Astropede

Astropede
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Developer: Sega Technical Institute
Planned release date(s): 1994
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1

Astropede, also known as Segapede, is an unreleased Sega Mega Drive action game that was being developed by Sega Technical Institute in 1994. It was never announced publicly, though development material and a prototype ROM have been demonstrated by Craig Stitt.

Notably, one Astropede demo recycled graphics from Hidden Palace Zone, the infamous scrapped level from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. According to Craig Stitt, he reused the graphics to save time.

Development

Astropede was initially pitched to Sega of America, with a playable prototype being produced by Craig Stitt and Ken Rose after the game was greenlit.

Craig's original intent was for the game to be part of the Sonic the Hedgehog universe, as ideas previously used in Sonic 2 were given a twist - the main character would be followed by a train of pods with various power-ups that would be pulled behind him. If he was hit, the pods would scatter and start rolling away, similar to Sonic's Rings. The player would have also had to find a 'caboose' pod to secure the other pods so they wouldn't fall off when going too fast. A second player character, a hornet/wasp character whose abdomen could be swapped out with the same pods carried by the main character, was also conceived.

A starving lack of resources resulted in the game being cancelled after 14 months.

Production credits

• Lead Designer: Craig Stitt
• Enemy Designer: Alex Niño
• Programmer: Ken Rose
• Music & Sound: Howard Drossin

Gallery

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Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1 3452959175fa7631af01e8821cb8b8410f5fbb79		1994-06					Page

External links

• 
  Astropede / Segapede prototype footage
• 
  Astropede short animation test