Sounds like ICEKnight has , or has been shown, a pre-release manual. I know manuals aren't usually completed until towards the end, but sonic1 manual had a beta screenshot, so I wouldnt be suprised if there was an earlier version of the manual. The text being similar to the text in the japanese manual is what I'm basing this on. Now, if he DOES have a beta manual, it might a) Have picture of zones we havent seen before (previous zones not in our beta, or pics of genocide /early death egg) b) Link names to zones (in a manual, dust hill shouldnt be placed with the cave zone IF it wasn't intended for it) c)Proof that ICEKnight is/was right :P That said, could just be from a magazine etc.
Beyond the "ICEknight was right all the time" thing, let's keep the focus on the great thing that's about to be revealed. Everyone's sick of the Desert Level thread and this will put, not an end, but a solid starting point in all of this.
Yes, that's the only way I'll accept MCZ was almost definitely meant to be Dust Hill, if there's a picture of it. Even then it's odd, and could have been written over an even earlier Zone.
*guessing* Oh, the pre-release (under heavily work) Japanese manual. That's it! All those images were taken from the development test drawings like the ones in Sonic 1 Japanese manual, and Sonic 2 final Japanese manual. *guessing* The problem is ICEknight doesn't know Japanese, so that's why it takes time to update his site. He will be first to know all the names.
Please no more buzzbomber clicking -_- (After getting a link) Nice stuff you found though :P It leads me to believe it's far before Brenda started the art though; the Desert Zone has a past and present, one being Desert Zone, and one being Rock zone. Which leads me to believe it's a different stage than "dust Hill" altogether. What IS important, however, is the confirmation of Time Travel in S2.
Couldn't resist. :P About the 'Dust Hill' debacle - the confirmation of 'rock' and 'desert' zones proves nothing. Until Rika finds the Nick Arcade prototype (and God, I hope she does), we still don't know if it refers to the desert zone we now know exists in concept, or is simply another reference to MCZ. Or some other lost level, in which case the whole argument/flamewar starts over.
In all fairness, this proves that it had the name Desert Zone very early in the production. Frankly I wouldn't have changed it to Dust Hill later on. I'm not saying it was a name for MCZ, because that makes the same amount of sense (ie. very little). It could have been left from a totally different level.
How great would it be if Rika's hack had time travel in it? Not saying it will, but reading about it makes me curious about this rock zone and other past zones. Looks the past wasn't going to share the same name with the present. Maybe the old design of said starpost could have really been for the time post. But I'm just rambling on now...
Well, it proves that "Desert Zone" was once the name of the desert, which coincidentially was also the way Brenda Ross always called it...
True. But if I were a designer, I would have a pet name for a level, as the level names weren't finalised until the level was almost complete.
Thing is, outside fan speculation, right now nothing suggests the name was ever changed, since the very first title is the same that was used by the artist that finished the graphics. Then, soon after the graphics were made, the level was scrapped altogether.
You didn't trust her one minute. You can't be that selective. Also, the fact that it's also called "Stone Zone" in it's "Past" form figures GREATLY against this argument. It's unlikely either name was used as more than a point of reference - of course Desert Zone would be shorthand for a desert stage before it was named.
Why do you always keep saying things that aren't true about the other people? I trusted her, that's why I had added that "Desert Zone" bit into the introduction to the interview at my site. I was just able to tell the difference between what she really could remember and what she thought could be. Now other official source calls it "Desert Zone", just put two and two together, guys.
Iceknight, now you're being a bit annoying. The official source also calls the past of it Stone Zone - OF WHICH WE HEARD NO MENTION FROM BRENDA. An official source calls the level a DESERT zone becaus it looks like a desert. Duh. Doesn't mean it was the final name. I doubt Green Hill was ever really intended to be the final name, or "Neo Green Hill" for that matter. Also, if you payed attention - she said she called it desert zone *herself*, not she was told to. It makes sense that when it was changed to a Sand/Snow level, it would have been renamed, if there's any relation. To, perhaps, Dust Hill. Honestly, there were probably a dozen more names and level concepts for Sonic 2 that never flew. Do you know anything about game design? Most of the info is great, but you're flaunting the part that really holds very little weight whatsoever.
Another observation on my part, though I am most likely wrong. The pictures are most likely authentic, the katakana and kanji just look as if any Western person who took enough time to learn kanji could do it, but then they would also have to emulate the artist's handwriting. If the pictures are not authentic (they most likely are), then IceKnight was smart enough to take an educated guess at the enemies and the relations to one another (Bubbler, Mother Bubbler, the "fire log", etc.). I still have to say "well done" for either one of these scenarios. As for the "Chemical Factory Zone", most likely political correctness got into it and they renamed it "Chemical Plant Zone" as far as the name zone, though as already pointed out, the original level was going to be must bigger than the CPZ we all know and love (or loathe if you can't get through the zone in one life). From The Complete Newspeak Dictionary website (Politically Incorrect section): "Factory - Replaced by Plant. The word Factory is a place where mistreated laborers toil long hours to produce pollution that billows forth from gigantic smokestacks. The word Plant is preferred since it is more difficult for this term to carry a negative connotation since this term is also used to describe nature. Its counterpart noun describes plant life (Plants, as in flowers, shrubs, etc). And the Verb form, to plant, is the process of lovingly placing a seed in the ground so it may one day grow into a mighty oak. Who can complain about having a new plant in their backyard?" On a side note and a bit off topic, about the music selected for HPZ in the final of Sonic 2, it sounds more gloomy than the music in Sonic 2 Beta.
...Of course these scans are authentic. About the desert title, everybody is entitled to its own oppinion. Believe what you want, as long as you don't spread false information.
What I believe about the desert zone now, seeing these scans, is that if time travel was planned, the Rock Zone would be the winter part of the level. Rock Zone under the past should be a mountain, with snow and Christmas trees, and obviously huge stones. Desert Zone under the present should be a sand desert containing also small stones (like under the mockup), the past mountain disappeared because of erosion, the stone became sand. In this way, "Dust Hill" fit wonderfully fine, the mountain disappeared into dust, carried by the water and the ice melting, becoming a hill and then dunes or hills of sand. This is just an opinion, but I think this is good to share what you think about the desert level, just like reading and watching several different news help to make yourself an opinion about what's happening under the world.
