New Sonic 2 Concept Art Uncovered

Appreciate all the KC content. I'd argue his memory is pretty hazy and it seems like the majority of this content is actually for KC, not Sonic. I'll go through some KC level designs and see what matches...

 

You can remind him that he's already released a ton of kc concepts where the Kid was riding different mounts and things, hehe.

Album of a flying stingray, unicycle, bike, turbo unicycle, some other creature

More on Iceknight's website here

Also, if there are mixed Sonic and KC concepts on these pages, does that mean the emerald(s) on the pages on retrolel might actually be HPZ concepts?

 

Don't take it so defensively at the end, I'm moreso curious and of course happy he's willing to share not just his art but his memory on them also.

I am an artist too and I don't remember shit from 10+ years ago, let alone 20 so there's that. Can't imagine how many concepts he's drawn in that time.

It's a GREAT note to learn that the little marks and years written underneath these pictures were added years after.

 

Awesome stuff!

So that's the big clown head he was talking about. Did he not work in the unreleased Jester? Maybe there's concepts of that in here too.

For any following interviews, I'd try to avoid luring the interviewees into a possible answer. That's a dangerous thing to do when dealing with distant memories, we're lucky he seems genuinely interested and didn't reply "yeah, that thing you said".

Kid Chameleon had four bosses total, if I remember correctly.

 

Another prototype. Nice.

 

That first image, the circus sketch, gave me massive Sonic the Hedgehog 3 multiplayer stage vibes - but I know that's just a coincidence, and a convergence of generic design tropes for circuses.

Super surreal seeing this stuff. Tell him how much we appreciate this! It's sketches like this that break down the myth of organized design, and bring home the reality that it's really designing 1000% of a game, and throwing 900% of it out.

 

Using spare paper to rough-sketch art is normal. I always do that and its downside is you sometimes lose pieces in the hundreds of random stacks of paper set aside in areas. However, the upside outweighs the downside. Using good paper for rough sketches tends to get in the way of progress. I have entire dresser drawers filled with rough material going back two decades! Usually notebook paper and printer paper and other scraps. Then, good art on Bristol board and such.

These sketches are great! I really love seeing some additional concepts for Hidden Palace Zone (love the buckets on pulleys carrying gems platform/hazard idea) and other unused concepts for zones, like the gold ring stage.

HPZ is still some of the best art I've ever seen in a 2D platform game.

 

Very interesting items here. It's fun to see the ideas that were thrown around for both Sonic 2 and Kid Chameleon.

Regarding KC, this is a game I spent a good bit of time years ago pulling apart (I made the "K-E" level editor). But during my research, I recall there was evidence of one removed transformation, as well as one removed level theme (slot #0). Between these new scans and the ones Vangar linked to, it makes me wonder if any of these drawings are for those removed things. It's fun to think about.

The final game *literally* makes two changes following the one KC prototype we have (a single rubber block added to Forced Entry, and conditional logic to make the "murder wall" slower on Hills of the Warrior I). So we don't have much to go off of unfortunately.

 

How I wish sooooo badly that Craig would release that SEGAPEDE prototype so the ROM could be dumped. This is my first time seeing the footage and reading about it. It's just surreal to see HPZ with all the extensive assets and depth to the level as well as that scrapped character in action. That proto is just another piece of SEGA's proto pie.

 

Wiki it up, buds.

This "was meant to be an actual palace" thing is a fascinating take which I honestly hadn't considered before. You're right - it really is just a fancy cave, unlike Sonic & Knuckles which was clearly some sort of man-made (or echidna-made) structure. This makes me wonder if they actually ever finished the graphics, or indeed had second thoughts before axing the level entirely.

 

Exactly how I always saw it. Hidden palace is cool, but it's never wowed me. :v

 

I'd probably say it's graphics were mostly (if not entirely) complete by the time HPZ had been axed. Compare to Wood Zone, where the art was claimed to be 50% finished before being scrapped, HPZ looks way more complete and polished.

 

Thanks for conducting this interview DefinitiveDubs! It's always great to discover something new about any of the classic games developments and if Craig is indeed reading this thread then I would like to say thank you so much for all of the information you have provided for us over the past year.

By the way, that figure eight loop reminded of the fangame Sonic Studio which will allow these types of loops to be created:

I also like that Craig was trying to expand and experiment with the way loops and ramps were going to play in these concepts.

EDIT: Video became privated so I replaced it with an image of the figure 8
Link of video originally posted:
watch?v=YIVy9dvupNk

 

Wait, what.

Sonic Studio confirmed official?
Lapper confirmed legit Sonic dev?

Fr though this is really cool.


What??

 

Why is Craig Stitt Sonic missing his left arm? Does he just have a hand for an arm?

 

Artists cheat sketches. Take it from someone that knows a lot of artists.

 

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