Sand Shower Zone

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit)

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Scrapped Levels

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Sand Shower Zone

Sand Shower Zone
Beta level, Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Level theme: desert/western

This scrapped level, possibly named Sand Shower Zone by the development team, was intended to be featured in the Sega Mega Drive version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Development of this stage was handled primarily by Brenda Ross of Sega Technical Institute, and is themed on a desert, similar to those found in Southwest America, complete with cacti and sand.

Design

Sand Shower Zone's origins date back to early stages of Sonic 2 when time travel was still a planned feature for the game, where it existed as part of the present timeline with a past timeline counterpart known as "Rock World Zone" and "Rock Zone". Devised by Hirokazu Yasuhara, the "planner" of the game, Sand Shower existed at this point by name only.

Brenda Ross was responsible for the levels' artwork, where it was known internally as "砂漠 Zone" (Sabaku Zone, literally "Desert Zone") and similar phrases such as "Desert", "Desert level" and "Desert Zone".

It is claimed by Brenda Ross that the level's layout was completed before work began on Wood Zone, Ross' second level which was also ultimately scrapped.

Ross also claimed in an interview that the level would have above ground and below ground sections. Alongside Ross, art director Tim Skelly has suggested that most of the graphic tiles would have been reused (with a different color palette) in a winter level.

Mock-up image

Shortly after Sonic 2's announcement, Sega distributed three "screenshots" of the game, which were mock-ups constructed out of both completed Sonic 2 assets and holdovers from the original Sonic the Hedgehog. Alongside what would become Emerald Hill Zone and Hidden Palace Zone, a desert stage was pictured:

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While using Brenda Ross' artwork for the stage, the HUD positioning is incorrect, Sonic is off-center and some graphics (such as the clouds) are borrowed from the original game.

The crocodile badnik, Gator was programmed into the game, and in older builds was a placeable debug object in Hidden Palace Zone. Its artwork does not exist in the final game. Much like the Buzzers in this image however, it cannot be confirmed whether it was intended to be seen in Sand Shower, as Brenda Ross did not work on the objects and enemies.

Name debates and leftovers

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

Prototype versions of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 list a level called "Dust Hill Zone". When selected in the "Simon Wai" prototype, the player is taken to an unfinished Mystic Cave Zone. This prototype and some later builds were sent to the gaming press, and as a result, Mystic Cave Zone was often referred to as "Dust Hill Zone".

It is was unknown whether this was an overlooked error, the result of levels being re-arranged or overwritten, or the name being recycled for Mystic Cave for a short period. Hirokazu Yasuhara identified the desert levellevel as Dust Hill Zone, an identification later proven false by the discovery of the Pre-Beta prototype, revealing that Dust Hill was simply an early name for Mystic Cave Zone.

Possible Sand Shower Zone leftovers, as shown in the Simon Wai prototype.

Possible remnants of Sand Shower include an empty level slot, accessed in this prototype by entering the Game Genie code AA7A-AGGY and choosing Green Hill Zone Act 1 in the stage select. Like Genocide City Zone, Death Egg Zone, and the second Act of Wood Zone, the stage is entirely empty, with the default background music being the tune used in Oil Ocean Zone in the final game.

File:DHZFinalLeftovers.PNG

Possible Sand Shower Zone leftovers, as they appear in the final.

These leftovers can also be accessed in the final game by entering the Game Genie Code ACLA-AGD8 (AB6X-AGBR in Knuckles in Sonic 2), and pressing start on "Sound Test" (or in Knuckles in Sonic 2, the Special Stage). This version of the stage is also comparable to the Genocide City Zone, as they both use broken Emerald Hill Zone tiles, have little collision data, and no objects, making the stages impossible to finish by any means.

In both cases there is no definitive proof that the slot was intended for Sand Shower, but with most other levels from the era being accounted for and Sand Shower being reportedly complete on paper, the stage was a likely candidate for the slot.

Legacy

Sand Shower continues to be a topic of speculation, being the only Sonic 2 level to be shown to the public that has yet to be found in a playable form. It is not functional in any preserved prototype of the game.

Desert levels have since proved common in Sonic games, the first appearing as the 2P zone Desert Palace Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and as a full zone Sandopolis in Sonic & Knuckles. Sonic the Hedgehog CD has also been speculated to have its own scrapped desert stage (nearly re-imagined in the 2011 release as Desert Dazzle, with a similar look to Sand Shower). The Sonic Mania stage Mirage Saloon also draws heavy inspiration from the stage.