---By Jarred Man --- Theory Bash --- Updated 2nd of August 1999---The glitchy Bonus stage selection...I don't know if this is just my version of Sonic three or if it is on every version, this hasn't been emu tested by me yet.Part one: Select the pinball machine in the stage selectPart two: Go down and exitPart three: Look for name change (IE: Dolius stage)Part four: Press start then a to exitPart five: on the stage select take angel Island zone act onePart six: Glitchy opening: Hit debugPart seven: In debug, you should see Sonic on a surfboard. Place it. This is really glitchy. The one after placing the sonic-surfboard, you'll notice a bunch of junk behind him. This probaly is a wave chasing him that was taken out of the game: The game interprets it the only way it can (And it looks like the background to the Hidden Palace zone in the finished Sonic two). This definetly proves that Sonic was at one point surfing or was planned to surf in Angel Island Zone act one. I don't know if this is on anyone elses cart, but if it is on one, it probaly is on all. There is always the second (Unlikely) opinion.In another board, the yellow balloons in balloon park were programmed in this glitch. Don't think this is too illogical. I don't know how it was done, but I saw a save state with those robot mice from flying battery all messed up in Angel Island Zone. Well, if you select the option after Sonic surfing, you get something that is weird. If you put it down, everything gets an ultrared tint and, though not very clear but easily identified, the yellow balloons. I take a old Goldeneye 007 (N64) fact in this one. Multiplayer board "Library" (Or "Stacks" and "Basement" put together) did one be a single player board that was taken out. Could the multiplayer boards be beginning of boards that were taken out?Balloon park takes an imbetween a circus board and carnival night. I think it could be possible that Carnival Night was originally projected to look like balloon park did in the final version. I can't think of the name of the board right away, Chrome Gadget does have a possible connection with death eggzone (In look, Those floors only and the fact it is supposed to look high tech, and which board was more high tech than death egg zone, Sonic and Knuckles) and Desert Palace looks kind like Sandopolis. I think The yellow balloons could have come from Carnival night easily because the floating balloons. Now before you go shouting around "Sonic was surfing in the beta version" you must consider one thing: You have no evidence Sonic was ever surfing at all. This could be one of those things where "Oh, we wanted to put it in but we never had time to implement it fully" or "We didn't know how to finish this, so we only through a small piece in and nothing else," either way, it is a definety conclusion Sonic three was planned to have Sonic surfing in it.I've done this on Icecap Zone: There were rumors to see sonic skiing. No, I didn't get this on Icecap zone, and most of the zones I haven't tested. Instead, I got a low death point on it (In short, I'd start moving down the slope and die randomly [not so randomly according to the game {That is it's death position}]). Why hidden palace zone in Sonic two final is so glitchy. Duh! Same thing with nothing implemented. Just like HPZ 2 from the Beta. Hidden Palace zone one and two probaly wasn't changed in the later versions. One being the board, two being the board with nothing implemented except floors. The only difference I can see that was changed in Hidden Palace Zone from the Beta version we have and that one is the fact sonic goes into a ball in the green tube. --- Added 7th of July 1999 --- After writing a document that was posted on Sonic Stuff Reasearch Group, I decided to continue obscure observations. If you consider the active rom online (Sonic 2 Beta) a beta version, to you this is proving a delta version. If you believe it is an Alpha version, well, here is your evidence of a gamma version.I do not recommend trying this, and I predict different things happen on different systems. This is how to get your Sonic cart to access the "Zone Zone" and "Emerald Hill (No act"Unfortunetly, neither boards work. Emerald Hill, act null, and Zone Zone are probaly the two player boards "Emerald Hill" and "Casino Night Zone" in place of taken out one player boards "Hidden Palace Zone" and "?????"These are accessable solely for the reason they took the place of two boards in the level select, and what pisses me off is that I'm actually wrong about a Gamma (Delta to those of you who think the Alpha version is really a beta) not existing but a post-beta. Truth is, the post-beta might not exist and the Gamma replaces it. The specific cartridge I am talking about is not Andre Dirks, that one is too early.Start Sonic two.Enter Level select.press start.when the cartridge goes back to "Sega" pull it out, put in the Sonic 3 cart and press reset.Go to Sound test.Go to Bonus stage.After you fall through, when the bonus stage restarts, press start + AThe Bonus stage is the 6st board in 2 pl vs.the screen will be all glitchy. Pull out the Sonic three cart and put in the Sonic two cart. Press reset.Go to Sonic two level select. You should see a picture of Casino Night Zone with nothing selected. If you choose it, you will see "Zone Zone" come on the screen.I got the hidden palace picture, I'm suprised this method worked, by when I press a + start, I was still holding A into Level select. Holding A I pressed up. All of a sudden, I see the Hidden Palace Picture. I selected it and I saw on the Screen "Emerald Hill Zone" and nothing else.Why this works:I doubt my understanding of this is even 60% correct. As far as I know, this does not work with Sonic 3 level select first, rather then Sonic two, because Sonic two for some reason is cleaner. I'll explain my proof of that later.During the Beta stage of development (Or gamma, whichever you think the rom that is online is) Wood Zone or Genecide was totally taken out, but Hidden Palace Zone stayed in. Sega made another version of Sonic two soon after, this time making all pictures to Zones they thought accessible. Since Wood Zone/Genecide City Zone was taken out, they didn't draw a picture. Hidden Palace was going through it's last run. Wood Zone and Genecide City Zone were still on like the demo picture "Dust hill" was to be programed into Sonic two but was never completed (The palette does hang around for the Alpha version). Thus, they were accessible but not without any device, unless you use my method, which I don't think anyone did. When the final version was created, Hidden Palace Zone was taken out but the thumbnail hung around. Sega probaly relised this and then coded Hidden Palace Zone to a different area (Inbetween Oil Ocean and Mystic Caves) instead of right before death egg, because that wouldn't make any sense to keep it there anyway. In place of hidden palace went the two player Emerald hill zone, which has its own differences then the one player zone. Ditto with Casino night. Emerald hill Zone 2 player replaced Hidden Palace, but kept its picture (This is logical because with a device Hidden Palace picture fits on Emerald hill Zone 2) while Casino night replaced a zone like wood zone or Genecide City Zone. I am willing to bet there is a similar glitch with Mystic caves and the special stages. This would explain the palette hangover a bit farther then initially though, because now the genesis has to oversee them to go where it should go. My map is like this:Hidden Palace Zone slot=Emerald Hill Zone two playerCasino Night Zone slot=Genecide city/wood zone/original remains of dust hill paletteMystic Caves Zone slot=" "Special Stage Zone slot=" "Emerald Hill is identified as Hidden Palace Solely because the picture of Hidden Palace in Level select when you choose Emerald Hill Zone act 2 is sometimes accessed.Casino Night Zone is identified because of Music and the fact of the picture in level select. (Zone Zone)Mystic Cave Zone and Special Stages sadly are unproven at this time to exist like the above, though I hope to prove them eventually.Why this is actually cleaner then previous debug:I don't know. All I know is that when you place Sonic surfing like I said to at the beginning of this theory the wave is visible if you do it right before Knuckles pops out. When you did it without Sonic 2 "Stop and Swop," you couldn't do this, but now you can. -- Added 2nd of August 1999 -- Yes, I know many of you were looking for my Sonic 1 plus Knuckles theory, so if you want it posted, complain to Comp USA in White Plains, NY. They've had my computer for weeks and refuse to fix it (No comment) I haven't searched for any lost level icons, and the music is not the same with the bad level icons, but I have indeed found something. Using this method, you can find a few screenshot changes before the gamecrashes. Count 'em. They coordinate with all the lost levels,including a "Dust Hill Zone" which I believe never was programmed, but was "waiting to be" for the reason of being dropped from Sega CD.And it is too bad that my computer isn't working, I was to show my DustHill place in Hill Top location.To get down to argument, Lava Reef Zone Act 4 never has and never shall exist. Nor is it the "Real name for Hidden Palace Zone." It is to mybelief that Hidden Palace Zone was originally Sky Sanctuary Zone ACT 1.The normal board was to be act two or somewhere to go after you beatKnuckles. Think about it. The emerald keeps up the island, thus it ison an island rather than a cave. Hangover of this is the emerald beingin Sky Sanctuary Zone Act, like you couldn't guess, 2 on the stageselect.Another report for you, where is the music for Hidden Palace Zone? I dobelieve I've heard that music in another board, oh lets say Lava ReefZone act 2.Incorporate logic into your theories, folks, though some have you do, noone has really looked at the Knuckles Can Go to Hidden Palace messagetoo clearly. Maybe this simply means now Knuckles can progress throughthe game past Lava Reef Zone. If you recall, there are NO chaosemeralds past Lava Reef Zone with any characters and the Sonic teamalways wanted you to take the time to get Chaos Emeralds. Maybe thiswas their reward.However, if Hidden Palace was developed late, how would the message "Hidden Palace" be in it? Easily, to save space, the Sonic Team never re-typed anything in the Special Stage screen, but did this:Text, load board name. That would mean by placing Sky Sanctuary over Hidden Palace, you'd replace the Zone names. --- Added 26th of March 2000 --- After a long long absence, I have returned to write a little to add to my theory written long ago. I've deleted my emulation and in fact haven't played any video games lately, but I will take this time to make a small addition to things I wrote in theory bash. Plots: Demise of Hidden Palace Zone Recently (Well, it was written months ago originally to be an add on to theory bash) I wrote a few lines, which turned out to be gibberish pointing the demise of hidden palace. Let's look at some facts: Knuckles is the final guardian of the Chaos Emerald. The level has a Tails 1-up icon, even when accessed by Sonic. The level has water. OK, many of you may be immediately asking what "The level has water" has to do with anything. This answer is simple. The Sonic Engine couldn't use water in the multiplayer level: It freezes the game if programmed in, therefore it was overridden into loading single player. Clear cut and simple, this small thing proves the board was never meant to be multiplayer. But what of the impossible jumps? It appears, this board didn't load correctly. If you examine this board into very close detail, the steep walkways show that this board was cut off at the ceiling. But what does this mean? It hadn't loaded correctly at this Alpha stage of the game, and more then likely didn't work well at the drawing boards. If you use debug, you will find the "End" and the "New begining, cut off"...seems offcentered, with detail being brought down to the bottom. The other reason for this is so O2 Bubbles wouldn't have to be programmed in, letting them test the level (Albiet about water)...will get back to this later. There also seems to be minimal support in this board. This board could be renamed "Death Egg Zone two." The fact the Tails ought to be fighting aboard the Death Egg is absurd. Why is Tails fighting against a Sonic Robot? Well, there could be two solutions to this strange plot delema. Add another board, or at a Tails Robot. The Tails Robot Idea could not fly on any level. Sure he could spin in a ball, but he has no spikes. How does one die? Only one way. He rams you. Sprite robot tails has no feasible attacks. Realising this, the Sonic Team went to another drawing board idea. They decided to make Tails the guardian of the master emerald. They therefore could insert a good plot in. Tails is explained why he is allied with Sonic. He must defend the emerald. As noted, the emerald is in board I. This means the HPZ was meant to be only one level long. The HPZ II board is the exact same thing as I with nothing implemented except the structure in HPZ I. There are some huge problems with this board, though. Tails encounters the master emerald early. Is he supposed to use it and become Super Tails? Probably not. There is no boss in this board, and no evidence. At least in other boards there is a small skeleton. The emerald is too close to the beginning too. Would it be like Death Egg? No, this has rings and would be too easy plus it scrolls up and down. This leaves a dilima. A fantastic looking board with a skeleton plot. Quite unimaginative and boring. Developments of the other boards progressed. HPZ still wasn't sure how it would work. Therefore, it was not worked on much, just with some commands of making objects work. Sonic Team would keep this board in the game as long as possible. Eventually, however, they were nearing the deadling. An uncertain HPZ had to quickly be completed from its dismal state. There would be a few add-ons. One problem would remain: Plot. Around this time, a few weeks before Cartridge production, the game was being finalized. Final enhancements were being made, such as a new stage select. Final ideas were being implemented, such as Super Sonic. The question looms: Would HPZ be complete? The drawing board for S3 would begin. An idea, a massive game with a new character to hook onto S2 would be made. Skeleton code allowing this would be inserted into S2. This would allow S2 to import sprites as well as altering button commands. Since Sonic One lacked this, it would not be able to use this small enhancement. As this character, Knuckles latter known, was being developed, the Sonic Team would figure out an easy way in solving the HPZ lack of plot/boredom problems. It would continue this story in a latter version of Sonic. Therefore, this board was now out of place; It was deleted. Taken from 'Secrets of Sonic the Hedgehog - The Original'http://secretsonic.cjb.net---