Proto:Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis)/Labyrinth Zone
This is a sub-page of Proto:Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis).
Labyrinth is less complete than the previous three Zones, lacking lots of things and not even normally playable, with the game skipping straight from Sparkling Act 1 to Star Light. As a result, Labyrinth Zone can only be played via the level select.
Contents
Palette
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
 |
 |
The prototype's palette uses a more saturated green for the vines, softer shading for the pink crystals, and reserves colors for background brick wall tiles for some underwater chunks, see below. It also lacks palettes for enemies, the water, and conveyor belts.
General
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
 |
 |
A completely different background is in use at this point that, strangely, changes Y position with each Act. Act 3 has no background at all!
The background doesn't seem to have been designed with vertical looping in mind, which may be why it was overhauled.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
 |
 |
- All three Acts lack water and object layouts, including signposts. This makes them impossible to complete; even exploration is difficult without debug mode.
- Rings, if placed via debug mode, use a glitched palette that makes them appear entirely black. The debug list also contains a Monitor and Crabmeat, commonly seen in unfinished stages.
- Due to there being no objects, water current tunnels are non-functional in this build.
- Crystals use a different, smaller design. Interestingly, the 8-bit version uses these instead of the larger crystals seen in the final.
- Conveyor belts don't exist in this iteration of the Zone; the art isn't even present yet.
- Flowing water stream art is also nowhere to be seen, meaning that the slopes and walls that feature this art in the final game are barren and dry in the prototype.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
 |
 |
Brick wall tiles, which aren't seen in the final- but do show up in the 8-bit version's background- cover certain areas of the stage. In the final game, said areas mostly feature water bubbles and some would even require unlocking through the use of a button, which suggests they were originally air pockets before the bubble mechanic was introduced. As proof of this theory, the underwater palette in the final game, missing from the proto, did not update the colors intended for these tiles, which still appear with their dry colors when restored to the final game. Though this does not last for long, as those palette slots are immediately replaced by color cycling for the conveyor belt/chain system.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
 |
 |
Pillar decorations are absent in this build too.
Act 1
| Proto |  |
|---|---|
| Final |  |
- Seems to end early in the prototype, with the camera scroll stopping at X coordinate 17BF, while in the final it stops at 19BF. Not that it matters much, since the lack of a signpost makes the Act impossible to complete.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
 |
 |
- When the stage is first loaded, a graphical error can be seen when walking down the initial path.
As seen in the embedded video, the very start of the level contains a weird vertical zipping bug that allows Sonic to stand on thin air and even outrun the camera for a few moments. This was fixed in later versions by adding a block object on top of the platform and disabling vertical looping for this Act.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
 |
 |
- In the prototype, in the area where the lower and secret upper path split, an odd slanted chunk of ground exists where the final game has a flat field of spikes.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
 |
 |
- The secret upper route is rather barren and undeveloped in the prototype, being a largely flat area lacking ceiling blocks and decorations.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
 |
 |
- As mentioned earlier, no conveyor belts are to be seen anywhere in the prototype Labyrinth Zone.
- The second conveyor belt section has a flat floor in the prototype, but an incline in the final game. The chunk assigned to the very bottom of this section in the prototype, Chunk 1C, hints that the inclined floor was indeed planned at this time.
Act 2
| Proto |  |
|---|---|
| Final |  |
- Act 2 also ends early in the prototype, compared to the final game.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
 |
 |
- For some strange reason, the left side of this underwater tunnel lacks a wall in the prototype, letting Sonic walk right up to the left edge of the level if he so wishes.
- The ceiling was also changed; it arches a bit higher up in the final game.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
 |
 |
- In the open vertical area where a switch needs to be pressed to open a door, the exit is a bit higher up in the prototype.
- The ceiling in the prototype doesn't seem to be low enough at any point to fit the door used in the final game.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
 |
 |
- The ground right before the final stretch to the goalpost was elevated.
- To the top left of this area, out of view, the left wall was made a bit taller. Perhaps with the increased height, the player was able to see where the wall ended if the height wasn't raised.
Act 3
| Proto |  |
|---|---|
| Final |  |
- Originally, the bottom route through the level ended with a level wrap to another slide that lead to the cork-rising room before the long climb to the boss. In the final you just come up to the room directly from the bottom instead.
- Additionally, the climb up to the boss isn't quite functional; the two places where the level is supposed to wrap aren't aligned correctly, so they're instead just dead ends.
- A few more solid walls were placed around the edges of the climb to the boss, but it doesn't affect the gameplay at all.
- As with Act 1 and 2, Act 3 also ends earlier in the prototype than it does in the final game.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
 |
 |
- The endless sliding section was made a lot steeper leading up to the ledge with the switch on it.
- With the increased incline, it makes sense to raise the ceiling height as well.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
 |
 |
- One of the chunks used in Act 3, Chunk 16, changed dramatically in shape. This chunk shows up twice in Act 3; one of these occurrences (pictured) is close to the start of the upper path, and the other appears in the upper path section before the slide to the boss checkpoint room.
- Interestingly, Sonic doesn't appear to have enough jump height to be able to climb further up from the prototype chunk design and continue through the level. The other time the chunk appears in this Act is also very poorly placed, as it blocks the climb upwards with a dead-end. The final design for this chunk makes a lot more sense in the level layout.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
 |
 |
- Some platforms were added to this section of the upper path.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
 |
 |
- Reflecting the changes made to the level layout where the lower path connects up to the boss, some platforms were added to flesh the area out and the wall is now climbable.
Act 4
Act 4 or Stage ID 03 is just an empty void with a black background, and nothing in it! In the final game, Labyrinth Act 4 is reserved for Scrap Brain Act 3, and the actual Scrap Brain Act 3 (Zone ID 05, Act 02) is reserved for Final Zone.
Unused Chunks
42
Chunk 42 is an unused, rather interesting chunk. In the final game, this chunk is used for one of the conveyor belt sections.
Empty Chunks
Chunks 34-41 and 43-52 are all empty. These chunks are all used in the final game, with the exception of Chunk 4E which is unused despite no longer being empty, and with the exception of chunks 4F-52 since those remain empty in the final. Chunk 1C is also empty, but is actually used in the prototype Act 1 layout.
Chunks 34-39 are used for the new Labyrinth Zone background in the final game.
Chunks 3A-47 are used for conveyor belt sections in the final game.
Chunks 48, and 4A-4D are used as slopes and walls with flowing water stream art. These replaced existing chunks without flowing water art in the Zone layouts. The chunks that were replaced in the Labyrinth Zone layouts were instead used in Scrap Brain Zone 3's layout, as that Act doesn't feature any flowing water streams.
Finally, Chunk 49 is used exclusively at the start of Scrap Brain Zone 3.
Changed Chunks
Due to the significant changes in the Zone's art and tiles, there are many differences between the prototype chunks and the final chunks.
Significantly Changed Chunks
Chunk 01
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
 |
 |
- The clunky full-block gaps in the floor were changed to be much more navigable half-block gaps. Unfortunately, this meant the crystals had to be evicted.
Chunk 0D
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
 |
 |
- The small crystal was removed, and the gargoyle head was moved upwards to fill the space where the crystal once was.
- The gargoyle head also spews water now.
Chunk 16
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
 |
 |
- The shape of this chunk changed completely.
- As mentioned in the layout comparisons, the prototype shape of this chunk leads to some rather awkward dead-ends, at least wherever it's been used in the prototype layout.
Chunk 1C
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
| N/A |  |
- This chunk is empty in the prototype, but is actually used in the prototype Act 1 layout. The chunk is placed at the bottom of the second conveyor belt section.
- Interestingly, this chunk's final form is identical in shape to the chunk that is placed in that spot in the final game, Chunk 3E; the only difference between the two is that 3E also includes conveyor belt art.
- The final game uses this chunk near the end of Act 2, instead of in Act 1.
Chunk 2D
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
 |
 |
- The set of blocks on the top left are now two full blocks, rather than a block and a half.
- In response, the other set of blocks was shifted slightly to the right, to keep the horizontal distance between the two platforms the same.
- The hanging crystal was removed.
Chunk 30
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
 |
 |
- A ceiling and some pillars were added to this chunk.
- This chunk was originally used as part of the prototype-exclusive bottom path slide section leading up to the boss in Act 3. In the final game, this chunk isn't used in Labyrinth Zone itself, but shows up in Scrap Brain Zone 3 as the chunk at the exit to Final Zone.
Other Changed Chunks
Aside from the major changes mentioned, almost every chunk that exists in both the prototype and the final game had at least some small changes made to accommodate the changes in art tiles.
The following are lists of chunks where no significant layout changes were made, but the art they used changed.
Chunks with small crystals removed:
01, 06, 08, 0B, 0D, 10, 11, 12, 13, 1F, 21, 22, 24, 27, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F, 31
Chunks with small crystals replaced with larger crystals:
15, 18, 19, 1A, 1B, 1D, 1E, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29, 2A
Chunks with background pillars added:
14, 15, 1E, 1F, 22, 24, 25, 27, 2A, 2C, 2F
Chunks with flowing water tiles added:
03, 04, 07, 08
And lastly, Chunk 0C also changed between the prototype and final, as the brick wall background it contained is no more.
