Proto:Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast)/AutoDemo/Stage Differences

This is a sub-page of Proto:Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast)/AutoDemo.

Please elaborate. Having more detail is always a good thing.

Most of the stages, with the exception of Hot Shelter, are present in this build, but not all of them are playable. The following stages will crash the game if the player attempts to access them:

• Practice (Acts 1 & 2)
• Windy Valley
• Twinkle Park
• Sky Deck
• Lost World
• Mystic Ruins
• Chao (with the exception of the Station Square Garden)
• Boss stages (with the exception of Chaos 2)

Patches to fix Twinkle Park, Sky Deck, and Lost World are available in their respective sections. Note that these restorations currently have issues running on Demul and real hardware, so it's recommended to instead run this in Reicast and variants.

Sub-Pages

Test Levels Three test levels whose slot was later overwritten by Amy's Hedgehog Hammer minigame.

Emerald Coast Rather empty compared to the final game, even lacking the killer whale section.

Windy Valley Completely disparate to the final version, and the same one shown in early showcases of the game.

Twinkle Park The old Act 1 object layout is still here, although the unique objects aren't, and is very empty.

Speed Highway Probably Sonic's most functional stage in the prototype, as well as having the old Act 3 design.

Red Mountain One of the more complete stages in the prototype, complete with Tokyo Game Show tutorials! Be prepared to fight the camera as Sonic, though.

Icecap Ice crystals everywhere!

Casinopolis Extremely rough, with only basic modelling done, and nearly lacking all objects.

Final Egg About in the same state as Emerald Coast.

Bosses Either mostly finished or barely started.

Adventure Fields Either boots the player out or just crashes, but still has some design leftovers from earlier builds.

Chao Gardens An early state of an A-Life Garden.

Lost World

There are scant few changes to Lost World's geometry - one being that the demo lacks the background walls from many of the areas throughout the level. However, the level's object layout has many differences compared to the final version.

Act 1

• The starting room has an open ceiling that was covered up in the final.
• There are flaming arrow shooters near the start of the stage.
• There is an extra Boa-Boa at the start of the stage.
• There is a dash panel missing before the long tunnel of flaming blocks.
• There are no platforms after the long tunnel of flaming blocks.
• There is no item box over the spike pit.
• The checkpoint is missing.
• The camera messes up when the player enters the snake room.
• The snake room is completely different. The platforms are in different locations and the route to complete the puzzle is different.

• 

  Act 1

Act 2

• The mirrors are missing in the dark room.
• There is a Boa-Boa in the dark room that is replaced with a Sol in the final. Interestingly, the Boa-Boa is still here in Knuckles' version of the stage in the final, though glitches are required to access the room.
• There are no arrows at the end of the dark room.
• There are no rings in the water slide.
• The layout of the light puzzle is different. There are Boa-Boas here and all the switches are situated on high platforms in different spots to the final.
• The wall panels in the light room are already connected to each other, rather than being separated initially.
• The switches for the wall panels in the light room have bright lights over them. This was removed in the final.

Act 3

• No Egg Capsule.
• There is no door behind the starting position.

• 

  Act 2

Sky Deck

Sky Deck is considerably far along compared to other stages, being able to be completed as Sonic.

General

• The ship does not go below the clouds. Examination of the texture container reveals that the dark sky texture has not been implemented, however the lighting data is already setup for it.
• The object layout for Sonic (and Tails in the first Act) seems to be slightly outdated, with random spiked balls present where barriers would (presumably) have been placed.

Act 1

• The second rotating pole is turning the opposite way.
• There's no alternate routes where the first checkpoint is.

• The dash panel after it will likely push the player through the floor.
• The second dash panel is placed slightly differently.
• The rings are placed lower.
• There's no Speed Shoes monitor.
• An area near the end is missing.
• You can go to Act 2 without destroying the cannon.
• The lighting files are present, but don't seem to be any different to the final version.

Act 2

• The stage is slightly different.

Proto	Final

• The beginning is missing a lot of objects.
• The jump panel trail is missing.

• The wing won't sheer off.

Act 3

• The stage is slightly different.

Proto	Final

• Most objects are missing.
• An extra object, OCARRIER3, is present.
• There's no invisible wall near the capsule.
• Knuckles' SET file is identical to Tails' unused version.

Other Stages

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: What objects are different for these levels, if any?

Sky Chase

Sky Chase is one of the more complete Sub Games in this build, although it still had rather significant changes for the final; for one, there is no audio at all:

• In the AutoDemo, both stages are handled as a single stage separated by acts, while the final game instead makes them entirely separate stages. This was likely done to give both stages independent stage managers, which wouldn't be possible with the AutoDemo's setup. Interestingly, both are still stored in the same file, SHOOTING.PRS, in the final.
• The shooting controls are rather different. In the final, the player holds A to lock onto targets and then releases them to attack; in the AutoDemo, the Tornado locks onto enemies automatically with the player firing by pressing B. Additionally, the Tornado shoots rockets in this build rather than lasers; these remain in the final, unused.
• The infamous unused Dragon is used in this build; unlike other objects, it is loaded by the stage itself, rather than being placed in the SET file. It also follows a unique path, appearing once the player reaches the Egg Carrier's engines, and dealing two damage to the player at the end.
• Act 1 and Act 2 have the same object layout, although they do have separate files. There is also a third object layout that does not exist in the final, SETSHTS.BIN, presumably used before both were given unique layouts. It is dated July 1998, whereas the used layouts are dated August 1998; due to changes with the object list since then, it no longer works correctly.
• Despite being shown in the unveiling, neither of the cutscenes are present in the AutoDemo; while the animation of the Egg Carrier firing its laser does exist within the data, the Tornado 2's transformation does not. This suggests that both may have been loaded from EVENT files in an earlier build of the game. As a result, the second half of Sky Chase 2 is also effectively inaccessible without hacking.
• Only one enemy, HODAI, is used in both stages. In the final, two more types, RENZAKO and ZAKOS, were added.
• The HUD is unfinished, using the generic debug font and being text-based.
• The cannons have a different design in the AutoDemo, resembling the cannons in Sky Deck and even shooting the same projectiles.
• The camera doesn't function properly, likely due to a change in IDs.

Three paths also exist but all are unreferenced; the first one matches closely with the object layout, the second one is a straight line, and the third one is an oval with very sharp turns.

(Source: Sonic Retro)

Sand Hill

• A large number of objects (such as the giant pyramids) would be directly integrated into the level geometry in the final.
• No trick ramps or hazards are present, and the stage as a whole is much emptier than the final.
• Impossible to complete as there is no Froggy or clear trigger at the end.

Twinkle Circuit

The only Act of Twinkle Circuit in the AutoDemo is an early model that doesn't resemble any of the courses used in the final game. It has no music, objects, or textures and features multiple small inclined areas that aren't seen anywhere in the final, in any course.

•