History Trivia / SonicTheHedgehog2

* CutSong: Track 10 in the 16-bit game's sound test is an unused and hauntingly good song that was originally meant for a bad ending cutscene, though in the final game, was assigned to the cut zone Hidden Palace Zone after the level's music was given to Mystic Cave Zone 2P instead. When Hidden Palace Zone returned in the 2013 remake, the level used the 2 Player Mystic Cave Zone theme as in the prototypes, although a hidden version uses Track 10.

* CutSong: Track 10 in the 16-bit game's sound test is an unused and hauntingly good song that was originally meant for Hidden Palace Zone, and ended up unused when the Zone itself was DummiedOut. Even when Hidden Palace Zone returned in the 2013 remake, the song remained unused. Instead, the remake uses the 2 Player Mystic Cave Zone theme, which is what it used in leaked prototypes.

*** Aquatic Ruin, Mystic Cave, Hidden Palace, and the "Winter Zone" concept are absent in all four illustrations depicting the setting, while Death Egg is mentioned in another page. Ocean Wind, Sand Shower, Tropical Plant, Olympus, and Blue Lake are all previously unknown level names. Interestingly, while not shown in any of the setting illustrations, Hidden Palace ''is'' mentioned in an outline of the game's intended plot; its purpose was to allow Sonic to travel to the prehistoric age after Eggman creates a ruined present.

** Scrapped zones mentioned in concept art are: Blue Lake Zone, Sand Shower Zone, Ocean Wind Zone, Rock World Zone, Tropical Planet Zone, and Olympus.

* CutSong: Track 10 in the 16-bit game's sound test is an unused and hauntingly good song that was originally meant for Hidden Palace Zone, and ended up unused when the Zone itself was DummiedOut. Even when Hidden Palace Zone returned in the 2013 remake, the song remained unused (the version uses the 2 Player Mystic Cave Zone theme, which is what it used in leaked prototypes).

** Ideas for cutscenes for each time you beat a stage was scrapped due to Time and Memory Limitations, but the only cutscene implemented in the game was the ending. Animated cutscenes were later implemented in ''VideoGame/SonicCD''.

** Rather than achieving Super Sonic after obtaining all seven Chaos Emeralds as in the final game, it was originally planned for the player to be taken to Hidden Palace Zone after obtaning all seven Emeralds, where completion of the stage would unlock the transformation.

*** The setting depicted in concept art appears to be consistent with South Island as depicted in ''Sonic 1'' 8-bits. Emerald Hill wasn't called "Green Hill" in the betas just as a placeholder after all.

** While Dust Hill never got to see the light of day, Christian Whitehead's 2011 remake of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogCD'' was to incorporate a desert-themed level called "Desert Dazzle" before it too was scrapped. The assets used for the level were directly inspired by the pre-release images of Dust Hill. All of this would come to a head in 2017's ''VideoGame/SonicMania'', as the Mirage Saloon Zone reuses Desert Dazzle's unused assets and thus Mirage Saloon is descended from not one but two lost ''Sonic'' stages.

*** The setting depicted in concept art appears to be consistent with South Island as depicted in ''Sonic 1'' 8-bits. Emerald Hill wasn't called "Green Hill" in the betas just as a place holder after all.

* UrbanLegendOfZelda: When the Simon Wai prototype was first discovered online, it was speculated that the green emerald that blocks progress partway through Hidden Palace Zone was supposed to be the Master Emerald (predating its debut in ''Sonic & Knuckles''. In reality, it was supposed to be a destroyable object akin to those blocking the tubes in Chemical Plant Zone.

* UrbanLegendOfZelda:
** Several planned Zones were DummiedOut, such as Wood Zone (eventually recycled as Mushroom Hill Zone in ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Sonic & Knuckles]]''), Death Egg Zone (all of the Zone before the final boss fights was cut) and Hidden Palace Zone (whose soundtrack and some data survives in the final cartridge). A lot of WildMassGuessing has surrounded these, including the idea that originally ''Sonic 2'' was supposed to have the time travel gimmick of ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogCD Sonic CD]]'' and the Dust Hill Zone was a BadFuture of Emerald Hill Zone, and so forth. A particularly mysterious cut level is the gloriously named Genocide City Zone.

** Genocide City was actually supposed to be a single act Zone, and was replaced with Metropolis Zone Act 3.
** Genocide City was eventually renamed Cyber City Zone once the Japanese developers understood what the word actually meant. However, the lost Zone did make a comeback of sorts in ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogSpinball Sonic Spinball]]''.

* TroubledProduction: The game's own history can be chronicled by the various Alphas, Betas and Deltas made along the way. Rumor had it that it was supposed to utilize TimeTravel, but it proved way too complicated for the simplistic Sega Genesis. Many Zones were planned and removed, including a curiously named stage called Genocide City and the legendary Hidden Palace Zone (which was much later restored as a secret level in the iOS remake). Sega gave Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} a very early version for ''Series/NickArcade''. The game's production (located in Sega Technical Institute's headquarters) was also notorious for language barriers and conflicting work ethics between Japanese Sonic Team members, who Naka brought to the United States to work on the game as he was unhappy with Sega of Japan's policies; and the American STI members, who assisted in the game's development. (Understandably enough, Naka developed ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'' in STI on the condition that only his fellow Sonic Team members and other Japanese STI staff would develop the title to avoid another instance of this.)

** Several planned Zones were DummiedOut, such as Wood Zone (eventually recycled as Mushroom Hill Zone in ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Sonic & Knuckles]]''), Death Egg Zone (all of the Zone before the final boss fights was cut) and Hidden Palace Zone (whose soundtrack and some data survives in the final cartridge). A lot of WildMassGuessing has surrounded these, including the idea that originally ''Sonic 2'' was supposed to have the time travel gimmick of ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogCD Sonic CD]]'' and the Dust Hill Zone was a BadFuture of Emerald Hill Zone, and so forth. A particularly mysterious cut level is the gloriously named Genocide City Zone. See "What Could Have Been" below.

** There are so many things that were meant to be in the game. First, there's the time travel aspect.[[note]]Which later became the basis for ''Sonic CD''.[[/note]] Next, there were 12 enemies that were scrapped; one of them was a red T-Rex badnik. Finally, six scrapped stages that were named Genocide City/Cyber City Zone (whose name got changed and was instead worked into the third act of Metropolis Zone), Dust Hill Zone (which obviously was a desert level), Rock World Zone (which was meant to be a past version of Dust Hill Zone when the time travel aspect was still in development), Winter Zone (which was a PaletteSwap of Dust Hill Zone according to a [[http://info.sonicretro.org/Brenda_Ross_interview_by_Deviance_(February_2001) interview with Brenda Ross, a video game artist for the game]]), Wood Zone (which was a forest level designed by Ross), and the most famous of them all, Hidden Palace Zone. Hidden Palace Zone exists in the final version as the music for the level exists and is accessible via Game Genie code, but the level looks unfinished. Luckily, Hidden Palace Zone is in the iOS and Android releases in Mystic Cave Zone's spike pit, and has a new boss. However, it plays Mystic Cave's two-player music as it was in the Simon Wai prototype.

*** Aquatic Ruin, Mystic Cave, Hidden Palace, and the "Winter Zone" concept are absent in all four illustrations depicting the setting, while Death Egg is mentioned in another page. Ocean Wind, Sand Shower, Tropical Plant, Olympus, and Blue Lake are all previously unknown level names. Interestingly, while not shown in any of the setting illustrations, Hidden Palace ''is'' mentioned in an outline of the game's intended plot; its purpose was to allow Sonic to travel to the prehistoric age after Eggman creates a ruined present.

* ChristmasRushed: Deadlines resulted in the loss of five planned Zones. One, Genocide City/Cyber City, was turned into Metropolis Zone Act 3.

*** Aquatic Ruin, Mystic Cave, Hidden Palace, and the "Winter Zone" concept are absent in all four illustrations depicting the setting, while Death Egg is mentioned in another page. Ocean Wind, Sand Shower, Tropical Plant, Olympus, and Blue Lake are all previously unknown level names. Interestingly, while not shown in any of the setting illustrations, Hidden Palace ''is'' mentioned in an outline of the game's intended plot; its purpose was to allow Sonic to travel to the prehistoric age after Eggman creates a ruined present.
* UpdatedRerelease: The game was released on IOS on November 21 as part of the Sega Forever collection, classic Sega games that are released monthly for free, and included a remastered soundtrack, Boss attack mode, Hidden Palace Zone, the ability to play as Knuckles (along with the ability to play as Super Knuckles), a handful of other things, and Tails can now fly. And simply because of Tails' 25th anniversary. Awesome

*** Aquatic Ruin, Mystic Cave, Hidden Palace, and the "Winter Zone" concept are absent in all four illustrations depicting the setting, while Death Egg is mentioned in another page. Ocean Wind, Sand Shower, Tropical Plant, Olympus, and Blue Lake are all previously unknown level names. Interestingly, while not shown in any of the setting illustrations, Hidden Palace ''is'' mentioned in an outline of the game's intended plot; its purpose was to allow Sonic to travel to the prehistoric age after Eggman creates a ruined present.

*** Aquatic Ruin, Mystic Cave, and Hidden Palace are absent in all four illustrations depicting the setting. And so is the "Winter Zone" concept. Death Egg is mentioned in another page. Ocean Wind, Sand Shower, Tropical Plant, Olympus, and Blue Lake are all previously unknown level names.

** Genocide City was actually supposed to be a single act Zone, and was replaced by of Metropolis Zone Act 3.

** There are so many things that were meant to be in the game. First, there's the time travel aspect.[[note]]Which later became the basis for ''Sonic CD''.[[/note]] Next, there were 12 enemies that were scrapped which one of them was a red T-Rex badnik. Finally, six scrapped stages that were named Genocide City/Cyber City Zone whose name got changed and was instead worked into the third act of Metropolis Zone, Dust Hill Zone which obviously was a desert level, Rock World Zone which was meant to be a past version of Dust Hill Zone when the time travel aspect was still in development, Winter Zone which was a PaletteSwap of Dust Hill Zone according to a [[http://info.sonicretro.org/Brenda_Ross_interview_by_Deviance_(February_2001) interview with Brenda Ross, a video game artist for the game,]] Wood Zone which was a forest level designed by Ross, and the most famous of them all, Hidden Palace Zone. Hidden Palace Zone exists in the final version as the music for the level exists and by via Game Genie code, but the level looks unfinished. Luckily, Hidden Palace Zone is in the iOS and Android releases in Mystic Cave Zone's spike pit, and has a new boss. However, it plays Mystic Cave's two-player music as it was in the Simon Wai prototype.

*** Green Hill (Present), Hill Top (Past), Dust Hill (Ruined Present) and Chemical Plant (Bad Future) were all the same place. That explains why Hill Top is a PaletteSwap with dinosaurs.

*** Aquatic Ruin, Mystic Cave and Hidden Palace are absent in all four illustrations depicting the setting. And so is the "Winter Zone" concept. Death Egg is mentioned in another page. Ocean Wind, Sand Shower, Tropical Plant, Olympus and Blue Lake are all previously unknown level names.

** There are so many things that were meant to be in the game. First, there's the time travel aspect.[[note]]Which later became the basis for ''Sonic CD''.[[/note]] Next, there were 12 enemies that were scrapped which one of them was a red T-Rex badnik. Finally, six scrapped stages that were named Genocide City/Cyber City Zone whose name got changed and was instead worked into the third act of Metropolis Zone, Dust Hill Zone which obviously was a desert level, Rock Zone which was meant to be a past version of Dust Hill Zone when the time travel aspect was still in development, Winter Zone which was a PaletteSwap of Dust Hill Zone according to a [[http://info.sonicretro.org/Brenda_Ross_interview_by_Deviance_(February_2001) interview with Brenda Ross, a video game artist for the game,]] Wood Zone which was a forest level designed by Ross, and the most famous of them all, Hidden Palace Zone. Hidden Palace Zone exists in the final version as the music for the level exists and by via Game Genie code, but the level looks unfinished. Luckily, Hidden Palace Zone is in the iOS and Android releases in Mystic Cave Zone's spike pit, and has a new boss. However, it plays Mystic Cave's two-player music as it was in the Simon Wai prototype.

** Several planned Zones were DummiedOut, such as Wood Zone (eventually recycled as Mushroom Hill Zone in ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Sonic & Knuckles]]''), Death Egg Zone (all of the Zone before the final boss fights was cut) and Hidden Palace Zone (whose soundtrack and some data survives in the final cartridge). A lot of WildMassGuessing has surrounded these, including the idea that originally ''Sonic 2'' was supposed to have the time travel gimmick of ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogCD Sonic CD]]'' and the Dust Hill Zone (which eventually became the Mystic Cave Zone) was a BadFuture of Emerald Hill Zone, and so forth. A particularly mysterious cut level is the gloriously named Genocide City Zone. See "What Could Have Been" below.

*** Dust Hill is unrelated to "Rock Zone", whose full name is Rock World. A previously unknown "Sand Shower Zone" was the ''actual'' name of the desert level connected to Rock World. The hypothesis that "Dust Hill" was simply Mystic Cave's old name seems to have prevailed. And although Wood Zone and Metropolis are on the same time zone they are also unrelated as Sand Shower appears between the two.

* GameMod: Quite a few, as it's a popular ROM hacking target (such as ''[[http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_2_XL Sonic 2 XL]]'', which turns all the rings into onion rings and if Sonic collects too many, he becomes overweight, struggles to move, and eventually dies). However one of the most thorough hacks would be ''[[http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_Classic_Heroes Sonic Classic Heroes]]''. Changes include a character swapping feature reminiscent of ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' (including the ability to tether the characters together, a la ''VideoGame/KnucklesChaotix''), a single player mode that combines both ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1'' and ''2'' into a single game, and features from ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles'' like elemental shields or turning into Hyper-form characters (achieved by completing all the special stages from both games, which includes a new seventh ''Sonic 1'' special stage to compensate).

* ChristmasRushed: Deadlines resulted in the loss of five planned Zones. One, Genocide City, was turned into Metropolis Zone Act 3.

** Several planned Zones were DummiedOut, such as Wood Zone (eventually recycled as Mushroom Hill Zone in ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Sonic & Knuckles]]''), Death Egg Zone (all of the Zone before the final boss fights was cut) and Hidden Palace Zone (whose soundtrack and some data survives in the final cartridge). A lot of WildMassGuessing has surrounded these, including the idea that originally ''Sonic 2'' was supposed to have the time travel gimmick of ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogCD Sonic CD]]'' and the Dust Hill Zone (which eventually became the Mystic Cave Zone) was a BadFuture of Emerald Hill Zone, and so forth. A particularly mysterious cut level is the gloriously named Genocide City Zone. See ''What Could Have Been'' below.

* GameMod: Quite a few, as it's a popular ROM hacking target (such as ''[[http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_2_XL Sonic 2 XL]]'', which turns all the rings into onion rings and if Sonic collects too many, he becomes overweight, struggles to move, and eventually dies). However one of the most thorough hacks would be ''[[http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_Classic_Heroes Sonic Classic Heroes]]''. Changes include a character swapping feature reminiscent of ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' (including the ability to tether the characters together, a la ''VideoGame/KnucklesChaotix''), a single player mode that combines both ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1'' and ''2'' into a single game, and features from ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles'' like elemental shields or the Insta-Shield.

*** Dust Hill is unrelated to "Rock Zone", whose full name is Rock World. A previously unknown "Sand Shower Zone" was the ''actual'' desert level connected to Rock World. The hypothesis that "Dust Hill" was simply Mystic Cave's old name seems to have prevailed. And although Wood Zone and Metropolis are on the same time zone they are also unrelated as Sand Shower appears between the two.