Hill Top Zone

Hill Top Zone (not to be mislabeled "Hilltop Zone") is the fifth zone of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Sega Mega Drive, following Casino Night and preceding Mystic Cave Zone. As with most other stages in this game, Hill Top Zone consists of two standard Acts with a boss fight at the end of Act 2.

The zone later appears (twice) as a race course in Sonic Drift 2 for the Sega Game Gear.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit)
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The stage features lava pits and underground caverns; in this respect similar to the Marble Zone in the preceding game. However, Hill Top features no sturdy ruins of long-gone civilizations; they would have been ground to dust by the frequent earthquakes which ravage the zone and fill the chthonic spaces with scorching magma - often while Sonic is inside. Outside, pine trees rise over a landscape of blue-tinted rocks, with rickety vine chairlifts connecting one peak to another. See-saws and loop-the-loops are scattered throughout the zone; while the latter springs our heroes up the mountainsides, the loops invariably send Sonic and Tails cannoning into the volcanic caves.

Geographically, the Zone is located amidst the high peaks of Westside Island. It can actually be seen from Emerald Hill Zone; the vertiginous ridges of Hill Top's background can be glimpsed on the horizon at the far right of the first stage.

Badniks

 * Rexon - Plesiosaur enemy, sits in lava and throws fireballs at you. Once destroyed, its body can be used as a platform to stand on.
 * Spiker - Cone enemy, launches its cone at you when you jump over it or walk under it.
 * Gola - A new version of Orbinaut, surrounded by 4 fireballs which it throws at you. Referred to as "Sol" in the instruction manual, and "Ghora" in Sonic Jam.

Boss


In this Zone's boss fight, Dr. Eggman attacks with a fire-spewing machine which sets the grassy platforms alight (once again, a similarity to the Marble Zone). After blasting the heroes with a jet of flame, Eggman submerges beneath the lava, to pop up again on the other side and repeat the process. If rings are no object, this boss can easily be defeated by repeatedly bouncing off it, using this method, the boss can be defeated before it submerges into the lava.

Since Eggman designed his vehicle this time to be resistant to molten lava, it's no surprise that even Super Sonic can't damage him just by standing against him! Super Sonic needs to still use his Spin Jump attack to defeat him.

Music
thumb|left|300px|Hill Top Zone thumb|right|300px|Act Cleared

Sonic Drift 2
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Hill Top also appears as a racecourse in Sonic Drift 2. This stage (as "Hill Top 1") is the second track of the Purple GP, after Emerald Hill 1 and before Dark Valley 1. The racers re-enter the region during the White Grand Prix, where "Hill Top 2" is the fourth track, coming between Ice Cap and Mystic Cave. As with most other races in the 2nd Chaos Grand Prix, you have to complete three laps of the track to proceed, and the fastest racer gets a Chaos Emerald.

The Zone sports the same blue soil and high-altitude clouds as it did in Sonic 2, although trips to the fiery underground are not forthcoming during this visit. It's for the best - lava would no doubt do bad things to the tire grips! The road surface is, however, pitted with displaced mounds of earth from the oh-so-frequent earthquakes, so keep your wits about you. Also in Hill Top 1, a lone Motora can be found putting back-and-forth.

Sonic the Comic
The Hill Top Zone appeared in Sonic the Comic issue #20, "Hill Top Terror".

Sonic and Tails travelled to the Hill Top Zone in the Tornado, having been summoned by Chief Kordon, leader of a tribe of birds native to the Zone. Kordon had summoned Sonic because the Mountain of Destiny, the local volcano on whose slopes the natives had built their homes, had become active. Kordon and his Witchdoctor believed the gods were angry, and although Sonic considered this mere superstition, he agreed to check it out.

Descending into the crater of the volcano, Sonic and Tails were taken by surprise by a Rexon and nearly fell into the lava, but the stress caused Sonic to transform into Super Sonic. Super Sonic and Tails discovered that the volcanic activity had been caused by Doctor Robotnik's Seismatron. Super Sonic and Tails escape moments before the volcano erupts. The berserker Super Sonic then intended to destroy Tails, but Tails goaded him into preventing the eruption with reverse psychology, leading Super Sonic to contain the explosion and carve a giant statue of Sonic on top of the Mountain of Destiny, which presumably stands there still.