Dust Hill Zone

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit)

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Scrapped Levels

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Dust Hill Zone

Dust Hill Zone
Beta level, Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Level theme: desert/western

Dust Hill Zone was the name given to a desert level intended to be featured in Sonic 2, but was cut out of the game due to time constraints during the development of the game. It was referred to in an early concept sketch as "砂漠 Zone" (Sabaku Zone, literally "Desert Zone"). Based on the mockup image published in magazines, the level would have taken place in a typical southwest American desert and feature cacti and lots of sand.

Brenda Ross, the designer of the level, said in an interview the level would have above ground and below ground sections. She also said that the level design was completed before work on Wood Zone started.

The idea of a desert-themed zone was later implemented into both the 2P zone Desert Palace Zone in Sonic 3 and the full zone Sandopolis in Sonic & Knuckles.

Mockup Image

In the pictures above, the first two use inaccurate colors while the last image is using the correct colors. The second image was printed on the back of a Sears, Roebuck and Co. Magazine from a November/December 1992 issue. None of these pictures were accompanied with a caption mentioning any level name.

Before its level artist Brenda Ross unveiled that this screen was in fact a mockup image for promotional use, this could already be deduced based on three things:

• The HUD is not in italics, and a "08" instead of the typical "8" is shown.
• Sonic is off-centered in the image.
• The running sprite uses a walking sprite from Sonic 1, which would be incorrect according to the development timeline the picture was shown in.

Mystic Cave connection

The Sonic 2 Simon Wai prototype's level Select screen, featuring Dust Hill Zone's name.

Many gaming magazines received prototypes of Sonic 2 for review, which used the name Dust Hill Zone when referring to Mystic Cave Zone in the level select screen, thus making them label it as such. These entries in the level select listings are the only references to Dust Hill Zone that can be found in any known version of Sonic 2.

Despites this, Dust Hill was often thought to be the desert level shown in the concept art and mockups. It is possible that the level slot the Zone was meant to be in could have been replaced with Mystic Cave Zone, so picking Dust Hill Zone on level select would lead to Mystic Cave Zone instead. However, the Dust Hill/Mystic Cave association was kept when the level select screen was reworked in the prototypes, so this is purely speculation.

After Brenda Ross' e-mail was found and made public, several internet-goers pelted her with questions about the Dust Hill desert, something that prompted her to choose just one person (nicknamed Deviance) to conduct an interview in behalf of the rest.

“	Sorry I haven't written sooner, but because I got so much email regarding the Sonic level art, I decided to just answer one person, and gave him all the info I have. Max Lazarov He can be reached at ********@******** thanks, Brenda	„

Once this interview was made, she could be seen mentioning Dust Hill when asked about the desert level's name. Later, there was also a second interview with her conducted by Wetflame, where she also mentioned that she had always called it the Desert Zone or Desert Level, as a working name.

Dust Hill Zone was finally confirmed to be the Desert Level's name on September 13, 2008 as Tweaker and Sik released conclusive evidence proving so. Through Chris Senn they were able to get into contact with Hirokazu Yasuhara, a staff member that worked on Sonic 2 whom confirmed that the Desert level was Dust Hill Zone:[1]

“	Tweaker and Sik: What significance did the name "Dust Hill" have in regards to Sonic 2's development? Was it the original name for Mystic Cave Zone? Or was it supposed to be a conceptual name for the scrapped Desert Level? Yasuhara: "Dust Hill" was one of dropped levels from original plan of Sonic 2. Sega of America did want to sell the game at Christmas time of that year, I had no choice, but decided to cut some levels out from original plan. So if Sega allowed me to use enough time to pursue the plan, The Dust Hill zone would be in the game. Tweaker and Sik: What kind of level was Dust Hill Zone? Did it represent any of the following images? If not, can you give any details about what it was supposed to be like? [images of both Dust Hill Zone and Mystic Cave Zone are linked] Also, feel free to give out any other information you might want to share. Yasuhara: Ok, the DustHill zone is like below. [http://sonicology.fateback.com/beta/sonic2/concept/concept-desert.jpg] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ4kc9sY88Y]	„

It was after this information was revealed that any speculation regarding the name Dust Hill was finally put to rest.

Other Zone connections

According to Brenda Ross and Tim Skelly (Art Director), most of the graphic tiles would be reused (with different colors) in a winter level. One of the possibilities was that Dust Hill Zone would change into a snow level half way through, but Tim Skelly explained: "There would have been two separate zones, spaced far enough apart so that the player wouldn't notice the repetition of the art."

As a side note, this level was originally planned as being the "present" time zone of another scrapped level, (Rock Zone), but the idea of time travel was quickly dropped and it's quite possible that it never got to be implemented in the game. Additionally, "砂漠 Zone/Desert Zone" and "Rock zone" are just descriptions, or working names, and not proper names of the zones.

Level Inclusion in ROM hacks and fan games

Several enthusiasts in the community, such as Esrael with his hack, Sonic 2 Delta, and Sonic Hachelle-Bee, with Sonic 2 Long Version, have used the image of this desert level to create full zones based on the artwork. These levels provide an alternative to perhaps understand how this level would have been had it moved past the concept stage.

In 1999, Jan created a demo fan game called Dust Hill Zone, a representation of Dust Hill Zone based on the very limited information of the time. It was created using The Games Factory, and posted on the Dust Hill Zone page of the Area 51 section of SSRG.

Media which reference Dust Hill

Dated Scans

• Video Games and Computer Entertainment (October 1992) - Dust Hill Zone included in the list of levels on the first page. A screenshot of Mystic Cave is shown on the third.
• Mega (October 1992) - The desert mockup image is shown, without a mention to the name Dust Hill.
• Electronic Gaming Monthly (November 1992) - The name Dust Hill is given to the Mystic Cave zone section.
• Game Pro (November 1992) - Dust Hill name used under Mystic Cave screenshot on page 46.
• Supergame (November 1992) - Dust Hill is the name given to the Mystic Cave section.
• Electronic Gaming Monthly (December 1992) - Page 182 gives the name Dust Hill to Mystic Cave Zone. The desert mockup is shown on 183.
• Sega Visions (February 1993) - Desert mockup image contained in this advertisement, without a mention to Dust Hill.
• GamePro (June 1993) - A reader asks about missing levels like Dust Hill Zone, the response mentions Hidden Palace and a desert level, but does not give the name of it.
• Mother Bubbler concept art references Desert level.

Undated Scans

• Sega Guide (1992) - The name Dust Hill is included on the list of levels on page 16, the screen caption below Mystic Cave Zone calls the level Mystic Zone.
• Videogame (Issue 20) - The name Dust Hill is used for the Mystic Cave images.
• Sega Guide Clip (Before) and Sega Guide Clip (After) - The desert mockup image is shown on both articles without mentioning Dust Hill. Mystic Cave is not mentioned either.