ASR Dev Diary Hints at, But Does Not Confirm Golden Axe’s Gilius

Lycett Quick to Downplay; Amy Concept Art Inside

It came a bit sooner than anticipated, and many fans will wonder if the mention of Gilius from Golden Axe–clearly noted that “it doesn’t mean (he) will make the final game”–actually means he will make it.

We’re talking about the first developer diary for Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, released today across the Sega blogs.  It may be the first sign of things to come, and for researchers, the mention and not the confirmation of the arcade and Genesis hero may serve as fodder to dig deep in the game’s code.

Steve Lycett affirmed in the diary that in early development, he and Chicken Leg were paired together–the latter serving as Gilius’s vehicle.  But he warned, just because the pairing went through a test drive, doesn’t mean the character is a lock for ASR:

Note, don’t all be running to the internet to go ‘OMG GILIUSSSS!!!!!’ as with all the prototype characters, it doesn’t mean they’ll make the final game!

The name-dropping by Steve Lycett was just one of several interesting tidbits to come out of the diary.  Of note was the disclosure that Sumo Digital did consider and in fact tested Sonic running without a vehicle–in the same vein as the ideal pairing of Gilius and Chicken Leg.  But in trying to keep a level playing field, Lycett said very little of it felt right:

We started off with… Sonic running. Yes running. Not in a car. Not Super Sonic, but Sonic running full pelt around a test track. Next we added Eggman, riding in his Eggpod, but with robotic legs attached. He was running too. Then we added Tails. He was in his Tornado, the red biplane from Sonic 2. Next, we thought ‘It’s a racing game, lets try a car’ and dropped in Amy, in a nice bright pink Amymobile. [....] Now I’m sure you’re wondering what on earth this looked like, and I can tell you, it was pretty mad. What was clear though that it wasn’t all that much fun to play. Our main problem was that all the characters were different sizes. Sonic was Sonic sized, but he was really small compared to Eggman and Gilius on their rides. Worse still was Tails Tornado – it was huge! The wings made it really wide.

Lycett said it was the smooth play of Amy in her car and the drift it achieved that convinced the staff to keep things more uniform.  That means Gilius (if he makes it) won’t have his parrot friend, and Sonic would be confined to a car.  Other concepts, like Tails and his biplane, were sent off for a redesign.

As part of the diary–which you can read in full at the link above–some concept art for Amy was released, and we have that for you below, in super high resolution.