If you happen to have owned the Sonic Jam compilation of classic Sonic games for the Sega Saturn, you may remember the 'Sonic World' Mode that was also included in the package.
This was an interactive museum that players could access that allowed them to move around as the blue hedgehog in three dimensions, collecting coins, completing tasks, and entering buildings to view a bunch of additional Sonic-related artwork.
It was a brilliant addition to the game, acting as a sort of preview of what a proper 3D Sonic game could look like on the system, and even featured a neat cameo from Tails who appeared flying above the level and could provide Sonic with a helpful lift following a well-timed jump.
If you're anything like us, this small tease probably had you pining at the time for Sonic's sidekick to eventually be added to the game as a fully playable character — something that Sega sadly never ended up doing. Now, though, thanks to fans of the game like @memory_fallen, privateeye, and Starman, that finally seems to have happened in the form of a new patch.
Over on Twitter, @memory_fallen announced yesterday (November 23rd) that they had created a new mod for the game, which allows players to switch out Sonic for Tails. As they stated in this announcement post, this ended up being a bit more complicated than a simple model swap, with the Sega Saturn enthusiast having to tweak the animations and controls so that it's now possible for Tails to fly.
Of course, this now means Tails can meet another version of himself while exploring the 3D world, but it's a small sacrifice to make in order to live out our dreams of being able to control a different character.
If you want to give the patch a try yourself, you can grab it now from the SegaXtreme website.