Prerelease:Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Genesis)/Scrapped Zones
This is a sub-page of Prerelease:Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Genesis).
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Sonic 2 is infamous for how many stages were cut from the final release, ranging from well known to name-only.
Hirokazu Yasuhara would design enemies, gimmicks, and maps for a zone, laid out as rough blocks/chunks. These maps were then given to the artists alongside suggestions for the level's theme. With the art direction being so open, artists were free to flesh out the levels as they wished.
I would be given a paper map and some suggestions as to what the theme of the level was like. I would then rough out some ideas and show them around. When I had something that eveyone liked I would start making all the little pieces of art that could then be put togther to make the level.
Once this base art was done (a couple hundred tiles) I would then sit down and carefully place the art in the actual game. This part was sometimes fun, sometimes tedious. (as was drawing the art since most of it was done pixel by pixel)
Sega had it's own proprietary art-development stations that were used to paint and animate everything in the game. The were called "Digitizers" although you didn't really digitize anything with them, it was all by hand.
I should remember more about Oil Ocean, since this is one of the levels I worked on. All the forground art is mine, although the background is Yamaguchi's (no one liked my background, including me)
I don't remember what the orginal art direction given me was. It was pretty open though. Basically I think I was told that the level was going to have slippery oil flowing through it and undter it, with lots of elevators and timed jumps (like most Sonic levels).
I decided to go for a cross between the GoldenGate bridge and an oil refinery.
— Craig Stitt
I remember right, the actual art/look of Hidden Palace was left up to me. I was given a map, but it was just laid out as rough blocks and paths. I can't remember if I was asked to make it underground or not. I don't think it even had a name until after I had finished it. If it had I probably would have made it more 'Palace' like.
The one thing that was just a given was that it had to match the general look and feel of the Sonic Universe. I wanted to d0 something a little different. Back then you were REALLY limited by how much unique art you were allowed, and how may colors you could use. 'If' I remember right, I was allowed 256 8x8 pixel blocks and probably only 8 colors on any given screen (there were ways you could fake more colors, I.e. the underwater color shift. These 8x8 blocks where then put together to make larger tiles (I believe 8x8 if the 8x8s... but I can't remember exactly)
I wanted to do something 'crystalline' in nature. The color palette was left up to me.
— Craig Stitt
For unknown reasons (perhaps due to language barriers), stages that entered development later were given concept art by Yasushi Yamaguchi in addition to Hirokazu Yasuhara's maps. Artists were given a more strict art direction with Yasushi Yamaguchi overseeing their work.
Yamaguchi oversaw all the art production he would give a drawing of the bvasic feel & look. Yasuhara would give the maps and a layout of the blocks needed and the individual artist would do the rest under Yamaguchi's keen eye
— Tom Payne
The stage concept arts by Yasushi Yamaguchi (credited as Judy Totoya) were first released as part of the Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary Art Book. These images would later be uploaded as part of his interview with Beep21.
Contents
Ocean Wind Zone
What was meant to be the second stage in the game after Green Hill/Emerald Hill, Ocean Wind would've been a coastal area with piers and rock structures in the background. Based on the map documents, it would've occupied slot $01 in the level index, which is unused in all prototypes and the final game.
Slot $01 shares its music with Green Hill/Emerald Hill in the Simon Wai prototype. It is unknown if this was a placeholder.
According to Yasushi Yamaguchi, when asked about Ocean Wind and other cut stages he had this to say.
Some zones are only concept art and zones that are in the process of being built are no more work than the screen shots in the magazine or what was included in the test version.
— Judy Totoya (Yasushi Yamaguchi)
Sonic 3 & Knuckles would reuse elements from this zone's concept art, such as the ramp, for Angel Island. A similar concept and design would later appear in Emerald Coast from Sonic Adventure.
Wood/Secret Jungle Zone
Initially known as Woods in the map concept art, Wood was a dense jungle with Sonic running into various trees designed by artist Brenda Cook. Concept art shows a later name for Wood, Secret Jungle, featuring spring branches to guide Sonic up. This level was partially implemented in the Simon Wai and August 21st builds of the game, albeit incomplete and without objects. It occupied slot $02 in the level index.
Slot $02 shares its music with Metropolis in the Simon Wai prototype. It is unknown if this was a placeholder.
On December 12th 2023, a VHS containing a portfolio of art from Brenda Cook was released by the Video Game History Foundation [1]. This included a previously unseen animated mock-up, featuring an earlier version of the conveyor belt and the palette, as well as animated spikes piercing the floor. These spikes are not present in any prototypes containing the zone.
Brenda Cook stated in an interview that assets for the level were roughly half-way completed before it was scrapped.
About half way done, I’d guess. Or a bit more.
I remember the woods zone having pink flowers somewhere. Hey, I am a girl… heh.
— Brenda Cook
According to Yasushi Yamaguchi, it got scrapped due to problems during the test map phase.
The Wood Zone was cancelled because of gameplay issues that came up during the test map phase.
— Judy Totoya (Yasushi Yamaguchi)
■ウッドゾーン
ブレンダの担当していたステージで、初期段階で石渡がエメラルドヒル、クレッグがオイルオーシャンを作っていたのと同時期のステージです。
途中まで作成され仮のマップがベータ版にも入っていたせいでマニアの間では広く知られているステージです。
キャンセルになった理由は途中まで仮マップを組んでグラフィックの具合やゲーム性の検証を行った際にグラフィック容量的に自然な感じの木を表現するのは難しく、立体感が出し切れていないのと、どうしても途中でバッサリ切れたブロック感が出てしまったり、葉っぱもブロックのつなぎ目が目立ちました。またマップの構成上縦移動が主軸となってしまうため、序盤用のステージなのにソニックのスピード感が出せないということでキャンセルになってしまいました。
■ Wood Zone
"This is the stage that Brenda was in charge of, and it was at the same time that Ishiwatari was creating Emerald Hill and Craig was creating Oil Ocean in the early stages.
This stage is widely known among enthusiasts because it was created halfway and a temporary map was included in the beta version.
The reason for the cancellation was that when we created a temporary map midway through and verified the quality of the graphics and gameplay, it was difficult to express trees in a natural way due to the graphic capacity, and the three-dimensional effect could not be achieved. , I couldn't help but feel like the blocks were cut off in the middle, and the joints between the blocks in the leaves were also noticeable. Also, due to the layout of the map, vertical movement is the main axis, so even though it was an early stage, it was not possible to capture Sonic's sense of speed, so it was canceled."
— Judy Totoya (Yasushi Yamaguchi) - Beep21 [2]
Wood's test map, from the Simon Wai prototype.
Sonic 3 & Knuckles would reuse this zone's concept art for Mushroom Hill. A jungle level was also previously seen in Sonic the Hedgehog (Game Gear).
An official Sonic the Hedgehog 2 calendar included art that bears a close resemblance to Wood Zone, although this may be a coincidence.
Sand Shower Zone
Also referred to as simply "desert" in development materials, Sand Shower was a western themed desert designed by artist Brenda Cook. Based on the map documents, it would've occupied slot $03 in the level index, which was used for Green Hill/Emerald Hill in the Nick Arcade prototype, but unused for all other prototypes and the final game.
Oil Ocean's music plays in slot $03 in the Simon Wai prototype, suggesting it was originally composed for Sand Shower. Oil Ocean itself would use Casino Night's 2-Player music until the September 14th prototype, further suggesting this.
Being amongst the earliest levels worked on, no concept art for it exists. Instead, a mock-up using a mix of placeholder and level assets was created for use as reference material in development and for Sonic 2's promotion in magazines. The mock-up shows two Buzzers and a Gator badnik, although these were likely just placeholders and not intended to appear in the level. The Gator badnik's sprites used for this mock-up were found in a floppy disk owned by Tom Payne. Sprites from later in development were also found in the Nick Arcade and Simon Wai prototypes.
I would only grab images to use as placeholders when showing my art in various stages.
— Brenda Cook
In the Brenda Cook Video Game Art Portfolio, an animated video of Sand Shower's mock-up was revealed, showing moving sand as well as previously unseen animation for the flowers.
Partial assets from Sand Shower's mock-up were found on a floppy disk owned by Tom Payne. Sonic's palette is being used here.
This is a reconstruction of its palette, based on potential colors as seen in the Sandcrab's Digitizer file.
According to Sand Shower's artist, Brenda Cook, assets for the level were completed.
I think it was completed. I couldn’t have gone on to create the woods zone if it hadn’t been. They just didn’t have time to add it to the game.
— Brenda Cook
The map layout would have featured underground and above ground sections, with the level's main gimmick being quicksand.
I think half above ground, and half below. It would depend on the level. Sonic would travel through the sand or snow tunnel, depending on which palette was being used.
— Brenda Cook
The only thing I can really remember about it was that the 'hook' for that level was lots of quicksand. Sonic would slowly sink if he wasn't fast enough or jumped wrong.
— Craig Stitt
Yasushi Yamaguchi explained that the zone was scrapped due to graphical issues with the moving sand and its pace.
As for the desert zone, it was also cancelled because it did not fit well with the graphic representation of moving sand in the testing phase and the gameplay of 2, which wanted to emphasize speed representation more than Sonic 1.
— Judy Totoya (Yasushi Yamaguchi)
■サンドシャワーゾーン
雑誌の掲載写真用に取り敢えず2画面ほどテストで作られたステージです。 ここの担当もブレンダ。
グラフィック自体は悪くなかったのですがカラーチェンジで流砂が流れているように見せようとしたけれど大きい面積だと流れているように見えなかった点とソニックが砂にはまると水の中同様動きが重くなってギミックそのものがソニックのスピード感を損なうものがメインとなるため、この段階ではそれ以上にアイデアが煮詰められていなかったという点でキャンセルされることになります。 これによって非常に申し訳ないのですがブレンダが担当したステージはどちらもキャンセルされる事となりここでプロジェクトから抜けることになります。 これはたまたま彼女の担当したステージのグラフィックの難易度が高く、初期のタイムトラベル要素があったもっと多くのステージを作ることになっていればスピード感のないステージが1つ2つあっても残っていたと思いますが、数を絞る段階でソニックの持つスピード感を損ねるステージはどうしてもキャンセルされる方向になりました。
ちなみにこのステージはカラーチェンジと一部サボテンなどのグラフィックをクリスマスツリーに差し替えることで氷のステージに変える予定もありました。
最終的にこれらのステージはアイデアを練り直してソニック3以降に引き継がれることになります。
■ Sand Shower Zone
"This is a stage that was created as a test with about 2 screens for a photo published in a magazine. Brenda is also in charge here.
The graphics themselves weren't bad, but they tried to make it look like the quicksand was flowing by changing the color, but it didn't look like it was flowing if it was a large area, and when Sonic gets stuck in the sand, it moves just like in water. The main gimmick was that it would become too heavy and detract from Sonic's sense of speed, so it was canceled because the idea had not been refined any further at this stage. As a result of this, we are very sorry, but both stages that Brenda was in charge of have been canceled and she will be leaving the project. This happens to be because the graphics of the stages she was in charge of were very difficult, and if they were to create more stages with early time travel elements, there would still be one or two stages that lacked a sense of speed. I think it was, but in the process of narrowing down the numbers, it was decided that stages that would take away from Sonic's sense of speed would inevitably be cancelled.
By the way, there were plans to turn this stage into an ice stage by changing the color and replacing some of the cacti and other graphics with Christmas trees.
Eventually, these stages would be rethought and carried over to Sonic 3 and beyond."
— Judy Totoya (Yasushi Yamaguchi) - Beep21
Hirokazu Yasuhara designed a sand crab enemy for Sand Shower and Rock World, featuring a different palette depending on the level. It would be buried in the sand or snow before popping out of the ground, sending Sonic flying if he jumped on its springs/shell. It was later repurposed as Crawl for Casino Night.
バンパー Banper
Tom Payne also designed several enemy concepts for the level before it was scrapped. A scorpion badnik would later be used for Sandopolis in Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
Exploding Cactus and Warthog
Exploding Cactus, Snake, Scorpion, and Tumbleweed. Lizard, Vulture, Cow Skull, Rock Enemy, and Sand Crab are mentioned.
Exploding Cactus and Lizard
Scorpion
Scorpion
Scorpion and Vulture/Pterodactyl. Exploding Cactus and Rock Slide are mentioned.
Vulture/Pterodactyl
Vulture/Pterodactyl and Snake
Vulture/Pterodactyl
Sand Crab
Sand Crab
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Sprites for the Scorpion, Vulture/Pterodactyl, and Sand Crab badniks were found on a floppy disk owned by Tom Payne.
_Crawl_and_some_dirt.png){kind=small}
Sonic 3 & Knuckles would reuse this zone's desert theme for Sandopolis and Desert Palace and a similar concept and design would also appear in Sand Hill from Sonic Adventure. Sand Shower would later serve as the inspiration for the scrapped Desert Dazzle in Sonic CD (2011) and Mirage Saloon in Sonic Mania.
Before the release of prototypes and information from development documents, Mystic Cave's original name, Dust Hill, was accidentally used to refer to Sand Shower in Sonic communities. The origin for the name mix-up is unknown.
Tropical Sun Zone
Initially called Tropical Plant and Tropical Summer between the two concept arts for the past maps, Tropical Sun took place on an island with waterfalls and palm trees. Based on the map documents, it would've occupied slot $05 in the level index, which is used for Metropolis Zone Act 3 starting with the Simon Wai build.
Sonic 3 & Knuckles would reuse this zone's concept art, likely for Angel Island.
Blue Ocean Zone
Initially called Blue Lake between the two concept arts for the past maps, Blue Ocean took place under the sea and featured an underwater cavern. Based on the map documents, it would've occupied slot $06, which is used for Wing Fortress starting with the September 14th prototype.
Emerald Hill's 2-Player music plays in slot $06 in the Simon Wai prototype, suggesting it was originally composed for Blue Ocean.
Photocopies of concept art for this zone were discovered in Tom Payne's development document. Ice platforms on the water's surface and a unique submarine mechanic are shown, seeing Sonic travel to the bottom of the ocean on a path, before exiting it and entering the underwater cavern seen in the concept art. Sonic then traversed the cavern vertically to reach the island's surface and goalpost sign.
Note the cutoff of the zone's name due to how the original photocopy was taken
Tom Payne designed some badniks and objects for the level before it was scrapped.
Palm tree designs. A sketch of the island and ice platform from the map is shown.
Lobster
Squid
Lobster and Squid
The red fish seen in Blue Ocean's concept art. It has a more natural design here, instead of the submarine motif.
Sprites for the Lobster and Squid badniks were found on a floppy disk owned by Tom Payne.
In an interview, Craig Stitt mentioned a zone with an Atlantis theme. Due to the Greek/Roman underwater ruins seen in Yasushi Yamaguchi's concept art, it's possible this is referring to Blue Ocean.
I can remember a variation on the Atlantas theme that got as far as a map and some rough art, but that's all I can remember (Mark Cerny designed that one)
— Craig Stitt
According to Yasushi Yamaguchi, he had no idea that other sketches existed, as no digitizer material was provided him.
自分が描いたコンセプトアート以外のスケッチはその存在を知りません。
アメリカのスタッフは蛍光灯の光が苦手なため私とは別の部屋で作業していました。 私は間接照明が苦手。 私が知っているのはデジタイザー画面のみなので彼らがそのようなスケッチを作成していたことは今まで知らなかった。
I do not know of the existence of any sketches other than my own concept art.
The American staff worked in a separate room from me because they are not good with fluorescent light. I am not good with indirect lighting.
I did not know until now that they had created such sketches because all I know is the digitizer screen.
— Judy Totoya (Yasushi Yamaguchi)
Rusty Ruin Zone, another Zone based on Atlantis, (described as "the city of Atlantis, raised from the bottom of the ocean") would later appear in Sonic 3D Blast.
Hidden Palace Zone
Perhaps the most famous cut zone in Sonic 2, Hidden Palace is an underground cave full of crystals and dinosaurs designed by artist Craig Stitt. While unconfirmed, evidence suggests that its original name was Olympus on the concept art for the past map, before being changed to Hidden Palace. A later name, Secret Palace, can be seen in development material but ultimately went unused. It occupied slot $04 in the Nick Arcade prototype before being moved to slot $08 by the Simon Wai prototype, where it remained for all subsequent prototypes and the final game.
Being amongst the earliest levels worked on, no concept art for it exists. As with Sand Shower, a mock-up using a mix of placeholder and level assets was created. This mock-up shows an earlier background, featuring a cavern obscured by rocks with barely noticeable stalagmites in the distance. Partial graphics for this early background still exist in the data of the Nick Arcade and Simon Wai prototypes, suggesting this iteration of the background may have been implemented in-game at an earlier point in development.
■ヒドゥンパレスゾーン
ここはオイルオーシャンゾーンの後にクレッグが担当したステージです。
グラフィックも出来が良くマップも途中まで出来ていたのですが、ギミックも煮詰めきれておらずボスのアイデアもまだ決まってなかったのでプロジェクトもかなり終盤だったためにその段階でプログラマー側からスケジュール的にこのステージを作るとスカイチェイスからデスエッグまでの流れとボスを作る時間がないので選んでくれと言われてしまい、泣く泣くキャンセルせざるを得ませんでした。
グラフィッカーサイドからすれば本当にこのステージ残したかったのですよ。それでもゲームとして締めがないとまずいので苦渋の選択でした。
後年になってゲームが移植される際にこのステージがサルベージ復活して未完成だったギミックのアイデアや新規でボスも追加され、日の目を見ることとなりました。本当に良かったというかやはり本来の形で当時発売したかったですね。
スケジュールが後3ヶ月あればこのステージは間違いなくソフトに入れることができたし、短縮されたデスエッグゾーンも本来の形で再現できたと思います。（容量的には微妙なラインかもしれませんが、最終段階で容量の余りがどのくらいあったかは自分は把握していません。） 自分としては機会があれば本当にちゃんとした形でデスエッグゾーンを作りたいと今でも思っているんですよ。 プランナーとプログラマーも後二人いればキャンセルかけたウッドゾーンとサンドシャワーも作れたかもしれない。 まあ、その場合さらなる容量とセーブ機能が必要だったとは思いますが。
■ Hidden Palace Zone
"This is the stage that Craig was in charge of after Oil Ocean Zone.
The graphics were good and the map was halfway done, but the gimmick hadn't been finalized and the idea for the boss hadn't been decided upon yet, so the project was pretty far into the final stage, so at that stage the programmer asked us to do something about the schedule. When I created the stage, I was asked to select the flow from Sky Chase to Death Egg and there was no time to create the boss, so I had no choice but to cancel the stage.
From the graphics side, I really wanted to keep this stage. Still, it was a difficult choice because the game would be bad if it didn't have a ending.
When the game was ported in later years, this stage was salvaged and revived, and unfinished gimmick ideas and new bosses were added, and it saw the light of day. It was really good, and I wish it had been released in its original form at the time.
If we had three more months left in the schedule, we definitely could have included this stage in the software, and I think we could have recreated the shortened Death Egg Zone in its original form. (It may be a fine line in terms of capacity, but I don't know how much capacity was left at the final stage.) Personally, I still think that if I had the chance, I would really like to create a proper Death Egg Zone. If we had two more planners and programmers, we might have been able to create the wood zone and sand shower that were almost cancelled.
Well, in that case I think I needed more capacity and a save function."
— Judy Totoya (Yasushi Yamaguchi) - Beep21
One plan for the level was that Sonic, after collecting all of the Chaos Emeralds, would warp to Hidden Palace, where he would learn how to become Super Sonic. According to Craig Stitt, it was also meant to be a small hidden level/Zone within Mystic Cave.
After being cut down from two Acts to one, Hidden Palace was removed due to time constraints (Christian Whitehead, who developed the 2013 remake, revealed in 2015 that Sonic Team told him that quality concerns also played a role in its demise), with the idea of Sonic going to a Zone to learn how to become Super Sonic being scrapped as well. The removal of Hidden Palace was a last-minute decision; music, a title card, and a Level Select icon were created for the Zone, and they still exist in the final game's data. The icon can be seen in Sonic 3's Level Select by scrolling over to the second 2P VS option.
Some of the Zone's art was reused for future Sonic games - the glowing bridges and spheres appear in IceCap Zone in Sonic 3, and the design of Hidden Palace was used as the basis for Toxic Caves in Sonic Spinball. The name of the Zone itself would be given to a similar-themed (but otherwise unrelated) level in Sonic and Knuckles. A finished version of Hidden Palace was added in the 2013 iOS and Android port as a secret level accessed by falling into a certain pit in Mystic Cave, similar to the original concept of Hidden Palace being a secret Zone within Mystic Cave Zone.
Craig Stitt, who made graphics from Hidden Palace's art, reused said graphics for an unreleased STI game called Segapede (or Astropede) in 1994-95 to save a few weeks on making graphics for the playable demo and even expanded the tileset of Hidden Palace to include new ramps and slopes. It was uncertain if Hidden Palace's art would have stayed in the game past that point.
Rock World Zone
Also referred to as simply "ice" in development materials, Rock World was a palette swap of Sand Shower designed by artist Brenda Cook, replacing the cacti with Christmas trees and giving it a winter/ice theme. Based on the map documents, it would've occupied slot $09 in the level index, which is unused in all prototypes and the final game.
Sky Chase's music plays in slot $09 in the Simon Wai prototype, suggesting it was originally composed for Rock World.
Since it was designed at the same time as Sand Shower, no concept art for it exists.
The desert zone was as you see in that image, with cactus and assorted plants. It was designed to have a palette change, which turned the sand into snow, and you’d have a winter scene. We had to be fairly ingenious with such a limited palette. In the winter zone, (that’s what I call it), instead of cactus, I had created Christmas trees, which I thought looked kinda cool.
Sonic would travel through the sand or snow tunnel, depending on which palette was being used.
— Brenda Cook
ちなみにこのステージはカラーチェンジと一部サボテンなどのグラフィックをクリスマスツリーに差し替えることで氷のステージに変える予定もありました。
最終的にこれらのステージはアイデアを練り直してソニック3以降に引き継がれることになります。
"By the way, there were plans to turn this stage [Sand Shower Zone] into an ice stage by changing the color and replacing some of the cacti and other graphics with Christmas trees. Eventually, these stages would be rethought and carried over to Sonic 3 and beyond."
— Judy Totoya (Yasushi Yamaguchi) - Beep21
In the Brenda Cook Video Game Art Portfolio, a mock-up of Rock World was discovered, showing off the Christmas trees.
According to enemy concept art, Rock World would share badniks with Sand Shower Zone.
Rock World listed by name
Rock World listed as "ice"
バンパー Banper. It notably lists Rock World as taking place in the past, before it was moved to the ruined present.
Sonic 3 & Knuckles would reuse this zone's ice theme for Ice Cap.
Madness Mountain Zone
Although unconfirmed, this appears to be concept art for Dust Hill, with Madness Mountain being a later name given in development. Dust Hill's final iteration, Mystic Cave, features various castle/dungeon-like stage gimmicks, including drawbridges and similar brick tiles seen on the concept art.
The drawbridge gimmick as seen on the concept art
A variation of the drawbridge gimmick
A quote by Yuji Naka further suggests this shift in theme.
The feel here is a haunted-house (obakeyashiki), isn't it. But we ended up making a cave stage instead.
— Yuji Naka
Sonic 3 & Knuckles would reuse this zone's concept art.
A "mountain" level with many hazards abound was seen in the Game Gear iteration.
Genocide City/Cyber City Zone
Designed by artist Tom Payne and planned as part of Sonic 2's finale, Genocide City was a palette swap of Metropolis with a more futuristic high-tech design. Concept art shows a later name for Genocide City, Cyber City, given to this stage.
I think it was the teams not quite complete grasp of the english language So it was changed to Cyber City?
we may have brought it up to them that genocide city has some rather bad connotations
They may have been looking for a name that sounded dangerous and got on the wrong track
— Tom Payne
Genocide City can be selected in the level select of the Simon Wai prototype, but the acts themselves are empty. It occupied slot $0E, which was used for Death Egg Zone starting with the September 14th prototype.
Slot $0E shares its music with Chemical Plant in the Simon Wai prototype. It is unknown if this was a placeholder.
On December 12th 2023, The Video Game History Foundation [3] worked together with Tom Payne to preserve development materials still in his possession.
Hirokazu Yasuhara's level chunks. These show various gimmicks that Genocide City Zone would have contained, including fans, a green vertical "elevator", midair conveyor belts similar to those seen in Metropolis Zone, and what seem to be conveyor belts lined up on walls and ceilings.
Colored (1/2)
Colored (2/2)
Monochrome (1/2)
Monochrome (2/2)
_(Original_Order)_image1732.jpg)
_(Original_Order)_image1731.jpg)
Hirokazu Yasuhara's maps.
Act 1
Act 2. The level slot "0e1" is written at the top, matching its slot in the Simon Wai prototype.
Act 3. It's theorized that this map is a continuation of Act 2, rather then a separate Act 3.
Tom Payne's Digitizer pages.
FAN
FAN
FAN3
HFAN3
HFAN
WHEEL
BEARTRAPPC
BOB
A reconstruction of the fan object.
Concept art by Tom Payne for palette data, objects, and variations of Metropolis's tiles. The later name, Cyber City, is also shown.
Palette
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_image1524.jpg)
_image1408.jpg)
_image1409.jpg)
_image1422.jpg)
_image1423.jpg)
_image1431.jpg)
_image1503.jpg)
The concept art for the future map shows that the level would take place within the two Death Eggs destroyed by Sonic, each one representing a separate act. Judy Totoya (Yasushi Yamaguchi) confirmed this connection in his Beep21 interview.
本来であれば、コンセプトアートのように地球の見える宇宙を背景にデスエッグの要塞の表面で遊ばせるACT1と要塞内部（イメージ的にはコンセプトアートのサイバーシティのような感じ）のハイテクメカの広大なマップのあるACT2の途中で、中ボス（メカソニック）戦、ボスエリアでエッグマンとの最終決戦、そして要塞破壊からと脱出という流れで作りたいと考えていました。
"Originally, ACT 1 [of Death Egg Zone] would have been played on the surface of the Death Egg's fortress with the Earth visible in space as seen in the concept art, and the vast expanse of high-tech mechs inside the fortress (which looks like Cyber City in the concept art). In the middle of ACT 2, which has a map, I wanted to create a mid-boss battle (Mecha Sonic), a final battle with Eggman in the boss area, and then the destruction of the fortress and escape.
— Judy Totoya (Yasushi Yamaguchi) - Beep21
Based on this information, it's possible that Genocide City Act 3 was an early concept for what would become Death Egg Zone later in development, representing the third and final Death Egg on the future map.
Some of the graphical art created for Genocide City would be repurposed for the unreleased game B-Bomb and The Machine in Sonic Spinball.
I got to recycle some of the art for Cyber City Zone into Spinball
— Tom Payne
Emerald Isle Zone
Although unconfirmed, this appears to be concept art for Neo Green Hill, with Emerald Isle being a later name given in development. The name Aquatic Ruin would eventually be used for the final build.
Sonic 3 & Knuckles would reuse this zone's concept art.
Death Egg Zone
Initially planned as two separate zones, Death Egg and Neo Death Egg, before being condensed down to one. Unlike the final game's iteration, this earlier concept for the Death Egg was a full zone and featured exterior parts of the level in space. Starting with the Simon Wai prototype, Death Egg occupies slot $10 in the level index, which is used for Sky Chase in the final build.
■デスエッグゾーン
本来であれば、コンセプトアートのように地球の見える宇宙を背景にデスエッグの要塞の表面で遊ばせるACT1と要塞内部（イメージ的にはコンセプトアートのサイバーシティのような感じ）のハイテクメカの広大なマップのあるACT2の途中で、中ボス（メカソニック）戦、ボスエリアでエッグマンとの最終決戦、そして要塞破壊からと脱出という流れで作りたいと考えていました。
そこでマップはボス2連戦のエリアのみと脱出口、グラフィックは一部パーツを付け加えたケミカルプラントゾーンの流用という形になります。 途中の段階で背景を宇宙に変えて適当にケミカルプラントゾーンの足場パーツを並べたダミーのデスエッグゾーンのマップは存在していたのですが、何もかも間に合わないため削除されました。 最近ソニックマニアのMODで初期のデスエッグゾーンのコンセプトアートを再現した動画を見つけました。
割りと悪名高いリング0でのボス2連戦ですが開発スタッフでバランスチェックしていたときに早い段階で簡単に攻略できるパターンを見つけてしまったのでこのぐらいのバランスでもいいんじゃないか？ということになってスタッフ的にはウィングフォートレスのボスのほうが難しいと感じていたのと、ボス戦のみでチェックしていたためセーブ無しでそこまでの長い道中をプレイしてきたユーザーの目線が抜けていたのがありました。 この辺は反省点ですね。ただこの頃はスタッフ全員修羅場しゅらば状態だったので頭の中がみんなハイになっていました。
■ Death Egg Zone
"Originally, ACT 1 would have been played on the surface of the Death Egg's fortress with the Earth visible in space as seen in the concept art, and the vast expanse of high-tech mechs inside the fortress (which looks like Cyber City in the concept art). In the middle of ACT 2, which has a map, I wanted to create a mid-boss battle (Mecha Sonic), a final battle with Eggman in the boss area, and then the destruction of the fortress and escape.
Therefore, the map will consist of only the area for the two consecutive boss battles and the escape exit, and the graphics will be a reuse of the Chemical Plant Zone with some parts added. There was a dummy Death Egg Zone map in which the background was changed to space and the scaffolding parts of the Chemical Plant Zone were arranged randomly, but it was deleted because nothing could be done in time. I recently came across a video that recreates the early Death Egg Zone concept art using a Sonic Mania MOD.
There are two consecutive boss battles fought with zero rings, which is quite notorious, but when the development staff was checking the balance, we found a pattern that could be easily conquered early on, so I thought this kind of balance would be fine. As a result, the staff felt that the bosses in Wing Fortress were more difficult, and because we were only checking the boss battles, we were missing the point of view of users who had played the long journey to get there without saving. There was one. This is a point for reflection. However, at this time, all the staff members were in a state of chaos and their heads were high."
スケジュールが後3ヶ月あればこのステージは間違いなくソフトに入れることができたし、短縮されたデスエッグゾーンも本来の形で再現できたと思います。（容量的には微妙なラインかもしれませんが、最終段階で容量の余りがどのくらいあったかは自分は把握していません。）
自分としては機会があれば本当にちゃんとした形でデスエッグゾーンを作りたいと今でも思っているんですよ。 プランナーとプログラマーも後二人いればキャンセルかけたウッドゾーンとサンドシャワーも作れたかもしれない。 まあ、その場合さらなる容量とセーブ機能が必要だったとは思いますが。
"If we had three more months left in the schedule, we definitely could have included this stage [Hidden Palace Zone] in the software, and I think we could have recreated the shortened Death Egg Zone in its original form. (It may be a delicate line in terms of capacity, but I don't know how much capacity was left at the final stage.)
Personally, I still think that if I had the chance, I would really like to create a proper Death Egg Zone. If we had two more planners and programmers, we might have been able to create the wood zone and sand shower that were almost cancelled.
Well, in that case I think I needed more capacity and a save function."
— Judy Totoya (Yasushi Yamaguchi) - Beep21
In his presentation at Digital Dragons, Hirokazu Yasuhara referred to the Death Egg and Sonic 2's ending as "The Last Battle in Space".
Sonic 3 & Knuckles would reuse this zone's concept art, revisiting the idea for the Death Egg as a full zone.
References
- ↑ Brenda Cook Video Game Art Portfolio - The Video Game History Foundation
- ↑ Sonic 2 (Part 2) - Beep21
- ↑ Sonic 2 Lost Stages Revealed - The Video Game History Foundation
