Sonic the Fighters received mixed reviews. It was rereleased again in 2012 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, featuring new playable characters and an online versus mode. The smoothness of the character animations convinced Sonic Team to approve the project and supervise it.Ī home console port for the Sega Saturn was canceled, so Sonic the Fighters did not reach home consoles until 2005 with the compilation Sonic Gems Collection for GameCube and PlayStation 2. The idea for a Sonic fighting game was conceived when a Sega AM2 programmer experimented with a 3D Sonic the Hedgehog model in Fighting Vipers. Sonic the Fighters was built using the 3D fighting engine for Fighting Vipers (1996), another game by Sega AM2, and it was the first 3D game in the Sonic series. First released in 1996 in arcades on Sega's Model 2 arcade system, Sonic the Fighters pits players in one-on-one battles with a roster of characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Sonic the Fighters, also known as Sonic Championship on arcade versions outside Japan, is a fighting game developed by Sega AM2.
