Dust Hill

Dust Hill Zone

Dust Hill zone was supposed to be a desert zone in some versions of Sonic 2 Alpha, definitely before our 1.54 Beta version, in other places called Beta 1, or just the Beta, although these are inaccurate. In the Sonic 2 beta, it is mystic cave, with a different layout. In earlier betas of sonic 2, dust hill was playable but removed in the full version. You can still access this zone in the beta version, by editing a Genecyst save state - you change the byte at 012288 to 03, but the floors and all other sprites are removed, so you fall and die. Note that the music is Oil Ocean final, even in the beta!

There is a game genie code to access the palette hangovers of dust hill, however. It is

ACLA-AGD4

To use this code you must select death egg zone from the level select menu. There's not much to it, though, and to see it you'll need Debug enabled, or you'll die by falling through the 'floor', which doesn't exist, FYI.

Also, some of Dust Hill Zone was intended to be a winter level. ICEknight changed Sonic 2 Beta's Hill Top Zone palette to simulate this, and here are the official pictures:

Also note that in the second shot the rolling palette of the lava has also been changed - that palette was already in the ROM, meaning further proof of a winter Dust Hill.

Other Zones:

Hidden Palace