Mushroom Hill Zone, Act 2 Secret Area

You have to use the left handle on the pulley thing that leads to that area IIRC

 

<!--quoteo(post=240776:date=Nov 3 2008, 07:53 PM:name=Xilla)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Xilla @ Nov 3 2008, 07:53 PM)

When Sonic passes through it, the plane switcher makes it possible to go up there, as that corner has a different collision on the two planes: in one plane it's a corner, in the other plane it's a passage.

 

Wow. That is some awesome programming right there.

 

Why would they waste such programming on something so insignificant? Does this happen in any other zone? This IS something I've never known before, however. Good Question!

 

Isn't a similar thing done all the time with loops etc.?

 

It's just a loop checker in a different position, that's all. It's not really special, it's just used in a special way.

Sonic & Knuckles is filled with hidden/alternate routes. Like getting to Sonic's part of Lava Reef act 1 as Knuckles near the start...or diving right down to your death immediately after you reach the long set of platforms at the end of act 2...or the myriad of routes in Flying Battery act 2, one of them using piston objects never seen anywhere else, and several others accessible with this Mushroom Hill loop checker thing (using the platforms mostly).

That sort of stuff...it looks insignificant, but it builds that game, and looks like they used every way of getting the player to run across alternate routes they could think of.

 

It's not "some programming" at all. Plane switchers are used all over the place in both Sonic 2 and 3—they're the objects used to make loops work. Once you pass one, it switches to the level's defined secondary collision index, which contains different solidity data for certain chunks in the game. Using carefully planned out solidity definitions plus plane swappers, you can make certain tiles solid when they weren't before after activating the object. Stuff like this allows you to, in this case, access the path; the tile becomes passable once you hit the object, since the secondary index has no solidity for that chunk.

Anyway, it's nothing specific to that Zone—it's all over the game, and very common at that.

 

Thats not entirely true Tweaker. It is a rare instance of the plane being switched while simultaneously on a gimmick. And honestly, it's the only one I can think of outside of the falling platforms and spring segments in Sky Sanctuary. And thats pushing it really.

I think it's a pretty clever level design concept.

 

I remember accidentally using this a few times. It is a bit strange, probably the devs were experimenting with new ideas so tested this in game, they probably didn't like it so never used it again (I believe) and never bother to remove.


BTW in the death egg zone act 1 there is an area which is completely accessible (or escapable) without debug mode, is this in fact another "hidden area" or something left over?

 

It was probably originally meant to be accessed by some means, but they closed it off after deciding not to have it there, but forgot to remove the actual room. And I think you meant "inaccessible".

 

There's an area in DEZ 1 that's easily accesible with Tails, or Sonic with the lightning shield (though it leads to a bottomless pit that Sonic can't jump high enough to clear).

 

I'm going to see if this is in the beta, just out of interest. Not now, probably tomorrow when my internet isn't fucking up so much.

 

Interesting thread, I never knew you had to use the left pully to get up there, use to seem random to me too.

 

Yon don't *need* to use the left pully to get all the way up, you can switch from one to the other as many times as you want, as long as you are on the left in that specific place.

 

Try to look for secret passages to the sides, or with an electric shield. But it'd make sense it being a Tails-only area - Angel Island 2 has a Tails-only path for instance (to reach it as Sonic, you need to play as Sonic & Tails).

 

Tails only.

 

You can grab it with sonic by using Tails to fly you up there.