We sure hope the new Sonic 4 isn't a remake of this Sonic 4

Here's a fun little piece of 16-bit history for you -- did you know that when Sega made its big announcement last week, a game called Sonic 4 had actually been floating around for 14 years? Sure, it's not an official Sonic game, mind you -- it was merely a modded version of the classic Sunsoft SNES platformer Speedy Gonzales: Los Gatos Bandidos. 1UP recently shared the game's illicit history -- a group of Peruvian hackers known as Twin Eagle Group got their hands on the game in 1996, removed all instances of the hasty Mexican mouse, and replaced them with Sega's spiny mascot.

Check out a gameplay clip of the unsanctioned Sonic 4 after the jump. Yeah, it doesn't look great -- but to be fair, Sonic doesn't whip out a gun at any point, nor does he engage in light bestiality, so we guess it has its charms.

[Via Kotaku]