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Proto:Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis)/Labyrinth Zone

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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.

Palette

Proto Final
Sonic1Proto LZPalette.png Sonic1Final LZPalette.png

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
Sonic1ProtoLZBG.png Sonic1FinalLZBG.png

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
Sonic1ProtoLZ-5.png Sonic1FinalLZ-5.png
  • 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
Sonic1ProtoLZ-3.png Sonic1FinalLZ-3.png

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.

Sonic1 16Bit Proto LZ Chunk C UWFinalPal.png
Proto Final
Sonic1ProtoLZ-2.png Sonic1FinalLZ-2.png

Pillar decorations are absent in this build too.

Act 1

Proto Sonic1ProtoLZ1Map.png
Final Sonic1FinalLZ1Map.png
  • 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
Sonic1ProtoLZ-1.png Sonic1FinalLZ-1.png
  • 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
Sonic1ProtoLZ1-2-SpikedLedge.png Sonic1FinalLZ1-2-SpikedLedge.png
  • 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
Sonic1ProtoLZ1-3-UpperRoute.png Sonic1FinalLZ1-3-UpperRoute.png
  • The secret upper route is rather barren and undeveloped in the prototype, being a largely flat area lacking ceiling blocks and decorations.
Proto Final
Sonic1ProtoLZ1-4-SecondConveyorBelt.png Sonic1FinalLZ1-4-SecondConveyorBelt.png
  • 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 Sonic1ProtoLZ2Map.png
Final Sonic1FinalLZ2Map.png
  • Act 2 also ends early in the prototype, compared to the final game.
Proto Final
Sonic1ProtoLZ2-1-UnderwaterLeftSide.png Sonic1FinalLZ2-1-UnderwaterLeftSide.png
  • 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
Sonic1ProtoLZ2-2-SwitchDoorExit.png Sonic1FinalLZ2-2-SwitchDoorExit.png
  • 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
Sonic1ProtoLZ2-3-EndOfAct.png Sonic1FinalLZ2-3-EndOfAct.png
  • 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 Sonic1ProtoLZ3Map.png
Final Sonic1FinalLZ3Map.png
  • 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
Sonic1ProtoLZ3-1-EndlessSlide.png Sonic1FinalLZ3-1-EndlessSlide.png
  • 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
Sonic1ProtoLZ3-2-StartOfUpperPath.png Sonic1FinalLZ3-2-StartOfUpperPath.png
  • 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
Sonic1ProtoLZ3-3-UpperPathPlatforms.png Sonic1FinalLZ3-3-UpperPathPlatforms.png
  • Some platforms were added to this section of the upper path.
Proto Final
Sonic1ProtoLZ3-4-LowerPathPit.png Sonic1FinalLZ3-4-LowerPathPit.png
  • 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.

Unused Chunks

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
Sonic1ProtoLZChunk01.png Sonic1FinalLZChunk01.png
  • 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
Sonic1ProtoLZChunk0D.png Sonic1FinalLZChunk0D.png
  • 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
Sonic1ProtoLZChunk16.png Sonic1FinalLZChunk16.png
  • 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 Sonic1FinalLZChunk1C.png
  • 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
Sonic1ProtoLZChunk2D.png Sonic1FinalLZChunk2D.png
  • 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
Sonic1ProtoLZChunk30.png Sonic1FinalLZChunk30.png
  • 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.