren't able to ask Appaloosa for more substantial changes that could have made Ecco the Dolphin a game that could have been an easier game to play, so more people could have tried it out. I'm sure they felt the same way.

6. Do you have any fond memories of cooler/innovative game features that got cut and were never seen again (or later implemented elsewhere), games that turned into something completely different from the initial concept, or scrapped games he tested?

I remember some stuff getting cut that I was disappointed in, such as the Streets of Rage 3 changes and having to remove some idle animation that was considered out of character for another game. I don't recall a single game that reached QA that was actually scrapped later when I was a tester. As for initial concepts, I had been involved in quite a few that had been killed. I'd like to think that it is still possible at some time to possibly resurrect them.

7. Do you know anything about Michael Jackson being involved with Sonic 3/Sonic & Knuckles? That's quite a hot topic between Sonic fans, and we know very little about this.

Nope. I know Michael Jackson stopped by to visit SEGA once during the SEGA CD days, but that's about the only thing I heard about Michael Jackson.

Best Regards,
-Jason.