FAMEPedia:Today's featured article/September 13, 2021

Sonic X-treme was a platform game developed by Sega Technical Institute from 1994 until its cancellation in 1996. It was intended to be the first fully 3D Sonic the Hedgehog game and the first original Sonic game for the Sega Saturn. X-treme was conceived as a side-scrolling platform game for the Sega Genesis to succeed 1994's Sonic & Knuckles. Development shifted to the 32X and then the Saturn and Microsoft Windows, and the game was redesigned as a 3D platform game for the 1996 holiday season. The plan was disrupted by company politics, an unfavorable visit by Sega executives, and obstacles using a game engine developed by Sonic Team for Nights into Dreams. The lead designers became ill, prompting the game's producer to cancel the game. A film tie-in with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was also canceled. In place of X-treme, Sega released a port of the Genesis game Sonic 3D Blast, but did not release an original 3D Sonic platform game until Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast in 1998. The cancelation is considered an important factor in the Saturn's commercial failure, as it left the system with no original platform game featuring Sega's mascot.