User:AdvancedPlayer/CENSOR Prototype

This is a sub-page of User:AdvancedPlayer.

  This prototype is documented on Hidden Palace.

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 page or section needs more images. There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough pictures. Please fix this.

To do: Rip the level maps. Explain more differences to Beta 4, mostly object positions. Reduce the amount of Copy and Pasting from Beta 4. See if the Special Stages palettes are different to Beta 4's. Clean up this page, it's a mess.

Download Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (CENSOR prototype) File: Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (CENSOR Prototype Hack).bin (1 MB) (info)

The CENSOR Prototype of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was originally released by CENSOR on November 9th, 1992, a few weeks before the final release. The build was quickly forgotten in favor of another dump by MAGICAL. It wasn't until February 14th, 2019 that the build was rediscovered by drx and Evilhamwizard before subsequently being dumped onto Hidden Palace. The build was hacked to include an intro and bypass the copy-protection, and the header was edited to make it easier to identify in a copier. The download above is a hack that restores the prototype to how it would've been before these changes.

Subpages

Menus & Demos Have you rerecorded the demos yet? No? Ok then.

Sky Chase & Wing Fortress A little was done between builds.

Death Egg and Hidden Palace Are you down yet?

Differences

Spindash

• This is the first build that allows the player to charge it more than once.
• The delay is always 20 frames, regardless of speed. This can cause problems if the player goes fast enough, mostly with the player going through objects. (Due to object collision not being loaded until on-screen) In the final, the game takes into account the inertia, from the slowest Spindash speed, to the fastest Super Spindash speed.
• The game doesn't clear the spindash flag if in-air. This wasn't fixed until the final version.

Super Sonic

• CENSOR has no code to handle the Super Sonic transformation or ring drain, though the actual Super Sonic code is partially implemented. Use Pro Action Replay code FFF65F:0001 to enable the Super Sonic palette, FFFE19:0001 to enable the Super Sonic sprites and increased jump height, and FFB02B:0006 to enable invincibility and speed shoes.
• Super Sonic has no under-water palette.
• Super Sonic doesn't produce any sparkles while going fast.
• The increased speed and acceleration are not enabled -- this is set by the transformation sequence in later versions -- but the player can get the increased speed / acceleration if they either get a speed shoes monitor and let it expire, or go into the water and then jump back out.
• If Super Sonic is about to drown and then gets out of the water, the invincibility music will play.

Gameplay Differences

• Tails can finally fly in this build.
• Tails' AI is nearly finalized.
• Tails is always called Miles regardless of the console's region. Fixed in Beta 6.
• The collision on slopes seems to be different between builds.

Special Stages

• The Special Stages take a long time to load. This is because some of the art assets that are compressed in Nemesis format are compressed individually in this build, whereas in Beta 4 and on most of the art was compressed in one Nemesis archive instead.
• Rings were removed at the end, as they flashed rainbow due to the palette change.
• After the first round of a Special Stage in 2-Player Mode, the "Most Rings Wins!" message changes to "Win Twice Win All!". This message was removed in Beta 5.
• The stages have different palettes to the ones used in the final, though the palettes for stages 1, 3 and 5 were eventually reused for stages 2, 5 and 7 respectively. These palettes are also present in Beta 5, but the stages use their final palettes from Beta 6 onwards.

CENSOR-Beta 4	Beta 6+/Final

(Source: Hidden Palace, TCRF original research)

2 Player Mode

• 2 Player Mode is nearly complete, with only a few bugs left.

• There's no countdown if a player passes the signpost.
• Tails' shield doesn't display.
• Eggman monitors don't harm the players yet. Fixed in Beta 6
• If a player dies, they will get a random amount of rings.
• If either player gets a Time Over, the stage will reset and then immediately go to the results screen. This sets their score, time, ring, total ring, and item box numbers to what they were the last time they hit a checkpoint; Or, if they never hit a checkpoint, to zero, fixed in Beta 6.

Graphical Differences

• The results tally has an extra period after "ACT", as in Beta 4.
• Chemical Plant's loops are still slanted like the Nick Arcade and Simon Wai prototypes.

(Source: Hidden Palace, TCRF original research)

Cheats

Level Select

• While selecting "1 PLAYER", hold A, then press Start.

Debug Mode

• Just hold A + Start before entering a stage.
• Collision-changing objects are not shown in debug mode, even if edit mode is activated.
• Debug mode does not enable edit mode; only the debug information on the HUD and the debug controls when the game is paused. Use Pro Action Replay code FFFE09:0001 to activate edit mode.

Bugs

• The Death Egg Zone title card and doors are glitched in this prototype. Fixed in Beta 4.

• The collision seems to be more sensitive in this build, as Sonic and Tails can get crushed in areas they can't in other builds and the final.
• The camera doesn't lock when you die, similar to Beta 4 and Beta 5.
• Finishing Metropolis Act 2 takes you directly to Sky Chase instead of Metropolis Act 3. If you use level select to play Metropolis Act 3 and then finish it, the game will take you to Aquatic Ruin Act 1.
• The Spike Bug from Sonic 1 is still in this version.
• The results screen for the 2-Player Special Stages always shows Special Stage 4, regardless of which one you just played. This was fixed in Beta 6.

(Source: Hidden Palace, TCRF original research)

Other

• While the game can be completed, the ending hasn't been implemented yet.