The Sonic The Hedgehog 2 stage that never was (Picture: YouTube)
Multiple scrapped levels from Sonic The Hedgehog 2 have been found and recreated in a fascinating new historical dig.
All games have tons of content that don’t make it into the final game, and Sonic The Hedgehog 2 from 1992 is no exception – even though you would’ve thought every little secret would’ve been found by now.
It’s rare that we ever get to see the cut gameplay, for any game, but thanks to the Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) Sonic fans can get a look at what could’ve been.
The organisation scanned documents and acquired a VHS cassette full of old footage, which revealed scrapped stages from 1992 Mega Drive game Sonic The Hedgehog 2.
VGHF recreated a stage that was planned to be in the game, showing exactly how it would’ve looked if it wasn’t cut, using documents provided by artist Tom Payne and a map and sketches of the same stage from game designer Hirokazu Yasuhara.
The stage is called the Cyber City Zone, and can be seen about 14 minutes into the video at the bottom of this article.
The VGHF also got hold of artist Brenda Cook’s VHS portfolio, who worked on three stages that didn’t make it to the final game.
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The video below shows one of her stages, a desert stage called Sandy Shower Zone, and an unnamed winter stage, and gives some indication of what they would have looked like in the game.
The video is worth a watch if you want to see some insights into the work that goes into creating maps in games, and stages that could’ve been in Sonic The Hedgehog 2 if they weren’t scrapped.
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Multiple scrapped levels from Sonic The Hedgehog 2 have been found and recreated in a fascinating new historical dig.