Hirokazu Yasuhara revealing all kinds of Sonic development stuff

Yes, it is known that the S3 team used S2 concept art in the development process (they would recolor them and paste the name of the S3 zone over the old labels on the S2 art). These are definitely from S2.

 

Or maybe it is Sonic 2, since the style is similar to this sketch of Metropolis:

http://info.sonicretro.org/File:Metropolis_concept.jpg

... but then we have this other version which says "Interior of a blimp" (Flying Battery?)

http://info.sonicretro.org/File:Metropolis_conceptalt.jpg

I'm thinking they repurposed these sketches. Sonic 2 concept art being a basis for Sonic 3 would explain why they both have Hidden Palace and Death Egg zones.

EDIT: Beaten, but

no it isn't known, because it's not on the wiki and that's the source of common knowledge!

 

I'll help you out. Which document?

Yeah, that's a common way for them to say tunnel. Isn't katakana fun? (No, it's not)

 

Madness Mmmsdfdiufaoivnosd Zone.......Sylvania Castle.....is that you???

 

I was about to say this. I had no idea they repurposed sketchs from Sonic 2, I was quite confused at the MZ concept art relabeled as "Interior of a Blimp"... why would they do that?

My lurker knowledge is filled with wiki articles and some loose forum posts. This fact wasn't among them :specialed:/>

 

Ahaha I do technical writing for a knowledge base professionally so I (perhaps selfishly) try to avoid it during off-work hours. I'll see if I can write up an article regarding the concept art this weekend.

Here's something I posted a few years back that we had discussed a bit earlier in this thread (didn't realize it was up to 40 pages already! Sorry!). This is only a guess, but I would assume it was reused due to a combination of factors (convenient availability of art, wealth of unused concepts, etc.).

 

That post escaped from my attention, thanks for bringing it up! I'll read it when I go home from work. So basically this means we can learn more from Sonic 2's development looking at Sonic 3's development!

 

The general color scheme of the concept art makes it feel quite reminiscent of Terminal Velocity in Sonic Colors, too

 

I can't read kanji, but I also don't think anyone can read the one on there, it's tiny.

Yep

 

I guess they wanted to dilute the more surreal aesthetic a bit. It's the hand enemy from the early art there-- and Starlight Zone actually looked fitting for the name!

EDIT: I still wish we could have a game with the same cartoon art style as in the image I reposted above. That would be neat.

 

Perhaps the idea wasn't completley forgotten, Sonic Drift 2 used it.

Also this:

 

Hmm the only that can be considered an island apart of the whole island is the zone where Olympus and Oil Ocean take place. And the only zone that shares the "Blue" part of the name with Blue Ocean is Blue Lake, in the past map, near Olympus. It has some greek ruins in the background too.

Secret Jungle looks a lot like Wood Zone, even it has the hole to go inside the trunk. The branch gimmick to jump was later used in Mushroom Hill Zone.

And the castle looks like a rehash of Marble Zone. Madness? Marbless? Mo-inburg? :specialed:

Edit: The green mountain in the window and the pillar makes it look a bit like Marble Garden.

 

Funny how all of this this has provided almost as much insight into the development of Sonic 3 as it has Sonic 2. S3&K is very much what they wanted to do in the first place with Sonic 2 (minus time travel and plus knuckles, of course).

 

Could Madness Mountain / Marble Madness whatever, be yet another Hill Top? This being the end of the Medieval era variant, with the main Hill Top being the ancient variant we all know.

 

I was thinking more Gimmik Mt from Sonic 2 8 bit, but that's more of a scrap brain sequel.

 

Madness Mountain looks like a good fit for Olympus if you ask me.

 

Half-baked speculation, but I'd be willing to bet that Olympus wasn't a stage proper (A one-act zone or cutscene, perhaps). Yasuhara's description of it as a "hidden shrine" doesn't match up with any of the level concepts to me, aside perhaps from "Emerald Isle", which was clearly an early conceptual rendition of what became Aquatic Ruin. If Olympus has any surviving elements, I'd be willing to bet they lie in the Grecco-Roman architecture of Aquatic Ruin, or the original concept of Hidden Palace (Shrine is synonymically interchangable with 'palace', after all).

 

Not to me, with in game art Aquatic Ruin is the best fit, and with this new concept art, it's Emerald Island and blue ocean (Column ruins in the water).


You don't suppose Blue Ocean was merged with Emerald Island/Neo Green Hill to create Aquatic Ruin, do you?

 

Yep, like what synchronizer said, it's the hand enemy from the Sonic 1 concept art - the first time we've seen him/it outside of that [in]famous picture:

 

Yasuhara's talk! Can someone grab the maps? There's an unseen one!



The Sonic 2 part starts at 5:10