Sparkling Zone

This is a sub-page of Proto:Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis).

Sparkling Zone, being an early version of Spring Yard Zone, has several differences from the final besides its name, the most notable ones being graphical.

General#

• All 3 Acts are slightly shorter in the prototype than in the final game. The final game adds an extra chunk of level past the end-of-act camera bounds.

Background#

Proto
Final

The level background is completely different from the final, with starry skies at midnight against skyscrapers instead of clouds and a distant city in the evening. There's not much in the way of depth and scale seen in the background compared to the final, as there are no distant hills or mountains to be seen, and there are large buildings with various decorative signs a la the later Casino Night Zone.

Palette#

The palette in the prototype uses different hues of pink.

Objects#

• Bumpers don't give 10 points when they are hit yet.
• There are no Rollers placed anywhere in the Act layouts, though the Badnik can be selected in debug mode.

Act 1#

Proto
Final

Completing this Act sends you to Star Light Zone Act 1. As this Act is accessible without using the Level Select, this is likely to avoid players stumbling into the much-less-finished Act 2 and 3.

Proto	Final

• Two Buzz Bombers were added.
• The final game adjusts the positioning of the red spring very slightly upwards. This fixes an oddity in the prototype where Sonic cannot walk left across the top of the spring and onto the block the spring is attached to; the placement is just off enough that he'll end up seemingly pushing against nothing.
• A decorative pillar was placed on top of the ledge above this area, right before the "pinball"-like entrance. This minor chunk difference is also visible in Act 3.

Proto	Final

• The bumper area near the start contains a bumper object with rotating spikes on it that's not in the final game. Two regular bumpers ended up taking its space.
• Another bumper nearby was moved slightly to the right.

Proto	Final

• In the halfpipe section immediately below the bumper area above, the block with the red and yellow springs attached are not present in the prototype.

Proto	Final

• The top bumper, above this bit of solid ground connecting the bumper area and the first "elevator" section, is not present in the prototype.
• Two Buzz Bombers were added.
• The placement of the yellow light strips was adjusted.

Proto	Final

• A total of 4 Yadrins were cleaned out of this tunnel. One of them was placed on the downwards slope, while the other three were placed at the bottom.
• A yellow spring, facing backwards, was placed against the spotlight block.

Proto	Final

• The switch here was moved a tiny bit closer towards the platform, making it a little easier to jump onto the platform in time after pressing the switch.
• In the prototype, this platform has a nasty habit of permanently disappearing if Sonic backtracks into the tunnel and comes back.

Proto	Final

• At the left end of the level's top path, the second Ring Monitor in the prototype was removed, and the four spike balls were, mercifully, cut down to two.

Proto	Final

• Two rings were removed from the top of this platform.
• A yellow spring was added to help Sonic reach higher heights.

Proto	Final

• This section, around the middle of the level's top path, was changed quite a bit in the final. The moving staircase platform was removed and replaced with a steep slope.
• The area to the right had a line of rings removed, replaced with a checkpoint and some decor.

Proto	Final

• This area was made a little more interesting; instead of a plain flat stretch of ground, part of it was raised up and a yellow spring was added.
• Unfortunately, to fit the spring, a single ring had to be sacrificed.

Proto	Final

• Large spike balls moving up and down were added to the entrance of this tunnel.

Proto	Final

• Further into the tunnel, this set of spike balls was moved over slightly to the right.
  • This adjustment makes it easier for Sonic to get past the spike ball on the right; it's a bit of a tighter squeeze in the prototype.

Proto	Final

• A checkpoint was placed down.
• For some reason, the spotlight inside the block here was removed.
• A yellow spring to help you run up the tunnel slope was added, replacing a Crabmeat.

Proto	Final

• The two Ring Monitors and the 1-Up Monitor in this hidden area were replaced with some Rings.

Proto	Final

• The level layout in the prototype starts climbing upwards from here, rather than sloping downwards as in the final game. While the rough layout of the section beyond stays about the same, it's physically located higher up in the prototype.
• A 10 Ring Monitor was removed.
• Two Buzz Bombers were added.
• The elevator section leading up to here had the bottom right-most block in its arrangement removed. This makes it easier for Sonic to bounce up into the "elevators" from the spring below.

Proto	Final

• A Yadrin was placed right before the halfpipes.
• Both of these halfpipes went from 2 rotating spike balls to 1 rotating spike ball.
• The rings on the platforms in the middle of each halfpipe were removed.
• In the final game, there are only 5 rings at the bottom of the first halfpipe, while the second halfpipe has 6. The prototype places 6 rings at the bottom of both of the halfpipes. The missing ring may have been removed by accident.

Proto	Final

• An extra ring was added to each of these ring clusters above spring pits, to make the cluster symmetric in shape.
• Two 10 Ring Monitors were removed from the bottom of the first spring pit.
• Two Crabmeats and two Yadrins were added to the towers between each spring pit, making the area slightly more hazardous.

Proto	Final

• The switch and switch-activated door are missing in the prototype.
• The red spring was replaced with a yellow spring.
• The elevator section encountered on the upper path if this shortcut isn't taken was tweaked a bit:
  • A larger gap was added between elevator blocks, allowing Sonic to move through the section a bit quicker.
  • The lowest block in the section was placed towards the left rather than in the middle.

Act 2#

• Most objects are missing in the prototype. No Badniks have been placed anywhere in the Act yet at this point.

Proto
Final

Proto	Final

• The starting area, with the red spring, is a slope instead of a flat plain like the final game.
• 7 rings were removed from the drop down to the halfpipe below.
  • Beyond the first halfpipe, the prototype version of Act 2 is devoid of rings.

Proto	Final

• The platform that's high up in the air and features an Invincibility Monitor in the final game lacks a wall on its left in the prototype.

Proto	Final

• This chunk was changed to a shallower incline in the final.

Proto	Final

• The one spike ball in this tunnel was removed, and a total of 4 spike balls were added in different spots throughout the tunnel.
• While the rotating spike bar in this tunnel hasn't been placed down yet in the prototype, the block that it'll attach onto is present. However, the block is off-center.

Proto	Final

• One of the red springs was moved up higher.
• The gap between the elevator blocks above was expanded, allowing Sonic to bounce up into the elevator section easier. It's a bit more frustrating in the prototype.
• The wall to the left, below the tunnel exit, is not solid. An invisible collision block was added in the final game to prevent unfortunate deaths.
  • The visual design of this chunk (chunk 05) was also changed, as can be seen throughout all 3 Acts.

Proto	Final

• There's a small tunnel connecting the elevator section with the area to its left in the prototype.
• The halfpipe area to the left, just as in Act 1, had its 4 rotating spike balls cut down to just 2.
• The elevator section itself was made a lot less "dense"; many of the elevator blocks were removed and replaced with gaps, making the climb more bearable and less tedious.
• Aside from the spike balls and platforms in the halfpipes, and the elevator blocks here, beyond this point in the level there aren't any more objects placed.

Proto	Final

• This steep slope to the right of the "bumper pit" was changed to a flat ledge.

Proto	Final

• One of the halfpipes was removed and replaced with flat ground.
• The remaining halfpipe was modified so that it extends all the way up to the top of the right ledge.

Act 3#

Proto
Final

At this point, the stage lacks any objects, save for a single Static Monitor (subtype 00) at X:2148 Y:0308, and hence is impossible to complete.

Hacking in a Signpost will take you to Clock Work Zone Act 1. This behavior matches the original level order.

The only changes to the layout are:

• The flat starting area continues on for a bit longer in the prototype before it begins sloping downwards.
• The first "spring pit" in the final is a halfpipe instead, and this halfpipe is placed right in front of the first tunnel.

Act 4#

The right level's boundaries are 29C0. This value doesn't seem to match any Act of Sparkling Zone, meaning it may be an old leftover from the WCES build. The final version changes it to the value of Sparkling Zone Act 3 in this prototype instead (2C00).

Changed Chunks#

Chunk 05

Proto	Final

• Some (non-solid) blocks were added on the right-hand side.

Chunk 08

Proto	Final

• A decorative pillar was added in front of the small tunnel entrance; this chunk is always placed as the entrance to the "pinball arena"-esque areas.

Chunk 18

Proto	Final

• Some of the interior decorative blocks on the right were removed.

Chunk 1A

Proto	Final

• The slope of this Act 2-exclusive chunk was made more gentle, and less of a sharp bump.
• The decorative pillar was moved downhill, to the left.
• Lastly, the shape of the blocks within the ground was adjusted.

Chunk 20

Proto	Final

• The slope of this Act 2-exclusive chunk was made almost imperceptibly more gentle at its base.

Chunk 28

Proto	Final

• The shape of the inaccessible blocks in the top right was changed from a stair-like shape to a U-like shape.

Chunk 48

Proto	Final

• This chunk, used only a single time in Act 3 before the "pinball" section, had similar changes done to it as with chunk 1A. Its slope was made gentler, pillar was moved, and blocks adjusted.

Chunk 4A

Proto	Final
N/A

• This chunk doesn't exist in the prototype. In the final game, this chunk was added just to be used a single time in Act 1, to get the level layout to slope downwards rather than upwards as seen in one of the layout comparisons above.