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(Undo revision 301563 by David The Lurker (talk) Reason: There is straight evidence. This isn't something we decided overnight, we thought that it may have been the case since 2017.)
m (Why Dust Hill?)
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==Why Dust Hill?==
 
==Why Dust Hill?==
As stated, the name "Dust Hill Zone" doesn't seem to fit the image of an underground cavern, but [[Sonic_the_Hedgehog_(16-bit)|Sonic 1]]'s oddly on-the-nose [[Final Zone]] and ''Sonic 2''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s inappropriate [[Genocide City Zone]] show that the team may not have had a handle on great level names. However, if Mystic Cave Zone was intended to be a "bad future" variant of Emerald Hill Zone, then the name makes some sense. Perhaps Dr. Eggman "dusted" Emerald Hill Zone with bombs, and the cavernous underground sections were all that remained? Then, when the time travel gimmick was dropped from the game's plot, the team simply changed the level's name.
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As stated, the name "Dust Hill Zone" might not seem to fit the image of an underground cavern, but [[Sonic_the_Hedgehog_(16-bit)|Sonic 1]]'s oddly on-the-nose [[Final Zone]] and ''Sonic 2''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s inappropriate [[Genocide City Zone]] show that the team may not have had a handle on great level names. However, if Mystic Cave Zone was intended to be a "bad future" variant of Emerald Hill Zone, then the name makes some sense. Perhaps Dr. Eggman "dusted" Emerald Hill Zone with bombs, and the cavernous underground sections were all that remained? Then, when the time travel gimmick was dropped from the game's plot, the team simply changed the level's name.
  
 
==Conclusion (For Now)==
 
==Conclusion (For Now)==

Revision as of 02:04, 13 November 2019

Sonic Retro emblem.svg Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit)
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Scrapped Levels
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Dust Hill Zone

Dust Hill Zone is an infamous name featured in several prototype versions of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit).

GamePro & Simon Wai

The name Dust Hill Zone first appeared in GamePro Magazine, in a screenshot featuring an early version of Mystic Cave Zone. The name was largely forgotten until the discovery of the Sonic 2 Simon Wai prototype in 1999. Dust Hill Zone appeared in the game’s level select screen, and selecting it would take the player to Mystic Cave Zone.

Desert Zone & Brenda Ross

Because the name "Dust Hill" did not seem to fit a spooky cave level, many fans speculated that the name was not originally intended for Mystic Cave, and that Mystic Cave may have been a replacement for a cut zone. In digging through old magazines, there was found a mockup of a desert level cut from the final game. Speculation ran rampant that this cut desert level may have in fact been Dust Hill, replaced by Mystic Cave after having been cut. The fan community was able to determine that Brenda Ross had been the art designer for the level, managed to track down her email address, and conduct two interviews with her over the years. Some parts of the interviews seemed to confirm that Dust Hill Zone was the desert level, while others made it seem more dubious.

Hirokazu Yasuhara & Time Travel

In May 2017, Sonic 2's "planner", Hirokazu Yasuhara detailed some of the earlier stages of Sonic the Hedgehog 2's development as part of a game design presentation at Digital Dragons 2017[1]. Of particular note is the idea that Sonic 2 once incorporated a time travelling mechanic - a feature that was never mentioned in public at the time, but found itself in a different guise as part of Sonic the Hedgehog CD.

However, Sonic 2's version of time travel was something very different - time zones would be accessed in a more linear way, and rather than appear as re-skinned and slightly tweaked versions of the same levels, each time period would have an entirely new set of stages.

Yasuhara's presentation featured four slides containing planned time periods, and a rough idea of how they linked together:

Of note are two things: first, where Green Hill Zone appears in "Now", in its place in "Now 2" is featured Dust Hill Zone. This means that Dust Hill Zone, whatever it was, was intended to be the "bad future" of Green Hill Zone. Second, also in "Now" is the name Sand Shower Zone, a name previously unheard of in relation to Sonic 2. While the word "dust" has many meanings and thus could be applied to a variety of locales, Sand Shower Zone is a name that could only realistically apply to a desert or beach level.

Prototypes Unmasked

In November 2019, drx unveiled two newly discovered prototypes of Sonic 2. As in the Simon Wai prototype, selecting Dust Hill Zone from the level select screen in each prototype takes the player to Mystic Cave Zone. The later September 14 prototype even features a title card for the level, again calling it Dust Hill Zone.

Why Dust Hill?

As stated, the name "Dust Hill Zone" might not seem to fit the image of an underground cavern, but Sonic 1's oddly on-the-nose Final Zone and Sonic 2's inappropriate Genocide City Zone show that the team may not have had a handle on great level names. However, if Mystic Cave Zone was intended to be a "bad future" variant of Emerald Hill Zone, then the name makes some sense. Perhaps Dr. Eggman "dusted" Emerald Hill Zone with bombs, and the cavernous underground sections were all that remained? Then, when the time travel gimmick was dropped from the game's plot, the team simply changed the level's name.

Conclusion (For Now)

At the time of this writing, the most reasonable conclusion seems to be that Dust Hill Zone was a bizarre early name for Mystic Cave Zone, and that the cut desert level was this Sand Shower Zone.

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