2. The GameCube was chosen for development over the competing PlayStation 2 and Xbox because of its wide audience that Naka felt would appreciate such a family-friendly game. The game uses an engine that Naka called "an evolution of the Sonic Adventure 2 engine." The game was exhibited at Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2003. Windows version The Microsoft Windows port that was released exclusively in Europe is identical in style to the GameCube version, even to the point where the GameCube button icons are all preserved and are used to represent USB controller buttons or mapped keys. The Windows version has small differences in the gameplay, such as a slightly altered camera system, the lack of a dead zone while aiming a cannon and a certain enemy requiring two hits to defeat, as opposed to one in the original GameCube version. Reception Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg received "mixed to positive" reviews, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of all four eights for a total of 32 out of 40. Critics praised the visuals and music, gameplay style, presentation and multiplayer mode, while citing issues with the physics, camera, and a very simple plot. It was nominated in the 1st British Academy Game Awards for Best GameCube Game. The game was a commercial bomb, only selling around 250,000 copies worldwide. Other appearances Due to the game's poor sales, Sega was reluctant to consider a sequel. In spite of this, executive producer Zachary Brown stated that Billy would appear in various other Sega titles, as he did including Sega Superstars, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, and Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing. Billy and several characters from the game also appeared in Worlds Unite, a 2015 story arc crossover between the Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man comic series published by Archie Comics. In December 2022, Sonic Team designer Shun Nakamura stated that he'd like to make a sequel for the game. Notes References External links 2003 video games 3D platform games GameCube games MacOS games Sonic Team games Sega video games Windows games Video games about birds Video games produced by Yuji Naka Video games scored by Tomoya Ohtani Multiplayer and single-player video games Video games scored by Mariko Nanba Games with GameCube-GBA connectivity Video games developed in Japan