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.

To do: Compare level/object layouts to the CENSOR build. If a level warrants its own subpage, link it from the main page. Sky Fortress has a feature where Eggman's ship can start flying to the right, but it's either disabled or extremely rare.

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 is not yet implemented, and the level transition interrupts the "Act clear" music before it can finish, much like previous builds.
• Animal Capsules have been implemented, but aren't placed yet. 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)

• The partially embedded spring in Act 1 has been fixed.
• The boss now has a proper startup like final, but there are no sound effects.
• Eggman doesn't react when hit.

Chemical Plant Zone

• This is the first build to feature the Spiny badnik outside of Debug Mode, though it still uses palette line 1 instead of palette line 0.
• An early version of the underwater section under the first moving platforms section exist in Act 2, but there's no spikes yet.
• The boss fight's moving platforms are missing.
• The title card is glitched due to the art for bubbles overwriting part of it.

Act 1

September 14th prototype
Censor prototype

Act 2

September 14th prototype
Censor prototype

Neo Green Hill Zone (Aquatic Ruin)

• Similar to Chemical Plant, 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.
• The water palette still uses the Simon Wai palette, causing some badniks to look off.
• Object and ring placement is much closer to the final version.
• By this point, the animated waterfall splash tiles have become glitched.
• Part of the boss' flames still use the Sonic palette, making it look extremely odd while being Super Sonic.

Act 1

September 14th prototype
Censor prototype

Act 2

September 14th prototype
Censor prototype

Casino Night Zone

Has reached its final design at this point.

• Most sound effects have already been implemented.
• There are far more rings when compared to later prototypes.
• Object placement, such as flippers and moving blocks, are different from later builds.
• While not present in the stage itself, the Crawl badnik is present in the object list and uses an updated version of its early design. However, the badnik itself is impossible to destroy even as Super Sonic.
• The horizontal flipper has no sound effects.

Act 1

September 14th prototype
Censor prototype

Act 2

September 14th prototype
Censor prototype

• The boss just instantly appears when entering the arena, instead of coming from the blocked passage on the right.
• There are no sound effects, even for the hit sound. This is odd, considering the previous prototype had one.
• The boss dies in just two hits, likely for testing purposes.
• The boss' cyan electricity never loads and instead displays maroon.
• The boss' invincibility frames are way longer in duration compared to later builds.
• When the boss' bomb is dropped, it explodes instantly instead of having a proper timer.
• The slot machines are clearly unfinished; the sound effects have not yet been added, and all of the slot icons are predetermined meaning it'll always end up on the same three icons.

• Not to mention, any other pinball machine triggers it regardless; it also functions on the same timer.

Hill Top Zone

• This is the first known build where entering tunnels will cause Sonic to automatically spin.
• The boss arena has been changed to the final layout, though the boss still descends a lot further which matches the layout seen in the August 21st build.

Dust Hill Zone (Mystic Cave)

This suggests that either "Dust Hill" really was an early name for Mystic Cave or the developers did not bother with updating level names at all until CENSOR prototype.

• Like the previous build, the cycling light palette doesn't stop at the boss fight, which causes it to look slightly off.
• Object and ring placements are nearly the same as August 21st, indicating that not much attention was put into this zone at this point.
• This is the first known build to have the boss properly behave like the final version.
• While Flasher behaves like final, the Crawlton badniks still use the second palette line making them look slightly off.
• By this point, the Act 2 deleted upper route remnants have been removed, except for the rings.

Oil Ocean Zone

• Still plays the Casino Night 2-Player theme, just like the Simon Wai and August 21st prototypes.
• All chunk art and object placements from the August 21st prototype have been replaced.
• Both acts present weird ring placement, indicating leftovers from earlier layouts.
• The background is completely static besides the oil flows in the background.
• The oil flows are slightly slower.
• Sliding on oil plays the electricity sound effect instead of the correct one.
• The boss' laser uses Sonic's palette, which was changed to a unique one in Beta 5 due to Super Sonic related issues.
• The boss' tentacle moves slower.
• After the boss is defeated, the camera scrolls much farther than any other boss.

Metropolis Zone

• This zone has now reached the final design at this point.
• 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. Interestingly, this is a leftover from the August 21st build.
• This is the final build to feature the moving brown platforms. However, they can only be found in Debug Mode.
• Badnik placements are much harder than in later builds.

Sky Chase Zone

• Uses the Wing Fortress theme.
• Again, no sound effects.
• The foreground clouds overlap the score, points, animals and badniks, but not Sonic himself.
• Spinning propellers are able to hurt Sonic here, which wasn't fixed until Beta 7.
• Unlike the final, the platforms for Wing Fortress don't overlap Sonic.

September 14th Prototype	CENSOR

• A big ring triangle was removed, as it moves when the layout shifts upwards to show the Fortress flying up.

September 14th Prototype	CENSOR

• All of these rings would be moved (The 2nd highest Nebula is in front of a ring).
• 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)

• Speed launchers are incomplete, and completely disappear after the first use.
• Spinning propellers make no sound.
• The propellers near the start are timed, and there's no collision object to fill in the gap at the bottom.
• This stage is missing many of the palette changer objects, causing some conveyor platform sections to look rather odd.
• The iron hanging bars cannot be grabbed yet, even though the actual object is present in the debug list. Either way, moving platforms are there to fill in.
• The Clucker badniks are absent, even though the stage is set up for them, and they are present in the debug list having a slower behavior.

Full Maps

September 14th prototype
Censor Prototype

• The beginning cutscene is extremely incomplete: only one laser appears, and there are no sound effects.
• You can stay on Tails' plane while he's falling, and instead of sliding off, you can vertical warp through the whole level as long as you stay on the plane.

• If you move at any point, you'll die for some reason.

• Part of the background doesn't scroll, which wasn't fixed until the final release.
• There's no screen lock after you press the button in the area before the boss, allowing you to go left and die.
• Funnily, instead of a boss fight there are two turrets, implying that the boss was not placed 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. As a result, it is impossible to beat the stage.
• You can intentionally hurt yourself in the midst of a spinning propeller and pass through unharmed. This makes it possible to skip a whole section of the level during the right circumstances.
• The collision object near the boss is not tall enough to block Sonic, meaning that you can take damage from the spinning propeller and jump over it completely.
• In the unusable conveyor section, there are strange misplaced rings shaping up to be a slope.

Death Egg Zone

• Uses the Wing Fortress theme.
• A part of the title card is replaced with animated tiles; which would be fixed in Beta 4 by loading the animated tile art after the title card has left.
• There are no sound effects whatsoever.
• Entering Mecha Sonic's arena quickly during the title card by spindashing causes the animated tiles to glitch out for a split second.
• The doors aren't broken here, but are in the slightly later CENSOR build.
• The screen locks are implemented, but not fully solid yet. This allows you to pass through it and as a consequence avoiding Mecha Sonic or the Death Egg Robot.
• Mecha Sonic descends to the ground much slower than the final 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 spinning spike attack doesn't seem to be implemented yet.
• The Death Egg Robot is in a preliminary state: it starts in the middle of the room, moves much faster than in the final, freezes completely after taking a few steps midair, and doesn't have a hitbox at all. It's impossible to beat the game because of this.

Full Maps

September 14th prototype
Censor Prototype

Hidden Palace Zone

To do: Get a proper screenshot without the PLC.

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. 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 all art data 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 art and layout data is gone, object art, placement, badniks and collision data are all still intact.
• This level still has an entry title card.
• New background scrolling data is present.
• The Autospin object has been added for the tube at the beginning.
• Still uses the Mystic Cave 2-Player theme, even though the track that plays in the final is present.

Wood Zone

Most data has been removed at this point, though the palette and new background scrolling data 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 Emerald Hill Act 1. Collision is very broken, unlike the final.
• Still plays the Metropolis Zone theme.
• For some reason, this zone pulls art and mappings from Metropolis Zone.

Zone IDs 01 and 03

To access these two empty levels, use Pro Action Replay code FFFE10:0100 for Zone ID 01 or FFFE10:0300 for Zone ID 03, then start any level.

• The level layout is now the same as Emerald Hill Act 1. Collision is slightly broken, like the final.
• Zone ID 01 plays the Emerald Hill theme.
• Zone ID 03 plays the final Oil Ocean theme.

Zone ID 09

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

This level is the same as the Wood, Zone ID 01, and Zone ID 03 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 in orange instead of blue.
• The ring counter says "RING" instead of "RINGS" and 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 as either Sonic or Tails causes the game to crash.

(Source: Hidden Palace)