Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II

This page details one or more prototype versions of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II.

'This page or section details content from theAugust 2026 Steam2 Content Server Dump.'''

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Steam2 Beta Builds need to be added. See if there are anymore differences. Beta 6 prototype.

Beta 2#

Beta 2 of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II is a build of the iOS version recovered on April 19, 2025 by Obscure Gamers. The build is dated January 26, 2012, four months before Beta 8, and is notable for being the only known version to contain the unused "To Be Continued" cutscene that would have teased an Episode III.

Christian "The Taxman" Whitehead stated that, prior to being hired to make the 2011 mobile port of Sonic the Hedgehog CD, he was asked by Sega Studios Australia if he was interested in working on Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode III. However, the studio shut down in April 2013. Ken Balough, the digital brand manager for Sega of America at the time of Episode II's release, stated that Episode III never made it off the ground as a project.¹

To Be Continued#

Watch on YouTube

An unused cutscene depicting Knuckles the Echidna using the Master Emerald to empower the Death Egg mk.II. The space station, left intact after the final boss, glows and summons an army of Eggman-styled ships as they begin a conquest of Earth, ending on a white screen with the text "To Be Continued...".

As noted on the main page, the audio for this cutscene is the only remnant left in the final game, and the cutscene itself isn't present in Beta 8, indicating that between January and April, plans for Episode III were canceled and the cutscene was hastily removed as a result.

Beta 8#

This prototype is documented on Hidden Palace.

Beta 8 is a build that was accidentally released on Steam by Sega on April 21, 2012, allowing people who pre-ordered the game to download and play it three weeks before official release date. Sega eventually noticed the error and fixed it the next day. People who already downloaded the beta build were locked out with a message stating the player should buy the game first which was irreversible without using a cracked build.

Despite this, Sega didn't take down the accounts who played the game early as they stated the accounts downloaded the game legally, and it was their mistake.

Because of its release date, the build is very similar to the final game, with only minor differences.

Differences#

• Sylvania Castle Zone's textures often fail to load.
• The game crashes upon switching windows if run in full-screen mode for some people.
• Pressing 0 (LT using an Xbox 360 controller) will give the player 99 rings. This is likely a debugging feature.
• The Mantis enemies in Sylvania Castle can appear with an incorrect black texture.
• Some parts of the sand in the background of Oil Desert act Boss can appear white.

References#