I've tried applying different palettes from the beta ROM and I think the one that fits it better is the third underwater palette from Neo Green Hill. And now, here's my theory on this subject: We know that the orbinauts weren't used in the early Hill Top seesaws, and we don't know how did they look back then (I made their graphics based on the eyes that can be seen inside the bubbles, don't look for them inside the ROM). I think their design was a little different, like happens with the Crawltons, and they had slightly different eyes back then. They were probably supposed to be an underwater enemy, just like in Labyrinth Zone. The graphics for the enemy itself may have been stored separately so they could be used in another stage with no water, which is exactly what they did later, after altering their graphics, in Hill Top.
That looks very good ICEknight. I like those orbinouts, and I would like to know their real name. In the Japanese manual (Gerbil had it somewhere), in the enemies section, there is a name but in Japanese. Maybe its name is orbinout.
Looks like we've been working on the same thing XD (I animated the one in the sprites section.) :shock: Good thinking... It'd explain why it doesn't look like a robot and why it has two eyes in only one of the frames...
Did any of you ever play any Final Fantasy games? Remember the enemies called Bombs that would gradually get bigger and then BOOM! Well, maybe Robotnik used them in that sense. Perhaps in the Sky Chase Zone or Wing Fortress Zone?
Can you check the names of the "red blue" one and the "yellow green" one in Sonic 1? And those in ICZ and LBZ (Sonic 3)?