Dust Hill Zone

Dust Hill Zone was the name given to a desert level intended to be featured in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Sega Mega Drive.

Description
Dust Hill Zone begins as a desert, decorated with cacti and assorted plants. The color palette was designed to at some point change into that of a winter-themed stage, transforming the sand into snow and the cacti into Christmas trees. The player would navigate terrain both aboveground and belowground, where there were snow/sand tunnels.

Development history
Dust Hill Zone was created by Brenda Ross, one of the final level artists added to the Sonic 2 development team. It was referred to in an early concept sketch as Sabaku Zone (literally "Desert Zone"). Time constraints kept the zone from being added to the final product.

Trivia

 * Dust Hill Zone is listed in the Level Select of the Simon Wai prototype of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, but selecting it sends the player to Mystic Cave Zone.
 * Brenda Ross called this level's palette swap "Winter Zone".