Hydrocity Zone

This is a sub-page of Proto:Sonic the Hedgehog 3/Sonic 3 Zones.

Hydrocity's level design at this point is closer to the final game. However, there are still some differences between the prototype and the final version.

General#

Proto	Level Select Icon

• The background in Act 1 is completely different from the final game, featuring gray bricks and pillars, waterfalls, and rows upon rows of plant life. It also completely lacks any parallax scrolling. This early background design can still be seen in the level select icon for Hydrocity Zone in the final game.

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• Sonic and Tails do not play their falling animations when entering the level.

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• After dying, the background does not seem to load properly.
• The giant fan object does not play any sound.
• When Sonic runs across water, there is no sound associated.
• The Buggernauts use different graphics.
• The grabbing hand booster object plays no sounds.
• The Turbo Spikers play no sounds.

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• There are some misplaced spikes in Act 1.
• Destroying a Blastoid causes the player to bounce back the other direction as if they hit a boss.
• The pseudo-3D water effect in Act 1 has different graphics and lacks any horizontal parallax. It is also incorrectly placed later in the level.
• The Big Shaker's underwater palette is incorrect.
• If Sonic is twirled around by the miniboss, he uses his death-animation instead of his floating animation.
• When the miniboss enters, no sound is played.
• The "whooshing" sound is played more frequently when the miniboss causes a whirlpool.
• The drowning miniboss music bug exists in this prototype, but it plays Ice Cap Zone Act 2's track instead of the Sonic & Knuckles miniboss theme.
  • Turning super in either act, triggering the drowning music, and then leaving the water surface will instead play Mushroom Valley Act 2's track for until the super ability wears off.
• Some walls in Act 2 use slightly different sprites during the wall crusher segment.
• The wall crushing segment plays no sound.
• Sonic will play his previous animation when jumping on a spinning cylinder.

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• Rings overlap tubes.
• Knuckles is blue when first loading in.
• The boss overwrites the water surface graphics.
• Trapdoor objects have issues with sprite priority.

This page or section needs more images. There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough pictures. Please fix this. Specifically: Screenshot

• There is a section in Act 2 involving a vertical bar object that is unused in the final game.
• The Knuckles cutscene is very different and unfinished - he immediately charges towards Sonic upon seeing him, which in turn presses the button and makes the bridge collapse in under a second.
  • The small wall between the two also doesn't stop Knuckles from running, which results in him floating in air near Sonic.
• The pathway to the boss has no objects.
• Act 2's music has issues with volume.
• After defeating the boss, the level music does not start back up.

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• In the final version, the level includes a couple of swinging balls and water droplet objects as eye candy. The proto lacks this, making the level look rather bland.

Unused Level Chunks#

Act 1:

Act 2:

Layout Differences#

To do: Actual comparisons.

Hydrocity Zone Act 1 Map

Proto
Final

Hydrocity Zone Act 2 Map

Proto
Final