Great to see this fully assembled! I wonder which Zone it was intended for. Perhaps an early Marble Zone boss where he'd hop over the lava pit to land on each platform? Here's hoping some code related to this boss exists buried in the ROM somewhere.
Maybe Labyrinth Zone? The boss area is a constant upward climb, which a spring would help traverse across. It's also worth noting that the boss area is already part of the layout even in the early LZ Act 3, and that it's the only stage in the final game that doesn't have it's own special form of the Eggmobile. Maybe they wanted to have him spring up the chasms, then found it too difficult to implement and removed it? All speculation of course, but worth the thought.
I was watching one of the video playthroughs on YouTube and, as it has been mentioned, you get a 1-up at 50 rings, and obviously one at 100 rings. However, it appears you do not get a 1-up at 150 rings. I'll have to double-check that video again just to be sure. Does anyone know if you get a 1-up at 200 in the prototype? I can't check for myself at the moment. If so, that would be sort of interesting. That means 50, then double that for 100, then double that for 200. If not, then it's only at 50 and 100 rings.
Could fit in Marble Zone seeing as Splats is placable in that zone. This is basically a boss version of Splats.
Interesting. I was thinking the other day, that the bosses (mostly) follow the stage’s hazards. GHZ has the wrecking ball which originally appeared throughout the stage, MZ has the fire balls which appear on the platforms in the lava, SLZ has those seesaws that appear throughout. Made me wonder if they were trying to go for a pattern with stage gimmicks and their bosses. (SYZ seems most logical. Since that stage is littered with springs)
I did consider that, but the fact that art for the spike boss attachment already exists, plus the stage design for Sparkling Zone Act 3 already including the giant bottomless pit to facilitate the spike/blocks boss, made me think it was less likely. As Rika Chou said above, Splats being part of Marble Zone's debug list, plus Marble Zone's boss area being specifically laid out despite the lack of boss art for the final game's fireball shooter boss, made me think that Zone may have been the intended home for it. Having said that, I don't see any reason why it couldn't be intended for Star Light either though - is the seesaw gimmick the final game's boss for that Zone is based around even in the stage yet in the proto? I've not had a chance to play for myself yet or even watch the full steam, so apologies if the answer to that should be obvious...!
I'd be slightly careful with that - it wasn't a widespread technique and I can't think of any older Sega games which use it off the top of my head. It could easily be something Naka "discovered" mid-development (much like split-screen for Sonic 2). That being said: Submerging everything below a certain point seems to have been on the cards from an early stage. So I would guess if the technique wasn't known, it was being actively explored.
Okay, you got my attention, I'll post. I remember waking up one Saturday (I think it was Saturday) morning when I was still in high school, I believe my junior year. I went to the computer, fired up the ol 56k modem and started up AOL Instant messenger. To my surprise a friend of mine had messaged me like 20 times about a "SONIC 2 BETA ROM FOUND!!!!" over and over again. I couldn't believe it, I didn't think it was possible for that to even exist at the time. I can still remember the joy and jubilation for experiencing the ROM for the first time and actually PLAYING through Hidden Palace! ... and then my mom told me I had to go clean my room. It took me a while to explain to her what a "beta" was and why it was important. She gave me some more time on the computer but I did eventually have to go clean my room, lol. I dreamed of a Sonic 1 prototype since then, but as the years went on, I figured one would never be found. I remember even telling DRX ages ago that if he found one and needed money, I'd donate as much as I could (ngl, I'm half expecting him to message me soon and ask me for ten grand or something ) I also recall from last year, hearing Hidden Palace had some kind of a big reveal and I thought for SURE it had to be a Sonic 1 prototype finally... and it was Sonic 3 ... honestly I was quite disappointed but, it was still a hell of a find. It just took me a while to appreciate it. I didn't even KNOW about the big reveal this time around, or I would have tried to watch the stream. I was at work when I found out about the Sonic 1 beta and even as I read the article, i still couldn't believe it. I felt like it had to be a hoax or I was dreaming. Yet, here we are. Not only am I amazed that a Sonic 1 beta was found, but it's astonishing how many names I recognize here that have come out of hiding to congratulate everyone, and others who I guess have stuck around for ages (no pun intended) Hi everyone! To everyone who never gave up, to the Sonic community I grew up in, to DRX, Buckaroo and everyone else involved CONGRATULATIONS! Here's to what will hopefully be many more years of discovery and research! anyway One thing I did want to say beyond nostalgic posts and what not, was that I always wanted to know what the "W" icon was for in Sonic 1 final. I believe it was part of the special stage but it had no function. I was really hoping that this prototype would give us some answers to that but instead it gave us a "U" Were they trying to spell something? Maybe the W was the missing W for Clockwork, idk Also does anyone have a video of the special stage ring and the warp effect? If someone posted it I guess I missed it. One last thing: digging some of the theories and ideas so far like the air rooms (loved the mock up) and the Marble Zone boss possibility. I can't wait to see what else is found! Until the next beta, hope y'all stay well and take care of yourselves! EDIT oh yeah one last LAST thing. I made a meme to honor the occasion! https://twitter.com/Quexinos/status/1345372245636558848
Oh, how I've missed you! We were literally talking about you, FUS, and SatAM in Retro's Discord just last night. I love how these things always bring people out of the woodwork!
marble zone having a spring theme seems slightly fitting to me, splats and the old magazine screenshot of the huge red spring all kind of relate at this point. I mean this is really far fetched and I think the fire theme was a better choice in the end for the boss.
This is indicitive of how nobody likes Marble Zone: If you take the right-most route in Act 3 you will get stuck, because you'll pass the screen lock for the signpost. It's one of the rare instances in a game where the level was simplified and shortened to avoid this sort of thing (even though in the final game, the boss is placed further to the right anyway). (I was looking for more cases of the horizontal spike crusher thing - turns out it's only used in act 1. Perhaps its days were already numbered)
The sign post was carelessly placed there to make the level beatable. In normal gameplay, with the boss implemented, there wouldn't be a screen lock. The boss arena is already in the game, further to the right. You can see it in RikaChou's maps.
Small opinion piece about the end-of-act jumping. We knew it would be activated by pressing jump. I am not too surprised at how perfect the attempts to recreate it in beta remakes have been. But, still a little surprised. I can't remember if actual video footage of the air punch in motion had come to light previously. I seem to recall only pics but I could be wrong. In any case, I don't share the opinion it should have been left in the final. It is unique, but I also think it looks kind of goofy. Sonic just running off-screen to the right isn't as spectacular but it seems to keep the momentum going and looks less goofy. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Sonic Mania's automatic victory animation (and Sonic 3's for that matter) supplant both nicely.
Just a small tidbit that I'm not sure if anyone pointed out yet but the end of act jumping pose doesn't activate until the results screen loads. If you jump immediately after hitting the sign post Sonic still jumps in a ball.
You are right, there must have been a few more than the ones I listed earlier. The level select in "our" prototype lets on that an earlier build where Star Light wasn't implemented yet (but otherwise was fairly fleshed out) existed. Magazine scans showing a close to final Marble Zone but without the torches in the background lit would corroborate this. That would imply that at least three mid-development Alphas were sent for previewing, in addition to one Pre-Alpha and one Pre-Beta. That's... a surprising amount of public builds that must have existed at some or other point. In retrospect it's surprising how impossibly hard finding one has been; by all accounts it should have been easier to find than a proto of Sonic 3.
I want to thank DRX and Hidden Palace in general for finding and releasing this build to the public. Ever since I was old enough to read about a version of Sonic 2 with a different title screen, I’ve been fascinated with prototypes, and very few prototypes captured my imagination like a Sonic The Hedgehog prototype. and now it’s here, and I could make my video on it. It’s just been insane.
What I don't understand is why SEGA didn't just include an earlier build of Sonic 1 in Sonic Mega Collection that wasn't the TTS one? It could've been whatever they had that was past TTS, or any other build for that matter. Did SEGA lose everything? With how many prototypes that have been found over the years, it sure feels that way. The worst case scenario is that the TTS prototype was thrown out and ultimately destroyed.
