Proto:Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Genesis)/September 14th, 1992

This is a sub-page of Proto:Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Genesis).

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

  This prototype is documented on Hidden Palace.

The September 14, 1992 prototype of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a later build, dated 12 days before the final build. The build seems to have been created when the last features of the game were being added, with the EPROM calling the build a "Pre-Beta". It was released on November 9, 2019 as a part of Hidden Palace's Sonic Month.

Interestingly, the differences shown here are consistent with the Gamemaster Preview, suggesting they're nearly the same build. Additionally, this is is the first build in which (mostly) all levels are completable.

Sub-Page

Level Differences Levels are looking like the final game now.

Attract Mode/Level Select

Nick Arcade to August 21, 1992	September 14, 1992 to Beta 4	Beta 5

This is the first known title screen to have the menu present, while everything else is identical to earlier builds. This title screen is famous for appearing in non-Japanese manuals.

• Demos still use their Nick Arcade inputs, which remains the same for all prototypes.
• Demos will load the title card of the stage it is playing the demo of, causing the font to glitch out.
• The Level Select still uses the Sonic 1 setup. Hidden Palace is no longer able to be selected, with Wood and Genocide City being absent alongside the second Act of Death Egg.

General Differences

• The Sega screen has been changed to its final design.
• Spikes will still damage Sonic/Tails while they're in the brief invulnerability state after being hurt, just like in Sonic 1.
• Super Sonic is close to completion, with all of his abilities being present. However, the ring drain still has not been implemented. The unused monitor from the Simon Wai build is still able to be placed in Debug Mode, this time giving Super Sonic all of his abilities instead of just the palette.
• Tails' AI has been worked on and is now similar to the final game's, except that he can still destroy monitors on his own.
• Debug's rules now match the final game, although Tails can still automatically be brought to Sonic's location by entering and exiting.
• The unlimited time limit from previous builds is now disabled.

Graphical Differences

• Checkpoints still use their old art, which were later changed in CENSOR due to the signpost permanently overwriting it's graphics.
• Crawl uses an updated version of its old art, now having more shading and better colors, along with being a bit shorter. The tiles for the sand/snow debris have been removed. Crawl is still stationary as well.

Nick Arcade to August 21	September 14

Sound Differences

• Starting with this build, the background music is almost identical to the final version. The only exception is the credits theme, which is slightly different.

September 14th Prototype	Final Build

• Music is still played slower on European consoles.
• While all sound effects have been added, most of them are not used yet.