Lost level restored in Sonic 2 re-release

[sj33]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-12-12-long-lost-level-restored-in-sonic-the-hedgehog-2-remaster

Boo for being smartphone only at the moment, but this is really good news.

For people who don't know, the original Sonic 2 had some levels cut from the game. Some were actually pretty complete and were playable to some degree in leaked betas (Wood Zone, Hidden Palace Zone), whereas some have never been seen in a playable form even in the leaked betas (Dust Hill).

This restores Hidden Palace Zone.

[wakka]

Awesome!

It's unfortunate that the best versions of the Sonic games are only available with touch controls.

[dataDave]

Unless you are me and you have two Xperia Plays.

[sj33]

This is why I wish Playstation Mobile would take off. It would make the Android version compatible with the Vita.

[S3M]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...hog-2-remaster

Boo for being smartphone only at the moment, but this is really good news.

For people who don't know, the original Sonic 2 had some levels cut from the game. Some were actually pretty complete and were playable to some degree in leaked betas (Wood Zone, Hidden Palace Zone), whereas some have never been seen in a playable form even in the leaked betas (Dust Hill).

This restores Hidden Palace Zone.

Not sure how I feel about this as on one hand it's nice to see, on the other hand the developer doesn't appear to understand that Sonic 2 was a finished game an original the scene was cut from the game for a reason.

A number of the art assets from this stage were later then reused for Sonic & Knuckles.

If it's available to select from a menu as a deleted scene great, added into the main game not so sure. Sonic Team chose to improved Sonic 2 in Sonic Jam for Sega Saturn along with a ton of extras, but didn't add back in this stage.

[saturn-gamer]

Its hidden within another zone but a lot of players are going to stumble upon it.

The original premise sounded cool, having to beat HPZ to enable Super Sonic after all emeralds were collected.

[Sam The Man]

Just seen the level on youtube and it's very Sonic 3 ish at times in it's design as well as Sonic 2. I wish they had used the old music that was hidden in the sound test instead of the Mystic Cave music.

[Yakumo]

Unless you are me and you have two Xperia Plays.

Or me an use a Nexus 7 connected to the TV with a bluetooth controller. Not that sonic 2 has been released here. Looks like I'll have to download this one.

[Wools]

Although classic old games retain their charm, I do love how modern technology allows us to play.

I heard about this news, got super excited and when I got home from work, my updates page on iPhone had a message saying it needed to be updated. I foot I had brought Sonic 2 years ago and Sega have updated it for free. In the old days, we would have to re-buy games for a small update or conversion, now so much is done for free.

Despite Sega treating their back catalogue in a rather ropey fashion in the past, they really are one of the best developers for re-releases in this era. Excellent job Sega, can't wait to dedicate some time to it this weekend!

[sj33]

It should be noted that this new port (as well as the previous enhanced Sonic CD and Sonic 1 re-releases) were developed by Christian Whitehead and a few others from Sonic Retro, not Sega themselves. Goes to show what can happen when the community get involved.

[Wools]

Are any of those developers on Twitter? Would love to see what they're up to and congratulate them!

[wakka]

Christian Whitehead can be found here:

https://twitter.com/CFWhitehead

[Wools]

Thanks for that, love keeping up to date with retro stuff!

[sj33]

It's such a shame that it's iOS and Android only, because I know I would never play it. More developers need to embrace Playstation Mobile.

[sj33]

A playthrough of the level plus how to access it. It's curious how they've modified the stage to fit into the larger game, and also thrown the Mystic Ruins boss in there.

Not sure how I feel about this as on one hand it's nice to see, on the other hand the developer doesn't appear to understand that Sonic 2 was a finished game an original the scene was cut from the game for a reason.

While the levels were abandoned because of time constrains, it's a good point. I remember a few years ago Yuji Naka was asked about the levels that were hidden within the game and he had no idea that these levels were discovered, nor anything about the leaked beta (despite Action Replay codes to access the levels being available almost as soon as the game was released, and the beta with more complete versions of the levels being leaked as far back as 1998) - which just goes to show how much attention Sonic Team pay to the fan community. Anyway, his response was that his team should take greater care to remove such elements from then on. Hardly a glowing response to the community discovering these things.