Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Nick Arcade prototype)

The Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Early Prototype, released to the public on Nov. 7, 2006, is a prototype of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 to found for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, which features extremely unfinished zones. This cart predates the more famous Sonic 2 Beta. It was found and sold to Drx in cartridge form for $1500 via a community effort.

In this version, only one zone can be normally played : Emerald Hill Zone. The rest of the Zones can be played only through a Level Select code. The level select screen is completely identical to Sonic 1's, and even contains the original Green Hill Zone.

Various tidbits:

• If Sonic runs into a wall with a high velocity, he will bounce back off of the wall. This feature was ultimately canned, but it uses unused sprites that remained in the later beta.
• Green Hill Zone and Labyrinth Zone are both included in the game, but have heavily corrupted tiles. They otherwise play similarly to their original forms.
• Hidden Palace Act 2 has some leftover object placement from Green Hill Zone Act 2. There is a third act, as well, which has water that constantly rises and falls.

This version is believed to be the Nick Arcade prototype, due to heavy similarities between that version and this one. [1]

Art Differences

• Sonic is in a different design on the end signpost

Levels

• Green Hill Zone (playable)
• Chemical Plant Zone (playable)
• Hidden Palace Zone (cut) (playable)
• Green Hill Zone (playable) (renamed to Emerald Hill Zone)