Sonic 2 Betas

Sonic 2 Timeline - The "(?)" Means that the prototype is unknown...

Sonic 2 Art in the Digitizers (Unplayable mock-ups)
Emerald Hill

Hidden Palace

"Sabaku"


Sonic 2 Pre-Alpha (Sonic 1 Engine With Sonic 2 Art) (?)

Sonic 2 Alpha 1 (Early Prototype)

Sonic 2 Alpha 2 (?)
The "baloons" from Oil Ocean (at this point, Skyscraper) were black...


Another area of the same level in the proto...


Sonic 2 Alpha 3 (Wai's Prototype)

Sonic 2 Beta 1 (?) **

Cassino Night has the final BG with the Alpha tiles, and there's smoke when spindashing.


Sonic 2 Beta 2 (?) **

Title cards implemented (Buggy, Alpha zone names), Sonic 2 Final Sprites


Sonic 2 Beta 3 (?) **

The title screen has the Sonic 2 Final music, Chemical Plant still has slanted corners, the sonic sprites are from final version, and Hidden Palace has auto-spinning tubes...
(Spanish Commercial)

Sonic 2 Beta 4

Sonic 2 Beta 5

Sonic 2 Beta 6

Sonic 2 Beta 7

Sonic 2 Beta 8

Sonic 2 Final

Estimated unknown prototypes: 5

Estimated quantity of prototypes: 12

Zone names variation:
_____________________________________________________________
|___Pre-Alpha______|_____Alpha____|______Beta_____|____Final_____|
|_________________|______________|______________|_____________|
|___Green Hill______|____Green Hill___|__Emerald Hill___|__Emerald Hill_|
|_Chemical Factory__|_Chemical Plant__|_Chemical Plant__|_Chemical Plant|
|____Garden_______|__Neo Green Hill__|__Aquatic Ruin__|_Aquatic Ruin__|
|___Cyber City______|___Metropolis____|___Metropolis__|__Metropolis___|
|____Sabaku_______|_______?_______|______?______|______?_______|
|______?__________|_____Wood_____|______ ?______|______?_______|
|______?__________|__Sky Fortress___|_Wing Fortress_|_Wing Fortress_|
|__Hidden Palace ___|__Hidden Palace__|_Hidden Palace_|____-----*____|
|______?__________|___Sky Chase ___|___Sky Chase__|__Sky Chase__|
|__Skyscraper______|___Oil Ocean_____|___Oil Ocean___|___Oil Ocean__|
|__Genocide City____|______?_________|____?________|______?______|
|______?__________|___Death Egg____|___Death Egg__ |___Death Egg_|
|______?__________|____Hill Top_____|____Hill Top____|____Hill Top___|
|______?__________|____Dust Hill____|___Mystic Cave__|__Mystic Cave_|
|______?__________|__Cassino Night__|_Cassino Night__|_Cassino Night_|

*Still Hidden Palace, but not playable.
** I actually don't know certainly when this modification occured, there's a high probability that this modification ocurred at this point, remember, it's only a high probability, not a 100% chance...

 

People. The prototypes we had before these are not betas. They are alphas.

I know for a fact that the scheme SOA used was something like that:

- pre-alpha (only used in certain games)
- alpha (all the development up to beta)
- beta (all major game modes and features are closed; game is now being heavily tested for bugs by SOA's Q&A)
- final

 

This reminds me... did anyone actually managed to contact the magazine or get an answer on it? I know the video has been around for years, but I don't remember well if someone actually tried.

 

I'd like to play that beta version. I wonder if it's BETA 3?

 

I tried. They don't have it.

 

You know, that's exactly what I was thinking.

I hope S.Snake reads this, and adds support to this official extension as well as the split ROMs, whenever the next Fusion is coming.



By the way, I'm getting the feeling that the versions started being called "betas" when Sonic & Tails' objects were (theorically) completely finished.

 

I wouldn't get so excited about .SGD, it wasn't used that often. Most unchunked and unweirdified ROMs used simply .BIN

 

if *.sgd and *.bin are the same thing there's really no reason to add another extension for a file type that's the same thing with a different extension. It's simply repetitive and a waste of time.

 

Yeah... I mean, we already have .gen, and you can simply assign that to open with Fusion on double click if you're really concerned. No need to go through all the trouble to "officially" recognize it.

 

It's interesting to know that was an official file extension contemporary with the system, though. Monster World Complete Collection uses .SGD for some of its MD ROMs (one of them is just .MD), and I hadn't been certain if it was just a format they created for that compilation.