Egel/Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Beta Pirates)

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This article covers various pirate versions of Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

With the rising popularity of Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991 and 1992, piracy was imminent for the highly anticipated sequel Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Using a ROM-copier device called a Super Magic Drive, pirates falsely distributed both the final/retail release, and the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Simon Wai prototype) beta ROM, which ended up on unlicensed cartridges circulating in Asia and Brazil mostly. The prototype may have been altered slightly by pirates to hide the SEGA logo from showing when the ROM boots up. As was common practice, the SEGA logo is absent on any of the artwork (box-cover, label) used.

Download Egel/Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Beta Pirates) File: Sonic_The_Hedgehog_2_(Simon_Wai_Prototype)_-!-.zip (625 kB) (info)

Origin of the Wai prototype

Although Simon Wai found the beta ROM on a Chinese Geocities website, the true origin goes back to early 1992. There are two main theories as to how this prototype became wide spread, although this is open to speculation:

• Yuji Naka claimed in an IGN interview that it was stolen from a toy fair in New York in 1992.[1].

Naka: "Back in mid-1992 we had taken a demonstration cartridge to a toy show in New York. It wound up being stolen, and although we searched and searched all over, it was never found. So that's probably where the data comes from."

So this could very well mean that this stolen original prototype cartridge was the "master version" used for dumping the beta ROM.

• After obtaining the preview cart from SEGA, a magazine employee possibly leaked it, and tried to make an extra buck by creating pirate cartridges which were passed on as the final version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Due to the popularity of Sonic, pirates copied other pirates and so on, and the prototype popped up in various parts of the world such as Asia, Brazil and eventually even Europe.

The infamous pirate beta carts, and the history behind them

There is no way of knowing how the original prototype cartridges may have looked, although they could well have had a holographic label similar to the Nick Arcade prototype found by drx. Here's an overview of some of the various pirate cartridges:

Variation 1 (Final)

Asian version. The artwork screams "Beta", but this is in fact the retail version, albeit with removed SEGA logo and copyright.

Cartridge

Varation 2 (Beta)

Asian version. Confirmed to be the Simon Wai prototype.

Cartridge

Varation 3 (Possible Beta)

Brazillian version. You could even rent it in certain videostores.

Cartridge

Case

In 2010, a possible Wai prototype was for sale on MercadoLivre. Shoemanbundy, a well respected member of the community, tried to buy it from the seller, but to no avail. Here's an excerpt from his story hunting down the beta:

"I found that very first pic up there from the auction. I messaged the seller asking to buy it, he said it will cost R$145 to ship it to me in the US. So I go to a guy named Wendelp2002 on eBay who is a brazillian reseller, ask him to try to get it. After a whole lot of miscommunication with him I tell him off because I thought he was way overcharging me. Next day I look at the auction and see wendel has asked the seller how much shipping costs to his area. I immediately get suspicious. Suddenly the auction is taken down and it says "Vendidos: 0". So I immediately suspected that this wendel guy bought it for himself and is keeping it a secret from me, requesting to the seller that he shut the auction early or something and sell it in private, so as to avoid having to leave feedback and showing me that he bought it.

So still in doubt I tell him to message the seller and ask what happened. Wendel messages me back and says that the seller told him that the game was sold. I point out that it says there were 0 Vendidos, he says the seller just says that it was sold, that's it. Weird, very weird.

So the next day, sure enough the auction is suddenly back up. So I ask some other guy to help me bid. Just as I'm finally getting him to bid on it for me, the auction is suddenly taken down again! Now I go into this guys others auctions and ask him what the heck is going on, and I get my friend to also do the same. We both pester him. Not surprisingly the guy just gets very ambiguous. He tells the friend that it was sold. In one message he tells me he can't find the game anymore. Then in another he tells me it was sold. Good god I just want a simple game, why all of this playing around with me? I ask the seller, if you supposedly sold it the first time why put it up for auction again? I mean, putting up an auction is NOT an automatic process, you do it manually on your own. He says it was a mistake, he forgot he got rid of it. Sure...

So the NEXT day comes. Day 3. The auction is up AGAIN FOR THE 3RD DAMN TIME. No mistake here, you do not have an auction accidently go up 3 times, let alone do it manually yourself a 3rd time when you just told someone you had sold thing thing. So now I bid myself, instead of waiting for the friend.

From here on the seller doesn't even acknowledge a single thing that happened with the game supposedly being sold or anything. I pay my friend to buy it etc.., more nonsense with him getting him to grasp the concept that my friend is paying not me. Anyways, the game arrived at his house today. Well he tells me that sadly what he got is not what was pictured in the auction at all. The horror when I look at the pics. A Japanese Sonic 2 box plus an American Sonic 2 cart. The guy just mixed and matched whatever he had, just for the sake of selling 'Sonic 2'."

test

In the prototype copy, only four levels can be played in "normal" gameplay (though technically this is a prerelease to test some features and so there is no real level order). The rest have to be accessed through the level select code. Many are not playable, so the debug code is used to explore the acts. Genocide City Zone and Death Egg Zone are blank, causing Sonic and Tails to fall to their deaths as soon as the Act begins.

The Simon Wai prototype was widely distributed and may have been altered slightly by pirates to hide the SEGA logo from showing when the ROM boots up. The game was put on pirate cartridges with the help of a Super Magic Drive in Asia and Brazil and was then passed on as the final version. The prototype is frequently examined by hackers to determine how Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Mega Drive was developed.

Yuji Naka claimed in an IGN interview that it was stolen from a toy fair in New York in 1992.[2]

In November 2006, an earlier prototype was bought and dumped by drx. This was the very similar to the prototype that had appeared on the TV show Nick Arcade. On February 23, 2008, several other betas of the game were released.

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