Sonic Hedgehog 11

Sonic Hedgehog 11 (written as Sonic Hedehog 11 on a Chinese Multicart) is an unlicensed game for the Sega Genesis, released sometime in the 2000s. It is a hack of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, taking elements from both the final game and the Simon Wai Prototype, although it seems to be built off of the latter, and is notable for its bizarre on-death effects and disputed origins/existence.

Overview

Sonic Hedgehog 11 features a character called "Blue", who is an edited version of Sonic, having the tan parts of his body swapped for more blue. Blue also has a few other design changes from Sonic, including the lack of ears and nose, different shoes, and bigger eyes, but for the most part is just an edited Sonic. Blue notably does not use the Sonic 2 sprite and colors as a base, but rather ones closer to Sonic 1. The title screen features an image of the Sonic artwork from the boxart Sonic Adventure, edited to look more like Blue (although it isn't entirely accurate to Blue's in-game sprite or other art of him in the game), and with the text "SONIC HEDGEHOG 11" below it. Waiting on the title screen will give you a quick synopsis of the plot written in Russian, reading:

"Oнeт! Дoктop Яйцeгoлoвый вepнyлcя зa cтapoe, нo y Coникa и Taилc дeл нeвпpoвopoт! Hoвый дpyг Coникa Cиний дoлжeн oтпpaвитьcя нa пpиключeниe cквoзь Eвpoпy чтoбы ocтaнoвить злoгo дoктopa, нo eгo пpиключeниe нe бyдeт лeгким! Пoмoжитe ли вы Cинeмy пoбeдить злoгo Дoктopa Эгг мaнa? Или пpидётcя eмy oтopвaть cвoю гoлoвy?"

(Translation: "Ohno! Dr. Egghead seems to be doing the same thing again, but Sonic and Thales have their hands full! Sonic's new friend Blue must travel across Europe to stop a mad doctor, but Blue's journey won't be easy! Will you help Blue defeat the evil Dr. Eggman? Or will Blue have tear his head off?")

Disregarding the morbid ending to the synopsis, the setting of Europe is mostly just an afterthought, as the only semblance of Europe is likely completely accidental due to stolen assets. It also erroneously refers to Tails as "Thales".

The game features 10 zones, with only one of them being a direct lift level design-wise. However, the new zones are not exactly the most polished in level design. The game is said to have an erratic difficulty curve, with some levels being considerably easier than the ones that they were placed in between. The difficulty mainly picks up in Egg Castle Zone Act 2, in which Slicers are introduced. Control-wise, it is identical to Sonic 2 barring a few certain scenarios. (see On-Death Effects for more detail)

The game mostly reuses assets from other Genesis games, mainly Sonic 1 and Sonic 3, although a few assets from non-Sonic games are used, mostly for backgrounds and enemies.

Zones

Emerald Hill Zone (Act 1 is Hill Top Act 1 with Emerald Hill's background and palette, Act 2 is Emerald Hill Act 2)
Winter World Zone (Uses Ice Cap Zone tiles with the background of 5-1 from Ristar)
Egg Castle Zone (Uses palette-swapped Marble Zone tiles alongside Stage 6's outside background from Castlevania: Bloodlines)
Wood Zone (Uses Wood Zone's assets and part of its level design from the Simon Wai prototype)
Hidden Palace Zone (Uses Hidden Palace's assets and part of its level design from the Simon Wai prototype)
Sky Zone (Uses an unknown tileset - likely from another Sonic hack - and the background of Sky Chase Zone)
Water Temple Zone (Uses Hydrocity tiles with a background taken from Gemini Man in The Wily Wars)
Burning Zone (Uses Lava Reef assets)
Night Attack Zone (Uses Launch Base tiles with Star Light's background)
Final Base Zone (Uses a mixture of Chemical Plant and Metropolis assets)

On-Death Effects

Part of the game's source of infamy are the effects that happen when you die, which are noted as being strange.

Firstly, before respawning, the act screen will have a new sentence replacing the normal "READY!" text. Known sentences include:

Can you hear me
Game over
He did this to me
What did they do to knuckles
- Only appears in Wood Zone Act 2, likely referencing the boss, who is Knuckles' head pasted onto Gilius Thunderhead
Where is tails
I will not be replaced
Set me free
Hes not my friend

Afterwards, the game will seemingly continue as normal until the timer reaches 13 seconds. After which, a distorted version of the Death Egg theme will play as Blue's sprite glitches out, becoming a mess of both tiles and palettes. After which, Blue will be replaced by Sonic, who uses his Sonic 2 sprites. Sonic will wander around aimlessly without player input and will attempt to kill himself if the player does make input. To regain control, you must mash the controller, which will replace Sonic with Blue again, although Blue does become harder to control. Sonic will then sometimes reappear in Blue's place at random, and each time Sonic reappears, he will require more mashing to replace him with Blue again. It is nearly impossible to switch back to Blue when Sonic appears for the 4th time, as the mashing required by then becomes too quick for most humans. The only way to get the effect to go away is to either complete an act or reset the game, the latter of which is not recommended due to a lack of save files.

Sometimes, when dying, images of Sonic and Blue together will appear, although Sonic never appears to be happy in them. Getting a game over treats you to an image of Sonic bursting out of Blue's stomach, alongside a 10-second timer that counts down and two "ДА/НЕТ" options. It is believed that pressing no permanently locks the game, as this is what one of the players has claimed.

Origins

It is somewhat debated who made Sonic Hedgehog 11, and whether or not it exists at all. The person who first documented the game, a forum user named ScorchXX, claims that the game was on a Chinese multicart and that the credits say it was created by "Ping Technology". However, another user named JDP found the game built-in on a Russian Genesis clone, and claims that this was the origin of the game, with this version crediting developer "В4А". It is believed that B4A is likely the true developer, as a majority of the game's text is Russian, although B4A is not known to have released any other bootlegs. Some people believe that Sonic Hedgehog 11 is just a hoax by the two users, as these are the only two known copies of Sonic Hedgehog 11 as of writing, and it has yet to be dumped online. ScorchXX claims that the game fried his multicart when he was messing around with the on-death effects, while JDP simply never bothered to dump the ROM.