[RAMPKORV]

If I recall correctly, at first there was to be a Sonic 2 CD that was to be released later - but later turned into Sonic CD. Could they have planned to make that game like Sonic 2, but with time travelling?
As it turned out, Sonic CD and Sonic 3K are both recycled versions of Sonic 2, as I see it.

[Tweaker]

Sonic 3 & Knuckles definitely wasn't recycled, it was a sequel that used the Hidden Palace concept. That hardly makes the whole game "recycled."

Sonic CD, however, I agree with—it was an alternate interpretation of ideas that didn't see the light of day when it came to the final Sonic 2.

As for Sonic 2 CD, I'm betting it was initially meant to exist as an "upgraded" version of Sonic 2, but once time travel was axed, the project split off into Sonic 2 and Sonic CD—with Sonic CD taking the place as Sonic's debut game on the Sega CD.

[Spexfox]

...I'm seeing parallels to Zelda game development and beta research here. There too was a point where:

a) Features planned for Zelda 64 were canned because they didn't have enough time or power to do what they wanted. Or they just didn't fit in after a while. They later implemented these features with future titles (Twilight Princess).

b) There was a disk "upgrade" for Zelda 64. However, as oppose to Sonic 2 CD it WAS made. But it was for the 64 Disk Drive, which never made it out of Japan, nore did the upgraded Zelda 64 until they brought it to the Gamecube as a special pre-order prize for Zelda Wind Waker.

Yes, I know this is a Sonic forum but I thought I'd point it out solely for the sake of interest. But if anything, it supports the idea that developers wanted to make games that you could easily expand. After all it's cheaper to upgrade or add content to a game and make money selling it compared to making a new game all together.

Another thing I'd like to point out is if the Sonic CD dev team did indeed get some input from the Sonic 2 team, does it support the argument that R2 is a cut desert level?

[RattleMan]

Quote

While developing, we went snowboarding a lot at a nearby resort. People kept getting injured though… (laugh) Originally, this stage was planned to begin after zone 8 (Flying Battery Zone). Sonic was going to break down the door from the airship and make a snowboard out of it on the way down. The other characters can fly, so they wouldn't appear in that event.

Explains why Flying Battery is 09 and 0A in the Sound Test and Ice Cap is right after it (0B and 0C), and Flying Battery is before Ice Cap in the Level Select

This post has been edited by RattleMan: 23 May 2008 - 01:54 PM

[Irixion]

Yeah, when I first went into Sandipolis and sonic went into the sand I thought they died :P It's make more sense, yet again, sega chose to release a half game...and then make another one to finish it. It's sort of a good idea, have a cliffhanger, but the levels didn't really go alone with eachother in s3k, they should have atleast redone it to be the way they intended it.

[Moogle!]

I was under the impression that it was said or written somewhere that the reason the Desert zone was scrapped was becasue Naka thought it wouldn't appeal to Japanese audiances.

[Spexfox]

Moogle!, on May 23 2008, 03:53 PM, said:

I was under the impression that it was said or written somewhere that the reason the Desert zone was scrapped was becasue Naka thought it wouldn't appeal to Japanese audiances.

I can't say I've ever heard that before. Where ever you read it, it probably wasn't very creditable. Unless maybe it was in a gaming magazine or something.

[Moogle!]

It came from one of these sites, quite possibly this one. But this was a long while back, and could have been speculation.

[Ambil]

This is the second post I promised, but will not have useful contents. Because I fail at viewing...

Quote

Early GHZ proven, FBZ+ICZ

in the IRC log. So now tell me where this is proven, kthx.

[Qjimbo]

I am loving every aspect of this thread.

The information, the discussion and he enthusiasm. Great to see threads like this still happen

Facinating stuff too!

[ICEknight]

Moogle!, on May 23 2008, 02:53 PM, said:

I was under the impression that it was said or written somewhere that the reason the Desert zone was scrapped was becasue Naka thought it wouldn't appeal to Japanese audiances.

I believe that was spread around with many other rumors back when the sites assumed things as facts. We need to eradicate that kind of stuff to avoid any further confusion...

[Overlord]

A lot of what Iceknight is saying is true - most of this we've known for years. The new thing is just it being pieced together for the first time in a random rush of IRC-based inspiration. =P

Tweaker, on May 23 2008, 07:16 PM, said:

Sonic 3 & Knuckles definitely wasn't recycled, it was a sequel that used the Hidden Palace concept. That hardly makes the whole game "recycled."

S3K, no. S&K, yes. Mushroom Hill is Wood, FB was ripped from Sonic 3, Sandopolis is the Desert Zone, Lava Reef & Hidden Palace are HPZ recycles, Sky Sanctuary is further based on this, Death Egg is a fleshed out version of the final S2 zone and/or Cyber City; and Doomsday... well, I guess this is the one original piece unless by the original S2 plan the final boss fight was meant to require Super Sonic.


Funny how we've been "playing" GCZ for years in the form of Metropolis 3, though. =P

[Cooljerk]

Nemesis, on May 23 2008, 03:51 AM, said:

I don't know how many of you know, but do you realise that if you play S2 through to the end, then start a new game, you keep your emeralds? IE, if you've got all the emeralds on one playthrough, you can start a new game after the credits roll, and as soon as you grab 50 rings in your new game you're SuperSonic again. I always figured this was unintentional; just a memory address they forgot to clear when starting a new game. Maybe in reality it was intentional though, like an easter egg. If you couldn't turn into SuperSonic until after HPZ, which obviously has to be a fair way into the game, that would mean you couldn't play the first levels as SuperSonic. Unless of course, you knew about this easter egg. If you get all the emeralds and unlock SuperSonic, then finish the game and start a new one, you get to keep your emeralds and your "enable SuperSonic" flag, allowing you to play through those first levels as SuperSonic too. It's not nearly as significant when you can get SuperSonic in EHZ act 2, but if you couldn't normally get SuperSonic until the end of the game, it's a lot more interesting, and the kind of thing I could imagine being deliberately added.

I noticed this as well. Before I had found all the star posts in EHZ, I would hit the reset button on my genesis to nab the final emerald.

I too thought it was a glitch.

This would have been sort of like Super Mario Bros. new game + mode, huh?

[Ambil]

Nemesis, on May 23 2008, 01:51 PM, said:

I don't know how many of you know, but do you realise that if you play S2 through to the end, then start a new game, you keep your emeralds?

This comes from Sonic 1. If you finish the game, you can start again with the emeralds you get, to let you try again and collect the emeralds you couldn't get.

I'm sure this was intentional (look at the "TRY AGAIN" in Sonic 1 ending!), and not a big deal to be retained in Sonic 2.

[Miles McCloud]