--- By Jamie the Hedgehog --- Spoiling Knuckles --- I think there's just too much evidence pointing towards the solution that HPZ is a level intentionally included in Sonic 2 for play by Kunckles. Why isnt it a leftover? Lets examine just what a leftover is. A leftover is something small, like a few tiles for a deleted object or some data leftover in a list. When a game is being developed, it is being developed to be stored on a ROM. There are no "files" in a ROM there are simply addresses. If a developer went to the trouble of removing an item, no longer used, from an addressable list, the list would get shorter. Thus the addresses for *every* section below it would get shifted. To prevent this, instead if deleting it, they just ignore it for the sake of keeping the integrity of all the calls intact. Thats why there's extra characters left over. They take up a slot in an object list. But an entire level.. no way. A level in the Sonic 2 engine consists of a list of objects which belong to a global object list, an object map holding the placements of the objects in the level, a representation of what palette the level uses, a representation of what sprite set the level uses, 4x4 layout blocks with information pointing to their respective tiles, a 8x8 block container defining each unique layout set via the layout blocks, and a level layout list which lists the order in which each container comes. Also there is information reguarding when the screen should rise and fall when bosses are spawned, as well as information about where the end of level occurs. Added to this is the levels tile set. All of the above data for the level called HPZ is included in the Sonic 2 cart. Except for one thing.. the tile set. Keep this in mind while I remind you of the next fact. All data for the extra levels in Sonic 3, that are playable only in Sonic and Knuckles, is included in the Sonic 3 Cart... except for one thing.. the sprite sets. A bell should be going off in your head about now. The Sonic 3 and Sonic 2 carts were designed the same way: with extra level(s) only accessible by way of another cart. This cart would carry the missing sprite sets. It would also be the way that the other level would be accessed. [Andre: Please continue, Jamie...] Thus, you were supposed to be able to play as Knuckles in HPZ when you connected it to the S&K cart. This explains the huge green Emerald. This is the Master Emerald. Remeber that Knuckles is the "Guardian of the Master Emerald"? The master emerald is show in Sonic 3 and is clearly the same size as the one we seen in HPZ blocking the pipe. The Master Emerald is also definately green. I also remember reading about a message in one of the games that states "Now Kunckles can go to the Hidden Palace Zone." If a message like this exists, its obviously stressing that it is something special to be able to get to the HPZ. That Tail's monitor also helps prove the Kunckles/HPZ theory. The sprites to that monitor are pointing to a tile other than sonic's, which without the knuckle's sprite set, is tails. [Andre: Jamie, tell us what happened] What happened? Who knows. It seems that there were so many levels they came up with when they finalized S&K that they no longer needed that Hidden Palace Zone they included with Sonic 2. So it was just forgotton. But it is clearly evident that HPZ is a forgotten Sonic 2 level intended for play by the character Knuckles by way of a suppilemantary game cartridge's data. Heh, yeah.. [Note: Master Emerald] --- Taken from 'Secrets of Sonic the Hedgehog - The Original' http://secretsonic.cjb.net ---