Sonic Moon (Mario Obsessed)

Sonic the Hedgehog Moon (or just Sonic Moon, not to be confused SonicZTeam's fan game) is a Sonic the Hedgehog fan game being developed by Mario Obsessed. The game is a crossover with the manga/anime series ''Sailor Moon. The fan game takes a visual and gameplay design approach akin to the Sega Master System Sonic'' games.

A video showing the prototype of the game was uploaded to Mario Obsessed's YouTube channel on the 17th of February, 2020. A demo was released on the 23rd of December, 2020, another on the 17th of April, 2021 and another on the 24/25th of August. A specific release date for the final version has yet to be confirmed.

Playable Characters

 * Sonic
 * Tails
 * Knuckles
 * Mighty
 * Ray
 * Modern Sonic
 * Luna

Gameplay
The engine is modelled after the Master System games, more specifically Sonic 1 & 2. The player has their basic move-set; jumping, rolling, spin-dashing as well as the Super Peel-Out move from Sonic CD and the Drop Dash move from Sonic Mania. Knuckles can glide and crawl up walls.

The player can collect Chaos Emeralds from Special Stages (accessed through a teleporter) and these will allow the Sailor Guardians from Sailor Moon to be summoned as helpers, via breaking a Chaos Emerald monitor placed within a stage. When these helpers appear, they can perform actions with the player by pressing the X key. In the demo, Usagi/Moon can throw the player to reach higher ground via the X key. A dev-post shows an upcoming forward throw, sending the player to their max speed and a downward throw making the player roll up. These interactions are akin on Sonic Advance 2 's air-trick actions.

Progression
There are 6 known zones, each with 3 acts. The 3rd act is much shorter and has the player face a boss. The December demo only has the first two zones playable with the fourth zone playable in the April demo and the fifth in the August demo, though development footage shows that the other zones exists, 3 acts 'n' all, albeit in an unpolished state.
 * R1: Contrast Coast Zone
 * R2: Legacy Luminance Zone
 * R3: Ruby Ruins Zone
 * R4: Mental Mountains Zone
 * R5: Aqua Ample Zone
 * R6: Soundwave Star Zone
 * R7: Final Fever

Development
On the 15th of June, 2019, Mario Obsessed uploaded a video of a stage he had made in the ''Sonic Max Engine. The zone featured within the video was named "Contrast Peace" and would serve as the basis for Sonic Moon'' 's first zone.

On the 17th of February, 2020, the developer uploaded a video showcasing the current prototype version of the fan game with other videos following. A demo was released on the 23rd December, 2020.

Trivia

 * This marks the first fan-game by the Mario Obsessed to be released officially on Game Jolt.
 * According to the developer, he had originally planned to use the Sonic Max Engine and afterwards planned to use the Sonic SMS Engine. The current prototype apparently uses his own engine with some elements from the latter.
 * This fan game was inspired by the Sonic SMS Remake by Creative Araya, who also made the Sonic SMS Engine.
 * His video also suggests a Christmas Sonic game being developed with the Max Engine, though that has yet to be seen.
 * A YouTube web-series named Sonic Moon Z exists, which has been around since 2019. The series has no links with this fan game with Mario Obsessed stating that he was unaware of its existence until the day the prototype showcase video was recorded. Similarly he was also unaware of another Sonic fan game of the same name and has stated that he may change the title of his (or make it more specific) to prevent confusion.
 * All zone names are alliterations ("Contrast Coast", "Legacy Luminance", etc.), much like Sonic CD
 * Some zones bare resemblances to others:
 * Contrast Coast Zone appears to be based off Sky High and Green Hills Zones from Sonic 2 SMS/GG, with it having a blocky design containing plain and patterned blocks.
 * Ruby Ruins Zone contains areas of circle-patterned terrain similar to those seen in Tidal Tempest. The zone itself appears to be an homage to Aqua Lake Zone from Sonic 2 SMS/GG, having a red/pink colour scheme.
 * Mental Mountains Zone contains areas of green, triangle-patterned terrain with orange floors, similar to the terrain in Sonic CD 's Quartz Quadrant.
 * Aqua Ample Zone was stated to have had visual influence from Crystal Coast Zone, a zone from the Sonic 2 SMS/GG ROM hack Sonic Eclipse. This may be from the colourful thick sticks on the terrain that resemble the tree-trunk terrain from said zone.
 * During the game's Sonic Max Engine iteration, Ruby Ruins Zone was originally called "Ruby Lake Zone" and would have probably been a bigger homage to Aqua Lake.
 * A tweet by the developer showcased some internal, early names for the zones. Contrast Coast was referred to as "Contrast Caper," Legacy Luminance was called "Legacy City," Mental Mountains was referred to as "Mountain Madness" and "Mountain Plains" and Soundwave Satellite was called "Danger Satellite."
 * In early 2021, a user claimed that version 0.7.2 of the December demo had a backdoor virus, with the creator then getting a virus warning for the file. Said version of the demo was replaced with version 0.7.1. Due to Game Maker's apparent inability to serve as a virus, it's likely that it was a false-positive with the developer also documenting another instance of this right after compiling another of his projects.
 * Sailor Chibi Moon was planned as a playable character. She was scrapped in favour of Modern Sonic due to time constraints as well the developer struggling to find a way to implement her.