Tails' Skypatrol was originally developed as a licensed Disney game for an unreleased budget handheld system aimed at a younger audience with a focus on educational content - much like Sega's Pico - and was reworked into a Tails game for the Game Gear after the console was scrapped, due to the Game Gear's similar stats to the unreleased hardware. It is not known which Disney character Tails replaced, however a pre-release promotional video shows the Mickey Mouse character Peg-Leg Pete in place of Bearenger as the boss of Ruin Wood.