Just in time for Christmas, Sonic 3D Blast: Director’s Cut has been put onto the Steam Workshop for everyone to play.

While it may seem like it ought to be another run-of-the-mill mod, there’s one factor that makes this project stand out; this was done by Jon Burton, founder of Traveller’s Tales and programmer on the original Sonic 3D Blast itself way back in 1996!

Over the past year, Burton (via his Youtube channel Gamehut) has been revealing coding secrets and tricks on Sonic 3D Blast and other classic TT games many would recognise, and as part of that he took it on himself to do some tweaks to the game to make it an overall better experience. Here’s a list of some of the modifications that this contains;

• Super Sonic implemented into regular gameplay.
• A time attack mode.
• A level editor.
• A “new” enemy (actually one that was always in the code but left unused in the final game).
• A save game password system.
• An overworld map screen for getting level to level.
• Improved controls.
• Bug Fixes.
• Other miscellaneous gameplay changes, including alterations to the Flicky indicators and the behaviour of the Flickies themselves.

This game is a patch for the mod-friendly SEGA Mega Drive and Genesis Classics, so make sure you own that before trying it out if you’re interested. The patch can be downloaded here on the Steam Workshop for free.

If you’ve ever been curious as to how a developer would improve their work in hindsight, or just fancy playing Sonic 3D Blast in a way you never have before, this is something you might want to try out for yourself!

Source: Jon Burton (Twitter)