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

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

General Differences

• In the final game, Metropolis Zone is set up to use vertical wrapping (the only zone in the game to do so), but in the Simon Wai build, it uses standard scrolling. There are drastic layout differences between versions, the most of any zone in the game.
• There are no rings, monitors, or signposts in any of the acts of the Simon Wai prototype.

• If the player is on one of the switch-activated platforms when it retracts, they'll stay on it - even when it goes into a wall.
• The crushers in this build are retracted for 60 frames, then crush the floor or ceiling for 60 frames. Both delays were increased to 90 frames in later versions.
• Lava doesn't harm the player in the Simon Wai build - the invisible objects that actually hurt the player haven't been placed yet.
• There's only one Steam Piston subtype, making it impossible to beat any acts.

Graphical Differences

Simon Wai - August 21st	September 14th - Final

• The older background uses an orange color scheme instead of the blue-gray one seen in the final version. It also includes a couple of foreground blocks, like conveyor belts.
• The earlier background is 6 chunks wide and 6 chunks tall. The final background is 9 chunks wide and 4 chunks tall.

Simon Wai - August 21st	September 14th - Final

A white shine was added to the wheels of the conveyor belts.

Simon Wai - August 21st	September 14th - Final

The same change applies to the tanks seen in the walls.

Simon Wai - August 21st	September 14th - Final

The numerous gauges found throughout the zone were both reshaded and made more circular.

Simon Wai - August 21st	September 14th - Final

The wheels on the valves were recolored in later versions, possibly to make other art fit with the palette.

Simon Wai - August 21st	September 14th - Final

The cogwheels are pretty plain and flatly drawn in the Simon Wai prototype. The later versions add detail to the edge of the outer circle, holes around the darkest circle, and add color around the innermost circle.

Act 1

Full Maps

Simon Wai prototype
Beta 4

Due to the way the zone is structured, it's best to look at the full maps below to get a good idea on where everything is.

Simon Wai prototype
Beta 4

• The first section is open in the Simon Wai prototype, but closed in the final layout. It's also one 128x128 block wider to accommodate the ledge with the super ring monitor.
• There's a crushing trap here, which seems a little cruel this early in the act. This was replaced by one of those spinning drums in the final layout.
• The first switch-activated platform was lowered in the Beta 4 version, and the switch was moved further to the right.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• Again, this section has a ceiling in later layouts.
• All of the switches in the Simon Wai build are all at the same height relative to the ground. Later versions changed that up by putting some switches further into the ground, which also allows them to be activated by just walking into them.
• It's easy to see where the crusher object ends in the Simon Wai prototype. Later versions make sure that the blocks the crushers are on are completely solid.
• The two platforms move differently between versions.

• In the Simon Wai prototype, they move up and down, opposite to each other.
• In all other builds, they move left and right, overlapping in the middle of their respective paths.

• Later versions open up the path in the bottom-right corner. Now both of the lower paths lead down to that pit in the center.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• There are significantly more pipes in the early layout.
• In later layouts, there's a hole in the wall right above where the quarter-pipe would launch Sonic & Tails.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• Another added ceiling, but this one has a clear purpose; It's part of a new section of level that could only work with vertical wrapping.
• The spear blocks don't lead to a path on the right, but to that new section of level mentioned previously. The older path was closed off.
• A spear-laden section of floor replaced a small yellow bumper section and half-pipe.
• The transport tube was replaced with another one of those spinning drums.
• The switch-activated platform retracts to the left in the Simon Wai prototype, which makes the jump to the transporter a bit difficult.
• The one-way barrier is only present in later versions of the game.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• The crushers on the ceiling were moved down to the floor.
• The new section of the stage continues here, taking up what was basically empty space in the Simon Wai prototype.
• There's an added piece in the lower-left corner; A piston that leads to a group of rings.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• This is the first instance of layouts being almost unrecognizable between versions. Basically the only thing kept here was the long drop down and the quarter-pipe on the far right.
• There are no opportunities here to change what path you're on in later prototypes.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• This section has more similarities between versions, but there's an important design difference:

• In the Simon Wai layout, the two paths shown are separate from each other.
• In the later layouts, the two paths end up meeting at the same point (The upper-middle).

• Man, the lower part of this section sure looks empty in the Simon Wai prototype, doesn't it?
• The lone piston was removed.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• Another chunk of layout with many differences resulting from making the level longer and more linear. The only element the two have in common is the spinning drum in the lower-left.
• This is the last time a spinning drum shows up in the Simon Wai layout. Someone(s) must have thought the graphics were too cool to use only two times, which is why it shows up more frequently in later versions.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• More instances of the two stages sharing a common setpiece. In this instance, it's the long screw elevator on the right.

• In the Simon Wai layout, the screw is split up between paths.
• Since there's only one path in later layouts, it's just one long screw.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• The acts are more similar at this point, though the method of reaching the upper path is different between versions.
• The spikes and spear traps in the Simon Wai prototype were replaced by five Asterons in later versions. The Asterons are much worse.
• The two spikes surrounding the top of the screw elevator were removed from the Beta 4 layout.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• Well, obviously the bottomless pit in the Simon Wai layout had to be removed. Wouldn't make much sense with vertical wrapping.
• Most of the spikes by the screw elevators were removed.
• Both of the switch-activated platforms (And the switches, naturally) were taken out of later builds.
• Space was cleared out in the wall to make room for a hidden checkpoint.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• This is a pretty unremarkable section in the Simon Wai prototype; It's mainly here to link the upper and lower paths. Later layouts open up the floor and ceiling, taking advantage of the vertical wrapping, to make a very long (Potentially endless) pit.
• All versions have the same yellow bumper section in the bottom-right.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• Part two of the long falling section...in the final layout, anyway. In the Simon Wai build, it's just a sort of staircase of spear blocks.
• Another hidden checkpoint in the walls. Someone must've been fond of these.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• The Simon Wai layout is three 128x128 blocks slimmer than the final layout. If there was a signpost here (There isn't), there wouldn't be much room for it.

Act 2

Full Maps

Simon Wai prototype
Beta 4

Simon Wai prototype
Beta 4

• The surface to the left of the lava is lower in the final layout, making the drop into the lava easier to see.
• The first moving platform was replaced by a switch-activated platform.
• The lava tiles aren't marked as high priority in the Simon Wai build, so the effect of objects sinking into the lava is lost.
• The ceiling in the Simon Wai layout is low enough to where Sonic and/or Tails will clip through it if they're riding the teacups.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• The light drop at the bottom was replaced by a quarter-pipe.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• Let's look at the upper path first. The first cogwheel setpiece changed in difficulty between versions:

• In the Simon Wai prototype, the player has to balance themselves on one of the cogs to make the jump to the vertically moving platform above. To get to the cog on the left, the player has to make a jump from an inclined surface.
• In later prototypes, the left cog is higher up, making the jump to the platform easier and eliminating a need to constantly balance on the cog while waiting for the moving platform. The inclined surface is now level.

• However, there are three rings embedded in the floor that match the previous design, so it was clearly worked on a bit before it was revamped.

• The release of August 21st confirms this.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• There's a new hole in the ceiling above where the quarter-pipe would launch Sonic/Tails. This isn't related to the new vertical wrapping in the act; It's probably there just so the player has a chance to react after getting launched from the transport tube.
• In the earlier layout, the player has to jump onto the conveyor belt, then onto a moving platform. This was simplified in the later layouts by making the floor jut out more to the left, occupying the space that the moving platform once did.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• There are a few blocks here related to a new spinning drum on the lower path of the stage.
• A yellow spring was added to the bottom-left...not that it serves much purpose, since the height it gives isn't enough to get back on the platform above it.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• The floor to the right was raised in later versions to justify the existence of the second teacup pulley system.
• The section of floor that housed the pointless piston was chopped off, as was the piston. As a result of this change, the second pulley was extended further downward.
• The path at the bottom was closed off. There are inaccessible rings in later versions that mark where the path once was.

• The release of August 21st confirms this, except that the once two ring placement was changed to three rings.

• A newly added moving platform leads to a secret hole in the wall with an invincibility monitor. A little redundant with the invincibility monitor that's already there, but whatever.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• There are four pulleys above the lava in the Simon Wai prototype. The reason why this was reduced to two is obvious; The number of sprites and calculations this four pulley system creates lags the game horribly. The first pulley was replaced by a new section of ground, the other by a platform floating in the lava.
• A ceiling was added to this section, and the floor in the upper part was raised a skosh.
• The closed off path in the previous section would lead to a lower area with a switch-active platform and three screw elevators. In its place here is yet another hidden invincibility monitor.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

And now, let's look at the lower path (Although in the later layouts "lower" and "upper" paths lose most of their meaning since the zone wraps vertically, but oh well.)

• There's a spot in the upper-right where the upper path dumps you. In the Simon Wai build the player can get back up through use of the quarter pipe, but the steep incline in the later layouts makes that impossible.
• The two harmless floating platforms above the small lava pit were replaced by more dangerous spear blocks.
• The progress trap at the bottom was changed:

• In the Simon Wai layout, if the player falls into the space in the lower-right, they're immediately stuck. The player travels back to the previous section via a one-way transport tube. In the event that the player reaches this area from the other side, or if they're transported by the tube and want to go back, trying to go through the tube from the opposite side will lead to the player falling through the tube and into the pit below.
• Later layouts add a floating platform blocking the entrance to the drop, giving players a short period of time to escape. The transport tube was changed to a spinning drum, eliminating the pit and a potential cheap death.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• The ceiling by the first screw elevator was raised up, and said screw elevator now extends all the way up to the ceiling.
• A horizontally moving platform and a switch-activated platform were added to make a couple of jumps easier.
• The jump to the platform at the bottom-right was changed from an incline surface to a flat surface. The platform was also changed from a vertically-moving one to a floating one.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• Largely the same, though, again, one of the screw elevators was deleted from later layouts.
• The cogwheel half in the lower path was deleted and replaced with, well, nothing. They added a one-way door, though. That's something.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• This is the point where both paths converge in the later prototypes (The "upper" path exits out via the piston at the bottom), but in the Simon Wai layout they're still distinct. This is also the point where the layouts diverge the most.
• That said, both versions have the cogwheels over lava setpiece seen here, though the final version eliminates the one that's partially embedded in the floating chunk of land.
• There's another piece of cogwheel balancing in the Simon Wai prototype, with the player having to balance on the first cogwheel and wait for the floating platform to get low enough to jump to. This is a lot harder than it sounds. In the later versions, the floating platform is lower and closer to the cogwheel, and there's a stable (but dangerous) spear block beside it.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• The method to get up the upper path (or lower path in the prototype, technically) changed from another cog-balancing section followed by jumping on switch-activated platforms, to jumping up wall bumpers, using two screw elevators, and getting propelled by a piston.
• More hidden rings in the top-left of the final layout, seemingly matching the layout seen in the Simon Wai build.
• The earlier layout has a poorly placed switch-activated platform placed at the end of a transporter tube. If the player fell into that gap, not only would they go through the tube, they'd go through the floor below! This was changed to a solid floor in later versions of the act.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• The pulley system is too close to the ceiling in the Simon Wai prototype, making it very easy to clip into the ceiling.
• The conveyor belt was replaced with a series of spear blocks.
• The upper path is a simpler affair in the early prototype; it was fleshed out to include more obstacles in the later versions.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• The pulley system extends down into the lava pit in the later versions.
• In the Simon Wai prototype, the lava pit is a death trap, or it would be if the lava actually hurt the player at this point. The final layout adds a red spring to get out of the pit, an extra life monitor as incentive to go into the pit, and a platform that leads the player safely down into the pit.
• The lava extends all the way down to the bottom of the stage in the Simon Wai layout. Some of the lava had to be deleted to make room for a new section of stage.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4
N/A

• ...as seen here. The equivalent section in the Simon Wai layout is just walls and empty space, so it's not worth showing.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• To finish the act in the Simon Wai version, the player has to go through a half-pipe, land on a moving platform, and jump off a conveyor belt. The final version features one last spinning drum and yellow bumper section before the act ends.

Act 3

Full Maps

Simon Wai prototype
Beta 4

Simon Wai prototype
Beta 4

• The starting area was flattened in later versions.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• At the start of this section is a platform that zips to one of four places when the player moves off of it. In the Simon Wai build, the platform is further away from the first section. In the later builds, there are two platforms and they're right next to the previous section.
• The first wheel & coupling rod system was lowered so the player wouldn't have to wait on one of the platforms to line up a jump.
• From that system, the player would then make a jump to another moving platform under a set of spikes. This was changed to flat ground later on, and the spikes on the ceiling deleted.
• The moving platform by the second wheel & coupling rod system was removed, and the ground to the left extended to take its place.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• This is another instance of the later versions locking the player in a path once they've gone past certain points in the stage. In this case it's through two transport tubes that lead to the upper and lower paths of the act. This comparison will focus on the upper path for the time being.
• To make room for the transport tubes, the set of three rotating cogwheels was excised, as was the quarter-pipe at the bottom.
• The spikes above the wheel & coupling rod system were, again, removed from later versions.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• This is the first appearance of an obstacle exclusive to the Simon Wai layout: Rhombus-shaped blocks that would attempt to crush Sonic & Tails. The ones seen here move in a simple back-and-fourth diagonal path. There are a number of potential reasons why there were deleted: They don't actually crush the player (Separate objects would be needed to do that) unless they're directly above them, they take up a lot of sprite slots, they're easily avoided, and they mostly just slow the pace of the game down. So, large swathes of layout that once housed them had to be redone in later versions.
• The three cylindrical crushers and spiked ceiling at the bottom was replaced with yet another spinning drum. They really wanted to get their money's worth out of those things.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• More rhombus obstacles. The leftmost one moves in a rhombus-shaped path, while the one on the right moves like the ones in the previous section.
• There's a hidden area at the top-right of the Simon Wai layout. The player reaches it by riding the rightmost rhombus object to the top of its path and jumping up and to the left, through an invisible hole in the ceiling. There would presumably be an extra life monitor or something up here had the layout been worked on further.
• There is one thing in common between both layouts; The transport tube at the bottom-right leading to the next section.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• In the Simon Wai prototype, there are more spikes on the ceiling. And more ceiling.
• There's an entrance to a lower path at the start of this section in the final game. It's at the end of the section in the earlier layout.
• There are spaces for two pistons in the earlier version, but no pistons are placed there. The final version remembers to add them but spreads them out more.
• The second wheel & coupling rod was replaced by a third conveyor belt and a lava pit. That's not a fair trade.
• Spear traps, a platform to the bottom path, and an opening to another path on the right were added to the lower part of this section.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• Two of the cogwheels in a particularly pointless setpiece were deleted. A platform was added betwixt the remaining wheels.
• The teacup-carrying conveyor belt was replaced by a yellow spring (see lower path).
• The exit to the bottom path changed from a rhombus-riding sequence to a switch-activated platform dropping the player down below.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• Back to the lower section. The number of crushing cylinders was reduced from three to one.
• The bottomless pit trap was removed.
• A cogwheel was added. Doesn't do much but take up space, though.
• A floating platform lowers down to a new area, courtesy of vertical screen-wrapping.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• This is the Simon Wai's other section that prominently features the rhombus-shaped obstacle. In this one, the player has to outrun the rhombus and reach the exit before it comes back and crushes them.
• There's a one-way barrier here at the left, but the graphics aren't loaded properly. It's using a few switch tiles, but most of the tiles that the door's composed of are blank.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• Not much here in the earlier layout. There's the end of the rhombus chase sequence, and two ways to get to the upper path.
• In the final layout, there's a retracting platform that the player can land on to get to the top path, and a sharp drop down that goes into the bottom path.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• To get to this path in the earlier layout, the player has to drop down from above. In the later layouts, they need to enter from the lower path in the previous section.
• The drop down was replaced by two screw elevators, giving players another chance to reach a higher path. The conveyor belt was taken out as well.
• In the set of five screw elevators, the leftmost one was removed, replaced by a new raised section of floor. The nut on the elevator to the right was moved down to match the height of the floor.
• A few pointless sets of spikes on the ceiling were removed.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• The oddly placed spikes are closer together in the final layout.
• The pit below the teacup conveyor was filled with lava. Since there's no way out of the pit in the Simon Wai version, this is a blessing in disguise.
• Other than that, there's not much here in the early layout; Just the end of the rhombus-riding section mentioned previously.
• In the final version, this is where both paths dovetail. The final version adds a bigger lava pit with multiple spear blocks, an entrance from below, and a drop from above that leads to a platform on gears.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• There are two one-way barriers in the Simon Wai version's layout that keep the player(s) from going back into the rhombus area. Obviously they were no longer needed in the later layouts.
• The large pit to the right was taken out. Vertical wrapping, etc.
• An extra floating platform was added up and to the left of the second cogwheel.
• The switch-activated platform was taken out...but, oddly, there's an obscured movement-activating platform in about the same place in later versions. This is likely left over from some in-between version of the act.

• This fits August 21st's layout, meaning that they just forgot to delete it.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• The two paths finally meet up with each other in the Simon Wai layout.
• The new layout is actually an extension of the upper path that leads to the sections talked about prior to this one. It features a gauntlet of three Slicers and nine Asterons in a back-and-fourth corridor.
• Naturally, the transport tube to the right was removed.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• In the earlier layout, this section is made of nothing but the end of one transport tube and the start of another. In other versions, this is the start of an infamous looong screw elevator sequence, with Asterons to the right (not pictured) ready to knock the player off and make them start the whole thing over again.

Simon Wai prototype	Beta 4

• Further adventures with transport tubes. After going through two more tubes and a spike block-filled hallway, the player ends up in the same place as the later layouts at a much faster pace.

Simon Wai prototype
Beta 4

• Aside from more ceiling blocks in the later layout, both versions are identical...until the earlier layout, as in most of the zones in that build, cuts off before the boss area.
• Since there's nothing to stop the platform, the player can keep riding to the right until the act's right boundary 4000 is reached and the screen locks.