Evolution of Sonic 2's Hidden Palace Zone (1992 - 2024)

Sonic 2 is famous for having lots of cut content. One of the most biggest pieces of removed material was the mysterious Hidden Palace Zone! From it's earliest known appearance in the Nick Arcade prototype to when it was scrapped before the retail release, it was inevitable that restoration attempts would be made on this zone, even after an official one was made available to the public!
All gameplay is my own, and for sections that feature rom hacks, an Origins letterbox is there just for the heck of it. All content belongs to their respective owners.
Table of Contents:
00:00 Introduction
00:11 Nick Arcade Prototype
01:48 Simon Wai Prototype
04:09 August 21st Prototype
06:12 CENSOR Prototype
06:35 Legacy and Restoration Attempts
07:05 Sonic 2 Delta by Neto/Esrael
16:16 Sonic 2: Long Edition by Sonic Hachelle-Bee
21:15 Mobile Remake (2013/PC Decomp)
25:24 Proto Palace Zone (2013/PC Decomp)
28:51 Sonic 2: Anniversary Edition by SophieDude
33:13 Sonic 2: The Secret Zones by CamManS5
37:06 Sonic Delta Reloaded by Neto/Esrael
44:23 Sonic 2: Pink Edition by E-122 PSI
53:06 EXTRA - Sonic 2: Westside Renovation by Me
55:05 EXTRA - Proto Palace Act 2 (Sonic 2: Westside Renovation)
56:55 Thanks for watching!
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[@panzervpanther933]

I think Track 10 (unused) would fit for Hidden Palace Zone (Sonic 2)

[@djole0512]

That's literaly the song for Hidden Palace.

[@tellertubbiesofficial]

thats literally the song, if you use a game genie or something like that, to load up hidden palace (in the final sonic 2) it plays track 10.

[@insertnamehere7294]

The August prototype uses the 2P Mystic Cave song for Hidden Palace Despite the Hidden Palace theme being present in the sound test

[@AbsnormalCoolest]

@@insertnamehere7294maybe they were focused on other things that werent just changing music for the extra zone

[@ragames7320]

​@@AbsnormalCoolestEarly prototype used the MCZ 2P OST. Final version used track 10.

[@truesledadoom]

it definitely took you a lot of time to make this video, different versions of hidden palace zone, epic love ur recreation btw

[@ls190v2]

Ancient Domain of Chaos Hidden Palace Zone A palace opulent and glorious, built to house the last and most powerful Chaos Emerald, once reduced to rubble and crystals, then restored to its true glory, as a beautiful palace.

[@Summit8351]

Your recreation of hidden palace looked absolutely amazing!

[@undyingstar]

How could you forget sonic 2 co-op revolutionary SplitScreen Hidden Palace!!!! Jokes asides this was a good video preserving on all instances of Hidden palace

[@therealzachmanawesomeness]

Thanks! I did not get to play Sonic 2 Co-Op as of yet but I might include it in a bonus video about this HPZ evolution in the future...

[@Emirexe_god]

After seeing sonic 2s hidden place and breakable emeralds.... İm feeling like theres not only One master emerald

[@JoshHarris-ld5yc]

I noticed that in 2013 of hidden Palace zone the part that was very similar the prototype of hidden Palace

[@gianck]

wonderful video

[@washingtonalmeidarodrigues1456]

Watch the Sonic1 and Sonic 2 movies and you will be able to better correlate the entire story and the three islands of Sonic 1, 2 and 3.

[@GoofyDominoes]

The Pogo Spring monitor at 46:39 actually appeared in Sonic Triple Trouble

[@therealzachmanawesomeness]

Interesting…

[@CathyArmstrong]

Brass Eggman

[@buddychristoGaming4239]

LET'S GO GET A soDA YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[@OneoftheJavas]

Is the first beta being played in... ORIGINS?!

[@therealzachmanawesomeness]

No, silly! Lol. This is just an edit to make the letterboxing less boring for sections that have hack gameplay in them. Better than just a plain vertical letterbox, am I right? Besides, all gameplay footage was actually recorded with OBS. The emulator I used is KEGA Fusion.

[@OneoftheJavas]

Ohhh I use streamlabs

[@MiniCrew11]

​@therealzachmanawesomeness If you turn filtering off in Kega you can get a lot better quality... unless you like it how it is, then keep it obviously

[@Titan-tv-man91223]

nobody is talking about the sonic animation_

[@spykes2015]

It’s a video about hidden palace zone tho

[@Titan-tv-man91223]

@@spykes2015 i mean how sonics moves

[@ThutaSoda]

I saw neo green zone

[@Theargballer1234]

Acuatic ruin beta

[@ScratchCatThings_]

And theres not one sonic 2 archives rom

[@GoofyDominoes]

Half-pipe special stage attempts?

[@therealzachmanawesomeness]

They all failed, so I edited them out.

[@GoofyDominoes]

L______I______N______K______?

[@therealzachmanawesomeness]

@@GoofyDominoes Please specify what you want.

[@CathyArmstrong]

Track 11 unused