Sonic Crackers is rumored to be the last great
Sonic the Hedgehog video game for the
Sega Genesis. It is assumed that the "Crackers" name was a beta name of some sort; chances are we'll never know. The game was in development when it was canceled and at some point after this someone somewhere got ahold of a beta cartridge and dumped it to a
ROM and put it on the Internet for anyone with an
emulator to try.
The story of the game is unknown, but the gameplay itself resembles Knuckles Chaotix for the 32X. Sonic and Tails are linked together by rings attached to a tether. The player controls both characters as a single entity. The control pad makes the duo move and when the player pushes one of the A, B, or C buttons Tails stops moving. Sonic can then keep moving, although eventually he will stretch the tether and, upon releasing the button, cause Tails to rocket forward and/or up. This control mechanism is much more complicated than the traditional run/jump style of the Sonic the Hedgehog series.
Only a handful of levels are complete in the beta version, and even still there are no enemies or objects to interact with. Presumably these elements would have been added to the final version. The levels that do exist are primarily vertical in nature, requiring the duo to maneuver from platform to platform. There is also a map screen, a first for the Sonic the Hedgehog series at this point.
If you ever get the chance to play this beta game, give it a try. It's a unique page of forgotten Sonic the Hedgehog history.