Sound Test $10

Well, since I was a kid, I aways wondered what was the sound $10 for.

I then realized it could be a special, secret zone, since when you get all the chaos emeralds in Sonic 2 SMS you gain access to Crystal Egg after Scrambled Egg, I thought that would be the case.

As a kid, I was getting crazy, and would expeculate about this matter with my school's collegees. We codenamed this oh-so-called "secret level" as Hidden Palace (true story), because the song sorta sounded like a palace, and the means on how to access it were hidden. Since Sonic 2 had the "perfect" bonus at the end of the level, I thought it was sorta related, and I would think that, if you get every single ring in every single zone prior to the end of Wing Fortrezz, a big ring would appear somewhere at the end of Wing Fortrezz, and, uppon entering it, you would be teleported to Hidden Palace (for some reason). And now reading ddrmaxromance's theory regarding the melodies, it would kinda make sense.

I remember sending letters to game magazines, journals, even the very TecToy support department (since the Mega Drive was published by TecToy here in Brazil) for an answer. I even telephoned several times for SEGA Hotline, but when I would ask about the song, they would send me to the level section code section, thinking I was just another nerdy kid.

Interestingly (or strangey) enough, I could picture Hidden Palace in my mind in the same exact way it was in the Simon Wai's prototype (even though I've never seem it before up until 1998). When I got Sonic 3, and some time after, when I managed to get the sound test code working, I saw the level select icons were the same of Sonic 2. When I saw the Hidden Palace icon, everything was more than confirmed in my mind. It was like a déjà vu. So, when I saw the prototype (even though I didn't knew it was a prototype, because it was in a cartridge, I simply thought it was another version of Sonic 2) and my friend show me the level select, it was like a déjà vu, again.

 

I thought the auto spin on the tube was something they programmed in later for all the tubes. Thus HPZ was never really touched after the Simon Wai beta.

 

Yeah, this idea is mostly based on conjecture. There's absolutely nothing to suggest that the insertion of those objects in the zones could be automatic in any way, especially given our knowledge of how the game works and the fact that there's no specific flags on auto-spin chunks like there are in Sonic 1. They would have had to be manually placed, meaning the object layout was consciously updated since the Wai prototype.

Besides that, remember—they took the time to given Hidden Palace a title card, a level select icon, and an updated music selection; why wouldn't they also could have just as easily taken the time to edit the object layout to include auto-spin in the level's tubes? It's certainly not far-fetched by any means.

 

Sonic won't spin if there isn't a "force spin" object, so I assume that the level was modified to add those objects.

EDIT: ninja'd

 

This. Most of the hackers recreating the lost levels (Sonic 2 Long version and Sonic 2 Delta.) have forgotten to place these objects in HPZ. Not that its is a big deal or anything. It just bothers me that they forgot to do that.

 

There is the "force spin" object in Sonic 2 Long Version.
Besides that, I agree entirely with the idea/fact that music $10 was meant to be played in HPZ.

 

I'm interested in this :P

 

You all do realise that Hidden Palace was also in the the earlier Nick Arcade prototype as well and between that beta and Simon Wai's, not much work was done on the actual zone.

So, I really don't known where some of you are getting the notion that it was worked on between the two protos. Just thought I'd point that out.

 

According to Naka, HPZ was to be accessed after getting all seven Chaos Emeralds; the Tails thing is an old rumour. And if anything you said about the music styles is even remotely accurate, then Masato Nakamura is a fucking genius. In my personal experience with composing for video games, I just receive a basic idea of what each level looks like individually; the order of the levels is never really important.

 

Not between the two betas but between the Wai beta and the final release.

 

True, most of what we come up with speculation until later proven true or false. I just remember reading it somewhere. lol.

And regardless of HPZ not being accessed, I'm sure Naka had a vision, and the way the soundtrack currently is in its final state [as in Sky Chase ->WF -> Death Egg -> End Sequence -> Credits], it is a proven fact that Masato Nakamura IS a fucking genius. All the songs are similar until once you hit Sky Chase.

To me, it would only make sense that Nakamura pictured Hidden Palace Zone being around the end sequence, because the focus is no longer about rings and speed, but rather on a fixed path [well, WF has a few other paths, but one general one]. I don't think I've ever got Super Sonic in Sky Chase, but I have a few times in Wing Fortress Zone. Why else would Tails's plane get destroyed then come back to normal after defeating Robotnik in Space? lol.

Also notice how Sky Chase, Wing Fortress Zone, and Death Egg levels weren't made until "Beta 4," yet the music was already composed in "Simon Wai Beta." The other levels were present, using the new music, yet the later stages weren't even created yet with art.

 

Tails fixed the plane extremely quickly. Notice how it's normal before getting attacked, and when it returns at the end of WFz there's a rocket under it to make up for the damaged engine.

 

OH YEAH! :dumb moment: But in real life, 3 minutes to fix a plane? :v:

Anyways, kinda sorta off-topic about song 10, but I watching through this video on YouTube of Wing Fortress Zone and I had NO CLUE this part existed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D821ZiigRmY
Click on 3:39. There's an extra life there!?

And of course, the rocket booster is shown at 5:57. I guess I should pay more attention to the game rather than just listening to the music. lol.

 

And there's another one right after the boss ;D

 

Yeah, I knew about that one. lol. It's kinda interesting as I started playing Sonic 2 again all of a sudden, is why Sonic 2 even bothers to give Death Egg Zone its own stage music? I mean, it plays for about 3 seconds, and then cuts right into the standard Dr. Robotnik boss song, and then afterwards, the Final Boss song. Beta 4 demonstrates the level without changing to boss music, but then Sega changed this in the later prototypes. Sonic 1's last level, Final Zone, only plays its final music, rather than playing Scrap Brain Zone and cutting into the final boss tune. Sonic & Knuckles, however, repeats the Sonic 2 tradition by playing 3 seconds of Death Egg Zone, and then cutting into the final boss music.

Yes, I'm throwing smoke at you all, but it seems that Song Test $0A never gets any attention. I don't think I've ever heard the entire song until I visited this site.

 

Because it's painfully horrible. I know you may argue it isn't, but remember it's meant to be the song of the final level, which is in a giant battleship. It doesn't fit the level at all, which is why I'm glad it isn't played for long :P

 

The best part is that while we can expect Tails being able to fix the plane in minutes, I'm surprised that Sonic can do that too when you play as Tails.

 

Well, it's his plane, not Tails', so it shouldn't really be that surprising if Sonic knows how to repair it as well. At least quick things like this one (seriously, this is as cheap as a quick hack to hide a bug in a program).