Sonic GeneX - 10th Anniversary
A Retrospective
Note: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA and
Sonic Team. You knew that, right?
GeneX and related fanchars are (c) 2BIT (TheGreatGator), the author.
Hey, Sonic fans! 2BIT here! So, somehow it's gotten around to ten years since my fanfiction stories began. Tons of storylines have come out of this endeavor... Five of them reaching or surpassing 20 chapters. During these years, I have streamlined the process of writing these stories to the point that I can complete a pretty impressive amount of chapters each year... Not as impressive as people who live for carpal tunnel syndrome, but there's no need to be in THAT big a rush anyway. (Fans of my Knuckles story might disagree...)
In this "Retrospective", we'll look back at several of my big stories through the years. I'll share a behind-the-scenes look at my writing process and show off some never-before-seen "deleted scenes" from my past stories. I'm not sure how long this will be as I type this now, so... yeah, this may only be "part 1." I suppose the best place to start is at the beginning, with GeneX - Tails the Fox.
TAILS THE FOX - "TAILS QUEST"
At the time of writing my first story, I didn't really save any alternate versions of anything nor did I really have any alternate versions to save. My writing was based off the fangame project that I had already completed that year. Prior to that, the first story went through several iterations as I tried to create a game that worked. Early versions featured a human creator of the experiments (kind of similar to Eggman Nega) and the concept of Bucky having created an army, with Guard the gargoyle just being one of the army and not a proper numbered experiment. The title was even different: "Tails Quest." It would be followed by Knuckles Quest and then Sonic Quest, but then Shadow the Hedgehog came out. Wanting to follow up that game in a sense, I renamed Tails Quest, and I also redid the game after recieving some harsh feedback... on an early version of the fanfic. Uh, did I just say there was no alternate version? Maybe I've been trying to forget...
Hosted by "2BIT & Gator", the early fanfics were much more...fanficcy, in a childish way. Why don't you see for yourself? I'll cut (some of) 2BIT & Gator's spiel...
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Hero (Ch) 1: A City In Peril!
"Another beautiful day in Station Square! Welcome to SSTV News! I'm your host, Katie the Coyote!"
Gator: Hey, doesn't that channel have a different reporter?
2BIT: No. Remember, this is in no way related to Sonic X; although I think I stole the channel name....
"Anyway, after many months of worrying about what crazy thing Dr. Eggman will do next, it seems peace will at last return to this waterlogged and nearly eclipsed city. (See Sonic Adventure 1 & 2) And now, the weather!"
And with that cheerful news, Amy Rose and Cream the Rabbit went on their way, for another day of.... Boredom... Let's face it, between Sonic's occasional visits, Station Square is really boring. Nothing to do but wander about, hoping SOMETHING will happen. Or, if you're Amy, go shopping! So, Amy, Cream and Cheese went on a shopping spree, picking up various items that they don't really need, just to stave off boredom insanity. "Are you sure you need 36 gallons of strawberry macadamia nut ice cream?" Cream asked when Amy started going nuts, as she often did. "Do YOU want to trudge through snow during a continuous blizzard that blocks all traffic for eight months!? 'Cuz I don't!" Amy shouted.
"But it's the middle of July..."
"Didn't you ever hear of 'Christmas in July'!?"
As "fun" as this conversation was, it was soon interrupted by screams of terror. Amy and Cream ran outside, without their bags, to see what the commotion was. People were fleeing the streets, running away from a large robot. It looked much like a praying mantis, with large, insect-like eye sensors, long, scythe-like arms/claws, and instead of wings, rocket engines on its back. Hovering over its head was a familiar looking chair; Eggman's Plane! "Not him again!" Cream cried. "Where's Sonic when you need him?" The robot was accompanied by a host of Dr. Eggman's lesser machines, and after Eggman shouted an order, the robots split up and started creating havoc throughout Station Square. "Who does he think he IS anyway!" Amy shouted. "He can't just go attacking the overworld like that!"
Gator: Hey, those are NOT your lines!
Amy: But it's true! Think about it! Eggman's robots never really attacked outside the levels in Sonic Adventure 1!
2BIT: Except for the bosses!
Amy: Hmph! That's besides the point!
Anyway, Amy started stomping toward Eggman, whacking robots with her hammer on the way. Cream began to get worried. "What are we gonna do, Cheese? Amy's getting mad again, so I can't really reason with her..." Then, Cream remembered that Tails was in town. "I've got it! Tails will know what to do! Let's go!" And with that, she took off!
Cream: Uh, guys? Where is Tails?
2BIT: He's at Emerald Coast, Cream.
Cream finally reached Emerald Coast, which was crawling with Eggman's robots, the Kikis and Rhinotanks. "OK, Cheese, we're on our own! Let's go!" Cream plowed through the first robots, using Cheese as a shield, a shield with a surprisingly nasty punch! But soon, the robots surrounded her. So, she took to the air, flapping her wing-like ears, and flew over the rhinos before they charged, causing them to crash into each other! From the air, she quickly spotted Tails, who had actually taken flight himself, in the Tornado 2! "Look out, Cream!" He shouted. His plane was going too fast, and it was headed in her direction. "Whoa!" Cream grabbed the planes wings, and Cheese grabbed Cream's ears, and they took off! "Cream! Are you OK!?" Tails shouted. "Hold on, I'll try to find a place to land!"
After Tails had landed, Cream explained the situation. "What?! Amy went off to fight Eggman all by herself!? We gotta help her!"
"Not so fast!" came a familiar voice. Dr. Eggman! He was hovering next to his robot, the Egg Slasher. "Now, what's the rush, Tails? You're not going to leave your little friend behind?" Eggman said, laughing maniacally. Amy was trapped in a cage hanging from his plane! "When I get out of this cage, you're gonna get it, Egg Head!" Tails was awestruck by the giant robot, and wondered if he could take it in a fight. "If you think this is bad," Eggman said, "then just wait till you see what else is in store! Now, if you know what's good for ya, you'll stay out of my way!"
"No way, Eggman!" Tails shouted. He jumped over to his plane and pressed a button on the controls. A hatch opened on the side of the Tornado, and something began to walk out!
What's Tails got in his plane? Find out next time! Bye!
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This was a formatting nightmare, but I tried to clean it up a little bit. So... yeah... that happened. The original story featured a lot more official stages and a lot less original stages... I think Death Row was even on Prison Island originally. Security Tower was also a huge thing instead of one stage... The final version was much improved. I wish I had time to redo some storylines nowadays.
GENEX - A NEW BEGINNING
The very next story was the five chapter interlude "A New Beginning." This introduced several minor characters and was also where I started to develop my writing process. I start in my head by brainstorming concepts... My mind's a steel trap, and I can hold several great ideas for a long time, though for tougher projects I take an extensive collection of notes to assist me. For each chapter of a story, I write a brief scene-by-scene summary (which translates to paragraph-by-paragraph, typically). I can set it anywhere from 5 to 20 scenes based on the nature of the chapter. Here, let's look at the first such summary I've got, just for chuckles... I only started saving them at chapter 4 here....
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ANB Chapter 4 Events
>Scene 1 - SSTV News - Katie breaks the story, which Gunner elaborates on. Punchy sees the broadcast, as does Copter and Kosmo.
>Scene 2 - Bucky sees the report as well. Vortex and Zipp wonder why they needed the rings, and Bucky explains. He then exits to complete his latest experiments.
>Scene 3 - Katie sees Copter on a wanted poster and realizes what she's done. Chet comforts her.
>Scene 4 - Razor is off duty and so visits Bill's bar. Tommy calls Razor's cell phone. He's bored. Razor suggests helping out at the police station. His break ends, so he heads off.
>Scene 5 - Copter is searching for Katie, furious over what has happened. He sees Katie and Chet walking hand in hand, but is suddenly spotted by Razor. Copter steals a motorcycle and flees the scene.
>Scene 6 - The chase is on! Razor hops on his police motorcycle and pursues Copter! Razor tries to shoot at Copter, but can't get a clear shot. They pass the entrance to Hidden Ruin and Punchy and Rainbow rush to see what the commotion is. Punchy leaves to help Copter.
>Scene 7 - Conan is nearly ready to pull off his escape. He begins by murdering his cell mate as quietly as he can.
>Scene 8 - The chase continues. Copter crashes the motorcycle, and Razor nearly catches him when Kosmo intervenes! Copter takes this opportunity to escape.
>Scene 9 - Copter soon comes accross Katie's house. He peers in the window to find Katie and Chet. Soon, he finds he can't take it anymore and rings the doorbell before knocking down the door. After some harsh words, Copter leaves in a huff.
>Scene 10 - Bucky is hard at work on his experiment. Zipp is talking to Experiment 7, Heather the Phoenix, and questions the value of their lives. Experiment 7 is somewhat angered by what Zipp says. To be continued.
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The little arrows are basically marks to signify that a scene was completed. I pretty much stopped doing that. Some scene summaries might differ slightly from what actually happens in the finished chapter; instead of breaking the door down, Copter punches out Chet, an event that I have called back to on occasion. Also, Gator was in this chapter, despite not appearing in the summary. My more recent summaries have been more detailed, however, but they are still not canon until converted into actual story. This year, I had created all of Sonic GeneX-The Series' chapter summaries long in advance of actually writing the chapters... some required a partial rewrite as a result.
GENEX - SOLEANNA STRUGGLE
I can't talk about GeneX without getting into the Sonic 06 inspired Soleanna Struggle. I was utterly mesmerized by the previews for Sonic 06 before playing it, so I planned well in advance that I would make the next story an adaptation of that game, even having New Beginning lead into it. Even before that I knew I wanted to do something with Blaze... (I was disappointed in this regard, finding no room to really use Blaze) And heck, even when I played the game... I didn't hate it. I gotta be honest. I loved that story, despite all the plot holes I found. If anything, it drove me to want to fill those plot holes... fill them with GeneX characters. Also, Eggman Nega and the Babylon Rogues. Because why not? And time was all over this, so heck, I tossed in the Time Stones. Sounds busy and complex, but it was loads of fun and also my darkest story as the Lost Ones came into their own as villains. Elise is only there at a few key points, so if she's the only deal breaker for you, maybe you should read it anyway. It's probably my best work.
This was also where I started collecting "deleted" and "alternate" scenes. And boy, I have more for this story than any other. This story was so complex, I had to reject several ideas a day it seemed. Why don't we take a look at some of the better clippings?
deleted lineCh1: Lost OCs
Their remaining group consisted of these nine exhausted freedom fighters: Fred Leo, Evelyn the Fox, Adam the Bat, Ozzie the Morph, Red the Raccoon, Mary the Squirrel, Zoe the Mouse, Ben the Hedgehog, and Gemini the Fennec.
2BIT's musings: Hm, Cuthburt must already be dead. And poor Mary and Zoe, they might have been interesting character designs... (though coming from me, probably not) But yes, four of these characters were cut from the final draft.
deleted lineCh7: Losipher Jones
, and his legs became enveloped by another quivering mass of tenticles. All the while, Losipher had grown to about double his normal size. "Eeeew... This guy's gross..." Rainbow said.
2BIT's musings: Too many tentacles. Enough already, Losipher. I had tentacles on the brain during this story...
alternate linesCh12: The cavalry arrives
Copter walked over to grab the binoculars, but by now, what Mia and Gemini had seen was beginning to come into view in the distance. As everyone looked, they spotted other aircrafts approaching Soleanna. Gemini recognized one of them. "That blimp... It's those bird thieves again! They're coming after the Time Stone!" she said worriedly. Copter looked at the other ships through the binoculars. "We've got bigger problems, guys! Up front, that's a GUN Warship, and further behind it, that's Shadow Arcangel!
2BIT's musings: Soleanna's got enough problems without GUN having a dogfight with Shadow Arcangel at this time. Plus the Babylon Rogues are there. Where was I going with this?? Drama for the sake of drama doesn't work.
deleted linesCh19: Programming criticism
It's like a video game level where the designer ran out of ideas, so he put a spring here so the player would waste time jumping on it and think he was doing something..."
2BIT's musings: That's clearly Copter talking. I must've cut this because I didn't know what would follow it if the spring was useless, but any jab at Kingdom Valley's funny in my book. (well, not really. Please don't link me youtube videos!)
alternate sceneCh5: Alternate Mephiles intro
Copter and Heather were unable to catch up to Eggman, and found themselves with no idea what to do next. They had no idea where to find Eggman's base, or who might be able to help them find it. They found themselves sitting around the docks in New City, contemplating what to do next. "Maybe we should just find the captain and go home like I originally planned..." Copter suggested. "We can't just leave Katie like this! We have to think of something!" Heather insisted. Copter scratched his head, as he thought on the dilemma. Suddenly, they spotted someone who looked just like Shadow, Mephiles! He was headed in their direction. "You two look lost." he said. "Huh? You're not Shadow... Are you a relative of his?" Copter asked. Mephiles shook his head. "I'm Mephiles. I've been... watching you." he said, glancing at Heather. Copter stood up and raised his fists. "Yeah, who hasn't? And what is it you want from us? I warn you, I'm tougher than I look!" he growled. Mephiles let out an amused chuckle. "I know it. I'm not here to hurt you, though. On the contrary... I'd like you to join me. You're both being chased. Persecuted. Hated. And why? You both are far superior to those chasing you. Their jealousy may well lead to your demise." he said. Heather stared amazedly at Mephiles. He seemed to know all about her, even though they'd never met. "You're right... They fear my power..." she said. Copter stepped toward Mephiles, shaking a fist at him. "Shut up, you! You don't know anything!" he shouted. Mephiles crossed his arms. "So I don't know you very well. How is that different from when you came to this poor fugitive?" he said, looking from Copter to Heather. "What does this fox know about you? I know more than he does. Do you think he would continue to help you if he knew more about the circumstances of your escape?" he said. Heather looked to the ground in shame and uncertainty as she pondered that question. Copter saw the troubled look on her face, and felt Mephiles was entirely to blame. "Don't listen to this guy, Heather. He's just trying to confuse you. Why don't you take a walk. I've a few choice words for this creep!" he said. Heather looked at Mephiles, then at Copter. "I... I'll wait at the restaurant down the road. I'm kinda hungry anyway..." she said, running away. Once she was out of earshot, Copter confronted Mephiles.
2BIT's musings: Yeeeeeah... Interesting take, but WAY too long. Since it was running too long, I had to toss it and try again. This is the longest deleted scene, and since these are eating up enough time as it is, I'll have to save the rest for another time.
GENEX CHRONICLES
When Sonic Chronicles released, I had high hopes for it. My own fangames were RPGs, and I thought anything I could do SEGA could do better. They couldn't... I mean, graphically... I guess? But in every other way, my game kicks their butt. I'll give them music, too, I sure didn't make any music myself... At any rate, their game was so short for an RPG that I adapted it into 5 chapters as opposed to 50 for my own RPG. Burn on you, SEGA. Still, I'm rather upset that a sequal was never made and I really have no good way of concluding that story. (I might incorporate this into GeneX's anniversary special, but at the time or writing this nothing is decided.) (I'm editing now, months later; not only did I just review Chronicles, so check that out; but yeah, the anniversary special will conclude that story XD )
This story was fun to do, though. A lot of interesting character interactions occurred here, and I teased that morphs are actually an alien race. (Oh, uh, spoilers I guess) Plus Gator had lots of fun being a character and all. I don't have much in the line of deleted content here, just snippings mostly, but I'll share a couple things.
deleted scene - extended opening
Each dimension inhabited by Sonic also has another thing in common. They each have dimensions that they have a powerful connection to. GeneX Prime is a dimension that has much in common with a more well known Sonic dimension, and it is even connected to other dimensions that are almost identical to the ones connected to that better known one.
2BIT's musings: Kinda wordy and clunky... I'm not always good at conveying what I want to say.
Ch2 alternate title - Morph Mischief
2BIT's musing: I had an alternate title?? And I saved it??? Apparently these titles mean a lot to me.
Ch3alternate line - "Kids today are so slow... Don't get enough exercise because you're always playing video games!"
2BIT's musings: How could I make anyone say that??
Ch4alternate scene - If the power goes out, how will we repair our ship?" Kosmo wondered. Syrax looked to Raxos. "Orders, sir?" Raxos looked at Kosmo. "Save our power grid, morphing creature, and we will repair your ship.
2BIT's musings: Seems too nice for the Zoah...
Ch5incorrect lines - The shield is back up! I sure hope ten of these shards can break through! I'll help them along!
2BIT's musings: I'm not sure what's incorrect here. The number of shards? The shield being up? ...I don't remember this story... but my notes say it's incorrect. *shrugs*
I do remember where I was going with it, though. Time travel was going to be involved to defeat Eggman (assuming I continued the story on my own) and I would have come up with my own take on this mysterious "Argus." The Twilight Shards? Think of those as my GS Ball. If you know Pokemon, you know that isn't good for getting closure. I'm holding onto that solution in case I ever find a use for it, so... GS Ball status for now... (post special-writing edid: good news, the Twilight Shards do something! But I'm not telling! :p You'll have to read the upcoming special; arriving Sept. 26, 2016!)
It seems this does run a bit long, so I'm splitting the "Retrospective" into a second part. Next time, we'll see deleted scenes from Knuckles the Echidna and GeneX Generations. I hope you will find it interesting. Until then...
To be continued...
