Proto:Sonic Adventure 2 (Dreamcast)/May 7, 2001 Prototype/Level Differences

This is a sub-page of Proto:Sonic Adventure 2 (Dreamcast)/May 7, 2001 Prototype.

Despite its late build date, a surprising amount of minor changes remain in the levels; interestingly, some of these resemble the hard mode layouts.

General

• Animals dropped from enemies don't have bubbles surrounding them and are collected instantly when defeated via homing attack.
• Pumpkin Hill and Egg Quarters don't force one of the Emerald shards to require digging; this was changed since it's possible to skip the digging upgrades and softlock the savefile, permanently.
• In Route 101 and Route 280, the cars aren't knocked away if the player bumps into one. If Debug Mode is used to spawn an invincibility balloon, the invincible player will knock away cars like in the final releases.

City Escape

Being the most promoted of them all (and the only one playable in every demo) this stage has very few differences to the one in the final game.

• The opening dialogue is still not present yet.
• The Chao in Space: Collector's Edition posters still say "COMING ON DVD!" instead of "COMING TO YOUR HOME".
• The Magic Gloves area is identical to how it looks in Preview despite having a different look in Trial Version. A very similar area to this (with an added fence) is used in hard mode as the third chao box location.

May 7, 2001	Final

Hard mode

• One of the fences is missing on the stairs near the first Chao box.

Metal Harbor

• The line of enemies to get to the first Chao box is different. However, the final version's layout is still used in hard mode.

May 7, 2001	Final

• When the player first encounters Beetle robots there is only one rather than two.
• The line of invisible beetles to get an extra life on the aircraft carrier is missing. Similarly, there are no invisible beetles next to the second Chao box.

May 7, 2001	Final

• One instance of DAMMY (The fake missiles used to decorate the stage) near the second loop was moved to the right. Unfortunately, this change made a jet that passes through when the player runs through the loop very hard to see.

May 7, 2001	Final

• The camera at the last checkpoint is different. The pickable object next to the last Chao box was given an animal and moved, presumably since Sonic could easily fall off the platform trying to grab it.

May 7, 2001	Final

• The Omochao at the missile was moved to the right, likely to make it easier to avoid.
• Both voices for the missile launch overlap each other, causing the scene to desync; in the final, a delay was added so the countdown was properly timed with the launch.

Pumpkin Hill

The last three objects of the object table (PUMWALL_S, FENCE_S, and FENCES_S) aren't in it.

Aquatic Mine

• There's a pulley above the Air Necklace that Knuckles can grab and be pulled into the upgrade spot. The pulley impales him during the upgrade cutscene.
• Piece 0x0201 can be found in this version; it is unavailable in any final release, though it remains in the Hard Mode files.

Pyramid Cave

• The first Omochao is not errorneously floating in mid-air like it is in the final game.
• The hourglass after the bounce bracelet's location is on the right rather than centered, the same spot it's found in hard mode.
• The location of the E-1000 next to the hourglass at the second key area was moved from behind to in front of it.
• The spot where the second door key is found is entirely different. There's a small puzzle with a trap that can only be deactivated by touching a switch inside a container openable with the bounce attack. A Boo and an Omochao explaining that the bounce attack can destroy containers is nearby. In the final game, this spot is a "Grab and run"-type area with two E-1000 robots. The only object that hasn't been changed is the Boo.

May 7, 2001	Final

• There's no hourglass to leave the Lost Chao's room, leaving the player stuck.

Hard mode
Still a work in progress, with major differences to the final M5.

• The E-1000 in front of the door to the first key room is the flying variant. In the final game, this enemy is unchanged between normal and hard mode.
• There is a spring behind the aforementioned E-1000 that was removed.

May 7, 2001	Final

• The Boos in the room before the green key slot are the same as normal mode as opposed to the larger Boom Boos. This is also the case with the one next to the key slot.
• An E-1000 on the path to the green key is stationary rather than flying.
• The platform in the removed green key puzzle is timed rather than permanent.

• There is a floating wooden container on the path to the green key.
• The extra life on top of a set of stones after the second-to-last large loop (-686, -4140, -19517) is still present. The final version replaces it with a 10 Ring box.
• There are far more ghosts in the pit near the end of the stage.

May 7, 2001	Final

• The Mystic Melody statue to get to the Lost Chao room is still present.
• The Lost Chao room in the final adds the same hourglass to leave the room as normal mode, despite removing the statue needed to get there.

Final Rush

• The right (lower) path at the first split path area has a different layout consisting of a pulley, rail and spring. In the final game, the rail and spring are removed and the pulley leads to the platform above rather than to the spring. Still present in the final game's hard mode.

May 7, 2001	Final

• The camera angle for a vertical rail shortly after the split path was changed.

May 7, 2001	Final

• A platform in the vertical climbing section has 1 rather than 3 guards on the edges. However, it does use the 3 guard version in hard mode.

May 7, 2001	Final

• The camera angle near a 5 Ring box (5803, -13941, 14341) in the vertical climbing section is different.

May 7, 2001	Final

• The 5 Ring box (Around 5731, -13447, 14391) after the checkpoint in the vertical climbing section is missing.
• There are two rails at the upper path of the climbing section (following the path of 5 Ring boxes) instead of one diagonal rail.

May 7, 2001	Final

• Two rails after the checkpoint near the second chao box are missing.

May 7, 2001	Final

• The Lost Chao route is harder, with fewer platforms and rails and larger jumps. This layout is still in hard mode, though the Mystic Melody shrines and the platforms the second one is on are removed, so it is inaccessible.

May 7, 2001	Final

• The room right before the end (as well as the Lost Chao room) had some rails that were removed as Sonic could grind upside down on them.

May 7, 2001	Final

Hard mode
Slightly harder than the final version.

• An Artificial Chaos on the two rails before the first checkpoint is slightly earlier, making avoiding it harder.

May 7, 2001	Final

• The large spiral-shaped descending rail is missing all but one of the extra Artificial Chaos usually seen in this mode. The only one in the area is placed directly in the rail's path.

May 7, 2001	Final

• A Laser Hawk after the second checkpoint (7781, -11442, 8017) was moved to the left.

May 7, 2001	Final

• There are no swinging spiked balls at the top of the vertical climbing section. (About 5460, -12820, 15417)
• Both Mystic Melody statues are still present. In the final game, the second one was replaced with an "X" sign and an extra life.

May 7, 2001	Final

Green Hill

Nearly complete, but the unique sound effects for this stage are a work in progress.

• This stage does not disable Sonic's voice clips in this version.
• The trigger zone for the S-tubes is visible in normal gameplay.
• SA2: The Trial's higher pitched animal collection and whistle sounds are used in this stage.
• There are no sounds for rings or chaos drives.

Radical Highway

• A 20 Ring box was added as a potential reward for the last swinging bar.

White Jungle

• No timer.
• The swings are quieter.
• The vines have no sound.

Route 280

• An extra two-wide line of rings is placed on the last turn, and several other lines appear on the final straightaway. However, they don't render until you get very close to them.

Sky Rail

A lot of changes were made between this and the final game, but mostly adding item boxes and rings.

• There are no rings on the rail at the beginning of the stage.
• There is no ring next to the condor obtainable by bouncing high enough on the first triple spring.
• The 10 Ring box after the first bounce platform is missing.
• The containers around the Mystic Melody statue are arranged different, and the path of rings is a choppier curve. This path is kept within the final hard mode file, though the shrine to make the rings appear is removed.

May 7, 2001	Final

• An entirely different camera angle is used when Light Dashing through those rings.

May 7, 2001	Final

• There are no rings surrounding the second bounce platform on the Mystic Melody route.
• One of the GUN Hawks in the Lost Chao area is much closer to the platform the player uses to reach the mountain's summit, potentially getting in the way and damaging them while trying to use the platform. It remains in its original spot in the final version's hard mode layout, but as the Mystic Melody statue was removed the only way to get to the area is with a well-timed spindash jump.
• A 5 Ring box next to a Rhino Metal is in a different spot and a nearby 10 Ring box is missing. This can be seen in the final version's hard mode layout.

May 7, 2001	Final

• A 10 Ring box next to the gold beetle is missing.
• The camera stays behind Shadow and does not draw focus to the gold beetle's location when passing it.

May 7, 2001	Final

• Two 5 Ring boxes at the end of the second-to-last rail are missing.
• A 10 Ring box on a small ledge on the second-to-last platform is in a slightly different spot and rotated in a way that causes it to sink into the ground. The unique camera for its location is also missing. The original placement of this box is still found in the final version's hard mode layout.

May 7, 2001	Final

• Instead of two Rhino Metal robots near the end there is one Sky Hawk.

May 7, 2001	Final