- Back to: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit) AutoDemo/Comparisons.
Green Hills Zone was originally slated to be the first Zone of the game. Compared to the other two Zones in the AutoDemo, it is more complete and closely resembles a completed Zone.
Only Act 1 is featured in the AutoDemo's runtime. The other Acts have to be accessed by enabling control and changing the starting level.
Act 1
Moments into gameplay, and the player can notice that the art of Green Hills Zone is completely different, being more similar to the credits sequence of the final version.
Palm trees are not only visually different, but are also much larger and more numerous. The larger, taller trees often require the player to enable free movement in order to see them fully.
The background mountains are more crudely drawn than in the final, and the water is animated, whereas in the final it is static. The flowers are also different, being red flowers rather than the pink heart and diamond-shaped flowers in the final.
As seen here, there are no Badniks or monitors to be found here, or anywhere else in the AutoDemo.
Ramps are functional, albeit Sonic can simply run into them to be launched (whereas the final requires him to roll), and even then he doesn't fly very far.
This scripted loop functions, and Sonic will run through it like he does in the final game. However, he must run into it at full speed, or else...
...he will ignore the loop script entirely and walk through the loop. In the final, Sonic runs up the loop only to fall off.
It is possible to run backwards through the loop, resulting in a very awkward sequence. This is likely why it's impossible to go backwards through loops in the final.
The player can see that breakable walls have been placed in Green Hills Zone. However, they cannot be destroyed; they are simply intangible.
A couple of sideways springs can be encountered in the Act, both attached to palm trees; however they have no function. In this spring's relative position in the final is a spring that launches the player upwards.
The second loop doesn't work, likely because the player wasn't intended to go this far into the Act (the AutoDemo transitions to Sky High Zone after the first loop has been passed).
There is another ramp the player can launch off of near the end of the Act. In the ramp's relative position in the final are a breakable wall and a spring chain.
The end of Act 1. There is no Bonus Panel at the end here or in any of the levels in the AutoDemo, meaning the player cannot move on to the next level.
Map
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| AutoDemo
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| Final game
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Act 2
Act 2 opens with a very tall tree behind Sonic.
A small spike pit was added here later in the final. Also, if the player jumps here, they will grab some offscreen Rings.
There are no moving platforms to carry the player across spikes in this Act or in Act 1.
There are two springs here to take the player up in order to advance. The final condenses it to one spring.
This room is consistent with the final, but there is no extra life here yet.
This ramp doesn't launch Sonic yet.
There is a very long stretch of spikes here, with a long trail of Rings stretching across it. In the final, there is a loop.
For some reason, there is a scripted loop object in the middle of this stretch. This is likely due to having to use hacks to load other levels in place of Act 1.
There is a rather interesting feature here that would be removed from the final Act 2: springs that are planted on top of tree trunks. However, these will bounce the player too high off the screen...
...causing a crash to happen, followed by the game resetting to the Sega screen.
The loop appears later into the Act than it does in the final, and it doesn't function yet.
There is a breakable wall here. In its relative position in the final would be springs that bounce the player up to one of the Chaos Emeralds.
Map
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| AutoDemo
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| Final game
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Act 3
The start of Act 3 features these trees that aren't seen in the previous two Acts.
The base structure of Act 3 is already there as far back as this AutoDemo: leaps of faith over spike beds using springs.
This area was generally made longer later in development, with extra springs added in the spike pits for further assistance.
One of the springs here can't bounce Sonic high enough to reach another spring. In the final, every spring gives Sonic more than enough height to advance.
This drop-off from the steep hill is consistent with the final.
These spike pits were made much longer in the final, making this section more dangerous.
After all the leaps of faith, there is a tunnel leading into...
...an S-tube similar to the ones found in Green Hill Zone from the 16-bit Sonic the Hedgehog! collisions are all wrong inside, causing Sonic to run down it in strange ways.
The S-tube exits to the end of the Act, where the ground is obscured beneath the lower level boundary. As the player can see, there is no boss to be fought here.
Map
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| AutoDemo
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| Final game
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References
