My thought about Hidden Palace Zone

You know, I love seeing the community brainstorming ideas like this, makes me feel good =P
It's things like this topic, that would be an excellent base for a hack. This post is getting a little off topic, but a lot of people when starting a hack, decline ideas from the community, but if we could get the intellectual input of hundreds of classic sonic fans, who know what they want, imagine what we could acheive!
This topic just makes me feel like the kid I was when I first plugged in Sonic 1, quite happy =P
And I apologise for getting so off topic =P

 

I guess that entry deserves a "Citation needed", then...

 

Citation provided, then!

 

Someone needs to tell the creator of that Sonic Delta hack about this interview. That would be alot more interesting to see than Act 2 of hidden palace zone.

 

Hi. I smell a VERY cool hack idea here and I thought that perhaps I could suggest something. Theories apart, you or whoever's going to do it, could make it go like this :P
Sonic goes to HPZ through the lamppost after getting the last emerald (which I think would solve your trouble of "what if Sonic SHOULDN'T go in) else the restart post would just blink and nothing would happen.
So he enters running from the left, passes through a small part of HPZ up to the uppermost part of the layout and goes DOWN the slope where the so called lift was supposed to appear.
Note: instead of 240º, the angle of the slope shall be 300º
Mean
\
\
\
instead of
/
/
/
Then he slows down, camera shows the TRUE master emerald (to be ported from S3K, that's the funny part) he jumps onto it, the 7 emeralds fly around him and BINGO

View attachment 2230

Once Super, Sonic runs off and there the level ends.
Hope someday somebody makes this roll! :D

 

My guess is that he already knows, as he visits here from time to time, and the interview was a fair amount of time back.

Well, it sounds a bit off from everything else that's going into this topic, and no-ones making a hack to these specifications, my post was about the possibilities of what the community could do, not about a hack that's made from this topic =P

 

It should have been a level that would only be accessible if you have collected all of the emeralds. When I saw the magazine shots, that was my thought at first.

 

I think you should just automatically be transported to Hidden Palace right after you collect the seventh emerald (as opposed to placing it between <stage> and <stage> after you collect them all), then it's back to wherever you left off. That's the way it was meant to be, anyway. :P But imo, maybe it would probably be better to turn it into a true stage and save Super Sonic for until after you defeat the boss. With the concept of just having a "filler" stage, I can see why it was scrapped immediately. It is a pretty neat hack idea, and it would be a great way to introduce the stage in Sonic 2 HD.

 

I have a question about one of the theories: If Hidden Palace Zone does come after Winged Fortress and that's where sonic gets the power of super sonic and flies to death egg, death egg has no rings, so wouldn't he be unplayable there (unless he is super sonic when he gets there)?

 

It would be sweeet if all of the rings from Wing Fortress Zone that is left over is carried onto Death Egg Zone.. the more rings you get, the more you'll have left after playing Super Sonic and you can smash Silver Sonic and the final boss. But as far as Hidden Palace Zone goes, it would have been a great secret level accessible if all emeralds were collected. (an added bonus)

 

Hmm, I don't think Hidden Palace fits anywhere. However, I just had a crazy idea. What if Hidden Palace, Wood, Genocide City, and Dust Hill Zones were meant to be 2-Player levels?

 

That doesn't really make sense. If they were meant to be two-player levels, then they would have made them two-player levels—they knew exactly how, obviously, and they would have done so if that was their intention.

I don't like how some people will just come up with a random idea out of nowhere and act like it's the most plausible theory ever. If you think it's that good of an idea, elaborate upon it, and bring supporting evidence to the table. That's how your ideas get attention.

 

The only part where I think Hidden Palace would fit, is by touching a hypothetical 8th star circle from the starposts.

 

That's actually a very good idea/theory.

 

Uh... I don't get it.

Also, can you avoid making posts like that? It's rather annoying...

 

People are making theories on why HPZ exists, and they seem pretty unrealistic to me.
Yuji Naka said HPZ was originally where you transform into Super Sonic after getting all the emeralds. He also said that idea was canned, and if I recall correctly, he also said somewhere that HPZ was just going to be a normal zone.

Also, I recall posting that paragraph from the interview at least once in this topic.

 

I sort of meant the "zoom in on the obvious" sort of thing, but whatever. You just didn't make your point clear, so sorry about that...

That is rather interesting, though—Naka said that Hidden Palace had a purpose, but then you have other interviews conflicting with that, saying HPZ was a normal zone. Whose word do we take over the other? It's very possible Naka could have been giving more purpose to the zone for the sake of the interview, but on the other hand, Craig Stitt and others simply may have not remembered any special purpose the zone had. After all, as a zone artist, he wasn't heavily involved in the concepts of the game's development—he just drew art.

 

Sorry if this has been posted or you've moved on from the brainstorming (I got to page 4 before I had 5 minutes left of my break during which to post).

The 'Emerald' Problem

From my point of view, the way the level wraps around vertically and the steepness of that slope, could it be possible that they were working on water falling down the slope after some trigger event and a platform of some description would be lifted up the ramp by the rising water. The tube under the emerald would then be used as an alternate route incase you mistimed the floating platform. To me they definitely look like alternate routes further into the level and the water,wrapping and non vertical rising platform were the reasons this level never got any further in development.