Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (prototype; 1993-11-03)/Comparisons/Special Stage

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The Special Stage is hardly far in development, being nothing more than a tech demo without any actual gameplay. Once selected from the level select, the game will load one of two different types of tech demos, each depicting a cluster of red spheres that move in set patterns. In both of these demos, the red spheres can be manipulated using both the first and second control pads.

Pressing + will exit these tech demos and return the player to the title screen.

Special Stage 1

Prototype

Final game

"Special Stage 1" features a pre-rendered grey sphere with red spheres rotating around it. The object that is used here still exists in the final Sonic 3 and, although unused, can be placed in Angel Island Zone Act 1. The controls are as follows:

Button	Control Pad 1	Control Pad 2
	Toggles between automatic and manual rotation.	Toggles between automatic and manual rotation.
/	Rotates the spheres left or right along the X-axis.	Zooms the spheres in or out. zooms out, zooms in.
	Resets the spheres to their point of origin.	If automatic movement is enabled, stops the spheres from rotating along one of the axes if held down.
/	Adjusts how fast the spheres rotate on one of the axes.	Moves the matrix up and down.
/	Rotates the spheres along the Y-axis.	Moves the matrix up and down.

Special Stage 2

Prototype

Final game

"Special Stage 2" features a flat 8x8 grid of red spheres that rotates and features two different kinds of animations - one where center of the grid is wobbling up and down, and one where the grid contracts and expands. The animations played here overload the VDP's sprite bandwidth, causing some of the pixels in the sprites to disappear. The controls are as follows:

Button	Control Pad 1	Control Pad 2
	Toggles between automatic and manual rotation.	Toggles between automatic and manual rotation.
/	Speeds up or slows down the rotation when automatic, or rotates the spheres left or right along the X-axis when manual.	Zooms the spheres in or out. zooms out, zooms in.
	Toggles between both animations.	If automatic movement is enabled, stops the spheres from rotating if held down.
/	Rotates the viewing angle in the given direction.	Moves the matrix up and down.
/	Rotates the viewing angle in the given direction.	Moves the matrix up and down.