Fan Port Sonic releases to PC, potentially opening the gate to Xbox 360 to recompense

Xbox 360 recompilation has started using unofficial PC ports Sonic release.

Sonic Team's 2008 Platformer was launched on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Wii ahead of the PlayStation 3 release a month later. SEGA has never released a PC version.

Now, 17 years later, fans have gone to great lengths to make their own Xbox 360 version of the PC port, known as Sonic Unleashed Reproged. There's even one trailer.

This is not a simple port, nor is it a game running on a PC via emulation. Instead, it's a “start from scratch” PC version of Sonic unleashed, and even includes enhancements such as high resolution support, high frame rate support, and MOD support. It also runs on the steam deck.

It is worth noting that to recompile Sonic Unleashed on your PC, you need to have a copy of the original Xbox 360 game. This is because the port recompiles the original Xbox 360 version of the game file into a playable PC version through a static recoding process.

This is an important moment for console recompilation. I saw many classic Nintendo 64 games in 2024, recompiled to work on PCnow it looks like the Xbox 360 floodgates are open.

“That's it, Sega just lost the easiest $40-60 ever,” said a YouTube commenter. “All we want is Sonic's local PC port to be released. Now we have it, it's 100% free and open source.

“The years of modifications released assets to generations and improved the Xbox 360 simulation led to this breakthrough.”

“It's really a big moment for the Sonic fan project,” another said. “We now have incredible local ports in the incredible 17-year-old game. Sonic Unleashed is the game that makes me a Sonic fan and now I can experience it in MOD-backed local HD 60fps. I'm really grateful.”

Another commenter added: “It's really one of the biggest moments in the Sonic the Hedgehog fan base. One of the most popular games available on PC in the end. Official or not, I'm glad it's here and I'm glad there are more people who can play this legendary game.”

“Thanks to everyone involved in this development, you are now part of history.”

While enthusiasts point to such fan works, such as this new life calling a new life into games on modern platforms or games that are not supported on modern platforms, publishers can be dimly lit because the recompiled PC port threat may be making official PC ports. The question now is, how will Sega react?

Wesley is the UK news editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter via @wyp100. You can reach Wesley via [email protected] or secretly visit [email protected].