March | 2014 | JD's Computer Room!

Sonic The Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive was a critical and financial success, so a sequel was pretty much mandatory. And sure enough, a sequel was on the way. But the two teams, one led by Yuji Naka and the other led by Naoto Ohshima could not agree on what they wanted the game to be like. Ohshima’s team wanted time travel to be involved, while Naka’s team disagreed. Eventually the two teams split up with Naka’s team going to America to make Sonic 2, while Ohshima’s team stayed in Japan to create Sonic CD.

Scrapped Levels

Sonic 2’s beta phase saw the scrapping of many levels that can be found in the prototypes leaked onto the internet. Some of them only have concept names. First there’s Dust Hill Zone, a desert level that we know so little about because we only have one screenshot. Then there’s Winter Zone, which would have been a palette swap of Dust Hill Zone, very similar to how Hill Top Zone is a palette swap of Emerald Hill Zone. Then there’s Rock Zone which we know nothing about other than it’s name. Next up is Wood Zone, a level believed to have been conceptualized when time travel was supposed to be in Sonic 2 and if so would have been a past version of Metropolis Zone. This level is actually playable in the prototypes, but is unfinished. After that there’s Hidden Palace Zone another one in a playable form, one of the first levels worked on, and the most complete. It even has it’s own music track (although in the prototypes it appears in it uses Mystic Cave Zone 2P’s music). This one is by far the most famous, and it even got put back in in the 2013 remake of Sonic 2. Next there’s Genocide City Zone (changed to Cyber City Zone after the team realized what the word meant) and was a one act Zone that came after Metropolis Zone. This one has no playable incarnation, however it’s graphics were re-used in The Machine in Sonic Spinball, and it’s level design was used for a third act of Metropolis Zone. Death Egg Zone was originally going to be two full acts, but was shortened down to one very small act. It’s worth noting that Aquatic Ruin Zone was originally called Neo Green Hill Zone.