Sonic CD (2011 / Remaster) Prototypes

I'd hate to say it, unless I already have and I've long forgotten because it's ultimately not important, but even at the time Desert Dazzle's sole screenshot was revealed, I was 100% sure that it was a throwback to the old "Dust Hill" (the name of which I'm using in context) from Retro Sonic, which of course was coming from Tax's own reimagining the lost level from Sonic 2. It's no secret it's been something of a white whale for him for the longest time. I never really looked at it and went "oh yeah because it could have been the desert area from DA Garden", even if I kind-of remembered it was there.

Even then it felt half like a concession, and half.... for lack of a better way of trying to describe it... like fan-fiction. In other words, Blue Spikeball isn't the only one who felt that way in the least. Something rather fan gamey (though the art for it looks good, no doubt). I was never really going to accept Desert Dazzle as R2 anyway, it didn't fit the FMV or even the earliest assumptions that it was probably a glow up for Marble Zone (which people weren't wrong about), so I'm glad it's finally been put to rest in Mirage Saloon, ending the decades long chase after the dragon that was Sand Shower.

And now I that I've seen Final Fever in motion and with the BGM playing, honestly, it just doesn't work for me. I agree that the R8 final boss isn't the the most epic fight of all time, but at least it seems to flow with the following FMV in the end, and the scenery seems to match better with the music. I'll concede however that his vision of Final Fever didn't get very far, so maybe something more fitting would have been worked on, but as it stands, cutting either of them wasn't the wrong move. The former feels like trying to get your OC into an official product and the latter just lacks gravitas.

Objectively speaking, though, interesting finds.

 

While Desert Dazzle was always custom and just a new addition, I think Final Fever legit would have worked as a final boss. Especially if the room began to fall apart and you'd run along the walkway fighting the robot. Maybe one day someone can make a cool fight with the assets we got.

 

Everyone talkin about Desert Dazzle evolving to Mirage Saloon, but I noticed Final Fever could have been evolved to Titantic Monarch too from Sonic Mania. These stages kinda shares a similar vibe.

 

It's not just you, that pole with the hanging banners is almost a 1:1 match to the ones seen in TMZ.

 

Final Fever never got far into development, but yeah, the similarities and shared tiles have been noted before. There's just not really a lot to say about it.

 

There are literal reused FF assets in Studiopolis too. Look at the metal structure next to the spikes:

 

Oh this fucking rocks.