May 18^th, 2005 (2:57am) - One of the first tech demos ever displayed for the Nintendo DS had been a fully rendered 3D Sonic tech demo that had Sega and Sonic creator Yuji Naka called "Sonic DS." Well, the Sonic DS we have today doesn’t seem to be the same game since these newly released screens seem to represent the classic Sonic the Hedgehog gameplay Sega fans once knew and loved.

Sonic Rush for the Nintendo DS utilizes the handheld’s dual-screens to offer a larger viewing area of the game’s surroundings, adding to the platform elements of the game. In addition, a new "Rush" meter has been added and when this meter fills up, Sonic briefly becomes an unstoppable hedgehog that cannot be stopped by any fiend.

In this adventure Sonic will team up with Blaze the Cat. However, Blaze will not be playable in the demo that will be featured on the E3 expo show floor. Blaze is expected to have her own separate adventure that intertwines with Sonic’s.

If readers where to analyze the images carefully, they’ll notice that Sonic is actually rendered in 3D. While the core gameplay is mainly 2D, it is rumored that boss battles in the game will be played out in semi-3D.

More on the game as E3 continues.