Sonic the Hedgehog (Prototype) LOST BITS | Altered & Unused Content [TetraBitGaming]

hey guys and welcome back to another lost bits video right here on tetra bay gaming the series where we explore the unused scrap and unseen content in video games and we're kicking this year off with a big one 2020 was a pretty crummy year for most thankfully though it ended off on a high note for many sonic fans for those that didn't hear the cutting room floor as well as hidden palace presented a newly shared prototype of the original sonic the hedgehog why was this such a big deal well although some prototypes of the game have been known to exist until this day none have been properly dissected let alone made public so naturally when it was being live streamed many fans myself included were losing their minds anyways in this video we'll be diving into this prototype and talking about what i think are the most notable changes from the final as well as all the interesting finds really quick though before we dive in in case you missed my announcement earlier this week i recently got partnered with gpa now this video isn't sponsored or anything but the reason i bring this up is that they have an awesome sonic flavor that i think you'll enjoy so if you'd like to try it out or any of the other awesome g-fil flavors out there be sure to use the link at the top of the description or use code tetra at checkout for up to 30 off your order anyways enough talk we got lots to go through here so let's take it back to a time before the game that started it all and find some lost bits so like i mentioned earlier there are several known different pre-release builds of sonic 1 out there and although it appears that this build lacks specific info like a build date just based on things seen in this prototype it's believed to be a later build placed somewhere between the demo seen at ces of 1991 and the build scene in game players sega genesis strategy guide magazine and if you're wondering apparently this build we're discussing here originates from an unnamed magazine from the united kingdom anyways let's get to the changes before we get to the gameplay just after booting up the game already a few changes can be seen here when compared to the final release here a much smaller shinier and more silent sega logo starts off the game so unfortunately no to be heard here fellas there's no sonic team presents preceding the iconic title screen either and this prototype contains a message to press the start button one which doesn't appear in the final and a bit of a fun fact about this one apparently this text is supposed to actually appear in the final release but due to an error stemming from the sonic team presents and press start button text using the same memory space the latter just doesn't get displayed as intended but enough title screen now let's get to the gameplay as well as the stages first some general changes seen here throughout this prototype for starters some differences can be noted with the heads-up display here rings is just seen as a singular ring it also won't flash red when the ring count is zero and the timer here loops back to the nine minute mark every minute after reaching it which also means that this build doesn't have a 10 minute time limit before you lose a life so you're free to roam around and explore the stages to your heart's content with no time constraints furthermore another weird difference here is that the timer will keep counting up after getting a game over in the final release it stops instead next up there are a slew of other gameplay differences in this build sonic has no collision above him when damaged there's no combo points bonus for getting a multi-kill this game lacks any sort of checkpoints at all one-ups are earned at 50 and 100 rings instead of 100 and 200 respectively making it much easier to stock up on lives to add to that you can also take damage and reach 50 and 100 rings as much as you can to keep earning lives within a stage whereas in the final release the game limits you to only two ring-based one-ups per life per level this change was very likely made as the developers saw that building up a stockpile of lives was a bit too easy potentially removing the fear of losing a life collision is a bit scuffed at times some platforms seem to cause sonic to lose speed for no good reason spikes hurt sonic even with the invincibility power up the vertical camera movement is quite slow often too slow to keep up with the blue blur sonic's jump here is shorter by a whopping six pixels and there are some more changes which i'll touch on as we go through the stages seen in this prototype and speaking of stages let's get to them first up of course is the most iconic and reused sonic area green hill zone which despite being the most polished zone seen in this build it still has several differences compared to the final release stuff like the sunflowers still having magenta centers instead of green some enemies were removed like this moto bug at the start here which was likely removed so that players wouldn't lose a life mere seconds after starting several palm trees here lack things like item monitors or springs which were later added and yeah just in general there are some layout changes in the individual acts like there's this wall of spikes along the wall here near at the start of act one for seemingly no good reason like there's nothing really back there behind them or anything so what are they really protecting come on now spikes thankfully these were removed another notable change is seen here at the highest part of act 1 where platforms haven't been added in yet acts 2 had much of the same some added or removed rings and springs items and the monitors were changed and some platforms were added here and there it's again similar in app 3 where once more some monitors were changed and some more spikes were removed the boss fight here remains unchanged but i just thought it notable to mention that at this point in development this was the only zone to feature a functioning boss battle now all those things are fine and all but probably the most notable thing here seen in green hill zone though are these balls when looking back at my old sonic lost bits video i'm surprised i didn't really cover this ball but before being seen in this prototype although it's found left over unused in the final release it's unable to be placed in rendering it useless so this ball's intended placement and use were only seen in some old grainy screenshots from other pre-release builds that changes here as the ball appears in each act of green hill zone it works kinda as you'd expect it to only a bit more buggy sonic can push them around as well as be pushed by them it also seems to just leave the area when reaching certain spots like this bridge here it's not entirely clear what their purpose was meant to be i mean besides just being an obstacle like man some of them are in some really inconvenient places it's no surprise they were removed since sonic can actually roll these balls through the s-tunnels it's possible they might have served some larger purpose but that's still currently unfortunately unknown and another thing before we move on are some differences seen when completing an act first off sonic can't run off screen after completing an act which is fine i guess but one of the most interesting changes in this build at least i think is that here sonic can perform a unique victory jump on this screen now i mentioned these sprites in my original sonic lost bits video since they went on to remain unused in the final release so it's really cool to see them in action here and honestly jumpy boy sonic is pretty cool i wish they had kept this furthermore for the end of the act area the hidden point markers aren't yet present in this build and the special stage rings aren't fully implemented instead here if sonic runs through one of these rings he will become sparkly and then warp off screen in a way reminiscent to that scene later in sonic cd now i've seen some fans speculate that this might have been a remnant from a time travel mechanic similar to cds that could have been intended at some point but i think it's far more likely that this just might have been a scrapped transition between the act and the special stage especially given how close to release this prototype was a big mechanic like time travel seems like not a trivial thing to scrap this far into development now on to marble zone oh my god it's the ufos ufos you might be wondering well no one knows for sure what they are resulting in the unidentified part of the acronym but again up until this prototype dropped these were only seen in some early screenshots of the game and they became somewhat of a well-known change since their removal is so obvious as such many fans were really happy to see them in a working build they don't do anything besides act cool in the background but hey the truth really was out there other than that though we got more of what you'd expect in terms of changes such as different layouts and enemy and ring placements once again act 1 in marble zone has a badnik right at the start which can bop sonic if you don't move in time anyways in the interest of time for the rest of this video i'll stop mentioning all the ring and enemy placement changes as i'll just highlight more major changes on the full level layouts one more notable change in act one is the different scene in this here hallway instead of the vertical spike thing falling a horizontal one is seen in this prototype instead now what makes this quite interesting is that this horizontal spike thing actually goes completely unused in the final outside of being accessible via the debug mode so just like the vol it's really cool to see another object that's never been seen in a used state moving on to act 2 as seen here the layout was quite different in the latter half of the act additionally another rather big change here deals with these glass platform things instead of just hitting a switch to move them sonic has to jump on them several times in order to very slowly lower them this is kind of similar to that one mechanic with the barrels seen in carnival night zone and sonic 3. i'm very glad the change was made here in act 2 you can also damage boost through the lava here to glitch out of the stage for no reason at all so that's fun then act 3 has more of the same in terms of changes and once again more major layout changes can be seen here towards the end of the act and like i mentioned green hill zone was the only one here with a working boss fight so instead at the end of this zone we are just greeted with a signpost and with that ends this last fully complete zone in this prototype next up spring yard yup here not only do we get to see the early name for spring yard zone but also a completely different backdrop graphic gone are the mountains distant city skyline and trees and instead this zone appears to have been intended to be found smack dab right in the middle of a city as we can easily see billboards or signs in the background these include many wishing you good luck telling you to go go and ones that i sure can't read starting with act 1 the layout is generally pretty similar with a few changes here and there keeping with the prototype being more difficult theme we've been seeing so far this build has this bumper surrounded by four lines of spike balls definitely an obstacle that's for sure alright now on to act two or not guess we're skipping labyrinth zone 2 and going right to starlight zone okay i suppose right off the bat here it becomes apparent that this stage isn't exactly something you'd call finished as it turns out this is actually the last normally playable act in the game as after you touch the end sign post which is misplaced might i add the game will take you back to the title screen fear not though there is a way to access the rest of the stages which we'll come back to later anyways starlight zone here has a bit of a different style as the platforms aren't just rigid blocks but rather many more trusses are present so just like the prototype itself the stage used to have a more under construction aesthetic the layout also has several changes which can be seen throughout the act honestly apart from a few key areas like the loops this stage is quite different and there are also several areas that don't really have an obvious way of being reached at this point so like i said normally i guess for whoever this build was made for this would have been the end of their demo experience but thankfully this prototype has a not so hidden level select that can be simply brought up by pressing a and start on the title screen and here we can access the rest of the stages in this prototype which are left out for good reason as they aren't nearly as finished as the rest so let's first quickly finish up with the zones we already started on for the rest of sparkling zone it's more or less the same as what we saw with act 1. layout changes like starting on a slope rather than a flat platform at the start of act 2 as well as some removed half-pipe things by the time we get to act 3 although the level's layout is more or less complete at this point in development there are no objects in the stage like the bumpers or you know the floating platforms that are necessary to complete the stage yeah without them this act is normally impossible to complete but it's not like there's a signpost at the end anyways so not that big of a deal before moving on i think it's also of note that there's this weird thing in this prototype here where sonic will like stick to the top of some ceilings here when jumping into them i don't believe this is a thing in the final game anyways now on to the rest of starlight zone and just like with sparkling zone act 3 these two are almost completely object-free several changes were also made of course here in act 2 this wavy segment didn't exist there was one less loop here and yeah i'm starting to see way more changes than similarities and the same goes for act 3 where some ideas like the steep intro slope was kept but basically the rest of the stage got a complete overhaul not much was kept the same and this overhaul was certainly for the better as at this stage in development this act is really tough to get through next up since it was skipped earlier is probably my least enjoyed zone in this game labyrinth zone just never really enjoyed most water levels in video games you know which is why i was very pleased to see that at this point in development water wasn't yet implemented yay and just like the other normally unplayable stages this entire zone is once again pretty barren additionally you might have already noticed that the background in this zone is also different as instead of the bricks and such here we see a bunch of rocks as well as some cracks where sunlight can be seen peeping through really hammering in the fact that this zone is in some sort of cave the weird thing is although the background looks fine in act 1 in act 2 it's only half presents and finally in act three it's completely gone pretty strange other changes include different designs for the crystals seen in the zone which here look more simplistic as well as these brick wall tiles which were removed in the final release for whatever reason the layouts of course also saw some changes but not nearly as many as some of the other zones as for the most part the general layouts appear pretty similar that said without the water being implemented yet these stages are pretty much impossible to normally complete thankfully though the debug mode seen in pretty much every main series genesis sonic game is also present here so with it i can zip through and around walls to my heart's content to explore some otherwise inaccessible areas here also just like with the debug mode and other sonic games with it in this prototype we can also place in various objects including items and enemies like here we can place in rings which appear black due to a glitched color palette or a crabmeat badnik what what do you mean you can't tell that's a crab meat and yeah before we move on the debug mode here didn't really reveal anything else notable that we haven't already seen in this prototype or in the final game just the ability to zip around have invincibility and to place an object stuff we've seen countless times here on the show now back to the level select the last main zone left is clockwork zone or clock fork zone i guess seems like someone forgot to add the w here turns out actually there's no w here because there is no w sprite present amongst the title card graphics due to storage limitations anyways clock work zone is an early name for what became scrap brain zone and this is probably the least finished zone in this prototype not entirely surprising considering it's the last regular zone in the final game much like the other zones right away it's obvious that the background graphic is different instead of the smoggy industrial background here it appears that the backdrop just uses tiles from the stage itself often making depth perception an extra challenge and in act 2 the backdrop is just a nice blue screen of death blue awesome like i said this zone is very incomplete no items or enemies the fast travel tube things don't work in fact the paths are often really scuffed there are several dead ends the gears and conveyor belts don't quite work as intended and yeah overall the stage just looks as polished as sandpaper as such it's unsurprising that both acts were almost completely revamped in the final game with very few layout ideas remaining both acts well what about scrap brain zone at 3 you might be wondering well it just doesn't exist in this prototype at least not in any playable form you can't even access it while on the level select screen act 3 here just isn't accessible and if you haven't noticed on the level select screen there's also no final zone present in this build yet either so that's about it for the zones but of course there's also the special stage to check out there's only one special stage found in this build and it's pretty simple in terms of layout with very few rings and bumpers there's also no chaos emeralds to collect yet and instead there's just this green block surrounded by rings which i guess is supposed to be a placeholder for the emerald it unfortunately can't be obtained or anything though also there's no real end to the special stage either even if you manage to reach the goal tiles the stage will spin around but then it will just stop for a while and then the stage will reset not much else you can really do here at this stage in development but i guess they were just showing this off as a sort of proof of concept and although that's it for the levels we're not quite done just yet as this prototype also contains several things which go normally unused here first let's start off with some unused audio which can be heard in the sound test in the level select screen now to clarify these might not necessarily be unused in the final release but they do go unused in this prototype first the sound effects these range from buzzers to vibrating sounds to footsteps in the interest of time i'll just zip on through the sound effects here [Applause] oh [Music] then as far as music goes there aren't any unique unused tracks in the prototype but a few sound a bit different compared to the final and also go unused here the final zone and continue screen tracks don't go used here since both weren't implemented yet and the ending theme is slightly slower compared to the final here's a quick comparison next although currently just speculation there's also an unused level color palette that's believed to have been meant for green hill zone and this is what stage looks like with it some believe that this might have been for some sort of once planned night mode version of the stage but again it's currently just being speculated now last up for this video let's go over some unused graphics and objects as far as unused sprites go we got some sparkles some fireball things this sprite speculated to have been meant for the sparkling zone boss fight these water splashes meant for labyrinth zone some puffs of smoke these magnet and skull graphics meant for the special stage which are believed to have given sonic the ability to attract rings and die in the mode respectively and lastly there is an unused sixth sprite for the animation of the ufo seen in marble zone which makes the rotation of the outer ring seem more complete now this can actually be restored into the game with the use of a cheat code but why this one frame doesn't go used here isn't clear then for unused objects first there's this whatever this is that cycles between two garbled sprites this unknown object can actually be briefly seen in footage of early development of the game on a developer's screen then we also have this object that acts as a door that can be opened by stepping on a switch this thing that's believed to have been a switch meant for marble zone another unknown unused object meant for labyrinth zone as well as this seesaw object that's placeable in starlight zone via debug mode now these do go used in the final version but here in this prototype even when placed in they lack the spike balls that are used to throw sonic upwards and even more mysterious is that here these seesaws also have an unused function that allows them to disappear this prototype also contains several badnicks that weren't implemented in any of the stages scene we got the burrobots in a different color palette the jaws badniks splats the famous scrapped badnik who also went on to be an unused enemy in the final version can be placed in marble zone again in a different palette oh yeah and they also don't seem to have collision with moving platforms and yeah that's kind of weird and finally and probably most interestingly is the ball hog badnik who here is seen functioning differently now in the final cut the ball hogs face sideways and will launch a bouncing bomb towards the player in this prototype however the ball hogs function is instead to waddle side to side and shoot bombs directly downwards towards the player from a higher platform this function has been a topic of speculation for a while since this version of the ball hog could be seen in some pre-release gameplay footage so once again it's really cool to see this in action here it's really awesome to finally have basically the holy grail of sonic prototypes publicly available sure it would have been more cool to see a build from an even earlier point in development but i'm certainly not complaining this truly is an amazing find and it's awesome to have this for preservation and like i've been saying throughout the video although we've seen a lot of these early changes in old screenshots it's really cool to finally see them in action anyways if you enjoyed this video be sure to leave a like down below to help boost it in youtube's algorithm but as always guys thank you all so much for tuning in and i will see you in a bit [Music] you

Channel: TetraBitGaming

Views: 400,265

Rating: 4.9440255 out of 5

Keywords: sonic, sonic the hedgehog, Sonic 1, Sonic 1 Prototype, Sonic 1 Beta, Sonic the hedgehog prototype, Sonic 1 CES, Sonic Lost Bits, Sonic 1 Prototype Lost Bits, Sonic Prototype Lost Bits, Sonic 1 Lost Bits, Sega Genesis, tetrabitgaming, tetrabitgaming lost bits, lost bits, tetrabit, TBG Common, gaming, video games, Sonic Prototype found, Sonic Beta, Sonic Cut Content, Sonic Unused Music, Sonic unused sprites, tails and sonic pals, TCRF sonic, lost media, lost media found

Id: htEkYjXVboI

Length: 23min 12sec (1392 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 16 2021