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

This is a sub-page of Proto:Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Genesis)/September 14th, 1992.

To do: Compare level/object layouts to the CENSOR build.

General Differences

• Title cards are in a preliminary state. They lack a background, and the number only displays when the level fades in.
• Boss themes don't stop after a boss is defeated.
• The score tally is not yet implemented, and the level transition interrupts the "Act clear" music before it can finish, much like previous builds.
• Animal Capsules have been implemented, but aren't placed yet. Defeating a boss and walking to the right causes the level to complete regardless.
• There are no checkpoints placed yet, though they can be placed in Debug Mode and still have their design from prior builds.
• This is the final build to have the level tiles stored in the Nemesis format. From the CENSOR prototype onward, stage tiles are stored in the Kosinski format to speed up load times.

Green Hill Zone (Emerald Hill)

• This is the second known build which replaces the Snail badnik with the final's Coconuts.
• Exactly the same as August 21st layout-wise.

Chemical Plant Zone

• This is the first build to feature the Spiny badnik outside of Debug Mode, though it still uses palette line 1 instead of palette line 0.
• The boss fight's moving platforms are missing.
• An early version of the underwater section under the first moving platforms section exist in Act 2, but there's no spikes yet.

Neo Green Hill Zone (Aquatic Ruin)

• The art for bubbles overwrites part of the title card, a bug seen in at least one magazine preview. This would later be fixed by loading the bubble art after the title card has left.
• The water palette still uses the Simon Wai palette, causing some badniks to look odd.
• Object and ring placement is much closer to the final version.
• By this point, the animated splash tiles has became glitched.
• The boss's flames still contain the glitched Sonic palette, making it look odd while in Super Sonic.

Casino Night Zone

To do: Get level maps for clearer comparison.

Has reached its final design at this point.

• There are far more rings when compared to later prototypes.
• Object placement, such as flippers and moving blocks, are different from later builds.
• Most sound effects are already implemented.
• While not present in the stage itself, the Crawl badnik is present in the object list and uses its early design. However, the badnik itself is impossible to destroy even as Super Sonic.
• The horizontal flipper has no sound effects.
• The boss just instantly appears in the arena, instead of coming from the blocked passage on the right.
• There are no sound effects, even for the hit sound. Which is odd, considering August 21st had one.
• The boss dies in just two hits, likely for testing purposes.
• The boss' cyan electricity never loads and instead displays maroon.
• The boss' invincibility frames are way longer in duration compared to later builds.
• When the boss' bomb is dropped, it explodes instantly instead of having a proper timer.
• The slot machines are clearly unfinished, not containing any sound effects, and all of the slot icons are pre-defined. Meaning it'll always end up on the same three icons.

• Not to mention, any other pinball machine triggers it regardless; it also functions on the same timer.

Hill Top Zone

• This is the first build where tunnels will cause Sonic to automatically spin.
• The boss arena has been changed to the final layout, though, the boss still descends a lot further matching the layout seen in August 21st.

Dust Hill Zone (Mystic Cave)

This seems to confirm that "Dust Hill" was actually an early name for Mystic Cave, and not the name of the scrapped desert level.

• Like the previous build, the cycling light palette doesn't stop at the boss fight, which causes it to look slightly off.
• Object and ring placements are nearly the same as August 21st, meaning that not much attention was put in the stage at this point.
• This is the first known build to have the boss properly behave like final.
• While Flasher behaves like final, the Crawlton badniks still use the second palette line making them look slightly off.
• By this point, the Act 2 deleted upper route remnants have been removed, aside for the rings.

Oil Ocean Zone

• Plays the Casino Night 2-Player theme, just like the Simon Wai and August 21st prototypes.
• All chunk art and object placements from the August 21st prototype have been replaced.
• Both acts present weird ring placement, indicating leftovers from earlier layouts.
• The background is completely static besides the oil flows in the background.
• The oil flows are slightly slower.
• Sliding on oil plays the electricity sound effect instead of the correct one.
• The boss' laser uses Sonic's palette, which was changed to a unique one in Beta 5 due to Super Sonic changing Sonic's palette.
• The boss' tentacle moves slower.
• After the boss is defeated, the camera scrolls much farther than any other boss.

Metropolis Zone

• This zone has now reached the final design at this point.
• Beating Act 2 will take you to Sky Chase. Act 3 is present, though, and if beaten you'll be taken to Neo Green Hill Act 1. Interestingly enough, this is a leftover from August 21st.
• This is the final build to feature the moving brown platforms, however they are only in Debug Mode and don't actually move anymore.
• Badnik placements are way harder than later builds.

Sky Chase Zone

• Uses the Wing Fortress theme.
• Again, no sound effects.
• There are more rings here compared to the final game.
• Unlike the final, the platforms for Wing Fortress don't overlap Sonic.
• Scrolling doesn't stop at the end of the level.
• The foreground clouds overlaps score points, animals and badniks; but not Sonic himself.
• Oddly, rings move with the Fortress.
• Spinning propellers are able to hurt Sonic here, which wasn't fixed until Beta 7.
• It's impossible to beat the level. Upon reaching the end, the background abruptly cuts off and the camera stops scrolling.

Sky Fortress Zone (Wing Fortress)

• The beginning cutscene is extremely incomplete: only one laser appears, and there's no sound effects.
• You can stay on Tails' plane while he's falling; and instead of sliding off; you can vertical warp through the whole level as long as you stay on the plane.

• If you move at any point, you'll die for some reason.

• Part of the background doesn't scroll, which wasn't fixed until the final release.
• Speed launchers are incomplete, and completely disappears after the first use.
• The Clucker badniks are absent, even though the stage is set up for them. Though, the Clucker badniks are present in the debug list, and presents a slower behavior.
• Funnily, instead of a boss fight there are two turrets, implying that the boss was not placed at this point.
• The iron hanging bars aren't grabbable, and moving platforms are there to fill in.
• The ending cutscene is also extremely incomplete: the controls are not locked, the Tornado lacks a booster, and Eggman doesn't even attempt to get away. As a result, it is impossible to beat the stage.
• Spinning propellers make no sound.
• This stage is missing many of the palette changer objects, causing some conveyor platform sections look rather odd.
• In the unusable conveyor section, there are rings shaping up to be a slope. This could be a remnant from an earlier layout, likely one without the conveyor in place.

Death Egg Zone

• Uses the Wing Fortress theme.
• The title card is slightly glitchy.
• There are no sound effects whatsoever.
• Entering Mecha Sonic's arena quickly during the title card by spindashing causes the animated tiles to glitch out for a split second.
• The doors aren't broken here, but are in the slightly later CENSOR build.
• Mecha Sonic descends to the ground much slower than the final and has a different attack pattern where he will dash forward for his first attack rather than going into a ball first like in the final.
• The Death Egg Robot is in a pretty preliminary state: it starts in the middle of the room, moves much faster than in the final, freezes completely after taking a few steps, and doesn't have a hitbox at all.

Hidden Palace Zone

To do: Get a proper screenshot without the PLC.

By this point in development, Hidden Palace is in the process of being removed (according to Craig Stitt, the stage was cut three days weeks before the final) and cannot be accessed from the Level Select. The level is a garbled mess just like in the final, but much more remains.

It should be noted that this stage will crash to a purple screen due to pattern load cues pointing to Oil Ocean's 16×16 blocks, meaning to access it you have to load a random level then immediately after use Pro Action Replay code FFFE10:0800.

• The only way to properly access this zone is by removing the PLC.

• While the most basic data is gone, object art, placement and badniks are all still intact.
• This level still has an entry title card.
• New background scrolling data is present.
• The Autospin object has been added for the tube at the beginning.
• Still uses the Mystic Cave 2-Player theme, even though the track that plays in the final is present.

Wood Zone

Most data has been removed at this point, though the palette and new background scrolling data is still present. To access this level, use Pro Action Replay code FFFE10:0200 and start any level.

• The level layout is now the same as Emerald Hill Act 1. Collision is way broken, unlike the final.
• Still plays the Metropolis Zone theme.
• For some reason, this zone pulls art and mappings from Metropolis Zone.

Zone IDs 01 and 03

To access these two empty levels, use Pro Action Replay code FFFE10:0100 for Zone ID 01 or FFFE10:0300 for Zone ID 03, then start any level.

• The level layout is now the same as Emerald Hill Act 1. Collision is slightly broken, like the final.
• Zone ID 01 plays the Emerald Hill theme.
• Zone ID 03 plays the final Oil Ocean theme.

Zone ID 09

To access this level, use Pro Action Replay code FFFE10:0900.

This level is the same as the Wood, Zone ID 01, and Zone ID 03 leftovers, being a copy of Emerald Hill Act 1, with the only differences being a different palette and the Sky Chase music.

Special Stage

Implemented, but very incomplete.

• Only one stage is present, and it's colored differently to any of the stages in the final game.
• The stage takes an absurdly long time (~10 seconds) to load in this build, as the developers for some reason compressed most of the art individually. This was fixed by Beta 4.
• A traffic light is next to the "START" text, rotating through red, amber, and green before the challenge begins.
• The "START" text is semi-transparent rather than opaque. It stays on screen for longer, and when the letters disperse the left flag and "ST" move to the left, the "A" moves down, and the traffic lights, right flag, and "RT" move to the right. In the final game, the letters and flags all move upwards and outwards from the center of the screen.
• Sonic's name is orange instead of blue.
• The ring counter says "RING" instead of "RINGS" and uses three digits (zero-padded when necessary) rather than one or two depending on the number of rings collected.
• The stage loops indefinitely until the game is reset. The timer simply resets when it reaches zero.
• Sonic's jump sprite as well as the rings are using different sprites.
• There are no sound effects.
• Pausing the game will glitch out the graphics for some reason.
• The physics are significantly different.
• Collecting 1,000 rings by either Sonic or Tails causes the game to crash.

(Source: Hidden Palace)