/vr/ - Retro Games

>>6454289
>>6459349
>>6459402
Pic not related. But to answer the question:

The GG and SMS versions split early on, this can be seen by the presence of the unused Marble Zone music in the SMS build and the unused Marble Zone bat sprite in the GG build. However, the SMS version was almost certainly first, why?

The graphics do not utilise the Game Gear's superior colour palette (4096 vs SMS's 64) except for places where graphics HAD to be redrawn specifically for the GG.

The Sonic sprite in the SMS version actually uses a variable number of hardware sprites depending on animation. When Sonic bounces on a spring and is looking upwards, he is one sprite taller than normal. By some weird quirk of the SMS's GPU it actually has a couple of extra graphic tiles free that the GG does not. Guess where the tips of Sonic's feet used in those extra sprites are in VRAM?

It does not make sense that the GG sprite would have been developed first considering that the sprite layout for the SMS is much more complex. It makes more sense that the SMS sprites had to be downsized and fitted into a smaller, fixed, number of tiles.

See this thread for details on the GG/SMS Sonic sprite sizing issues:

https://www.smspower.org/forums/16582-FINISHEDSonicTheHedgehogGameGearSMSStyleEdition