|
Information in this article is about real-life people, companies, and objects, which do not relate to the in-universe Sonic series. |
The Retro Engine logo.
The Retro Engine is a game engine that was originally developed by Christian Whitehead. It is a retro-styled multiplatform engine that has been used in several game remasters in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Since 2018, the engine has been developed by Evening Star. It is primarily intended for the production of 2D games.
History[]
The Retro Engine was first used by Christian Whitehead in 2007 for the fan game Retro Sonic, which was modeled after the classic titles from the Sonic the Hedgehog series.[1]
In 2009, Christian Whitehead presented Sega with a working Sonic the Hedgehog CD port for the iPhone. Thanks to this, he received the approval to produce a remaster of the game, which was released in 2011 for various platforms, which included not only iPhones, but also consoles and Windows-based PCs.[2] Two years later, in 2013, Christian Whitehead collaborated with Headcannon to produced remasters of the original Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit) for mobile devices.[3] In 2014, they also presented a prototype of a remaster of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, but the work on it was suspended due to Sega's decision to reject the project.[4] Simon Thomley of Headcannon believed that this was due to the legal issues involving Michael Jackson and his associates' involvement in the production of the game's soundtrack.[5]
Since 2015, Whitehead and Headcannon would collaborate with PagodaWest Games on Sonic Mania, which was released in 2017. This was a completely new game running on the Retro Engine.[6] Two years later, in 2019, Whitehead and the other people associated with the production of Sonic Mania founded their own studio, Evening Star, and initially changed the name of the Retro Engine to "Star Engine".[7][8] In 2021, the studio revealed that the Star Engine had been changed into a separate engine supporting 3D rendering, while the Retro Engine remained the engine for 2D games.[8]
In 2022, the Sonic Origins compilation was released, containing all of the previous remasters on the Retro Engine, including a new remaster of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, which was developed by Headcannon.[9]
Sonic games using the Retro Engine[]
- Sonic the Hedgehog CD (2011)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (2013)
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2013)
- Sonic Mania (2017)
- Sonic Mania Plus (2018)
- Sonic Origins (2022)
- Sonic Origins Plus (2023)
References[]
- ↑ Mawson, Chris (April 2, 2015). Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Remastered Interview with Christian 'The Taxman' Whitehead. Power Up Gaming. Retrieved on June 28, 2022.
- ↑ Hodapp, Eli (July 29, 2009). Christian Whitehead On 'Sonic CD' and His Retro Engine. TouchArcade. Retrieved on June 28, 2022.
- ↑ Glagowski, Peter (November 27, 2017). Sonic the Hedgehog 2 joins Sega’s free mobile game initiative. Destructoid. Retrieved on June 28, 2022.
- ↑ Nelson, Jared (October 19, 2014). Hey Sega! This 'Sonic 3 & Knuckles' iOS Port Needs to Happen. t TouchArcade. Retrieved on June 28, 2022.
- ↑ Thomley, Simon (February 9, 2015). Regarding Sonic 3. Tumblr. Archived from the original on June 24, 2022. Retrieved on June 28, 2022.
- ↑ Al-Aaser, Amr (August 4, 2017). The Hackers And Modders Behind The Next Official Sonic Game. Kotaku.
- ↑ Batchelor, James (February 12, 2019). Sonic Mania dev Christian Whitehead co-founds new studio Evening Star". Retrieved on June 28, 2022.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Technologies. Evening Star. Retrieved on June 28, 2022.
- ↑ Carter, Chris (April 20, 2022). The Sonic Mania studio helped work on Sonic Origins. Destructoid.
External links[]
- Retro Engine at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia