Sonic 3 Level Concept Art Research Thread (with HQ Pictures)

Hmmm. Was the idea of LRZ2 being just "cooled down Lava Reef" even in place when they composed that song? The draft seems to indicate that Hidden Palace would have made up Lava Reef's second act. It's possible that both possibilities are true and it was indeed composed for HPZ, but by that point HPZ was still considered LRZ2.

 

The fact that HPZ doesn't have a unique cue makes a lot more sense, now that we know it was likely never intended to be its own zone in the first place.

 

Speaking of which, I wonder if the decision to extend LBZ and LRZ and scrap the rival-exclusive zones was a result of the game being split into two. Each part feels fairly short, with around 6 "standard" zones. And the fact playable Knuckles was reserved for the second part meant that his original planned exclusive 5th zone wouldn't be playable in S3 alone. So instead of working on two rival-only zones, they opted to focus on making the Sonic zones longer. The result: LBZ and LRZ gained a new act each, the original planned LRZ2 was repurposed as its own (short) zone, and the rival was given access to the Sonic-only zones (aside from DEZ and TDZ).

 

What does that have to do with what I just said?

 

You said the original planned LRZ2 was repurposed into as its own short zone. That's not accurate. The concept sketch shows that there would be a proper level with platforming and lava after the mid-boss and before facing Knuckles.

Zone 10's boss and outro cut-scene, along with Zone 11's intro cut scene, got repurposed into Hidden Palace Zone.

Zone 10's planned Act 2 as a whole did not.

 

Eh. It looks less like a "proper level with platforming and lava" and more like a short stretch to me. Granted, it's hard to say how long it would have been, given how these depict just a simplified version of the planned overall layout. But I doubt they would had an almost whole act in which your just ran from a lava river and then jumped platforms to reach the temple area.

 

Even if the game weren't split into two, S3&K was already pushing the limits of a 4MB cartridge as well as what the Genesis could handle. Even with Sega's best engineers at the helm, I'm not sure you could fit 2 more zones with all-new assets in there.

So was Knuckles meant to be the boss for LRZ2, or was he a boss in addition to Eggman?

 

The draft doesn't show any bosses between the mid-boss and the rival battle.

 

Like you said, these are super simplified. The "Act 2" section of Zone 10 is no shorter than most of the other zone concepts. But it does show hardened lava, an up close encounter with the Death Egg, running from lava and vertical platforming. None of that was repurposed into Hidden Palace Zone. Only the Rival boss and the cut scene were.

 

I don't think the length of the various section is these sketches is meant to be proportionate to their in-game length. Otherwise the rival battle arena would be nearly as long as half of Lava Reef act 1.

Anyway, I can see that sequence evolving into the section right before the Lava Reef boss from the final version. From the background, Death Egg shoots a beam to reignite the lava. But instead of running from a lava river and then climbing some platforms, the player has to avoid missiles while climbing some steps, then descend a lava waterfall before facing Eggman.

 

That's what I'm saying. You said that it looked less like a proper level and more like a short stretch. There's no evidence that it was only intended to be a short stretch.

Exactly. Those ideas evolved into things seen in the final version of Lava Reef Zone Act 2. Only the rival boss fight and end cut-scene got split off into Hidden Palace Zone.

 

You think they would have had an act consisting almost entirely on this?

 

All of these Zone sketches are hyper condensed layouts with general ideas of what each one will be like. I see no reason to single out Zone 10's second half as a short stretch.

 

I just have trouble picturing them stretching the lava escape sequence for an almost entire act. That would make for a rather gimmicky and out of place act, with no other level doing it. All escape sequences we got in the final game make up just short stretches, like the advancing wall at the beginning of HCZ2. The section after the Death Egg reignites the lava in the final is about equally short.

 

The second half of Ice Cap Zone in these drafts is just a slope and a water tube. They're not to be taken too literally. They're the highlights, the broad ideas of what each level will be about and how they connect.

 

Tangent: hold on do we have more info about R2 and Genocide City now?

 

Last I heard, Genocide City was better known as Cyber City; its layout became Metropolis Zone Act 3, and some of its graphics were eventually used for "The Machine" in Sonic Spinball.