Mind-boggling Sonic art lost to the ages

This is really weird, so brace yourself. Many years ago, while toiling away in the Toys "R" Us salt mines, I was in charge of the electronics department. This included the glut of cheapo PC software the company carries, from seven-year-old games that will never sell to brand new, hardware-crunching titles that no one shopping in that store could ever install. The amount of unsold software was so choking that some of us electronics folks would buy games to get them off the shelves. Sad, yes, but one of my friends walked out with Sonic & Knuckles Collection, a compilation disc that not only contained some of the best platformers ever, but also a folder filled with the strangest pieces of artwork we'd ever seen.

Tucked away on that same CD were the pictures you're about to see. If you own the game, you might recognize them, and know firsthand how utterly crazy they are. I checked around the net to make sure they weren't posted somewhere else, and near as I can tell, they aren't. Gaze away now, at official art that had me laughing for years, despite how many awful things I have to say about the series.

He's a hedgehog on the go, people! Things to do, people to see! And he's LATE!

Sonic feeding a rainbow to a snail, while holding an umbrella. Ooookay...

Sonic on safari. If Sega doesn't have that on a spreadsheet already, they will now.

Ready for a big city date, but those flowers are sending mixed signals - orange means let's be friends, Sonic.

This doesn't make any sense.

SONIC VEGETARIAN CONFIRMED?

Clearly from Sonic 2, but I hadn't seen it prior to S&KC. He's very protective of that 2.

They're welcoming you to... SegaLand? Enjoy it while you can guys, it'll be gone by 2000.

Brett Elston

A fomer Executive Editor at GamesRadar, Brett also contributed content to many other Future gaming publications including Nintendo Power, PC Gamer and Official Xbox Magazine. Brett has worked at Capcom in several senior roles, is an experienced podcaster, and now works as a Senior Manager of Content Communications at PlayStation SIE.