Segapede Pitched Prototype FOUND and RELEASED via Hidden Palace

[DaBigJ]

Figured this deserved it's own thread

(All information posted was taken from the proto's Hidden Palace page, and is essentially an abridged retelling of the page. I'm not involved with the HP team, I'm just an outsider.)

This game was pitched by Craig Stitt (a designer who also worked on Spyro and the artist behind Oil Ocean Zone) of Sega Technical Institute in late 1993 and was unfortunately scrapped in 1994. It's prototype, dated 1994 according to the Hidden Palace website, was released just last night and and contains a single level using assets from the scrapped Sonic the Hedgehog 2 "Hidden Palace Zone".

Originally, this was supposed to be tied to the Sonic universe, as the main character (Zipp) was one of Dr. Robotnik's creations. This concept was dropped once work began on a playable pitch prototype. While SEGA greenlit the game, it unfortunately became another scrapped project from STI.

If you'd like to check the prototype out for yourself and get a bit more in-depth look at the history, check out the Hidden Palace website HERE.

[Thrippa]

Interesting concept.  Although I can see they needed a bit more thought on how to manage the trailing segments.  I'd have been interested in playing this back in the day, is they'd actually produced a game.

[Solister]

I wonder (although I'm 90% sure not), if the level design could be, at one point, reused from the scrapped Sonic 2 version, but it looks remade from scratch. I was going to say that probably is the closer we ever will have of a finished Hidden Palace Zone, but then I remembered Sonic 2 (2013) exists.

Slightly unrelated, but I'd love if SEGA reunited the old Sonic 2 staff and let them recreate/finish the game as it was meant to be. Also, does anyone knows from where Hidden Palace lifted the information Craig Stitt worked on Oil Ocean? I'd be curious who designed each level on the final game.