Clock Ork Zone after all?

It was easier to rename the level rather than make a W? That's my 2 cents anyway. They had to SCRAP the name. But knew that Eggman was the BRAINs behind that super city. Voila.

 

Didn't a level select picture outright say "CLOCK WORK"?

 

Yes
Image:S1StageSelect.jpg

 

Interesting find, but lets not turn this into another conspiracy theory. The obvious observation usually ends up being the right one.

 

I definitely think that the level was supposed to be called Clock Work Zone, as there is definitely a space to accomidate the W in "Work", and that W is missing in the final Character set.

Also an Ork is also a term in folklore as a demon that lives in. mountains, Almen, rock holes or valleys, which describes Hill Top Zone better than it fits Scrap Brain Zone.

 

Case closed?

 

I guess yes, it was a lot easier to rename the zone rather than having to rewrite stuff just to get that extra space =P

 

I doubt the missing letter was the sole reason for the level being renamed. Remember, "Sparkling Zone" fit in just fine, but it was renamed as well. Not only that, but it's pretty easy to add a W to the character set without shifting anything around—Esrael did it in Sonic 2 Delta, and we did something like that in Megamix. It's very trivial.

No, I think the level renaming was an aesthetic choice in general. They may have been in the process of doing so at this point, though I can't really rationalize to what extent.

 

It's obviously a misspelling of Orc

 

I think they were all originally placeholders. Marble Zone and Labyrinth Zone are two of the dullest names in Sonic history.

My bet is they just didn't get round to coming up with something better. It took them a couple of revisions to get the level select in the right order so I don't things like that were top of their list.

 

Then again, this was back when the standards for zone names weren't stabilished. The same is true with the SMS version (Bridge zone, Jungle zone, Labyrinth zone (repeated)). You also forget Final Zone.

 

One thing I did like about the name "Final Zone" you knew for a fact that this was the last level of the game! Same goes for Doomsday Zone....excuse me "The Doomsday Zone". There ain't nothin after that! I guess the only thing comparable in the newer games is the reuse of "Last" stories. Where'd the creativity go?

 

One question for you all though. Not only did the stage go through a naming change, but an aesthetic one as well. Which do you think happened first, the name change, or the graphics change? I think that it was graphics first, and then, seeing the more industrial and less technological background, it seemed more like a scrap yard of some kind instead of a "Clock Work Zone". If my question is irrelevant, then sorry, I just want to contribute my idea.

 

Depending. Most likely the name was changed later. I'd bet that the background was changed first because it was extremely hard to distinguish it from the foreground. However, can somebody check the palettes? Because even the final background looks like a recolor of the foreground somehow. Maybe it was just that the palettes weren't finished and they were using a placeholder?