Wood Zone, later known as Secret Jungle Zone, is a scrapped Zone that was set to appear in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
Development[]
The Wood Zone is set inside a giant deciduous forest, which sees Sonic walking along large tree branches. It hosts flora and fauna in its backdrop, multiple short platforms and an elaborate maze of trees in the foreground. It would've featured spikes piercing through the floor and conveyor belts here-and-there.
It appears in the well-known Simon Wai prototype version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. In Act 1, right at the start of the level, the way is blocked, but with the use of Debug Mode, the player can explore the little that was created of this zone. Act 2 is empty. The music that was planned for this level was used for Metropolis Zone instead and this level even has the same conveyor belts from Metropolis Zone, and many people believe there is a connection between Wood Zone and Metropolis Zone. Despite common belief, Wood Zone was not intended to be a past version of Metropolis Zone, but was rather the present version of Casino Night Zone, based on early map sketches for Sonic the Hedgehog 2. According to the placement on the concept map, it would be analogous to Jungle Zone from the Sega Master System / Sega Game Gear version of Sonic the Hedgehog.
The zone would end up getting cut due to gameplay issues and level design limitations.[1][2]
In other media[]
Books and comics[]
Archie Comics[]
Wood Zone, from Sonic the Hedgehog #254.
In the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics, Wood Zone makes an appearance as one of the locations on Sonic's World following the Super Genesis Wave. Sonic and Tails went there looking for Chuck and Antoine, and also met Muttski. This area of West Side Island is the location of Knothole in the altered universe, replacing the Great Forest of Northamer from the previous continuity.
Trivia[]
Wood Zone as seen in the final game.
- The idea of a forest-themed level was used later in Mushroom Hill Zone in Sonic & Knuckles.
- Along with Hidden Palace Zone, some preliminary leftovers of Wood Zone can be accessed with a cheat device. However, there is even less data of the zone than Hidden Palace, and the game drops the player off in an alternate version of the first act of Emerald Hill Zone using Wood Zone's leftover palette.
- At the edge of the map, the area at the beginning of the level reappears (this is called a loopback) and the background turns to a very light blue, or the color of an untextured background. This happens with all Sonic 2 Zones, but is cut off by the game.
- According to Brenda Cook, pink flowers were planned to be in the zone.[3] However, it is unknown what their use would be.
Gallery[]
Development[]
Sprites[]
Screenshots[]
V·T·E · {{Sonic 2 (8-bit) info}} · Category
- ↑ 斗々屋 ホビーラウンド32 L-06 on X: "@darylbaxter I think the Death Egg Zone in Sonic 3 incorporates what they couldn't do in 2, but I don't know because I wasn't involved. The Wood Zone was cancelled because of gameplay issues that came up during the test map phase." / X
- ↑ スマホ壁紙付録付!『Beep21』B-SPEC斗々屋堂─第5回「ソニック2編(前編)」Cover Illustration : エッグマン&メカソニック|Beep21
- ↑ Interview: Brenda Cook (2001-02) by Deviance - Sega Retro




