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/Level Differences.

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To do: Compare level/object layouts to 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 does not display after completing an Act, and the level transition interrupts the Act clear music before it can finish, much like previous builds.
• Animal Capsules have not yet been implemented. 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.

Chemical Plant Zone

• This is the first build to feature the Spiny badnik outside of Debug Mode and is still using palette line 1 instead of palette line 0.
• The boss fight's moving platforms are missing.

Neo Green Hill (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.
• Badniks have incorrect palettes underwater.

Casino Night Zone

Has reached its final design at this point.

• There are far more rings when compared to later prototypes.
• 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 boss dies in just two hits, likely for testing purposes.
• The boss' cyan electricity never loads and instead displays maroon.

Hill Top Zone

• This is the first build where tunnels will cause Sonic to automatically spin.

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.

Oil Ocean Zone

• Plays the Casino Night 2-Player theme, just like the Simon Wai and August 21st prototypes.
• All incorrect chunk IDs and object placements from the August 21st prototype have been fixed.
• The background is completely static besides the oil flows in the background.
• Sliding on oil plays the electricity sound effect instead of the correct one.
• The boss' laser still uses Sonic's palette, which was changed to a unique one in the final due to Super Sonic changing Sonic's palette.
• The boss' tentacle(?) moves slower.

Metropolis Zone

• 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.
• This is the final build to feature the moving brown platforms, however they are only in Debug Mode and don't actually move anymore.

Sky Chase Zone

• Uses the Wing Fortress theme.
• 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.
• Oddly, rings move with the Fortress.
• 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.
• Part of the background doesn't scroll, which wasn't fixed until the final release.
• The Clucker badniks are absent, even though the stage is set up for them and they are present in the stage’s object list.
• Funnily, instead of a boss fight there are two turrets, implying that the boss was not implemented at this point.
• 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. Thanks to this, it is impossible to beat this stage.

Death Egg Zone

• Uses the Wing/Sky Fortress theme.
• The title card is slightly glitchy.
• 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, has no sound effects, 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 appear to have a hitbox.

Hidden Palace Zone

To do: Check if it's possible to get Hidden Palace to run without exploiting other level data.

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, though it does have an entry unlike Wood or Genocide/Cyber City. 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.

• While the most basic data is gone, art and objects are still intact.
• The Autospin object has been added for the tube at the beginning.
• Still plays the Mystic Cave 2-Player theme, even though the track that plays in the final is present.

Wood Zone

To do: Figure out which art and mappings it pulls from.

Most data has been removed at this point, though the palette 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 Green/Emerald Hill Act 1. Collision is slightly broken, like the final.
• Still plays the Metropolis Zone theme.

Ocean Wind and Sand Shower Zones

To access these two empty levels, use Pro Action Replay code FFFE10:0100 for Ocean Wind or FFFE10:0300 for Sand Shower, then start any level.

• The level layout is now the same as Green/Emerald Hill Act 1. Collision is slightly broken, like the final.
• Ocean Wind plays the Emerald Hill theme.
• Sand Shower plays the final Oil Ocean theme.

Rock World Zone

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

This level is the same as the Wood, Ocean Wind, and Sand Shower 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 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)