Sonic 2 sharing assets

I remember when the Sonic 2 mobile port came out, I swear I read a thing saying that the layout used in that port was the "furthest along the layout was ever designed" but that doesn't make much sense because it doesn't really seem like the level would have been plausible in that specific capacity on the original 16 bit hardware. Has anyone ported that layout to Sonic 2 on the Genesis? Out of curiosity? Unless the quote I'm thinking of was for the original idea where you'd just play until the "Master Emerald" looking stone and it'd warp you back to Mystic Cave.

 

you mean Sonic 2 mobile's Proto Palace?

 

The mobile version has both a "finished" Hidden Palace Zone, which was created from scratch, and "Proto Palace Zone", which consists of the layout seen in the prototypes.

We don't think the original Hidden Palace Zone was ever worked on after the Wai beta.

 

Craig Stitt drew both Hidden Palace and Oil Ocean.

I'd say theres the reason for the similarity.

 

If they were intended to have palette-swapped graphics, it would make sense to assign them both to the same artist.

 

I could have sworn that y-axis wrapping plus active water was also a HUGE issue.

 

Labyrinth zone handles y-axis warping and active water without issues.

 

It may have been in that interview talking about the beta layout. I don't remember exactly, unfortunately that interview's link is probably buried on the forum. It would make more sense if it was the beta layout being talked about, as far as we know the Hidden Palace zone wasn't worked on any further between the betas and the final release. I want to say a designer from Sonic 2 said the layout in the remake was the "final layout they had in mind" or something. My memory isn't great, I could be remembering something else completely unrelated.

 

There is a cutscene, and it's at the end of Wing Fortress, which as mentioned was one of the last things developed before final. A Hidden Palace cutscene could have been one of the next things to do if time had permitted.

 

There are actually a total of four cutscenes; the Wing Fortress flyby in Sky Chase, the tornado getting shot down, the rocket ship scene, and then the ending sequence. You can see how near the end of Sonic 2's development they began adding more plot and stage transitional elements similar to Sonic 3. It would have been quite interesting to see what could have been done if they had more time.

 

Aren't there still people out there related to Sonic 2's development who could be interviewed about it?
Maybe some more conceptual secrets could come out and help the community completing this puzzle.

 

Yeah, there was definitely one hack that did this. I don't recall which of the three or fourteen Sonic 2+ hacks it was but it exists because I distinctly remember playing it over and over again and it was one slow ass lift.

 

Esrael Neto's Sonic 2 Delta?

 

After seeing this forum I've been thinking, what if Metropolis and Cyber City (Genocide City) had reused assets, I mean they were both mechanical levels and Metropolis Zone Act 3 is literally Cyber City Zone. I mean they couldn't have just taken something from a zone like Chemical Plant and made it match Metropolis, while they could definitely take Hill Top Act 1 and with a few tweaks, less bottomless pits and different badniks and assets make it Emerald Hill Act 3. Think about it.

 

But it happens at the very first part of the level, a little while before you find any water on it.

 

Apparently the assets for Cyber City were reused for The Machine in Sonic Spinball, which looks nothing like Metropolis Zone...

In terms of "assets that are not level art", Metropolis Act 3 exists solely to use the level map for Cyber City. They didn't have enough time to implement the level so they just put Metropolis art on it.

 

It was also stated that Toxic Caves reused Hidden Palace assets, yet each stage only resembles one another slightly. Each zone could have been repurposed quite a bit for Sonic Spinball.