Wood Zone

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit)

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Scrapped Levels

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Wood Zone

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Wood Zone
Beta Zone, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit)
Number of Acts: 1 (incomplete)
Level theme: jungle

Wood Zone is a planned forest-themed Zone from the development of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Likely conceptualized by Hirokazu Yasuhara, and with graphics created by Brenda Ross, it was one of the most complete of Sonic 2's scrapped Zones, and is the only known to be playable in some form. It hosts masses of flora in its backdrop, and an elaborate maze of trees in the foreground and trellises of pink flowers in the foreground.Media:woodzone.png

Overview

Being a snapshot of a work in progress level (likely a simple gameplay test), Wood Zone features some infamously wonky collision implementation, with it being impossible to use the ramp at the beginning of the Zone. There are some other ledges that seem to involve falling in and out of trees, and a U-shaped platform at the top left. Set near the end are wooden versions of the Metropolis Zone conveyor belts, though they don't function as they have no conveyor belt object in place for them, and one of them is partially broken. Past the point where the level design cuts off is a large empty space. If players use edit mode to go move the screen far enough, the level ends with a very short loopback of the end of the Act. Act 2 is completely empty, lacking level design or a background, with players immediately falling to their deaths.

Wood Zone is present in both the "Simon Wai" prototype and the August 21st "Alpha" prototype. Both prototypes show a very unfinished Act 1 which ends rather quickly, while the second Act is little more than an empty level slot with a palette, with the theme from Metropolis Zone playing as placeholder music. The Zone seems to have been worked on after the Simon Wai prototype, as new background scrolling data is present in revision 00 of the final game and is used here. The life icon at the bottom left of the screen shows Tails' icon and name regardless of the character chosen. The music selection remains Metropolis Zone, as assigned in the earlier prototypes. It was removed by the September 14th "Pre-Beta" prototype and may have been scrapped before Hidden Palace Zone, suggesting that Wood Zone was likely scrapped around late August 1992.

In the final version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Wood Zone retains a Zone ID known as 02 from the prototypes it was present in and is accessible by going to Death Egg Zone on the Level Select using Pro Action Replay code FFFE10:0300. Alternatively, the Game Genie code ACLA-AECY (AB6X-AEBR in Knuckles in Sonic 2) can be used by going to the stage select menu and selecting Emerald Hill Zone (Special Stage in Knuckles in Sonic 2). Here, Wood Zone is nothing more than a broken stage with the graphics and layout for Emerald Hill Zone being forced to display in Wood Zone's original palette - one of few leftovers in the final game.

History

Development

Secret Jungle concept art

Early in development when the concept of time travel was still being considered, Wood Zone was originally going to be the present version of Casino Night Zone, which was in turn set to take place in the future. Whether or not this means that the two Zones were initially meant to share graphical assets, like the present's Metropolis Zone and the future's Genocide City Zone were, is left uncertain. Craig Stitt was also working on a similar forest level. Initially set to be green and healthy, Eggman's actions in the future would result in the forest being burned down. Whether this would have become Wood Zone or a completely separate Zone is unknown. However, Yamaguchi says the concept of Brenda Ross' desert and snow stages were reconsidered and carried over to Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (seemingly as Sandopolis Zone and IceCap Zone); if he chose to also recycle the concept of Wood Zone, it would support a relation to Stitt's burnt forest Zone.

A piece of Sonic 2 concept art under the name Secret Jungle is sometimes believed to reference Wood Zone. Featuring Sonic bouncing upwards from a spring-like plank attached to a large tree in a forest, it hints at a Zone built around vertical scrolling,Media:Sonic2 ConceptArt SecretJungle.png but has no official connection to Wood Zone. Further, a piece of development material outlining the game's time travel concept refers to a Woods Zone, a more reasonable connection than Secret Jungle but equally without evidence. Curiously, Brenda Ross would use the name Woods Zone in a 2001 interview; it is unknown if this instance is related to the Zone's early name.

“	"This is the stage that Brenda was in charge of, and it was at the same time that Ishiwatari was making Emerald Hill and Craig was making Oil Ocean in the early stages. This stage is widely known among enthusiasts because it was created halfway and a temporary map was included in the beta version. The reason for the cancellation was that when we created a temporary map midway through and verified the quality of the graphics and gameplay, it was difficult to express trees in a natural way due to the graphic capacity, and the three-dimensional effect could not be achieved. However, I couldn't help but feel like the blocks had been cut off in the middle, and the joints between the blocks in the leaves were also noticeable. Also, due to the layout of the map, vertical movement is the main axis, so even though it was a stage for the early stages, it was canceled because Sonic's sense of speed could not be expressed."	„
— Yasushi Yamaguchi

Brenda Ross recalls that she created the art for Wood Zone following the completion of her artwork duties on Sand Shower Zone. "I think it was completed. I couldn’t have gone on to create the Woods Zone if it hadn’t been." Unlike Sand Shower, however, Wood Zone would actually make it to a playable state, allowing Ross to see her Sonic 2 artwork in-game for the first time. Wood Zone was first added to the game in the "Simon Wai" prototype and appeared again in the following August 21st "Alpha" prototype. Both prototypes only contain a notably unfinished Act 1, which was removed by the September 14th "Pre-Beta" prototype. It is believed that Wood Zone was likely scrapped around late August 1992.

According to Ross, the Zone was around 50% complete before being scrapped. She does not specify whether she refers to her art duties or the Zone as a whole. As with Sand Shower Zone, Yamaguchi ties the Zone's cancellation to specific gameplay issues: particularly that it was difficult to design a Sonic Zone to look organic and treelike for a number of reasons (both of limited cartridge memory and of issues maintaining speed in a game which relies on smooth surfaces). Ross instead remembers her contributions being cut due to simple time constraints.

Legacy

Wood Zone from Brenda Ross' video resume

In December 2023, a VHS tape containing a video resume made by Cook around the mid 1990s - containing her artwork from a number of cancelled Sega Technical Institute projects, and PF Magic's Dogz - was preserved and uploaded to YouTube by The Video Game History Foundation in December 2023. In it, animations and artwork from largely undocumented titles such as Jester and Fat, Daddy were seen by the public for the first time.

Among the preserved content was an animated mockup of Wood Zone, allowing both historians and the gaming community a glimpse into what the famous Sonic 2 Zone could have been. This version of Wood Zone is the most developed seen thus far, showing retracting spikes and a more polished conveyor belt. The background's trees are also more brownish in color, whereas they appear lilac in the prototypes.