Proto:Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Genesis)/Simon Wai Prototype/Dust Hill Zone

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

General Differences

• Level name difference: Mystic Cave is called Dust Hill in both the level select screens and the title cards up until the CENSOR prototype, which changed the title cards to match the final's level names, and with Beta 7 changing the names in the level select to match those used during normal gameplay.
  • The name Dust Hill was speculated by Sonic communities to belong to the scrapped desert level, but the early concepts for the game and the release of the September 14 prototype seem to confirm that Dust Hill was just Mystic Cave's original name.
• Neither act has a signpost, so they're both impossible to complete. Though, the screen properly locks and the graphics are loaded at the end of Act 1.

Act 1

Full Maps

Simon Wai prototype
Beta 4

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• While the layouts are identical, the object placement is definitely a work-in-progress. This section in the Simon Wai prototype seems like more of a test to see how the objects work and how stressed the processor gets. The only objects in the same spot in all versions are the first crumbling platform, and the crusher object.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• There are more small quarter-pipes in the earlier layout. One in the upper path and two in the lower path were changed to flat surfaces.
• There are three spiked platforms in the Simon Wai build just awkwardly jutting out of the bigger quarter-pipe. They were all removed from the later layouts.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• These are the last two objects in the Simon Wai version, found halfway through the upper path of the act. The switch vines haven't been implemented yet, so the wooden bridge is opened up by a (glitchy) switch.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• More quarter pipe removal: One in the upper-left corner, and two on the lower path.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• All three quarter pipes in this section were replaced by flattened ground.

Act 2

Full Maps

Simon Wai prototype
Beta 4

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• Act 2 doesn't seem like much of a cave in the Simon Wai prototype. There are huge gaps in the ceiling that were filled up in the final version.
• Don't think they've stopped removing quarter pipes yet, no sir no ma'am.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• Ceiling added.
• Quarter pipes deleted.
• Mmmhmm.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• There's an entire path at the top of the level that was deleted in later layouts! No objects in the act, so it's hard to tell how this path would have played out.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• More of the deleted upper path. Those two pits would presumably be filled with spikes, and maybe a spring if the developers were feeling generous.
• There are two rings way up in the ceiling of the later layouts, evidence that the upper path was worked on at least a bit after this prototype.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• The deleted upper path continues. That's a whole lot of nothing in the middle part - there would probably be a few swinging platforms there.
• More evidence of the path being developed; Three rings that would have been placed above the rightmost platform.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• The upper path ends here, but the ceiling filling continues. The sloped formation of rings seen in the later layouts would presumably be collected from a swinging platform.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• In the lower half of the stage, one of the small spike pits is using incorrect blocks in the Simon Wai layout.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• Quarter pipes? Not in my stage layout.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• Hey, layout changes that aren't just quarter pipe related! Not entirely quarter pipe related, anyway. Those still changed.
• The upper path extends the ceiling more to the left and adds a thin strip of floor below that ceiling.
• The rock formation on the far left drops down further in later versions of the act.
• At the spot where the two paths intersect, the ceiling above no longer droops down and to the right.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• Because Drill Eggman II was designed to drill up into the ceiling, the open space in the Simon Wai layout had to be filled in. Whoever did that got a little overzealous, because one of the ceiling blocks was replaced with an incorrect design.