Why does PUNCHING Sonic 3D trigger a Secret Level Select?
Why Hacker News recommends it
Shared as a favorite game-development anecdote with a clear technical explanation.
What it is
A short Coding Secrets episode explaining why hitting a Sonic 3D cartridge triggers a hidden level select. The cause was a custom crash handler that redirected CPU error interrupts to the level select screen.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2021 to 2023.
What Hacker News said
Recommends LaserDiscMan · 2021-10 · on “The Coding Secrets Hidden in “Sonic the Hedgehog” [video]”
For those who don't know, Burton explains this in depth here: [this video] Another one of my favorite ones describes copy protection via intentionally destroyed floppy sectors: [LINK]
Recommends LeonenTheDK · 2023-11 · on “Why does the moon change size when you snipe it in GTA?”
I love little game dev anecdotes such as these. Interesting relics of the development process. One of my favourites is Sonic 3D's secret level select screen: [this video]
Cites theevilsharpie · 2023-09 · on “Mythbusters: Wing Commander I Edition”
This reminds me of a hack that Traveller's Tales implemented for Sonic 3D Blast on the Sega Genesis/Megadrive. If you physically wiggle or hit the game cartridge enough while the the console is powered on with the game inserted in it, a "secret level select" screen pops up where you can select a level. It was long considered to be an easter egg, but actually, it was a custom crash handler that the devs created that trapped all of the main CPU's error interrupts and redirected to a level select screen. They did this to avoid having their game build rejected by Sega's QA team and delaying the game's release. (Sega's QA testing was a multi-week process, and a crash would mean the build getting