Proto:Sonic the Hedgehog 3/Stage Differences/Angel Island Zone
This is a sub-page of Proto:Sonic the Hedgehog 3/Stage Differences.
Being the first zone in the game, Angel Island Zone is the only one that is in a mostly functional state, having proper stage transitions. That being said, it is still unfinished in several places.
Contents
General
 | To do: Layout and object differences. (AIZ was finished as Jorge Nuno had a good collection of differences on his user page. Different subpages for each zone are now necessary at this point.) |
| Act | Proto | Final | Sonic & Knuckles Collection |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACT1 | |||
| ACT2 |
_AIZ1.png)
- The intro features Sonic riding a surfboard into Angel Island Zone. In the final game, Sonic rides the Tornado, jumps off, and turns into Super Sonic. The surfboard Sonic object still exists in the final game, but goes unused.
- The only way to see this intro is if you wait on the title screen for the demo. Going into Angel Island Zone Act 1 normally does not play the intro.
- Knuckles also has completely different sprites and simply blocks Sonic's path instead of punching him out and stealing the Chaos Emeralds. Because they share the same palette, Knuckles also causes the HUD text to turn green; the developers actually implemented two different fixes for this in the final game: Knuckles was given a different palette, which uses yellow for his socks instead of green (and, oddly, pinker shades of red) plus in this particular scene the HUD isn't even drawn at all anymore.
- Knuckles is visible even when skipping the intro, which is a problem since the player has full control at that point, and moving past Knuckles before he leaves will glitch him out.
- Tails does not seem to spawn into the level for a while, aside from flying above the first badnik. The player can be airlifted by Tails, interestingly.
- A fire shield and badnik right before the miniboss are missing.
- Underwater countdown timer graphics do not load correctly.
- In the debug list, there is a strange object that seems to test sprite scaling. It causes some very adverse effects on the game, the level collision, and its VRAM.
- In one of the upper alcoves early in the level, there are 2 static monitors that hurt the player when broken. These were replaced with monitors containing Power Sneakers and 10 Rings in the final game.
- The area before the miniboss has a few tiles incorrectly placed.
- The miniboss cutscene is slower, rougher, and the miniboss plays a different sound when launching missiles.
- The second part of Act 1 loads much more slowly, leading to some garbage object graphics at first.
- The waterfall platform objects do not play any sounds.
- Act 1's boss arena has the decorative flame objects like final, but they load incorrect graphics.
- During the tunnel to the end of the level in Act 2, you can see for a moment when the flying ship graphics are loaded.
- The HUD pauses for the entire duration the flying ship is present, and it resumes once it leaves. This was scrapped in the final because it also stalls the ring counter from refreshing, should the player get hit by the ship's bombs.
- Eggman's "whooshing" sound when he goes through the trees at the end is completely different.
- The sound that plays when Eggman burns the bridge is different.
- The boss palette tends to cause issues with rings.
- Even if you jump off the bridge while Knuckles destroys it, you still go to Hydrocity Zone anyway.
| To do: Actual comparisons. |
The full set of Knuckles sprites used during the intro cutscene. All of the other cutscenes use the finalized cutscene graphics already, complete with pink-ish palette. Notably, these sprites more closely match the April 1993 design of Knuckles.
Layout Differences
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| Final |
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Act 1
| To do: Replace the current CSS image crops with separately cropped images of level potions. |
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
A floating platform was added above the first palm tree, making it easier to access the small Monitor alcove.
Also, in the 1103 prototype, the monitor subtypes are not set, which results in the player being damaged when breaking them.
In the final version, a ceiling was added to the entire level.
A tall column of path swapper objects were added to help reset the collision plane when starting the level.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
The final version adds 3 rings and a small alcove with a Super Ring Monitor.
A floating platform added in the final, hinting that something up there.
And a ceiling was added to the area.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
In this area in the 1103 prototype, Tails will fly down to pick Sonic and carry him to the upper right ledge.
In the final version, a Rhinobot was shifted further to the right.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
3 rings were removed from the final.
Some aesthetic layout changes between the versions.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
A palm tree with a Monkey Dude was deleted from the final game, and the Rhinobot has been moved to the right.
The unset hidden Monitor on top of the palm tree was changed to a Fire Shield.
A pair of spikes was also added in the final version, just before the zipline rope ride.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
The floor changed slightly, and the final version adds a second, backwards-facing spring.
The foreground plants' graphics were updated slightly.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
The monitor has been changed to an invincibility one; perhaps a Robotnik Monitor in the first level was a bit out of place?
Some rocks were added in the final version, to help make the area feel less empty.
The swinging rope's position was slightly moved to the right.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
A Bloominator was added in the final version.
A group of spikes was changed to a harmless rock, and the sneaky Rhinobot was deleted.
In the loop's exit, the path swapper object's range was lengthened so it now touches the bottom of the floor above it. Originally, the player could miss the object entirely, breaking collision.
Under the underwater ledge, formed by the loop's exit, the the 1-Up Monitor was changed into a Water Shield for the final game.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
To make room for a palm tree with a Monkey Dude hanging off it, the floor was lowered.
The Rhinobot was removed.
The underwater grotto was filled with goodies, and had a seemingly useless path swapper object added; perhaps it was meant for a Special Stage Ring?
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
The spring, and the rock it's hidden under, were moved to the right in the final version.
A small floating island was added, along with a Starpost and a cluster of rings above it.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
The palm tree, with its Monkey Dude inhabitant, were removed to make room for an additional loop on the way to the giant tree trunk.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
There used to be a second 1-Up Monitor above the second loop, but was swapped for a Super Ring Monitor in the final. It was also shifted left, so it's hidden by the leaves.
The final versions adds more path swapper objects, preventing Tails from being on the wrong collision layer if he skips the loops by flying over it.
The giant trunk 1-Up monitor's position was adjusted slightly.
Act 1.5
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
The ledge, with its Starpost, were moved 128 pixels to the left, shortening the orange sky transition area.
The cavern containing the Special Stage ring moved 128 pixels to the right.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
In the proto, the cavern is much smaller than in the final, which also adds rings and a passage to the area below.
The giant waterfall starts much sooner. It's also filled with falling logs, which were removed in the final version.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
A ceiling was added to the top of the waterfall, and a small alcove was created with a Super Ring monitor in the final.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
The entrance to the Special Stage room was made less obvious, and the hazards were removed from the path in the final version.
Most of the lake that used to exist in the proto in this area was filled with earth and its objects were removed.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
A log bridge with 4 rings is missing in the prototype.
A collapsing platform was added to the left side, making it easier to avoid falling into the water in the final.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
The floor between waterfalls changed between the proto and the final, the version in the proto is more even.
The log bridge turned into a collapsing platform, and is now an extension of the solid ground preceding it.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
There are more layers of terrain in the final game; the prototype only has a series of descending terrain platforms to the cavern below.
A ledge with a Bloominator and a few objects was added in the middle of the waterfall in the final version.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
This underwater cavern used to be a simple tunnel in the prototype.
| Proto | Final |
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A loop was added in the final version, with a Thunder Shield Monitor hidden on top of it.
| Proto | Final |
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Some spikes were added in the final version to prevent Knuckles from climbing into Sonic's boss area.
A helpful Fire Shield Monitor was added in the alcove to the left, now guarded by a Bloominator.
In the final version, a Super Ring Monitor was added in the bottom route.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
Like the rest of the level, Sonic's miniboss area had a canopy ceiling added for the final version.
Act 2
Sonic's Route
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
The final version's tunnel at the beginning of Act 2 received an extra bend, losing three rings in the process.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
More of the tunnel.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
Upon exiting the tunnel, Sonic falls into the the water. The final drains most of it, with the only underwater section being a small pool containing 3 rings.
This is where the level begins in the final version, either from entering the level with the level select, or respawning as Sonic when you haven't touched a Starpost yet.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
In the prototype, the Waterfall's plunge pool is a direct extension from the previous area. The waterfall was also wider.
The prototype's collapsing platform in the was replaced with a log bridge, with 2 rings added, in the final.
The obscured 1-Up Monitor was changed to a Water Shield.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
The waterfall had a ceiling added, and a small nook was created, containing a 1-Up monitor and Bloominator.
A falling log spawner was added, letting Sonic access this area.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
The upper path was changed, with a small left-facing ledge breaking up the middle section, the rings were removed, and the Rhinobot was moved closer to the edge.
A swinging rope was added on the left, and a pair of collapsing platforms were added to both sides, in the final.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
A small floating island was added in the final version.
The lower terrain was changed slightly, adding a small slope on the rightmost ledge.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
More terrain changes, but overall the same concept, the pool's exit both being taller and shifted to the left, along with a few accompanying changes.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
The way the path splits was changed, with the lower one exiting into a spin tunnel, and the upper one reachable via a moving platform, in the final version.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
The upper path adds a secret room to the left, containing a Thunder Shield Monitor.
The spikes on the ledge were removed, and a swinging rope was added for better accessibility.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
The upper path was made more dangerous in the final version, with a Rhinobot and a spike pit added to this area, while the rings were removed.
The waterfall is half of its original width in the final.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
A second dedicated switch room for draining the water, and thus, opening the upper passage was added in the final. In the proto, the upper passage was always open.
To the left, an empty alcove was added above the waterfall, with an added Fire Shield and Bloominator.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
Both a ceiling, and a cluster of rings, were added in this upper path area.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
A small floating islet, a rope and a floating platform were added, making it easier to reach the ledge on the left.
The upper portion has an added ceiling in the final version.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
In the final, a ceiling was added, and the cave now continues through and exits on the right.
Unused Chunks
| To do: Unused chunks. For every level there are unused chunks that take part of an earlier level design.) |
unused sections
There's also a Trunk that will appear at the very left of the intro on top, though it is used for testing. There are probably words that spell out "TROP" and the other bits was cut out, and would probably spell out tropical.
Unfinished Cutscene
In addition to the surfboard cutscene, an early version of the final intro does exist in the prototype ROM, as shown in the embedded video. It can be enabled using the PAR codes 003CC6:0003 and 003CC8:5AD2. There are a few differences:
- Some of the graphics are glitched.
- The Tornado doesn't bob up and down while flying.
- The final Knuckles object is present in addition to the prototype one. However, he doesn't jump up to uppercut Sonic (although it makes Sonic lose his super form), which softlocks the game because it leaves the player unable to move.
