Yeah, I'm one of those clueless guys who didn't know about it either. But mainly because I haven't played Sonic the Hedgehog 2 that much.
Well fuck me.... I always jumped. Seeing tails jump off in the demo always kept me away from that area unless seeing someone else land down there by accident. Creative detail. We'll never get it back.
I found this when I was a kid by staying on that second swinging platform while I looked at the Sonic 1 and 2 guide. I would frequently look down at the guide as I learned the level layouts and just have sonic stand still with the game unpaused. Looked down at the guide, then when I looked back up, I was floating on the water. Pretty neat stuff.
