Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Nick Arcade prototype)

Title screen, same as in Sonic 2 Beta

The Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Nick Arcade Prototype, released to the public on Nov. 7, 2006, is a prototype of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, which features extremely unfinished zones. This cart, determined to have been seen in two 1992 episodes of Nick Arcade, 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.

Download Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Nick Arcade prototype) File: Sonic_The_Hedgehog_2_(Early_prototype)_(dumped_by_hidden-palace.org).bin () (info)

Various Differences

General

• 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.
• Each Zone uses music from Sonic 1, further proving that Sonic 2 was built from Sonic 1.
• There is a large amount of raw code contained within the ROM.
• Tails can lose rings for the player if he is hit by a badnik.
• Similar to the other prototype if Sonic & Tails are hit at the same time lots of rings will sprawl out regardless as to how many rings they actually have (Provided the player has at least 1 Ring)

Green Hill Zone

• The zone from Sonic 1 is included, with its level art converted to Sonic 2's format (128x128 blocks rather than Sonic 1's 256x256s) and the necessary changes have been made to make loops work.
• Green Hill has collision detection, albeit it's very glitchy, detecting hills that don't exist, among other things.
• A Tails Life Monitor is present just as it is in Hidden Palace Zone.

Marble Zone

• Actually Chemical Plant Zone, the zone is heavily under development, with major differences in level design from the final or from the later prototype, is buggy and unfinished generally.

Spring Yard Zone

• Actually Hidden Palace Zone, the zone pretty much as it is in the later prototype and in the final since no work was ever done to it throughout its lifetime.
• 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 zone loads GHZ Act 1's ring locations.
• If you stay in the water in Acts 2 and 3 until the countdown starts and come back up, the Labyrinth Zone music will play.
• The level of water in Acts 2 and 3 can be controlled using up and down on the 2P controller.

Labyrinth Zone

• An empty zone, it loads Marble Zone's ring layout and Chemical Plant Zone's artwork, has Labyrinth Zone's rippling effect. Third act is as SBZ3.
• Labyrinth also lacks collision detection and is therefore unplayable, a la Genocide City Zone.

Star Light Zone

• Actually Emerald Hill Zone (which the later prototype confirms kept the name Green Hill Zone for a time) which is as it was in the Nick Arcade video, with minor differences to the final level layout.

Scrap Brain Zone

• Actually Hill Top Zone, this zone is also under heavy revision, as it finishes with a pipe leading to instant death. Second act crashes after a section which ought to have an earthquake effect.

Final Zone

• Hill Top Zone (matching behavior in Sonic 1, where FZ is tucked into a corner of SBZ2), crashes to pink if you continue onwards, death pit backwards.

Art Differences

• Sonic and Tails are in different symmetrical designs on the end signpost
• Chemical Plant Zone uses a purple-pink accent in the background instead of olive green; buildings are also much lower
• Seesaws similar to that in the final Hill Top Zone can be seen in Emerald Hill's object debug

Levels

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

Cheat Codes

• Level Select: At the title screen, hit Up, Down, Down, Down, Down, Up, Start.
• Debug Mode: At the title screen, hit C,C,C,C, Up, Down, Down, Down, Down, Up, A+Start.
• Level Select with Debug Mode: At the title screen, hit C,C,C,C, Up, Down, Down, Down, Down, Up, A+Start, wait for demo to start, then Up, Down, Down, Down, Down, Up, A+Start.
• Restore Green Hill Zone Collision: With a Game Genie, enter the following codes:

AA1A-CEAL

AA1A-CEFT

AA2A-CEB0

AA2A-CEB6

AA0T-CAG6

AA1A-CAEC

AA1T-CAA2

AA1T-CAF8

AA2A-CADJ

AA2A-CADR

AA1T-DECG

AA1T-DEHN

AA2A-DECN

Physical Cartridge

(from drx's Hidden Palace)

• 

  Front of cartridge with holographic "Sonic 2" label

• 

  Front of cartridge without cover

• 

  Back of cartridge without cover

See Also

• Sonic Community Hacking Guide:Sonic 2 Early Prototype
• Sonic 2 Beta

External Links

• Hidden Palace News Release
• Sonic 2 Beta Release Thread